Psalm 51. And before I comment
on this psalm, as I feel directed of God's Spirit, I want to pass
on to you some of the things that the great leaders, Christian
leaders and preachers of the past, have said about this 51st
psalm. There was one Strigelus I believe
he pronounced his name, lived in 1524. Spurgeon quotes him
occasionally in his Treasure of David, and he had this to
say about the 51st Psalm. He said it is the brightest gem
in the whole book. It contains instructions and
doctrines so precious that the tongues of angels could not do
justice to the full development of this psalm. And then Plummer,
William Plummer, had this to say about Psalm 51. He said,
it's the sinner's guide and the believer's comfort. And that's
where I found my message tonight. The sinner's guide. Guide to
what? Guide to mercy, in search of
mercy. The believer's comfort. Then
Martin Luther said, there is no psalm which is oftener sung
or prayed in our church than Psalm 51. Chalmers had this to
say, and I like this very much, and I think I can identify with
this as much as any of these statements. He said, this is
the most deeply affecting of all the Psalms, and the most
applicable to me personally. This is the most deeply affecting
of all the Psalms and the one most applicable to me personally. And then Charles Spurgeon said
this, when the divine message from the lips of God's servant
had effectually aroused David's dormant conscience and made him
to say, as he had never seen before, the greatness of his
sins, he sat down and wrote this psalm. When the divine message from
the prophet of God had fully aroused, effectually, David's
dormant conscience and made him to see, more than ever before,
the greatness of his sins, he sat down and wrote this psalm.
the sinner's guide in search of mercy. And there are about
five or six things I've divided the psalm up, and I think I'll
give you the outline before I proceed with it. It seems to me that
verse 1 and 2 have to do with the mercy of God. That's where
David starts. And that's where we must start.
We don't even start with our sin. We start acknowledging the
mercy of God. That's the basis of any plea
that we make, any prayer that we present, any petition that
we offer. It's based on the fact that God
will be merciful. Our brother prayed a moment ago,
and I thank God for that Spirit-directed prayer. But he said this, and
of all the things that he prayed, this was the most impressive
to me personally. He said, Thou art a God of patience.
I'm glad for that, aren't you? Thou art a God of patience. We're
not for God's patience and God's mercy, God's long-suffering to
us. We're so impatient. God is so
patient. And then the second part of this
psalm, verse 3 and 4, is a confession of sin. And we're going to look
at an honest confession of sin, without any frails, without any
human Without any phoniness. This is the most difficult thing
in the world to get people to do. Be honest. Old Barnard built
a whole sermon one time on that subject. Honest people don't
go to hell. But there aren't many honest
people. We just somehow just find it so difficult to be honest. And I don't mean honest in your
business dealings. I mean honest with God and with
one another. Folks are always seeking counsel
and advice, but they won't be honest, and you can't give effective,
effectual counsel or advice if people won't be honest. But they
hide things, and you have to probe and probe and probe, and
then you still can't get them to be totally honest. And we're
that way with God. Jack prayed something else. God,
you know it better than we know it. Our hearts. And he does. And I don't know why we won't
be honest with God. And this is a real, this is an honest
confession of sin. It's honest, it's told, you'll
see in a moment. Then verse 5 and 6 is the root
of the whole matter. This is the, here's where the
whole, the life of this whole thing is. The root of this whole
matter is given in verse 5 and 6. The whole trouble comes from
one seed, one root, one living, one living root. And then verse,
verse 7 is the atonement And verse 10 is the need of regeneration. Now let's look first of all at
verse 1. Mercy. David said, have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Now my friends, this is something
for which we should give thanks constantly. Mercy is as much
an attribute of God as is Let's don't lose sight of that.
Mercy is as much a part of the divine nature as justice and
righteousness. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. But God is
mercy. God is merciful. God is love. That's what the scripture says.
We think of God as being austere and strict and righteous. Well,
he is. Thank God he is a God of patience. He is a God of long-suffering.
He is a God of mercy. God is love. Somebody said one
time, God could have saved everybody or God could have damned everybody.
Well, that's not so. That's not so. I don't know about
the first part, whether God could have saved everybody or not.
I know God is going to save all whom he can wisely save. But
I do know this, God could not have damned everybody. Because
mercy must be expressed and exercised just like justice and righteousness.
God must be merciful. God is merciful. God will be
merciful. God is plenteous in mercy. And
where would be the truthfulness of that scripture if he didn't
show mercy? God delights to show mercy. And
I think of this so often, over here in Exodus chapter 33, and
this is a scripture we need to take a long hard look at, and
this scripture not only teaches sovereignty, the sovereignty
of God and salvation, but it teaches something else, equally
as important, and I started to say more important, and maybe
it is. But Moses had beheld God's might, he had beheld God's power,
He had beheld a demonstration of God's majesty again and again. Moses knew of the awesomeness
of God, the power of God, the greatness of God that fills the
universe and drives up rivers and lakes and causes food to
fall from the sky and strikes people dead and gives birth and
preserves life. He'd seen all that, but he wound
up saying, Lord, show me your glory. Look at verse 18. And Moses said, Exodus 33, I
beseech thee, show me thy glory. And God said, I will make all
my goodness to pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee and will be gracious. Yes, to whom I will
be gracious, but here's the key, I will be gracious. Grace for
the guilty. And he goes on and says, and
I will show mercy. I will show mercy. There's hope. God says, here's my glory, Moses. Here's my mercy and my grace. Sometimes we're not careful.
We preach as if God's greatest glory was in sending men to hell.
It's not. God's greatest glory is taking
men to heaven. Sometimes we get the idea that
God's greatest glory He is striking folks dead, you know, and bringing
his wrath to bear upon them and casting them from his presence.
I don't believe that. I believe his greatest glory
is his grace and his mercy. That's what he says over here
in verse 6 of chapter 34. Look over here. He said in verse
5, the Lord descended in a cloud and stood with him there and
proclaimed the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord. And this
is a name upon which we must call to be saved. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You read that
scripture? All right, here's the name of
the Lord. He proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed
before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin. There's the name of the Lord.
It's true. The next line is true, and that
he will by no means clear the guilty. Investing the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children, upon the children's children,
under the third and fourth generation. But here's the name of the Lord.
Not only justice, but mercy. Not only righteousness, but mercy. And David seizes upon this attribute. And David seizes upon this attribute. And he pleads for mercy. Not
justice, mercy. Lord, have mercy upon me. Our Lord said the publican prayed
that and went home justified. David prays for mercy, not justice. He prays for pardon, not pity.
And he totally bases his plea, and he totally bases his prayer
on God's mercy. Look at verse 1. Have mercy upon
me, not because I deserve it, not because I'm worthy, not because,
Lord, later on I can serve you. I can render some assistance
to your kingdom and your glory. No, sir, have mercy on me according
to thy lovingkindness." That's the total basis for his plea
and prayer. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercies, do three things for me. Number one, blot
out my transgressions, obliterate them, eliminate them. eradicate them, blot them out. The second thing, wash me, throughly. That word just means completely,
inside and out. Wash me, we could use the word
thoroughly, wash me from my iniquity. And thirdly, cleanse me from
my sin. There is a plea for mercy, based
on the mercy of the grace of God. All right, now let's notice
this confession now, and this is the first step toward mercy.
David seems to stand back. As Charles Spurgeon said, when
the message from the lips of God's prophet effectually came
home to the heart of David, his dormant conscience was awakened,
and he saw for the first time in a real sense his evil, the
greatness of his sin, and that's when he turned to the mercy of
God. Mercy of God. Why don't we do
that? Mercy of God. And then he makes
this confession. When he turns to the mercy of
God, he makes this confession. He said, I acknowledge my sin. I acknowledge it. That's a confession
of sin. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive our sins. He that covereth his
sins shall not prosper, and to cover them is to alibi. to excuse
them or to blame someone else, or to blame our environment or
our condition or the forces that were exercised upon us. But David
just says, I acknowledge my sin. I acknowledge it. And then the
second thing is humiliation. He says, my sin is constantly
before me. Not a mere confession of the
lips, but my sin is in my thoughts. My guilt, my shame, the serious
nature of my offense is on my heart and ever before me and
always in my thoughts. I acknowledge my sin and my sins
are always before me and the seriousness of them against thee
have I sinned. This is serious, it's against
God. And old Samuel Page produced
this outline from verse 4. He says, the person, I have seen
it. I have seen it. Someone, we were
riding along the other day down in Florida, and a man spoke up
and he said this in the car. He said, two of the hardest things
in the world for me to say, and I ought to say them more, he
said, but I don't. But two of the most difficult things in
the world for me to say, number one is I appreciate and thank
God for you. And the second is, I was wrong. I was wrong. But David doesn't
hesitate to say that here. He said, I was wrong. I acknowledge
I was wrong. I acknowledge my sin, my transgressions,
I acknowledge them before God. They're real, they're real, they're
mine. I have sinned. And these sins
of mine are ever before me, and the act He says, I've done this
evil. And he calls it what it is. He
doesn't call it a mistake. He calls it evil. He doesn't
call it a slip. He doesn't call it a little white
lie. He said, I've done evil. I've done this evil. I have sinned. And I've done this evil. And
what's the guilt of it? In thy sight, before thee, O
God, against thee. And what's the consequence? Now
here is where we Here's where we've got to stay with David
in this confession. As I say, it's an honest confession.
And up until now, I think most of you are with me. I think most
of the people who attend this service or this church try to
be as honest as you can be. I think we can go this far. I
think we can say, yes, I've seen it. I acknowledge my seeing it. I own them, they're mine. Somebody
said that's really the only thing we really own in this world.
We brought nothing into the world, we take nothing out, but we created
something while we were here, and that's sin. Sin. That belongs to me. That's my
responsibility. God had nothing to do with it.
I'm fully responsible for every act of evil and iniquity I've
ever thought or said or committed. I have sinned. I'm sinning against
God in God's sight. Now the last part of this, David
says, And Lord, when you judge me, and when you speak, even
condemnation, you're just." Can we go that far? Lord, if you
send me to hell, you'll be just. Now you read that right there.
He said, "...against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done
this evil, that you might be justified when you speak, and
clear when you judge." God's clear of any responsibility.
God's clear of any obligation toward me. The Lord does not
have to show mercy to me. I do not deserve it. And if God
Almighty turned down my request and turned down my petition and
turned down my plea and says, no, I will not show mercy to
you, I'll show mercy to your neighbor on your right and your
neighbor on your left, but not to you, I have no reply to make. I say, Lord, you're just. Can
you do that? Well, that's not an honest confession if you can't.
It's not being honest with God, it's not really taking our place
as a sinner. And I'm not stretching this at
all, I'm trying to be honest with myself and with you. A true
confession of sin acknowledges the evil of it and the just consequences
of it. Every sinner who sins for mercy
will come this route or he'll come in vain. I believe this. Every sinner who seeks for mercy,
who sues for mercy, who pursues this search for mercy, will come
this route or he'll come in vain. Number one, he'll base his plea
on the mercy of God. Not on merit, on mercy. Secondly,
he'll acknowledge his guilt. That his guilt is his guilt,
his responsibility, He is evil and it's against God, but thirdly,
he'll justify God whatever God does. That's so. I think most people, it's like
that lady I talked to down in Louisiana recently and tried
to get her to say that God would be just if he sent her husband
to hell. And she wouldn't say it. She
could not squeeze it out. No way she could say that. And
I finally said, well, would he be just if he sent you to hell?
And she had a hard time with that, too. Some of us just feel
like that we, and that's merit. God doesn't owe us anything.
I remember I was listening to a sermon one time by an old preacher
years ago, and for the first time, when this thing first hit
me, he said, God doesn't owe you anything. And then he stopped. for a few moments and he said,
I'm wrong, God does owe you something. And he paused and he said, the
wages of sin is death and God owes you those wages, you've
earned every one of them. He does owe you death. That's
all he owes us. He doesn't owe us mercy. And
then Rock came along one time and said this, he said, anything
this side of hell is pure mercy. That's confession. There's the
mercy of God, an honest, forthright confession of sin. That lays
the sinner bare. Now, he gets into the root of
the whole matter, verse 5 and 6. He says, I was shapen in iniquity. That's the root of my problem.
That's the source of my sin. That's the reason for my fallen
nature. It's not enough to confess that
the water's polluted. The fountain's polluted. That's
the reason the water's polluted. You go down here and say, boy,
my little old creek sure is nasty. Well, the reason your creek's
nasty is the spring it came from is nasty. You know why I think
what I think? Because my heart's evil. Why
I do what I do? Because my mind is evil. My nature
is evil. The nature of man, the mind of
man, the heart of man is enmity against God. I was shapen in
iniquity, in sin. My mother conceived me. It wasn't
an act of sin by which I was conceived, it was the seed of
sin by which I was conceived. That's how I got my start. It's
not enough to confess that my deeds are evil, but the heart
out of which my deeds come is evil. It's not enough to know
that my works are sinful in God's sight, but my person is sinful
in God's sight. Actually, did you know this? that not anything you think,
say or do in the flesh is pleasing to God. You've never uttered
one word. You've never thought one thought.
You've never done one deed in your flesh that would cause God
to look with favor upon you. I hate to say things like that
because folks don't understand it. But I have to say them because
it's the truth. That's so. Even my righteousness
is a filthy rag." Now listen to this verse. In the flesh,
no man can please God. You know what it says? In my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. You say, but the Bible talks
about us pleasing God with a humble spirit and a prayerful spirit
and a loving spirit, but that's God's mercy and the indwelling
Christ in us. It's not me. I can't take any
praise for that. I have to say, who maketh thee
to differ? His presence makes me to differ.
I am what I am by the grace of God. The only reason that I have
any love in my heart is God put it there. The only reason I have
a righteous thought is God put it there. My nature, that which
is born of the flesh, is flesh. That's all it is. That's all
it ever can be. The flesh can do no good, and
the divine nature can do no evil. That's true. Turn to Psalm 58
and listen to this. Psalm 58, verse 3, the wicked,
the wicked are estranged, they're separated from God, they're enemies
of God, from the womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. I don't just repent for what
I've done, but I've got to be made conscious by the Holy Spirit
and repent for what I am. And this is what most, I tell
you all the time, it's not what the average preacher is saying,
it's what he is not saying. And men cannot genuinely confess
sin and repent of sin if they're not made aware of what sin is. Paul said, I would have gone
along through my life never knowing sin if the Holy Spirit had not
said, thou shalt not covet, and brought it home to me in the
spirituality of it, in the reality of it, and the depth of it. And
that's what I'm trying to do. I don't believe a man can savingly
confess his sins and savingly repent if he doesn't know what
sin is. It's a root, it's a nature, it's
a spirit. Look back here at Psalm 51 a
minute. He says, verse 5, I was shapen
in iniquity and sin did my mother conceive me. Lord, behold, you
desire truth in the inward parts. Not just a walk of truth, but
an attitude of truth. Not just an outward exhibition. of truth, but an inward reality
and experience of total faithfulness to God, to Christ, to one another,
to righteousness, to love. God desires truth in the inward
part. He says here, in the hidden part,
the part that you don't even really see. The part, no, that men do not
see. They do not see the hidden part,
but I think it goes deeper than that. It's a part we don't even
see. I think the heart's deceitful,
and I think a lot of times that we think we're doing something
with the right motive, and we just are so blind to it, to our
seeing, that we don't really understand what the real motive
is. The hidden part. And here's where
we're in trouble. God looks to the mind, God looks
to the heart, God looks to the will, and God sees there so much
evil. That's my problem. That's where
the whole thing starts. So in search of mercy, David
confronted with his sin. He looks to God's mercy. Lord,
according to your loving kindness, I'm hanging on by my fingernails.
According to the multitude of your mercies, you blot out my
transgressions and wash me from my sins and cleanse me from my
evil. Lord, I acknowledge my sin. It's
always before me on my mind and heart. And Lord, you'd be right
if you sent me to hell. You're right when you judge me
and when you speak in condemnation, you're just. But Lord, this whole
thing is a spiritual nature. It's an evil, fallen nature. That's where it all started.
I admit that I was wrong from birth, and my whole nature is
a nature of corruption and evil. And Lord, you desire truth where
there is no truth, in my inward part, and you desire righteousness
where there is no righteousness, and wisdom where there is no
wisdom, in my hidden part, even hidden from me. Now here's the atonement, verse
7. Lord, purge me with hyssop. What is hyssop? Hyssop is a plant,
a gentle, tender plant. that grows out of the rocks in
the Sinai area. And it's used, they take it and
put it together and use it to sprinkle the blood and the water
and the different atonement ceremonies in the Old Testament. I'll show
you an example. Exodus 12, 22. Exodus 12. The hyssop is a plant. And they fold it, put it together,
and to dip it in the blood. The lamb is slain, the blood
is shed, and the hyssop plant is dipped in the blood. And it
says here in Exodus 12, verse 22, and you shall take, this
is the Passover, you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it
in the blood that's in the basin, and strike the little and the
two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none
of you shall go out at the door of his house into the morning,
for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when
he sees the blood on the lintel on the two side posts, the Lord
will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come
into your houses to smite you." And that David said, Now, Lord,
sprinkle me with the blood, sprinkle me with the blood, and I shall
be clean. That's his faith in the atonement. His faith in the atonement. His
faith in the effectual work of Christ, in the cleansing, purifying
blood. Lord, I could run up and down
Mount Sinai 10,000 times and it wouldn't cleanse me. I could
go to the ends of the earth and take the good news, the message
of deliverance to all nations and it wouldn't cleanse me. Lord,
I could cut my body and mar my body and fall before thee in
fastings and prayer, and it wouldn't cleanse me. Lord, I could make
every vow and promise and decision known to men that I'll never
do this again, I'll never do that again, I'll never do the
other again, it wouldn't cleanse me. But Lord, if you'll just
take the hyssop and sprinkle me with the blood, I'll be cleansed. I'll be cleansed. I'll be cleansed. So gentle, so simple, so glorifying
to God, so contrary to works, so without human effort, I just
bow before Thee and You sprinkle me with hyssop. And Lord, I'm
clean. And more than that, He says,
and I'll be whiter than the snow. That's the atonement. I wish
we could see that. Here's faith in its efficacy.
I shall be clean. And it's not something left for
me to do. And Lord, I'll serve you all
my life. No, you just purge me with a
hyssop, sprinkle me with the blood, and I'll be clean. And I'll be whiter than the stone.
Oh, the depths of his sin. Oh, the awful consequences of
his sin. or the reality of his rebellion,
and yet purge me with his, and I'll be clean. And I'll be whiter
than the snow. Here's the path to peace. Here's
the road to redemption. It's the mercy of God. Not my
merit, his mercy. It's a total, honest, complete,
open confession of sin. God is just. God is righteous. Whatever he does. For mine is
a deep-seated ruin. Mine is a deep-seated need. My
nature is perverted and corrupted. But Lord, if you're pleased to
do it, you can purge me with thistle. You can sprinkle me
with the blood, and I'll be clean. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. There's a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stand. Dear dying Lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. Look at verse 10. Here's the
need of regeneration. He says, Lord, create me. in
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
Now, what do I need? Because my heart is evil and
perverted and double, because my heart is harder than a millstone,
I need a new heart. That's a new birth. Create in
me a new heart, a clean heart. The power required to do that
is creative power. It's not deciding power on my
part, it's creating power on God's part. Over here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 6, chapter 4, listen to this, 2 Corinthians chapter
4, it's verse 6. It says, For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. God created the light that embraced
this earth. And God created the light that
illuminated my understanding. And God created the world according
to his power and wisdom. And God creates a new heart in
every believer. Don't get too impatient with
the rebel, because if it weren't for God creating within you a
new heart, you'd be a rebel. Don't get too impatient with
the man who cannot see the mysteries of the gospel, because if it
weren't for God's creative power, you wouldn't see them either.
You'd still be in your blindness. So David knows this, and all
the way through he says this thing's up to God. He says, Lord,
create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence.
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of
thy salvation, and, Lord, uphold me, preserve me with thy free
spirit." And then I'll start teaching somebody something. In verse 15 he says, O Lord,
open my lips, and my mouth shall sow forth thy praise. This salvation
is all of God. All of his requests are addressed
to the living God. And he's the recipient and God
is the giver. I confess my sin. I acknowledge
my transgression. It's always before me. Lord,
you'd be just to deal with me, not in mercy, but in justice.
For my nature, there's not any goodness in me to draw your affection. Even my heart and my mind and
my spirit is enmity. But Lord, if you'll take the
hyssop and dip it in the basin of blood drawn from Emmanuel's
veins and just touch me, I'll be clean. I'll be whiter than
the snow. But Lord, you'll have to create
in me a clean heart or I'll go on hating you. You'll have to
renew a right spirit within me or I'll go on hating you. And
Lord, you'll have to You'll have to give me your Holy Spirit,
you'll have to restore to me the joy of salvation, and you'll
have to uphold me the rest of my walk, the rest of my journey,
you'll have to uphold me. Lord, you'll have to touch my
lips, and then will I speak. Cast thyself on the mercy of
God, and he will be merciful. May it please thee to take thy
word, which is so powerful and so precious. And it's like a
hammer. It can break the hardest rock.
It's like a sword. It can pierce between the bone
and the marrow. It's like a light that can shine
into the darkest corner. use thy word tonight to do what
no man can do, to give light and understanding, illumination
to men and women in this congregation, that we might have a saving interest
in Christ Jesus and a right relationship with the living God, that we
may know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent, that we might rightly call upon the name of the Lord for
Thou art plenteous in mercy. We thank Thee for Thy grace.
Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen. We're going to sing a closing
hymn. What number are we? 477. Let's stand please. Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He
died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary.