The Convicted Sinner's Only Refuge

Introduction to Psalm 51 and David's Attitude to Sin

0:02 I invite you to turn with me again to the 51st psalm, this greatest of the penitential psalms, which we are studying these Sunday evenings.

0:20 When so much depends upon the sinner being able to come scripturally to a holy God, one dare not be ignorant of the principles of true godly sorrow and true scriptural penitence if he is to have any Bible-based hope of finding mercy with God. We consider together the setting of this psalm, David's sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, and the subsequent period of almost a year of living in spiritual barrenness and dryness with the guilt and defilement of this sin lying heavy upon his soul. Then the prophet Nathan comes and is God's instrument of grace

1:04 to reawaken the slumbering, conscience of David. And I remind you again that the scripture says, And Jehovah sent Nathan unto David. A beautiful picture of God in grace taking the initiative to come and awaken the slumbering conscience of his child. Following that wounding of his conscience and his confession, the sequel to this psalm is David's full restoration to forgiveness and blessing once more.

1:31 And in between that piercing of his heart and that sequel to the psalm in restoration, we have Psalm 51, the path by which the sinning child of God comes back into fellowship with his God. Last week, we looked at David's general attitude to his sin as found particularly in the first four verses, where no less than seven times he calls it his own sin. He says, My sin, my transgression, I have sinned, and he owns the thing to be sin. He doesn't call it mistake, shortcoming, failure, anything else, but as he approaches the living God to deal with this problem,

2:14 he calls it what God calls it, and he owns it as his own. And I repeat what we said last week based upon this principle, there is no true repentance or true penitence or biblical confession of sin until you own your sin as sin until you own it as your sin. If in any way you're still, still using the devil or the flesh or people or circumstances as the scapegoat, though you may have the words of confession upon your lips, if you have any reservation in your heart that this sin is the product of your own corrupt nature, there's no true confession. There isn't.

2:53 David owns it as his own. He owns it as sin. Then we looked briefly at his general attitude to this whole matter of forgiveness and restoration, and we noted three distinct things in his general attitude. He was desperate to have them.

3:08 This is not the prayer of a man who comes with the attitude and says, oh well, I'll try and get a little mercy and a little restoration if I make it fine. If I don't, I can get on this way. No, after Nathan's visit, David was desperate. Here's a man who had come to the place where he knew he had to be restored or life was not worth living.

3:29 And frankly, you and I generally will not come to the place of true restoration until we're desperate. Because it's only the desperate man that will be willing to face the inner soul agony of true repentance and true confession. Second thing about his attitude, he realized this restoration and forgiveness could come only from God. His first address is have mercy upon me, oh God.

3:52 And throughout the psalm, he addresses himself to the living God. He's not waiting for time to heal the wounds. He's not waiting for conscience to fall back to sleep. He knows that God alone can forgive and God alone can restore.

4:07 And then in the last place, we noticed that in this area, this general attitude to forgiveness and restoration, he was determined to seek God until he got them. He didn't claim, this whole idea of claiming forgiveness and claiming restoration as though you're dealing with some impersonal, heartless IBM grace machine. No, we're dealing with God. And when God has withheld the light of His countenance because of sin, we must know what it is to wait before Him till once again He lifts up the light of His countenance upon us and you can't lift it up.

4:42 He alone can. And so it's a shallow age that rushes in to the presence of God and blurts out some kind of a rote confession like that made by a Roman Catholic in the confessional and then we absolve ourselves and run out of the presence of God. David was not in that frame. He was a man whose attitude was one of waiting before God until once again he saw the light of His countenance.

The Convicted Sinner's Only Refuge: An Overview

5:10 Now, tonight, we want to come to a detailed study of verses 1 and 2 as we work our way through the entire psalm, God willing. We have before us the words of David. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions.

5:35 Wash me through, holy or thoroughly, from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

5:43 This is the plea of the smitten David. And I want us to look at verses 1 and 2 under the general heading of the convicted sinner's only refuge. What's the only refuge a man can find when once Nathan has done his work?

6:01 When you're Nathan, the Nathan that God sends to you, whether it's a friend, a Bible verse, a circumstance, when God, who has sent His Nathan to you, and your conscience, which has perhaps been slumbering and been silent about certain areas of sin, has suddenly come alive and conscience thunders and guilt lies heavy upon the soul and the sense of defilement permeates the entire being. What's your refuge? There's only one refuge. In verses 1 and 2, David lets us know the convicted sinner's only refuge.

6:34 And we'll see it, God willing, as we work our way through the psalm. Now, to think our way through these first two verses under the general theme of the convicted sinner's only refuge, let's look at the need of the convicted sinner. Then we shall consider the plea of the convicted sinner and then some very practical lessons that flow from his need and from his plea. What is his need?

The Convicted Sinner's Need: Removal of Guilt and Defilement

7:00 Well, notice he feels he needs two things and they are set before us in verses 1 and 2 and anything else he asks for in the remainder of the psalm can fall under one of these two headings. Notice the latter part of verse 1. He pleads, Blot out my transgressions. Verse 2, Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin.

7:26 When Nathan had done his work and the Spirit of God had smitten David's heart, he was conscious of two tremendous needs found in these phrases, Blot out, wash, and cleanse. The first one, Blot out, is an awareness on David's part that his sin had involved legal guilt and he sees himself standing in need of a removal of that guilt.

7:55 It's the picture of a man who knows that there in the record book the indictment is laid out against him. And David's plea is, Oh God, I long for a removal of my legal guilt, my sins, my sins of adultery and murder by proxy, my sins of the worst kind of scheming and the worst kind of deceit. Oh Lord, these sins rise up and they plead for judgment and condemnation. They've incurred legal guilt.

8:27 Oh God, blot them out. Here's a man who stands in need of a removal of legal guilt. And he cries to God that instead of being destroyed and condemned, the sin might be blotted out. Now this blotting out is a biblical concept that we find in other places of the scripture.

8:47 Will you turn just a moment to Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 25. Isaiah 43 and verse 25.

9:04 God says to his people Israel, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake and will not blot out and will not remember thy sins. There's the Holy Spirit's interpretation on this. You see, this blotting out is a removal from the very sight of God of the record of the sin so that no longer does that record cry out for the vindication of God's judgment. It's the picture of a judge who when he looks down at the man standing before him, he looks to the record and here the indictment is this man is guilty of such and such a crime.

9:42 Well, as long as the eye of the judge can see the record, everything in that record cries out that judgment must be meted out upon this individual. So he cannot look upon that individual with favor as long as the record cries out for condemnation. But if the record can be changed, if the accusation and the indictment can be blotted out, then the judge can look with favor upon the one who stands before him. And this is precisely what David is praying for and this is exactly what God says he will do.

10:11 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgression and will not remember thy sins. Chapter 44 and verse 22, we have a similar reference. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee.

10:35 As a thick cloud comes and blocks everything from its view, God says I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions. So David is praying, first of all, for the removal of his legal guilt, but he's also praying for something else. For notice he says in verse 2, wash me and cleanse me. For not only does sin incur guilt and bring a legal problem, but sin incurs personal defilement, a moral problem.

11:06 And David is praying not only for the removal of legal guilt, but for the removal of personal defilement. Here's what he's saying, God, when I committed these sins, they were not external to me, but the very stain of those sins has gone through the fabric of my soul like dye permeates a garment. And oh Lord, my entire being has been stained and permeated with a defiling influence. Oh God, it's not enough that you merely blot out the sin and deal with the legal problem, but wash me, oh God.

11:38 Cleanse me, oh God. I've been stained. I've been polluted. I've been defiled.

11:44 Oh God, don't only do something with my record, but something with my heart. Not only do something for me objectively in heaven, but do something subjectively for me here in my own heart. And this concept is a biblical one. It's a New Testament one.

12:01 Listen to this familiar verse. 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to do two things. What are they?

12:11 To forgive and to what? To cleanse us. You see? Forgiveness?

12:20 Blot out. Cleanse us? Wash me. To cleanse us from all iniquity, uncleanness, sin.

12:30 So that you have in this New Testament verse a bringing together of that which we have in two verses here in Psalm 51. David's need was that of a man who saw legal guilt, personal defilement. And what caused them? He calls the thing, in three words here in the first two verses.

The Nature of Sin: Transgression, Iniquity, and Sin

12:50 Notice. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. In acknowledging his need for both the removal of guilt and the removal of defilement, David takes us right to the core of that which caused the guilt, and caused the defilement, and he calls it by three terms. First of all, he says, blot out my transgressions.

13:26 The word in the Hebrew means a revolt. David said, O God, when I took Bathsheba, when I sent Uriah up to the front of the battlefield to be killed, and all the little baby sins that came out of these two mother and father sins of lust, adultery, and murder, Lord, every one of them has as its very name, in nature, revolt against the authority of the God of heaven. Revolt against the government of heaven. He says, O God, I'm exposed to the wrath and judgment of a sovereign against whom I've wickedly revolted.

14:05 For your law said thou shalt not, but I said I will. And so he calls his sin transgression. The word means basically revolt. Then notice in the next verse he says, wash me throughly from mine iniquity.

14:19 And this word, iniquity means perversity. A turning aside from the right way. And he says, O God, that which is incurred guilt and defilement is not only revolt against the government of God, but it's a turning aside from the purpose of God. Lord, I've been perverse. I wasn't made

14:38 to be an adulterer. I wasn't made to be a murderer. I was made to glorify you. And, O God, what I've done is perverseness.

14:47 It is iniquity. Iniquity. A turning aside. And then he says in the latter part of that second verse, and cleanse me from my sin.

14:56 This is the Old Testament counterpart, the Hebrew counterpart of the Greek word that you all know. It means miss the mark. It would seem that the whole essence of sin is summarized in these three words. What is sin?

15:12 Revolt against the government of God. Turning aside from the purpose of God. Missing the mark of the law of God. And David said, I've been guilty of the whole business. Now, this is

15:23 what made him feel this sense of need for the removal of guilt and the removal of personal defilement. And he identifies himself with the whole business. He doesn't say, have mercy upon my sin, O God. He says, have mercy upon me.

15:42 Wash me. Cleanse me. He couldn't think in his mind of separating himself from the sin he was involved. And that's always the soil out of which true confession grows.

15:53 When we, with David, conscious that we've revolted against the government of God, turned aside from the purpose of God, have missed the mark of the law of God, knowing that there is legal guilt, that there is moral defilement, we own it as our own, and we come when we have David's need. Thank God we'll have David's grace. But don't expect David's grace if you're going to bypass David's consciousness of need.

Application of the Sinner's Need to All

16:24 That was David's need. And the application to both saint and sinner is obvious tonight. Though this was a child of God praying, the principle is true. There are those of you here tonight who've never been joined to Jesus Christ. What's your only hope?

16:39 Well, we're going to come to that in a moment. The convicted sinner's only refuge. That's the theme of the first two verses. But you see, until you see yourself as having a tremendous problem legally and morally and personally, you don't need a refuge.

16:55 Until you see that your sin is precisely what David's was. Revolt against the government of God. Turning aside from the purpose of God. Missing the mark of the law of God. Causing God

17:07 to look down upon you tonight, not with a smile. But God looks as an angry judge, for He cannot look upon you without seeing the record that cries out, Judge that sinner! The record that cries out with all of your sins. Young people, listen. Every lie, every disobedience,

17:24 every perverseness. You children, adults as well, every breach of the law of God. It cries out to God saying, Judge that sinner! Judge that sinner! It's a terrible

17:37 thing. David was conscious of it. If you've never been conscious of it, you're living in a fool's paradise. For that record is crying out this very night. The record that has

17:47 every sin, even the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The scripture says in that day, God will judge the secrets of men's hearts. Think of it! To have God look down upon me with one eye upon that record where all my sins are laid out in full.

18:03 What a terrible thing. Terrible thing. If you've never been made conscious of that, I trust the Spirit of God this night will send an arrow of conviction to your slumbering conscience. Dear child of God, the same is true of us. There are some

18:23 sins, and I want you to be honest, about which one time you could weep. Now you can't even blush.

18:31 What's happened? Your conscience is slumbered. There was a time when you missed a prayer meeting and you felt guilty. Now you can miss them left and right and it never bothers you.

18:44 There's a time when you missed your time alone with God. It wounded your conscience. It doesn't bother you now. You can go days and weeks. It doesn't bother you.

18:55 There's a time when if you sat there for ten minutes longer at that television watching something you knew was not right, you were pierced and bruised and wounded. Now you can flitter away a whole night watching all that garbage. It doesn't bother you. It doesn't bother you. Oh, may God send

19:11 an aid to waken your slumbering conscience. See? But you see, this is sin against God. God's called me to redeem the time.

19:20 God's called me to a life of holiness. God's called me to a life of service. God's called me to a life of faithfulness to His church. And these things are sin.

19:31 They incur guilt. They incur defilement. When we have David's sense of need, then perhaps we'll be ready for David's blessed experience in the meeting of that need. Well, I don't have time to apply it further.

The Convicted Sinner's Plea: Mercy, Lovingkindness, Tender Mercies

19:44 May the Spirit of God help you to do that. But let us consider in the second place David's plea. We've looked at his need. It was twofold. Removal of

19:52 guilt, blot out. Removal of personal defilement, cleanse me. Now, as he comes to God conscious of that need, what does he plead? How is that need going to be met? And

20:05 notice the first words of the psalm and how precious they've become in the past few days to my own heart in a new way. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving, kindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies. David's only plea is mercy, loving kindness, tender mercies. As he comes realizing he's incurred moral guilt, legal guilt and moral defilement, he comes conscious that by transgression he's revolted, by iniquity he's turned

20:49 aside, by sin he's missed the mark. What is his plea? Only one plea, mercy, loving kindness, tender mercies.

21:02 I've done a lot of study on those three words and I told my wife, I said, honey, you know, I just wish I had the opportunity to learn Hebrew because I have to get all my Hebrew second hand because there must be. We believe what we say, we believe that even the words are inspired. David just wasn't spinning out words for the sake of poetry. There must be some meaning, some shades of meaning in the words mercy, loving kindness, tender mercies.

21:27 And so I've done a little homework and I think I've perhaps begun to understand what these three words mean. The first one is the simple word used for mercy that comes from a word that means to stoop. David is saying, oh God, stoop to just consider me in my state. God just, as it were, pause long enough to look upon me.

21:45 Then the next word, according to thy loving kindness, it means not only to stand and look, but oh God, be moved with what you see. And then the word, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, means deal with me in grace, in unmerited favor. It's interesting, this word eventually began to be used for the word womb.

22:09 Beautiful picture of the meaning of the word. As the womb tenderly cares and encompasses and nourishes that unborn life, David says, God, have that attitude to me and fold me in mercy, in grace, in tenderness, in loving care. He rises to the peak of his plea, from mercy, from loving kindness to tender mercies.

22:37 That's his only plea. Everything, oh God, that I need in terms of my legal guilt, everything that I need in terms of my moral and personal defilement, oh God, if you'll stoop to consider me, if you'll be moved with what you see, and if you'll put forth those expressions of your tender concern, oh God, all that I need shall be met.

Principle 1: Prepared to Plead Only for Mercy

23:02 This brings me now to the heart of the application of this principle,

23:08 and it's basic to all true scriptural confession of sin. May God give us ears to hear. First of all, we learn then from David's plea that no man is prepared for divine forgiveness until he's prepared to plead only for mercy. Notice David did not say, oh God, help me to somehow make up for my failure.

23:34 That wasn't his plea. It was, have mercy upon me, oh God. Notice he didn't pray, Lord, help me to be something better to sort of cancel out all the bad that I've been in the past. No. He doesn't say, oh God,

23:46 hear my vows never to do this again and then help me to be faithful over the next twenty years that somehow it'll cancel out. No. There's only one plea that David has. Have mercy.

23:56 Have mercy. And no one is prepared to receive divine forgiveness until he's brought to the place where his only plea is, oh God, have mercy. Have mercy. Period.

24:11 No vows, no pledges, no promises, mercy. Mercy. If you're here tonight outside of Jesus Christ, if you're here tonight as a Christian, the principle is the same. Divine forgiveness is conferred upon the man who seeks for mercy.

24:31 Period. Now the classic example of

24:35 a man who sought forgiveness on this basis and a man who didn't, of course, is in the Gospel according to Luke. And it's always good to get your illustrations from the Bible when you can. And so I want to illustrate this principle.

24:52 Luke 18, verse 10.

24:59 Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. And the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee. Hear a man whose record cried out, condemn him. Whose defilement was as great as the publicans and yet fool that he was, he comes commending himself to God. I thank

25:32 Thee. I'm not his other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. What do I

25:42 plead, Lord? I plead, look upon me for what I am. I'm not like this man. Look upon me for what I do.

25:48 I do this, I do that.

25:52 And the publican, verse 13, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. You see, God was just as willing, if we may speak from the human standpoint, to justify Pharisees as publicans, but the problem was, the Pharisee had not been brought to the place where his only plea was mercy. He still thought that something of what he was and what he was doing could commend him to God. But that

26:33 poor publican had such a sight of his own wretchedness that he realized there's only one thing that will commend me to God, mercy. Mercy. That's where David was. I wonder, have you really been brought to that place, initially?

26:50 And are we in that place as Christians? You know, one of the biggest hindrances to develop into the Christian life is we build up a subtle Phariseeism. Let me illustrate. You failed the Lord. You know you've sinned.

27:00 You've blown your top or you've indulged in some form of fleshly indulgence or maybe you did spend that hour or two too long in front of that time-sapping, mind-defiling instrument. Talking about the television.

27:17 And so what do you do? Well, you feel guilty and unclean and so you come to pray and rather than saying, oh God, have mercy, how do you start? You start out by making vows, Lord, I won't do it again. Isn't that what we do?

27:30 And we think now, if I have a relative measure of victory over that thing for the next week, why then somehow that puts me in a little bit better standing with God. That's a subtle form of Phariseeism. We need to come saying, God, have mercy. Have mercy.

27:45 That's my only plea, Lord. Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Mercy.

Principle 2: Seeing God as a God of Mercy

27:51 So no one is prepared for divine forgiveness until he's ready to plead only for mercy. And that's exactly what God did through the ministry of Nathan, was to bring David to the place where his first and only plea was, have mercy upon me. Second principle. No man will plead mercy until he sees that God is a God of mercy.

28:13 The reason David could come and plead mercy, and remember he was pleading mercy for a pretty big pile of sin. He hadn't just spent two hours too long in front of his television. He'd taken another man's wife and killed her husband. And lived like a hypocrite for a whole year.

28:30 Now he comes asking for mercy? That's pretty bold stuff, isn't it? Have all that garbage collect in your life and then come ask mercy? How did David ever do this?

28:40 Because first of all, David knew that this was one of the crowning attributes of God. He was a God of mercy. And no man will plead mercy until he sees that God is a God of mercy. David was the one who said in Psalm 86, 5, For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon thee.

29:02 Thou, Lord, art good, plenteous in mercy. It's the same David who said in Psalm 107 in verse 1, The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. Thy mercy endureth forever. It's Psalm 103 in verse 17. The mercy of the

29:18 Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him. I got thinking about that. You say, wait a minute. The mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear Him. Well, that's a true Christian.

29:30 Yeah, but he sure still needs mercy because he's still as far away from having made it. See, the mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear Him. They need His mercy, and they've got to learn to plead His mercy. And it's one of the most difficult things for the child of God to learn, is that God is a God of mercy. Well, you see,

29:48 when we come to God, faith always acts in terms of what it knows of God and knows of its need. Let me illustrate. When David was out there being chased by Saul, and Saul's army was trying to track him down like some kind of a stray cur dog and just blot him out, David would think of God as his high tower. In those days, there might be a stone tower in the midst of a field, and a man could run into it, and from that vantage point he could shoot at his enemies, and David would say, the Lord is a high tower.

30:19 The righteous runneth into it and is saved. And so when David was fearful and enemies oppressed him, he thought of God. High tower. Faith appropriated him as the high tower.

30:29 And David could lie down and fall fast asleep with all his enemies raging around him. Other times, David would feel weak and stupid and helpless like a sheep. So what does he think about? The Lord is my shepherd. He thinks

30:41 of God as the shepherd and himself as a little, blind, helpless, dumb, stupid sheep. Not blind, but may as well be at times. And so what does he say? The Lord is my shepherd. His rod and staff

30:53 comfort me. He sees God as shepherd. Faith appropriates him then as the guiding shepherd for his weakness and his waywardness. Other times, David thinks of himself as weary.

31:05 And what does he think of his God? He says, he is the lifter up of my head. What a beautiful picture. He says, when I get tired, God comes and cradles my head and he lifts me up.

31:15 And so faith appropriated him. Ah, but now wait a minute. David's in a state where none of those concepts of God can bring him comfort. Is he a high tower? Yes,

31:25 but I've offended him. I've trampled his law underfoot. I've turned aside by rebellion. I've been perverse.

31:34 I've missed the mark. He's a high tower, but how can I run into his name and find refuge that God is against me because of my sin? Sure, he's the shepherd of his sheep, but I've lost all right to even call myself one of his sheep. I've so miserably defected, as it were, from his paths. And so David

31:54 can find no comfort in any of these concepts of God that he knew and at other times brought great comfort, but he finds one ray of hope, one attribute of God that makes him come with boldness in the midst of adultery, murder, scheming, hypocrisy, a year of barrenness. What could ever make a man come to God with any degree of confidence? He had an understanding that he was a God of mercy. That's the only reason Psalm 51 was ever penned, because David knew that one of the crowning attributes of God was his mercy.

32:31 That his mercy was from everlasting to everlasting. That his mercy was from everlasting to everlasting. upon those that fear him. Can you imagine what would have happened to David if he had not have known that God was a God of mercy?

32:44 It was bad enough for him to get involved in that sin and to have had his conscience hardened. But think, after his conscience got awakened and he saw the horror of this thing under those three words, he saw it as revolt, transgression, perverseness, iniquity, missing the mark, sin. Can you imagine the horrors that would have gripped him if he didn't know that God was a God of mercy? It would have driven him to distraction.

33:08 Maybe even to self-destruction. It has others who, when they've been made aware of their sinfulness and have not known that God is a God of mercy, they'd rather destroy themselves than go on with the thought of being exposed to his wrath and feeling the personal defilement of sin and not knowing the way of release and deliverance. Oh, I trust you see the application of that principle. I'm talking to some of you tonight who know that you're sinners. You know

33:35 you've sinned against a holy God and the sin is a part of you. Where do you go? Oh, you don't go to vows. You don't go to resolutions. You come to

33:45 a God of mercy who has spelled out his mercy on the Roman gibbet when he gave up his son to death and caused the billows of his own wrath to come pouring over his head until he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And now he says, Look to my son! Flee to my son! Embrace my son! My mercy does not come

34:09 to you in words, but indeed there's mercy displayed. Ah, but you say, Yeah, I know. You're a bad sinner. So was David.

34:17 Yeah, but I've been old. So was David. And any excuse you raise up as something to keep you from embracing the mercy of God, David would have reasons ten times over. He had more light. He had more

34:29 privilege. He had more experience. David had everything. And yet in spite of all this, he miserably sinned. And yet in the

34:37 midst of it, here's the ray of hope. He knows God is a God of mercy.

Principle 3: Strong Faith to Appropriate Mercy

34:46 Second principle then is that no man will plead mercy until he sees that God is a God of mercy. And then the third principle that we find in these first two verses is that it takes a strong exercise of faith for a convicted soul to appropriate the mercy of God. Now it's interesting. People have never experienced any Holy Ghost conviction. By

35:10 that I mean they've never seen their sin, as David's thought, revolt against God. The God who made me, who made me for himself. The God who governs me, rules me, has a right to destroy me. They've never seen their sin as revolt against God. They've never seen it as

35:26 perverseness, a turning aside from the purpose of God. They've never seen it in the light of His law. They can talk about mercy until it runs out their mouth. Have you ever heard people say, oh, God's too much a God of mercy to damn anybody. Have you ever heard anybody talk

35:38 that way? I've heard lots of people talk that way. Oh, God's a God of mercy. He won't send anybody to hell. Oh, they

35:44 can believe in mercy very easily. No problem to them. God's all mercy. But you let a man get a sight of his sin and begin to see who God is. And begin

35:57 to see what He is.

36:00 And it's a problem to get him to believe that God's a God of mercy. It's a problem to get him to believe that God's a God of mercy. Have you had that problem?

36:11 Have you ever felt in your heart, God, how can you receive me? God, I've sinned against conscience. I've sinned against the light of the Word. I've sinned against the light of entreaties and preaching and pleading. Oh, God, how can there

36:25 be mercy for me? Have you ever had any problems believing in God's mercy? How about as a Christian? You've had to come to God in certain areas dozens and hundreds of times. You ever have problems

36:37 wondering if maybe you've somehow exhausted the supply of mercy?

36:44 Have you?

36:46 Maybe it's an impatient spirit. I'll pick on myself. Maybe it's an angry vitriolic. spirit. Maybe it's a

36:55 bitter, caustic tongue. Maybe it's a lust. Maybe it's pride and you've had to come to God time and time and time again until you begin to say, oh, God, is there any mercy left? I tell you, it takes strong faith for a convicted soul to believe in the mercy of God. But David's a beautiful

37:19 example of it. Think what he had to wade through to say, have mercy upon me, oh, God. There was that mountain of iniquity. And he said, it's always before me. You see, he didn't believe

37:29 in mercy because suddenly he just forgot about his sin. He says in the fourth verse, the Lord willing, we'll study next week. He said, my sin is ever before me. He had to get through that mountain of sin to lay hold of the mercy of God. But he

37:41 could look that mountain of sin in the eye and say, the mercy of God, hallelujah, is a higher mountain.

37:48 A higher mountain.

37:51 And that took strong faith. Faith that fed upon the revelation that God is a God of mercy as well as a God of justice. And I would say without any desire to qualify it, if you've never found any problems with God having mercy on you, you better start having pity on yourself. You're in a state of blind spiritual delusion, tripping through life, a rebel against God, and it's never pierced your heart with any holy dread.

38:24 May God pierce your heart tonight that you leave this place saying, as you do, whether you know it or not, it's only mercy that keeps you out of hell. But I'm talking tonight, I trust, to some who see. There that record is. And God has recorded all my sins. And

38:46 there's no refuge, no vows, no nothing can cancel out the record I need. That God should blot them out. But how can I expect Him to blot them out? So many of those sins I've done over and over again.

38:58 I've done them willfully. I've done them deliberately. Here's your hope. There's mercy.

Encouragement for Believers and Unbelievers

39:03 Mercy. Mercy that points you to the cross where blood flowed that can cleanse from all sin. A child of God just about to throw into power certain areas of your life, and you feel weary with confessing and crying to God. What are you going to do?

39:23 Well, your flesh tells you to give up.

39:28 And yet if you're a child of God, you can't because the spirit dwelling within will not allow you to be at home in the realm of sin. So you've got to press on. You've got to come until God is pleased to slay those enemies of your soul. So what do you do?

39:42 You've got to come in a strong faith that pleads for mercy. I love to think of Peter in this connection.

39:51 Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me twice. Oh, Lord, not me. I'll need mercy for maybe chopping some people's ears off, but never mercy for denying you, Lord. I mean, that's one of my strong points, Lord. You don't really understand

40:04 me. You've been living with me for three and a half years, but I just want to inform you, Lord, that that's not one of my weak points. I mean, that's my strong point. Don't you remember? I'm the spokesman of this group.

40:14 And when it comes time, and we're in a jam and a pinch, if everybody's silent, Lord, I won't deny you. I'll be right there on the front row saying I'm with you. And the Lord said, Oh, you think so, Peter. Cock crows twice, three times, you're going to deny me. Remember the sequel.

40:32 Our Lord's prediction was true. And it says when Peter remembered the words of his Lord, he went out and he wept bitterly.

40:42 What did Peter learn through this? Well, you remember the announcement went out. Go tell the disciples and Peter that he hasn't exhausted my mercy.

40:55 My mercy's there. Ready to meet him. Ready to restore him. Ready to forgive him. Oh, child of God,

41:03 may you and may I learn that the only refuge for a convicted soul is the mercy of God. And when David could come on the heels of his terrible sins and lift up his voice to God and say, Have mercy upon me, O God, then God is at worth who, allowing the record of this, is saying to all of his children, whatever the deep nature of the sin, take this psalm upon your lips and come into my presence, for my mercy is not exhausted. It's from everlasting to everlasting. Echo the cry of David. Have mercy

41:41 upon me, O God, according to thy loving, kind kindness. O God, bend and consider. Then, Lord, be moved with what you consider and then in free grace and tenderness come to me and blot out the sin. Wash me and cleanse me from its defilement. Those

42:04 of you who are content with shallow dealings with sin never know the joy of the deep dealings in God's mercy.

The Sweetness of God's Mercy and Final Exhortation

42:15 Those of you who are content with shallow dealings with sin are strangers to the deep sweetness of God's mercy. Oh, do you know what it is, child of God, feeling the bitterness of soul to come away, feeling the sweet fragrance of divine forgiveness? That's when, and I say it guardedly, that's when even what we call little sins can bring such great blessing. When you really look upon that sin as God does and let your heart be broken and let it drive you to his mercy, I care not, what thing conveys his mercy to me, it's the sweetness of his mercy that brings the renewal to the soul

42:59 and the fresh fragrance into the heart. The convicted sinner's only refuge, the mercy of God. If you're convicted tonight, wounded, saint or sinner, that's the refuge.

43:14 And I say in closing with the words of that beautiful hymn, Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready, stands to save you, full of pity, joined with power. He is able, he is able, he is willing, weep no more. Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. Are you thinking, well, sometime I'll get a little better, then I'll come? No, let not

43:40 conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth is to see your need of him. This he gives you, this he gives you, tis the Spirit's rising being. That's the truth of the word.

43:54 Saint,

43:56 one who's not joined to Christ, there's your refuge. May God grant that you'll find it, and that you'll find it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and that you'll be one who builds a monument to the inexhaustible mercy of our merciful God. Let us pray.