Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, let's go to the Book of Psalms. We're going to look at the 6th psalm as we journey through the book of Psalms, the heart of the Bible. And we're going to see the hearts once again tonight. I hope so, anyway.
[00:00:18] Psalm number six. We'll begin reading, of course, in verse number one.
[00:00:24] Psalm number six. Verse number one. To the chief musician on Neganoth upon Sheminath, a psalm of David. You know, it's funny, these subtitles. Like, there's more and more and more as you go through the psalms. There's a lot of subtitles, and nobody really knows what they mean, these hebrew words. So we'll just leave them as they are. All right. Verse number one. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot display pleasure.
[00:00:55] Have mercy upon me, o Lord, for I am weak.
[00:00:59] O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed. But thou, o Lord, how long return? O Lord, deliver my soul. O save me for thy mercy's sake.
[00:01:15] For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave. Who shall give thee thanks?
[00:01:21] I am weary with my groaning all the night. Make I my bed to swim, I water my couch with tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief. It waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
[00:01:35] Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer. Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed. Let them return and be ashamed suddenly. Let's pray.
[00:01:55] Our father, thank you for this psalm, and thank you for the heart here that we see in all of these psalms the heart of your people that you have so led to record these things and record various aspects of their relationship to you and various characteristics that you have that give us great comfort, Lord, as we look at this psalm tonight, Lord, help us to profit by it. Help us to understand it, Lord. I pray that indeed, we would see our own heart in the heart of David here as he deals with these troubles, as he interacts with you as one of your people. And I pray that you would help us, Lord, to be encouraged and be strengthened by what it says. We ask you, Lord, to be our teacher in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:48] Now, sometimes people make fun or they, you know, kind of smug. Sometimes smug people will poke fun at the fact that, you know, sometimes people say, how many times they say, lord, in their prayer. How many of you have heard stuff like that? Say, lord, the Lord. Lord, lord, Lord. Well, if you just look at the first several verses of this chapter, I would say that's pretty biblical. The number of times o Lord, o Lord, o Lord is found.
[00:03:15] That just, it was a little bit comical as I thought about it, because there's at least five or six times, just in the first four verses that the phrase o Lord is found.
[00:03:26] But you see here, as we saw in psalm number three, if you go back there, you don't have to go back there. But just the first verse says, how are they increased that trouble me? How many are they that rise up against me? And in psalm three, we saw that David faced trouble and distress because of what we called people trouble. And that is a source of our trouble, right? We often have people trouble, and that's one of the more difficult troubles that we have because we have such little control over what other people do. It feels like, at least. But in this psalm, the problem is not people trouble. The problem is not people trouble. The psalmist is in distress. The psalmist here, David, is troubled the same as he was in psalm three. But this time it's not people trouble, but it's sin trouble.
[00:04:16] David is in trouble.
[00:04:19] He has found himself on the receiving end of God's displeasure and of God's chastening. He says, o Lord, verse one, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Now, the word chasten, we know, you know, the word rebuke or the word chasten are both words that are really only ever used in the context of people who have done wrong. Right. You rebuke someone who's done wrong. A child might be chastened whenever the child is in rebellion or mouths off or something like that. So David is on the receiving end of the corrective hand of God in his life, and that is trouble. Let me ask you a question.
[00:05:04] How many of you, how many of us have know this kind of trouble that you have been on the receiving hand of the correction of the Lord?
[00:05:17] I think every one of us, every one of us would raise our hand and we would say, I know that I have been on the receiving hand of the correction of the Lord. I have been in distress and trouble as a result of that.
[00:05:29] I think probably every Christian who's been saved any length of time has experienced that. In fact, it's one of the primary marks that you're truly saved is the fact that God treats you as his child, and he does that through correction. And the reason why he does that is because we are so very prone to sin.
[00:05:48] We're so very inclined to sin all the time. And so the Lord, knowing that, has decided that he's going to correct us. He's going to correct us. But notice in verse number one, and let me just say this real quick, that, you know, the fact that David is troubled is right. We should not be in a case when we're walking away from the Lord or walking at a distance from God and not in fellowship, because sin is in our life.
[00:06:18] We should not be happy and content. In that case, we should be troubled. David is troubled. And, in fact, that's what the Lord ensures.
[00:06:27] He is going to make sure that if we are not walking in fellowship with him, that we are also not walking in peace.
[00:06:37] So the Lord is not always looking out for our peace.
[00:06:40] He's looking out for our righteousness, right, our holiness. And through that comes peace. He's not gonna give us peace outside of that. And so look at verse number one. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
[00:07:00] Now, notice, he says his concern is not so much that God rebukes him. His concern, I would say, is not so much that God chastens him. He doesn't say, lord, please don't rebuke me. Please don't chasten me. But it's the way the Lord does it. You know, he's asking God not to do it in anger, not to do it in hot displeasure. And as I read this, I thought one of the cardinal and most important rules in disciplining a child is to make sure that we do not do it in a spirit of anger.
[00:07:36] We might say it like this when we have to discipline our children. Remember, the Lord is the example as a father. And when we have to discipline our children, we have to do it in the coolness of spirit, not in hot displeasure. This is exactly what David is asking the Lord to do. Lord, if you're going to, if you're going to rebuke me, if you're going to correct me and chasten me, then at least do it when you're calm. At least do it when you're cool.
[00:08:04] But here's the thing. When we think about what motivates us as parents, you know, some of you, within the next, say, five years, you're probably gonna have little kids on your lap in the next ten years. Some of you that don't have children, some of you that aren't married right now are gonna have not only a wife or husband, you're gonna have a child. And then the next ten years, you're gonna have to start figuring out how you're gonna correct and chasten that child. Right?
[00:08:32] But here's the thing.
[00:08:35] If we have. Think about this. If we have no motivation to chasten and correct our child, except only when we are angry, then that means we're not doing it based upon principle for our child's good. That means that we're doing it as a vent of our anger. And that is wrong. That is not right, because we know the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. That anger in man is not going to produce a good outcome. And that includes in the way we discipline our children. And see, here's the problem with parents. We often discipline kids in wrath because we have no motivation or principle that will lead us to do it when we're calm.
[00:09:21] So we wait on ourselves to bubble over. And that's why when a child disobeys or rebels in a way that is subtle, we let it go because it hasn't caused anger in us to bubble up to the point that we explode.
[00:09:38] But in reality, it's at that point that correction should be done. To begin, we must correct our children out of principle.
[00:09:51] If we have to have anger to correct them or chasten them, then our motivation is not right. But on the other hand, if after we have cooled down, we still apply the rod of correction, then that means we're doing it because it is the right thing to do in the sight of the Lord and because we want our kids to go the right way.
[00:10:15] You see what I'm saying? It's not for us, but them. You see, when we correct our kids in anger, it's for us.
[00:10:24] Our thoughts are not on our child's welfare. It's on our own. Venting our anger. That's a terrible thing for us, to vent our anger on the ones that we're supposed to love the most. But you know what? We do it not just with kids, but in all kinds of relationships. Right, but this is why the principle of cooling down and then applying the rod of correction as needed in a measured way to get the outcome that you want for your kids. That's why this is so important.
[00:10:56] Compare Jeremiah chapter ten. Take a peek at Jeremiah chapter ten, if you would. I want to show you this principle in Jeremiah.
[00:11:10] Jeremiah chapter ten, and verse number 24.
[00:11:25] Verse 24 says, o Lord, jeremiah 1024. O Lord, correct me. See, he's saying, I want correction. Listen, that's the heart of a child. Of God right there.
[00:11:38] I want correction.
[00:11:40] Number one, we've acknowledged that we're liable to go wayward.
[00:11:45] Number two, we don't want to go that way, so we want the Lord to correct us. You see that Jeremiah is this man. He is a man who knows God and loves God. He says, o Lord, correct me, but with judgment, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. So he says, lord, correct me, but let's not do it in anger. That's what we just saw in psalm six. But notice what verse 25 says. By contrast, verse 25 says this, pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not and upon the families that call not on thy name, for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have made his habitation desolate. Notice the difference between 24 and 25. In 24, the Lord is absent. At least Jeremiah is asking for the Lord to correct him, absent anger, without anger.
[00:12:36] But in 25, you see the Lord's anger poured out on those that know not God.
[00:12:45] And that's what we talked about last week in psalm five, did we not? We talked about the judgment of God. And when God does pour out his anger, so what the Lord is doing when he corrects us is not venting his anger.
[00:12:57] He is applying correction and chastening to turn us about. In other words, it's corrective.
[00:13:04] Whereas with unbelievers, it's what we might call punitive.
[00:13:09] It's punishment, it's judgment.
[00:13:13] So that's a difference between the two. But back in psalm six, what do we have here? This is not punitive. This is corrective. The Lord is correcting a sin and an error in David's life.
[00:13:26] And you know what? For you and for me, God's anger.
[00:13:31] God's anger, whatever anger we might have. And God has anger when we do wrong. I believe the scriptures teach that. But his anger will never rise to the level of judgment with us, even in. Even when we're in rebellion. Did you know the Bible talks about a sin unto death where God just snuffs the life out? There are examples of that in scripture. When someone lives in such, his children live in such rebellion. It can get to a point where God just takes the life.
[00:13:59] But at no point does that turn into judgment unto eternal death. It never gets to that point.
[00:14:08] Look at verse number two. The Bible says this, have mercy upon me, o Lord, for I am weak, o Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed. Notice what David says here. Have mercy upon me, for I am weak. Think about it, David has been in sin, right? David is messed up. He has not obeyed the Lord. He has disobeyed the Lord. The Lord is rebuking him.
[00:14:35] And he says in verse two, as a result of God's correction, he says, I'm weak.
[00:14:40] Now, I thought about this. Does not the Lord often use our own failures and sins to show us our own weakness?
[00:14:50] You know, we think we're pretty good. We're hot stuff, you know, we're living for the Lord. We're, you know, doing what we're supposed to be doing.
[00:14:58] And then all of a sudden we fall flat on our face and fail.
[00:15:04] We just. We blow it. I'm talking about we fall. We trip and fall into sin. And the Lord. It's not that that pleases God, of course. We know it doesn't please God, but the Lord uses it in our life to humble us, to humble our pride and to make us. And listen, I'm speaking from experience, and if you've been through this, you probably have. And you probably have been humbled by the Lord on this matter.
[00:15:33] You fell into sin. You blew it. You messed up big time in the sight of God. And you cried out to God and said, God, I am with you.
[00:15:43] I'm weak. I messed up.
[00:15:46] I'm just a wreck.
[00:15:49] He uses even our failures and sins to help us. Only God can do that.
[00:15:56] God can use even wrong to do right. Did he not do that with Joseph? You know the famous line, you meant it unto evil, but God meant it unto good. And that's exactly what the Lord does with our sin. Now, our sin does not please God. Right? Our sin is not something that's good in the sight of God. But God is powerful enough to use even the evil for good. And he does it by humbling us and showing us how frail we are, how liable to fall. And it puts the fear of God in us, really.
[00:16:29] God shows us how weak we are. You know, often we don't feel. Yeah, weak until we fall flat on our face.
[00:16:39] And then the Lord uses that to teach us that we are weak and it makes us feel weak. You think in this psalm, do you think just reading the oh, Lord over and over, do you think David feels weak in this song? Oh, yeah, I would say he feels weak. It's not just him saying I am weak because the Bible says it doctrinally. No, no, no. He feels it. He blew it and he knew it. He blew it and he knew it. He blew it and he knows it.
[00:17:11] But though David, verse two, has sinned against God to whom does he turn for healing?
[00:17:22] He turns to the same God against whom he had sinned. He says, o Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed.
[00:17:32] He turns to the same God against whom he sinned, turns right back to God and says, lord, I'm weak. Lord, heal me, because it is God that heals you. Think about Job, chapter five. Listen to this verse. Job 518 says this.
[00:17:50] Now, you gotta be careful when you read the book of Job, just as you know, expert note, right? I interpreter's note here. When you read the book of Job, there are several speakers in the book of Job. There's Job. There's Bildad and Eliphaz and Zohar, right? And then at the end, there's Elihu. So you have those guys, and then the Lord speaks as well. But as you read the words of job, and especially the words of, even the words of Job and his three friends, not all of them are right, even though what the Bible says, you know, obviously what is recorded of what they said is right. But not everything they're saying is actually correct as far as the truth. God rebukes them for some of the things they said.
[00:18:34] So as you read the book of Job, you gotta be careful. Not everything Job says is right, and not everything his three friends say is right.
[00:18:42] And oftentimes in the book of Job, what you have is a case where one of the three friends is speaking like I'm about to read in job five. And what he's saying is right. It's just not applied to Job. Right?
[00:18:56] In other words, it doesn't apply to Job. But here's what Eliphaz says in job 518.
[00:19:03] Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth. This is what we read here, right? Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.
[00:19:13] For listen to this. For he maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth, and his hands make whole. Think about that. This is what Eliphaz says to Job. Now, Job wasn't in sin. He wasn't. So Eliphaz is saying, you need to turn to God because you've sinned, and God's correcting you. Truth is, Job had not sinned, but the truth is accurate. In fact, we see it in this psalm. To whom does David turn for healing? He turns to the same God.
[00:19:48] So God is the one that corrects. God, casts down. God is the one that takes us to the woodshed and whips us. Right? He applies the rod of correction faithfully as a good father, and then he's the one to whom we, as his child, instinctively turn for healing.
[00:20:09] Man, what a good. Isn't this a good example? And picture brother Eric when you have to, when you guys have to take care of issues with kids, just like anybody that has little kids, is that that kid would turn to you, turn to you with remorse over what they have done, because you have corrected them and chastened them, and they turn to you. This is the whole purpose, right? That the relationship might be better. And this is exactly what David does. God corrects him. And he turns straight back to God and said, God, you heal me. But think about that word, heal the healing.
[00:20:50] Now he says in verse two, for I am weak. And then he says, heal me, for my bones are vexed. Now, we might think automatically of. Of sickness, right? And maybe that's a good. That's one way you can think of it, because he does mention his bones being vexed.
[00:21:08] But think about this. The healing that David is asking for is for God to heal this weakness in him.
[00:21:18] Okay, so here's what happened. David sinned. And by David's David falling flat on his face, it has been revealed that there's a weakness in him.
[00:21:27] That's what sin shows. We might see a fault that has led to a sin. And as a result of that sin, David's eyes have been opened. And he says to God, I'm weak. Look at what I've done. I'm just. I'm a wreck. I'm messed up. I'm faulty.
[00:21:43] Not as an excuse, but as speaking to God plainly and transparently, I'm faulty.
[00:21:50] And he says, lord, fix me.
[00:21:53] Heal me.
[00:21:55] He wants God to heal this weakness in him that has led to this point of chastening so that he will not do it again.
[00:22:05] He's not asking God for a quick fix to God's correction. No. He says, heal me. Not fix. Not just take your hand off so I can be happy again. No, no, fix me. Heal me.
[00:22:20] He wants God to do something in him such that he will not repeat this error.
[00:22:26] You know what this is? You know in our Sunday school, we've been talking about repentance and faith, right? This is what a repentant heart looks like.
[00:22:36] This is what we're going to talk about this Sunday. This is not the Esau repentance that just wants to get out of the consequences. This is the heart that says, lord, I don't ever want to do this again. Fix me.
[00:22:50] That's true repentance.
[00:22:52] That's true repentance.
[00:22:54] And this is the heart, right? The heart of the Bible. This is the heart of a man and a heart of a child of God like you, like me, who has fallen flat on our face. And we want God to fix us so we don't do it again.
[00:23:08] True repentance. Look at verse number four.
[00:23:13] Return, o Lord, deliver my soul. Oh, save me for thy mercy's sake for thy mercy's sake. He asks God for salvation. Not, this is not of the soul in the sense of being saved from going to hell or being saved from sin like we think of it. Remember, this is. Look at it in the context in which it's written, right? This is a man of God, a man who loves God, who has sinned. This is the salvation he's referring to, right?
[00:23:46] He says, oh, save me for thy mercy's sake. So does David ask God to save him because of his own goodness?
[00:23:55] Lord, save me because I'm a good person. Save me because I have it all together. No, he's asking God to save him because God is a God who is full of mercy. He does not claim his own goodness, but he's claiming the fact that God is inclined to mercy. The Bible says he delights in mercy. In fact, there's a verse here I want to read to you. It says this. Micah seven eight. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.
[00:24:34] If God took. If God looked on our goodness to decide whether or not to save us, there's not one of us have a chance at all. But no, he looks on his own tendency to mercy.
[00:24:46] And that's why he reaches out and helps us, not because we're good.
[00:24:57] Spurgeon said this.
[00:24:59] Speaking of this verse, he says, this is the right way to plead with God if we would prevail.
[00:25:06] Urge not your goodness or your greatness, but plead your sin and your littleness.
[00:25:13] That's pretty good.
[00:25:14] But God, I've obeyed you. Don't even start it. Don't even start it. You need to bring God the little broken mess that you are. Bring that to God. Don't brag or boast about anything you are or thought you were. Really, if you do that, if we do that, we've missed the point. We've missed verse number two where he says, I am weak. Look at verse number six.
[00:25:39] Or let's take a peek at verse five really quick. For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave. Who shall give thee thanks. Just as a little side note, Jehovah's Witness is people that believe in soul sleep. That is, they do not believe that a person dies and at that moment consciously goes to heaven or hell. They believe they sleep and until the resurrection, essentially, is what they believe. This is what Jehovah's Witnesses teach, which means, basically, there's no hell, essentially.
[00:26:09] And they use verses like this. See, in death, there is no remembrance. That means you're dead. You don't know what's going on in the grave. Who shall give thee thanks? You're dead. You're silent, you're sleeping. The problem is, this verse is very simple. And I know for those of you that study the Bible, sometimes these can kind of trip you up. But here, all you got to do is think about this. If you were to go down here to Graceland Cemetery or Woodlawn Memorial park here at night and you were to walk around, are you going to hear anybody?
[00:26:37] Are you going to see anybody? Are you going to hear anybody praising the Lord?
[00:26:42] Are you going to see anybody remembering the good things God has done? No, you're not. Why not? Because they're dead.
[00:26:48] This is all David is saying, lord, keep me alive. David's like, I'm going to die here if you don't help me.
[00:26:55] He's like, remember, lord, if I'm alive, I can praise you.
[00:27:00] That's all it's talking about. I said, they build huge doctrinal things. But anyway, let's go to verse six. He says, I am weary with my groaning all the night. Make I my bed to swim.
[00:27:16] I water my couch with tears.
[00:27:19] I just want to pause here because this is a curious verse. Make your bed to swim. Maybe he had a waterbed.
[00:27:28] You older people know what I'm talking about. Raise your hand if you had a waterbed. If you've ever had a waterbed in your life. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I hate them things. They are not comfortable. I don't care what anybody says, but what is he talking about? He made his bed to swim. Swim. Listen to this. Second kings, six six. And the man of God said, where fell it? Talking about the axe head. Remember when he was chopping wood and the axe head flew off where fell it? And he showed him the place and he cut down a stick and cast it in thither. And the iron did swim. Maybe he was doing the backstroke back, said, no, no, no. Here's what it means. Swim means you might say this is crazy, but I'm telling you, I'm reading out of the dictionary. Okay. Swim means to float on the surface of any liquid, to be supported on water or other fluid, not to sink.
[00:28:21] So in this case, what is it talking about when it says swim? Float. So you have this picture of David crying.
[00:28:31] This is not meant to be literal. Okay? David didn't cry, like, you know, 400 gallons of water in his house. Okay? Don't. Don't get too crazy on them. But David's crying, and he's saying, I cried so much, my bed was floating. There's so many tears. You get the picture, right?
[00:28:48] And he says, I water my couch with my tears and water. Couch. Well, David had a couch. Well, that's pretty cool. But listen, what a couch is. A couch is a frame or structure with what is spread over it on which to lie down for rest or sleep. A bed.
[00:29:06] Now, I know we don't use the word couch. A couch is different than a bed. But remember, our bible is 400 years old, so some of the meanings, we got to look it up as it's used at that time. Right? So this is just talking about his bed. So here's what David's doing. All right? I know we had a little bit of fun. Let's get serious again, okay? Come on. Come on. Be serious.
[00:29:25] David is crying on his bed as he thinks about what he has done. Tears all night long.
[00:29:38] Here's what this shows, though.
[00:29:42] This is the heart of the Bible, right?
[00:29:44] This shows something. It gives us a lesson, does it not, about the emotional state of a child of God who is grieving over the fact that he has sinned against goddesse, right? Does it not show that?
[00:30:03] Now, I know we can turn on tears. You know, some people can do that. Some people can't.
[00:30:08] Some people can. Boo hoo. Even in the example I cited a minute ago with Esau, when Esau was really sad because he lost his birthright. He cried. He cried crocodile tears.
[00:30:20] Didn't make any difference. But this verse does show us the emotional state of one of God's children, who is under God's correction because he has sinned. Is he just, like, you know, just chilling? Yeah. Yeah. I did wrong. No, he is grieved.
[00:30:38] He is troubled to his very soul.
[00:30:43] Tears are pouring out all night long because of what he has done. This is not a light matter to him.
[00:30:56] Here's a question. If we are not truly burdened and grieved when we sin against the Lord so grieved that it affects us emotionally, like we see here, are we even serious about our sin at all if it doesn't affect our emotions. Listen, emotion is an important part of our life, and that's, it's a good measure of how serious we are about a matter, be it joy, be it sadness, or whatever the case.
[00:31:29] And if we're not serious enough to cry tears, if it doesn't, if it's not serious enough to lead us to that, then are we going to be serious about getting it right?
[00:31:41] Perhaps we sometimes don't thoroughly get our sin right with God because we don't thoroughly grieve over it first.
[00:31:54] So you might say it like this, shallow grieving for sin leads to shallow repentance from sin.
[00:32:04] You see how it affected him? He cried over his sin. We already saw he wanted to be healed. It was a serious matter to him. It wasn't just a, just, you know. Yeah, listen. And going back to our Sunday school, I know I keep referring to that, but in our Sunday school, you're trying to deal with someone. Are they serious about where they stand with God? Are they troubled by it? That's one way you could tell. Are they. I mean, is it evident that they're troubled?
[00:32:30] There's an emotional factor that is evident, and people express that differently, but it's there. Verse eight, if you would, he says, depart from me, all you workers. So let me get the, let me read verse six and seven, kind of, kind of pick up so you can see kind of what happens here. He said, I am weary with my groaning all the night. I make I my bed to swim. I water my couch with tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief. It waxeth old because of all mine enemies. And then in verse eight, the psalm pivots. He says, depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.
[00:33:17] He says, in verse nine, the Lord hath heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer. You see what he's picked up on in verse eight. He sinned against God in the first five verses of the psalm. And now, now he's grieved. He cried. He's brought it to God. He's felt the heavy hand of God's chastening and correction in his life. And now he has repented of that thing. And now he is knowing. He is experiencing personally the knowledge of God's forgiveness.
[00:33:54] This is a turning point.
[00:33:58] Second corinthians 710 eleven. You've heard these verses before, but notice it says, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world. Worketh death. For behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort. What carefulness it brought in you. What clearing of yourselves. Yea, what indignation. That's anger. Yea. What fear. Yea. What vehement desire. Yea. What zealous. Yea. What revenge in all things ye have approved yourselves. To be clear in this matter, notice he's repented. The Lord has forgiven him. He knows that. But notice what this grieving process over his sin has produced.
[00:34:39] He says, get away from me, all you wicked people.
[00:34:46] Whereas in verse one, here he is being corrected for being involved in those very things. Now that he's been cleansed, now that he's grieved, now that God has forgiven him, now he's saying, I don't want to be around that stuff. Get away from me.
[00:35:04] As a result of his thorough repentance, he has a holy resolve against sin. And you know what that does? It affects his friend group, it affects his associates, because he can no longer tolerate that thing over which he grieved. So in verse eight or verse six, rather, he can no longer tolerate it. He don't want it around him.
[00:35:32] He don't want it around him.
[00:35:34] So he says, get away from me, all you workers of iniquity.
[00:35:38] He hates it. It continues to grieve him, even though he knows God has forgiven him. You see that this is how repentance affects the life, our life.
[00:35:55] It not only affects us by the fruit, it shows by us not continuing to sin, but also how that we are unwilling to participate with those that do.
[00:36:13] Spurgeon, once again, said this.
[00:36:16] A pardoned sinner will hate the sins which cost the savior his blood.
[00:36:22] That's pretty good.
[00:36:24] Pretty good.
[00:36:26] So we see that, you know, how people talk about grace? Grace, wonder, grace, wonder grace. And we are. We are. But the grace of goddess and the mercy of God has given David forgiveness.
[00:36:42] But the grace that gave him forgiveness did not provide him a license to continue to sin. He doesn't want to sin again. He doesn't want to fall into this trap. He doesn't want to do it again. Rather, the opposite. The grace that brought him forgiveness is the very thing, is the impetus and the force that drives him away from sin, is it not?
[00:37:08] Yeah.
[00:37:09] And for all the talk about grace and how, you know, people were under grace and how, what, you know, they can do, and it's okay. Any understanding or concept of grace that does not drive us away from sin is not a biblical concept of grace.
[00:37:24] That is just wrong.
[00:37:27] Verse number nine, the Lord hath heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer. The last thing we see here is the voice of faith.
[00:37:39] It is the assurance of forgiveness. Can you know.
[00:37:43] Can you know for certain that God has forgiven you?
[00:37:50] You know, in salvation, but even after that, even after that, as a believer, when you fall on your face, you get that thing right. Can you know for certain that God has forgiven you? Yes.
[00:38:05] You know what? Some people, when they sin, they never, they can never get over it because they struggle whether God has forgiven them because they have not forgiven them.
[00:38:16] I know that sounds a little psychological, but it's not. It's not we must forgive ourselves. It is that they struggle to believe that God has forgiven them. They mistrust.
[00:38:30] But you and I, even though we blow it, and we. And sometimes, listen, if you're in your life, you are probably going to blow it, if you haven't already, you're probably going to do it in a royal fashion.
[00:38:43] But when you get that thing right, God will forgive you and you can continue to move on with God and God will give you grace to have victory over that thing. Forgiveness is real.
[00:38:59] Amen. Let's pray.
