Pastor Richard Owen |
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Psalm 51, begin reading in verse number one "Have mercy upon me, oh God, according to thy loving kindness: according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judges!. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom." Let's pray. "Father, in Jesus name, I want to thank you Lord for your precious Word, I want to thank you for the time that we have, the privilege that we have to preach the Word, and I thank you Lord for the understanding you give us, realizing Lord, that we don't know the way and without you Lord, we will be confused and will not have the answers. But, I know that Lord, your able to give us understanding, to give us wisdom, to show us the height and the depth and the ways of God, and I thank you Lord. I stand. Lord, believing in your Word and your ways and your guidance, you promised to guide us into all truth, and so I'm looking to you this morning for wisdom again to preach your Word. Have your way in this message this morning , in Jesus name. Amen and Amen." When I started this Psalm out I fully intended to deal with the entire Psalm. Actually, I was uncertain just which way I'd go at times and I figured, just as I read the Psalm, as I studied the Psalm, God was going to give me understanding and I'd look to the truth and trust Him to guide me into all truth. When I started this Psalm, if you'll remember back it's been almost a month ago, I think, when I started this study. I was determined to do every verse of this Psalm, and to ask God to give us the understanding, to make it fit, and harmonize and deal with the theme. The subject of this Psalm, the subject, the theme of this Psalm, is David's repentance, his contrition over his sin. If you get the setting, the setting of this Psalm is when Nathan said to David "Thou art the man," and God revealed to him that his sin was open before him, and that He had seen his sin, and that David was guilty. And so this is David's confession, this is David's brokenness, this is David's repentance, and it's still the theme all the way through this chapter. It doesn't change, it doesn't altar, and it doesn't vary. It deals with David. Can I say to you, I believe, that this is one of the best chapters in the Bible to use to show a man how to deal with sin in his life? This is one of the best. This shows David, dealing with every part of his life. This shows David, in a broken and a contrite heart. It gets down to the end of it and he says that's what it takes to have a right relationship with God, for God to forgive him of his sin. So David here is dealing with this. This is theme - this is the subject. It doesn't get off that subject. It doesn't build other doctrines into here. This deals with David's repentance, brokenness - he's crushed over his sin. Now I've studied and meditated, and meditated on this chapter. There have been so many times that I've begun to look at this chapter, I'd write lots of notes on this chapter, and then I'd put them aside. I'd say, "No, I don't feel comfortable with it". Then I'd come back and I just felt liberty. It's one of the first times I felt in twenty-six years the liberty to go on and just deal with this chapter, and deal with the verses I'm going to deal with this morning. These two verses this morning are the most controversial verses, no doubt, in the book of Psalms. I hope that you'll take notes, I hope you'll study with me. I hope you'll write down references that I'll give you, and study on your own. I want you to do that. I've looked at scores of thoughts of this. I've looked at almost every commentary I could find. I've searched the internet far and wide, asking for views of this particular chapter, and sought out men from every comer of the globe as far as from every different view, from every different type of religious beliefs and backgrounds that you could imagine. Trying to find just what the truth is of this passage of Scripture. I've read where some have distorted this, and twisted it to mean some things, and some other things. I read one man, where it says in here, "in sin did my mother conceive me", he said it speaks of how that David's mother had an illicit affair. And I said "what a perversion of the Scriptures!" Because you've got to remember this, there are some things that you keep in the back of your mind. You've got to take the whole Bible into view. You can never interpret a Scripture to make it contrary to other Scriptures. You must stay in context, you must not make one verse say something that another verse totally contradicts. You must keep the author in agreement with himself and what he's doing, or you contradict the Scriptures. There are laws and rules of interpretation of the Bible that you cannot violate. You must not make a man inconsistent with himself. You have to make sense with the Bible and not nonsense. And so, there are rules and laws of interpretation. And so, I'm looking at the passage of Scripture, I've studied, and studied and studied. I want to just take you through slowly through verse number five, and if the Lord enables us, verse number six, this morning. But as I said, this is a continuation of David's contrition, it's a continuation of his describing the consequences and the weight of his sin. He's dealing with this, and David is not looking, if you'll approach this verse realizing, he is not looking for a cause and effect. David's not looking for a reason why he sinned. He's not looking for a cause, if you'll remember that. Because the first four verses, he tells you that he is personally responsible for his sin. He takes full responsibility. He is saying, "…of my own free will and volition," - that is what he's saying. In verse number four he says, "…have I sinned". He didn't say, "I was caused to sin, this is the reason I've sinned". He takes full responsibility, he's not looking for an escape route. He's not looking to be a victim of some kind because of an effect upon his life, he's taking full responsibility for his actions and full account. He's saying, "It's my sin." You'll see it over and over again, verse one, "my transgression." Verse number two, "mine iniquity." Verse number two, "my sin." Verse number three, "my transgression." Verse number three, "my sin." Verse number four, "have I sinned," and so, he takes full responsibility for his sin. He doesn't blame it on anybody else. He's not looking for a cause, or purpose or reason why he sinned. "It's my sin, I have sinned." David is not looking for someone to blame it on. He's not looking for an excuse, he's not looking for a cause that made him sin. David is looking for a cure. He's not looking a cause, he's looking for a cure! He's looking for deliverance! He's looking for God to heal him, to cleanse him, to sanctify him, to justify him, to purify his life. He feels defiled, he feels unclean, he feels wicked in the sight of God. He wants to be washed whiter than snow. He's looking for deliverance, he's not looking for a reason for the state he's in, he's not looking for a cause. He's looking for deliverance. If you'll approach this verse as you come down through to verse number five, you must realize that David is not seeking a cause or a reason why he sinned. He's really accepted his own responsibility for his sin over and over again. Six times I believe it is here, that he makes it clear that it's his, "it's mine, it's my transgression, my sin, mine iniquity." And so David is taking responsibility of that. He doesn't say "it's because of this... because of somebody else... because somebody made me do it..." You remember. Eve tried to blame Adam, and Adam tried to blame Eve, and they both tried to blame the serpent, and everything else? David's not doing that, he's not trying to pass the buck, he's not trying to get out from under it to try to find relief, and try to find an excuse. Listen to me carefully, and look at me. You interpret the Bible - I hope you get this little point - you will interpret the Bible according to what your looking for in the Bible. Now if you really have a predetermined view that you desire to get out of the Bible. If you're already set in your mind, and you're determined that you're going to find something in the Bible, you can take the Scriptures and wrest them, and twist them to your own destruction. Every cult in this world has done exactly that. They've sought, they've went to the Scriptures looking to justify - looking to find scriptural backing for their own views and ideas. And believe me, if you want to do that, you can take the Scriptures I am using this morning and wrest and twist and distort them to conform to your own opinions, or to get an agreement to what you already believe, if you want to do that. But if you're going to allow the Scriptures to flow in harmony, the Scriptures have a unity, they have a harmony that has to be recognized. The Scriptures don't have contradictions and confusion. The Scripture has a beautiful harmony to it, and a unity that the Scriptures just flow through. Nor are the Scriptures complicated. God didn't make them confusing and complicated so that you couldn't understand them. He merely expects you to look to Him and to trust Him and to seek His will for His Word. He expects you to obey it. If you are not going to obey it, - you get this down if I don't get any farther this morning, you get this down clear, - He will not reveal the Word of God to you! He will not open the Scriptures to you. He will not teach the Word of God to you! It will be a dead book! It will be a book that will be closed to you unless you have a heart with a desire to obey what He teaches you. If you're going to question, and I've seen times that I've laid before God, and wept before God, and asked God to reveal the Word of God to me, and I've been challenged with that thought in the forefront of my mind. Are you going to proclaim it? Will you believe it? Will you walk in it? Will you teach it? Will you question what I show you? And over and over again I've had that challenge in my heart. If you're not willing to obey it, if you're not willing to accept it, if you'll not accept it by faith without reservation, if you're going to question God and question the Holy Spirit of God, mark it down, listen to me carefully, and look at me, you will get nothing from God! "He that doubteth is like a wave tossed in the sea." I'm saying, you seek wisdom, this is the Wisdom Book, this is the Wisdom Book. And if you doubt, if you're going to enter into this Book with doubts and questions about what God reveals to you - forget it! You'll get nothing from God! Nothing! Can I say to you that there are many portions of Scripture similar to this one that you're going to have to wait on the Lord for. I remember an old preacher preaching one time down at Sammy's camp meeting and I never forgot the thought that he give, and it just really impressed me. I was a young preacher, I was looking up to this man. He was an eloquent preacher, and I remember a statement he made, and it just stuck with me. He said, "Never try to force the interpretation of the Scripture." Do not try to pressure that into a mold, do not try and force that Scripture to where you understand it. This was an old man - been preaching probably 35-40 years at the time. He stood in the pulpit and he said " I've got many verses that I've underlined and looked at and studied and meditated on, and had to back away from them and just say, 'I'll wait until God opens that one up to me, I don't understand that one.'" He said, "Some of them have taken ten, twelve, fifteen, some of them have taken many years, twenty, thirty years." I've read my Bible, come across that verse, still couldn't get it. Go back the next year, read that verse of Scripture, still couldn't get it. Go back and read that verse of Scripture again, still couldn't get it. And can I say to you, listen to me carefully, understanding the Bible depends on your growth and maturity and obedience. You can't give strong meat to babies. Just as you don't set your little child down and give them a steak, the little baby that doesn't have any teeth, so it is that you must mature in your own spiritual life. You must develop a level of Christianity where you mature in the Lord and you begin to get understanding of the concepts and the understanding of what God is like. Until you begin to have a true picture of God in your mind and your heart, - a concept of His holiness, His righteousness, His judgment, and His truth! And when you begin to understand God, you begin to understand the Word of God and the Spirit of God begins to open slowly to you here a little, there a little. Line upon line, precept upon precept. This Bible isn't automatically opened to you as soon as you look at it. You're not going to understand it for years, some of it you will never understand. As I said this morning it will take time. But if you'll wait on the Lord, patiently wait on Him, I believe God will open the truth to your mind. David is seeking here, if you'll keep this in mind, David wants to be clean. He wants to be pure, "wash me". He's wanting to be cleansed, "wash me thoroughly, cleanse me from my sin", he says in verse number two. He wants his sins blotted out, as I said in verse number one. He wants these sins removed. He is not seeking to find out how he can reason about these sins and how he can reconcile about these sins, but he wants rid of them. He wants them out of his life. He doesn't want to understand them, he wants rid of them. He's not looking for a cause and effect. Can I say also, that David is agonizing under his consequences of his sin. His sin has brought shame. His sin has brought reproach upon his life. His sin has brought guilt upon him. His sin has broken him down in contrition. His sin has brought him to where he's brought into the very presence of God. David realizes that he didn't do this sin in the dark so that God didn't know it. He said in verse number four, he talks about how that God has seen that sin, and this evil. "And done this evil in thy sight." God saw him commit that sin! And so, David is dealing with this brokenness, David is dealing with this nakedness. He feels naked before God. He feels open and exposed before God. He feels wicked in the sight of God. He feels defiled in the sight of God. I'm saying, David is broken, he's in contrition. He's bowed down over the weight of his sin. He's telling us the way of the transgressor is hard. He's telling us how that the way of the transgressor is one that God knows exactly what he's doing and God can see his ways. And David feels this defilement, he feels this wickedness in the sight of God. And so, you come to this verse, number five, with those thoughts in mind. He's not seeking for a cause - he is seeking for deliverance. He is realizing the consequences of his sin. The only way that you will ever deal thoroughly with sin is to realize what it is costing you - what it has done to your life. The old songwriter says, " I'm tired of sin and straying Lord," and then it deals with I'm sick of my sin. Can I say to you, until you get sick of it, until you get tired of it, until you realize what it's done to you, you will not deal with it thoroughly. The prodigal son realized how foolish he was and how the sin had brought him down to the very depths of degradation. And there in the hog pen, eating hog slop and realizing what sin did to his life, he said, "I will return to my father's house." And so, David is beginning to deal with the brokenness, the weight of sin, the consequences that sin has brought upon his life. And as he approaches this verse, number five, he sees himself in this state. Now, David comes to this verse and notice what he says here. "Behold I was shapen in iniquity." Now this verse does not step out and deal with something else, it doesn't run a rabbit trail. It's still uniformly, it's still in harmonious accord with what David is speaking about. He's dealing with his sin. He's dealing with the consequences of his sin. He's dealing with the results of his sin. He's dealing with what he's reaping because of his sin. His sin made him feel defiled, he wanted to be clean. His sin has brought him before God, he feels guilty before God. He sees himself as God has seen him, he's naked before God. Now he comes into verse number five, and he begins to address this brokenness and what he is suffering because of his sin. The key word, the key word, in interpreting this verse, is the word shapen, the word shapen. "Behold," notice what he said, "I was shapen in iniquity." For years I've studied and would meditate on this Scripture. I had no problem with the remainder of the verse. The remainder of the verse is easy to interpret, it's just open. Can I say to you, when people put a different twist, when man puts his doctrinal twist on a verse, you have a hard time undoing that twist. When man has twisted the Scriptures, for you to put it back right, it just complicates it, because you're just constantly fighting what's already been said. Before your mind has always been this thought of that's the way everybody views it. And so, your going to have a hard time interpreting this verse without the influence of man's doctrines and what has already been said. Now the key to this verse is the word "shapen." It depends how you look at this word shapen. Now the word shapen here does not mean "to form or design". That's the first thought in your mind, to shape something, to mold something, to create something, to form something. But that's not what the word means. You'd think that's what it means. Now I'm going to give you references, I'm going to give you cross-references, I'm going to take you through the Bible. Now remember, David's not looking for a cause. David's not looking for an excuse. David has already admitted his guilt, "my sin, my iniquity, I have committed". It's David openly confessing his sin, broken over his sin. He has given the consequences of his sin, and now he's going to deal with the suffering and the pain that sin has caused him. Can I say to you, the word shapen here, if you want to have a number, I'll give you some numbers here to go by. This number, the Strong's number if you want it, is 2342. You might write that down, and if you've got a Strong's concordance, you go back and search this out. Now listen to me carefully, the word shapen here means, "to wither in pain". The word shapen actually means "to twist, and to wither in pain". It's the folding and the withering in pain, is what the word shapen means. Albert Barnes, the notable Presbyterian preacher of old, agrees with the thought, and then the Scripture does. Now can I say to you, I'm going to show you in Scripture, how the Scripture is interpreted here. Albert Barnes is an imminent writer of commentaries. If you go into any book store, you'll see a list of commentaries that you can buy. One of the most prominent and notable commentaries, is Barnes Notes. Albert Barnes was back in the 1800's a notable Presbyterian preacher, and he said, he agreed that this word, because it's simply interpretation of what the word means, it means "to twist", it means "to wither". It means "to just wither in pain". And this deals, if you'll take your Bible and you'll follow with me, this deals with how the pain that sin causes you relates in comparison to the travail that your mother goes through at birth. Now that's what this verse is talking about, and I'm going to show it to you. This "withering in pain". You remember David, if you went back to II Samuel 12:15-16, right after Nathan said, "thou art the man." Right after Nathan said that to David, you'll find the next two verses, verses 15-16, deal with the baby being born, and David on his face. If you remember, he was fasting and on his face, he would not get off the ground. He was praying for the sickly child, the child born of this fornication, of this adultery. And David was mourning, and weeping and travailing for that child. And if you remember, the child died. Now David has suffered much. Sin has cost him, he's in travail in his soul. He's broken, he's been hurt and he's suffered much, and he's taking you to the depths of suffering that sin will take you! Can I say to you, if you live in sin, you will suffer much! You will travail in pain at times because of your sin, and the Scripture repeatedly speaks of this! Watch with me as we go through the Bible. Notice in Psalms, and please take these reference verses. Psalms 55:4, the Bible says, "My heart is sore pained," that word pained right there is the exact same Hebrew word as shapen. "My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me." Write that Scripture down. It is the same exact word, you can search it out in your Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. It is the same exact word in the Hebrew as the word shapen. Look over with me to Isaiah, I've got to move fast. I want you to see this comparison all through your Bible. Isaiah 26:16, "Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening ..." When thy chastening was upon them, here's what it's like: "Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, 0 Lord." What did verse number four say? It brought you before the very presence of God. God hath seen this sin. God hath broken me. God hath branded me. God hath dealt with me over my sin. God showed me my sin, and now here in Isaiah, you'll see the same comparison of the pains of conviction, the pains of the chastening over your sin is likened under and compared to the travail of the soul in the deliverance of a child. Can I say to you, it's brought into the same likeness. "Like as a woman..." Notice verse sixteen says, " ...when thy chastening was upon them." "Like as a woman with child that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, 0 Lord." Look with me to Isaiah 13, Isaiah 13:8. "And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain..." now watch the comparison, "…they shall be in pain as...", or in comparison like, "...as a woman that travailed: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames." This is exactly what David is saying in Psalms 51:5, just like my mother was in pains when she bare me in the penalty of sin; so I'm going to show you that in a few moments. The exact same comparison! Look at Jeremiah 30:23. Notice this same connotation of the twisting and withering in pain, "Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon...", that word pain is the same word as shapen in Psalms 51:5, ".. .it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked." Turn to Micah. Micah is after Jonah - Amos, Jonah, Micah. Micah 4:10: "Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, 0 daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for not shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies." Be in pain! And this is exactly what the Psalmist is saying back in Psalms 51, he's saying that he is withering in the pains, notice what it says, if you'll read it like it is, the Bible says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;" In my sin, in my iniquity, I withered and wept, and twisted in pain. It's in the comparison, just like it is in the remainder of the verse. Through your Bible, it makes the comparison of the pains of this convicting contrition breaking down, makes the comparison of childbirth. Please look with me back to Psalms 51:5. Notice it says here, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Now remember, Jesus is in the lineage of David. Jesus born as a human - human AND divine, but he was all man, and he was born after the seed of David. David was not born in fornication, nor was he born in sin. If you'll study this out - My!, the Bible is so careful, it's so perfect, it's so perfect! The word sin here, again I'm going to give you reference verses, the word sin in verse number 2-3, now look at verse 2-3: ".. .cleanse me from my sin.", verse number three, ".. .and my sin is ever before me." Did you notice that sin, and sin? Check your Bible, check your Strong's concordance, and you'll find that is reference 2403 in your Strong's concordance, 2403 means, "on occasion, an offender and sinfulness." Now this is important that you study this. I want you to study this out. Those two words, sin, are different than when it said, "...in sin did my mother conceive me." You need to study your Bible, that is all you need to do, just study your Bible. ".. .in sin did my mother conceive me." is a different word altogether than those two words. Study it out. The word "in sin did my mother conceive me" is number 2399. Did you notice the difference? The first two sins it is 2403, ".. .in sin did my mother conceive me.", is reference number 2399 in your Strong's concordance. Now what does that mean? Notice what it says, "...in sin did my mother conceive me." Oh, Preacher, was she in sin? Who was in sin? What sin did they commit? I've never had a problem with this part of this verse. The first part of the verse, it took me years of study, and honestly, before the Lord, do you know where I got the first part of this verse? Yesterday, up there splitting wood. I got up early and studied, and studied and studied, and meditated and meditated. It still didn't come. I have studied for years on this verse. I have put this verse aside, come back and studied it, put this verse aside, and studied. I was out there, and the only way I can split wood without hurting my back is get on my knees, and then I can run the splitter, and then I can bring the wood in beside me and I can split it. That way I don't have to stand up and bend over to put the wood under the splitter. But, I was on my knees there splitting wood and I was meditating on this verse, I just was overwhelmed with it. And when I was out there at that splitter yesterday morning, God opened this verse to me and revealed it to me. I began to write notes, I'd stop the splitter, I'd sit there and write notes, and write notes. I'd start splitting again, and more would come, and I'd write some more notes. I'd go back and study. But this second part of this verse has never been a problem. Honestly, before the Lord, a simple study of your Bible will show you that the first two times the word "sin" is mentioned in Psalms 51, it deals with a transgressor's sinfulness. It deals with sinfulness. The next time, in verse number five, when it says ".. .in sin did my mother conceive me" -please listen to me - it speaks of the penalty of sin. Go search it out. Go look in your Strong's concordance. It speaks of the penalty of sin. This is dealing with David's mother, suffering, withering, just like he is making his comparison, that I am withering under the consequences of my iniquity (the first part of the verse), just like, in comparison of the penalty of sin that my mother withered in, in having me, in labor. Look with me to Genesis, chapter 3, Notice in Genesis 3:16, you need to study this out, "Unto the woman He said, ...", now here's the curse that's on the woman, "Unto the woman He said, I will greatly...", that means, I will multiply, upon multiply, upon multiply, "...1 will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; " "in sin did my mother conceive me" "...1 will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow..." - in sorrow, in sorrow, "...in sorrow thou shall bring forth children;" And the second part of that curse was, "and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Two curses put on a woman because Eve sinned. One was, labor pains. Am I in your Bible? Are you reading your Bible right? Can all women that have had a baby bear witness to this? Did it hurt? Did you travail? Were you in great pain and sorrow? The word sorrow there, means painful labor, grievous pain, sorrow in toil. Just study your Bible that's all you've got to do. It means grievous pain. It means sorrow and toil. Now, back in Psalms 51:5, ".. .in sin did my mother conceive me." The penalty of this pain and sorrow in labor did mama bear me. Picture Psalm 51:5. David comes to this verse, broken over his sin. Showing the consequences of his sin. This is what sin has cost me, this is what sin will cost you. If you haven't seen people broken and in pain over their sin, you've not seen people under deep conviction, and you've not seen God deal with them. God brings a painful, a sorrowful, godly sorrow that will pain you, as it did David! David compares the turmoil of his pain, "I was shapen, I was withering in my iniquity, in the pain of my iniquity", "my iniquity caused me great pain and sorrow, just like my mother when she had me." In conception, in the sorrow of my conception, in the time of my birth, when mama travailed and brought me into this world, so sin has cost me travail and pain. Can I say to you. Let me just say one little thought here, I'll interject this, to say that man is born a sinner, to say that man is born of a sinful nature, is to blame God for his sinfulness. Now how Preacher? Well, man sinned and he brought it upon himself. Well, God created man in his image, but did not God also set up, did not God also design - look at me and listen, you've got to think a little bit - did God design procreation? Who is responsible for procreation? What is procreation? That means you having kids. Who designed procreation? Who set up procreation? Who is responsible for setting up procreation? Is it not God? Did God design that? Did God make a way for you to have children to replenish the earth? And so God knew just what would come out of his creation. And so to say that man is born with a sinful nature is to say that God designed man's sinfulness. Now listen to me carefully. God is not only involved - now I want you to listen to me, I'm going to give you a bunch of verses here - God was not only involved in the creation of Adam and Eve, He was involved in your creation. Why do you have a different lip print than your mom and dad and anybody else in the world? Why do you have different fingerprints than anybody else in the world? Why? Your mama didn't give you your fingerprints. Your daddy didn't give you your fingerprints. Why do you have a different DNA? It'd be nice if we had someone else's DNA, wouldn't it? Why do you have a different DNA than anybody else in the world? And they can track you down. Why are you different from other people? If you've got a pencil and paper, you can write down a bunch of these verses. "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me:" Psalms 119:73, "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me:" This is not Adam speaking. This is the Psalmist speaking. "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me:" What a blasphemous thing to say that God made me a sinner. Malachi 2:10, "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?" Malachi 2:10. Psalms 100:3 "Know ye the Lord that He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves;" "And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness:" "So God created man in His own image, and in the image of God created He him; and male and female created He them." Genesis 1:26-27 . Genesis 9:6 ".. .for in the image of God made He man." I Corinthians 11:7 Man ".. .is the image and glory of God:" That's a far cry from Adam on that I Corinthians, isn't it? Men are made after the similitude of God, James 3:9: "The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him." Calvinism teaches that his spirit is dead. Zechariah 12:1 says the Lord formeth the spirit of a man within him. "The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job 33:4. Acts 17:25 "...He giveth to all life and breath, and all things;". Does the Bible teach us that our breath is in His hand? ".. .He giveth to all life and breath, and all things;". We are the offspring of God, Acts 17:29. Revelation 22:16 "...I am the root and the offspring of David...". Who is speaking that? Who is saying that? "I am the root and the offspring of David", Who would say that of this sinful man? The one that wrote that was the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ! "I am the root and the offspring of David" Revelation 22:16: "Lo this only have I found that God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions." Let me say to you this, and my time is gone, but I just want to look at it just for a moment. Please look at Psalms 51:6: "Behold, thou desirest...", Desirest what? "...TRUTH in the..." Where? "..inward parts:" Now, can I say to you, if you interpret verse number five to make man have a sinful nature, where he has inherited being sinful - with no cure. There isn't any atonement in Heaven or earth that can atone for a sinful nature. There's not one verse in the Bible that deals with a sinful nature's cure. If you have a sinful nature, it's inevitably something that you'll carry with you to your grave. There's no cure. There's no atonement for it. There's no deliverance for it. Can I say to you, you will be habitually sinful if you have a sinful nature. You will continue in sin. Now, you'll have a corruptness about you that you won't be able to do right, you won't be able to respond. I mean, if you'll listen to most of the doctrines of our day, you cannot respond, there's nothing good within you. You cannot answer God, you cannot speak the truth, you cannot do right! You're a sinner! Just like everybody else is a sinner! And you'll always be a sinner! And you can't do right! Except for the grace of God, you'll always do wrong! Well, David came to this verse and he said, "I know what you're looking for and you require and demand of man, and that is, the Truth." Now listen to me carefully, when you come to verse number six, you've got a real problem if you have an inherently sinful man, because God is looking for truth in that man. You say, "wait a minute Preacher, wait a minute, how can a sinner be truthful?" Well, let me ask you a question, and I want you to meditate on this thought. I hope you listen on purpose this morning, and you study these thoughts out. Do you really believe that God is going to do business with a dishonest person? Do you believe that we can come to God deceitful in heart? Dishonest, with no sincerity? No honesty, no truthfulness? And we can come to God, and get God to do things and deal business with Him and God will forgive us and we don't even mean what we say? We have no intentions of carrying out what we say? We have no truth within us, we're dishonest with fact? We're just flat out lying to Him, but He's going to believe it? Do you remember the verse I read when I opened the service up? Listen to me carefully, here's what it says, ''The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. Psalms 145:18" To all that call upon Him in truth. Can I say to you, yes a sinner is wicked. I have no problem understanding that a sinner is wicked. His deeds are wicked. But when he comes to God, he's going to have to come with a good and an honest heart. He's going to have to mean what he says. He's going to have to be truthful with God. How can you say, Lord, I give you my heart, I'm sorry for my sin, when you don't mean it? You say God's going to forgive a man, when he says, "I don't mean it"? "I'm going to go back to it, I'm going to return to my sin, I just want you to forgive me in my sin, and have a tolerance toward my sin. I have no intentions of quitting my sin." Will he find forgiveness? Does the Bible say that the person that finds mercy is the person that confesses his sin and "fosaketh" it? HE shall find mercy. Do you remember the two men that went up to the temple to pray? One was a Pharisee, one was a publican. One of them went home justified, one of them went home a sinner. Now what made the difference? Both of them prayed unto the Lord. One of them was just honest, and the other was a hypocrite, or just totally dishonest. I'm saying to you, you've got to be truthful with God. God's looking for sincerity. God's looking for honesty, and I'm saying to you, that you cannot, you cannot, you cannot come to God with a deceitful heart, with no intentions of carrying out, or living up to, or doing what you're saying to Him. "Lord, I give you my life, I give you my all, I'm selling out, I realize the cost, I realize that I'm going to look to you eternally. I'm not going to turn back, I'm going to look to you, I'm going to stay with you, I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to love you, I'm going to obey you, I'm going walk with you...maybe...if I can." Do you believe that we have to be truthful? This truth, this inner parts, God is looking for truth in the inner parts. That is the very... it's called the reins of a man. That means the very soul and heart and spirit, the very fiber on the inside of a man that controls the man. This is the reins of a man, what leads a man, and controls a man in his volition. This is his inner reins, and there is where God looks for truth. He looks for honesty. He's looking for somebody that is sincere. He's looking for somebody that says "Yes! and I mean it! And Amen! and I'll do it!" I'm saying to you that in order to have this relationship, in order to come... David says, I know what you're looking for, and I know what you desire, I know what you require. I can't come to you phony and saying, 'Well, if I'm not overpowered, if I can't help it...'." I remember one old preacher telling this story to illustrate the shallow repentance that you hear in our day. This wife came to her husband, and she said, "Husband, I'm going down to the bowling alley with some of the ladies and I'll be back later on." He says, "But Wife, there are men down there that are wicked and they will try to take advantage of you when you're out there alone" "Oh, Husband, you know I love you. And if by chance I am overcome, when I get back, I'll ask you to forgive me." That's kind of the spurious, deceitful type repentance that's going on in our day. God's looking for truth on the inward parts of man. He expects it. He demands it. He desires truth. You can't do business with God if you're not honest. You can't do business with God if you're insincere. You can't come to God and try to reason with God and justify a sin you're living in. No! No! No! No! When you come to God in repentance, you've got to be willing, to not only acknowledge your sin, and desire for God to forgive you of your sin, but you have to come with an honest heart. "Lord, I'm going to stop, I'm going to quit that sin, I'm going to leave that sin. I hate that sin, I'm not going to commit that sin anymore. 1 realize what that sin has done to my life." God is looking for truth. Dr. Luke wrote, in the parable of the sower, that's it's the person that comes to Him that has the good and honest heart. Notice what he says in the parable of the sower. He said of those that were truly saved, they… "having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." I'm saying to you, if a person is going to do business with God; if they're going to have a relationship with God, they've just got to be honest with God - they've got to be truthful with God. And if I have an inherited, sinful, nature, there's no way I can be honest with God. If the inside of me is just totally corrupt, rotten to the core, nothing good within me, my heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, how can I be honest with God? Now men that live in open sin, their heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. But would you answer me a question? What does the Bible say in the book of Romans about the way you come to the Lord Jesus Christ? It says something about, if a man believeth with his... heart. Isn't that the way you come to Christ? If a man believeth with his… heart. In the book of Proverbs He says, "...my son, give me thine heart" "give me your heart" If you're going to do business with God, you're going to have to be honest with Him. Truthful! You're going to have to be open. You're going to have to be willing to do exactly what you say, and what you tell God. Don't make a vow to God and not keep it. When you tell God something, keep it. Keep it! Do it! It's the doers of the Word, the people that say, "I'm going to, and I will." What is that song? I have decided to follow Jesus, I'll not turn back, I'll not turn back. Let's stand! The Sunday school lesson and the message, I hope you will receive it. I hope you will search it out. Go home, study it, study it. If you have any questions, come back and bring them to me. I'd love to answer them. I've meditated and studied for years on these thoughts, I'd love to talk to you about them. I'd love to bring to you the facts about what sin is, and show that sin can't be a substance. Sin can't be a substance. Sin can't be physical. Sin can't be physical, in the sense that you pass sin on to another person, physically. You can't do that! One of the most obnoxious things to the sound mind is that you be charged for another person's crime. Would that bother you, being charged for someone else's crime? That is just totally against your reasoning in your mind for you to be charged with another man's crime. Sin is not transferable. I can't put my sin over on you, and you can't put your sin on me, and have God charge me for your sin. He would not be a just God. I didn't cause you to do it, and I didn't make you. And God can't charge me for your sin. Whatever sin you commit, you commit of your own free will and volition. Sin is not a substance, sin is an act. The transgression of the law is sin. It's an act of the will. It's something you do, it's not something you are! It is something you do! So you can't transfer sin. Sin is not a substance that's tangible, or something physical. Sin is an act of the will - of your own will against God. It's a transgression against God. "I was shapen in iniquity: in sin did my mother conceive me." "Behold, thou desirest truth on the inward parts." Father thank you for the time together this morning. I pray Lord, that this message, I pray Lord, they will search this out. I've labored, I've tried to be faithful to you. I believe you gave me these thoughts, and I pray Lord, they'll search these things whether they be so. I pray Father, you'd help us, not to follow man, but to follow God. Not try to look for an excuse for sin, but to look for a cure for it. For a deliverance, for a cleansing, for a washing, to be clean, to be pure, to have a clean heart, and a clean mind. I ask in Jesus name, Lord guide us into all truth. Bless this message, I pray, and work in the lives of these people to your glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen and Amen. Posted 11//4004 |
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