Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what
is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints
according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
The words of our text speak of our state of mind when we pray. As we come before
the Lord and seek a pardon for our sins, are we in a forgiving spirit for our
brother’s sins against us? When we plead for mercy for our souls, are our hearts
merciful toward those who have sinned against us? Do we have the mind of the
Spirit?
 
Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we
are the children of God.” What does that mean? It is speaking about our mental
attitude, the attitude we have toward our fellow man.
 
The Lord searches our hearts when we come before Him to pray. He knows what kind
of attitude we have. He looks at our attitude toward our fellow man and our
attitude toward the blessed righteousness of God. Do we love God with our heart,
soul and mind? Are we praying out of selfishness, wanting things to consume upon
our lusts?
 Do we have that mind of Christ?
 
We need to understand how the Holy Spirit helps our infirmities and how He makes
intercession for us. We are not perfect. We would have to say, Lord, I forgive,
help my unforgiving spirit. We are fallen creatures. The Lord knows that our
hearts’ desire is to forgive, but that we need help.
 
We have considered our infirmity of ignorance and how the Spirit helps us by
raising our eyes to our blessed High Priest and Redeemer. By nature we will


pray for things that are strictly selfish. We do not understand the mind of God, and
we start praying for things that are outside of His will.
 
The Holy Spirit, as He works grace in the heart, gives us a heart to will and to
do what God desires us to do. In other words, He gives us a right attitude. If
the Holy Spirit is to help my infirmities in prayer, He does this by lifting my
eyes of faith to that blessed Redeemer as we read in Hebrews 5:2: “Who can have
compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he
himself also is compassed with infirmity.”
 
The Holy Spirit opens my eyes to show me the ignorance of my heart. He knows my
mind. He knows my thinking. He knows my heart’s desire. He knows the innermost
desires of my heart. He knows that I see how deplorably ignorant I am of what I
really stand in need of.
 
You and I have walked out of the way, and we have fallen so far short of doing
the will of God. Our sins rise up against us, and we see that we cannot have the
mind of Christ because of our fallen condition, yet He knows those infirmities.
He knows the inner desires of our hearts and whether we want to do the will of
God. He knows our hearts and intercedes in our behalf, not only before the
Father, but also in our hearts. He instills within us right desires. He
enlightens our minds, and He removes our ignorance.



 


The Lord Jesus Christ was compassed with infirmities. He hungered. He thirsted.
He was tired. He was weary. He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without
sin. He understood our every weakness, and that makes Him such a blessed
Redeemer. That makes Him such a blessed High Priest.

 
As the Spirit opens our understanding to realize what our text means by “he that
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,” then we begin to
see the importance of 1 Peter 4:17: “For the time is come that judgment must
begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of
them that obey not the gospel of God?”
 
Why does judgment begin with the house of God? The Lord brings us in judgment in
the court of our own consciences. We plead for mercy, and then He brings to our
remembrance how we were unmerciful to our brother. Do I then repent of that? Do
I have sorrow for that? Does my heart break for the lack of mercy I had for my
neighbor? That is where judgment begins. If I have an unforgiving spirit, I will
receive no forgiveness. How do I judge my fellow man?
 
You and I are to obey the gospel, which is the law of love, to love God with our
hearts, our souls and our minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The
Lord brings to our remembrance our secret thoughts, and judgment begins there. 



As we come to plead before the throne for mercy, “he that searcheth the hearts,”
brings us to see our infirmities in James 2:13: “For he shall have judgment
without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”
 
He knows our unforgiving nature and lack of mercy, and here we are before the
throne pleading for mercy. He teaches us to show mercy because we need mercy.
That is where judgment begins. It begins in: How did I judge my brother? How
merciful was I to him?

 
As we come to plead before the throne of grace to recite the Lord’s prayer, “he
that searcheth the hearts” brings us to see our infirmities in Matthew 6:12:
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
 
How many of us have recited the Lord’s prayer? Sometimes it makes me shudder to
even attempt to pray the Lord’s prayer. Do you and I dare to come before God the
Father, Judge of heaven and earth, and say, Father, forgive me as I have
forgiven my brother, because I find such an unforgiving spirit in me, that I
have not forgiven with the kind of forgiveness that I need.

 
The Holy Spirit brings this to my attention. Now we understand what we should
pray for as we ought. We should be praying for a forgiving spirit maybe even
more than we pray for our own forgiveness, because that has to be first. Until
we have received a forgiving spirit, we cannot have forgiveness.

When we learn to realize that judgment begins at the house of God then we must
cry out as in Mark 9:24: “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and
said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
 
This man needed help to believe. The Holy Spirit helps our infirmity of
unbelief. He gives us the right spirit. He gives us that true desire to come
before the Father of lights with a true hungering after righteousness. Then we
become lost in the love of God. All of our hatred and bitterness get dissolved.
 
The Holy Spirit opens our understanding and we start to understand the mind of
the Spirit, and we begin to understand what it is to believe. To believe means
that we are brought into total, unconditional surrender to the will of God.
Unbelief is to stand in open rebellion against God.
 
When we see the sins of our brother, instead of being critical and instead of
becoming hateful, we can rejoice in what the Spirit said in Numbers 23:21: “He
hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel:
the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.”
 
Jacob was a dirty crook. He was a liar. He was a thief. He was everything but
honorable, but the Lord said He had not beheld iniquity in him.
 
If you have a brother who is less than what you would like to see him be, does
it make you bitter? Does it make you hateful? Do you rise in judgment in your
heart against him and elevate yourself above him?
 
The Holy Spirit will try your heart. He knows your mind. Can we look at Jacob
and not behold iniquity in him? The Lord can forgive him, can I? The Lord came
upon him with a revelation of the ladder from earth to heaven, which was a
revelation of his salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and never even reproved him
for his sins. The Lord showed him that he would be cleansed and washed from his
sins. Can you and I do that to our brother? That is the mind of the Spirit.
 
When we come before the Lord to seek mercy for our souls, but sit in judgment of
our brother, if we receive judgment without mercy, it will be because we were
not merciful, because we were not forgiving.
 
We have considered how the blessed Spirit intercedes Himself in the heart to
help with these infirmities “with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
 
These sighs and groans that are stirred up by the Spirit are not without fruit
and success because they are acceptable before the Lord. We struggle against
these infirmities, as we fight against these things of Satan trying to penetrate
our hearts. The Lord loves for us to struggle against these powers of sin.
 
We read in Psalm 51:17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and
a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
 
These are the sacrifices God delights in. The Lord has no delight in us
sacrificing anything of the flesh. What He wants is our hearts.
 
The Lord is omniscient. The Lord is everywhere present. We are totally
transparent before Him. Every thought and intent and imagination of our hearts
is open and naked before His eyes. He is not looking for perfection in us. The
perfection is in Christ, but He wants to see remorse over sin.  

 
When we come before the Lord with contrite hearts, an unconditional surrender to
His will, then the Lord will hear from heaven. He will hear our prayers.
 
I can forgive my fellow man if the Lord’s will is that that man crucifies me,
and crucifies my flesh to the bare bone. I can surrender because it is the Lord
who sent that trial. I cannot look down on another and wonder how God could love
him and wonder whether he could have grace in his heart. That is not for me to
judge. I have to realize that judgment begins at the house of God, and where do
I stand? Not where he stands, but where do I stand as far as my forgiving
spirit? That is contrition.
 
We read in Psalm 102:17-20: “He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not
despise their prayer. This shall be written for the generation to come: and the
people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. For he hath looked down
from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; To
hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.”
 
The Lord has compassion on those who cry to Him. You and I by nature are
prisoners of Satan and the power of sin. We have no might against them, but does
it cause us to groan? Do we groan under that imprisonment? As prisoners of
Satan, our portion is eternal death, but do we desire to be delivered from it? 

 
FOR OUR THIRD POINT, let’s consider how “he that searcheth the hearts knoweth
what is the mind of the Spirit.”
 
As the Lord sends us a trial of faith, He is looking for evidence that we truly
fear the Lord. The trial of our faith is more precious than silver or gold.

 
What is salvation? There is such a variety of doctrines in the world about what
constitutes salvation. Salvation is to be delivered from self and sin, and to
receive true godly fear in the heart.
 
Proverbs 8:13 tells us that the fear the Lord is to hate evil, pride, arrogance
and every evil way. It is a mental attitude, a mental disposition. It is when my
mind and my heart are in harmony with the mind of the Spirit.
 
That is what our text talks about: “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is
the mind of the Spirit.” Is there harmony? There will be no contentions in
heaven. Unless our hearts and minds have come into perfect harmony with the
Spirit of God, we cannot dwell with Him. This life process purges us of that old
nature of sin or rebellion.
 
We will not be fully delivered from evil in this life, but it is our greatest
sorrow. It is our greatest grief.
 
I want you to see in Genesis 22:12, where the Lord spoke from heaven to Abraham
after he placed his son Isaac on the altar: “And he said, Lay not thine hand
upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou
fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”
 
Do you know what the Lord will give us trials for? He will allow people to do
some of the most horrible things to us to see whether we fear Him. He will allow
these things to happen to see if we will have bitter hearts against our enemies.
God is trying us to see if we understand the fear of the Lord. Do we understand
what it means that judgment begins at the house of God? If we can forgive that
small violation against us, then the Lord will forgive that great violation we
have done in Adam and throughout our entire lives. 

 
Even as the Father was so pleased with His Son’s holy reverence for His blessed
will, so He is pleased with those who fear Him. I want you to understand that
the Lord’s greatest delight is in those who fear Him, those who have a holy
reverence for His will, those who have a holy reverence for Him and His name.
 
We read in Psalm 34:7: “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that
fear him, and delivereth them.” This is those who have a holy reverence for His
will, those who hate evil.
 
There is joy in heaven among the angels over one sinner who repents, who has
remorse over his sins, to become a God-fearing soul, to come to the point where
he hates sin and loves God, who learns to fear the Lord.
 
Continuing in verses 8 and 9 we read: “O taste and see that the LORD is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for
there is no want to them that fear him.”
 
See the counseling that David gives. All things belong to those who fear the
Lord. On the other hand, as we read in verse 10: “The young lions do lack, and
suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.”
 
We may not have everything we would like to have, but we will never lack
anything we truly need. We will always have sufficient food, sufficiency of
everything we need. The Lord provides. 

 
Now, watch what it says in verse 11: “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will
teach you the fear of the LORD.”
 
We cannot find anything more precious than if the Holy Spirit comes into our
hearts and teaches us the fear of the Lord, that we have a yearning desire to do
what is pleasing in His sight.
 
So many people are heaven-seekers. They want to accept Jesus so they can go to
heaven, but they love every sin and have no desire to be delivered from it. They
think that just takes place in heaven. Well, I want to tell you something. Old
Satan has a lot of these people following him to hell. Only one person will ever
enter heaven, that is the one who fears the Lord. If you do not have true, godly
fear in your soul, you are hell-bound, no two ways about it.
 
If you read all of Psalm 34 you will see how David was delivered in such
trouble, and then he says it was the reward of godly fear. When we have
adversity, it is because of that godly fear that the Lord rewards us.

 
Our text says, “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of
God.”
 
Our hearts start longing to know and do the will of God. That is where godly
fear begins, and that is how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. He implants in
us that new desire. That is the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification as He
instills in our hearts that desire to know and to do the will of God.
 
The man after God’s own heart understood how transparent his heart was before
God as we see in Psalm 138:6: “Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto
the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.”
 
You and I may have secrets from our friends. We may even have secrets from our
wives or husbands. We may have secrets that we have never told a living soul.
Some things traffic our minds that are unrepeatable. If everything that ever
trafficked your mind were written on the wall, you would not dare to show your
face. I am not a stranger to these things. Sometimes Satan can penetrate with a
dart of some of the most heinous thoughts, but the Lord knows whether we cherish
those thoughts or whether those thoughts are darts of Satan that we pray
against. The Lord knows that too. 

 
David said in Psalm 101:5: “Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I
cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.”
 
The Lord knows if you slander your neighbor even secretly and in such a way that
no one else knows. He knows your heart, and He will cut such people off. 

 
Continuing in verse 6 we read: “Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the
land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall
serve me.”
 
To enter the kingdom of God is to serve Him, and the Lord does not allow anyone
in His service who is two-faced, who can speak with a forked tongue. Anyone who
has a high look and slanders his neighbor is unable to serve the Lord. The Lord
will not accept our service.

 
You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven without repenting. The Lord Jesus tells
us in Matthew 4:17: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Until we
have that new attitude, until we have that new heart, we cannot enter the
kingdom.
 
Continuing in Psalm 101:7 we read: “He that worketh deceit shall not dwell
within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.” 

 
I can tell you something that is absolutely true, but not the whole truth, and
in the business and social worlds this happens all the time. I have led you to
believe a lie. I have led you to believe something that was not true. I can feel
pretty smart about it and say, Well, what I said was true.

 
Old Satan tells a lot of truth too. Read in Genesis 3 how he deceived Eve. Much
of what he said was true, but he twisted that truth to make a lie.
 
The Lord knows our minds. He knows our heart’s desire. This is what we need to
understand when we come and pray before the Lord. He knows whether we have the
mind of the Spirit. Judgment begins at the house of God.
 
The Lord “searcheth the hearts” to see if we have the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit “maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of
God.” When the Holy Spirit intercedes in my soul, His intercession is according
to the will of God. So, if I am praying that the Holy Spirit has given me
opening in prayer, then I am pouring out a heart in the mind of Christ—if that
is a prayer that is going to be heard.
 
David said in Psalm 66:16: “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will
declare what he hath done for my soul.”
 
Who did He invite? The liars? No. The proud? No. He did not invite “all you
Christians.” He invited all those who fear God, those who hate sin.
 
Why does He invite only a selected crowd? He does this because He is not going
to cast His pearls before swine. He is not going to take the precious things of
God, what God has done for his soul, and lay them out before those who would
trample them and minimize what the Lord has done.
 
Continuing in verses 17 and 18 he says: “I cried unto him with my mouth, and he
was extolled with my tongue. If I regard [that is, if I cherish] iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear me.”

 
This is what we need to understand when we talk about prayer. If we cherish some
bitter thought against a friend or some secret sin, then the Lord will not hear
us. He searches the heart. He understands whether we have the mind of the
Spirit. 

 
We read in verses 19 and 20: “But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to
the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer,
nor his mercy from me.”
 
What a special thing this was. He called all who feared God. He had something he
wanted to share with them. He shared with them that he had cried to the Lord,
and the Lord heard him.
 
There is much that passes for prayer that is nothing more than the babbling of
the flesh, and the Lord does not bow down His ear to hear—if it is not in the
right spirit.

 
David extolled the name of the Lord. David understood that he had to say: Lord,
give me mercy. Forgive my unmerciful spirit. Forgive my sin, and forgive my
greatest sin, and that is my unforgiving spirit. In the mind of the Spirit, the
Lord could examine his heart and see that it was a true prayer. It was a true
desire. He was not cherishing iniquity in his heart. He hated it.
 
The Spirit not only searches the heart for sin and a wrong attitude, but He
searches it for good.

 
Many times, when I was in the deepest distress, the Lord would bless me with a
passage of Scripture where He showed me that He had delighted in something I had
done. What melts the heart is when we see our unworthiness, and then the Lord
comes with a passage of Scripture and shows us that something we had done
pleased Him. That is so humbling.
 
The Holy Spirit also comes and shares with us that the angels of heaven are
rejoicing because of that Spirit of Christ in us, because we were able to
crucify our own flesh, and we were able to humble ourselves, and we were able to
come with a cry that indeed was from the Spirit of God.

 
Our heavenly Father looks on our infirmities with a forgiving Spirit. We read in
Psalm 103:10-11: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us
according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great
is his mercy toward them that fear him.”
 
I want you to see the select crowd. I want you to see who it is that receives
mercy. I want you to see who He hears from heaven. It is an isolated crowd, and
it includes not one more person. No one will ever share the throne of glory with
Christ who does not know the fear of the Lord. 

 
Continuing in verses 12 and 13 we read: “As far as the east is from the west, so
far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.” 

 
Those who hate evil, those who hate pride, not necessarily in my neighbor so
much, but in me. When I see that ugly monster I pushing up its filthy head in my
heart is the greatest source of sorrow and the first thing that throws me flat
on my face before the Lord. Lord, forgive that ugly thought. Lord, forgive that
ugly monster. Deliver me from pride and from all arrogance.
 
Verse 14 says: “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” 
 
As our tender heavenly Father looks upon our infirmities, He can do what we
cannot. He can separate the good from the evil. You and I cannot look at our
brother and decide what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit because we see
his infirmities, but we do not see what is counteracting them. That is why we
must not judge our brother. Our brother may be fighting that very infirmity that
you and I see so clearly, and it might be the greatest struggle of his heart,
and the Lord knows that.

 
He can decide, and He can separate the good from the evil. That is what you and
I cannot do. We cannot do that in our own hearts, because even our best prayers
are so mingled with sin that we often have to say with the Psalmist as we see in
Psalm 40:11-12: “Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy
lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have
compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not
able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart
faileth me.”
 
Those who fear the Lord are not completely clear of iniquity, but the Lord is
looking at the mind of the Spirit. He is looking at the heart’s desire to be
made free from these infirmities, and that we mourn over them, that we have much
remorse over them.

 
We seldom have a sense of how important our attitude toward our fellow man is to
succeed in prayer. The Lord comes into the court of our conscience to see
whether we will succeed in prayer.
 
I want you to see what we find in Psalm 34:15-17: “The eyes of the LORD are upon
the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the LORD is
against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their
troubles.” 

 
The righteous are those who have a right attitude toward their neighbor.
Godliness is a right attitude toward God. That is from the first table of the
law, loving God above all, with our heart, our soul and our mind.
 
The Lord hears and delivers the righteous because judgment begins at the house
of God. My attitude toward my neighbor is what the Lord looks at when He decides
whether He will hear my prayer.
 
Continuing in verse 18 we read: “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken
heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” These are those whose hearts
are in total surrender to the will of God. 

 
Even though the Lord is gracious toward our infirmities, He will never smile
upon our iniquities. When I learn to see the price that my Saviour paid for my
sins, and I learn to see the wrath of God upon sin, then sin becomes so sinful.
The least thought of foolishness is sin. The least thought of bitterness against
my neighbor is sin.

 
I see that my Saviour had to suffer, bleed and die for that sin. When that crown
of thorns was placed on His head, those sins were in that crown of thorns. When
the soldiers took and smote Him on the head, those sins were not only placed on
His head, but they were driven in with the rod of God’s justice.

 
Now, think how displeasing sin is. When we understand this then we will
understand that God will never smile on the least iniquity, but He can smile on
the sinner. The gate of heaven is open for the greatest sinner, but it is too
narrow to let the least sin enter. I can be the greatest of sinners, but I have
to be purged from my sins.
 
In John 15:7 we read: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall
ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

 
If you go all the way through John 15, we see that Jesus is teaching us the law
of love. Verse 12 says: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I
have loved you.” He took His life’s blood to cover every one of my sins. Am I
willing to use my life’s blood to cover the sin of my brother, or am I a tale
bearer telling others the sins of my brother? Am I uncovering the sins that
Christ shed His blood to cover? The Lord looks at the mind, the attitude we have
toward our fellow man.
 
Do you see how answered prayer is contingent on our attitude toward our
neighbor? We want to come and talk to the Lord about going to heaven, and we
want to have Jesus’ blood wash us from all our sin, but while we are doing this
we want to smite our brother with a fist. There is no place in heaven for those
who do this because there will be perfect harmony there.  

 
If it seems as though the Lord does not hear our prayers, we may well look at
ourselves in the light of Isaiah 1:15: “And when ye spread forth your hands, I
will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:
your hands are full of blood.”

 
What blood? Does this mean if you have literally killed someone? No, it is
speaking of the blood of Christ that covers that man’s sin, and you have brought
His blood on your hands. 

 
Now, he says in verses 16 and 17: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil
of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek
judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

 
We are to seek to do what is right. We are to stop destroying our brother.
 
Verse 18 says: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool.”
 
When the holy God of heaven condescends so low, He comes to sinners like you and
me. He tells us to look to the love I told you to have for your fellow man. Let
us reason together. Is it not reasonable that I ask this of you? Even though you
have that blood on your hands, even though you have these sins before my eyes, I
will wash you white as snow, if you just repent, if you just change your
attitude, if you will just become a new creature, if you will just stop
destroying your brother.

 
C’mon, let’s reason together. This is the God of heaven talking to you and me.
 
We read in verses 19 and 20: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
good of the land: 
But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the
sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
 
If you refuse to show love toward your brother, if you refuse to judge the
fatherless, in other words, to give them what is fair and what is right, if you
refuse to plead for the widow, then He will come with His judgments.
 
Nothing will close up the heavens for our prayers like violations of the second
table of the law of love, when we violate that law of love. 

 
Let us look at Isaiah 58:3: “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest
not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold,
in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.”
 
They came with their formal religion before the Lord. They were religious
people. They were scribes and Pharisees. They were Jews. They were doing the dos
and don’ts of the law, but they did not understand the spirit of the law. They
did not understand the Spirit interceding in the heart, giving them a right
attitude. 

 
Verse 4 says: “Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist
of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be
heard on high.”

 
It is not pleasing in the eyes of the Lord to sit there and bow your head in the
bulrush and sit on sackcloth and to come with all your pretenses. No, the Lord
looks on the heart. He says, You are still smiting with the fist of wickedness.
 
We read in verse 5: “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to
afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread
sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day
to the LORD?” 

 
Verse 6 and 7 show us the fast that is pleasing to the Lord. “Is not this the
fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it
not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast
out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou
hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”
 
The next verses show what will happen if we do these things. 
 
We read in verses 8 and 9: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and
thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before
thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the
LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take
away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and
speaking vanity.”
 
We will succeed in prayer when we do what is pleasing to the Lord. We please Him
when we do what we can for our fellow man. We love him. We forgive him. We do
not judge him, his heart or his intentions.
 
Have we had a problem in not succeeding in prayer? We need the mind of the
Spirit.

 
This is what our text tells us in Romans 8:27: “And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God.”
 
The Holy Spirit searches our hearts and looks for the right attitude. When He
comes into our hearts and He intercedes in our prayers, our prayers are going to
go forth according to the will of God.

 
Our prayers are so often unanswered because we ask for things that are against
God's will. I want you to see this in 1 John 5:14-15: “And this is the
confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will,
he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that
we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
 
I want to ask you a question. How do you study the Word of God? To find out His
will, so when we pray we can ask according to His will? So, when I see that
according to the Word of God that the Lord wants me to love my neighbor as
myself, I should fall flat on my face before the Lord and beg for that right
attitude. I should be able to beg for the Lord to give me this because I know it
is according to His will.
 
There can be no true worship without a realization of our transparency before
God. We must come before God with a full realization that He understands every
thought and intent of our hearts. We must understand the omnisciency of God,
that He is everywhere present, that He is the provider of every trial that you
and I suffer. If someone comes against us, we must be able to see that it was
the hand of God that brought us that trial. Whatever that man has done, we
commit to the One who judges righteously. We do not retaliate. We do not avenge
ourselves.
 
We read in Hebrews 4:12-13: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his
sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we
have to do.” 

 
Do you understand how transparent we are? He understands our thoughts afar off.
He understands every evil thought before it even enters our heart. That is how
omniscient He is.
 
So, when we come before the Lord, there is a flip side to this. My grandfather
used to thank God with tears in his eyes for the other side of that principle.
He could come before the Lord and say, Lord, I also know that you know what my
desires are, that I hate these evil intentions in my heart, that they are such a
grief to me that those attitudes spring up in me.
 
It is our realization of this transparency that makes our heavenly High Priest
so precious as we see in verses 14 to 16: “Seeing then that we have a great high
priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast
our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

 
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow (Psalm 51:7). 

 
The mere teaching of Bible doctrine and extensive Bible studies divorced from
their application to one’s life is not truth in the biblical sense. It is hard
to understand the distinction between the letter of the Word and the spirit of
the Word. We can learn the letter of the Word with intellectual knowledge.
However, the Word is spirit, and we need to understand the spirit of the Word.
 
We learn to understand the words of Psalm 51 and what is in the heart of a true
child of God who has learned to understand what we spoke of this morning when
Job said: “Behold, I am vile.” It was such an exclamation of surprise. As I
pointed out, all these men of God were truly God-fearing men, but when the Light
shined in their hearts, they saw the vileness of their hearts by nature. Then
all of a sudden they were in a state of shock. They saw something they had not
realized.

 
Psalm 51 is a psalm of David after Nathan the prophet had come to him with the
message we find in 2 Samuel 12:7-9: “And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I
delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master’s house, and
thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of
Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee
such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD,
to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and
hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the
children of Ammon.”
 
This was such a shock to David because he had done it so secretly, and he
thought no one knew. It was strictly between him and Joab, who knew that Uriah
had been put in the forefront of the battle and killed. David did not realize
that his sin was naked and open before God. All of a sudden that light was
flicked on, and there he stood, with every thought and every desire and every
lust and every crime of his heart now naked before the Lord. 

 
It was not until God sent Nathan with the message, “Thou art the man,” that
David cried out as Job, “Behold, I am vile.” Keep this in mind as we go through
Psalm 51:1-7.
 
Verse 1 says: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
Now his sins stood before his eyes. Until then he could write condemnation on
his subordinate who had sinned much less than he had. 

 
Continuing in verse 2 he said: “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and
cleanse me from my sin.” Now he saw his sin and how vile he was in the eyes of a
Holy God. It is not until this takes place in your life and mine that we really
understand what it is to plead for cleansing in the blood of Christ. David now
saw how he needed cleansing for his own soul.
 
It is so easy to come under the preaching of the Word, and to hear for someone
else. We can hear a sermon and wish that someone else could hear and understand
it, but the message needs to come home to us.   

 
We read in verse 3: “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever
before me.” Before Nathan spoke to David, he knew his sin and he knew that God
knew it, but now the Holy Spirit brought it home to his heart, and he
acknowledged it. He now knew the consequences of that sin and how grievous it
was to the Lord.
 
David continued in verse 4: “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 judgest.” What does he mean, “Against thee, thee only, have I
sinned”? He sinned against Uriah. He sinned against Bathsheba. He had sinned
against his kingdom. He had sinned against the congregation of Israel.
 
David saw the horrible, grievous nature of his sin in the sight of God. You and
I have to learn to understand that when we sin, we sin against God. When Nathan
came to David, he had no place to hide. If God had told David he was going to
die for this, it would have been a just judgment, but now he confesses his
sinfulness. All of a sudden, he realized the grievous nature of his sin.
 
He says in verse 5: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me.” He realized that he was born in sin. He realized that he was
conceived in sin.
 
Continuing in verse 6 he says: “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:
and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” This confession of
David was the fruit of having the Holy Spirit enlighten his understanding to
realize the sinfulness of his sin and that his sin was naked and open before
God.
 
Now we come to the words of our text: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Until this happens to us, we
will never understand what it is to plead for the purging of our sins, that is,
to be cleansed from our sin, to be delivered from the power of our sin.
 
He is saying he wants to be clean from his sin. It is one thing to be clean or
be delivered from the penalty of sin. It is another thing to be cleansed from
sin itself so that not only the guilt, but the sin itself has been purged away
and it no longer has a hold on you. It no longer has power and dominion over
you. It no longer reigns over you. That is what he was asking: that he would be
delivered from the power and the reign of sin.
 
David wanted to be purged from his sin as well as delivered from the penalty of
sin. Notice that throughout this psalm, hell and damnation were not his greatest
concerns. He was concerned about the offense he had caused against God and how
he had brought reproach against God.
 
He says in verse 16: “Thou desirest not sacrifice or else would I give it thee.
Thou delightest not in burnt offerings.” That deals with the penalty of the sin.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. He understood
that the Lord wanted his heart, but his heart had strayed from the Lord. He
realized that it was a heart sin that the Lord was displeased with.

 
Now before the words, “Thou art the man,” were applied to David’s heart, he
could still order the execution of his subordinate for a much lesser crime. You
can see this in the preceding verses in 2 Samuel 12: 5-6: “And David’s anger was
greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the
man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb
fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” 

 
David passed judgment, but Nathan’s message was that the Lord had said, “Thou
shalt not die.” The Lord forgave him. David was not concerned primarily with the
consequences of his sin. As we go through Psalm 51, I want you to understand he
was not concerned about hell. He was not concerned about the punishment of his
sin. He was concerned about being delivered from its pollution, to be cleansed
from his sin.
 
The Bible is much more than a book of revealed facts and truth. It is not only a
history book. We read in Hebrews 4:12-13: “For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.” 

 
You see the word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
That is what we see in Psalm 51. We see David pouring his heart out before the
Lord under the pollution of sin, having to now be cleansed from sin itself.
 
We read in verse 13: “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his
sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we
have to do.”
 
Bible truths may be correctly explained without raising any opposition until it
is applied to our daily lives. Bible studies are everywhere. Pulpits are
everywhere, and the preachers may properly explain the word of God. They may
read it verbatim and never encounter any opposition until we are required to
apply it to our personal lives.
 
That is when you hit a hornets’ nest. That is when you see opposition. That is
when people become defensive. Religion becomes a source or form of entertainment
that is unprofitable to the soul. A religion of entertainment is unprofitable to
the soul.
 
You see this in Ezekiel 33:31-32: “And they come unto thee as the people cometh,
and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will
not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth
after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of
one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they
hear thy words, but they do them not.” 

 
The people were coming to be entertained by what Ezekiel was saying, but their
hearts were still covetous. When we apply the word of God to our daily lives, it
convicts us. That is when the rubber meets the road. That is when religion
becomes offensive. You can get yourself into a heap of trouble. People will
tolerate a lot of preaching of God’s word as long as it does not have to be
applied to their personal lives.
 
The Holy Spirit applies the words “Thou art the man” to the soul, opening our
eyes to see that the word of God “is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents
of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight:
but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to
do” (Hebrews 4:12-13).

 
When we have that applied to our hearts, when it becomes personal, when our own
sins are pointed out by the finger of God, then we begin to understand the words
of our text: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow.”
 
Then we start to understand the desire for cleansing, to be delivered from that
sin. Then the sin itself becomes personal. We do not apply it to another person.
We desire to be cleansed.

 
When the Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear
spiritually, “Thou art the man,” we begin to truly hunger and thirst for
righteousness. We start to understand the work of regeneration, when the desire
of the heart is altered. The sin we used to cherish becomes our greatest enemy,
and the things of God, which used to be our greatest enemy, become our chief
delight.
 
This word purge, as we find in our text, expresses David’s desire to be washed
and cleansed from the pollution of his sin by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood.
Our text says, “Purge me with hyssop,” because hyssop was to be used for the
sprinkling of the blood.

 
In Exodus 12:22 it says: “And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the
blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with
the blood that is in the basin.”
 
What does he mean by “purge me with hyssop”? He is saying, Lord, bring me under
the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, if I can
be washed in the blood of the Lamb, I will be whiter than snow.
 
He is saying: Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be
whiter than snow. That speaks of his walk of life: if the Lord will give him the
blood that had been dipped with hyssop to sprinkle the lintel and the side posts
of the door, which is his walk of life. 

 
 
 
 
This sprinkling with the blood was used also for the cleansing of leprosy. They
also used hyssop. When a leper came to be cleansed, he was sprinkled with the
blood with hyssop, which was to typify the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus,
which is the cleansing of sin.
 
The leper had already been cured. We are not talking about justification here.
We are talking about sanctification. He had already been delivered from leprosy,
but he had to be cleansed from the power of it, from the pollution of it.
 
In Leviticus 14:6-7 it says: “As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the
cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living
bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he
shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and
shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open
field.” 

 
This is a type of the sacrifice of Christ. He says “cleanse me with hyssop,”
which is the sprinkling of the blood, to cleanse him from sin. We become whiter
than snow when all of our sins are washed away by the cleansing power of the
blood of Christ. 

 
Before the Holy Spirit spoke, “Thou art the man,” into David’s soul, he could
still pass condemnation onto his fellowman, but afterward he saw his spiritual
leprosy and his need for cleansing as we see in verses 1 and 2: “Have mercy upon
me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy
tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.”
 
David is talking about that cleansing with hyssop, that cleansing power of the
blood. Until the Lord speaks to our soul, “Thou art the man,” our soul has no
rest until we have been cleansed. A mere formal religion and intellectual
religion does not bring a heart’s desire to be cleansed from the power of sin.
That does not bring a hatred for sin. That does not make sin become exceedingly
sinful. 

 
Conscientiousness of our defilement is not automatically accompanied with a
desire for cleansing. You can come under the proclamation of the word and
actually come to a full realization of your defilement, but that in itself does
not cause a desire for cleansing. The desire for cleansing is the work of the
Holy Spirit. It is that work of regeneration. It is that new man of the heart.
Jesus said in John 3:19-20: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come
into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the
light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
 
They realized they were defiled, but they fled from the light that revealed
their defilement, like David did until Nathan spoke to him, and the Lord applied
it to his soul. Until the Holy Spirit comes in the heart we see condemnation,
and we will flee the light. Sure we can see that we are defiled. We can realize
that what we are doing is wrong. We can realize that what we are doing is sin.  

 
This though does not put it in the light that David saw in Psalm 51. David knew
that when he took Bathsheba he was wrong. David knew that when he told Joab to
have Uriah slain that he was wrong, but he was hiding it. He was not coming to
the light.
 
Those who flee from the light cannot pray the prayer of our text: “Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
 
David could not pray the prayer of our text before Nathan spoke to him, “Thou
art the man,” because he was hiding his sin. He was not coming to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. He was keeping it secret.
 
The rejoicing of the wicked is in their iniquity, not in hearing the words of
God. Those who know their own defilement and those who shun the light rejoice in
their iniquity. They do not rejoice as we read in Psalm 51:8: “Make me to hear
joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”
 
David prayed in verses 9 and 10: “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all
mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.”
 
Now David saw the corruption of his soul. He saw the corruption of his human
nature. He saw the corruption of his sin. He saw the sinfulness of his sin. He
knew his sin before this, but he had never been brought to where he cried out
for the cleansing of sin.  
 
Continuing in verses 11 to 13 he prayed: “Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways;
and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”
 
What a blessing it is my friends, if someone who has been brought under the
power of sin, and the Holy Spirit convicts them to see the sinfulness of sin, if
that person finds someone he can speak to who can relate to what he is talking
about.
 
Now when someone would come to David and say, I have been taken in such a fault,
he could reply: I know the power of sin, and I know the sinfulness of sin, and
he could teach that person the Lord’s ways. He could teach him that he needs to
flee to that hyssop and have his sins sprinkled with the blood of Christ.  

 
David prayed in verse 14: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of
my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.” He
understood that he was guilty of the blood of Uriah. It went beyond the blood of
Uriah though to the blood of the church because he had been guilty of sinning
against the second table of the law of love. He had committed adultery, and that
is also having blood on his hands. He justly deserved to be put to death. 

 
We read in verse 15: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth
thy praise.”
 
There is never a time that a person can sing forth the praises of God like he
can when he understands that Christ came to redeem us from all iniquity.
 
David’s reference to hyssop teaches another valuable lesson, that is, his
willingness to submit to being cleansed in God’s ordained way. If we rightly
understand Psalm 51, we are going to learn a lesson that is powerfully
important, and I am going to show you what it is. The preaching of the gospel
today is centered on justification and the sacrifice of Christ, but I want to
show you what David teaches us in this psalm.
 
David said in verses 16 and 17: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I
give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
 
This is the lesson that Job did not understand. He was a formal religionist. I
want to show you the difference between what Job did and what David is teaching
us here. Turn with me to Job 1:4-5: “And his sons went and feasted in their
houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat
and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone
about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and
offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It
may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job
continually.”
 
David, though, said that God does not desire sacrifice. What Job was missing was
the heart. He never trained his children that their hearts should be right
before God. He tried to take care of it all with sacrifices. No repentance was
taught. Job did not understand the vileness of his own heart, but David said
that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
 
Watch the following verses. This is a tremendous lesson for us to learn. We read
in Psalm 51:18-19: “Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls
of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks
upon thine altar.”



I want you to see that the sacrifice of righteousness goes ahead of the burnt
offerings. The sacrifice of righteousness is the sacrifice of a broken heart and
a contrite spirit. That has to come before our pleading the blood of Christ. We
cannot come and plead the blood of Christ as Job was doing. His sons were
feasting and making merry, and then he would offer a burnt offering for it. The
Lord has no delight in it.
 
This was the same thing Saul was doing. He disobeyed the Lord by using the best
of the sheep and cattle for a sacrifice to Him.

 
We cannot plead justification under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ until we
understand what it is to be cleansed in the heart. We need that hyssop. We need
that blood on the two door posts and on the lintel of the door so the destroying
angel will pass over because he sees our walk of life. Now we can start pleading
the burnt offerings.
 
Satan loves overreaction. On one hand, he wants us to slight the authority of
God’s word as Jesus warned against inMatthew 5:19: “Whosoever therefore shall
break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” 

 
On the other side of this principle, Satan would load us with legalistic
commandments that God has no pleasure in as we see in Isaiah 1:12: “When ye come
to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?”
 
Who has asked you to even come within the walls of my house? 
 
Continuing in verses 13 to 15 we read: “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is
an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and
your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to
bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:
yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” 

 
These verses confirm that the Lord has absolutely no pleasure in sacrifices when
the heart is not right. When the heart is not right these sacrifices are an
abomination to Him. That their hands were full of blood showed that they had not
repented of their sins.
 
Continuing in verses 16 to 18 we read: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the
evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well;
seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool.”
 
What was missing? In all this ritual, the people came and offered sacrifices and
attended solemn assemblies, but this wearied the Lord. Their hands were full of
blood. There was no repentance.

 
David understood what was missing. He realized his hands were full of blood as
we see in Psalm 51:16: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it:
thou delightest not in burnt offering.” David is saying, I understand the
filthiness and pollution of my sin, and I do not need to bring a burnt offering.
I know it would not be pleasing in your sight. I need to come before you with a
humble and contrite heart. That is the sacrifice the Lord will be pleased with.
He says in Psalm 51:19: “Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of
righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar.” After the heart is broken and contrite, then
there is a place for the sacrifice. Then we can start talking about pardon.
 
See how abominable it is to only preach the blood of Christ and sacrifices
without repentance. Then we come under what the Lord says in Isaiah 1: Away with
it. It is an abomination to me.

 
See what we read in Psalm 51:14: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou
God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.”



David understood that he had blood on his hands and that he needed to repent and
be cleansed by the perfect sacrifice before a sacrifice would be acceptable.


He said in verse 15: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth
thy praise.” He saw that he needed the Lord to open his mouth before Him, that
he would be able to come before the throne to seek for mercy.
 
Continuing in verses 16 and 17 he said: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else
would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise.”
 
As long as David knew he had blood on his hands, he knew that he could not bring
a burnt offering and please the Lord. His heart had to be cleansed, and that
cleansing had to start with the hyssop, not with the burnt offering. That is why
our text says, “Purge me with hyssop.” He did not say, Purge me with a burnt
offering. 

 
This repenting spirit, this desire to be cleansed from all sin, this desire to
be whiter than snow is what was missing in Isaiah 1:12-15, which talks about all
of the sacrifices in which the Lord was not pleased. See what the Lord said in
1:16-18: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before
mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
 
This is what David was praying for. He was praying for a new heart. He said in
Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within
me.” He was not praying for pardon. He wanted to be cleansed with hyssop. He
wanted to be washed from his sin. He wanted to be washed from the pollution of
his sin. He wanted that blood washed off of his hands, so he could now bring his
sacrifice as we see in verse 19: “Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices
of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar.”



We have to be cleansed before we can seek a pardon. We cannot preach pardon to
those who are walking in sin. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come to save His
church in their sins. He came to save them from their sins.


You will seldom find a darker shade of guilt than David was convicted of. I want
you to stop and think of the tremendous lesson we learn in this history of
David. God had placed David in the highest position of public trust, yet he had
yielded to the worst passions. Do you know what a fiduciary is? He is one in
whom there is no tolerance for injustice, because he has been entrusted with
others’ money.
 
Think of the position David was placed in. David was the king of Israel, but he
had committed murder and adultery. He had killed a man and stolen his wife. What
two passions could be worse for a man to yield to—adultery and murder.

 
This Psalm pours out the breathings of a wounded spirit touched with the richest
sensibilities of spiritual feelings. Look how he grieved as he pled before the
Lord.
 
Both sides of our twofold being are revealed here. It reveals something in us so
near to hell, yet it also reveals something so strangely near to God, that
humble and contrite spirit. This is such a paradox. David had come so close to
hell, yet he was plucked as a brand from the burning. He was pardoned and was
now not primarily concerned with being slain for his sins, but he was concerned
about the pollution of his sins. The knowledge of his sin humbled David so
grievously before the Lord.
 
Beloved, does not this Psalm give a blessed revelation of the spiritual warfare
within the regenerate heart, as we see what it is to struggle against the power
of sin?
 
In this occasion of David’s fall, we see the germs of the most heinous crimes in
the most stately saint. When we examine our own hearts, we see the seeds of sin.
As the Lord reveals to us the thoughts and intents of our hearts, we see our
human nature that had fallen in paradise.
 
We see the perfect preciousness in Christ as He took on our human nature,
without sin, to be our substitute.
 
We read in 1 Kings 15:5: “Because David did that which was right in the eyes of
the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days
of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” Think of the grief
this brought in his life. 

 
When you and I examine our own hearts, can we say: except in only one case did
our hearts really stray from the Lord? Solomon’s heart was not right before the
Lord. With his heart, he served other gods. David’s heart though turned not
aside except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. The Lord forgave him.
 
The greatest lesson we can learn from God allowing His servant David to fall
into Satan’s snares is how pleased God is in our unconditional surrender to His
will.
 
We read in Psalm 51:16-17: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give
it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
 
This is a heart that is in total, unconditional surrender to the will of God.  
 
Even in the sacrifice of Christ, it was not the pain, the blood, the death with
which the Father was so pleased. These satisfied the penalty against sin, but it
was Christ’s obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, which was His
highest evidence of His complete and unconditional surrender to the will of His
Father. Therein was the Father so glorified.
 
You and I must learn to understand what it is to be conformed to the image of
Christ. As the Holy Spirit works grace in our hearts, and as we mature in grace,
we become unconditionally surrendered to His will. It is our conformity to this
image of Christ that is so pleasing to the Father.
 
We see this in Psalm 34:15-16: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and
his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the LORD is against them that do
evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” 

 
In these two verses we have such a profound proclamation of the gospel. The
righteous are those whose hearts are surrendered to the will of God.
 
Continuing in verses 17 and 18 we read: “The righteous cry, and the LORD
heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
 
Are we talking about salvation? Are we talking about the elements of salvation?
Are we talking about the evidence of salvation? Where is our evidence of
salvation? Do we truly understand what it is to fear the Lord? Do we understand
what it is to have a heart in total surrender to the will of God?
 
Do we understand what it says in Proverbs 8:13: “The fear of the LORD is to hate
evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate”?



The Lord says He is against those who do evil. Those who do evil do so in pride,
arrogance and self-promotion.

 
Who are the righteous? We read about them in Philippians 2:1-7. They are those
who have the mind of Christ, those who prefer others ahead of themselves, those
who have consolation in Christ.

For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me (JOH 17:8).

Receiving Christ’s words is receiving Christ (Christ is the Word.)— just as well as rejecting His words is rejecting Him. See what the Lord said when Saul rejected the Word of the Lord. 1-SA 15:23 says, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king."

Samuel had told him in verse 19, "Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?" We see the background to this in verses 13-18, "And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed."

The Lord gave Saul a specific command, but in his human reasoning he amended it to what he thought would be a better way. Verses 1 to 3 say, "Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."

Verse 21 says, "But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal." This was in disobedience to His Word. Saul was going to do as king what he thought was proper.

There is a receiving Christ and a receiving of His Word. JOH 20:31 says, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." Believing in Christ and receiving life are inseparable.

ACT 10:43 says, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." This means to believe the truthfulness of what He says. We receive the promise as we receive Him.

We must also see how that receiving the Word of Christ is an act of saving faith. ACT 2:41 says, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Are you a candidate for baptism if you say that you are outside of Christ? Receiving His Word is receiving Christ.

 

On the other side of this same principle, unbelief is rejecting the Word of God, refusing to be baptized. LUK 7:29-30 says, "And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him." As we step forward to baptism we are initiating ourselves into His service. The Pharisees rejected Christ and refused to be baptized. Unbelief is such a horrible sin.

The Lord is pleased in our obeying His voice, and we have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to cover our omissions and our violations of the law that we do in our weakness, as we are unable to keep His law perfectly. He is not delighted if we plead the sacrifice of Christ and sin willfully.

Unbelief not only rejects the Word of God, it rejects all the promises of His Word. ACT 13:46 says, "Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." In rejecting the Word of God they have forfeited their salvation.

See what a distinction between those unbelievers and those Gentiles. ACT 11:1 says, "And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God."

See how graciously they received the Word and Christ together. As the Apostle Peter preached the Word unto the household of Cornelius, it was those who heard who received. ACT 10:35-44 says, "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." Faith comes by hearing, but the Jews refused to hear.

Saving faith, therefore, may be summed up as a motion in the heart of man, stirred up by the Spirit of God, to receive the whole Word of God. Receiving the Word of God is assenting to the conditions and trusting Him for the fulfillment of the promises contained therein. ACT 3:19 says, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." To be converted means to change your attitude, to become a different person. This is conditional for receiving forgiveness. We cannot receive a pardon for sins while continuing in sin.

The Jews remained bitter against the gospel because they did not receive the grace of repentance. If we claim to have the grace of God we must examine ourselves to see if we have repented and become converted. These times of refreshing are the assurance in our soul that the Lord has pardoned our sins. However, if we have rejected His law of the gospel, we have rejected Christ.

Our God has so ordained that we receive the Word by the ministry of those whom He has sent, therefore, we read in 1TH 2:13, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." If I tell you that I preach the Word of God, then you must be able to go into the Word and confirm what I have told you. If that is not possible I have not given you the Word of God, but I have given you the Word of men.

To profit from the ministry we must take our eye off the man and compare the doctrines they teach with the Scriptures, to be assured that God’s Word is truly taught. I do not know of anything more dangerous than to hold someone in reverence because he is a powerful preacher. ACT 17:10-12 says, "And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few." Whatever you hear from the pulpit that you cannot confirm in the Word of God, put it in the trash can.

 

When we can reject all Pharisaical traditions and commandments of men, we set to our seal that what Christ has said is true. To do this we must reject anything that is not the Word of God. JOH 3:31-33 says, "He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." When we take philosophy and private interpretations we make God a liar, but when we receive His testimony as the word of God, we set to His seal that what He says is true.

We read in PRO 30:5-6, "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him." If a word trips us up, we must do some studying. We are forbidden to add unto His Word, lest we be found to be a liar, and we are forbidden to take from His Word lest He take our name out of the Book of Life as we see in REV 22:19. It is not a slight thing to amend the Word of God.

It is so important to understand that the whole Word of God must be received. We cannot claim the promises and reject His commandments. 1JO 2:4-6 says, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." A prominent church movement says that His law has been abolished, that His commandments are no longer in effect. Yet, Christ says that unless we repent, we will likewise perish. This teaching brings contradiction into the Word of God. Receiving His word and receiving Him are inseparable. Christ did not walk in rebellion to the commandments of the Father. If He had violated one commandment He would have spent eternity in hell.

We are not under the law to earn salvation. We are under grace, but grace is the ability to keep the law with gospel obedience, with a heart’s desire to do the will of God.

Hypocrites are willing to receive the Word of promise with joy, but what do we read of them? LK 8:13-15 says, "They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." This is receiving Christ and His word.

People today want to die the death of the righteous, but live the life of the unrighteous. Balaam longed to die the death of the righteous as we see in NUM 23:10, yet he loved the wages of unrighteousness—forsaking the right way as we read in 2PE 2:15. See the admonition against this doctrine in REV 2:14, "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication."

Saving faith or believing in Christ is an exercise of the heart. Balaam lacked a change of heart. He had no salvation because he had no repentance. He still coveted the wages of unrighteousness. He did not receive the Word of God as the authority of His life. ACT 8:36-37 says, "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." The Lord does not want a divided heart. He does not want us to preach the gospel with one side of our face and serve the world with the other. The Lord will not accept those who have a divided heart.

The first table of the law reveals that God looks at the attitude of the heart for acceptable obedience, which must be motivated by love. MAT 22:35-38 says, "Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment."

 

Our Saviour went on to complete His answer by telling what was His highest command, which would evidence our love for our GOD in MAT 22:39-40, "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Receiving Christ’s words is to obey them by the obedience of faith with the whole heart. Receiving Christ’s words implies an act of the will. Until we are made willing, that we serve God out of desire, we have not received His word. There must not only be knowledge of His will, but an actual choice and desire to do His will. PSA 112:1 says, "Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments." Our chief joy should be that the Lord is pleased with what we are doing. Nothing has humbled me more than when the Lord spoke to me out of this verse, letting me know that He was pleased with something I had done.

If we see ourselves as sinners before the Lord with the need to be washed, that is sometimes a good place to be, but on the other hand it is quite humbling for the Lord to smile on us, that He has accepted us and is delighted in something we did.

This act of the will is accompanied with a motivation by affection for the will of God. We do not do His will grudgingly. It is something we delight to do. GAL 5:24-25 says, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." They continue to spring up in our lives, but immediately we must cut them off and flee to Christ that He might deliver us from the power of that temptation. We must do this daily.

All acts of faith are motivated by affection for Christ, which draws us unto the Person of Christ, though we meet with many difficulties. MAT 15:22-28 says, "And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole."

Obstacles become stepping stones to bring us closer to Christ. The woman of Canaan did not claim any worthiness. She did not claim any right or title. All she could pray was, "Lord, help me." Sometimes that is the most powerful prayer we can pray.

It is a consolation to the church of Christ even today to know that the crumbs that may fall from the Master’s table are to be used as food for us even though we feel how unworthy we are.

 

Those who have received the Word by faith will have Christ regardless of the cost. See what we read of the Apostle Paul in PHI 3:7-9, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

Those who receive the Word with their whole heart, not only acknowledge the truth of it, but they also choose it as their guide with all gladness. PSA 119:10-11 says, "With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

Those who walk by the doctrines of Balaam look to Christ to die the death of the righteous, but they look to the world to gratify their affections. They do not receive the authority of the Word that admonishes them in COL 3:1-3, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

Hear the venting of Asaph’s affection when his eye of faith was lifted above the things of this life and fixed upon Christ. PSA 73:22-27 says, "So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee."

Receiving the Word of God is the gift of the covenant of grace, which we read of in HEB 8:10-12 says, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." We have received the Word of God when the covenant of grace is written in our hearts.

Genesis Chapter 1 verses 26-27… 

Now let’s move to Chapter 2 into 3:13… then verse 20…
 

Have you ever thought what it must have been like to be the first and only person on earth?

You know… its one thing for us to feel lonely… but… in Adams case there was no one else… He missed much of what makes us… who we are…

He had no childhood… no parents… [as we know parents]… no family or friends… He had to learn to be human on his own…

Fortunately though… God didn’t let him struggle to long… He didn’t let him struggle to long… before presenting him with an ideal companion and mate… Eve…

 

At the outset they had a complete… innocent… and open oneness… with out a hint of shame…

Have you ever been in a family gathering when a young child runs through the room unclothed without a hint of shame… the innocence of the child…

Oh how that speaks to us of how it was and could be… [not that we run around naked… but that we are without shame… and transparent before each other…] 

Maybe one of Adams first conversions with his delightful companion would have been about garden rules…

We know… that before Eve came along… God had given Adam complete freedom in the garden… with the responsibility to tend and care for it…

But… one tree was off limits… the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… No doubt… Adam told her all about this…

We know very little about Eve… the first woman in the world… yet… she is the mother of us all… She was the final piece in the intricate and amazing puzzle of God’s creation…

Adam… now had another human being to fellowship with… someone with an equal share in God’s image…

Here… was someone alike enough for companionship… yet… now hear this… different enough for relationship…Together they were Greater than they could ever be Alone… 

What an incredible truth for us to take in this morning… Together we can become something bigger than we ever can become alone… 

Fantastic….

We know how the story goes…

Eve was approached by Satan in the Garden where she and Adam lived… and he questioned her contentment… How did he do this…

He implied… how could you be happy when you’re not allowed to eat from one of the tree’s…

Satan… helped Eve switch her focus… switch her focus from what she could do and what she had… 

He moved her focus from all that God had done and given… to the one thing he withheld… sadly… Eve willing accepted Satan’s viewpoint without checking it out with God… or Adam…

Does that sound familiar or what?

How often is our attention drawn from the much which is ours… to the little that isn’t…?

We can sometimes get that… ‘I have to have it’ feeling… in many ways Eve was typical of us all… Our desires like Eves can easily be manipulated… if we’re not careful…

Can you see this…

Truly… we need to keep God in our decision making processes… His word… this book is our guidebook to life’s choices and decisions…

Our relationship with God… Jesus… and the Holy Spirit should always be the contentment of our lives… God’s word… it should always be there with us… so that we learn the lessons of Life…

OK then… let me give us some life lessons from Adam and Eve…

In Genesis 1 verse 26-27 we read…[Read Genesis 1:26-27….] 

Lesson 1: As Adam and Eves Descendants we all in some way reflect the Image of our God. 

Please… take hold of this truth… God loves us… he loves us so much that he made us in his image… his likeness… so that we would and could reflect his image to others…

That which was spoilt in the garden and damaged by sin… God put right in his Son Jesus… he brought all mankind back to himself… in that the gave his son Jesus to pay the penalty of sin…

That disease which was damaging Gods likeness and image in us…

In what ways are we made in God’s image?

I suggest to us this morning that we display Gods image in our creativity… our reasoning… our speech and our determination…

It is our entire self that reflects God… We can never be God… but… we can be like him… we can… reflect his likeness in and through our lives…

God showed himself to us in his Son… Each of us this morning are becoming like his Son… we are becoming more Christ like…

We can and do reflect God and Jesus in us through our Character… Our Love for God and others…

Our Patience… Forgiveness… Kindness… our Faithfulness… our Humility… our Generosity… Can you see this…

You’ve heard people say no doubt … Oh he/she are such a Godly man woman…

Notice… God made Man and Woman in his image…

Neither man nor Woman is made more in his image than the other… From the beginning… the bible places man and woman at the pinnacle of Gods creation…

Hear this Today… God wants to reflect his image and likeness in you… he does that as you and I become more like his Son… Jesus…

Lesson 2: Sin Spreads 

Satan here… tried to make Eve think that sin is good… pleasant… and desirable… and I suppose knowledge of good and evil seemed harmless enough to her… but… its root was disobedience…

In our lives also… we can often choose wrong things… choose wrong things because we become convinced that they are good… pleasant… desirable…

Pleasant and attractive sins are hardest to avoid… they don’t always look ugly…

But… God’s word tells us to prepare ourselves… we can’t always prevent temptation… but hear this… we can always find an escape…I Corinthians 10:13 says…

 

We have to use God’s word… God’s people to help us stand…

Notice what Eve did… She Looked… She Took… She Ate… then She Gave… She Passed it on… 

One of the realities of Sin is this… it Spreads… Eve involved someone else in her wrongdoing…

I put it to us… that can so easily be the case for us… by involving someone else… we relieve our own guilt…

Sin when left unchecked spreads… The bible clearly shows that to us…

The worst step we can take is to eliminate the guilty feeling without eliminating the cause…

It would be a bit like taking a pain killer for your rotten tooth with out taking the rotten tooth out… if we don’t remove the tooth… the pain comes back… but it comes back worse than before…

Left uncheck sin will spread… Adam and Eve show us this lesson…

Lesson 3: We cannot Hide from God 

Read Genesis 3:9-10… 

Hear… we have the first recorded game of Hide and Seek!!!

But… seriously how true it can be of us… when things happen… we think we can hide it from God…

But… our God is an omnipresent God… he is with us wherever we are… whatever we are doing…

Our God loves us unconditionally…

But… Our natural fear leads us to think that when we mess up… we don’t deserve his Love… let me say… Gods love isn’t dependent on us… and what we do… because if it where we’d all fail…

It’s about Jesus… [don’t try and hide in the garden]… bring it all to Jesus… He is our Saviour… he is the one who shed his blood for our sin and wrongdoing…

 

Understand this… God loves us regardless of our faults… There is nothing we can do to make God love us more and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less…

 Adam and Eve show us this lesson… We can’t hide from God…

Oh and by the way… he doesn’t want you to either…

And finally for this morning…

Lesson 4: When Confronted don’t Blame Others 

Read Genesis 3:11-13…. 

Notice… in both cases… their answers involved someone else… they both tried to deflect their fault to someone else…

Ever done that… No… Me… never…

How easy it is to excuse our wrongs by blaming someone else… or blaming a circumstance…

I’ll let you into a secret… God knows the truth anyway…

Another life lesson we can learn this morning is the need for us to stand up and face the consequences of our own actions…



Mum… it was him… no it wasn’t... it was you… he made me do it… no I didn’t... you made me do it…

In closing… Adam and Eve represent so much to us as we seek to learn from their experiences…

This morning we’ve only looked at a few… 

1: We are made in Gods Image and Likeness… faults and all…

God through the presence of Jesus in our lives is helping us to become… Never forget we reflect the very presence of God through our lives… Jesus said…we are the light and salt…

2: Sin Spreads 

Adam and Eve show us that from one act of disobedience the rest of the world was infected…

3: We can’t Hide from God 

Never try and hide in the Garden of Life… meet with the Father instead…

4: When Confronted don’t blame others 

Without doubt Jesus took it on the chin… Stephen when facing the stones of hatred… said simply this Father Do not hold this sin against them…

He didn’t try to deflect the reasons for his actions towards any other…

We serve a wonderful God who loves us muchly… more than we can ever think or imagine… his word presents to us People… Characters… Situations… Commands that are there to propel us into a life of fullness and joy…

Hear me today… Don’t allow the suggestions and the trickery of the serpent to get you out of joy and peace… because the joy of the Lord is our strength… 

I close with the word of the Apostle Paul… 2 Cor 10:3-5 

For though we live in the world… we do not wage war as the world does… The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world… On the contrary… they have divine power to demolish strongholds… we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God… and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ…

If nothing else this morning… realise this… Adam and Eve show us that disobedience to the word of God is not the way…

Listening to arguments against Gods word is not the way… allowing suggestions and thoughts to exalt themselves above God is not the way…

Our biggest life lesson from the story of Adam and Eve is simply this… Obedience will keep you in the Garden…