Does The Truth Of Jesus Bring You To Your Knees? (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: Nature reveals God’s glorious power; the Bible reveals His glorious grace; seeing Him reveals your desperate need.
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 19:12-14
Last week, we began Psalm 19 and saw the big picture truth of how God reveals Himself generally through nature and specifically through His Word. This morning we’re wrapping up that psalm by looking at just the last three verses which tell how we should react to these truths. Really, it ends with a prayer. These verses have always been very close to my heart. I want them to be how I live my life. I pray this morning, you’ll be hit by them as well. Let’s read verses 12-14 and then talk about them.
"12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer."
The opening verses of this psalm, which we walked through last time, hammered home two central truths. First, looking at nature we can see there is a powerful God behind its design. When we look at the beautiful and highly improbable nature of our existence, we cannot help but see that there is a God. However, this does not tell us specifics about Him. His Word does. His Word is trustworthy and true and directive and joy-bringing. In it, we see God’s grace. He has chosen to reveal Himself and speak directly to each of our hearts. The revelation in Scripture isn’t vague. It speaks of the real God who really loves you. It’s personal. So, if I were to finish off our gist from last week as it connects to what we see in these three verses this morning, I would say: Nature reveals God’s glorious power; the Bible reveals His glorious grace; seeing Him reveals your desperate need.
This morning, I really want to focus in on that last point and break down what this knowledge should drive us to. So, technically, this is a one-point sermon… but it’s going to feel like a four point sermon, so don’t get too excited ☺.
I. Seeing Him Reveals Your Desperate Need
Again, I want to walk us through each line here today. The verses we closed with last week told of that the precious Word of God works to warn us about our own sin and following them brings the ultimate reward of salvation! What is recorded in these verses is David’s prayer-reaction to these truths that have been revealed to him. Seeing the truth of Jesus should make us first cry out→
Show Me The Sins I Cannot See & Forgive Me (12) “12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.” I know when I first read this verse when I was young, I thought the hidden faults here were referring to the sins other people couldn’t see, the sins that stayed in my heart or weren’t obvious to everyone else. We do need rescued from these, and we’ll see them covered in the next part of this prayer, but that’s not what he’s talking about here. What he’s referring to in this line is sin he doesn’t even realize he’s committing. Before we’re saved, sin isn’t always shameful to us. Because of our upbringings, there might be things we feel like we shouldn’t be doing because “we know better”, but there isn’t a sense of breaking the design of the loving God or sinning against Him. We don’t see our sin for what it is—a desire for ourselves above all else that is running us straight toward destruction. We’re spiritually blind.
Salvation opens our eyes, but we still see through a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12). David is acknowledging this. He’s not just now becoming a believer, but he still knows there is much about himself that he doesn’t see. We need to know this too. There are sins we commit every day that we probably don’t even think about. In fact, knowing this should make us more patient with one another because sometimes that sin that was committed against you that made you so mad might have been done in complete ignorance. The offending party might be completely oblivious to the fact that they’ve offended you. Still… this isn’t an excuse either. David knows there are sins he commits that he doesn’t see, and he wants to see and be forgiven. That’s the only way he can be declared innocent. We should seek the same! We should want to see our sin and be forgiven for it. However, not content with just being forgiven and continuing in sin, we should then cry out→
Protect Me From My Enslaving Sinful Desires (13a) “13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!” Presumptuous sins are sins you commit on purpose. You know what you’re doing, you know you shouldn’t be doing it, and you do it anyway! In our context, this makes me think of two “types” of sins if you will. First, there are those things we do that we think are secrets. This is what I was talking about before. These are the sins that are in our minds and in our hearts, but maybe we never act on them. Or, maybe we do, but we don’t think anyone knows about them. They’re our little secrets. They’re not hurting anybody, so they’re ok. But… they’re not. There is no such thing as a secret sin first off because God sees everything. Secondly, there is no such thing as a sin that doesn’t hurt anybody. You’re a somebody, and sins is a destructive evil that wants to enslave you and keep you from the fulfilled life for which you were made!
But let’s be real here too. You’re not the only one at risk. That secret sin you harbor is destroying more than your heart. It impacts your relationships. It impacts your family, your friends, and your witness to the world. How many times have we heard of the number 1 “secret sin” in our world today coming to light and ruining everything? Pornography and infidelity. If you’re harboring lust in your heart, it’s not just going to affect you. It will come to light, and it will break the hearts and shake the faith of those around you. Get rid of it. There is forgiveness, and we need it! If you’re harboring anger or unforgiveness or jealousy or attitudes of self-hate, it will come to light and it will be devastating. Get rid of it. Again, there is forgiveness, and we need it!
Secondly, there those sins of bold defiance. These are things we do that we know are wrong, but we just do them anyway, and we’re not even trying to hide them. I think a lot of times in our society we justify ourselves by allowing our culture to speak louder than God’s Word. If we see everyone else doing something the Bible clearly prohibits, we will rationalize that the Bible was writing that specific direction for an earlier time, and it doesn’t really apply to our unique modern context. Let’s be honest. These kinds of arguments have much more to do with you getting to do what you want to do than anything else. We can’t pick and choose with the Bible here. It’s the truth whether you like it or not. Why do so many Christians live in open sin? Within the church there are the same sexual sins and the same relational issues we see in the rest of the world. We have couples living together. We have grudges being held. We have people abusing drugs and alcohol. We have people watching filth on television. Why? Because it’s become just what you do. Frequently, students will tell me to watch a TV show, but will follow that up with, “But you shouldn’t watch it with your kids.” I know that there are some perfectly acceptable shows that aren’t appropriate for all ages due to the seriousness and intensity of the content. However, that’s not usually what their implying. Usually what they mean is there is a lot of foul language and near nudity or sexual content that kids shouldn’t be seeing. My response is always, “If I can’t watch that kind of stuff with my kids, then should I be watching it by myself?” Do I need that kind of filth in my heart? I don’t.
That’s what David is praying here. Stop me from doing things I know I shouldn’t do, things I know dishonor you. This includes not only sins of commission (doing dishonorable things), but sins of omission as well. That is, if we know we should do something—like read our Bibles, spend time in prayer, devout our time to serving with the local church, share the gospel with those around us—and we don’t do it, we’re willfully sinning in that as well.
And notice, David says stop me from doing this so that it does lead me into SLAVERY! Jesus came to free us from ourselves, the sins that hold us captive and control our lives and lead to our destruction. Why in the world would we want to me held captive again if we’re free? Like Paul wrote to the Galatians, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) We don’t do this because we’re afraid of being caught doing the “wrong thing”, but rather because we’ve come to love the truth. We want to be like Jesus, so these cries will come from a heart that knows→
If You Do This, I’ll Be Clean! (13b) If you show me my sins, and forgive me, and protect me from falling right back into those same old traps, “Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.” Sometimes we look at sin like a losing battle. We can’t be perfect, so why even try? Because God can make you clean. You won’t be perfect this side of Heaven, but you will be renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16) into His image. If you’re set free, you’re free indeed (John 8:36)! See, these desires will also come from a heart that also cries out→
Oh, Let Me Live For You! (14) I absolutely love this last verse here. “14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." Words and meditations are connected here because we know that it’s from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). It’s what we put into our hearts that eventually finds its way out of our mouths. That’s why it’s so important to fill our hearts with the things of Jesus. If we find bitterness and anger and filth coming out of our mouths and into our lives, we need to look and see what we’re putting into our hearts in the first place. Surround yourself with the things of this world and that’s what you’ll have. Surround yourself with the things of Jesus, and all the sudden life looks a little different. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace! (“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”) Paul wrote to the Philippians and told them, “8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8). These things are the things of Jesus. Nowhere else will you find this kind of excellence. Think about these things. Be changed by these things! Fill your heart with the things of Jesus, and His truth will come out of your mouth.
The psalm then ends in wonderful praise. Seeing the truth lets you see your sin, so you can praise your Savior! I love that the psalm comes full circle here. He praises the personal God that is his rock—his foundation and strength—and his redeemer—his personal savior, the one who rescued him. This echoes the beginning of the psalm where were told nature reveals God’s power and Scripture reveals God’s grace. Seeing this truth makes us want to praise Him for it!
TAKEAWAYS
Let’s recap!
1. See your need today. There is sin in your life.
2. Seek forgiveness and daily guidance. This is not a one time deal. We need Him every hour.
3. Guard what goes into your heart. Be careful little eyes what you see!
4. Praise the God of power and grace! He is all powerful...and He loves you!
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