Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Let us read two Psalms of penitence. Repentance and faith go hand in hand all the way to Heaven. Repenting and believing make up a large measure of the Christian life. First, let us read the 51st Psalm, penned by David after his great sin with Bathsheba, when, by the instrumentality of Nathan, he had been led to repentance. What if we have not fallen into any gross open sin? Yet, perhaps if we could see our hearts as God sees them, we should be as much ashamed as the Psalmist was when to the music of his sighs and groans, he poured out this Psalm.

Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness. According unto the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my transgressions. What delicious words those are! "Your l oving kindness." I have sometimes felt glad to be a Saxon, that I should speak a language that had such delightful words in it. "Loving kindness," "tender mercy." Now, the eye that is quickest to see the tenderness of God is the eye of repentance, for the sinner who feels condemnation in his own heart looks so keenly after everything that may make for his comfort, and his eyes light on the tender mercies and loving kindness of God. The prayer is for pardon—no, it is for purification, as well as pardon!

2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Take out this plague spot. I cannot bear it any longer. Oh, cleanse me from every trace of it, my God, I beseech You!

3. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is always before me. I tell it to You because it haunts me. It is always present to my mind. It seems painted on my eyeballs. I cannot but see it, turn whichever way I may.

4. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight: that You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You judge. He had sinned against his people, setting them an evil example—sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah—but he sees the whole evil concentrating itself, as it were, upon his God. He felt that the virus of the whole thing was that he had done dishonor to the name of the Most High, whose servant he was.

5-7. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me. and I shall be whiter than snow. "Behold," he says, as if to go to the bottom of it, and to show that sin was not an accident with him, but that he, himself, was sinful. It was a grand faith—it was an Abrahamic faith—that when a man had such a sense of sin as David had, he at the same time could believe in the cleansing power of the blood! For you who do not know what sin is, and who have never groaned beneath the burden, to talk about the pardoning blood—oh, it is easy enough and there is nothing in it! But for a soul that knows the guilt and feels it and is burdened by it, still to believe in the power of the atoning Sacrifice—this is faith indeed! David had seen the priest take the bunch of hyssop and dip it in the warm blood of the goat or the bullock, and then sprinkle it—and he says, "Lord, do the same with me—with that richer blood of Divine Atonement!" That blood which, in David's day, was yet to be shed! "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

8-10. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out allmy iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; andrenew a right spirit within me. Lord, the mischief lies deep! Strike at the root of it. I would not have You to wash out only a spot, but go to my heart and renew that, that I may sin no more.

11-14. Cast me not away from Your Presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation; and uphold me with Your free Spirit Then will I teach transgressors Your ways: and sinners shall be converted unto You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. In that verse there is one of the surest marks of David's sincere repentance, namely, that he calls his sin by its right name—"bloodguiltiness." I have no doubt that he had said to himself that Uriah died by accident, and pleaded very much to excuse and extenuate his guilt. But now he outs with it. That is the word—"blood-guiltiness." It is no use trying to apologize and excuse yourselves before God. As long as that is done, no pardon will ever be applied to the conscience. But when the sin is seen in its true colors, then shall those colors be washed away and we shall be whiter than snow. "Then will I teach transgressors Your ways." He felt that if God would pardon him, he would be the man to tell of God's way of mercy to others. And I trust, dear Friends, if we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, our witness will never be silent about the goodness and the mercy of the Lord. If you have never spoken to others, begin tonight! Teach others the ways of God to you!

15-19. O Lord open You my lips; andmy mouth shallshow forth Yourpraise. For You desire not sacrifice, otherwise would I give it You delight not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion: build the walls of Jerusalem. Then shall You be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon Your altar Sure to be good times when men are under a sense of pardoned sin. None serve Him so well as those whose sins are washed away—who feel the same within.

Now, we will read the 32nd Psalm.

Verses 1-5. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silent, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto You, andmy iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Soon over. Once poured into Jehovah's ear out of a contrite heart, and the transgression was gone forever! May it be so with you, dear Hearer. If Your sin has never been forgiven you till tonight, may you this night obtain pardon through confession of sin.

6, 7. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto You in a time when You may be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

MATTHEW26:59-68; LUKE 23. Verses 59-60. Now the chiefpriests, and elders, andall the council, sought false witness against Jesus, toput Him to death; but found none. Neither for love nor money.

60. Yes, though many false witnesses came, yet they found none.That is, none that agreed—the lie that one man spoke was refuted by the next!

61. At last came two false witness, and said this They did not say any other word, as if they did not know any word in any language vile enough for Him. "This"—our translators have very properly put in the word Fellow.

61. Fellow said, I am able to destroy the Temple of God, and to build it in three days. He never said anything of the kind! It was a most wicked misrepresentation of what He had said. If men wish to find an accusation against us, they can do it without any materials.

62-64. And the high priest arose and said unto him, Do You not answer? What is it which these witness against You? But Jesus held His peace. And the high priest answered and said unto Him, I command You by the living God, that You tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, You have said it: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of Heaven. He binds them over to make their appearance before Him when He becomes the Judge and they shall take the place of the criminal.

65, 66, Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy! What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, nowyou have heard His blasphemy, What do you think?He looks round upon the seventy elders of the people who were sitting there in the great council and "They answered and said, He is guilty of death." Probably Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were not there—they were the only two friends the Lord had in the Sanhedrim.

66, 67, 68. They answered and said, He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in His face, and buffeted Him; and others smote Him with the palms of their hands, Saying, prophesy unto us, You Christ, Who is he that smote You?This ended the regular ecclesiastical trial of Christ. A little time was spent before Pilate, the judicial ruler, was ready to see Christ, but soon as the dawn was come, they dragged Him before another tribunal. We shall now turn to Luke 23.

Verse 1, 2, And the whole multitude of them arose and led Him unto Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, We found this Put in what word you like—villain—scoundrel—our translators could not find a better word than that inexpressive-expressive word, "fellow." "We found this Fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He, Himself is Christ, a King." They shift the charge, you see, now! Before, it was blasphemy, now it is sedition.

2, 3. Fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar saying that He, Himself is Christ a King. And Pilate asked Him, saying, Are You the King of the Jews? And He answered him and said, You said it Another of the Evangelists tells us that He first asked Pilate what he meant by the question, explaining that He only claimed the kingdom in a spiritual sense.

4, 5. Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this Man. And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard them say Galilee, he caught at that—he did not wish to displease the multitude.

6, 7. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the Man was a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that He belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time. So away the Master goes—He must be dragged through the streets again to a third tribunal! Oh, You blessed Lamb of God! Never were sheep driven to the shambles as You were driven to death!

8. And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he was desirous to see Him for a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. But the Lord never worked miracles to gratify idle curiosity! He who would have worked a miracle to heal the poorest beggar in the street would not work a wonder to please the king in whose power He was!

9. Then he questioned Him in many words: but He answered him nothing. "No," says good Christopher Ness— "John Baptist was Christ's voice and Herod had killed him—there Christ would not speak—as if He would say, 'No, no,' you did cut off John Baptist's head, who was My messenger, and since you have ill-treated My ambassador, I, the King of kings, will have nothing to say to you."

10. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him.The original word is "made nothing of Him"—made Him as nothing.

11. 12. AndHerod with his men of war set Him at nothing, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate. And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together; for before they were at enmity between themselves.Two dogs could well agree to hunt the same prey! And sinners who quarrel on other things will often be quite agreed to persecute the Gospel.

13-16. And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said unto them, You have brought this Man unto me, as one that perverts the people, and, behold, I, having examined Him before you, have found no fault in this Man touching those things whereof you accuse Him. No, nor yet Herod; for I sent you to him and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto Him. I will therefore chastise Him, and release Him. Ah, that word, "chastise," slips so glibly over the tongue! But you know what it meant, when the Roman lictors laid bare the back and used the terrific scourge! "I will scourge Him," said Pilate. Perhaps he thought that if he scourged Him, His suffering would induce the Jews to spare His life.

17-20. (For of necessity hie must release one unto them at the feast). And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this Man, and release unto us, Barabbas! (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison). Pilate, therefore, willing to release Jesus, spoke again to them. He seems to have gone backward and forward many times, desiring to save the life of Christ, but not having the moral courage to do it.

21-26. But they cried, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him! And he said unto them the third time, Why? What evil has He done? I have found no cause of death in Him: I will therefore chastise Him, and let Him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. Andhe released unto them him that for sedition andmurder was cast into prison, whom they had desired. But he delivered Jesus to their will. Andas they ledHim away, they laidhold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the Cross, that he might bear it after Jesus