Psalm 6

If you have a copy of the scriptures and you'd

like to follow along, we'll be in the Old Testament,

Psalm chapter 6. This book of Psalms, it's quite

Psalms 6 · chapter mention

large, 150 chapters. It was the hymn book and

the prayer book of the nation Israel. It was

used in public worship and also private devotion.

And while it was written by men, it was divinely

inspired. We find in the Psalms the description

of real life situations. And yet also, we see

each one pointing us to Christ. The book of Psalms

serves as one of the most complete revelations

on the character of God. As we look in them,

we find out who God is, what He has done, and

how we should respond to Him. The book of Psalms

records entries from as far back as Moses to

the post -Babylonian exile, so approximately

about a thousand years of history and psalms

and prayers and hymns are recorded in these 150

chapters. And while there are multiple authors

over the book, today, as we focus in on Psalm

6, this is a psalm of David. And while there

are several types of psalms, this is actually

a psalm of lament. There are many. There are

psalms of thanksgiving. There are psalms of kingship.

There are psalms of trust. This is a psalm of

lament. And chronologically, it is the first

one that we find in the book of Psalms. Interestingly,

when we look into a psalm of lament, they all

have the same pattern. They are written in times

of great sorrow and great loss. But yet, even

though there is pleading and sadness, each ends,

every one of them, with a confidence, a renewed

confidence of being delivered from God himself.

We find David today, we will find him pleading

with the Lord, feeling very distant, feeling

crushed, feeling anxious, worried, and perplexed.

And these are all very natural human emotions.

that we all find ourselves feeling from time

to time. And if you've ever felt any of those

emotions or been overcome by the convicting power

of the Holy Spirit or an injustice that has been

done to you, I would say, friend, you're in good

company. Because many saints before you have

felt that as well. We see King David today will

wrestle with many emotions through Psalm 6, but

we're also going to point ourselves forward to

David's greatest son, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who Isaiah would say, as a man of sorrows, and

felt every one of these emotions in the same

way that we would. One who can resonate with

his people. We've got three main points today.

Our first we'll see is our sin is crushing because

God is infinitely holy. Let's look into verse

1 together. O Lord, do not rebuke me in your

anger, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure.

Now we find David here very quickly in verse

1 in sorrow. We find him in anguish. Spiritually,

we would say he is in a valley. And we find him

very aware, though, of his own sin and his own

guilt. Made evident in this first verse where

he asked the Lord to withhold his heavenly rebuke

and discipline. And to rebuke is to correct with

firm discipline. And while a parent may discipline

a child, this is different. In the original language,

David fears a discipline that may very well destroy

him. It is more than just normal discipline.

The king here is becoming undone as this psalm

begins to unravel. He feels the burden of his

sin. It's weighty. And I think we can all relate

to that. When we sin, if we are believers, and

we transgress, there is conviction that is brought

upon us by the Holy Spirit. And it feels, at

times, heavy. And it can feel weighty. And it's

hard to articulate and describe until you have

felt it for yourself. But you feel that weight.

You feel that burden. Sin has a way of doing

that. And it's a burden that we can't lightly

escape from. When we transgress, when we cross

a line that God has said don't cross, when we've

transgressed God's holy law, you feel it in your

body. And it's not something you can get away

from. It is all -consuming. And we see that portrayed

here in David's opening. verse as he pins it

down there are really two distinct types of sin

first of all would be a sin of omission which

would refer be a failure to do something that

one ought to do and then there's the sin of commission

which in contrast is actively transgressing god's

law so how do we say that very easily essentially

a sin of omission would be of something that's

left undone that should have been done while

a sin of commission is a wrongful action that

we have taken ourselves The overwhelming point

is that regardless of the type of sin that we

have committed, the whole of our sin, all of

them, regardless of the type, is grievous to

God. And that is a big statement, to say that

our sin is grievous to God. Christopher Ashe,

in his Psalms commentary, would put it this way,

Unlike sinful human anger, the wrath of God is

hot, settled, righteous hostility toward sinners.

David says something here in verse 1, very pointed.

He says, Nor discipline me, Lord, in your wrath.

In the Bible, the wrath of God always, every

single time that it is recorded, is directed

squarely at sin. Our sins, every one of them,

and though they are many, are grievous to God.

And you might ask, why? Because of His holiness.

R .C. Sproul famously... said that there was

only one attribute of God that was elevated to

the third degree, and it was His holiness. And

you probably remember in the book of Isaiah,

it is Isaiah who is in the throne room of God,

and he hears the seraphim around the throne and

the elders, and they're proclaiming, Holy, Holy,

Holy is the Lord God Almighty. At no point do

we say God is just, just, just, or that He is

love, love, love, or that He is wrath, wrath,

wrath. There is one attribute that is taken of

God to the third degree, and that is that He

is holy, holy, holy. And because of such, we

almost cover our hand with our mouth as we say

it, because it is so much to think of how holy

God is. How holy is He? He is infinitely holy.

He is perfectly pure. He is separate from sin.

And He is unchanging in His righteousness. Sin

is not only a violation of His law, but a personal

offense to His holy character. God's holiness

is both moral perfection and it is majesty. Because

He is holy, sin is in... Rebellion to God. And

we are sinners, and therefore our sin is open

rebellion against Him. Not just His law, but

also His lordship. That is why even the smallest

of sins, if you wanted to categorize them, even

the smallest of sins deserves eternal punishment.

Not because the act itself was infinitely large,

but because the one who is offended is infinitely

holy. And any sin, big and small, relegates us

as a sinner. Fallen in the eyes of God and must

be dealt with. Sin grieves God because it denies

what He is worthy of. And you say, what is that?

Perfect obedience and worship. As believers,

graciously, after we come to Christ, we have

the Holy Spirit indwelling us and residing in

us and convicting us. of our sin and bringing

it to the forefront of our minds and showing

us the error in our ways, and it's that same

Spirit who we grieve, the one who convicts us

of our sin, sanctifies us, and comforts us as

believers. A regenerate heart cannot sin peacefully

because the Holy Spirit within us will not allow

it. Paul said something that describes this very

well. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul said, You felt

a godly grief. so that you suffer no loss through

us. For godly grief produces a repentance that

leads to salvation without regret. The Holy Spirit

produces godly grief, and this is important,

not guilt or shame, but repentant sorrow with

the purpose of driving us back to Christ. Conviction,

church, is part of sanctification. The Spirit

does not condemn believers. But the Spirit does

expose sin so that what? So that we can put it

to death in our lives. A believer's grief over

sin is actually a sign of life. a sign and evidence

that the Spirit is active and present within

us. And this is what we would call a part of

progressive sanctification, which is the Holy

Spirit's continual work in the hearts and lives

of believers to continually conform us more to

the person of Christ while we are here on this

earth. It is the Holy Spirit that applies the

Word of God to our hearts, the Holy Spirit that

brings holy sorrow over sin and then draws us

back to repentance. When sin troubles us as believers,

it's not the Spirit's rejection. It is His redemptive

presence within our lives. He convicts not to

destroy, but to restore. Let's look into verses

2 and 3. David writing, Now have mercy on me,

O Lord, for I am weak. Lord, heal me. For my

bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O Lord, how long? We see David in a

very desperate place here as he's writing. He

is crying out for God's favor. Be gracious to

me, he says. Heal me. He says, my bones are troubled.

My soul is troubled. He says, Lord, how long?

How long will this go on? How long am I going

to feel this? And we see David is shaken here.

He says his bones and his soul, which is not

really a comparison of the material to immaterial,

but a way of him expressing his whole being,

his whole person. He is feeling it all over.

And he says, Lord, how long will this go on?

Let us consider in our day -to -day lives for

just a moment. When we think of everyday experiences

that we all go through, something that is pleasurable,

something that is happy, it seems that it can

almost sweep by. so quickly. A good day, even

though we enjoy it, it goes very quick, it's

very fast, very good. But then pain and sorrow

enter. And it seems that time can pass so slowly.

Sitting in the doctor's office, waiting for test

results that we fear are going to be unfavorable.

A conflict, be it at work or in our personal

life, that we know we're going to have to deal

with, but we can't do it just then. It's going

to take some time until we can get to it in similar

situations. Those things pass so slow, and time

just seems to drag on. And David is feeling that

here. He is feeling a deep conviction of sin,

and it brings him to the point of almost distress.

in this language, and we ask ourselves at this

point, in suffering and in sorrow, when we suffer

and when we sorrow, does Christ understand what

we are going through when our souls feel this

trouble, that our bones and our soul is shaken

and troubled and we're just in deep distress?

Friends, our Savior not only understands what

we are going through, He superseded our sorrow

in every point. It was Christ who cried out in

the shadow of the cross in John 12, 27. Jesus

said, Now my soul is troubled. And what shall

I say? Father, save me. Save me from this hour.

But for this purpose I came to this hour. Jesus

Christ, the Son of the eternal God, the one who

was called the God -man. came to earth to dwell

amongst His people and literally be God in flesh.

John would say He was the Word made flesh and

dwelt amongst us. May I say, church, there is

great encouragement in serving a Savior who also

suffered. How does Christ understand your sorrow?

He understands our heartaches. He understands

our sorrows. He understands our deepest anxieties,

our deepest seasons of bereavement and grief

and sorrow and loss because as the God -man in

his humanity, he experienced every single human

emotion that we would ever encounter yet without

sin. We serve a Savior who can resonate with

us because He is a personal Savior. He is a personal

Redeemer. One who made full atonement for sin.

One who fulfilled the grand plan of salvation.

But one who's not far away. And one who's not

distant. But one who is approachable. One who

draws near. One who is an advocate. One who is

a mediator for his people. Consider this verse

in John 12 for just a moment because we see the

echo of Psalm 6 -3 here in John 12. We listen

not only to David's words here in the psalm,

but we see here our Savior in John 12 as he cries

unto the Father in anticipation of the agony

in the shadow of the cross that was before him.

And while it was terrible for David to sorrow

in Psalm 6, It was all the worse for our Savior

to endure the anger and wrath of God, a pure

and holy Savior, yet... In anticipation of feeling

the full weight of God's wrath, Christ knew unequivocally

what laid before Him at the cross, that the Father

would turn His back on Him and that the sins

of all who would ever come to Him would be placed

upon Him and laid on Him. And He is showing that

emotion here. No wonder His soul was troubled.

No wonder our Savior sweat as it were great drops

of blood. But yet He drank the cup that was before

Him down to the bitter dregs. And he experienced

this agony and he experienced all of these emotions

until he declared in John 19, it is finished.

In every way, church, in every way that we feel

overcome, Christ is there. He is more than enough.

And when we feel sorrowful, when we feel overcome,

behold him, look to him and abide in him. because

he is a Savior who understands. Number two, we

plead on the basis of God's steadfast love. Look

at verses 4 -7 here. David says, Return, O Lord,

deliver me. O save me for your mercy's sake.

For in death there is no remembrance of you,

and in the grave who will give you thanks? I

am weary. Now David says something very interesting

here. He says, Now that's specific language.

And there is a turning for us also. And the first

turning is a turning of repentance. But that

isn't even possible unless God first turns to

us in grace. David says, Notice very interestingly,

David is the king over all Israel here, a power

of position. He was the sovereign over the nation.

But he feels as though he's bearing the wrath

of God and he cries unto his covenant Lord on

what? On the basis of covenant love. What is

the word that he uses? It's chesed. Steadfast

covenant love. It's our pastor's favorite word.

And David pleads it out here in distress. He

says, God, deliver me now on what? On the basis

of your steadfast, your chesed covenant love.

And there's some heaviness in these verses. David

sort of bears out his soul here in very descriptive

language. He says he's very weary. And we can

resonate with this. Every night, he says, I flood

my bed with tears. He says he drenches his couch.

with weeping, that he's very exhausted, that

he's very, very tired. Night after night, without

reprieve, a place that he used to find rest,

a place that used to be a place of solace for

him, is now not. And he's very tired. He finds

there is no rest under the wrath of God, and

in addition, he's growing weak of all of his

many foes. Now this psalm is certainly one of

tears, at least up until this point. And in this

life, in the lives that each and every one of

us will live, there are many seasons that we

will weep many tears. There's times where we

will say goodbye to loved ones. We stand at the

graveside with the hope that we have in the resurrection

of Christ. There's times of sickness and disease

that we'll stand in the doctor's office and get

very hard reports and bad news. There's times

that we stand around. The bedside in a nursing

home when things look very bleak. There's times

of personal tragedy, not just in our lives, but

in the lives of other believers here and friends

that we just have even outside the church. We

walk through with them and we weep many tears

as we struggle to navigate the circumstances

of life. There are times when a man and woman

are married together and they have such a strong

desire to have children and yet they battle infertility.

For years. And they do it normally in private

and in isolation. And it's so very hard as they

want children so bad and yet struggle with infertility.

There's times that we weep tears over broken

relationships in our lives, broken friendships,

disappointments of circumstances and people.

But friends, in all this sorrow, we see in this

particular passage that we're seeing, David is

genuinely repentant. And in genuine repentance,

There is true peace. But in that genuineness,

we have an onus to unload our burdens to God.

When we find ourselves in these seasons of sorrow

and hardship and tragedy, we cannot allow ourselves

to try to bear it up on our own. That's our natural

inclination. In our flesh, it is do better, try

harder. I've got this. I can do this. And you

do not. I do not. None of us are equipped to

carry the struggles that come with this life

of brokenness. We have the privilege and the

access and the advocacy of Jesus Christ the righteous.

Once Christ ascended back into heaven, He was

seated at the right hand of the Father. The Scriptures

would tell us day and night, right now, He advocates

for those who are His, for believers. And friends,

when we are suffering, we cannot give in to the

desires and the leanings of our natural man,

our flesh, we would say, to grow cold. That is

the natural, to grow cold, to begin to drift,

to move ourselves into isolation, to seek some

sort of self -help. When we feel overburdened,

when we feel convicted, when we feel like life

circumstances are too much, we must abide. When

we don't feel like it, abide. When it hurts,

abide. When we have nowhere else left to turn,

we abide in God. Christ. He is the only place

of refuge. He is the only place of shelter to

which believers can run. When we're struggling,

we are tempted to look right, to look left, to

look for help all over, and the only place we

can truly go for help and reprieve is up. God

is the only one who is prepared to deal with

the troubles of this life because His Son experienced

them in every single point. And in that, we are

never alone. We want to look left, we want to

look right, but we look up. to the one who all

good things come from. David's very vulnerable

here, to the point that he says his eyes waste

away because of grief. He's pouring out his soul

near to the Lord. He speaks of his own weakness,

which is a very humble point that we must all

get to if we pour ourselves out before the Lord.

Then there's a shift here, and he speaks also

of his many foes. Christopher Ashe again. David

speaks here in anticipation. But as we look to

Christ in this psalm, Jesus in fulfillment endures

the deepest grief known to humankind. For he

understands the hostility of his enemies is at

the same time the expression of the wrath of

God falling on him. And in this is the paradox

of the psalm. One will not be resolved until

centuries later. Number three, heard and accepted.

Read verses 8 through 10 here. David says, Depart

from me, all you workers of iniquity. For the

Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord

has heard my supplication. The Lord will receive

my prayer. Let all my enemies be ashamed and

greatly troubled. Let them turn back and be ashamed

suddenly. Now church, we've seen a big shift

here. from the end of verse 7 to the way verse

8 starts, every psalm of lament will conclude

with confidence, a renewed confidence, not in

David's strength, but in the strength of his

Lord, the one that he has now prayed to. And

we see this dramatic shift. The king is almost

a new person here, as it were. And he speaks

with a resolute voice. The weeping is over. The

sorrow is over. And he commands all evildoers

that are around him to leave. He says, depart

from me, all you workers of evil. But we hear

something deeper here if we really look within

the text. We hear the voice of a man. whose prayers

God has heard. His confidence is based on three

things. First of all, the assurance that the

covenant Lord has heard the sound of his weeping.

Secondly, that God has heard his pleas and his

humble cries. And thirdly, that his prayer has

been heard by God Almighty. The king has wept

over his sins. But we too in Christ may be confident

that God hears our prayers. And church, that

is no small thing. Why then do we find ourselves

when we're in the midst of sorrow, grief, and

anxiety? Why do we pray? Why then do we run to

Christ? Because as David said, his plea was heard

and accepted. We have the gift of prayer if we

are a believer in Christ, if we are someone who

has came to faith and trusted Him as Savior.

But prayer is much more than just asking for

and getting things. Prayer at its most basic

level is communication with a holy, righteous

God. And I would say let's take it one step further.

Prayer is communion with a holy, righteous God.

Down through the ages of history, prayer is how

men and women have sought the face of God. the

only one who can hear and accept our prayers.

Why then do we run to Christ? Because it is through

Christ that we have access to the throne room

of heaven. It is through Christ that we have

advocacy to the Father. And because He was the

man of sorrows and can resonate with His people.

Isaiah would put it this way in Isaiah 53, speaking

of our Lord Jesus Christ, He was despised and

rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted

with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces

from him. He was despised and we did not esteem

him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried

our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten,

and afflicted by God. Church, we can know. That

the Lord is with us moment by moment because

He sent His own Son to walk through this world's

sorrows. Why? Why did God do this? Why was it

that Christ had to suffer in such a way so that

the full wrath of God could be poured out against

sin and be satisfied? Christ, who came to this

earth, lived as the God -man, 100 % God, 100

% man, yet without sin. No transgressions at

any point. Paul would write, the one who knew

no sin took on sin, became sin for us, for those

who were sinners. When Christ was on the cross,

He did not become a sinner at that point, but

He carried the sins. The weight of those sins

were placed upon Him at that time, and He bore

them, not for His sake, but for our sins. For

all those, it was a definite atonement for all

those who would ever come to faith in Christ.

That is why our Savior died. And if we are not

careful, we can almost become too comfortable

with the crucifixion of Christ. We need to make

it very personal and understand that it was my

sin. that drove Him to the cross. It was my sin

that was on each nail print in His hand, the

spear wound in His side. Christ had nothing to

pay for. He was sinless. He was perfect. He was

God in... It would have been against his holy

nature to have sinned. And those nail prints

that are in his hands right now and will be there

through eternity as a proof of purchase for his

bride were because of me and all who had ever

come to faith in Christ. Nothing of his. He bore

that wrath, the full wrath of God, the full weight

of it as the Father turned his back. on his son

and for the one and only time in redemptive history

there was a break where the father turned his

back on the son on the cross why because god

could not look upon sin but yet christ took it

to the full measure he carried the weight of

my burdens he stood in the garden he sweat draped

great drops of blood and he hung on the cross

not because he had to but because of his love

for you and i and all that would come Friends,

we should never get too comfortable with the

cross because we were the ones who drove the

nails. And it was for us that that blood had

to be shed, that an atonement had to be made.

Every word that came out, everything against

our Lord, even the spear wound in His side because

of His love for us. Lest we never forget it.

And Christ dealt with that sorrow and that pain

until He would look up and say, It is finished.

Not for a little while. Then... and forever.

It was a grand design that through this atonement

made by the Son that we might now bring our complaints,

our griefs, and our afflictions to God in Jesus'

name. And we know for certain that the Lord has

heard our pleas and He has accepted our prayers.

There's great peace in that. Does that mean that

God is going to answer every prayer I ever pray?

No, it does not. But does it mean that He's going

to hear every prayer that I ever pray? Yes, He

hears the prayers of those who are His. And there

is great peace in that. And there is great comfort

in that. When I don't know what to do and I am

overcome and we are overwhelmed, that we have

access through Jesus Christ. That's why we pray

in Jesus' name. It is not a formality. We pray

in His name because He is our advocate and our

mediator to the Father. In 1 John 5, John would

put it this way, Now this is the confidence that

we have in Him, that if we ask anything according

to His will, He hears us. And if we know that

He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we

have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Church, this is certainly not an original thought,

but it has long been said that one of the greatest

gifts of a believer of Christ is the ability

to pray and that God would hear the prayers.

of His children. And while that is true, it is

also true that that is one of the most underutilized

gifts that we have. How many times do we try

to carry our burdens and we try to carry all

these things instead of just taking them to the

Lord? Christ has already died for them. He's

already carried our burdens, our sorrows, our

griefs. Take them to Him. When we go to God in

prayer church, we have confidence. that He hears

our prayers. It is not a hope -so thing of maybe

it got there. No. Find great confidence in this

psalm. If you are a child of God, your prayer

has been heard and accepted. Church, we are granted

grace and peace through these prayers that we

pray. When we walk through the dark valleys,

and there are many in this life, we need one

thing, and that is God alone. It is his mercies

that are new every morning as we read from Lamentations.

And it is Christ who we find the ultimate source

as grace and peace. We have great confidence,

but only if we are those who weep for our sins

because it is the hatred of sin that is the inseparable

mark of the repentant spirit. Thomas Watson would

say, until sin be bitter, Christ will not be

sweet. We must lament one to love the other.

So now what? So how do we live in light of going

through this text this morning? Church, it is

my sincere hope to the saints that are gathered

here at Kitts Hill that you find great encouragement

in Psalm 6. And while it's been filled with tears

and it's been filled with sorrow and distress

and grief and bereavement and anxiety, we do

see great confidence here. We see a portrait

of David weeping on his couch. But where does

he go in such great distress? What example have

we been given this morning in the Scriptures?

He doesn't look beside him. He doesn't even look

internally to all of the great resources he would

have had as the king over all Israel. He looks

up. And he goes to the Lord, even while feeling

the wrath that he says is all around him. He's

beset on every side amidst the storms of life

that he felt. David does not try to do better.

He does not work harder. He looks to the Lord

of mercy. And church, we must do the same. We

must feel the freedom to unload the burdens of

our heart to a holy, righteous God in prayer.

When things come up in our lives, we cannot just

grumble at them. We cannot internalize them.

We certainly can't be naive or in denial about

them. Being stoic isn't good either. We must

take them to God who reigns supreme, the only

one who has the power to intervene in our circumstances.

When times are hard, when we get into those deep,

dark valleys of life, we must abide in Christ.

Why? Because nothing else will do. When we are

weary, when we are tired, When our bed, a place

that was once a place of resting, has been taken

from us, now there's no rest left in it, run

to Christ. David poses the question, how long?

How long will things be hard? There are hard

days and hard seasons in this life, but they

are so short in light of eternity. In hope, day

by day, we abide for the eternal joy that is

set before us. The whole of the Old Testament

is a shadow. pointing to one greater, one to

come. And everything that the Old Testament was

in word, Christ fulfilled in substance. We long,

as the people of God, for final separation from

evil. From the final separation of sin and death

and sickness and all the things that plague us

here in this life. And there's a deep longing

in every believer for this to be resolved. You

say, who will do it? Christ. The one in whom

we abide will be the one to bring these things

to a resolution because, church, there is coming

a day where Christ will banish evil, sin, sickness,

and death forever. And on that glad and glorious

day, we may take comfort. Only then will we be

truly freed from sin and all of its entanglements

and the burden and the sorrows that we feel in

this life, all who are descendants of Adam. Each

and every one of us are guilty in the eyes of

a holy God, but through Christ, the one who wept

for sins, we will be ultimately delivered from

this estate. Christ will one day gather into

his kingdom every man, woman, and child who has

been grieved by their sins and called out to

the Lord for repentance. Church, it is to Him

we run. It is to Him we cling. In this psalm,

we see that God is good. We see that God is faithful.

And we see that He is a God that can be trusted.

That in times of despair... No matter what they

may be, we are admonished to run to his dear

son, to run and find the man of sorrows, the

one who can resonate with our circumstances because

he has felt every human emotion. We run to the

Lord Jesus Christ because he is one who understands

and he is one who cares. He is the redeemer and

lover of our souls now and forever. Amen. Church,

when we feel that weight, let it drive us to

Christ. We cannot give in to our yearnings to

be isolated. Let us abide in Christ regardless

of how we feel. He is the lover and redeemer

of our souls. Let us cling to Him. Amen? Amen.

Good for me, I pray it was good for you this

morning as we don't get into that book of Psalms

very often, but it was the hymn book and the

prayer book of Israel for hundreds and hundreds

and hundreds of years, and it is good for us

to get into that book and read what men who were

divinely inspired wrote and also how we see Christ

in each and every psalm as well. We'll take this

moment to go ahead and transition to a time of

communion. We'll have our deacons go ahead and

come at this time, if they will, and prepare

the table as the junior church is coming back

in. As we transition to the table, we would want

to say that this is...