But you take your Bibles to Psalm 19 tonight, a familiar chapter of the Bible, but we're going to look at the unfamiliar verses of Psalm 19. Ever needed extra help? Sometimes it's embarrassing. We don't want to admit that we need help. You ever find yourself in over your head? and you have got to get an answer or get an extra hand. And times in life like that sometimes remind us that we are not perfect. We are not complete and we are not all powerful, right? We do need help. Maybe there's a time in your life when you need some extra tutoring in school or maybe extra coaching. I don't know any statistics on the subject, but I have heard a number of stories of professional athletes who at some point hired a coach, a personal coach, to train them and to make them better. At some point, they would have to humble themselves and say, I need some help. How about in your Christian life? You ever felt like you needed some help? Every day, battle of being a Christian. One of the areas that we will all need help in, and we need to learn to ask for help in, is the area of sin. We need help with our sin. In Psalm 19, we find that David, this mighty man of God, this godly man, was also mighty weak. He was mighty enough to know that he was He doesn't have a spotless track record, but he lived a life as a testimony to us of what we ought to understand about God and ourselves. So look with me, beginning at verse 12 of Psalm 19, the last three verses. David says, who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. David needed help. We need help. The first thing he needed help with was he needed help with silent sins. So do we. We need help with sins that we may not even be aware of. He says in verse 12, who can understand his errors, that word errors, the idea of wanderings as human beings, like all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. We are naturally wanderers. We wander our own way. David said, I need help with this. But not only those wanderings, he says, cleanse thou me from secret faults, sins that were unknown to him. But something wasn't right. If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you probably have a good idea what David is talking about. Maybe you can't think of any areas of direct disobedience to God, but you know there's something there. Like, something isn't right. I have an eternal relationship with Christ, but the fellowship, something weird is going on here. I just don't feel right. And it's not a head cold. It's a heart that has wandered from God. David may not know all of his sins, but certainly God does. Ephesians 4.30, we're told not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Did you know it's possible for you to sin and not know it? That's what this verse teaches us. And David was so concerned about his relationship with God that he desired for God to cleanse him from sins that he didn't even know about. Certainly God can gather all our sins together. He could put them in a large heap that could fill, you know, not just one of these auditoriums, but each one of us could fill up thousands upon thousands of auditoriums if our sins were presented before us. We would be overwhelmed at the thought. But God shows us mercy. And he sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for known and unknown Sins, we need help with silent sins. Sometimes it's only a whisper of wrong or a wandering heart. Every man is drawn, when he's drawn away of his own lust, his own desires and enticed. We all have a tendency to wander. The wandering in itself may not be sin, but it may very well lead you to sin and sins that you're not aware of. Now in this psalm, David begins by showing us the world, the world that God created and how it brings him great glory. He continues by telling us about the word, the law of God, and the great treasure that we have in the word of God. It's better than gold, it's greater than riches, the word of God. God reveals the world, God reveals the word, And David is reciting this. He has come to know God through his creation. He has come to know God through his law. But David then is turned to himself, and he realizes, I know that. I know what's out there, and I know this, but I don't know myself. And every honest individual has to say, there are things about myself that I do not know. The heart is deceitful above all else, and desperately wicked, the Bible says, who can know it? And so we need God's help in this, and the Spirit of God sometimes brings to our understanding something is not right. And there's nothing wrong with saying, God, I sense something's not right. I sense conviction, but I don't know what it is. Lord, show me, open thou mine eyes, and behold, wondrous things are thy law. Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth. Show me where I have erred from thy ways. Help me with my silent sins. Number two, help me with my stubborn sins. Look what he says in verse 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. That word presumptuous is interesting. It has the idea of boiling or seething. It has the idea of pride. These are sins not so much willfully entered into as they are entered into because of self-sufficiency. We don't need God. David says, God, keep me from the danger of self-reliance. Help me to be dependent upon you. I come needing you. Keep me from silent sins, but keep me also from stubborn sins, sins in which I enter into because I don't realize that I was needy. I thought I was okay. I thought I was self-sufficient. And we're warned about this in Galatians, aren't we? We're warned about the danger of self-sufficiency. It says in Galatians chapter six, In verse three it says, but if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. We're warned. We're warned that we may not always understand our self-reliance, our self-sufficiency. But David knew enough about himself to say, there's things going on in me. that may not be pleasing to the Lord. But there's also a tendency to trust myself rather than trust in God, rather than be dependent upon Him. So we need help, don't we? God, help me with my silent sins. God, help me with my stubborn sins. And then number three, we find in verse 14, help me with my secret sins. David, this is a wrapping up of the chapter. And when he says, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, very likely he's actually talking about those words he just got done saying. The words that praise God for his creation. The words that praise God for his word. But he reveals to us something else about him. He says, he's concerned, not just with the words of his mouth, but also what goes on in his head, in his mind. And the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. Help me, Lord, with my silent sins. Help me with my stubborn ones. Help me also with my secret sins. Sins that nobody knows about. People can see your actions, they can hear your words, but they don't necessarily know your motivations. I've found in life it's never a good idea to try to guess somebody else's motivations. I'm usually wrong. But God knows our motivations. He knows what drives us. He knows what we're truly seeking after. And we need God's help. Sometimes we are resisting God's revealed truth. Sometimes we're listening to the lies of the devil and he's ever speaking them. And so I need my words and I need my meditation to be cleansed, to be purified, to be sanctified, right? Galatians chapter five, verse 24. We see this battle that takes place in the life of a Christian. I know you were just there in Galatians. I should have read it when we were there, but Galatians five, verse 24. 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 and the spirit, there's a battle. We are enduring, right? We're struggling with the world, we're struggling with the devil, but we're really struggling with our flesh as well. I mean, that is your greatest enemy, your flesh, my flesh. And we need God's help to overcome these secret sins. In Romans chapter seven, we have a reminder from Paul. He couldn't sanctify himself with the law. He needed a help outside of himself. Romans chapter seven, verse 19, for the good that I would do, I do not, but the evil, which I would not, that I do. Then he says in verse 24, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Which is quickly followed, verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The help is not in us. And it's right for you and I to say, I need God to help me with my sin. We can pretend, we can pretend we don't struggle with it. But you know what the Bible says, don't you? We know what it says about us. And as much as we try to hide it, the reality is there, we have a problem. Even as believers, we're going to battle sin day by day. Sometimes they're silent. Maybe you're not aware till later. You're reading God's word and he speaks to you and he says, ah, there's an area. You need to address that. Praise God for the Holy Spirit of God. We gather once a month for the Lord's table. We take a time during while the elements are being passed out to pray, to ask the Lord, is there anything, anything between me and you or anything between me and my fellow believers? Is there anything that needs addressed? It's right as we prepare for our special meetings in two weeks. I would encourage you, be praying, be asking God, is there anything in my heart? It's a whole lot better to take care of those things before the evangelist comes. God, speak to me, prepare me, ready me to hear your truth. Help me with my stubbornness, my self-sufficiency, my stubborn sins. I don't wanna fall into the trap of being proud. Verse 13, it gives the pattern after the sin, he says, let them not have dominion over me, then shall I Be upright and I shall not be innocent from the great transgression. It's this pattern, this binding, this chaining sin. And then help me with my secret sins. Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be acceptable. God, my life is yours. It's an open book. Reveal to me my need. You say, I can deal with my sin myself. Thank you. I'll be okay. You know, I remember in third grade, my first basketball game ever, I went out and shot the ball in the other team's hoop. And during halftime, my dad called me over. I was all, you know, this big. And he pulled me over and wanted to tell me some things, give me some pointers. Are you kidding? I'm in third grade. I know everything. I did not want to hear it. I still cringe thinking about how foolish I was Sometimes we're no different. We resist. We have needs. We don't know better. We need God. And we need to ask Him for help. We need Him to ask Him for help with our sin. You say, well, I can discipline myself enough that I'm not gonna ever struggle with temptation. Don't fool yourself. While you live in this world, though you may have the Holy Spirit, you do have the natural man. And there's conflict. You're gonna need to live surrendered to the Spirit, but also, Ever asking, ever vigilant, God, is there anything? I wanna be right with you. I wanna have sweet fellowship and communion with you. I want your word to speak to me. You know, it's a whole lot easier to live with a clear conscience than to live in the chains of sin. Conviction of the Holy Spirit is, boy, it's miserable. But it's kind and gracious. And he continues, out of love, to expose you to your need for him. First John 1.8 says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And so the end of verse 14 tells us this, David's appeal is to the character of God. He says, he wants to be acceptable in thy sight. Oh Lord, my strength, and my redeemer, he's my rock and my restorer. And he appeals to the character of God. He says, I've got needs, help me. When did he come to this conclusion? He had just recited a passage, a song that he was singing about the character of God in his creation, the glory seen in the heavens. And then the glories of the word of God. Verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Commandments of the Lord are pure and lightening the eyes. Fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold. Yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey. and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. He's thinking about God, his glory, his creation, and his word, and what happens? Conviction. Okay, Lord, I don't know me like I should know me. I need you. I'm weak. I'm not like you, but I want you to make me like you. And he appeals, and he appeals to the character of God. There's an article written in 2004 by Daniel T. Willingham, he is a psychologist, and he was asked the question, does practice make perfect? And he says, no, statistics say practicing more doesn't necessarily make you better, but there is a kind of practice that will make you better. He goes on to explain a variety of different applications, education, school, and music, different things. And he says, you know, you can learn something, and a teacher can teach a student something. In my school books, you know, you finish the chapter, you rip it out of the book, and you move on to the next chapter. And you don't think about it again until there's a final exam, but you've already thrown all your pages away. You don't know how to study for it. But his encouragement is, okay, it isn't just enough to teach the kids until, okay, they're gonna get an A on this test, and then you move on to something else. He says, you need to continue to bring it before them. And his idea was this, practice in itself isn't enough. You need to continue to over-practice. Over-learning is the term he uses. He says, You need to practice beyond the point of perfection. What do you mean by that? So I know it, but I'm gonna continue to study it and use it in other subjects, and I'm gonna continue to learn and grow, and it's gonna be constant over and over again. It's the kid who gets a 4.0 GPA, and he gets straight As, and he graduates, and he's still studying the cards. Buddy, come on, you've graduated. He said, no, I don't want to forget this. And it's true, I mean there are those, most people in their high school will learn within, all that they learn within those five years will be lost within the, four years, will be lost from their memory completely in the next five years. Usually that's the case, but the statistics he was sharing were this, the people who are the overlearners, the ones who continue to review and study and look back and remind themselves of things, those people retain 80% of that information over 50 years. You say, what does that have to do with our lessons? Sometimes we think we can overcome ourselves. We think we can maximize our abilities and we can conquer, we can study enough. It comes down to something. The reality is that we are needy. We aren't gonna learn it all, know it all, remember it all. And there are things in your life that you did once know that you don't remember anymore. Everybody here, that's true. So what do we do? We need to come to the point in our life where we say, I need something else. You say, I can't be better than perfect. No, me either. I can't make perfect, but Jesus can. And he concludes this chapter by saying he needed help. And he appeals to God. And isn't it appropriate that he ends with that word? Redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Redeemer. And so, the beginning of this chapter is the glory, right? The glory of creation. The glory of the word. And it goes from glory to gory. From the world and the word to the wretchedness of our sin. And as he thinks about creation, there's things that creation can't do. Creation cannot help David with his sin. Keeping the law, the Old Testament law, as Galatians teaches us, is not enough to save the soul. You can't do it, it's impossible. You need Christ. Christ, the Redeemer, can and He will. Jesus challenges disciples in the Lord's Prayer. Pray daily, forgive us our debts. In other words, day by day, as you go to God in prayer, God, is there anything I need to make right with you? Keep short sin accounts. He also encouraged them to pray, lead us not into temptation. In other words, God, don't let me wander after the whispers of this world. Don't let me follow my own druthers. Don't let me wander into dangerous territory. Lord, protect me today. That's a right prayer to pray. He also encouraged them, deliver us from evil or the evil one. Satan is ever prowling. He's seeking whom he may devour. And it's a right thing to pray day by day. God, protect me from Satan. Protect me from his influence. Protect me from those he might use to turn me from your word. Matthew 5, four, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He said, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted, and that mourning is their mourning over our sin. As David examined God and his word, he examined his own hearts, and he found himself wanting. The same as in Isaiah chapter six. He saw the glory of God, and he said, I've got a problem with my mouth. First Corinthians 1557 though gives us great hope. Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus has died on the cross, he's paid for our sins, and today we can live in victory. But Christian, just because you have eternal salvation, don't forget that day by day you still need to ask God for help. You need to ask him to help you with your sins, the silent ones, the stubborn ones, and the secret ones. And he will. Do you need help today with your sin? Maybe nobody knows about your struggle. Do you need help? Ask for it, and God will help you. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this psalm. And here, a godly man, a man after your own heart, who admitted how much he needed you to help him with his sin. Help us to see the same in our own lives. that self-sufficiency and pride, maybe ignorance, maybe a cluelessness about our secret motivations can actually become a problem. I pray that we would be attentive to you, to your word, and to the voice of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.