I ask you please to turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 57. Psalm 57 as we come to consider the matter of a confident cry from a cave which was written by David when he was fleeing from Saul for his life into a cave, as the title tells us in our psalm. Psalm 57, picking up at verse 1, I will read the entire psalm in your hearing, although for this morning we'll only be considering verse 1. Psalm 57, verse 1, here as David writes concerning events which are set forth in the book of 1 Samuel, he says the following. Be merciful to me, O God. Be merciful to me, for my soul trusts in you. And in the shadow of your wings, I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by. I will cry out to God most high, to God who performs all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me. He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions. I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have dug a pit before me. Into the midst of it, they themselves have fallen. My heart is steadfast, O God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing and give praise. Awake, my glory. Awake, lute and harp. I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing to you among the nations, for your mercy reaches unto the heavens and your truth unto the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be above all the earth. Friends, let's once again pray and ask the Lord's blessings on our time. Let's pray. Our great and glorious God, we thank you that of you and through you and to you are all things. We thank you that you are God and besides you there is no other. We thank you that for many of us in this place, we know you not only as God transcendent, but as God, our Heavenly Father. We thank you for the salvific work which you have wrought in many of our hearts through the power of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. Oh God, our heavenly Father, we look to you this morning for your strength. We look to you, oh God, for your salvation. Lord, we look to you for our sanctification. that you might build us up in our most holy faith, that you might strengthen us in the way, that you might help us as we make our sojourn to the celestial city. Oh God, come now by the blessed Holy Spirit and fill this place with your glory. and do us good as your needy people. We ask and pray all of these things in that exalted name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. I begin this morning by asking you here this day, what do you do, what do you do in your times of trouble? when you feel that there's just so much upon you. Your situations are more than you can bear. Everything seems against you. I ask you, dear ones, how do you respond? How do you react when you find yourself, as it were, boxed in a cave with all kinds of hardships happening all around you, be that with your family or in the workplace or at school or wherever else it might be. Well, if you're honest, I'm sure. Sadly, at times like these, as a Christian, Sadly, you're not all that you desire to be in times like these. Sadly, at times like these, none of us are probably the godliest people in all the world so that we could boldly say to others with a good conscience, I have not been moved. No. In times like these, unfortunately, we are not always stalwarts in the faith, ready to own the promises of God and to believe them wholeheartedly for ourselves. No, often in times like these, we find ourselves crying out with the father who's recorded in the gospel records, whose son was demon-possessed, saying to the Lord Christ, Lord, I believe. Help my uncle. belief. Well since God would have us as his people to be growing in our trust in our faith in him especially in our times of trial and since he would have us to be more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. Dear friends you and I need to ask for today how is it that we can do this more in our lives. How is it that as the people of God we can go from strength to strength, from glory to glory? Well thankfully we have in the book of the Psalms many wonderful, many helpful examples to encourage us in this regard. Thankfully, even though at times the various psalmists struggled in the midst of their difficulties, dear friends, nonetheless, by and large, the prayers and the petitions that they offer to the Lord are tremendously instructive for us as God's people for whatever we might go through in our lives. Well, for this morning, we come to one such example as this, as found in the opening words of Psalm 57 and verse 1. Here, as David was pouring out his heart to the Lord in the midst of great hardship, He utters words which are absolutely useful for us to embrace for our own lives for the evil day. Here. His words greatly train us in this regard, and as we come to consider them together, I ask you please to note with me first, in verse 1a of this psalm, David's repetition in his prayer. Notice the words again he writes, Psalm 57, 1a, he says, be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me. Now, if there's one thing that generally annoys most people in life, it is when others repeat themselves in conversation, right? Brethren, you know how it goes. There are some people who just keep saying the same thing over and over again when they are conversing with us, and perhaps they do this because they feel like they're not being heard, or maybe they do this because they want to be more as preachers tend to do, or maybe they do this in conversations with us simply because they're old, or whatever the case might be, and as annoying as this can be. Dear friends, please hear me when I say that there is a time in life when repeating ourselves is absolutely fine for you and I to do, and such a time as this is when we are in conversation with God in prayer. That's a time when it's legitimate. That's a time when God the Holy Spirit has shown us through the words of David that this is okay. Yes, I say that this is something that God never despises, especially when we are broken before the Lord, for as David says in Psalm 51 in verse 17, a broken and contrite heart, these, oh God, you will not break. despised. Now of course, quite plainly, this is what David is doing in the opening words of our psalm for today. Here as his life was being greatly threatened by Saul and his 3,000 men who were seeking his life, again as we're told in the book of Samuel. David repeats his plea to God here in order to emphasize the urgency and the gravity of the situation at hand, which apparently was quite dire. As he says in verse four of this chapter, look at the words. He says that his soul was among lions, metaphorically their teeth, Saul's enemies, were as spears toward him, et cetera. David here repeats his prayer to the Lord. Saying twice, look at the words again in 1A. Be merciful to me, O God. Be merciful to me. Now when David prayed these words to the Lord his God, what was the essence of what he sang? I mean surely we know, if we're familiar with our Bibles, that God himself had already been extremely merciful to David by giving him faith in order to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah who was to come. And thus David in Psalm 110 in verse 1 calls Jesus his Lord. Even though the Lord did not come, prophetically he understood that Messiah would come. And so in that wonderful messianic Psalm, Psalm 110 in verse 1, David says, the Lord, that is to say God the Father, said to my Lord, that is to say God the Son, Jesus the Messiah, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Further, we know, if we're familiar with our Bibles, that God had been very merciful to David by forgiving him of all of his sins. For as David could say in Psalm 32 verses 1 and 2, verses which Paul quotes in Romans chapter 4, we've considered them in recent days in speaking about how merciful God had been to him, David could say with reference to his own sin. Psalm 32 verses 1 and 2, blessed Or extremely happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. David says happy is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. And so clearly God had been very merciful to David. He gave him faith to believe on the Messiah who was to come. He acquitted him of all of his unrighteousness. All of that's true. All of that's so. Nevertheless, in our verse today, we see that David is asking the Lord to show him fresh mercy. Fresh mercy, even though he was a child of God, even though he was converted, even though he was justified by faith alone in the Christ who was to come alone. Even though this was true, even though God had been extremely merciful to him, what's the point of these words? Well, now his situation warrants fresh mercy from the Lord. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me. And so what is the word The words be merciful to me mean, well, the Hebrew verb be merciful literally means to be gracious to me. Be gracious to me afresh in this new circumstance. A verb means to show favor. God, show favor to me. Show favor to me. The word means to show pity. Show pity to me. I am in a hard situation. And dear friends, if you're familiar with the Psalms, then you know that this plea from David and other psalmists was a regular plea that they made to the Lord. I mean, here, for example, if you're taking notes, we could think of the words which are found in Psalm 4 in verse 1, when David said to the Lord, hear me when I call. Psalm 4, verse 1. Hear me when I cry to you, O God of my righteousness. You have relieved me in my distress. Quote, have mercy on me and hear my prayer. My prayer, additionally, right in the previous psalm, before our psalm in view, look at it with me in your Bible, Psalm 56, in verse one, here David writes, look at the words he says, here it is again, be merciful to me, oh God, why? For man would swallow me up, fighting all day, he oppresses me. Well, quite evidently then, dear ones, We see that such a prayer as this, God be merciful to me. God show favor to me. That such a prayer as this, and even the repetition of such a prayer, is a good thing for us to pray as the people of God. Right? It's clear. And brethren, hear me when I say that it's good for us to beseech the Lord like this, for there's absolutely no shame in it at all, and indeed this is no vain repetition. No, rather this calling out to our God to be merciful to us, who, according to Ephesians 4, is the God who is rich in mercy. Calling out to God over and over again in our times of distress is that which accords with scripture and is something which we are to regularly do. And so, I pause then this morning to ask you here this day, is this what you do? Is this what you do? I ask when you're completely down and out, overwhelmed with this thing or with that thing, is your mouth open to the Lord saying, oh God be merciful to me, be merciful to me. Now having said this, it's also interesting to note that David here in his pleading with God to be merciful to him. that the term for God that he uses here is the Hebrew word Elohim. Of course, as we know, there are many different names that the various writers in the scriptures used for God, and each name is very important. Always important to look up the specific usage of the name that the psalmist or the writer is using at that time. Each name is important. However, we need to ask, what is the significance of David calling God Elohim here at this point in his life, in this psalm, when he was undergoing such a hardship? Well, in identifying the Lord this way, you should note that David was speaking of him as the Supreme One. Have mercy on me, Elohim, the Supreme One. Have mercy upon me, my God, who is the King over all. That's what Elohim denotes. Simply stated, to refer to God this way is to refer to him as the Mighty One. who rules over all things as sovereign, being, as David says in verse 2 of this psalm, look, God Most High. That's Elohim. The Supreme One, the Sovereign One, the Most High God. Being the God who is always faithful to His covenant promises toward us, His people. Well, in view of such truths about God, dear friends, it seems clear to me that when David called upon the Lord as Elohim to be merciful to him, that he did this primarily for the fact that in doing it, he understood something of God's character and of God's conduct. Calling him Elohim, the supreme one, God's character, he rules over all, his conduct, as the great ruler, he defends his people. Do you see why it's significant to study the Bible closely? Do you see why we look at every single word to see its meaning and its connection to all of the Bible? Brethren, the point is, because David realized that his God was sovereign over all of his circumstances, even the circumstance that he was currently in, running for his life, fleeing from Saul and his men. Because he realized this, he had real confidence in the Lord that he would hear and answer his prayer. Have mercy on me, most high God. You, the one who rules over all. You who say that the nations are but a drop in the bucket before you, you, the mighty God, of whom we're told in the word of God, no man could stay your hand nor say, what hast thou done? Have mercy on me, O great Elohim. Now, obviously, there's an important lesson in this for all of us to get as believers, and it is, if we are ever to find help in our times of trial, then you and I must know and be thoroughly convinced concerning who our God is. That's just such a simple fact, but oh brethren, it's so important. Let me state it negatively so as to make the point more poignant and say that you and I will never, there's the negative statement, find help in our hardships if our belief in who God is and what he can do is deficient. You'll never find help in your difficulties. You'll always be down and out if your view of God is deficient. Dear friends, please hear me when I say that if, for example, in your thinking, God is not the Most High God, who rules over all, who is all powerful. If your God is a small God, listen, you will always have big problems in life. If your God is small, you will always have big problems in life. That's just how it goes. If in your thinking you have a small God, your problems will be overwhelming to you in your life. And so I ask you this day, dear Christian, How big is your God? How big is he? How big is he? Is he this big? Is he this big? Or is he this big? How big is your God? Is he bigger than all your problems, even the one you might find yourself in this day? Is he bigger than your situation? I ask you, brothers and sisters, is he almighty or not? being able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask, think, or even imagine. Is he or is he not? Well, you say, as good Bible-believing Christians, of course he is! Of course he is! You say, according to Jeremiah chapter 32, this God is so great that nothing is too difficult for him. To which I say, amen. Ah, but friends, because this is so, never forget that we are to believe this and we are to act accordingly. There are some Christians, shockingly, even some reformed Christians who understand that God is sovereign. He's the king over all. He answers to no man. He does all of his holy will. And yet, when we are faced with trials, we become like Arminians with big problems and a little God. We forget that our God is the king of creation. We forget that he rules over all. We forget so many things about him that we get swallowed up in our situations. But friends, I say, this should not be so. We need to have our theology adjusted from time to time, and hopefully this will be the day. I say that because our God is above all others, you and I are to come to him believingly, knowing that he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him, Hebrews chapter 11. So why then? Why? Follow with me. Why should God be merciful to David? his servant. In other words, according to his own words in our verse, what was the basis for David asking Elohim to do this for him? Well, let's consider it secondly under the heading of David's rationale in his prayer. His rationale in 1B. Look again at the words in your Bibles. He writes for. Here's the reason regarding the whole matter. For, or we could translate the word as because, my soul trusts in you. Be merciful to me, O God. Be merciful to me, O great one, majestic one. Why? For my soul trusts in you. Now to me, this seems like a good reason for why God should hear and answer the prayer of his servant at this time, right? As David found himself in great sorrow, maybe like some of you find yourself in this situation today. We see that his eyes are completely fixed on the Lord, and so he says quite literally, be merciful to me, oh God, be merciful to me, because in you, emphatically, in you, my soul, that is to say my life, takes refuge. Oh God, why should you be merciful? Because I'm trusting in you completely. That's the basis, that's the rationale for why God should do what David is asking him. Now clearly, in this language here, we see that David's not a mere, empty professor of faith. In you, emphatically, I'm trusting he's no mere, empty professor of faith. Plainly, we see that David was no Christian atheist. You say, what does that mean? Well, it means that he wasn't one who professed God on the one hand and yet didn't think that God could operate on the other. No, rather, David was a sincere child of God who through Christ had a real relationship with him and a real faith in him. For as Calvin rightly says in his commentary on this passage, quote, this language here implies that the trust which David exercised proceeded from his inmost affections. a true believer, being strongly rooted. And so what then do David's words teach us? Well clearly they teach us that in his time of trial, David completely rested in the Lord, right? Here we see that David's words express that by God's grace, His faith was solid in the Savior, for as he says in 7a of this chapter, again by way of repetition, look at the words there, he says, my heart is steadfast. Oh God, my heart is steadfast. Well, in view of such things, let me ask you here this day who, name the name of Christ. What is your faith like? What is your trust like? What is your confidence like in the day of trial? I may ask, how is your trust, your belief, your faith in God in the midst of difficulty? Well, maybe you're here this day and you say, well, actually, by God's grace, it's quite good. It's quite strong. You say, praise the Lord, it's anchored in the Savior, to which I say, amen, praise God, but perhaps you're here this day and you can't say that. Maybe your current trial is swallowing you up, dear friend, and so you say, how can I be better in this regard? How can my faith grow? Well, while there are many ways that could be stated, I'm sure. I say that primarily, I'm convinced that this has to do with what I said earlier, namely by us remembering who God is according to his word. Who God is according to his word. Oh, beloved, I say that this is what biblical faith is all about. And it is to mark us all of our days. It is by trusting who God is in his word. And in his word, he says that he is not a man that he should lie. He says, I am a very present help in time of need, even as we'll consider this evening together. Well, may our faith be marked by such a confident trust in the Lord as it was with David. May we be those who take God at his word, not wavering in unbelief when we fully know who he is, of being like the wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For if such a one, James says in James chapter one in verse seven, let not that man suppose that he'll receive anything from God. No, unbelief is not commendable before God, it's condemned before him, brethren. And so we're to be like David here. We're to put our confidence in this God who is the great one, the mighty one, the one who rules above all things. We are to follow David's example. Well, as he continues to speak about his trust in the Lord in the last part of our verse for today, he puts forth this very memorable portrait for us to consider. Having said that his sole trust exclusively in the Lord at this hard time in his life, now he beautifully illustrates what this is like. And so he says first, note the words again in your Bibles, he writes, and in continuous thought, the shadow of your wings I will make my refuge, or more literally, I will make my constant trust. Now I love this metaphorical language here, and I say this because clearly it portrays for us God's divine protection in our lives. Here what David does is to set forth God as a protective mother hen who gathers his chicks under his wings, and this in order to keep them safe when troubles are around. And so what's the point? Well, the point is that when we go to God in faith, broken, full of tears, full of heartache, perhaps even lacking faith sometimes. But when we go to God, confident of who He is and what He's able to do, when we go to God through Christ, in like manner He will do the same for us. The point is, friends, in our trials, in whatever hardship you might be experiencing this day in your life, physically, financially, in your family, whatever it might be, in times like these, as we go to God, He will protect us. He will cover us. He will conceal us. He will hide us under the shadow of His wings. Blessed be His name. Now, such an illustration as this is not unique to David's pen, just in this psalm here. And I say this because he uses it throughout the psalms again and again. He describes God in this vivid way so that, for example, in Psalm 17 and verse 8, the psalmist cries out there to the Lord, saying, keep me as the apple, the pupil of your eye. He says, hide me, quote, under the shadow of your wings and then secondly for example in Psalm 63 in verse 7 the psalmist says because you have been my help therefore in quote the shadow of your wings I will rejoice and so in all of these passages what do we see but that David repeatedly expressed in the illustration the wonderful truthfulness of the guardianship of God toward us who are in Christ That's what he's expressing. Here in these words, he put forth this delightful symbol of the sovereign security that the Lord will grant to those who know him through the Savior. Well, brothers and sisters, of course, once again, as the case was with David, so also it's true for us in our current situations. For us who are Christians, God in Christ is our great protector. Jesus is our great shield. And thus, the hymn writer was correct when he wrote, Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storms of life is passed, safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last. The hymn writer got the point, and thus he expresses it quite plainly. Now having said this, listen, you should note that there is another way to understand these words here concerning David making his refuge under the shadow of God's wings, and I say this because David's words here could be speaking about him doing this in God's special presence, which is to say in the Old Testament tabernacle, the place of worship. And so you say, why do I say this? Well, I do so because when David speaks here about the shadow of God's wings, you should note that in Exodus chapter 25 and verse 20 the quote wings of the golden cherubim or angels are said to have overshadowed the lid of the mercy seat wings and mercy seat of the ark of the covenant which was in the most high place again the tabernacle of God and so in view of this again follow with me It could be. It would be fine to interpret these words here as David saying that in order to find comfort for his trial in his time of distress that he would go to the house of God to find comfort for his never-dying soul. Does it make sense? that David could write in Psalm 61 in verse four, I will abide in your tabernacle forever. I will trust in the shelter of your wings. Now, of course, having stated all this, there is an obvious, a glaring application for all of us to take for ourselves as Christians. And so you say, what is it? Well, it is. In our times of trial, in our times of difficulty, in your time of hardship, dear believer, you are not to miss church. That's the obvious application. Now friends, I don't know why this is, but sometimes there are Christians who when they find themselves going through difficulties, which at times I find myself doing that often, They think that it's better to stay home than to gather with God's people on the Lord's day. Now, of course, I'm not saying that there's never a time to stay home. When, for example, someone's truly sick or in pain, et cetera, however, brethren, just because we've had a bad week or we had some trials in our homes and we're a bit distressed about this thing or that thing, that's no reason to absent yourself. from the worship of God. Rather, to me, based on David's words here and many other passages, this is the very reason to come to church. I will hide myself under the shadow of your wing where, in the tabernacle, I'm in a difficult circumstance. I'm in a straight way. For Pete's sake, I'm hiding out in a cave. But when I get out, I'm running to the place where God is worshipped. Is that what you do, my dear Christian friend? Do you come to this place, even when you're discouraged, so that you might be encouraged, that you might be built up in your most holy faith, that you might be strengthened under the Word, encouraged by the saints, blessed by the singing, encouraged by the praying, instructed out of the Word of God? My dear friends, David could say in Psalm 1611, in your presence, your special presence is fullness of joy. David could say in Psalm 84, how lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts. Blessed, not sad, not discouraged, but blessed are those who dwell in your house. They shall still be praising you. See the application? In times of trial, don't run from church, run to church. Don't absent yourself from the fellowship of being with God's people. But if you're able, by all means, be here, gather, receive from the Lord. And so, having seen in our verse for today. David's repetition in his prayer, be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me. His rationale for in you emphatically I put all my trust, come with me now thirdly, to note his reassurance through his prayer as set forth in the last part of the passage. Having asked God to be merciful to him, since his soul was trusting in him, look again at what he says. He says to the Lord in the midst of his difficulty, that he would hide under the shadow of his wings to find protection. And this he says in 1 C, look at the word until. Until. Or we could say while waiting for these calamities to pass by. Until these calamities have gone away. And I ask, do you see what David is saying here? Do you see why I titled this third heading his reassurance in his prayer? Friends, do you see how the little word here until expresses his absolute confidence that the Lord in the fullness of time would in fact remove this trial from him? You see, dear ones, because David knew something of God's conduct and character, as I said earlier, because he knew that he was his Elohim, who he was in truth, David could confidently say that he would wait under the shadow of God's wings and take refuge, awaiting such a time till all these difficulties blew over his head like a bad storm in the night. His faith is until these things are gone. Point, they're gonna go away, I know. He's reassuring himself. He's giving himself confidence. Simply stated because he knew that God and his goodness was for him and not against him. Since he knew that God would take care of all of his problems, what was David doing? He was resting in the Lord. What a wonderful thing it is to see this example in Scripture. Lord, I'm going to do this until they're gone. Point is, I know they're going to go because you're my God, you're my Savior in Christ. Until such a time, I will wait. But such a time is coming when they will be gone. A wonderful example for us to follow, right? Wonderful faith. So may it be then that as David set forth this profound assurance in the Lord his God in the midst of distress, that when we as God's people find ourselves going through hardships on whatever level they might be, with our kids, with our spouses, at our jobs, whatever it might be, that we will be able to say and believe the same thing as David said and believed. Dear ones, may it be that we will have David's faith knowing that in God's good timing, he will deliver us. He will deliver us. He will bring us joy in our situations. If not fully in this life, then most certainly in the life to come, praise be to his name. Well, having made several applications for you who are the people of God throughout this message, I want to end with a word to any among us who are not true Christians. That is to say, you have not been born again of God. You've heard the message today about David's confident cry from a cave. Again, that was the context of the psalm. What can I say to you, my dear friend, but this? Listen, out of all the problems that you may ever face in life, And there are numerous problems that we face, for as sparks fly upward, so a man is born into trouble, Job could say. Out of all the problems, my dear non-Christian friend, that you will ever face in life, what you must understand most importantly is that your greatest problem in life is in connection to your relationship with God, or I might say the lack thereof. You see, dear one, what you need to grasp this day is that according to the Word of God, God is not pleased with you as an unconverted person. What you need to comprehend is that according to the Bible, He is angry with you because of your sins before Him and for you not submitting to the Lordship of His Son. And so what hope is there for you from Scripture? What help can I give you? Well, I offer you the hope that's found in our passage, in the first few words that we've been considering in verse one. Note the words again, where David says here, Psalm 57 verse one, where's the hope to be found? In the language where he said, be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me. Now, you know, there's someone else in the Bible who uttered these words, and the context there was not just about a situation in his life, but it was really about the salvation of his soul. And this someone is found in Luke chapter 18 and verse 9, and I ask you please to turn with me there in your Bibles. Luke chapter 18 and verse 9, we close with this text. Notice the language, notice the verbiage. So similar, so striking. Luke 18, at verse 9, notice this parable of our Lord. This is for you, my non-Christian friend. Luke 18 at verse 9, also He, that is Jesus, spoke this parable to some, look at the language, who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. That's you, my unconverted friend today. They trusted in themselves that they had enough goodness to make themselves commendable to God. That's you. That's you. That's why men and women don't go to Christ to receive His righteousness and His perfection and virtue. No, that's you. You're trusting in your own righteousness, your own goodness. Not knowing that the Bible says, whosoever keeps all of the law of God yet breaks one point is guilty of them all. Not realizing that the Bible has already said that there's not a just man on the face of the earth who does good and does not sin. That's you, my friend. There are some who trust it in themselves. He spoke it to them. who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, that they were good people, and they despised others. Here's the parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, a separate one, who thought he was better than others. The other, a tax collector, ooh, a tax collector, the worst of sinners, so-called. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Look at the language. Notice the self-righteousness. God. I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. This is a classic prayer from the heart of an unbeliever. Lord, you know, I'm not perfect. I'm not really that bad. I'm not really bad like others, so surely you must accept me. Then he goes on to brag some more. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. I show up at the church once in a while. I throw money in the coffer. I'm a pretty good person. Notice the antithesis, verse 13. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast. Why? Because as Spurgeon said, the man knew the origin of where his sin came from, his heart. He beat his breast saying, look at the words, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Do you see how the language? Very similar to what we saw in our psalm this morning. One was be merciful to me, be merciful to me, help me in this situation. But now this man is saying be merciful. The Greek word be propitious to me. Oh God, he's saying provide a sacrifice to cancel out my sins. Provide one to take your judgment, your wrath in my place. Be propitious to me. Oh God, literally the sinner. That's what he's saying. That's what you need to say, my dear non-Christian friend. Stop your self-righteousness. Stop your self-boasting. See yourself in truth. Cry out to God. Be merciful to me, the sinner. And when you do, what will happen? Well, Jesus tells us, I tell you this man, the antecedent being verse 13, the broken man went down to his house. How? Justified. declared not guilty, covered with the righteousness of Christ. This man went down, declared not guilty, rather than the other one. Why? For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Praise be to God. My dear non-Christian friend, you need to be humbled this day. You need to stop thinking that you're okay with God and He's okay with you. God is your worst enemy until you close with Christ. He is at war with you. You are at war with Him. Today is the day to make peace with God through the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Blood must be shed. Someone must die. Someone must bear the penalty. This is what Jesus did 2,000 years ago at Calvary for His people. He died and made a full atonement to God for his people. If you would be saved, you must turn from your sins and put your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, who at Calvary reconciled his people to God. As our brother Victor read earlier, one of my favorite all-time verses, Mark chapter 1, verse 15, our Lord went about, To the city's preaching, the time has been fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. What must you do to be saved? Repent and believe the good news. What's the good news? That God in love sent Jesus to stand in the place of sinners and to take their sins upon himself and to be punished for them, as them, so that they could go free. Have you seen yourself in truth? Have you seen yourself as a rebel before God? This is what God says you are. This is what you are by nature and by practice. And so this day, if you'd be saved, go to Christ by faith and say to him, Oh, Jesus, be merciful to me, the sinner. And just like, again, as we read in the opening hour, the one asked Jesus to cleanse him, what happens when Jesus asks someone to be merciful to them? Lord, if you are willing, you could make me clean. To which Jesus said what? I am willing. Be clean. That's what needs to happen to you, my dear non-Christian friend, this day. You need to be made clean. And it's only Jesus who can clean you. It is only Jesus who can save you. Nothing you do, nothing you ever try to do, no sacrament, no anything could ever wash away your sins. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And at Calvary, Jesus shed his blood for sinners that they might be cleansed, that they might be forgiven, that God might righteously pardon them on the basis of the work of Jesus in their place. And so again, I say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Trust in his finished work alone. on the cross of Calvary. Let's pray. Our Father, we are thankful that you are merciful, that you are propitious to those who seek you in truth. Oh God, Show your mercy afresh to your hurting people this day, for in you we trust until these calamities shall pass. And Lord, have mercy, I pray, to any here this day who do not know you. Might they be found at the foot of the cross, looking to the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, the sinner's substitute. as the only ground of their acceptance with God. Do it, we pray, for the glory and honor of our lovely and living Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.