Iglesia Apostólica de la Bahía

Mercy That Forgives

Psalm 51:1, 16-17

On the weekend of July 4, on three different occasions a train ran over three persons killing them, here in the East bay.  Brother Manuel Mejia, from the Spanish Church, witnessed one of those incidents.  He said that he stopped to let the coming train pass at 29th Avenue and International Blvd. when he heard three men arguing.  They looked like homeless men and they were saying all of them would throw themselves in front of the train.  As the train got closer two backed down and were trying to persuade the third one to not throw himself in front of the train.  When the train came by, the third person walked in front of the train and it killed him.  His life had reached desperation, without hope.  It had become too unbearable to live.  What he needed was the mercy of God that is greater than all our sins and desperation.

Psalm 51 is a psalm of King David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered.  The prophet Nathan came to David and accuses him (2 Samuel 12:7).  David needed the mercy of God that is greater than all his sins and desperation.  David’s humility, repentance and faith in God’s mercy will encourage anyone who has fallen into sin.

In the Old Testament, there were two common types of sacrifices, one for sins and the other for thanksgiving.  But there wasn’t a sacrifice that would forgive adultery and murder.  Sacrifices for sin were for sins done in ignorance or error but not for the voluntary transgression of the law.  Civil law demanded that the adulterers or murderers be taken out to the edge of the town and be stoned to death.  The blood sacrifices were not made to interfere with civil law.  Therefore, David knew that his only hope was in God’s mercy.

In order for David to be able to throw himself on the mercy of God, he had to have had and intimate relationship with him.  Verse one reveals this understanding of God’s loving mercy that forgives beyond the law and David flings himself on this one hope in God.  In verse four, David says that in a court of law the Lord would be right in sentencing David to death for his sins.  And in verse 16, he says that God doesn’t want burnt offerings because David knows that there isn’t a burnt offering that would absolve him of his sins.

Verse 17 says, “The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.  God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.”  This implies a complete surrender to God.  It was not just that God will forgive and make one free of the burden of sin, but for God to “create a new heart and renew a right spirit within me.” (Verse 10)  Paul wrote in Romans that for God to make us totally his, we needed to present our bodies “a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” (Romans 12:1)
You must believe in the mercy of God that forgives.  This faith isn’t just in repentance for sin but faith in the mercy and promise of God’s grace.  What the law couldn’t do, God’s grace would do.  This incident of David’s great sins and great forgiveness was a shadow of what was to come with Jesus on the Cross.  In Romans, chapter three, the Bible says God justifies all who believe in him (Romans 3:23-26). 

This was a beautiful new doctrine that the apostles proclaimed, that the sins that the Law of Moses did not provide sacrifices were forgiven in Christ, “and everyone who believes in Him is justified from everything, which you could not be justified from through the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:39)  And in I John 1:7 it says, “But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

This doesn’t mean you can live anyway you want and expect to be forgiven without a genuine repentance.  But it makes up for our imperfections, our mistakes and sins. 

The greatest fear David had was to loose God’s Spirit.  To loose his Spirit is to be without hope, desperate, wanting to die and not go on.  But when you have an intimate relationship with Christ, you have peace of mind and hope.  Then you can say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,” because he loves you and he will never leave you.

What you need is something that is greater than your sins and despair.  You need God’s mercy that forgives.  You must believe that he will forgive you and restore you.  Though David only had the Law of Moses, he also had deep understanding of God’s mercy and loving compassion.  This was what he threw himself upon, not an oncoming train but loving mercy.  David’s heart was broken because of what he had done and this was what he offered to God.  He offered faith; repentance and total surrender and God forgave him.

Christ is offering the same to you today.  If you’ve come with guilt, hang-ups from the past, rejection and you find yourself losing hope; trust in the mercy of God that forgives.