Have Mercy on Me, O God

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we begin the season of Lent this night, and remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return. It is a season of penance, when we meditate in earnest on our sins and examine our lives, considering the severity of our sinful condition and what it is that we truly deserve from God. Look at our Psalm for tonight, a song that rose from the lips of David after David was confronted by the Prophet Nathan for his sins, David had committed adultery, then murdered Uriah and finally stole Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.

I. David’s Plea for Mercy and our Own

The psalm begins with this confession, and a pleading for mercy relying upon the Lord’s steadfast mercy and love. that God may take away his transgressions.

Now this may seem strange to our ears to hear David cry out for mercy with such passion, if we do not understand the context of what is happening. You see David had a child with Bathsheba, and that is why he had called Uriah home, his plan was to trick Uriah to spend the night with Bathsheba and so Uriah would think the child his own. It was a child of David that he he had already tried to turn his back on, but had been foiled because Uriah was an upright man while David was a villain. So David had him killed and then he wanted claim this child as his own, a child that he had been willing to give up.

But no one is above God’s law not even the king. So David here is pleading in this psalm for mercy, for God to wash away his sins, that he may be acceptable in the sight of the Lord. For when a King sins, the nation comes under hardship and affliction, and in this case, it wasn’t just the people that would suffer, but that child.

The reason that David has come before the Lord is because he knows that he has done evil in the sight of God. And that God is right to condemn him, David offers no defense but admits that God is blameless in this, and that David deserves this. So He pleads with God to not regard him according to sins. This is what we plead for as well.

When we confess our sins before the Lord we are saying that God is in the right and we are in the wrong. You will notice in the Confession of Sins we use David’s Psalm for just as God was right to condemn David, God is just to condemn us for our sins. For even if we have not sinned like David has, our sins are enough to merit both temporal and eternal punishment, that is to say, death and hell. If God were to punish us, He would be carrying out Justice.

God would be in the right to not forgive you. To punish you for your sins and to do that same thing to all of mankind. A lot of people think that would be mean or awful for God to do, but think about, is it wrong for a judge to send the guilty to jail or if there offense has been severe enough to sentence them to death? No, that is a just and upright judge who punishes the wicked.

Would God be wrong to condemn you, you who know what sins are, and you who were taught the 10 Commandments and entrusted with His Word, commands that you have not kept. God would be in the right, that is what we poor miserable sinners, come into his presence with trepidation, for it is terrifying that God could be done with us in a moment, not just in this life, but to sentence us hell.

II. Being Washed Clean

But you will notice how David pleads, David doesn’t plead on the basis of his great works, or all the times he followed the Lord, or did what was right. That doesn’t change the offense that he has committed. He doesn’t claim that since everyone does what is wrong that he should get a pass, he makes no excuse. David relies solely on the mercy and steadfast love of God. Now that steadfast love and mercy is one word in the hebrew, chesed.

David instead pleads with God to show him mercy, not justice. Justice, justice means that a person gets what they deserve, they pay the price for their crime. Mercy means they don’t pay the price. That is why mercy is undeserved and that is why Mercy is tied to love. It is merciful to forgive, to release someone from their debt, and let their sins go unpunished when they repent. This is something that we also call grace.

David pleads that instead of suffering punishment and death that God might wash him thoroughly from his iniquity and cleanse him from his sin. That the guilt and shame that he has before the Lord might be taken away. That God would show him love, mercy, and grace. That God may not treat him according to His sins, but according to His steadfast love.

That is our cry as well, that is what we rely on for our salvation. For you and I do not deserve to be saved. We haven’t earned it, we don’t lead lives that are free of sin, and we can no more cleanse ourselves from sin than David could. Only God can free us from our sinful condition, and so we rely solely on the love, mercy, and grace of God. For it is only God that can wash away our iniquity and cleanse us from our Sin.

Now you and I know what this washing is listen here to Titus 3:4-7 when he says, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

That is baptism, that is when God washed away your sins. You might think to yourself well that happened years, does it still apply today? Yes, most certainly. For that is where God took you, a child of Adam, a sinner and made you his own dear child washing away the sin that had been inherited from your forefather and gave to you the Spirit so that you may be His child.

This is what the grace of God is all about. It is why our prayers are answered, not because of what we have done, but because of what God has given to us in the water and the Word. It is where God looked at you, and called you his own.

III. Returning to the Lord

It is in this gift that we find the joy of our salvation. Because in Baptism, you have a moment in your life, when God looked at you and said, “You are mine. I have washed away your sins and you are forgiven.” No matter how horrible or terrible your sins might be, you were washed clean by the Spirit of God working through Water and the Word. The moment of Baptism where God forgave your sins, and renewed a right spirit within you.

For that is where Christ’s gift of grace was given to you. The son of God attached His promise to that Water, so that you might have a place where you find forgiveness. That is why we point sinners back to Baptism, that they might return to the Lord, to remember what God has done for them. That time when they are connected not just to the death of Jesus but to his eternal life. That they might know God has forgiven and restored unto them his holy spirit.

That is why in the Small Catechism we are encouraged to make the sign of the Cross every morning and every evening to remember what God has done for us in Baptism. It is an encouragement as we got out into the world, and a source of comfort at the end of the day when everything else has fallen apart. That we are God’s child.

So my brothers and sisters in Christ, This lent start that, just make the sign of the Cross, not because it wards off evil or keeps you safe, but make it tonight as you go to bed, remembering that despite your sins God showed you mercy and washed clean not with hyssop, but by the Holy Spirit. Go to bed tonight full of good cheer as a child of God, and when you wake up to remind yourself of the wonderful gift you have been given. In Jesus name. Amen.