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[0:00] Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Choir praise saying, I think we could just read the words! The words of those last two songs as we prepare for communion and go straight into it because! Those words are powerful. They're very true in our lives and I pray that the message of those songs is something that we will take with us each and every day this week as we think and reflect back on the good news of what Jesus has done for us. You know, when you start a sermon series at the beginning of the summer called Summer in the Psalms, you think about all of these wonderful psalms that you're going to be going through and you think about how upbeat that it's going to be. It's going to be praises to God, all of these things that you go through and then you get through the first two psalms and you're thinking these are powerful messages, these are powerful psalms and then all of a sudden you get into this group of psalms that are a little more difficult to read. They're a little more challenging to think about. The words that are in them are not these upbeat words that a lot of times you think of when you're reading through the psalms, but these words are somewhat difficult and challenging to think about. They remind us of difficult times in

[1:20] David's life and all of this talk about anguish and how many foes that we have in this life, crying out to be heard by God. Honestly, when you read through some of these things, they can be a little bit disheartening. But at the same time, as you read through these psalms, you recognize the authenticity of it. You recognize that these psalms are written by real people going through real challenging times and what they're writing, what God is wanting us to remember, what is canonized in scripture are real, authentic and raw examples of what it means to live in this life. This is not the prosperity gospel that oftentimes is prevalent in our country and throughout this world where if you just, if you just have enough faith and everything's going to be okay. If you just have enough faith, then, then life is going to be easy. You'll have all the money you want. You'll have all of the health you want. That's not the message that you see in these psalms and that is not the message that you see throughout scripture. When you look at King David's life, that's not the message that his life is proclaiming. When you look at Jesus's life, his life is not proclaiming a prosperity gospel.

[2:40] It is real. It is authentic. And this is what we find ourselves looking at today. Psalm 6 is one of those psalms that is real, that it's authentic. And I hope that as we read through it today, that it will be a psalm that very clearly prepares us for communion this morning. So if you have a copy of God's word, I want to invite you to turn with me to Psalm chapter 6. And we're going to start in verse 1. And this is what the word of the Lord says. It says this, O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, deliver my life. Save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you. And she, O who will give you praise? I am weary with my moaning.

[3:50] Every night I flood my bed with tears. I drench my couch with weeping. My eye waste away because of grief. It grows weak because of all of my foes. Depart from me, all you workers of evil. For the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea. The Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled. They shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment. And so as we read this, we must remember that this is one of seven penitential Psalms that we see throughout this altar. You have Psalm, this Psalm 6 here, you have 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143, meaning that this is traditionally seen as a Psalm of reflection and repentance of sin. Where David is made very aware of the sin that is going on in his life and the consequences of that sin. And the real realities that go along with that, where David is grieving over his sins. And so as we look at this, in this passage, in this, this penitential Psalm here, I want us to see two truths very clearly today.

[5:14] I want us to see both desperation and hope that is being proclaimed in this passage. So to begin with, what I want us to see very clearly, let us clearly see our need. Let us clearly see our need. Let us clearly see our desperation in this passage. Let us clearly see that we are in desperate need of saving. And so as we look through this, we're going to see this, this theme come throughout the entire Psalm. In this Psalm, David is in anguish. He is in the valley. Life is suffocating him and apparently because of some interpersonal strife. If you look at verse eight, it says, depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. There's this deep personal side to this Psalm, but we also recognize that this Psalm is to the choir master. So it's, it's designed to be sung corporately together. And so there's this deep need that is personal for David, but it's also recognizing that this is a deep need that we all have. And so as we come together as a church, we can sing this and we can all identify with this and we can all bear one another up as we proclaim this.

[6:34] Verse three shows us his soul is in agony, but this suffering that we see is physical too. Verse two says it is affecting his very bones. And Christopher Ash notes the combination of all of these descriptions that we find here. He says he is languishing. He is very weak and he's troubled both in bones and in the inner substance of who he is and the soul, the whole person that is every facet of his being is troubled here. The desperation is so real that it reaches every part of who he is. It reaches, it reaches the heart, the mind, the emotions. It reaches his entire self. And how many of us have been there before where we're grieving through something? And it's not just something that is temporary, but it reaches every aspect of who we are, where it touches us deep down, where we feel it in our bones, where we feel it in who we are. We can even have wonderful things that are going on around us and we can experience some of those things, but we can't let them sink deep down in because of the grief that we're going through.

[7:41] And so what David is saying here is that what I am going through is deep, is personal, and this is something that we all must come to grips with and we must all understand is this need that we have for God. Now we don't know the exact context of this psalm like we do some of the other psalms, but it is clear that David is realizing his sin. This sin is most likely played out into being disciplined by God, and there's some consequences of that sin at play. But regardless of knowing the exact context, I think we can all relate to this to an extent. This is one of the many places in the Bible that we get to and we realize that scripture is authentic. It's not going to just paint a pretty picture that that's a fairy tale for us, but it's going to be real. It's going to show us that we all experience difficult times in this life. This desperation and grief that David is describing is real life.

[8:46] And many of us have experienced grief that triggers a whole body response like what we see David is going through here, where grief wears you down. As Christopher Ash goes on to know, he says, this psalm opens a window into the human sorrows of Jesus and invites us onto the sacred soil wet by his tears. We weep many tears from bereavement, from sickness, from tragedy, from childlessness, through broken relationships and disappointments. He says, this psalm is about tears. The new note in in Psalm 6 is the king's intense sorrow as he bears the wrath of God and faces death. And yet, at the end of this psalm, he speaks with kingly authority to banish his enemies because he knows God hears his prayers. His grief floods into our sadness as we pray this psalm with him and his confidence will stir us to perseverance for this kind of sadness leads to gladness.

[9:58] For this kind of sadness that David is experiencing here leads to gladness. When I think of this passage, my mind immediately goes to the Beatitudes. There at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, when you read in Matthew chapter 5, my mind immediately goes to many of these Beatitudes, especially the first two and the fourth Beatitudes, where it says this. It says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. When you look at these verses, blessed are those who are poor, who mourn and hunger and thirst. They don't seem to be blessings when you see that.

[10:47] However, recognizing our need is a blessing because when we see our need, when we understand that we have this great need within us, all of a sudden it becomes a great big deal of God's grace. Once we clearly see our need and this desperation, then it points us to seeing how beautiful God's grace is in our lives. And that's what's being described here in these Beatitudes. Briefly, let's look at blessed are those who mourn. For this Beatitude ties so well into this passage. When first looking at this passage, it almost seems like there's an oxymoron going on here. Blessed or joyful are those who are grieving. Blessed are those who mourn. How is that a blessing? How is that a blessing? How is it to be joyful when we are grieving? So this brings us to the question, what kind of sorrow can it be that brings joy of Christ's blessing to those who feel it? I think John

[11:48] Stott hits the nail on the head when he says it this way. He says, it is plain from the context that these here promised comfort are not primarily those who mourn the loss of a loved one, but those who mourn the loss of their innocence, their righteousness, their self-respect. It is not the sorrow of bereavement to which Christ refers, but the sorrow of repentance. This is for those who see the hole needing to be filled inside of them, who see the void that needs to be filled inside of us, and they recognize that there's nothing in this world that can fill that hole, that can fill that void except for Jesus. And so blessed are those who see this need, because now we have one who can fill it, who can fill that void, who can take us from death to life. So blessed are those who mourn the loss of their righteousness, the loss of their innocence, because they shall be comforted and comforted with the blessed assurance of knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[12:53] And so as we come to this passage today, and as we come to this table of communion this morning, let us understand that rightly seeing our sin produces great sorrow and great mourning for what it does to our relationship with God, but let us not stop there. Let us see where that leads to.

[13:17] And so next from this passage, what I want us to see here in Psalm 6 is this. Let us clearly see where hope is found. Let us clearly see where hope is found. If you look at starting in verse 8 of Psalm 6, it says this, Depart from me, depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea. The Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled. They shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment. In a moment they will be put to shame.

[13:56] Three times in a moment. Three times in a moment. Three times in a moment. Three times in this passage, David makes the point by saying that the Lord has heard me. He's clearly showing us the assurance of knowing that the Lord has heard his plea. He is clearly emphasizing that in the midst of this great struggle, whatever it is that he's going through, that God hears his cry for help.

[14:19] There is a renewed sense of confidence. You can almost see the shift in the tone as David is writing. At the beginning, there's this grief that is going on. He's languishing. He's hurting. He's going through this. And then at this point, he begins to speak with kingly authority again. He begins to share of his hope and where his hope is found. And there's a shift in the tone of this message.

[14:45] Now, we don't know if his enemies have departed at this point. But that doesn't seem to be the focus. The focus is on the fact that God has heard his prayer and his plea for help.

[14:58] This understanding is now what gives David confidence. Knowing that God has heard him and knowing that God has heard him is what gives him confidence because he knows the character of God. He knows that God is unchanging. He knows that God always does what he says he's going to do.

[15:18] And so understanding that he knows that God has heard him changes everything for him. And so when we come together to take communion, to take the Lord's Supper, there is a real need to clearly see our desperation.

[15:34] There's a real need to see our desperation, to understand that apart from Jesus, we are hopeless. Our sin has separated us from God, period. There's nothing that you can do about it. There's this weight that has been placed on us with sin that we can't get off of us, that we can't all come together and try to help get it off of somebody. There's nothing that we can do about it.

[15:57] There's this real sense of sorrow and desperation that we can't do about it. There's nothing that we can do about it. There's nothing that we can do about it.

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[17:23] Your sin is ever before you and the weight is overwhelming. If this is where you are, then let me encourage you to do what David did. Maybe you're at a place this morning where your sin is very present, where it almost feels overwhelming, where it touches every aspect of who you are, and you're feeling the weight of the sin that separates you from a relationship with God. Let me encourage you this morning to do what David did. Cry out to God. Recognize he's the only one that can meet our greatest need. Romans 10 9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And then just a few verses down from there says, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. If you are here today, you're part of that everyone, and you can call on the name of the

[18:28] Lord and be saved if this is something that you've never done before. So as we prepare our hearts and our minds for communion this morning, I pray that we see that sin very present. And if it's something, if there's somebody in here that's never placed their faith and their trust in Jesus, maybe today you're realizing that sin really is a big deal, and that it does separate you from God, and you're in the midst of that sorrow, that's a good place to be. But let it point you to understanding Jesus as your only source of hope in this life. Saying, God, I need you. I realize that I'm a sinner, and there's nothing that I can do about this, but I need you to save me. And there's comfort in this because we know that the Lord hears our plea. The Lord hears our cry when we call out to him. And there's hope in this because anybody who calls out to the name of the Lord, they may be saved. And so if you're here today, and you need to get that right, then I pray that you will not leave before we get that right.

[19:33] But if you are here today, and you've placed your faith and your trust in Jesus, may we all let our sin point us to that need for our Savior. If you have cried out to him, and you've received that, then let me encourage you to see this as a moment of thanksgiving. To see this moment as a moment to remember where you were, but don't say where you were. Let it point you to where you are now as a child of God who has hope that nobody else in this life has. That has joy that nobody else in this life can experience apart from Jesus. I love how Danny Akin, he said it like this, talking about the Lord's Supper. He says, the Lord's Supper should certainly be a time of careful meditation and reflection, but it should also be a time of joyful anticipation and celebration. Yes, Jesus died, but he rose again from the dead, and he's coming again. This understanding of the Lord's Supper has really been what's excited me the most about coming together as a church. And this is one of the reasons that I love coming together for this, is because we remember where we were, but we don't stay where we were.

[20:52] We remember where we are now in Christ, and we get to experience the joy that comes from knowing him. And so yes, we come to the table with sorrow, with a sense of reverence, but we also come to the table with a deep sense of joy and celebration for what God has done for us. Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me, not in remorse of me. He's not dead anymore, he's alive. And because of that, we have life in him. And so when we come to the table, we remember where we were, but we don't stay there. We let it point us to where we are in Christ. And that's the hope that we have. That's the joy that we get to experience as believers, is that we're not dead anymore. That sin, that death doesn't have the final say, Jesus does. And that's what we come together to remember. The Lord's Supper is a proclamation. Sorrow and joy are partners in this meal that we are about to share together.

[22:00] They are both present when we look at this. And it is my prayer that as we approach the Lord's table, that we do so with a deep sense of reverence and sorrow, but at the same time, with much joy and anticipation. Jesus again said, do this in remembrance of me. And so we remember all the aspects. We remember that he lived and died for us. We remember that sin, what put him on the cross, but we also remember the power that couldn't keep Christ in the grave, that he rose again. And because of that, we have new life in him. And so as we prepare our hearts and minds for the Lord's Supper, listen to these words that we find in 1 Corinthians 11. Starting in verse 23, it says this, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed took bread.

[23:02] And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And so what are we proclaiming today when we take this? We're proclaiming our deep need for a savior and we're proclaiming that Jesus is the only one that can meet that need. So as we come to this table, let us come with thanksgiving.

[23:49] For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it. The table is a time where we proclaim our thanks to God. Also, when we come to the table, we recognize that this meal is for sinners. And it says, and when you had given, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. If you are a you here today, I have good news. No matter your background or the things that you've done, what Jesus accomplished on the cross can be counted for you. By placing your faith and your trust in Jesus, you can go from death to life. And if this is something that you have done, if you've placed your faith and your trust in Jesus, then this meal is an invitation for you to remember that. This meal is an invitation to proclaim what God has already done in your life to show the world that yes, I was dead in my trespasses and sins, but because of Jesus, I am no longer there and I have life with him. And so this is my prayer that this morning, as we prepare our hearts and our minds to take the Lord's Supper, that we would do so with a deep sense of sorrow, but at the same time with much, much joy. Father, we thank you for the Lord's Supper that calls us to both sorrow and joy at the same time. Be with us as we prepare our hearts and our minds to remember, to reflect, and to proclaim what it is that you have done in our lives. And so Lord, I pray that you'd be with us this morning. I pray that you would prepare our hearts and our minds to remember well all that you've done, not just the difficulties of this, but we will remember our desperation, but we'll also remember that you came in and met us in our greatest need. And so Lord, because of that, we give thanks. Because of that, we have joy and happiness. And we ask all these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.