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[0:00] Good morning. Open up your Bibles to Psalm 51. So in case you thought you got rid of me last week, I'm back.

[0:13] ! Nathan called and just wasn't feeling well. And at the time I was feeling good and I actually kind of had a rough night. I've got a wheeze in my chest. Y'all know what that's about, but if you hear a little bagpiper in here, you know, throughout the sermon, that's what's going on.

[0:30] Struggling physically just a little bit, but spirit's good. I've been really encouraged this morning with our singing and our gathering.

[0:42] And so after you've been doing this for quite a while, you develop several sermons that are kind of like your go-tos if something happens like this.

[0:52] But the problem is the longer you've been here, like you actually have used them before. So I looked on our website, and apparently the last time I did this was in 2014.

[1:08] So there's a lot of new faces here since then. So I thought it'd be good to go back to it. And I think some of the college students may have heard it a couple years ago. But I'm looking at it with fresh eyes today and to visit a topic that every believer should be aware of and be practicing weekly, if not daily.

[1:33] And that is the subject of repentance. And a word that a lot of people try to omit from their vocabulary.

[1:44] And I know no other place, really, that I think exhibits what true repentance is than Psalm 51. So before we walk through it, I just want to talk about repentance just for a second, just define it for you, as well as maybe give us some context of what's going on in Psalm 51.

[2:07] But in short, just the word repent in the New Testament, it means to change one's mind for the better. So it's not just a change of behavior.

[2:21] It's a change in the way you think about things. It's like looking at sin, hating it, and by God's grace, resolving to forsake it and turn to Christ in faith.

[2:33] And it is a God-produced inward change of the heart that plays out outwardly in a change of action. And so there's just a few things to consider before we kind of get into this.

[2:47] But some of you are familiar with Psalm 51. And I was just thinking, again, like we can't outgrow this sermon.

[2:58] Like the minute you think that you have no more need to understand repentance or practice repentance, we're kind of in a dangerous spot. And so this was written in the context of 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.

[3:16] That's like the background. But instead of reading all that to you the whole time, you can go back and check it out later. But 2 Samuel 11 through 12, and this is about King David.

[3:27] And this is when he is at the height of his power, height of his blessing, at the tip top, which typically means, based on this story, that is a time when we need to be wary.

[3:43] We need to be aware like we're feeling very safe and secure, that we're doing very well spiritually. We're at the height because then temptation comes.

[3:55] And so in these chapters in 2 Samuel, what happens is King David, who we tend to think of only as the man after God's own heart, which is true.

[4:08] He was an astonishing man, a shepherd, a king, a warrior, one of my favorite Bible characters for sure. But I think apart from stories like this, we would be tempted to kind of idolize David as some sort of perfect man.

[4:25] And this shows you that he was definitely broken and in need of a Savior. So in these chapters, he commits the terrible act of adultery, murder, lying, and scandal.

[4:41] I mean, you just would never think. But again, he's at the height of his power and blessing from God. And so it starts the chapter by saying when the kings were out to war.

[4:53] So this was the time when they went out to wage war against their enemies. And David is not out there. He's staying in Jerusalem. So point number one really would be able just to think about is be where you should be.

[5:09] Don't be where you should not be. And so he should be out there with his men, with his army, waging war. But he's hanging out in Jerusalem. And so he steps out on his balcony and he sees a beautiful woman sunbathing, which is Bathsheba.

[5:26] And she is the wife of a noble warrior named Uriah, Uriah the Hittite. And so not a Jew by birth. He was a Gentile, but he must have at some point come to faith in the true God or he was a mercenary or something.

[5:42] But Hittites were known for their reputation for fighting. So this was his wife. And no one knows, but if she did this intentionally to catch David's eye, we don't know that.

[5:56] But she is on display. And so he walks out and he sees her and he lusts after her. And he calls her to his chamber. And he's the king. He can kind of do whatever he wants to do a lot of the time.

[6:10] And so eventually he sleeps with her and she goes away. And eventually comes back and says, hey, I'm pregnant with your child.

[6:22] And no kidding, he panics. He freaks out. Like a lot of us would in such a situation. And instead of going straight to God, he begins this scandal of lying and covering up.

[6:40] He intends to cover it up first by calling Uriah back from the battlefield and saying, hey, Uriah, like you've been doing a great job out there. Like come and sleep with your wife as a reward.

[6:51] And but he is such a honorable soldier. He refuses to do that. Like, how can I do that when my men are out there in the battlefield? And so that didn't work.

[7:03] And David is growing frustrated. So he says, well, I'll just into himself. I'll try to get him drunk. And then he can sleep with his wife. And then everything will be OK.

[7:13] But he that doesn't work either. And so this growing frustration and fear, David results to the great evil of having Uriah killed on the battlefield.

[7:25] It says, like, when he's up in the front of the line, draw back and let him die. So in essence, he's murdered by David. It was just through the means of the battlefield.

[7:38] Put him in a situation where he wouldn't survive it. And he did not survive it. So then David comes out and he he tries to put on this noble facade of like the husband, the noble Uriah is dead.

[7:53] And I can now marry his wife as a sign of of honor, kind of picking her up. And so that really wasn't what was happening, obviously. So he marries her and he he thinks everything is OK.

[8:08] Right. He he's he's survived. He's gotten away with the lie. His reputation is saved. Or so he thinks. Right. But often is the case.

[8:19] We are unaware of that. We very quickly forget. Proverbs 15, three. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

[8:32] So eventually, God sends a prophet to Nathan or a prophet to David named Nathan. And he confronts him and he says he tells him this story.

[8:44] And he goes, hey, there was two men. One was a very wealthy man and he had many livestock, many herds. And this other man was his servant. And he had just one lamb that he loved and he cared for.

[8:55] And so the rich man had a visitor and to throw a party and to welcome that visitor. Instead of taking one of the many livestock he had, he took the servant's only favorite animal, the lamb that he had.

[9:10] And he killed it when he had all this other stuff. And David is outraged. He goes, surely that man deserves to die. And then Nathan, chillingly, just says to him, you're that man.

[9:23] You took, you had all this stuff and you took the only thing from this man, Uriah, and you committed a great evil. So little did he know, he's pronouncing judgment on himself.

[9:34] And so, out of David's mouth, according to Scripture, comes genuine repentance. Not just, oh no, I'm caught.

[9:45] I'm found out. I'm in trouble. I've got to figure out another way to hide. He just, he owns up to it. And what he says in 2 Samuel 12, verse 13, is I have sinned against the Lord.

[9:58] And Nathan said to David, the Lord, the Lord has put away your sins. And you shall not die. So mind-blowing, he confesses his sin genuinely.

[10:11] And out of Nathan's mouth comes the forgiveness from the Lord. So, I like to think of this, we don't exactly know how this came about. But if you look at like the little subtitle in your Bible over Psalm 51, it says, to the choir master, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba.

[10:35] So, I like to think that after this encounter with Nathan happened, he got away by himself somewhere. Nathan, or excuse me, David went out into the wilderness.

[10:46] He went somewhere and got quiet, or just a quiet place. And he penned this psalm. And poured out his heart and soul to God in repentance and in prayer.

[11:01] And so, we're going to just walk through it. Just to save time, I'm just going to walk through it with you instead of reading it all and then going back over it again. And so, I'm going to just do this in the form of questions.

[11:16] But if I had to look at this psalm, one brother I heard that preached on this a long time ago, if he had to explain what this psalm was, he says that David's sin made him feel dirty, and he desires to be clean.

[11:35] David feels guilt. The guilt has made him sick, and he desires to be well. The disobedience made him lonely, and he desires relational reconciliation.

[11:48] And his rebellion made him fearful of God, but now he wants to be pardoned. That's kind of like what we see a lot in this particular psalm.

[11:59] So, the first question, we're going to just walk through it with questions, and eat it piece by piece. So, question number one is, how do we approach God for mercy and forgiveness?

[12:14] Okay? That's going to be seen in verses 1 and 2. And in this, we have something for our hearts and our minds to follow when we are seeking to repent of our sin and work through things with God.

[12:28] He says in verse 1, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

[12:44] And so, I want you to notice this. He pleads with God to show him mercy and pardon and forgiveness, not because of what he's done. Right?

[12:56] Mercy is this undeserved thing only given to us by God. You can't earn mercy. You can't earn grace. By nature, it's undeserving. And so, why is this the case?

[13:08] Like, why is he approaching God this way? Because, one, David has no hope of God forgiving him according to his own righteousness, because clearly he doesn't have any. Look what he just did.

[13:20] So, he's not saying, Forgive me because I'm a great guy, and I've done so much for you. He just, he doesn't do that. He doesn't plead his case according to his own goodness, his own merit, but God's.

[13:34] You see that? According to your steadfast love, your abundant mercy, the multitude of your tender mercies, or your compassions.

[13:45] So, he recognizes he has no entitlement for God's favor, he deserves not life, but death. And he's, if we are ever to approach God, we have to be sensible that God doesn't have to forgive us.

[14:02] We're not owed forgiveness. We're not owed mercy and grace. And so, therefore, David appeals to God in this manner, because he knows it's in the nature of God to be forgiving.

[14:15] He knows it's in the nature of God to show mercy, to forgive, pardon, and heal. So, he taps into that, like, God, I know that you are a forgiving, merciful God.

[14:27] And so, that's how he approaches it, not according to his own righteousness, but God's, right, in God's love, God's tender mercies. Look at these verses, and look at the terms that he uses to explain the crime that he committed.

[14:42] He says, first, transgression. You see that? That is a deliberate, premeditated crossing of the line, a willful act of disobedience. He knew he shouldn't do it, and he did it anyway.

[14:56] Then he uses the word iniquity, which is sort of a perverting or a twisting of something that is good and true. Right? He's corrupted goodness.

[15:09] And then, of course, he used the term sin, the most familiar to us, the missing of the mark of what God intended. And then he even calls it evil, right? This dark, terrible, awful thing.

[15:21] So, he's fully recognizing that he has committed a great crime against God. He's not making any excuses for it. And so, then look at what he's asking God to do corresponding to those particular crimes.

[15:38] Right? All words depicting spiritual restoration that only God can do. First, he says, to blot out. Right? Blot out my transgressions. That means to wipe out, to obliterate.

[15:51] And back in the ancient times, they use papyrus if you could afford it. And it was valuable. And what they would do is they would reuse it by wiping off previous writing and then writing something else on top of it.

[16:06] So, he's saying, blot out the record of this awful sin I've committed. Like this transgression. Wipe it away as if it never happened. Blot it out. Then he used the term wash.

[16:19] To wash by treading out. This refreshing feeling, right, of your dirty and filthy sin makes us feel that way. So, he's saying, cleanse me. Wash me.

[16:30] Cleanse me of my sin. Right? Which means to purify and make whole. And he's saying, all of this, Lord, do all of this only because of your love and kindness towards me.

[16:43] And because of your mercy. Not because I deserve it. And so, those are the redemptive response. Like, blot it out. Wash me. Cleanse me. The stuff that we all desire.

[16:57] That gives you question number two now. Which is, what is the true confession of sin? Okay? See this in verses 3-5. David goes on.

[17:09] He says, For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against you, you only, have I sinned against and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

[17:25] Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Alright? So, he recognizes right out of the gate that sin is ever present with them.

[17:37] He says, I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. He's humbly acknowledging what he's done. What I did was wrong. What I did was evil and wicked.

[17:48] And it's staring at me in the face. Have you ever noticed that when you commit sin and you just kind of try to brush it under the rug and go about your day and how it just has this tendency to stand there and just stare at you like, hey, I'm not gone.

[18:03] I'm still here. That's what his sin is doing to him day and night. And so, he recognizes that that his sin is ever before him.

[18:16] And then, this is very critical. Right? He takes full responsibility for his sin. He doesn't blame Bathsheba. He doesn't blame any circumstances going on.

[18:28] He owns up to it. Alright? And that's important because we, some of you who confess sin to each other and pray to each other, we tend to want to soften the blow by saying, well, I messed up.

[18:47] Or, I didn't do so good this week. And we use terms to kind of like make it sound better than it is.

[18:59] And according to God's Word, according to this psalm, it's like, no, call it what it is. You committed a heinous act of adultery. Call sin what it is and own up to it.

[19:11] And don't try to soften the blow. And I think this next part is very critical if you see in these verses, especially verse 4, this is very important. David could have said, I tragically have sinned against Bathsheba.

[19:28] I've sinned against Uriah. I had him killed. I've sinned against the nation that I'm supposed to be leading. And he would have been true in saying those things. But he doesn't.

[19:38] He confesses to God against you and you only have I sinned against and done what is evil in your sight. So why does he say that? Because all sin is ultimately against God.

[19:52] All of it is. It doesn't just we sin against people and then we sin against God separately. Like all of it goes back to him. It's all rebellion against him. And as he said to Nathan in 2 Samuel 12, 13, I have sinned against the Lord.

[20:10] That's like what he proclaimed. So sin does great harm to us. It does great harm to others. At the end of the day, it dishonors our Creator. And so when I sin, I'm saying to God in that moment, I don't trust you.

[20:26] I don't believe that you're good. I don't believe that you're wise. I'm going to take another path. That's like what we do every time that we sin. And we don't believe in His goodness.

[20:38] So, this is very important. Repentance is not just feeling bad. You hear me? Like repentance is not just feeling bad about what you did and feeling guilty.

[20:50] Why? Because even unbelievers, people who don't know Christ, feel guilty about things that they've done. So what's the difference? What's the difference? I only have two places for you to turn outside of Psalm 51.

[21:06] So, thank me later. But one of them is 2 Corinthians. Hold your hand in Psalm 51. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 9.

[21:18] And so Paul talks about repentance this way and he says there's a godly sorrow and a worldly sorrow. And kind of picking up on this theme of repentance.

[21:33] So 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 9 Paul says, As it is, I rejoice not because you were grieved about sin, but because you were grieved into repenting.

[21:47] for you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

[22:04] So he clearly says here there are two kinds of grief. For the believer there is a godly sorrow. It's what we're seeing here in Psalm 51. Like, I have sinned against God, I have hurt Him, I have insulted Him, and I hate what I have done to Him ultimately.

[22:22] And worldly sorrow is man-centered. You just kind of feel bad about what you did, but you don't really feel any remorse for sinning against God Himself. You just hate the consequences of your sin.

[22:35] You hate what it does to you, but then it just sort of falls short right there and doesn't carry on. But Paul says that godly grief or godly sorrow will lead to life as where worldly sorrow will lead to death.

[22:51] So repentance isn't just feeling bad about what you did. It's about, remember, about a change of the mind that leads to a change of action. Right?

[23:03] So, go back to Psalm 51. And if you notice in Psalm 51 he also says, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

[23:15] Now, he is not at all playing the victim. We live in a victimized culture. Stuff's just happening to me and nothing's my fault. He really is just saying by this, like God, I am weak.

[23:31] I am helpless. I don't know anything else but sin. From day one, that's all I've known is sin. This is one of those original sin texts. Like, in sin was I conceived.

[23:43] Right? We were born, all of us, in a state of sin and spiritual death. Our understanding was darkened and our hearts were corrupted by evil.

[23:54] So David implores that sad reality as an argument for God to show him mercy. This is all I've ever known. I've only known sin from the beginning.

[24:05] Have mercy on me. Forgive me. Let's get into our third question. Alright? How do we plea for forgiveness and restoration?

[24:20] Alright? This is starting in verse 6. David says, Behold, you delight in truth and the inward being and you teach me wisdom and the secret heart.

[24:31] Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me. I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

[24:44] Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew me with the right spirit within me.

[24:55] Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

[25:07] And so, in these verses we really see how to plea for forgiveness and restoration to God. God desires to not just save him but to change him.

[25:20] To change him from the inside out. The deepest places of his heart. He's pleading with God, Change me here. I don't just want to do better. I want to change.

[25:30] I don't just want to continue down this same road. And it's this picture of this God going from room to room in his heart just cleaning him out and renewing him.

[25:42] So, sin is defilement. You see that? He says, Purge me and wash me with hyssop. Hyssop is a plant of the mint family. It's like a cluster of yellow flowers and it was used to sprinkle the blood on the doorposts during the Passover.

[26:00] The Israelites were in Egypt and it's symbolically this idea of cleansing. And he says, Wash me whiter than snow. Clean, pure, unadulterated and beautiful.

[26:15] Wash me. Cleanse me. Whiter than snow. And then, keep in mind that when we sin it's like deafness. We can't really hear the voice of the Lord and says, Make me hear.

[26:28] He wanted God to allow him to hear joy and gladness again even in the midst of what he's going through. Alright, so, sin also is disgrace and separation from God.

[26:40] Look at verse 9. He says, Hide your face from my sin. So, notice sin. Right? And, hide my sin, Lord, but not me.

[26:53] And, so, to the Jews, to the Hebrews of old, to see God's face is counted as the greatest blessing.

[27:05] There's no greater blessing than to see God's face because it means favor, love, fellowship, and no greater curse than for God to hide his face from you, which means judgment, separation.

[27:20] and so, he pleads that. Hide your face from my sin, but not me. And, you see again, right, that ultimately, David desires fellowship with God himself.

[27:32] He doesn't just want to get off the hook and not get in trouble. He wants that relationship restored, that fellowship with God himself where he says in verse 11, Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

[27:49] A quick note on that. The Holy Spirit is how God manifested his presence to us and in the Old Testament he empowered prophets, kings, and warriors to accomplish his mission by empowering them with the Holy Spirit.

[28:03] But it could be taken away from them in the Old Testament, in the Old Covenant. Example of that is Samson. But closer to home to David, he saw it happen to Saul, did he not?

[28:15] He saw Saul go mad. Saul was living in, God had empowered him by the Spirit to accomplish certain goals and Saul continued to sin and rebel and not do what God told him to do and so he withdrew that presence of the Spirit.

[28:30] So he is like, oh Lord, please don't do that to me. Like, please don't take away your Holy Spirit from me. So, so we see here though that a lot of people want to be delivered by the consequences of their sins.

[28:46] Like, I don't want to get in trouble. I don't want to be found out. That's the first thing that comes to my mind. How about you? Like, I don't want to be caught. I don't want people to know. And, but we see here that he doesn't just desire to be delivered from the consequences of his sin.

[29:03] He wants fellowship with God himself. Right? And that's scary. A question for us to ask ourselves. I'll spare you this really long quote that I have, but Jonathan Edwards just basically said, you may love deliverance but hate the deliverer.

[29:21] The inclination of your own will goes no further than self and it never reaches Christ. You are willing not to be miserable. That is, you love yourself.

[29:32] And there, your will and your choice terminate. It is a vain pretense and delusion to say or think that you are willing to accept Christ. And in that quote, he basically is saying that a lot of us just want to be delivered from the consequences.

[29:47] But we don't really want God. Right? We don't really have a desire for him. But for those of us who are truly saved, truly born again, we may have some things we have to work through, but ultimately we land in this position where we're like, we just want God.

[30:03] Like, I just want, I'm tired of feeling at odds with him. Right? And sin is spiritually depressing. It causes misery. And that's why he says in verse 12, restore to me the joy of your salvation.

[30:18] And then don't let it stop there. Give me the grace, empower me, uphold me with a willing or noble spirit. But give me this perseverance to continue to trust you, to follow you, and to have joy in you.

[30:31] And some of you may think that there's no way that God could change me. Maybe you forgive me, but like, I just don't feel like I can change.

[30:44] It feels hopeless. It's no use. I've heard that from some of your mouths before. And I confess I've felt that way too. Like, I just don't want to just stop committing the sin.

[30:56] I want to change. I don't want to do this again. I want to, I want God to change my behavior by changing my heart first and convincing me that this is wrong and evil and that His way is better.

[31:08] So if you feel hopeless, I may give you something to hold on to here. Notice in these verses, He says, create in me a clean heart or a new heart.

[31:23] Alright? Think about that word create in the Bible. Where else have you heard that word create? about Genesis 1-1. In the heavens God, or in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

[31:40] Does that encourage you? Like God is, David is calling upon that same power that created the universe, visible and invisible, spiritual and physical, to give him a new heart.

[31:51] Like so, the same God that made all things can speak new life into you and me and give us new hearts. So that's a huge power behind that ability to change you.

[32:03] So God's hand is not so short that He cannot save and that He cannot change. And thirdly, third question, what is the response?

[32:14] In Christ, what is our response? Look at verse 13. He says, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you.

[32:26] Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. O God of my salvation and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips and my mouth to declare your praise.

[32:39] For you will not delight in sacrifice or otherwise I would give it. You will not be pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

[32:53] O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in right sacrifices and burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.

[33:07] Then bulls will be offered on your altar. So, while this is important is there's, whenever we sin, we kind of jump to, by our nature sometimes, jump to the side of just vain offerings.

[33:21] Catholics. And, so back then, right, like, people could just live a very open, sinful lifestyle, they thought, and then, you know, just center it up and do a bunch of stuff and then go to the temple, make a sacrifice and then like, we're good.

[33:35] And then go back to the same lifestyle. Today, some of you may think, well, I sin against God so I'll just go to church more. I'll make sure I take the Lord's Supper.

[33:46] I read my Bible a little longer. I'll talk about Jesus with somebody and not really repentance. That's not what repentance is. It's spitting in the face of Christ is what it is.

[33:59] And it's penance. It's like trying to make amends, right, for in your own way to make yourself right with God for what you did. And true repentance doesn't involve that at all.

[34:11] Right? And David recognizes that. He goes, if all you wanted was just a burnt offering, I would go and do it. But that's not what you want. You want my heart.

[34:21] You want my broken, sincere, and contrite heart. You want me. And so, that's why he says, for you will not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it.

[34:34] And you won't be pleased with burnt offerings. And so, just think about how insulting that is to God, though, like how we tend to do those sort of things. it's like treating your wife horribly and abusing her and then like saying, hey, I'll wash the dishes and it'll be okay.

[34:53] Just, no, that's not what God desires. And he is insulted by attempts to make amends through our own works. He really wants the heart of the worshiper.

[35:05] He wants the motive behind what we do. And so, what God truly desires, verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

[35:17] So, that is humble, broken-hearted joy in God. He wants us to be shattered over our sin and to come to Him for mercy. So, if God truly rules our hearts, He, repentance is this change in our minds, which leads to a change of action outwardly.

[35:36] Right? It's a changing from the inside out. The danger is a lot of us focus on mending our hour behavior, but the whole time our hearts are not close to God.

[35:47] We just think, if I just stop doing that and stop doing that and I start doing this, it'll be good. And God's like, no, like, your heart first and then your actions will follow. God doesn't just care about what we do, but why we do it.

[36:02] Very important. He desires our hearts and our affections to be fully His. He wants right actions from right motives. Look at the next verse, verse 13.

[36:15] He goes, then I'll teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. In other words, like, I will tell others of the danger that sin causes and then I'll also tell them of how merciful and forgiving you are.

[36:29] Right? Then he, verse 14 and 15, he talks about delivering him from the guilt that he has of committing murder, essentially.

[36:40] Blood is on my hands, is what he's saying. You have the power to do this, O Lord, and I will make known your salvation to other people like me that are lost and that are broken and sinning against you.

[36:56] So, I love that though because, again, he's not trying to just make amends through his actions. He's saying, like, these things will follow, these actions will follow once I am restored to you.

[37:07] I'm not going to do these things first. Like, I want you first. And then, verse 19, then you will delight in right sacrifices and burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings and bulls will be offered on the altar.

[37:23] And then he ends this prayer with a blessing for the nation, a blessing for the people that he's supposed to be the king over. Do good to us, Lord.

[37:35] I'm realizing that a lot of the stuff that will happen to the nation is because of what he does, his actions. So, he prays for blessing over the nation. And so, landing the plane here, I just want you to turn to Romans chapter 3.

[37:52] Yep, back in Romans. So, a quick question. Some of you, maybe not all of you, but some of you are thinking a question that bears answering. And that is, how could a holy and just God just pardon David for such awful things?

[38:10] Like, can you imagine a human judge doing that? Like, being committed of some kind of awful crime of murder and adultery, and the judge just says, hey, you're forgiven, go home.

[38:22] You would not put up with that. And, so what's going on? Like, can you put yourself in the position of a family member or a friend of Bathsheba or Uriah, and all they hear from God is, the Lord has taken away your sin?

[38:40] Like, how angry you would feel? You'd feel outraged? Like, just turn them back into society and slap them on the hand for such an awful, wicked, heinous sin that was committed?

[38:53] So, how, as a righteous and holy God, how can that God pardon sin? Right? Because by nature, His holiness demands punishment for sin.

[39:08] And we get the answer. Romans 3, verse 22. It talks about the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

[39:20] Alright? So we can have righteousness through faith in Christ for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received with faith.

[39:42] Alright, we know that. That is the gospel. We put our faith in Christ. We throw ourselves completely at His mercy. We are saved because of His grace and we are redeemed in Jesus Christ.

[39:55] So here's the connection to David though. Alright? This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.

[40:07] It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So, how was God able to pardon David?

[40:19] Because He knew that one day He would slay His own son in David's place. That His wrath and judgment that David deserved was going to be justly poured out on His own son.

[40:35] So, David's sin was punished in Jesus Christ. And Christ's righteousness became David's righteousness. The same thing that happens to us when we are saved.

[40:48] That old question that used to bother so many people. How are people in the Old Testament saved? Like, the same way. Like, they are saved through faith. in the coming Messiah. They look forward and we look back to Christ.

[41:01] So, forgiveness of sin in the Old Testament anticipates the sacrifice of Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. So, that wrath that He justly deserved was all poured out on the perfect Son of God.

[41:17] So, God could say, hey, I am a holy and just God. I did not just let that sin go. I punished it in my Son. And so, it was to show His righteousness because He had passed it over before.

[41:32] So, wherever we are today, Jesus Christ is the only way for us to be forgiven, made right, and be reconciled in a fellowship with God.

[41:43] And what a blessing we have to know that Jesus has died in our place in the same way that He did for David. and I pray that wherever you're at, whatever sin you have committed, are committing, or will commit, you will turn to faith in Jesus and repent of that sin and continue to live life as a believer, following and trusting in the perfect work of Jesus.

[42:10] So, let's pray together and we'll sing some songs in response. Let's pray together and we'll sing a little bit a little bit of that sin and ending of that sin.

[42:20]  Let's pray together and ending a little bit and ending of that sin.