So Lord, may graciously help
me. I would turn your prayerful attention to Psalm 51 and take
for a text this evening, verse 10. Create in me a clean heart,
O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51, verse 10. And I do want to continue going
through this precious psalm, which shows us how to return
to God. We've just been singing of that,
the necessity of coming to return to God in our emptiness and realising
that we need to lay our all upon Him and it's His righteousness
that we need to plead. Well this morning we were looking
at this Psalm 51 then and we noted that David was praying
for mercy. Praying for mercy. He had been convicted. Nathan
the prophet had said thou art the man. And instead of David
contesting that and arguing that it wasn't him and it wasn't just. He, it sunk in and he realised
that that was true. He acknowledged that it was true. And then you see he needed to
then seek for mercy. And we're told then he's left
on record and I'm sure David would have loved the event of
Bathsheba and Uriah never to have taken place in his life.
But in God's wisdom he allowed David to pass through this way
so that there would be on record how one who had sinned can return
back to God and that they have a testimony. just sung of a testimony
then shall I tell to sinners round what a dear saviour I have
found. And Psalm 51 starts off you see
with pleading for mercy and then moves on to a testimony, a testimony
to others. You might say if you've sinned
like that David you've sinned with with adultery and murder,
the best you can do is keep your mouth shut and be in the corner,
be forgiven, but you're a second class Christian, you can't ever
speak again. David doesn't say that at all
in Psalm 51. Psalm 51 shows us that there's
when God has delivered his people from sin and forgiven them then
they have a testimony. A testimony from a broken hearted
sinner to others that this is a saviour that can save unto
the uttermost because he saved me. Well we look then at verse 1
starting the grounds of his mercy was not on his kingship not on
his being the sweet psalmist of Israel it was being it was
the tender mercies of God. We spoke of the washing, that
he needed to be washed inside and out. He acknowledged his
transgression, he didn't pass it on to somebody else. He realized
that his sin primarily to start with was against God and then
against others. And therefore we ultimately,
God is our judge and therefore we need to be right with him.
He then puts in verse 5 and 6 these two opposites of the fact that
he was shaping iniquity and he was sinful from conception. And yet God required him to be
truthful in his inward parts. Two opposites. And then we had
this lovely word in verse 7, purge me with hyssop. The application,
the hyssop was used to apply the blood. We think of that on
the Passover, on the doorposts and on the lintel. Purge me with
hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. The realization that the washing,
you see, it was so thorough and so powerful. Christ's work is so powerful
that it really does deliver from the powers of sin. The stains. One of our hymn writers says,
a Mary or Manasseh sins or sins more vile than they, it can deal
with. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. The faith of David in his Lord
that he was able to save to the uttermost then that come unto
him by God by him. Then we have in verse eight,
make me to hear joy. and gladness. This is the first
mention we have in Psalm 51 of joy. You might say well confession
what's confession got to do with joy? You see some people say
well should Christians be sad people or happy people? Well
Psalm 51 says they should be both. They should be truly broken
hearted over their sins. And they should be truly those
that rejoice in their Savior. They should be both. And you
see David here. To start with he starts on a
low note. He comes with confession. He
pleads for mercy. But then you see after he's talked
in verse 7 of the application of the hyssop of the blood and
the cleansing blood to his soul. Then he says make me to hear
joy. joy and gladness. You see, Satan
would say, and the world would say, there's nothing joyous in
the things of God. It's just a confession and morbid
and you don't enjoy the things that we enjoy. One of our hymn
writers picks up those words, solid joys and lasting pleasures,
none but Zion's children know. You see, and here David mentions
it, make me to hear joy. and gladness, that the bones
which thou hast broken may rejoice." We don't read that in the events
of Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite that this involved any physical
bones being broken of David. But you see, broken bones, when
we break our ankle or our leg, they're associated with times
of extreme pain. And really this, what happened
with David and his realisation of his sin was a time of extreme
pain. It was broken, he was broken
hearted over his sin when God smote him with that, with Nathan. But you see here the nature of
the gospel, make me to hear joy and gladness at the bones which
thou hast broken. You see if you've If somebody's
gone and broken your bones for you, you don't particularly want
to visit that person again, do you? You keep as far away as
you can from somebody that breaks your bones. But here you see
the nature of the gospel is this one. The God that has wounded
David, he goes back to the same God for healing. See, that's the nature. It's
a wonderful thing, isn't it? You say, if somebody's broken my
bones, I won't go near them. The bones that thou has broken.
And they needed to be broken, there was sin, there needed to
be forgiveness, there needed to be contrition, there needed
to be sorrow over his sin. The broken bones make me to hear
joy and gladness that the bones which thou has broken, may rejoice."
You see, David realized that there was a way back. And when
we confess our sins as something, well, the nature, you see, of
coming and confessing our sins, Satan would say, well, if you're
confessing your sins, it's all negative, it's all sorrow. But
you see, when there's that sense of forgiveness, there's joys
that this world doesn't know of. A joy to be at peace with
God. to know that he is your God,
that he has forgiven you and that you are right for eternity,
that you have him as to be your God. It means everything. Make
me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast
broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins. David,
as it were, takes a fresh look at his sins again and he wants
it hidden. the foulness of his sins he wants them hidden and
we do as we look at our sin we we don't want them to be known
but hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities
a similar expression to what we had in verse one he comes
back with that same realization he needs forgiveness he needs
that a record in heaven to be blotted out that was against
him that separated between him and his God But then we come
to what we've named as a text in verse 10, create in me a clean
heart. You see, he starts from the heart,
out of the heart. You see, our desires come from
the heart. Our actions first happen, the
motives behind that come from our heart and then goes into
actions and the things that we do. There's outward manifestation,
but it's the heart that drives it, as it were our affections.
And David prays, create in me a clean heart. Create, this same
word as it were that in creation, making something out of nothing,
he asked God, create out of all the brokenness of my sin in Adam,
create in me a clean heart. Clean, one that doesn't hunger
and thirst after filth. like it does by nature, but one
that hungers and thirsts after righteousness. You see, here
we have David breathing after holiness. Creating me a clean heart. It's
the same as Jesus said, blessed are they that hunger and thirst
after righteousness. creating me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. And the marginal of
that right spirit is a constant spirit, a steadfast spirit. You see, with what David had
done with all this, with Bathsheba and Uriah, he had been inconsistent. He had an honourable, godly testimony,
but now he had fallen and there was an inconsistency. He says,
create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, a steadfast,
a constant spirit within me. He wanted us to be stable, not
blown about with every wind of doctrine, not turning to the
left or the right, not going out of the way, but steadfastly
walking with his God. Create in me a clean heart. You see, he didn't just want
the bad record deleted, he wanted a heart that was clean. So he
walked in the fear of the Lord, in a right way, in a God-honouring
way, rather than the opposite. Create in me a clean heart. This is the desire of a living
child of God. Create in me a clean heart. He
sees the filth and he prays for holiness. You see, if we're full
of our own pride and think we're great in and of ourselves, we
don't need to create a clean heart, do we? We've got one already,
we think. But you see, David realizes that his heart was unclean
right from conception. But he says, Lord, give me a
new heart. that hungers and thirsts after righteousness, create in
me. This is the desires of a child of God. Do you know them? See,
this is the experience of a true child of God. And surely we are
to compare ourselves with this. Do we know something of these
things? Do we know something of sorrow over sin? Do we know
something of hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Verse 11, he says, cast me not
away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Did David think back to Saul?
What happened to Saul when Saul disobeyed? When Saul disobeyed
in not destroying Agag and that of the Amalekites, We read that
God took his spirit from Saul and that's when that evil spirit
came and David got asked to play the harp to soothe Saul. You can just imagine what's going
through David's mind. Is that now gonna happen to me?
Is God now gonna take his spirit from me? And I'm gonna be left
to live a life like Saul of rebellion and fighting against God and
what a sad, sad life Saul lived. After that, he made it his job
to fight David all the time, and it was such a fruitless life,
such a rebellious life, such an empty life, and it ended up
in such disaster, going to the witch of Endor and eventually
committing suicide. David says, cast me not away
from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. What could be the worst thing
that could happen to you? I think to a child of God the
worst thing that can happen is to have the Holy Spirit removed
from us so we no longer have the Spirit. left to our own self,
left to our pride, left to our rebellion, left to go on in sin
as poor Saul was, to just walk in rebellion and pride and selfishness
and do all manner of evil. Cast me not away from thy presence
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. David, deeply valued. the Spirit of God, deeply valued
the presence of God. And yet he could see that he
didn't deserve that presence any longer. But he prays, you
see. He says, you see, earlier, as
we mentioned, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest
and clear when thou judgest. Lord, if my soul were sent to
hell, thy righteous law approves it well. But I'm going to ask. I'm going to ask, I'm going to
beg for mercy. And you see this is the nature
of the Gospel, that we realise that as a dying thief said, we
indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our sins. But
this man hath done nothing amiss, but he didn't stop there, he
could have said, well that's, there it is. He says, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Why should the Lord
have remembered him? Why? Because he delighteth in
mercy. And why should he remember you
or me? He delights in mercy. I will yet be inquired of by
the house of Israel to do these things for them. And David, you
see, coveted earnestly the best gifts. Cast me not away from
thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Then we
have in verse 12, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. So here clearly in verse 12,
we have an acknowledgement by David that he'd lost the joy.
He'd lost the joy. And you see, when we walk contrary
to God and God walks contrary to us, we will lose the joy.
And really it's a blessing, isn't it? Just imagine if you could
walk contrary to God as a Christian and just carry on in joy. No,
you see, he didn't have that joy that he had before because
he was walking. I mean, if you just read of what
David did with Bathsheba and Uriah, and I just read that as
an article, you'd say, and I asked you, does this sound like a godly
person? You'd say, no, it didn't sound godly at all. You see,
he'd live like the world. He'd live like the ungodly. And
he'd lost the joy, he'd lost the evidence. One of the things,
the joy of the people of God is an anticipation of heaven,
isn't it? It's an earnest. We have this
treasure in earthen vessels. We have an earnest of an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that faded not away. But when
we live like the world, when we act like the world, when we
fall, you see, then there's a question, well, are you really a child
of God? David, are you really a child of God? And he pleads,
restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. You see, there's joy.
There's true joy in salvation. It's not just being a Christian
is having a long face. No, there's much to be sorry
over. There's our sins to mourn over.
There's to be brokenheartedness. But there's to be joy. There's
to be the joy of the Lord is your strength. There's to be
something to rejoice in because we have one that has redeemed
us as we've sung in that hymn. Then shall I tell to sinners
round what a dear saviour I have found. Restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation. David had obviously lost the
joy and he realised now he wanted that restored. He begged to the
Lord that he would restore that joy and uphold me with thy free
spirit. He wanted to be blessed with
that again, to be restored. We think of that beautiful word
in Psalm that was quoted this afternoon by the children, he
restoreth my soul. Psalm 23, he restoreth my soul. David wanted to be restored.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Well, if this is obviously
for David, it was something he had experienced before. But if
it's one pleading for the first time, that's never known the
blessings of joy and the blessings of salvation. But then there'll
be the beginning of the joy for the first time. You see, you
might think Satan would say, well, you see, if you in confession
and all that, there's no joy. But you see, there is. If we
have, you see, a sense of forgiveness, there's joy. There's peace. There's union. There's preciousness. There's joys that this world
knows nothing of. There's an internal inheritance.
There's a hope of eternal life. All these blessings that the
world cannot give. They give their 10 or 15 years
guarantee, and you can't be sure of that either. But they don't
give eternal guarantees, do they? They never could. How could they? But you see here in the things
of God we have earnest of eternal blessings. Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation. Uphold me with thy free spirit.
You might think, well, David has sinned and he's now prayed
for forgiveness, for mercy, for a clean heart and to be restored
to the joy, you might think, well, really, when we get to
the end of verse 12, David, you've got everything you want, haven't
you? But David doesn't finish the Psalm 51 at the end of verse
12. He then does something very interesting. He starts the next verse with
then. I think this is really, really
important. Then will I teach transgressors by ways. Here we see that David is teaching
us that you might think that David should just cowl in a corner,
he's been forgiven but he can't ever be of any use and he can't
be of any message to anybody else because he sinned. And you see, Satan would love
to tell you that too. You've been such a sinner, nobody
will ever listen to you anymore. But then will I teach transgressors
thy ways because he's experienced them. Because David can say,
I've fallen, I've failed. I've come short and God has had
mercy upon me. He had a message to tell, didn't
he? And if we are truly to be a church that has a message in
Red Hill today, we need to be those who are preaching, as it
were, in our lives because we have been forgiven. Not because
we've never sinned, not because we've never fallen, not because
we're perfect, not because we're angels, You see, in the amazing
way that the Lord has appointed it, he has not appointed angels
to preach the gospel. He has appointed sinners, saved
by grace, to preach to other sinners, not preach down to them,
but preach to them that they have obtained mercy, and I have
obtained mercy, so you can too. You see David is saying then
will I teach transgressors thy ways. When we go to the market
stall are we looking down at the people that walk by and those
that are far off from God or can we get alongside them and
can we preach to them as it were as those that are equally in
need of God's mercy. equally in need of God's mercy.
Then will I teach transgressors, these people who are going headlong
away from God. David believes that now as God
has restored him, he has a testimony, he has something to say. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. You see
his his belief in the mercy of God that as he's obtained mercy
that he would be able to tell others of the mercy of God. And
how many how many people that heaven will
declare it at the last day. How many people have found Psalm
51 to be a comfort to them in their Christian life. If you,
as it were, if you got down to that marriage supper of the Lamb
and you talked to all the people there, how many of them would
say, it was Psalm 51 that gave me hope. It was Psalm 51 that
helped me to realize that he could save unto the uttermost
all that came unto God by him. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways. This is the way. This is the
way to God. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. And how is it the way? It's a way of brokenness, brokenheartedness
over our sin, over our pride, over our rebellion, and coming
back to God and receiving mercy. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.' His faith
that there would be. And how true that's been down
the ages. How many people have found Psalm
51 to be really precious to them? They have been converted. They
have been saved. They have been made to realize
that there's hope for them. And you see Satan, he's horrible. He's really horrible, Satan is.
Satan will encourage you to sin and tantalize you to fall into
sin. And then once you've sinned,
he'll say, now you've sinned, there's no hope. He's horrible. But you see, when we sin, then
there is, there's a way back to God. And you see, Jesus said,
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And
you see, David is tracing out here that he was a sinner. that God saved with an everlasting
salvation. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver
me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation." Blood
guiltiness. Many believe that he was worthy
to die because really on two fronts David should have been
killed. For adultery and for murder. On two fronts. Could
have really, by the law of God, been killed for those things.
Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. Do you see his faith is increasing? In the first verse it says, have
mercy upon me, O God. He doesn't say, have mercy upon
me, O God, thou God of my salvation. He's lost sight of that, you
see. Because he's so overwhelmed with his sin, he just pleads
for mercy. But now, you see, he's able to say, deliver me
from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. As it were, his assurance has
grown. And you see, when we sin, We
lose our assurance. The best way to lose your assurance
is to sin. You see, as we get back right
with God, you see, so we grow in assurance. O God, thou God
of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Look at the subject of his song.
You might say, well, You come and gather around me and I'll
tell you all the exploits I got to up in sin. I can tickle your
ears with all the stories I can tell you. That's not what David
says. He says and my tongue shall sing
aloud of thy righteousness. See David's not here and there's
nothing There's nothing difficult really in this psalm in the sense
of to like the newspaper articles with all the things, the details
that just we can gloat over. But he wants, he doesn't want
to point to his sin and all the depths that he raged in. But
he wants to sing of one thing, and that's thy righteousness,
the righteousness of God, how God could be merciful and just
to a man like him. That's what he wanted to tell,
and he wanted to tell those he came in contact with. Then will
I teach transgressors thy ways. You see, he had a testimony because
of what God had done for him. He was able then to tell others,
not in a proud way, not in a self-righteous way, not that I'm better than
you, but I have obtained mercy. Oh God, thou God of my salvation
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteous. Oh Lord, open
thou my lips. You see, sin shuts our mouths.
He shut David's mouth, I think, for a long time. I don't know
whether there was much spiritual output of David in those nine
months. I really don't think he was crying
Psalm 139 that he wrote. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. He didn't want
that. He didn't want to be searched. He didn't want God. He wanted
to hide from God. But you see now he's been restored,
he's got back right with God. And now you see he says, O Lord,
open thou my lips. I've shut my lips with my sin. But O Lord, open thou my lips,
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. You see, this is
how those that have been blessed and come to realise their sin,
the enormity of their sin, they come to love the Saviour. They
come to love this one that has had mercy upon them, and hasn't
dealt with them according to their sins, nor rewarded them
according to their iniquities. Though he is holy, though he
hates sin, though he will not wink at sin, he yet has mercy
because of what he's done for them at Calvary. O Lord, open
thou my lips. and my mouth shall show forth
thy praise. And surely this is a testimony.
This is what the Lord's people need to do is give a testimony
of what the Lord has done for them. That they've been, they've
fallen in some way and we all fall in different ways. But David
realised his fall, he was very sorry for it. O Lord, open thou my lips, and
my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not
sacrifice. It's very interesting, verse
16, because you say, well, in Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
who was the one that talked about all the sacrifices? Whose idea
was it? Surely God told Moses. God was
behind those sacrifices of the sheep and the goats and all those
things. But here David says, For thou
desirest not sacrifice. What do you mean? God appointed
them. But just taking a lamb and offering
that up as if that solved the problem. What God wanted. You see it's interesting. We
read of Abel that Abel and his offering were accepted together.
You see that it was the heart of Abel as well as the sacrifice.
And to be hard-hearted and then just give a sacrifice, that won't
solve it. You see here, we read, David
understood that just the external offerings on their own, and Isaiah
picks that up very clearly. He says, I've had enough of all
your sacrifices. I'm paraphrasing it from Isaiah. He doesn't want that, he wants
the heart. He wants the heart of the people, not just all these
sacrifices without any heart. For thou desirest not sacrifice,
else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. You say, well, he was the one
that appointed them. But just burnt offerings on their own
without the heart mean nothing. Jesus said, your new moons and
your Sabbaths, I hate them. Because you're not giving them,
you're just doing the outward performance, but you're not giving
me the heart. David perceives here in verse 17 the sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit. This is vital. This is non-negotiable. If we
have not a broken spirit we are not in a good place. We are to
be those that are broken over sin. We are to be those that
you see we've just read in Psalm 34 together. Verse 18, the Lord is nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart. So it follows that the Lord is
afar off from those who are not of a broken heart. The Lord is
nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. David realized it. The
brokenness over sin. The Lord was near them. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not
despise. That means he will value greatly. He will not despise
it. He puts a high value on that. A broken and a contrite spirit. And you might say, well what
does it look like to have a broken and a contrite spirit? Psalm
51. Psalm 51 is what it looks like
to have a broken and a contrite spirit. to be sorry over our
sin and to be truly repentant towards God. The sacrifices of
God are a broken spirit, broken. There's been many, if you think
of the sadnesses that happened with Josh Jemson, many have been
brokenhearted, understandably, to lose somebody so quickly that
they left. And amongst your peer group,
your young people, Are you broken hearted over your
sin? Are you broken hearted over those
things that grieve God? Because this is the ultimately,
this is a precious broken heartedness. There can be a broken heartedness
of sorrow that leads as it were to, that doesn't really help
us in the long term. But this is a broken heartedness
that is truly sorrow. so after a godly sword. And it
leads to repentance, it leads to life, it leads to union. It
leads, you see, to having God with us. The Lord is nigh unto
them. You see, it leads to that joy.
And so David here realises that he wants to, he desires that
broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not despise.
David showed great insight in his day because he was still
in the dispensation of all these sacrifices and yet he looked
beyond them and said, actually, just killing of animals and the
heart not being right doesn't really, isn't what God wants.
He wants the heart. He wants a contrite, a sorrow
in our heart for what we have done, and a desire and a hungering
and thirsting after righteousness. And God will not despise that.
Verse 18, we have, Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion.
Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. You see, when Nathan came to
David and David had been involved in this matter, Nathan said to him, how be it
because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies
of the Lord to blaspheme. And it is so when the God's people
fall, their enemies triumph over them and they can poke fun at
them and they can say, well, here's a Christian and look what
they did. Look at the spirit they did that in. Do good in
thy good pleasure unto Zion, build Thou the wars of Jerusalem."
The wars of Jerusalem were the security, wasn't it, of Jerusalem?
The strong wars. And really what David did by
sinning with Bathsheba and Uriah, he broke down the walls. He gave
great, great reason for the enemies. Thou hast given great occasion
to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. You've broken the
walls down, David. But you see, David wants that
restoration. Do good in thy good pleasure. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways. This is what David, see, you
think about it. David had written so many of
the Psalms by this time, I believe. What was going to happen to that
book of Psalms? What would we have it today? If you had somebody
who was written so many hymns perhaps, and then they were found
with adultery and murder, you'd say, well, we're not singing
any of those hymns. We're not having anything to do with those.
They're from a bad man. But you see, David was conscious
that all of his psalms could be thrown away. but he wants the Lord to have
mercy and to restore it. And then will I teach transgressors
thy ways. Don't have mercy upon me. And all those things that were
rightly written, the psalms, the beautiful psalms, would not
be thrown away. But they would actually come
with a fresh poignancy. because they have, this one who's
written these psalms has known what it is to find a mercy from
the foulest of sins. And you see this shows the extent
of the mercy of God. Cast me not away from thy presence.
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Well, may we know then in our
hearts this gracious dynamic, ongoing dynamic in our hearts,
of like David saying, creating me a clean heart, holiness pursued,
a pursuing after holiness. You see if we have no desire
after holiness, how can you call yourself a Christian? If you
don't care whether you're holy or not, whether you're Christ-like
or not, certainly if you are a Christian
you're not in a very healthy state at all. You see we are
to pursue after holiness and yet as we seek to pursue after
holiness and then God shows us something else that is wrong
in us and we fall and we then we come with true confession.
We come with true repentance of that sin. We need a fresh
application with that hyssop of the precious blood of Christ.
And then by faith, you see, we realize that there is forgiveness
with God. The hand of faith goes on out
and lay hold upon the hope set before us in the gospel. And
so we then once again are renewed and then we are fresh, we pursue
after holiness. But then we stumble again. We
go round, you see. But you see, it's a hungering
and thirsting after righteousness. But it won't always go on like
that. You see, there is a place coming when the Lord's people
will be free from a body of sin and death. A time when you see
they will not fall, because they will be with Christ which is
far better. They will be freed from that plague of their own
heart that constantly raises its ugly head. And then they
can worship God with unsinning hearts. David was able to say,
though my house be not so with God. Yet hath he made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and this
is all my salvation and all my desire. Yes, David received mercy,
but it cost him a lot too. The sword didn't depart from
his house. Don't think that you can sin cheaply or lightly, but
don't despair. there's a way back to God from
the dark paths of sin. And it's a way to find mercy,
forgiveness, joy, peace, union with Christ. And it's a place
where we can then tell to those around us. They may say, well,
you've been so naughty in this, that, and the other. How can
you ever talk to us? Well, It's because we've obtained
mercy that's how we can speak of those things that we, what
God has done and we sing aloud of his righteousness.