The Lord helping me this morning,
the scripture that I'll bring to your attention is found in
that psalm that we read, Psalm 51. And the 14th verse, Psalm
51, verse 14, the first part of that verse, deliver me from
blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation. Psalm 51 was penned upon the
occasion of David's repentance for his sins of adultery and
murder. We are clearly told this in the
inspired title of the psalm, to the chief musician, the Psalm
of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone
in to Bathsheba. The events are recorded in the
second book of Samuel, chapters 11 and 12, into Samuel 11 we have the sad
history of David's falling into those sins of adultery and of
murder. David fell into the sin of adultery
and we read of how Bathsheba The wife of Uriah the Hittite
became pregnant by David, and of how David tried to cover his
sin by arranging for Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, to be killed. And having arranged for the killing
of Uriah, David then took Bathsheba to be his wife. We read at the end of that 11th
chapter of 2 Samuel, but the thing that David had done displeased
the Lord. Then in chapter 12 we read, and
the Lord sent Nathan unto David. Nathan tells David of two men
in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man
had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing,
save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up,
and it grew up together with him and with his children. It
did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his
bosom and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of
his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto
him, but took the poor man's lamb. and dressed it for the
man that was come to him." Well, when David heard this, he was
appalled, wasn't he? At the gross injustice and the
lack of compassion shown by that rich man. And he declares that
that man should die, that he's worthy of death, that he is a
child of death, as it says in the margin there, in verse 5
of that chapter. And David's anger was greatly
kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the
Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely
die, or is worthy of death. He's a son of death. And he shall
restore the Lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because
he had no pity. And then come these piercing
words of Nathan the prophet. And Nathan said to David, Thou
art the man. Thou art the man. What a word
of conviction. What a word of condemnation.
Thou art the man. Then Nathan, or rather the Lord,
speaking by Nathan the prophet, reminds David of all that the
Lord had done for him. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's
wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and
of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would moreover
have given unto thee such and such things." Oh, what blessings,
what privileges had David enjoyed Now remember the word of the
Lord Jesus Christ, for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much
be required. And to whom men have committed
much, of him they will ask them more. And so David is reproved. Wherefore hast thou despised
the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast
killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his
wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the
children of Ammon. David was guilty of murder as
well as of adultery. It was as if David himself had
taken the sword of the Ammonites and killed Uriah Bathsheba's
husband. David acknowledges his sin And
he confesses his sin. And he begs God to forgive his
sin. As we read in this penitential
Psalm, Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. And in the words of our text,
deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. And the prophet, upon David's
repentance, assures him that his sins are forgiven. And David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the
Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. or the matchless
grace of our God. He puts away sin! He puts away
sin! As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Micah
says, Who is a god like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity,
and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?
He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in
mercy. He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities
and they will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Hezekiah was another one who knew the forgiveness of sin. In Isaiah 38 we read his words,
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast in
love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for
thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Thou hast cast all
my sins behind thy back. And so David here is forgiven. The Lord also hath put away thy
sin. thou shalt not die." But how
does God put away sin? How can a righteous God, a God
who is just, and is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and
cannot look on iniquity, how can such a holy God forgive sin? God has dealt with all the sins
of all His people in the person of His only begotten Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." And so John says, my little children,
These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. If any man sin,
we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous,
and He is the propitiation for our sins. That word propitiation,
it means the appeasing of the wrath of offended deity, through
the satisfaction which has been made to the just demands of the
holy law of God, the just wrath of a holy God against the sins
of his people is satisfied because that divine wrath against their
sins fell upon Christ, the sinner's substitute. And so Peter speaks
of Christ who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the
tree. The Lord Jesus Christ bore the
punishment for sin, which is death, and that on behalf of
his people. Now Peter, in that passage in his first
epistle, is referring us to the prophet Isaiah. See there in
1 Peter 2 verse 24, who his own self bear our sins in his own
body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as
sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and
bishop of your souls. Now see what Isaiah says in that
great 53rd chapter of the book of his prophecy. verse 5, but
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord had laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Verse 8, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. Verse 10, Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief, when thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin. Verse 11, By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Verse 12, And he was numbered
with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors. And so God is able to forgive
sin without any damage to his glory and honor, without any
damage to his inexorable law. Christ is that lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And hence, Nathan could say to
David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not
die. And do we not see here that the
justification of God's elect is an eternal justification?
Paul speaks of Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now when was
Christ made these things unto us? Why? From all eternity. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Were it not so, David could not
have been justified, nor any of the Old Testament saints.
Well, as we come to the words of our text this morning, deliver
me from blood guilt in it. O God, thou God of my salvation,
do we not see firstly that only God can deliver from guilt and
a guilty conscience? When the law of God is applied
to the conscience by the Holy Ghost, then we are brought to
see that it is God that we have offended against thee the only
have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight and therefore to
him we must go and confess our sins away then with priest and
Pope to God will we go and we will confess to him our sins
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen
by thine iniquity. Take with you words and turn
to the Lord. Say unto him, take away all iniquity
and receive us graciously. So will we render the calves
of our limbs. Only God can deliver from guilt
and from a guilty conscience. when guilt lies heavy on my soul,
and waves of fierce temptation roll, I to this rock for shelter
flee, and make my refuge, Lord, in Thee. If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. And secondly, Do we not see here, faith joined
to repentance. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation. Thou God of my salvation. Faith
is the constant companion of repentance. And repentance is
ever joined to faith. You cannot have the one without
the other. And faith looks to God as the
God of salvation, but not as the God of salvation only, no,
but the God of my salvation, the God of my salvation. each
one of the elect of God must be brought to this to see themselves
as personally culpable before God to see themselves personally
as deserving God's wrath and indignation to be brought personally
to look to God for deliverance thou God of my salvation thou
God of my salvation have you been brought to this to fill
your need of him Tis the Spirit's rising beam, as the hymn writer
says. God be merciful to me, a sinner, said the justified
publican. And thirdly, we see that the
crime of murder demands vengeance. Deliver me from bloods, it reads
in the original. Deliver me from bloods. There
were others with Uriah who were slain. They were, as it were,
collateral damage. Remember the news that was brought
to King David there in 2 Samuel 11, verse 24. And the shooters
shot from off the wall upon my servants, and some of the king's
servants be dead, and my servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab,
Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth
one as well as another. These others that were killed
with Uriah were collateral damage. It wasn't just Uriah whose death
David was responsible for. Deliver me from bloods. Deliver
me from bloods. every drop of blood spilt by
the manslayer demands vengeance. You know, the first murderer
was Cain. He killed his brother Abel. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not, am I
my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground the voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground the blood of the slain has a
voice it cries for vengeance after the flood which destroyed
the world Noah was commanded and all his posterity are commanded
through him who so shedeth man's blood By man shall his blood
be shed, for in the image of God made he man. It's interesting
to note that before the terrible judgment of the flood, we read
that the earth was filled with violence. And now, with the removal
of the divinely instituted death penalty for murder, we see again
the earth being filled with violence. We see it in our own nation,
don't we? Look at our capital city. A quick search on the internet
will reveal that there are many murderers who were released from
prison who went on to kill again. Now the Puritan Thomas Watson
in his exposition of the Ten Commandments says, a felon having
committed six murders, the judge may be said to be guilty of five
of them. because he did not execute the felon for his first offence.
Well, nowadays, of course, the judge is not able to impose the
death penalty. It is the government that makes
the laws, therefore it is the government that has blood on
its hands. Innocent people have been sentenced
to death as a direct result of the removal of the death penalty
for murder. That's a fact. In Numbers 35, verse 33 we read, So ye shall
not pollute the land wherein ye are. For blood it defileth
the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that
is therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. I'm going
to quote Thomas Watson, bearing in mind that this was written
in the 17th century, the golden age of Puritanism. It should
be for a lamentation that this land is defiled with blood. How
common is this sin in this boasting age? England's sins are written
in letters of blood! England's sins are written in
letters of blood! Now, if that was true in the
17th century, in 17th century Puritan England, How much more
is it true now? And I do believe it to be a duty
incumbent upon every Christian to pray that it be in their power
to work for the restoration of the death penalty for murder.
We should, of course, also be praying for the total abolition
of abortion. We should also be praying against
moves to legalize euthanasia or that the Lord would deliver
this nation from blood guiltiness. Incidentally, the Quran of the
false prophet gives a false reason as to why the crime of murder
is such a heinous offense. The false prophet says in his
Quran that, and I quote, Whoever kills a soul, unless for a soul
or for corruption done in the land, it is as if he had slain
mankind entirely. Well, the Holy Scriptures give
an altogether higher reason why this is such a heinous crime. Genesis 6 verse 9. Sorry, Genesis
9 verse 6. Whoso shedeth man's blood, by
man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made
he man. That's why it is such a heinous
offence, because man is made in God's image. It's an attack
upon the image of God. That's what murder is. Now it's interesting to note
too that whenever a Muslim terrorist atrocity is committed, And Imam
speaks to the media and he quotes that verse which I've just referred
to in his Quran. What he doesn't quote is the
very next verse which says, Indeed, the penalty for those who wage
war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth to cause
corruption is none but that they be killed, or crucified, or that
their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides, or that
they be exiled from the land. And it is that writing of the
false prophet which inspires and justifies the murder in the
mind of the zealous Muslim of those he considers to be infidels."
People like you and me. It is the crime of murder which
demands the death penalty. Who so sheddeth man's blood?
By man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made
he man. Now the question might arise,
well, if the death penalty is the divinely instituted punishment
for the crime of murder, well why then wasn't David put to
death? Why wasn't David put to death?
Well, the answer to that lies in the law of God. Deuteronomy
17 verse 6. At the mouth of two witnesses,
or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put
to death. But at the mouth of one witness
he shall not be put to death. There was but one witness to
his crime, Joab. And therefore David could not
be put to death. And the same is true regarding
his sin of adultery, which was also punishable by death under
the law of Moses. The only witness to David's crime
of murder was Joab. The only witness to his crime
of adultery was Bathsheba herself. and so the execution for these
crimes if David was were to be executed that would have been
actually contrary to the law of God but surely in the fourth place
the great question which should occupy our minds is this how
does this apply to me? how does this apply to me? I'm not Guilty of shedding anyone's
blood? I'm not a murderer! Deliver me from blood guiltiness?
Oh God, thou God of my salvation, I'm certainly guilty of a great
many sins, and I can enter into every other verse in this psalm,
but how can I truly and sincerely pray, deliver me from blood guiltiness? Well, we have to remember that
the commandment, Thou shalt not kill, is not to be taken just
as a commandment not to commit murder. It's also, that is, it's
not to be taken merely as a commandment to abstain from the actual outward
act of murder, with the hands, as it were. Remember the word
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. You have
heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill.
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment
but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without
cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall
say to his brother Raka shall be in danger of the council but
whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire. The Apostle John writing under
the inspiration of the Spirit of God, says, Whosoever hateth
his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath
eternal life abiding in him. Doesn't James teach us that merely
to show partiality or discrimination, as we might say these days, to
have respect to persons by favoring the rich, is to transgress the
sixth commandment? James chapter 2, My brethren,
have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,
with respect of persons? For if there come into your assembly
a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and there come in also
a poor man in vile raiment, and you have respect to him that
weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in
a good place, and say to the poor, stand thou there, or sit
here under my footstool. Are ye not then partial in yourselves,
and are become judges of evil thoughts? Then he goes on to
say, at verse eight of that chapter, If ye fulfil the royal law according
to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,
ye do well. But if ye have respect to persons,
ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit
adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery,
Yet, if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. Now
you see what James is saying there? By showing partiality, discrimination
in that sense, we are breaching the sixth commandment, which
says, thou shalt not kill. We can also kill without words,
without tongues. Solomon says twice in the Proverbs,
the words of a tail-bearer are as wounds which go down into
the innermost parts of the belly. And this is acknowledged even
in and by the world. Think of some of the expressions
which we use in our English language. People speak of backstabbing
and of character assassination. Backstabbing is the act of verbally
criticizing or attacking someone when they're not present, while
pretending to be a loyal friend. You can stab someone in the back
with your words. Character assassination is the
deliberate attempt to do injury to a person's good name and reputation.
It's usually done with the aim of destroying another's confidence
in that person, or perhaps to make oneself appear superior
to that person. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes
that a good name is better than precious ointment. A good name
is better than precious ointment. Character assassination is the
poisoning of a man's good name and reputation. Again, to quote
Thomas Watson, he says, it is a great cruelty to murder a man
in his name. Again Solomon says in the Proverbs,
an hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor. What solemn words
these are. Words can be used as weapons. David speaks of the wicked in
Psalm 59, behold they belch out with their mouth, swords are
in their lips. In Psalm 55, the words of his
mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His
words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. or words
can be used as weapons. How careful we must be then with
regards to how we use our tongues. But the tongue can no man tame,
it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless
we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men who are
made after the similitude of God. Ah, now I begin to see how these
words apply to me. Deliver me from blood guiltiness.
Oh God, thou God of my salvation. Of course, it's not only our
dealings with others that the Sixth Commandment has to do.
It also has to do with how we treat ourselves. Benjamin Keech,
in his catechism says, what is required in the Sixth Commandment?
The Sixth Commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve
our own life and the life of others. And what is forbidden
in the Sixth Commandment? The Sixth Commandment forbids
the taking away our own life. or the life of our neighbor unjustly,
or whatsoever tends thereto. Whatsoever tends to the taking
away or the shortening of our own lives is forbidden in that
sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. Overeating, under-eating,
excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, and so on, deliver me
from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. And what of spiritual murder?
The murder of souls by false doctrine, whether atheistic,
Islamic, Roman Catholic, or charismatic. False doctrine of whatsoever
sort it be, whether of Charles Darwin, or Karl Marx, or Pope,
or Mohammed, or of the charismatics, or of worldly philosophies, or
of the occult, will lead to damnation. Peter says, but there were false
prophets also among the people. even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction, and many shall follow their pernicious ways."
And then he says, "...and their damnation slumbereth not." That
is the damnation of those who follow them. How we need to be careful, what
ministry we sit under, what we listen to on the radio, what
we look at on the screen. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation. True doctrine tends to salvation. Paul writes to Timothy, take
heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for
in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear
thee. But in the fifth place and finally,
I think we can go a little deeper into these words of our text
and into the application of them to ourselves. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation. What was David's great sin? What
was he guilty of? Was it not the slaying of an
innocent man? He had caused an innocent man
to die in order for his sin to be covered. He had caused an
innocent man to be put to death. It was the conviction of this
great offence that caused the sweet Psalmist of Israel to cry
out and to pray, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou
God of my salvation. He had caused the death of an
innocent man. And you know, every one of the
elect must be brought to this. I have caused the death of an
innocent man. I have caused the death of an
innocent man. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He is
the spotless Lamb of God. Three times he was declared to
be innocent before being handed over to be crucified. Three times
Pontius Pilate said to the Jews, I find no fault in him. He was conceived without sin
in the womb of a virgin. He lived a life of perfect obedience
to all the law of God. He could say, the prince of this
world cometh and hath nothing in me. Oh, there was no corrupt,
fallen nature in Christ for the devil to work upon. He was and
he is without sin. He could say, and only he could
say, for I do always those things that please Him, that is the
Father. An innocent man was slain, that
my sin might be covered. I personally have caused the
death of an innocent man. I have caused an innocent man
to be put to death. It wasn't the Jews. It wasn't
the Romans. It was me. It was me. It was
my sin that nailed Christ to the cross. Deliver me from blood
guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. I have caused an
innocent man to be slain that my sin might be covered. Wasn't it this, the slaying of
the innocent Christ that had pricked the hearts of those Jews
and proselytes who were converted on the day of Pentecost? Ye men
of Israel, hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of
God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did
by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of
God ye have taken ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain Peter tells them in his preaching and then he says
after speaking of Christ's resurrection from the dead. Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this they
were pricked in their heart. And so it was with David. He
was pricked in his heart. Deliver me from blood guiltiness.
Oh God, thou God of my salvation. And so it is with every true
Christian. He is pricked in his heart. Deliver
me from blood guiltiness. Oh God, thou God of my salvation. surely every true Christian will
be afraid of in any way dishonoring the blood of his or her crucified
Redeemer. Oh, it is precious blood for
as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. A true Christian may be said
to be guilty of the blood of Christ when he takes the ordinance
of the Lord's Supper unworthily or in a disorderly fashion. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 26, For
as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show
the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh
damnation, that is, judgment to himself, not discerning the
Lord's body. For this cause many are weak
and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with
the world. These judgments, these chastenments,
they come upon real Christians, that they might not be condemned
with the world. Now we haven't time to go into
all these things here, but we do see here that there is such
a thing as blood guiltiness in partaking unworthily of the Lord's
supper. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Our believer needs
to pray, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. Thou God of
my salvation, even in coming to the Lord's table. And is there
not a fear in the heart of every true believer that should he
fall into sin, he will prove at last to be an apostate and
no true believer at all? Hebrews 6 verse 4, what solemn
words these are, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the
powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew
them again to repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the
Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. and put him
to an open shame. The true believer prays that
he might not be as the apostate, who by his sinning puts Christ
to an open shame. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation. Doesn't the true believer pray
that he might be kept? Kept from sinning, kept from
backsliding, kept from apostasy. For if we sin willfully after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy." Under two or
three witnesses. of how much sore a punishment,
suppose ye shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace. How strong these words are. How
strong these words are to tread underfoot the Son of God. to count the blood of the covenant
an unholy thing or how the believer feels a continual need to pray
to the only one who can save him from such sin and from such
an apostasy deliver me from blood guiltiness oh God thou God of
my salvation now David was told by this deed thou has given great
occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme Surely the
great concern of the true child of God is that he or she should
not by his or her conduct give occasion to the enemies of the
Lord to blaspheme, that he or she should not dishonor before
the watching world the precious name or the precious blood of
his or her precious Lord and Savior. And this is what it is
to be not under the law but under the gospel. or how the child of God needs
to pray and only the true child of God can really pray. Deliver
me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. Amen.