It's 12th chapter, 2 Samuel.
And I want us to hopefully, by God's grace, learn some things
here from David's fall into sin, grievous sin. You know, whenever
we mention David, there's always two things that people refer
to about David when they talk about him. First of all, they
say he's a man after God's own heart. I brought a message out
here recently, a man after God's own heart. It's being downloaded,
I don't know how many times, on Sermon Audio. Evidently, people
are enjoying it. But here, this is David's fall.
And then when you not only talk about a man after God's own heart,
they always end up mentioning about his sin, his awful sin,
and how he fell into sin and adultery and murder. And there's
two chapters, chapter 11 and chapter 12 here, 2 Samuel. are
dedicated to these things that David did. The great sin of David. You know, when you read chapter
11, David goes out in the evening, he's standing up on the roof
of his house, and he looks down and he sees a pretty woman. He
sits down there and sees the king and says, I want her brought
to me. They brought her. And it says he lay with her.
She was a little while, she came back and said, I'm with a child.
David called in Joab and said, Joab, She said, we can't have
this. Send her husband home from the
war. He come home. And when he got
home, he says, go down and enjoy your wife. Have a good time.
Oh, I'll send some food down for you. Oh, you're right. He was a soldier, soldier. He
says, as long as my brethren are in the war, I will not sleep
in my house. I will not enjoy my wife." And
he slept outside in the king's steps. So Joab said, if that's
the way he's going to do, he said, put him back in the war
and put him back where the hottest battle is and see that he don't
come home. Now this is a king doing this.
This is a king, the man after God's own heart. Tried to cover up his sin of
adultery and this woman having a child by him. by having her
husband come home. Her husband wouldn't do anything.
So he said, well, it'd be better for him to be dead for me to
be found out to be having an illegitimate child and the king
committing adultery. And it's easy to kill a fellow
in war. So send him in. Sure enough, Joab sent word back,
says, as you said, he's dead. He's dead. And so here, we read
here how that God sent Nathan unto David. And men, preachers,
and we ought to, David's sin is often referred to by preachers,
and rightfully it's condemned. And the Scriptures are given
for our learning, for our admonition, to teach us, to instruct us.
But have you ever, ever pondered the reasons why God permitted
David to fall, when He could have prevented it just like that?
He could have prevented it like that. Now you keep second saying,
you'll look with me in Genesis 20, and I'll show you what I
mean. This presented some real problems to me years and years
ago. And when I was thinking about Adam's fall, and the sin,
and the origin of sin, I read this here in Genesis 20, where
God kept Abimelech back from sinning against Him. You remember
Abraham went down to Kadesh, And Bimelech was the king down
there, and he said, she's my sister, so the king took her.
And then God said unto him here in verse 6, God said unto him
in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity
of thine heart, that he didn't take Sarah to be his wife. For
I also withheld thee from sinning against me, therefore suffered
I thee not to touch her. Now God kept that king back from
taking Sarah to be his wife. Now why didn't he keep his own
king, the man after his own heart, back from sinning against him?
If he kept a heathen king back, why wouldn't he keep his own
back? Huh? And we all, I mean, I know that
now, and I acknowledge this, that God has kept me and has
kept you and hedged us in and kept us to this point. right
now, from where we're at now, from Satan and any great sin
that we would commit publicly. God's the one that's kept us
from it. Our opportunity and our temptations
ain't crossed path at the same time. Our desire and the temptation
hasn't crossed path at the same time. And you hear people say,
well, I wouldn't do this and I wouldn't do that. Don't ever
say what you wouldn't do. You better say, by the grace
of God, I won't. If God will keep me, I won't. God help me, I don't want to
do that. And so the first thing that we
have to acknowledge, in David's rise and in David's fall, in
David's great victories and in David's defeats, in David's spiritual
success and his faith, we have to acknowledge the sovereign
hand of God. We have to do that. Have to. God's hand, God's our
blessed Father, His hand is never ever removed from His time. It's
always been upon us, even from the womb. Paul says, when he
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by His grace. He told Jeremiah, before I formed
you in the womb, I knew you and ordained you to be a prophet.
And he knew Jacob that he saw and said he loved one and hated
the other before they was ever born. So you see, God has His
hand on us before we ever come into existence. And God, secondly,
is the first cause of all things. He's the first cause of everything,
whether He directs it or permits it. He works all things after
the counsel of His own will. Look in Isaiah 14, verse 24.
This is one of those verses that you need to mark in your Bible.
Isaiah 14, verse 24. You see, He predicts the cause
of all things, and He does it for His own glory and our good.
I was talking to Charlie Pennington yesterday, and he just had a
third of one of his kidneys removed, and he's awful sore and in a
lot of pain. And he's got that leukemia, and he
says, you know, he says, I know this is good. His wife says,
you're not taking this serious enough. He says, well, it's serious.
And I'll do what God's providence will enable me to see that it's
taken care of. But it's good. God's good. And I'll take what He gives me.
He's good. He's good. And so you see, that's what he
says here in Isaiah 14, 24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
sworn now, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come
to pass. And as I have purposed, so shall
it stand. For we know that all things,
all things work together for our good to them that are called
of God, to them that love God according to His purpose. So
what shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? And you look in this scripture,
not only is God the first cause of all things, but Satan couldn't
do anything with Job until God let him do it. He said, what
are you doing here? He said, I'm going to and fro.
He said, are you considering my servant Job? Oh, I said, the
only reason in the world he serves you is because you've got a hedge
around him and you've given him an abundance of things. Let me
at him and I'll take it all away from him and he'll cut you to
his face. He said, I've had it. I've had it. Huh? And listen,
look over in Genesis with me again. Genesis 45. Satan couldn't
touch Job without God's permission. And remember when our Lord Jesus
told, look in 45 with me. Genesis 45. Remember when God
told Simon Peter, Satan hath sought to sift thee? He knew
it was a long one. Satan did sift him. And the only reason he didn't
fail, the only reason David never finally fell away, is because
Christ. It's what Christ does for us. It's not our faithfulness.
It's not even our sin. It's what Christ does for us
and His faithfulness to us. And look here in Genesis 45 and
verse 5. This is Joseph with his brethren,
and they come near. And he says, Now therefore be
not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me hither. For
God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two
years hath the famine been of the land, and yet there are five
years in which there shall neither be earring nor harvest. God sent
me before you to preserve a posterity unto the earth, and to save your
lives by great deliverance. Now watch this. So now it was
not you that sent me hither, but God. And here he was, 17 years old,
sold into slavery, spent years in prison. And he says, God did
this. God did this. Paul's born in
the flesh, that messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet
him. God sent that to him, lest he be exalted above man. So we must acknowledge the hands
of God, the sovereign hands of God in all things. And let me
tell you this, all the experiences of God's people, Whether they're
in the scripture or whether you and I know them, both bad or
good, whatever you want to call them, are for our instruction
and for our example. Not for us to follow and fall
into sin, but to warn us and instruct us and be an example
for us. Now I want you to look with me
at 1 Corinthians 10. Here's a perfect illustration
of this scriptural illustration of this in 1 Corinthians 10. You know, when you go through
the Scriptures, you see a lot of things happening. I've had
people talk to me, how could this, why would God do this,
and why would God do that, and why would God allow this to happen,
God allow that to happen. Well, they were for our learning,
they're for our instruction. Look what he says here in verse,
chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians, Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant. I don't want you to be ignorant
of some things here. how that all our fathers were
under the cloud, that cloud that God put over them as they come
out of Egypt, and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in that cloud and in the sea. I mean, they
were baptized unto Moses, and Moses, when he led them there,
and watch this, and they did all eat the same spiritual meat. That man ascended from heaven
and did all drink the same spiritual drink. I mean, these are spiritual
things. He's talking about spiritual things. That rock that followed
them. They drank of that rock, capitalized, that followed them.
That rock was Christ. But now watch this. But with
many of them, God was not pleased, not well pleased, for they were
overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were written
for our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil
things as they also lusted. They're lusting after evil things.
God moves on the mountain. That's where this Moses, we don't
know where he's at. We need some God to worship him. Then they
made a golden cat. Said, this cat brought us up.
Look at this God that brought us up out of Egypt. Now watch
this. Don't be idolaters, as were some
of them. They walked through the Red Sea.
They ate manna from heaven and drank from a rock. And became
idolaters just a short time after they were out of Egypt. As it
is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up
to play as they danced around that cave. Neither let us commit
fornication. Now what kind of fornication
is he talking about here? Spiritual fornication. Going
after strange gods? Yes, sir. As some of them committed and
fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us, what's
this, tempt Christ. as some of them also tempted,
and were destroyed as serpents. They murmured and murmured and
murmured, and God sent five serpents among them, and that's when that
brass serpent was lifted up on a pole. And he says they were
tempting Christ in the wilderness. Neither murmured as some of them
also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now watch this. Now all these things happened
unto them for examples. for tithes, for warnings, and
they are written for our admonition, to teach us and instruct us,
upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him
thinketh that he standeth to take heed, lest he fall." There
hath no temptation taken you. I mean, you're tempted to commit
fornication, tempted to idolatry, tempted to lust after evil things,
tempted to sit down and eat and rise up into play after you've
enjoyed all these spiritual things. There hath no temptation taken
you. But as such it is common to man,
now listen to this, that God is faithful. who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to
bear." All those folks have to do in every one of those instances
is turn to God. You fellas want to worship a
golden calf? I'm going to follow the Lord. You fellas want to
sit down and eat and rise up to pray? I'm going to call on
the Lord. You want to murmur and murmur
and murmur against the providence of God? I'm going to call on
the Lord. He said, I'm not going to call on the Lord. That's what
they had to do, but they wouldn't do it. And let me tell you something
about God's Word. It's not like the biographies
of me, and I've got some really good biographies in there. John
Bunyan's, John Newton's, Lloyd Jones, Arthur Pink, George Whitfield,
Charles Spurgeon, good biographies. And you know if you read Spurgeon's,
and if you read Lloyd-Jones, and George Whitefield, those
fellows had no faults whatsoever. They were the most spiritual,
praying, preaching human beings that had ever drawn a breath.
I mean, they were just, they were something else. The only
blogger that I've ever read that told the truth about a man is
the one who wrote about Arthur Peck. And they couldn't help
telling the truth about him, he was such an oddball. But anyway,
what I'm saying is this, God's Word doesn't do like a biography
does. It doesn't conceal the bad and
only reveal the good of His saints. No, no. In the Bible, God's people
are restrained exactly as they are sinners, saved and kept holy
by the power and grace of God. In God's Word, we're taken into
the most intimate details and personal lives of men like Noah.
Here's a man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He come
out of that ark, and the next thing you know, he's laying naked
in a tent, dry. He couldn't be saved. God said
he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. First thing he done
when he came out of that ark, he built him an altar, called
on the Lord. First bunch of grapes he got
and maybe some wine. Got drunk and laid in his tent.
And there's Abraham. Father of the faithful. Father
of the faithful. We walk in the steps of that
faith of Abraham, our father. For whom Christ is the seed of
Abraham. And oh my, Abraham, you find
him lying twice? Went in unto an Ishmaelite woman,
I mean his handmaiden, Hagar, and ended up having an Ishmaelite,
and they've been, him and Jacob, been at war for all these centuries
since they was born. Ishmael and Isaac have been at
war all this time. And then there's lots. Most selfish
human being you've ever seen. No respect for his elders. No
respect for his uncle. His uncle, you know, he's the
elder. His uncle's the one that raised him. His uncle's Abraham,
the one that took care of him. But when Abraham gave him a choice
which way to go, he said, I'll take that well-watered plain
down yonder. You can have that old rough mountainside
up there where there ain't nothing but a few rocks and some stones.
And he ended up down in the lot and saw them. And God had to
drag him out of there. And then there's Aaron. Aaron
was standing in front of Pharaoh, and every time Moses went in
front of Pharaoh, he was God's prophet to speak to Pharaoh for
Moses, because Moses had a speech impediment. And he was a first-time
priest, but you know what he did? He was the one who built
the Golden Gate when the people said, we've got to have something
to worship. He himself failed. And then there's Simon Peter.
Brash enough to stand in the Lord's face two or three times
and tell Him what he would do and what the Lord shouldn't do. Ah, you say, my soul. Some of God's choicest people
are seen as some very, very poor characters. Very, very poor characters. I don't want to stand in the
Lord's face and be brash to you, but I'm sure in my mind I've
been brash several times. Some are permitted to sin greatly
before meeting the Lord Jesus Christ, like Saul of Parsis,
hating Christ, persecuting his people on his way to bring men
and women to jail when the Lord Jesus struck him down on the
Damascus Road. Some are permitted to sin very,
very greatly after meeting and being saved by the grace of Christ,
like David did and like Simon Peter did. But this is what we've
got to understand. But none are permitted to continue
in sin. God reproves them of their sin,
rebukes them of their sin, and like He told David, you've done
it in secret, I'm going to do what I'm going to do to you in
life. That's why He says, what you do in secret shall be brought
to the light. What's done in darkness shall
be proclaimed from the housetops. So just mark it down. If you
think you're getting by with something, God will bring it
out just as sure as the sun comes up. And that scares the hound out
of me. What we are, what we do, that's
what he's saying to me. And that's why he says, if we
say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth not
is. If we say we have not sinned, we make God to be a liar. And
you know, and then the consequences of it is this. It's like you
reap what you sow. He had Uriah killed and God says
now therefore the sword shall never depart your house. You're going to have from now
on, you use the sword to kill a man. That's what our Lord meant.
If you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword. Simon Peter
put that sword up. And old David lived by the sword.
Now he's going to have to suffer some consequences. He's going
to have a sword. He's going to have trouble in his house the
rest of his life. He said, I'm going, you took another man's
wife. I'm going to give your wives to your neighbors. And
everybody's going to see it. You've done it in secret. He
said, I'm going to do what I'm going to do to you openly. Everybody's
going to see. And I'll tell you something else
about this. David sinned. says before us, so plain, so
plain, so plain, the deceitfulness of the human heart. How deceitful
the human heart is, and teaches us this, as plain as the nose
on our face, don't put no confidence in the flesh. That's what David
did. He said, I'm the king. I've got
power. I've got authority. I'm above
the law. God's made a covenant with me.
Oh, the heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Only a fool trusts in his own heart. And you know, David's
fall came after he was called a father in Israel. You know,
when they made him king, before they made him king, they would
run before David and they would be singing and dancing, saying,
Saul killed his thousands, but David killed his ten thousands.
Called him the father of Israel. And he had walked with God for
many, many years. Many years. Endured trials after
trials after trials. Dwelt in caves. Had a whole king
and a whole army after him for years. And he won many victories. And oh, by this time he had written
so many psalms. And he was a man after God's
own heart. And yet, he fell into one of
the most grievous, greatest sins in the Scriptures. Huh? Let me
tell you something. That just shows you the deceitfulness
of the human heart. And put no confidence, confidence
in the flesh. Now, that which is born of the
flesh is going to remain flesh until he calls us home. We're
not going to be done with it. Oh, my. Not going to be done
with it. That's why Job says, though he
slayed me, I'm going to trust him. I'll see the Lord myself.
Oh my! Paul mourned over his fleshly
nature. He mourned over his inability
to walk perfectly before God. He says, that that I would do,
I don't. And that that I wouldn't, I do. So therefore, in me, in my flesh,
was no good thing. He says, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. I have the will, but how to perform,
I don't know how. So he mourned over it, grieved
over it. Do you ever mourn and grieve over your fallen nature?
Do you ever mourn and grieve over your inability? And that's
why he's talking about this flesh. And we're foolish. Oh God, help
us never to put any confidence in what we have to do by this
flesh. What we can resist, what we can
do, what we can overcome. What we can keep ourselves from?
The minute you put any confidence in this flesh, as it can do anything,
it's in trouble. He said, we're not of them who
have confidence. We rejoice in Christ Jesus, worship
God in the Spirit, and have no confidence in this flesh. Oh my, look at Psalm 118 with
me, just a minute. You know, this is an unusual
message. I know it is. And I know you're
wondering what in the world is he preaching this for? I have
no idea. I know it's what? I don't want to. I know what I'm capable of apart
from the grace of God. Look what it said here. Psalm
118 and verse 8. It is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in
the Lord than to put confidence in princes. When's the last time you put
confidence in the government, in the princes, in the people
in power? When's the last time you put
a lot of confidence in a man you just dated, sooner or later?
And I'll tell you something, you know, I'm speaking for myself.
We're quick, sometimes quick to notice a flaw in the character
of somebody else. But so slow, so slow to recognize
the potential of sin in ourselves. I just preached on that. Judge
not as lest you be not judged. He says, you know how can you
that have a beam in your eyes, try to take that motor out of
your brother's eye? I vow hypocrisy. With what measure
you judge, the measurement you'll be judged back with. And oh my,
if you see a brother, you that are spiritual, if you see a brother,
and watch what it says now, the language is so explicit here. If you that are spiritual, see
a brother overtaken, overtaken. They don't go into it, it overtakes
them. If you see them overtaken, restore
such a one to the spirit of meekness. And why should you do that? Considering
thyself, what you're capable of. And oh my, God help us to
be wise, to recognize and acknowledge that we all protect, that we
all stand, that we all continue only by the grace and power of
God, never of our own. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. Who may defeat a different? What
have you got that you didn't receive? Let me tell you another
thing about David's sin here as we read it to you. David's
sin here reveals the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ
to the chief of sinners. To the chief of sinners. This
is a faithful sin worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save. Who? Sinners. Paul said, of whom
I am the chief. And David judged himself. Now
look back over here in 2 Samuel 12. David judged himself when
Nathan told him of the story of that poor man's land. He says
down there in verse 13, 2 Samuel 12, David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned. against the Lord. He judged himself,
I sinned against the Lord. I sinned against the Lord. When
he started telling, he said, you're the man David said, oh,
it is me. It is me. It is me. It's me this time. Nobody made
me do it. And a lot of people believe that
Psalm 51 was written at this time, when he says, You know
us against thee, the only that I have sinned, done this evil,
and thus I, that when thou speakest thou might be judged when you
condemn me. But oh, look what else it says
there in verse 13. And they that sit under David, the Lord also
hath put away thy sin. Oh, bless the Lord. Oh, what good news to David's
heart! Oh, he said, I have sinned against
the Lord! The Lord hath also put away his
sin, David. No wonder David says, blessed
is the man to whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed not iniquity. But now listen to what I'm going
to tell you now. And you all know this. Sin's not put away. Sin is not forgiven. Because
we confess it. because we acknowledge it, because
we grieve over it. Sin can only be put away by a
perfect, sufficient, effectual sacrifice, and that was Christ. God forgave David for Christ's
sake. David's sin was put away for
Christ's sake. Christ appeared once in the end
of the world to put away sin by the Spirit. And that's the
only way sin is forgiven. And David judged himself, confessed
his sin, and justified God in condemning him. And here's the
thing, God cannot overlook sin. He can't overlook it. He cannot
pass over sin. And sin can't be forgiven apart
from the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. And David was looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And without Christ, that's why
God says he's a just God. and the Savior. Did you ever
find out how you can be a just God? I mean, justly punish for
our sins, condemn us for our sins, punish for our sins, and
turn around at the same time and be a justifier. Justify us
and clear us from our sins. That's what he did for David.
David's sin was charged to Christ even before he committed them. David was as much a child of
God when he was in the arms of Bathsheba as he was, beloved,
when he was laid on his deathbed, blessing God for the covenant
of grace. I know, and that's so! Christ put his sin away. And God saves, and look with
me in Hebrews 10. Now I'll wind this thing up.
Hebrews 10. I want you to see this a minute. God saves and forgives. Christ,
our great high priest, our sacrifice and our mediator. You know, David wrote of Christ,
David sinned and had not God, had not Christ stood as a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, who would any of God's
people be? None. You know, that's what it
means all things work together for good. Where we was born,
when we was born, everything that happened in our life. But
we could not be where we are today if everything from the
day we was born didn't happen to us here. There's nothing that's unnecessary
in our lives to give us where we are now. According to the Scripture. Ain't
that what Joseph said? He says, God sent me way ahead
of you. He also sold me. And you made
money off of me. But God sent him. What for? They made money off of Christ.
Thirty pieces of silver. But God sent him. And he went into the prison of
justice. And went into the prison house
of God's justice and wrath with our sins and his own body on
the tree. And God justly condemned him. Had not sin been there, Christ
would have never died. But when God punished him for
sins and He put him in the tomb and brought him again from the
dead, that is how God can be just and justified. It saves
us for Christ's sake. Look here in verse 12, Hebrews
10. But this man, talking about Christ,
after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. on the right hand of God. Wait
until every expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering, by this same offering, this sacrifice
for sin, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, them
that have been set apart. And the Holy Ghost witnesses
to us this thing. He bears witness to us that this
is true. For this is what he said before. This is the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I'll
put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now,
for remission or repayment of these sins, there's no more offering
for sin. If your sins are paid for, the
debt's been remitted, why would you need another offering? So, now, Since there's no more
offering for sin, since sin's been put away, the Holy Ghost
witnesses to it, Christ put away our sins forever, sanctified
us forever and protected us, having therefore granted boldness
to enter into the holiest, not just in the outer court, but
into the very holiest, behind the veil. by the blood of Jesus,
by new, not the old way, but by a high priest who took a lamb
in there over and over and over again, by new and a living way
of sacrifices, live, which he hath consecrated us through the
veil. That is to say, by his own body. And having a high priest
over the house of God, let's draw near. Come on, let's go
up close to him. Let's draw near unto Him with
a true heart, in full assurance of faith. We believe what Christ
accomplished, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
the blood of God, and our bodies washed with pure water. Oh my! And I'm going to show you this
and I'm through. Let me show you one verse of Scripture. David's
sin teaches us this in 2 Samuel 23. teaches us this, that salvation
is by the grace of God and by covenant, and none for whom Christ
died shall ever perish. Never, never perish. It teaches
us this. David's sin was grievous. But oh, God teaches us some valuable,
valuable lessons. David's sin teaches us that salvation
is by grace and by covenant, and none for whom Christ died
shall ever perish." Verse 1 says, Now these be the last words of
David, David the son of Jesse, and the man who was raised up
on high, the anointed of God, the sweet psalmist of Israel,
said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was
in my tongue. The God of Israel, the Rock of
Israel, spake to me, He that ruleth over men, must be just,
ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light
of the morning when the sun rises, even the morning without clouds,
as the tinder grass springing out of the earth, the clear shining
after the rain. Now watch this. Although my house be not so with
God, Absalom was hung by his hair on a tree and died. One
son took one of his daughters Oh, it was awful. They killed
one another, warred against one another. God overthrew David,
although my house be not so with God. Yet, He hath made with me
an everlasting covenant, and everything in it was ordered.
Ordered, set in order. Ordered, and watch this, and
is sure. This is all my salvation. This
is it. David said, I ain't got no other
salvation. And this is all I desire, this is everything I desire.
And God may not never make it to grow in my family's house,
but this order for me it should. Oh my, salvation is by grace.
Thank God for the grace of God. Our Father in the blessed name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your wonderful mercy,
wonderful grace, Oh, for teaching us, instructing us, admonishing
us from your word. Oh, Lord Jesus, please bless,
help us to lay these things to heart, to never trust ourselves,
just to look to you, just to trust you, cast ourselves on
you. Always, dear Lord, when we have
temptation, always when we're drawn away, God enable us to
turn to you and call on you and look to you and put all our trust
and confidence in you. Keep us, Lord Jesus. Keep us
cleaving, keep us believing. As we read in your word, when
Paul told the saints there in Ephesus, cleave unto the Lord
with all your heart and with purpose of heart. God enable
us to cleave to you with purpose of heart. We ask these things
in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.