WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.920 I'm going to invite you in Psalm chapter 51 is where we're at today, Psalm chapter 51. 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:11.980 And you've likely noted, as maybe as we've started our worship service, that our music kind of had a different tone to it as we 00:00:11.980 --> 00:00:13.700 began our worship time together. 00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:17.680 And that is because Laura and Tyler are aware of where we're going today. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:19.920 Most, most Sundays, I think they are where we were going. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:26.920 Tyler is good at asking us what passage we're going to be at and aligning our worship in accordance to the passage of the Bible that we're going to be 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:27.740 engaged in. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:35.380 And Psalm 51 is one of those sections of Scripture, very healthy for the soul, but it also begins very heavy in its 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:35.880 understanding. 00:00:36.780 --> 00:00:43.920 Psalm 51 helps us understand as people how we can have a healthy perspective of life in dealing with our guilt and shame as we have 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.510 guilt and shame that we experience. 00:00:46.160 --> 00:00:47.780 How do we find the hope of the Lord in that? 00:00:47.780 --> 00:00:49.820 That is that is Psalm 51. 00:00:50.460 --> 00:00:57.660 One of the things that amplifies the beauty of Psalm 51 is we understand where this Psalm happens in accordance to how Scripture is 00:00:57.660 --> 00:00:58.510 written. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.220 And what I mean is when you read the Psalm, sometimes we know who the author is. 00:01:02.220 --> 00:01:03.980 Most of the time we know who the author is of the Psalm. 00:01:04.500 --> 00:01:08.950 Some of the Psalms are a mystery, but we know Psalm 51 is written by David. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:15.120 But not only do we know it was written by David, we know when in accordance to David's life that Psalm 51 was written. 00:01:15.460 --> 00:01:20.280 And that amplifies the idea of speaking into our lives, dealing with our grief and sorrow. 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:26.780 Because Psalm 51 comes on the backdrop of second Samuel, chapter 11 and 12. 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:33.550 And if you're familiar with Second Samuel, chapter 11 and 12, this is the time period in which kings were supposed to go to war and David didn't. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:39.840 And David finds himself in adultery with Bathsheba, not like it's some sort of mystery on how that happened. 00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:47.460 But David commits adultery with Bathsheba, and in order to cover that sin, it turns out David Bathsheba 00:01:47.460 --> 00:01:48.430 becomes pregnant. 00:01:48.800 --> 00:01:55.820 And in order to cover that sin, he actually calls for Bathsheba's husband from for more to come and give him a report 00:01:55.820 --> 00:01:57.640 of what is happening in the war. 00:01:57.940 --> 00:01:59.340 But David has ulterior motives. 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:04.260 His plan is to let Uriah go home with his wife and sleep with his wife to cover up his adultery. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:11.740 But Uriah refused to do so because he knew his men were still at battle and he didn't want to enjoy the comfort of life 00:02:11.740 --> 00:02:14.350 when he knew his men were out suffering and struggling. 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:20.750 So Uriah refused to go home and join his wife in his home, but rather he was anxious to get back to the battlefield. 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:28.400 And so in order for David to cover that sin, it tells us in second Samuel, chapter 11 that he writes to the general, Joab, and he says, Put your I at the 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:31.330 front lines with the heaviest enemy fighters. 00:02:31.820 --> 00:02:35.740 And when Uriah is out in front, withdraw all the troops and let Uriah die. 00:02:35.780 --> 00:02:37.910 And David's desire was to cover that sin. 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:45.460 And when you read in second Samuel 11, and especially in verse 12, it tells us not only did Uriah die, but a lot of David's valiant warriors 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:49.440 are not a lot, but some of David's valiant warriors died in that battle. 00:02:49.540 --> 00:02:52.910 So not only do you have the sin of adultery, but you also have murder. 00:02:53.140 --> 00:02:56.960 And not just the killing of one person, but multiple people died. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:59.550 And David's attempt to cover his own sin. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.420 And David thought he got away with it until he get to second Samuel Chapter 12. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:10.520 When Nathan confronts David with, I would say, one of the greatest sermons ever delivered to someone, and he doesn't come directly at David and 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:16.700 attack David, but rather he uses an illustration to help David understand where he's fallen short in the Lord. 00:03:16.920 --> 00:03:23.560 And in Nathan's message, David realizes that you can't hide anything from God, and he's completely found out. 00:03:23.620 --> 00:03:25.520 And David comes to this place of repentance. 00:03:26.620 --> 00:03:33.780 And when you look at David's life in this situation, I don't think many of most of us will not blow up our life to the degree that David 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:34.280 did. 00:03:34.820 --> 00:03:42.100 That's pretty difficult to do because in David's position, he had this certain place of authority that allowed him 00:03:42.100 --> 00:03:49.160 to exercise his degree of authority in a way that when his heart was sinful, it had a catastrophic effect on 00:03:49.160 --> 00:03:50.400 many people. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:50.880 Right. 00:03:51.040 --> 00:03:57.980 But that's not to say in our lives that we don't make sin or mistakes and the things that we do and we carry our own guilt and shame. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:05.000 And so the encouragement for us in Psalm 51, as we look at this passage is if David, having done all that in his life, can 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:10.000 come to this place of hope and the Lord still, there's also hope for you. 00:04:10.440 --> 00:04:12.040 That's where Psalm 51 ends. 00:04:12.040 --> 00:04:19.269 David is honest with what he's done in his life, but then he comes to this place of recognizing how good God's grace is that while we're still sinners, 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:24.080 the goodness of God, the richness of God restores us in Him. 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:31.420 It doesn't mean there isn't consequences to what we do, but our relationship with the Lord can be restored and we can walk, move forward 00:04:31.420 --> 00:04:32.920 as people in hope. 00:04:33.060 --> 00:04:38.540 But in this passage, David identifies for us three points really that I'm going to draw out from this Psalm. 00:04:38.840 --> 00:04:45.920 There's more points than that you can pull out from this Psalm, but there's three big ideas I want to pull out from this Psalm to help us understand How do we deal with 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:50.520 our guilt and our sin to find hope in our relationship with God? 00:04:50.580 --> 00:04:53.480 How does the Lord give us the opportunity to do that? 00:04:53.700 --> 00:04:59.620 I find as a pastor, a lot of people deal and struggle with the idea of the weight of guilt. 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:01.580 And shame in their lives. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:06.460 And so how do we handle that and how can we move forward in hope as it relates to the gospel? 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:08.080 That's what David deals with us. 00:05:08.100 --> 00:05:14.360 Now, I want to give you a fair warning, and you probably you probably saw this through the attitude of the Psalms or songs that we sang this morning. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:22.020 When we talk about dealing with our guilt and shame, you've got to do some heart surgery first, which means some cutting out of some deep 00:05:22.020 --> 00:05:26.010 rooted ideas to let the goodness and richness of Christ replace that. 00:05:26.200 --> 00:05:32.660 So the first couple of points that we're going to we're going to talk about this morning are not gumdrops and fairies, right? 00:05:32.780 --> 00:05:35.900 They're like they're serious and they're tone. 00:05:36.020 --> 00:05:37.640 But know that I'm not going to leave it there. 00:05:37.640 --> 00:05:44.340 We're going to end with great hope in order to appreciate the goodness of who God is and the hope that we have in him. 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:48.420 We've got to look at the depth of our sin and comparison to who Christ is. 00:05:48.500 --> 00:05:50.980 But we apply the beautiful ointment of the gospel. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:56.380 It is enriching to the soul and I think causes our heart to sing with joy. 00:05:56.740 --> 00:06:01.440 And that's what we discover in this psalm that David goes through in Psalm chapter 51. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:08.820 And I'm going to pick up in verse three, but I want you to know here the first point that I want to make with you this morning is this in order 00:06:08.820 --> 00:06:16.180 to deal with our guilt and shame, we've got to, number one, have an accurate view of your sin and 00:06:16.180 --> 00:06:22.440 confess it to the Lord, have an accurate view of your sin, and confess it to the Lord. 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:29.560 And when I say confess, and I'm not just saying, just say what it was and just move on with life and sort of this calloused way, but rather this 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:36.840 idea of confession rooted in the thought of true repentance and true repentance, is seeing things the way God sees 00:06:36.840 --> 00:06:37.480 it. 00:06:37.500 --> 00:06:38.830 It's not the idea of paying penance. 00:06:39.080 --> 00:06:40.850 We don't want you to live in your misery and guilt. 00:06:41.200 --> 00:06:45.620 Jesus paid way too high of a price for you to simply walk in misery and guilt. 00:06:45.760 --> 00:06:51.300 But we want to see it the way that God sees it so we have an accurate view of sin and we confess it to the Lord. 00:06:51.520 --> 00:06:52.270 And that's where it picks up. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:59.840 In verse three, David says this for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before you against 00:06:59.840 --> 00:07:06.840 you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words 00:07:06.840 --> 00:07:09.710 and blameless in your judgments. 00:07:10.580 --> 00:07:15.940 Verse three begins with really this miserable place of life that no one wants to be in. 00:07:16.020 --> 00:07:20.860 It's what I know my transgressions and my sins are ever before you. 00:07:20.960 --> 00:07:25.800 This is a very perplexing situation, circumstance to find yourself. 00:07:25.840 --> 00:07:32.940 And when you read verse verse three, I think the immediate response within our life is how do we escape this position and 00:07:32.940 --> 00:07:35.480 how do we escape this kind of feeling, right? 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:42.280 I mean, you know what it's like to fail and not just fail and feel miserable inside, but maybe other people have seen your failures as well. 00:07:42.340 --> 00:07:49.480 And it's just this churning within your soul that you despise that moment and you hate that you 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:56.520 even found yourself in that moment and the kind of thing that you might have done to lead to that moment and how much guilt and shame 00:07:56.520 --> 00:07:58.790 you might have in that situation. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:03.760 And so we look in that circumstance to escape it. 00:08:04.320 --> 00:08:09.320 And there are unbiblical ways, unhealthy ways that we approach that. 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:16.480 And then there is a biblical way that we can approach that I think is good for the soul, unhealthy ways in which we 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:23.580 might partake of escaping this kind of situation is one we might in our sin try to numb our mind 00:08:23.580 --> 00:08:26.560 or medicate ourselves in an unhealthy way. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:34.179 Meaning maybe we turn to an addiction to sort of cover over and allow our mind to escape the circumstance 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:36.500 we found ourselves in because of our actions. 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:43.620 We may try to sear our conscience, meaning we did something wrong and we try to try to push it even further. 00:08:43.620 --> 00:08:44.840 Meaning I don't like how that feels. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:46.520 But in my pride I won't. 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:47.960 I won't confess that it's wrong. 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:54.180 And so I'll just keep doing it until eventually the idea of having a conscience towards that is gone. 00:08:54.220 --> 00:08:58.740 And I've seared my conscience and therefore continue to move in that pattern. 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:06.420 Or we can we can blame or we can excuse, meaning we look at our circumstance and we say, well, 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:10.760 it's not my fault, it's their fault or my situation caused me to do that. 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:12.260 So it's not ultimately what I've done. 00:09:12.260 --> 00:09:16.880 And I would just argue, look, all of us in life face certain temptations. 00:09:17.100 --> 00:09:21.700 And sometimes our circumstances may put us in stronger temptations than others. 00:09:21.920 --> 00:09:27.060 But truth be told, you're responsible for what you do, no matter the circumstances around you. 00:09:27.060 --> 00:09:29.800 Ultimately, you're accountable for your actions. 00:09:29.880 --> 00:09:32.080 We may try to blame others or make excuses. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:36.980 We may try to cover it up like we don't want to deal with it because we don't know how to deal with it. 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:38.930 So let's just pretend like it didn't happen. 00:09:39.340 --> 00:09:44.160 You get together in those family functions and everyone pretends like they don't know what took place, right? 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:51.220 Like everyone just covers it over and they don't want to bring it to the to the forefront or maybe you try to 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:52.900 make up for it by doing good. 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:59.880 You think you don't want to necessarily talk about it, but you want to prove to people you're different, so you want your good to. 00:10:00.020 --> 00:10:00.480 Well, you're bad. 00:10:00.620 --> 00:10:07.880 And so you get really task driven towards being a better person and trying to improve 00:10:07.880 --> 00:10:15.140 yourself or maybe rather than try to be a good person, maybe you just compare yourself to others that are worse than 00:10:15.140 --> 00:10:15.440 you. 00:10:15.460 --> 00:10:19.360 And you can say, well, they can sleep at night and I'm not as bad as them. 00:10:19.380 --> 00:10:23.090 And so since I'm not quite as bad as them, that was just one mess up. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:25.520 I'm okay because I'm better than them. 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:31.520 All of those ways are ways people have tried to deal with sin. 00:10:31.520 --> 00:10:38.670 But none of them, none of them truly deal with the root cause of where sin comes from, which is not in our behavior, 00:10:39.820 --> 00:10:40.750 but in our heart. 00:10:41.860 --> 00:10:44.920 And none of those actions are healthy actions. 00:10:45.660 --> 00:10:52.940 In fact, I would say if we want the healthy approach and the godly way to handle our 00:10:52.940 --> 00:10:56.580 sin, our guilt, our shame, it's what David does in verse four. 00:10:57.560 --> 00:11:01.420 He's starting in verse three to acknowledge where he's in his position. 00:11:01.520 --> 00:11:08.520 But then in verse four, he says this against you talking about God and you only have I sinned and done 00:11:08.520 --> 00:11:15.160 what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgments. 00:11:15.700 --> 00:11:22.980 Now, this is interesting, David's statement in verse four, because if you remember what I just shared with you about David's life coming into this passage 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:30.200 of scripture in Psalm 51 or excuse me, in Second Samuel chapter 11, we just talked about Davidson in 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:33.320 this passage in the sense of a of adultery and murder. 00:11:34.260 --> 00:11:41.640 And yet when you look at verse four, David doesn't talk about any of that in the confession of his sin, but rather he ignores that completely and 00:11:41.640 --> 00:11:44.670 says to God against you and you only have I sinned. 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:52.300 Now, how in the world could David make such a statement when it's apparent that what David has done has called caused 00:11:52.300 --> 00:11:54.510 ample harm in the lives of other people? 00:11:55.320 --> 00:11:57.380 David isn't just sinned against God. 00:11:58.680 --> 00:12:05.120 David's also sinned against his friends and his family. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:08.940 His community, his people as king. 00:12:09.520 --> 00:12:16.660 How in the world can David come before the Lord and just acknowledge his sin against against God? 00:12:16.760 --> 00:12:17.600 And that's it. 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:26.200 And looking at this passage, I want you to know that David isn't saying, look, other people don't matter or I want to be disingenuous 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:27.200 to their feelings. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:34.740 That's not what David is saying in this passage, but rather he's teaching us something about the nature of sin that's important for all of us. 00:12:35.260 --> 00:12:43.120 In fact, what David is helping us do is to define the very question what makes sin sin? 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:50.320 So one of the reasons that we find this verse so challenging and saying, how can David say such a word when he's been dishonoring and hurtful and 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:52.360 he's destroyed lives. 00:12:52.920 --> 00:12:56.200 How can he just acknowledge that his sin is only against the Lord? 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:00.460 And the reason is because David is answering the question what makes sense? 00:13:00.540 --> 00:13:06.510 And maybe, maybe it would be good this morning if I asked you the question. 00:13:08.220 --> 00:13:09.560 What does make sense in. 00:13:11.420 --> 00:13:13.800 How do you know that something is a sin? 00:13:14.780 --> 00:13:21.860 If you were to ask people that question, it's interesting the kind of response that you get from 00:13:21.860 --> 00:13:22.300 people. 00:13:22.980 --> 00:13:24.200 What makes sin sin? 00:13:24.940 --> 00:13:29.020 For some people, they won't acknowledge it's a sin unless they get caught. 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:36.860 But when they get found out, then they're very quick to want to turn from that because, well, it's been discovered and they don't want people to think that 00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:37.670 they're a bad person. 00:13:37.820 --> 00:13:42.580 And so if they get caught, that's where they will define what ultimately makes sin, sin. 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:46.460 And sometimes they don't have any remorse until people find them out. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:51.080 So they may define that's what makes sense in to them or some people may define what makes sin. 00:13:51.300 --> 00:13:57.880 Sin is if you feel bad or ashamed, if you feel bad or ashamed for what you did, then obviously that would make it sin. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:05.100 But there's still a problem with that because there are some people that just have guilty consciences no matter what, and the thing they could have done may not even been a 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:07.060 bad thing and they just feel bad about it. 00:14:07.060 --> 00:14:08.230 It's like, well, why would. 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:11.080 Just because you feel bad about it doesn't necessarily make it wrong. 00:14:11.520 --> 00:14:14.620 And there are plenty of people in life that just have a horrible conscience. 00:14:14.680 --> 00:14:15.400 It's very hard. 00:14:15.500 --> 00:14:15.840 Right. 00:14:15.860 --> 00:14:18.400 And they don't feel bad about anything that they do. 00:14:18.400 --> 00:14:21.910 And so because they don't feel bad about anything that they do, does that mean that they don't sin? 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:22.600 Right. 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:29.370 So there's a there's a problem with just saying just because you have remorse or feel bad that that's what makes sin sin. 00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:34.900 And then there are others that would say, well, what makes sin sin is if you hurt someone else. 00:14:34.920 --> 00:14:35.080 Right? 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:38.520 If the way it affects other people, the consequence on other people's lives. 00:14:38.520 --> 00:14:42.820 So if it has a negative effect on other people, then that makes it sin. 00:14:42.920 --> 00:14:43.960 And it is true. 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:48.140 There are consequences to sin and it could affect other people. 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:55.780 But is that necessarily what makes sense in because sometimes you may do something wrong and it and it may not have 00:14:55.780 --> 00:15:00.560 an effect on someone's life or the effect it had might be prolonged. 00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:01.120 Right. 00:15:01.160 --> 00:15:02.570 It may not come to the forefront immediately. 00:15:03.100 --> 00:15:10.380 And so some people because well, it's a delayed consequence or ultimately, if they don't find out it won't hurt them, would question 00:15:10.380 --> 00:15:11.590 whether or not it makes sense. 00:15:12.180 --> 00:15:15.120 Or I could say I'll use this as a final example. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:21.800 We might define what makes sense and simply because it has a consequence on us, right? 00:15:21.880 --> 00:15:27.160 I don't like the way it resulted in me, so I'm so sorry for how I treated you. 00:15:27.160 --> 00:15:30.460 Please forgive me so I can go back to doing whatever I was doing. 00:15:30.500 --> 00:15:37.720 They're not really repentant of what happened before God, but rather they're more interested in how it just simply affect them. 00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:44.480 They're very selfish in it and they just want to be forgiven so they can go live life the way that they have continued to live life and make life about them. 00:15:44.540 --> 00:15:50.220 So it's all it's all consequence based for their own personal gain. 00:15:51.220 --> 00:15:58.500 But if I if I gave you a couple of examples, like in terms of what makes sin sin like when 00:15:58.500 --> 00:16:05.660 it comes to say, something like stealing, let's say if you were to take something that belongs to someone else 00:16:05.660 --> 00:16:12.760 and they have a lot of whatever that is and they wouldn't even they're not even going to know that you took it. 00:16:12.760 --> 00:16:17.330 And they have so much of whatever you're taking, they wouldn't even realize that it's even missing. 00:16:17.400 --> 00:16:21.560 And there's no consequence for them really in comparison to what they have. 00:16:22.020 --> 00:16:24.990 And there's not going to be any ramifications for you because. 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:26.970 Well, no one's going to find it out. 00:16:28.060 --> 00:16:29.440 Is it wrong to take it? 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:34.440 Now, biblically speaking, I want you to know the right answer is yes. 00:16:34.800 --> 00:16:35.280 Okay. 00:16:35.400 --> 00:16:36.200 The right answer. 00:16:36.280 --> 00:16:37.200 I didn't hear anyone respond. 00:16:37.800 --> 00:16:39.470 The right answer is yes. 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:47.160 It is wrong to take it and it's wrong to take it not because not because of the consequence of it. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:50.300 It's wrong to take it because of the nature of who God is. 00:16:50.300 --> 00:16:51.900 And I'll explain that more in just a moment. 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:58.630 But stealing is stealing regardless of the effect or consequences on the life of other people. 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:01.730 If you want something, then someone's got a lot of it. 00:17:01.780 --> 00:17:02.840 Should just ask him. 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:03.860 Right? 00:17:03.920 --> 00:17:08.430 One of the things that's been interesting, I think, even in our culture is our culture is becoming very confused. 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:13.859 And the idea of sexuality and I watched some individuals, they were believers. 00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:18.660 They went out to the streets and they started asking questions related to sexuality. 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:23.240 And they talked about all kinds of what we'd say biblically speaking, is sexual sin. 00:17:23.560 --> 00:17:28.230 And they would ask questions if this sort of situation happened sexually, is it wrong? 00:17:28.460 --> 00:17:30.110 And they went through all kinds of things. 00:17:30.840 --> 00:17:37.180 And related to that, and one of the things that really caught me is they came to the idea and people were some people were very black and white. 00:17:37.260 --> 00:17:37.420 Yes. 00:17:37.460 --> 00:17:37.640 No. 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:37.900 Yes. 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:38.080 No. 00:17:38.080 --> 00:17:45.220 Yes, no, But one thing that really caught caught people was the idea of they used the example of a brother 00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:45.920 and sister. 00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:53.780 Like if two people are consensual and their sexual activity and neither of them think it's wrong, 00:17:53.840 --> 00:17:54.710 does that make it wrong? 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:03.940 And when they got to that sort of conundrum, people just simply stopped and they thought for a minute they thought, well, if there's no consequence 00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:11.720 to it, regardless of what it is sexually, if there's no consequence to it and two people are consensual 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.800 in it, then yeah, I guess it's okay. 00:18:14.860 --> 00:18:17.960 That's kind of the result that they concluded with. 00:18:18.840 --> 00:18:25.840 But the reality is for us as people and I think it's important for us to recognize that what makes sin sin is not simply 00:18:25.840 --> 00:18:32.920 the consequence that you and I experience for Related to that, let me add further 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:40.540 what's important to keep in mind, especially in terms of sexuality, because we're dealing with David in Psalm 51, who has committed adultery, 00:18:41.500 --> 00:18:41.780 right? 00:18:41.780 --> 00:18:48.380 If you have two consenting adults and they just simply say, well, it's okay because we define this as love, does that make it okay? 00:18:49.380 --> 00:18:50.550 And the answer is no. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:55.720 And the reason for that is because your body wasn't made for you. 00:18:56.420 --> 00:18:58.220 It was made for the glory of God. 00:18:59.300 --> 00:19:06.420 And so what you do with yourself physically, whether it's sexually or anything, is an outworking of what's 00:19:06.420 --> 00:19:08.090 going on in your life internally. 00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:12.100 You didn't make you don't own you. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:15.370 You were created for God's glory. 00:19:15.760 --> 00:19:22.190 And so to take what God has created and use it for any other purpose is to deny your creator. 00:19:23.520 --> 00:19:30.540 And so what's what's important isn't doesn't begin with what's the consequence between you and me, but rather to 00:19:30.540 --> 00:19:38.000 recognize I was created with a divine design and therefore I need to come to Creator God and ask the question, God, 00:19:38.180 --> 00:19:41.260 what is your desire for my life? 00:19:41.620 --> 00:19:48.720 Because I'm created for your purpose and then to trust whatever God has made you for that is 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:52.000 the best for your life and to walk in it. 00:19:53.140 --> 00:20:00.380 And so, David, in this story by telling us God against you and you only he's defining what 00:20:00.380 --> 00:20:01.640 sin is. 00:20:01.840 --> 00:20:04.500 Sin what makes sin is sin, is that it? 00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:07.200 Rebels against the nature of God. 00:20:08.520 --> 00:20:12.240 It's not just the consequence of you and me that can be a natural result of sin. 00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:14.680 But what always makes sin. 00:20:14.840 --> 00:20:17.220 Sin first is that it rebels against the nature of God. 00:20:17.260 --> 00:20:23.940 In fact, in first John, three four, it tells us this very plainly that sin is lawlessness. 00:20:25.560 --> 00:20:33.500 Anytime we do anything wrong, it is always first an affront against God. 00:20:33.580 --> 00:20:37.620 It is always first an offense against God. 00:20:37.620 --> 00:20:38.400 For example. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:42.460 Lying, lying can hurt people. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:45.120 But lying may not always hurt people, right? 00:20:45.140 --> 00:20:46.620 Not in every circumstance anyway. 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:48.980 Lying. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:52.720 Lying, though, is not wrong because it hurts people. 00:20:54.940 --> 00:20:56.000 Or could hurt people. 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:04.740 Lying is wrong because it's always at first an affront or an offense against God, meaning God is 00:21:04.740 --> 00:21:05.420 a God of truth. 00:21:06.780 --> 00:21:11.890 And God made you in his image, which makes you a creature created in his design to be truth tellers. 00:21:13.520 --> 00:21:20.520 Anytime you tell a lie, not only are you are you going against the design that God has created you in His image, but you're also 00:21:20.520 --> 00:21:25.920 going against your creator who is a god of truth? 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:30.920 When we lie, we're also in that moment replacing God. 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:33.220 And what I mean is the reason we lie as creatures. 00:21:33.280 --> 00:21:37.820 If you ever tell a lie, and I know I'm probably the only one in this room that may have done something like that, but. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:45.180 But if you ever have, if you've ever told a lie, the question you need to get to is why did you do it? 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:52.300 And here here's the answer because somewhere deep down you believed that whatever that lie would produce 00:21:52.300 --> 00:21:56.300 or whatever that lie would deliver was more important than the Lord. 00:21:58.580 --> 00:22:01.840 Sometimes we lie because we care what people think of us. 00:22:02.840 --> 00:22:04.680 We want the popularity that comes with it. 00:22:06.080 --> 00:22:09.380 So sometimes we lie because we want to impress. 00:22:10.280 --> 00:22:10.280 We. 00:22:10.700 --> 00:22:17.820 We mask the truth, or we tell a flat out lie simply because we're more interested in what other people 00:22:17.820 --> 00:22:20.320 think about us than what God thinks about us. 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:21.700 Do you see how that works? 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:22.900 Sure. 00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:24.300 There's a consequence to sin. 00:22:25.060 --> 00:22:28.400 And yes, it can impact our relationships in this world. 00:22:28.580 --> 00:22:33.340 But anytime we ever do something wrong, it's always first an affront against God. 00:22:33.340 --> 00:22:40.460 We're replacing the place that God desires in our life, the place that God has made us to recognize him 00:22:40.460 --> 00:22:43.520 in this in our lives with something else. 00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:46.440 We're worshiping something else. 00:22:46.760 --> 00:22:49.840 In fact, Martin Luther, he said this about the Ten Commandments. 00:22:50.320 --> 00:22:57.420 He looked at the ten commands and said, before you break any of the commandments that God has listed in the Ten Commandments, you 00:22:57.420 --> 00:23:02.500 must always first break the first commandment, have no other gods before me. 00:23:03.040 --> 00:23:07.200 And it's when you break that commandment that all the other commandments begin to fall. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:11.510 And this is what David's doing in this passage of scripture. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:16.660 He's acknowledging the root cause of his sin. 00:23:17.580 --> 00:23:24.760 It's not that he's being disingenuous to what's happened in the lives of people, but rather he's getting to the part of his heart 00:23:24.760 --> 00:23:31.960 that that's cancerous, that's adverse to the Lord that's warring against him ultimately, because as people today, 00:23:31.980 --> 00:23:36.160 we would say, we understand the price for which Jesus paid for us. 00:23:38.100 --> 00:23:41.520 Sin is always first an offense against God. 00:23:41.520 --> 00:23:48.240 David confessed his sin for what it is, its lawlessness, treason, rebellion, a lack of faith and affront to God. 00:23:48.300 --> 00:23:54.900 Unless you see sin that way, our hearts will never truly repent. 00:23:56.420 --> 00:24:00.260 Real repentance begins when we take responsibility with God. 00:24:01.860 --> 00:24:03.340 We see it as God sees it. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:07.900 I would even say it like this more than just saying sin is lawlessness. 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:09.740 Let me just elaborate on that. 00:24:09.740 --> 00:24:15.610 I would say sin is treason against God and assassination of his character. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:20.500 It's treason against God and it's assassination of his character, treason. 00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:23.200 In saying this, God is king, God is ruler. 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:23.980 God is Lord. 00:24:25.460 --> 00:24:26.350 When we send. 00:24:27.080 --> 00:24:29.640 We're rebelling against the king and his law. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:31.680 We're rebelling against his authority. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:33.080 We're committing treason. 00:24:33.220 --> 00:24:39.980 And we're attacking him by going against the very nature for which he has created us, sent his treason against God. 00:24:40.080 --> 00:24:42.520 And not only that, it is assassination of his character. 00:24:43.020 --> 00:24:50.040 Meaning when you go even all the way back to the Garden of Eden, when you see Adam and Eve in temptation, do you know the reason they end up partaking in the 00:24:50.040 --> 00:24:50.390 apple? 00:24:50.620 --> 00:24:57.540 At least what they tell us is they believe God is withholding his best for them and they know better than God. 00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:04.620 So therefore, having known better than God and wanting to declare right from wrong, they partake of the apple or they partake of the fruit. 00:25:04.620 --> 00:25:04.900 I should say. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:12.080 We often think of it as an apple, but they, in doing that, are assassinating the character of God. 00:25:12.100 --> 00:25:14.430 They don't believe what God has said in His word. 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:20.140 They don't believe that God is holding true to who He says he is and what he desires for us. 00:25:21.220 --> 00:25:26.340 Sin is treason against the Lord and assassination of his character. 00:25:26.980 --> 00:25:33.340 And so when dealing with our guilt, we are to make sure we act not with just worldly sorrow, but godly repentance. 00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:35.180 And the Bible distinguishes between that. 00:25:35.760 --> 00:25:37.760 And we could do things wrong and feel bad about it. 00:25:37.780 --> 00:25:39.480 But the question is why do you feel bad? 00:25:40.800 --> 00:25:42.520 Do you feel bad simply because you got caught? 00:25:43.580 --> 00:25:45.240 Do you feel bad because there's a consequence? 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:48.150 Do you feel bad because it just hurt people? 00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:50.880 Or do you think of it in terms of the. 00:25:52.300 --> 00:25:57.460 What your heart really had to do ultimately in order to experience those consequences. 00:25:58.860 --> 00:26:02.870 That your life created for his glory chose to live for another idle. 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:08.100 Worldly sorrow repents simply because it made other people feel bad. 00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:15.440 Biblical repentance is about recognizing how God sees it and agreeing with Him. 00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:19.940 It's not it's not about walking around in guilt and shame and trying to pay a penance. 00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:20.900 We'll deal with that in a minute. 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:24.220 But it's about truly seeing things the way the Lord sees it. 00:26:24.420 --> 00:26:26.040 Jesus paid his life for this. 00:26:26.100 --> 00:26:29.320 It cost God His life our sin. 00:26:29.760 --> 00:26:36.660 Second Corinthians 710 for Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation, seeing it as the Lord sees it without regret. 00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:39.800 Whereas worldly sorrow or worldly grief produces death. 00:26:40.540 --> 00:26:44.670 See, you could feel bad for bad things that happen to people that you might have been responsible for. 00:26:45.040 --> 00:26:47.940 But it's never a heart that truly comes to God and says God. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:51.280 I see it as you see it against you and you only have a sin. 00:26:51.280 --> 00:26:53.110 That's what David is saying in this passage. 00:26:53.380 --> 00:26:55.870 So I know that's a heavy thought to think about. 00:26:55.900 --> 00:27:03.060 But when you want to consider the goodness of what God wants to do in our life, it's important to recognize how necessary God's rescuing of 00:27:03.060 --> 00:27:10.640 our soul is and what exactly Jesus has accomplished for us by taking our sin and our guilt and our shame. 00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:16.520 And therefore, point number two is this Have a healthy perspective on your sin nature. 00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:22.240 David encourages us to have a healthy perspective on our sin nature. 00:27:22.320 --> 00:27:28.510 And he goes on in verse five and six, and I want you to see the way both of these verses begin. 00:27:28.920 --> 00:27:32.460 David is really pitting two thoughts against one another. 00:27:32.540 --> 00:27:39.760 And he wants us to consider the importance of both of these thoughts as we live in a world where we wrestle with the goodness of 00:27:39.760 --> 00:27:42.780 God and the sinfulness of our own heart. 00:27:42.900 --> 00:27:47.640 He says, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin. 00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:48.940 Did my mother conceive me? 00:27:49.080 --> 00:27:52.050 Behold, you delight in truth, in the inward being. 00:27:52.420 --> 00:27:54.840 And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 00:27:55.240 --> 00:28:02.380 David is contrasting these two thoughts of how our human nature behaves and what God wants to rest within the heart of 00:28:02.380 --> 00:28:04.260 us as human beings. 00:28:04.340 --> 00:28:08.280 There's the truth of what God desires for you to know, but then there's what we do as human beings. 00:28:09.120 --> 00:28:14.840 And David is talking about the extreme of both of those things, what God desires and where our heart goes right. 00:28:15.040 --> 00:28:17.460 And the way He says it in verse five is very interesting. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:21.780 He says in verse five, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin. 00:28:21.780 --> 00:28:22.740 Did my mother conceive me? 00:28:22.740 --> 00:28:27.720 And when people come to this verse, they ask the question, Wait, what happened with the birth of David here? 00:28:28.140 --> 00:28:34.660 I mean, when David's mom brought David in this world, what was David's mom doing to say he was conceived in sin, Right. 00:28:35.020 --> 00:28:42.020 But David is not really speaking about what his mother did in her relationship, that David would come to this world. 00:28:42.080 --> 00:28:49.220 In fact, what we know is David's mother was married to one man, brought all kinds of children in 00:28:49.220 --> 00:28:49.540 this world. 00:28:49.540 --> 00:28:50.420 Lord bless her. 00:28:51.020 --> 00:28:52.620 And she lived a godly life. 00:28:52.620 --> 00:28:53.140 Right? 00:28:54.580 --> 00:28:58.000 But what David is rather acknowledging is the nature of humanity. 00:28:59.840 --> 00:29:03.000 That our hearts are prone to wander and rebel against God. 00:29:04.080 --> 00:29:11.320 So David is saying, God, not only did I sin against you, but if I'm being honest, my nature is bent 00:29:11.320 --> 00:29:18.780 that way to desire something more than you or different than you, and to elevate myself in your position 00:29:18.780 --> 00:29:21.720 that my heart goes that way and it goes quickly. 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:22.280 This is from. 00:29:23.160 --> 00:29:25.220 From birth, from conception. 00:29:25.220 --> 00:29:26.830 That's who we are as human beings. 00:29:27.080 --> 00:29:29.480 Our natures as prone to sin. 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:32.120 That's what makes God so essential to our lives. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:35.040 In fact, over and over in Scripture, we're reminded of that. 00:29:35.860 --> 00:29:37.920 Romans 323 We've all sinned. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:42.820 Romans 512 Therefore, just as sin came to the world through one man, Adam and death through sin. 00:29:42.820 --> 00:29:45.660 And so death spread to all men because all of us have sinned. 00:29:46.460 --> 00:29:47.720 Jeremiah 17 nine. 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:50.100 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 00:29:50.100 --> 00:29:51.020 Who can know it? 00:29:51.940 --> 00:29:56.620 As some of you say, you can say you're sinful, Nathaniel, but that's not me. 00:29:56.620 --> 00:29:58.950 My mom always said I was great, right? 00:29:59.000 --> 00:29:59.340 I'm. 00:29:59.540 --> 00:30:02.300 I am perfect or I'm living a good life. 00:30:02.360 --> 00:30:09.520 And I would just say, well, if you think that you can you can live a life and not be sinful, just prove it right? 00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:10.550 Just prove it to me. 00:30:10.580 --> 00:30:12.760 Try to go today and not sin. 00:30:12.760 --> 00:30:14.400 See if you can do that just one day. 00:30:14.420 --> 00:30:15.130 See if you can be successful. 00:30:16.260 --> 00:30:22.070 And truth be told, if you even attempt to tell me that you're going to try that, I'm just going to tell you you're a liar. 00:30:22.180 --> 00:30:22.640 All right. 00:30:22.660 --> 00:30:26.070 First, John one eight tells you, actually, I don't have to tell you that first, John one eight tells you that. 00:30:26.780 --> 00:30:31.540 It says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and our truth is not in us. 00:30:32.780 --> 00:30:33.580 Truth is not in us. 00:30:33.660 --> 00:30:34.610 You don't know your nature. 00:30:34.840 --> 00:30:35.940 Your nature is prone to wander. 00:30:35.940 --> 00:30:37.610 Your nature is prone to sin. 00:30:39.080 --> 00:30:41.790 Now, I know if this is your first Sunday, I should probably say welcome. 00:30:41.860 --> 00:30:42.840 I'm glad you're here. 00:30:43.080 --> 00:30:43.500 That's. 00:30:43.780 --> 00:30:45.780 That's a lot to deal with today. 00:30:45.800 --> 00:30:49.020 I'm calling you all kinds of things in this passage. 00:30:49.040 --> 00:30:55.200 But it's important to know where your nature lies because you're never going to see the significance of Christ in life. 00:30:55.260 --> 00:31:01.270 You could walk out of here and think that like every religion in this world, what we call you to is just to try harder at being good. 00:31:02.260 --> 00:31:03.200 That is not our message. 00:31:03.300 --> 00:31:09.780 If you walk away today thinking, Oh, that man told me I failed and I realized I did fail and I'm going to try harder at not failing. 00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:12.300 I'm going to tell you you're going to get the end of this. 00:31:12.520 --> 00:31:14.400 And you have completely missed the conclusion. 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:15.060 Okay. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:18.260 The answer today is not try harder. 00:31:18.420 --> 00:31:21.400 In fact, Jesus tried to teach us this in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:23.530 Jesus did teach us this in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:31.140 I don't think people heard it very well in the first century, but this is exactly what Jesus was getting to in the Sermon on the Mount in the first century, 00:31:31.420 --> 00:31:38.560 religious leaders, they honestly thought that if they just promoted the law enough and they created more laws in front of God's 00:31:38.560 --> 00:31:41.860 law in order to prevent them from breaking laws, then they would be good enough. 00:31:42.360 --> 00:31:50.080 And Matthew, Chapter five When Jesus teaches the Sermon on the Mount, the thing that Jesus goes right after is not our actions, but 00:31:50.080 --> 00:31:50.500 our heart. 00:31:51.600 --> 00:31:57.010 Because Jesus wanted to wanted us to recognize the problem was not in our actions, but in the nature of our heart. 00:31:58.040 --> 00:32:01.580 And in order for that to change, it's not about trying harder to be good. 00:32:02.360 --> 00:32:06.100 It's about completely dying to yourself and letting Christ live in you. 00:32:06.360 --> 00:32:07.930 We'll look at a verse on that in just a moment. 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:09.370 But that's what Jesus said. 00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:11.690 You have heard it said, Thou shalt not steal. 00:32:11.980 --> 00:32:19.100 But I tell you who have coveted in your heart of sin, thou shalt not commit adultery, but you who have lusted in your heart, you should not 00:32:19.100 --> 00:32:21.300 murder, but you who have had anger in your heart. 00:32:21.520 --> 00:32:25.880 Jesus is saying we as people don't lack the desire to sin. 00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:27.160 Rather, what we lack is the opportunity. 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:32.880 When it comes to wealth in this world. 00:32:34.080 --> 00:32:37.860 And sometimes rich people get a bad rap from people that aren't wealthy. 00:32:37.900 --> 00:32:44.020 They look at them evil, rich, you got a lot of money and that just makes you bad because you're just stingy with it, you know? 00:32:44.020 --> 00:32:47.560 People that may not have just assume that people have might be that way. 00:32:47.560 --> 00:32:47.660 But. 00:32:47.800 --> 00:32:51.160 But can I just tell you can be poor and selfish, too. 00:32:53.120 --> 00:32:54.670 You can be poor and selfish, too. 00:32:54.800 --> 00:32:59.700 It's just you're not out in the spotlight because you've not given as much opportunity as people with wealth. 00:33:01.340 --> 00:33:03.040 It's not that your heart doesn't have it. 00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:05.100 It's just that your opportunity isn't there. 00:33:06.560 --> 00:33:08.620 And that's what Jesus was saying in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:18.660 It's insane how much we will shock ourselves at the depth of our human nature and where it will go if 00:33:18.660 --> 00:33:20.600 given the right circumstances and opportunity. 00:33:21.320 --> 00:33:26.560 We're capable of anything bad as people because of our sin, our sin nature. 00:33:27.660 --> 00:33:34.180 And so David is not just acknowledging the sin that he's done, but he's also acknowledging for us where his heart goes. 00:33:34.260 --> 00:33:38.570 That's why Paul says in First Timothy chapter one, verse 15, that he is the chief of sinners. 00:33:39.780 --> 00:33:46.320 Paul's the greatest Christian apart from Jesus has ever lived, but yet he calls himself the chief of sinners because he knows what's in his own heart. 00:33:46.360 --> 00:33:49.180 He can't see what it's in other people's heart, but he knows what's in his own heart. 00:33:50.080 --> 00:33:57.320 And knowing that, can I just tell you one of the most dangerous heretics in the 20th 00:33:57.320 --> 00:33:57.840 century? 00:33:57.980 --> 00:33:59.690 I'm going to just call them out by name this morning. 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:06.980 But one of the most dangerous heretics in all of the 20th in the 20th century that you and I have been exposed to. 00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:09.080 It's Jiminy Cricket. 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:17.560 And the reason is because Jiminy Cricket teaches something contrary to biblical theology when he says he even sings a song about this. 00:34:17.820 --> 00:34:20.409 Now, I'll tell you, it wasn't just Jiminy Crickets fault here. 00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:21.420 Jiminy Cricket. 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:25.540 He sings a song where he tells Pinocchio, Let your conscience be your guide. 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:27.110 That's terrible advice. 00:34:27.239 --> 00:34:28.500 Terrible advice. 00:34:28.620 --> 00:34:30.780 Because our conscience is marred. 00:34:30.780 --> 00:34:32.239 We're sinful human beings. 00:34:32.239 --> 00:34:33.650 Like, I'm glad we have a conscience. 00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:35.670 And sometimes it helps us from doing stupid things. 00:34:36.139 --> 00:34:39.400 But there's something more important than just your conscience. 00:34:40.060 --> 00:34:43.360 And it should transcend your conscience to help you walk in the truth of God. 00:34:43.420 --> 00:34:46.889 Now, if you remember the story of Pinocchio, this makes it even worse. 00:34:47.739 --> 00:34:48.780 But when? 00:34:48.960 --> 00:34:52.280 When Jiminy Cricket, before he sings the song, Let your conscience be your guide. 00:34:52.380 --> 00:34:54.900 Pinocchio is in this room, and I think it's his fairy godmother. 00:34:55.260 --> 00:34:57.670 Or some kind of angelic being floats into a room. 00:34:57.780 --> 00:35:03.580 It's this beautiful lady in this nice dress, and she's like, Let your conscience be your guide to Pinocchio like that. 00:35:03.680 --> 00:35:04.940 And she sort of floats away. 00:35:05.380 --> 00:35:09.800 And then Jiminy Cricket sings the song like he listens to the angel and sings the song. 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:15.840 Let me just tell you, if an angel appears to you and says anything that's contrary to God's word, don't believe the angel. 00:35:16.120 --> 00:35:17.060 Okay? 00:35:17.460 --> 00:35:24.240 In Second Corinthians 11, it tells you angels appear or angels can appear as light, meaning good. 00:35:24.240 --> 00:35:29.200 So and it's and it's talking about not not godly angels, but rather demonic angels. 00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:35.520 It's saying the devil can appear as an angel of light and share things that sound good but are not biblical at all. 00:35:36.080 --> 00:35:36.420 Right. 00:35:36.420 --> 00:35:38.600 And if anybody is seeing angels, come see me. 00:35:38.600 --> 00:35:39.500 Okay, after service. 00:35:39.520 --> 00:35:45.980 But when you think about Jiminy Cricket and his advice, it sounds it sounds good to us on the outside. 00:35:45.980 --> 00:35:47.300 Let our conscience be your guide. 00:35:47.380 --> 00:35:52.740 And I will say sometimes my conscience has kept me from some dumb things, but other times it has not. 00:35:52.740 --> 00:35:53.940 It has not been strong enough. 00:35:54.060 --> 00:35:54.460 Right. 00:35:55.320 --> 00:35:58.070 And that's what David is contrasting in verse five and six. 00:35:59.600 --> 00:36:01.180 I was conceived in sin. 00:36:02.020 --> 00:36:03.870 Me and my heart is prone to wander. 00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:09.220 And then verse six, he tells us, Behold, You delight in truth, in the inward being. 00:36:09.300 --> 00:36:11.440 And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 00:36:12.040 --> 00:36:14.080 Meaning God, I need that in my life. 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:16.460 I need the truth of who you are. 00:36:16.460 --> 00:36:18.120 Because we can justify our disobedience. 00:36:18.180 --> 00:36:19.240 David would have done with Bathsheba. 00:36:19.880 --> 00:36:20.600 I deserve this. 00:36:20.600 --> 00:36:21.660 I need this as king. 00:36:21.660 --> 00:36:22.180 You don't. 00:36:22.180 --> 00:36:23.240 You don't know the pressure I'm under. 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:23.980 And then with Uriah. 00:36:24.080 --> 00:36:24.700 Oh, no. 00:36:24.700 --> 00:36:27.610 Could you imagine if people found this out for the benefit of the people? 00:36:27.760 --> 00:36:28.000 Right. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:28.750 We'll kill Uriah. 00:36:29.080 --> 00:36:29.620 That way. 00:36:29.620 --> 00:36:31.400 This doesn't harm our country. 00:36:31.600 --> 00:36:36.240 He could have justified his actions, and we tend to downplay the depth of. 00:36:36.380 --> 00:36:36.970 Of our sin. 00:36:37.680 --> 00:36:44.660 But what David is saying in this passage is he's not coming to saying, Oh, Lord, I messed up and just help me be a better person. 00:36:44.780 --> 00:36:46.390 And I promise to try harder. 00:36:46.940 --> 00:36:49.390 But rather he's saying this God, I need to find the end of me. 00:36:49.640 --> 00:36:52.020 And rather than you just improve who I am. 00:36:52.260 --> 00:36:54.250 God, I need you to make me completely new. 00:36:55.040 --> 00:36:57.740 I need you to redefine me, create in me a clean heart. 00:36:58.480 --> 00:37:02.300 God, I need to die to me and my desires and embrace you. 00:37:02.300 --> 00:37:03.940 And what is you desire as king. 00:37:03.940 --> 00:37:08.320 I need to die to self and let you live in my in my heart ruling and reigning. 00:37:08.340 --> 00:37:09.700 So point number three then, is this. 00:37:09.700 --> 00:37:10.830 And this is where it gets encouraging. 00:37:11.580 --> 00:37:12.060 Okay? 00:37:13.100 --> 00:37:17.980 This is where when we recognize our failure, our guilt and our shame, the weight of that. 00:37:18.820 --> 00:37:19.940 What do we do with that? 00:37:21.040 --> 00:37:26.680 You don't just want to pretend it's not there or try to cover it up or mask it, but. 00:37:26.740 --> 00:37:29.280 But God gives us something better than all of that. 00:37:30.700 --> 00:37:31.290 Try to perform. 00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:34.920 He gives us this point Number three. 00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:38.560 Embrace God's mercy, love and forgiveness. 00:37:38.640 --> 00:37:39.780 Embrace God's mercy. 00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:40.330 Love and forgiveness. 00:37:41.040 --> 00:37:42.400 That's where he starts in verse one. 00:37:43.160 --> 00:37:43.940 Have mercy on me. 00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:45.800 O God, according to your steadfast love. 00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:53.020 According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 00:37:53.100 --> 00:37:53.980 I'm going to go through this quickly. 00:37:54.220 --> 00:37:56.950 But you see those ideas? 00:37:57.060 --> 00:37:57.580 Mercy. 00:37:57.580 --> 00:38:04.550 Have mercy on me according to your steadfast love and blot out, which is the idea of forgiveness is all this picture of God's grace. 00:38:05.620 --> 00:38:08.760 When you think about what leads your heart to repent before the Lord. 00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:12.000 What leads your heart to really surrender to him? 00:38:13.060 --> 00:38:16.830 It's not wrath or anger, but rather the Bible says this. 00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:23.240 And in Romans chapter two, at the very end, he says, not knowing that the God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. 00:38:27.020 --> 00:38:29.020 God will punish sin, Right? 00:38:29.880 --> 00:38:32.920 And for those in Christ, the Bible promises that he did that at the cross. 00:38:34.080 --> 00:38:35.760 Jesus paid that fully for you. 00:38:37.200 --> 00:38:38.430 So that you could have His grace. 00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:42.840 It's his kindness that leads us to repentance. 00:38:43.080 --> 00:38:48.940 How is God going to react to you and your sin to just punish you, to treat you and say, Look at you screw up. 00:38:51.160 --> 00:38:52.360 What does God want for you? 00:38:53.860 --> 00:38:55.480 And what you find at the cross is freedom. 00:38:57.580 --> 00:38:58.660 Freedom from the guilt and shame. 00:38:58.680 --> 00:39:02.040 He doesn't want you to continue to pay for the guilt and shame because he paid for the guilt and shame. 00:39:02.680 --> 00:39:03.450 He wants you free. 00:39:03.460 --> 00:39:04.400 Free from that sin. 00:39:04.660 --> 00:39:11.780 And not just free from the sin, but to free to live for the purpose that he has made you free to walk in relationship with him and honor him 00:39:11.780 --> 00:39:12.530 with your life. 00:39:13.620 --> 00:39:18.880 I mean, it's a beautiful thing when God can take the broken past, make something completely new within us. 00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:22.820 It's a powerful testimony to the transforming work of God in our life. 00:39:24.140 --> 00:39:28.660 Honestly, it's what makes the cross of Christ so humbling, yet so rewarding for us. 00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:32.480 When you think about this idea of mercy, this is what it's saying to you. 00:39:33.980 --> 00:39:36.840 You come before the cross of Christ, knowing God paid it all there. 00:39:36.860 --> 00:39:41.040 But you come before it completely exposed, laying all of your sin bare. 00:39:42.100 --> 00:39:45.840 The very fact that you need his mercy screams out that you're a sinner. 00:39:47.340 --> 00:39:50.020 And so when I come to the cross, I recognize my sin. 00:39:50.020 --> 00:39:51.080 Jesus paid for that. 00:39:51.840 --> 00:39:52.480 It's very humbling. 00:39:54.440 --> 00:39:55.180 Very humbling. 00:39:55.180 --> 00:39:57.260 We come before God completely exposed that way. 00:39:58.420 --> 00:40:00.520 God, you see who I am? 00:40:01.580 --> 00:40:02.900 God, you see what I've done. 00:40:03.040 --> 00:40:06.900 But not just what I've done, what my heart sometimes longs for. 00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:09.400 And it's not honoring to you. 00:40:10.780 --> 00:40:13.880 It's very humbling to think about what the cross represents in that way. 00:40:14.880 --> 00:40:16.280 That's what those first two points are about. 00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:18.760 That's why they were so heavy talking about our sin nature. 00:40:18.780 --> 00:40:23.770 People don't like to talk about that, but when you can come before God that way and just be honest. 00:40:24.900 --> 00:40:27.820 Or you also find is how incredibly healing it is for your soul. 00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:36.900 Because what he also talks about is the steadfast love and the blotting out and what steadfast love we've talked about this already in the Psalms is the covenant 00:40:36.900 --> 00:40:41.620 promise keeping God that his love for you is not based on what you do. 00:40:41.700 --> 00:40:46.080 His love for you is based on who he is and his nature is love. 00:40:46.080 --> 00:40:48.120 And he's promised he would give his life for your sins. 00:40:48.140 --> 00:40:49.270 And if you come to him, he forgives. 00:40:50.160 --> 00:40:53.620 That's why the psalmist can say blotted out, Lord blotted out. 00:40:53.620 --> 00:40:53.900 So the cross. 00:40:54.280 --> 00:41:01.400 The cross for us is not only this place of incredible humility in our life to recognize what we've done, but it's also this place of incredible hope 00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:06.570 to realize what Jesus has done on our behalf by taking our sin upon Him, that we could be free to live for His glory. 00:41:07.620 --> 00:41:13.600 If you walk in this world in guilt and shame, you're declaring that you don't understand what God has done in your life. 00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:18.080 You don't have to pay a penance for which Jesus has already paid for you. 00:41:18.560 --> 00:41:23.090 Can I just tell you, if you if you struggle with guilt and shame, to be honest. 00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:26.710 You're thinking too much about yourself. 00:41:28.180 --> 00:41:30.880 And not enough about what Christ has done for you. 00:41:31.900 --> 00:41:34.860 You've elevated your position above the Lord. 00:41:35.560 --> 00:41:40.560 You see yourself way too much and you don't see Christ enough. 00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:44.620 And this is exactly what this psalmist is saying in this passage. 00:41:44.660 --> 00:41:47.130 Look, he says, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. 00:41:47.600 --> 00:41:49.120 Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. 00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:56.260 This the hyssop was what the priests used to take, the sacrifice of the blood of the animal and sprinkle it on the altar for the forgiveness of sins. 00:41:56.300 --> 00:41:56.300 And. 00:41:56.380 --> 00:41:59.430 And David is saying, God, your sacrifice, who you are. 00:41:59.460 --> 00:42:00.420 Wash me that way. 00:42:00.420 --> 00:42:01.280 Cleanse me that way. 00:42:01.280 --> 00:42:02.940 God, make me pure in you. 00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:07.450 And the rest of the Psalm is describing to us everything that Jesus did for us on the cross. 00:42:07.760 --> 00:42:09.160 Let me hear joy and gladness. 00:42:09.160 --> 00:42:13.010 Let the bones that you have broken rejoice in the cross that happens. 00:42:13.220 --> 00:42:16.090 Hide your face from my sins in the cross that happens. 00:42:16.280 --> 00:42:18.680 Blot out all my iniquities at the cross of Christ. 00:42:18.680 --> 00:42:19.240 It happens. 00:42:19.240 --> 00:42:20.680 Create in me a clean heart. 00:42:20.680 --> 00:42:23.400 That's what Jesus does for us by dying for us. 00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:27.070 Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 00:42:27.180 --> 00:42:31.260 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with your willing spirit. 00:42:32.200 --> 00:42:34.920 That's what the Cross of Christ does for us. 00:42:36.120 --> 00:42:38.460 It takes away our guilt and our shame. 00:42:41.220 --> 00:42:42.400 We don't have to hide it. 00:42:44.140 --> 00:42:47.500 We can come before God and completely be made new. 00:42:47.560 --> 00:42:50.120 And guys, this isn't just how your Christian life starts. 00:42:50.120 --> 00:42:56.360 If you're not a believer, this is how your Christian life starts to know You can come before the cross of Christ. 00:42:57.660 --> 00:42:59.220 And to embrace what Jesus has done. 00:42:59.240 --> 00:43:01.240 But this is also how your Christian walk continues. 00:43:02.340 --> 00:43:04.720 You always go before the Cross of Christ. 00:43:04.740 --> 00:43:10.880 Hebrews Chapter four tells us, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may find help in our time of need. 00:43:12.140 --> 00:43:16.230 Let me close with this North and South Korea. 00:43:17.820 --> 00:43:23.600 In 1945, they were two countries or one countries, just Korea. 00:43:24.520 --> 00:43:28.840 And in 1945, the country of Korea was only 3% Christian. 00:43:29.860 --> 00:43:33.300 And by 1948, North and South Korea were divided in two. 00:43:33.920 --> 00:43:37.540 The North left Christianity behind. 00:43:37.540 --> 00:43:40.300 It became the most godless place on planet Earth. 00:43:40.300 --> 00:43:45.640 In fact, if you look at open door, open door tracks persecution of Christians around the world. 00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:48.860 And North Korea has been ranked number one for as long as I can remember. 00:43:48.860 --> 00:43:50.760 It's the worst place on earth that you can live as a Christian. 00:43:51.260 --> 00:43:52.040 It's dangerous. 00:43:52.040 --> 00:43:53.790 It's deadly to be a Christian in North Korea. 00:43:54.040 --> 00:43:58.480 So North Korea went from 3% Christian down to less than a percent Christian. 00:43:58.480 --> 00:44:01.220 It's a very difficult place to live if you want to know Jesus. 00:44:02.200 --> 00:44:06.990 South Korea, however, 1945, you're familiar with the history, 1948, They become a Christian. 00:44:07.260 --> 00:44:10.000 They go to the Korean War in 1950 and 1953. 00:44:10.060 --> 00:44:17.120 But in the 1960s to the 1980s, Christianity grew faster in the country of North Korea than 00:44:17.120 --> 00:44:18.500 any other country in the world. 00:44:19.460 --> 00:44:25.880 Over two decades, Christianity grew, grew more rapidly in South Korea, excuse me, than any other country in the world. 00:44:26.820 --> 00:44:33.860 By 2001, the percentage of Christians in North or South Korea went from 3% all 00:44:33.860 --> 00:44:35.340 the way to 30%. 00:44:36.320 --> 00:44:43.840 By 2006, South Korea was leading the world in sending missionaries out second 00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:46.090 only to one other country, which was the United States. 00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:51.140 Now people look at South Korea and they ask the question, what changed? 00:44:51.840 --> 00:44:58.960 How did North Korea 3% go go to such to be such a godless place and the country just below it becomes such a godly 00:44:58.960 --> 00:44:59.460 place? 00:44:59.460 --> 00:45:00.120 What happened? 00:45:00.140 --> 00:45:02.580 What brought that revival in the life of the people? 00:45:02.740 --> 00:45:04.750 And the answer is this Guilt and shame. 00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:12.780 South Korea is an honor, shame culture. 00:45:12.800 --> 00:45:14.680 There's a lot of cultures in the world that are that way. 00:45:14.680 --> 00:45:18.650 South Korea is one of those honor shame culture and an honor shame culture. 00:45:18.920 --> 00:45:20.560 It's not about necessarily right and wrong. 00:45:20.560 --> 00:45:24.500 It's about how you honor or dishonor your friends and family. 00:45:25.680 --> 00:45:32.680 And when the gospel was introduced in South Korea, people discovered that they could take 00:45:32.680 --> 00:45:39.740 that shame that they carried to the cross of Christ, and God would meet them there, and 00:45:39.740 --> 00:45:45.660 God loved them there, and God forgave them there and God freed them there. 00:45:46.620 --> 00:45:52.120 And they could live the purpose for which they were designed in His presence for all of eternity. 00:45:53.360 --> 00:46:00.500 It wasn't about paying a penance because Jesus has already made that payment, but rather it was about taking 00:46:00.500 --> 00:46:04.850 yourself completely to the Lord and trusting what He has done on your behalf. 00:46:05.120 --> 00:46:06.570 That you can be free in him. 00:46:07.440 --> 00:46:14.360 Psalm 1751, verse 17 says this The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. 00:46:14.400 --> 00:46:16.610 O God, you will not despise. 00:46:18.160 --> 00:46:22.280 So while sin can be an ugly thing and it is an ugly thing, it wars against God. 00:46:23.080 --> 00:46:29.680 God is a beautiful God who gives us as people tremendous hope in Him because of his beauty and grace. 00:46:30.280 --> 00:46:37.280 Because my hope for us as a church is that we walk in the joy of what it is to know Jesus because He is 00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:41.630 that place where we can find mercy and love and forgiveness.