You have an outline in your bulletin. The reason we do this, or at least I do it, I learned many years ago from the Baptists. You know, they do a lot of things right. One thing they have is really good preaching. And the Reformed can learn a lot from them. The Baptists believe you ought to tell people what you're gonna say, and say it, and if you think of it, tell them again. And that's what this is. The title of the sermon is The Joy of Forgiveness. Now everybody that's born is born a sinner. And if they don't think they are, they're just kidding themselves. It's like you're going to die. There's no one here that's not going to die. We're going to leave this life unless we survive until the Lord comes and then we'll be taken up into heaven, the scripture tells us. But if that doesn't happen first, we're going to die. You're going to get old. And you're going to have to suffer the disadvantages of old. Some of us can testify that that happens. And it's not always pleasant what happens to you. And as you get older, it gets worse. So, you know, I remember years ago, the little story, there was a bird, a little bird on my window, singing, and he said, cheer up, cheer up, it might get worse. And it got worse. And it's going to happen. Your strength's going to go. Your mind's going to go. You won't remember things the way you used to. You'll have to have somebody else to remind you. That's why I thank God for a younger wife. And you just think, just go. I remember things I studied years ago, they're gone. But the thing that didn't go is my love for God. I don't know what age I was when I was born again. I don't know if it was as a little boy when I was five or six years old and we first started going to the church, and again, the Baptists. They were the ones that introduced me to the fact that all men are sinners. I don't agree with their theology. They were the ones that brought me into Presbyterianism. And I'm not gonna go through all of that history. But they taught me from the pulpits in Sunday school, Bible school, that you need to be born again. And the Holy Spirit convinced me that that was true. If you're not saved, it's your fault, and the Bible holds you responsible for it, and you're going to hell. Men know they're going to hell. They may deny it, but we know we're going to hell. And that's why almost everybody's afraid to die, because they're going to go to hell, they have to face the judgment. But there is forgiveness, and that's what this psalm is about. The sermon's entitled, The Joy of Forgiveness. There's a great joy in receiving God's forgiveness. And we're going to see that in three different points as the author of the psalm develops it. The blessedness and forgiveness is declared, the process of forgiveness is described, and the aftermath of forgiveness is addressed. So the blessedness of forgiveness, and that's in verses one to five. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. Now that's just the two verses. What's an interesting thing in the Psalms, the Psalms are beautiful poetry. When I was a senior in high school, in the public school, one of the examples of beautiful poetry and historical poetry in our literature book was a psalm. Now you wouldn't find that today, because that's heresy to the ungodly, to the atheist. They don't believe the Bible, they don't think it's beautiful, many of them, most of them, and they mock it. but the day is going to come when they'll be mocked. You've all heard of Hitler. Hitler was a tremendous politician. In Germany, he was so strong politically that the German people voted, they voted for him to be their dictator, and he was, and he led them in a marvelous war. And they almost brought in the German millennium, German time of ruling the world. That was their force, that was their plan. But it didn't happen. God didn't let it happen. Men are evil. I'm not gonna apply that today to some people, but I think they're equally evil to Hitler. And there might be elected our next president. And it isn't he. So first of all, the Psalmist declares the blessedness of forgiveness. It's interesting in these two verses, verses one and two, in the Hebrew, how they use different words for sin. There are different concepts of sin in the Bible. They're all the same, basically. They're all rebellion against God and doing what you wanna do instead of what God wants you to do. But the Hebrew language is very colorful. They usually take, their verbs are pictures of actions and activities. And almost every concept, every possible way of describing sin and rebellion and whatever is used in this psalm and in other psalms, but especially here. So many talks about transgression, that's one translation of it. You could translate it rebellion. You can translate it missing the way, or going in the direction you ought not to go. There are a number of ways of translation, but the whole thought... Excuse me. That's what I've been doing for a month. So the whole concept of sin is not doing, going against what God commands. And it comes up in the Bible over and over and over and over again. And the psalmist says that if your transgression is forgiven, oh, that probably won't help. Thank you, though. Good thought. I try that at house. I can't drown it. It just won't do. I could drown me, and that might help it. So, blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, that if God doesn't hold you responsible for your sin. Wouldn't your children love it? I remember as a child, my parents disciplined us. I don't know if that's still in vogue. I hope in the church it is. I know outside the church, some people feel that you don't wanna discipline the poor little children. You're gonna warp them. Well, that's the idea. They're born in sin. You're trying to mold them into people that are not in rebellion. A little baby wants his way, and when he's hungry, he cries. When he fills his pants, he cries. And when he thinks he's too cold, he cries. When he's too hot, he cries. That's the way of babies. Sometimes they gurgle and are real nice and sweet, but basically they're not. But as they grow older, they're supposed to grow out of that. But so many adults are still childlike. In fact, with reference to God, most adults are still childlike. Because they want their own way, and they'll do almost anything to get their own way. The only thing that stops them is somebody's going to punish them. They find out that, you know, if you can avoid the punishment, you can get by with all kinds of stuff. And you can in this life. Look what Hitler got by with. And people praised him for it. And they voted, they made statues for him, and put them up in the public squares. They thought he was a great hero, almost a messiah that would lead them into wonderful things. And of course we have that happening in Russia, the same thing. The Russian dictators are that way. People laud them, they make statues for them, and they praise them. Now sometimes some of the people who don't get the good end of the stick, they get the beating end of it, and they don't praise him and they hate him. Now, when our children grow up, you kids, what kind of an adult do you want to be? Do you want to be a happy adult? Or do you want to be miserable? Now, I know you realize your mom and dad are not always happy. That's a human situation. Even Christians, we can't always be happy. We should be, but we can't. It's just not, we have to fight against that. The Bible teaches us that we should be satisfied with everything, everything God gives us, the life and breath and everything that we receive is from God and we ought to thank him for it even if it's terrible. Remember I had to, recently I had to take some pills or take some medicine, it tasted awful. But I did it gladly because it helped my cough a little bit and so I did it. And so discipline is that way. It's sort of bad medicine. We interrupt the lives of our children and we try to mold them in certain directions. We try to make them so they can live in adult society. Because when you're in adult society, you can't just speak out and do whatever you want. Some adults do because they're high enough on the totem pole. But those of us that are lower down on the totem pole, we have to be careful. And if you're in a position like a minister, you have to really be careful, because everything you say is held against you and you're responsible for it. But if you're a husband, you soon find out that you're not perfect, or either that or you blame your wife for it. And the wife is the same. You find out that you're not perfect. Marriage is two sinners coming together, and you find out that each of you are sinners. If you haven't found out yet, wake up, because you should know that. And when you have little children, Those little babies are so sweet, but they're also very nasty, and the nastiness doesn't come out right away. Sometimes some children display it very early, and they become rotten little brats, and if you don't use the Board of Education on the seed of knowledge, of learning, then they tend to be unruly. So if you're a smart adult, you try to control the little creatures, and love them at the same time, but you try to discipline them. And the way you discipline them is you teach them it's painful to be wrong. Now, my younger brother, he liked the pain, and so when my dad spanked him, he'd laugh. I mean, what is that? Pure stupidity. Here, my dad is spanking him, and this little guy, teenager, whatever, he was laughing. He had to prove that he was tough. so he just got spanked more. It's smarter not to get spanked. So if you're dumb enough to sin against your parents and get the discipline, then just suffer the punishment. It's a parody, it's a story, a parallel to God. Our parent, God has created all of us. And he's the chief parent of everybody. And God will discipline us. Now, you young people could not study. I mean, when I went to school, there were certain people that didn't study. And when they got out and got out of high school, they wondered why they got all the dummy jobs. Because they didn't study. They couldn't read. They couldn't do math. And so they got to do the jobs that nobody else wanted. Now, some of them woke up before they got through high school or after they got out of high school, and they learned to learn. They learned it anyway. They didn't learn it in school. They learned it on the job. And they do well. Now, they're still sinners if they don't believe in Christ, but they can do better. You know, it's a lot easier to eat food than not eat. But in order to eat food, you've got to get it somewhere. And if you're not a hunter and you go out every day and get your food, you have to go and buy it somewhere. If you don't have any money, you don't have any food. And we have to learn, and we learn as adults certain things, and you young people, a lot of you are learning now, you're beginning to go to work and have jobs, and you learn that you have to make money, and you do make money. How much did your car cost? Do you have a car yet, you teenagers? You all have cars? I doubt it. Somebody's gotta pay, who's gonna get the money for that car? I mean, you're talking a lot of money. Now, if your parents are well off, they might buy a car and let you use it. And that's wonderful. But you didn't, it's not really yours, it's theirs. And if they give it to you and then it gets in your name, it's your car. But then if it goes broken, how long are mom and dad gonna keep paying the bills? I know in our family, there was a cutoff spot, and our children are expected to go to work. We train them to work in the home, They hated it. Every time they had a day off from school, they had to work. They hated it. They were just thoroughly disgusted, but they got to do the jobs I didn't want to do. They got to trim the bushes in front of the houses. They got to rake the lawn. They got to mow the lawn. They got to do all the little jobs that they could do without hurting them, and they hated it, because most people don't like to work, and it starts very young. Now, some of us are unusual, and we enjoy working. We wake up before some of the others, but my kids, most of them didn't enjoy the working. They still remember all their vacations. I mean, they still say this. All their vacations were ruined, because they had to work. Well, what do they think about me? When did I get my vacation? Well, I don't even think about that. I didn't get a vacation. Now, we went once a year, we'd go someplace. I was on vacation, and what I had to do on my vacation, I had to fix the house, I had to learn how to do the electricity, because of the minister, when I got my first church, the men were just absolutely flabbergasted that I didn't know how to change a wall socket. I mean, you're a smart man, you're well-educated, but no one taught me how to change a wall socket. No one taught me how to do the common things around the house, and I had to learn it somewhere. I didn't know how to change brakes on a car. So one of the men came over and taught me how to change brakes, and then it was my job. And I had to do that because we couldn't afford to hire somebody else to do it. So we did things ourselves. I fixed the car, and somehow or the other, by God's grace, it still moved. And I had to use a lot of inventiveness. What did we do in our little car when the floorboard was rotted out from the salt? In Pennsylvania, the roads get snowy and then they put salt on it and that comes up underneath your car and that can eat out the floorboards, at least it did in our car. So I just found some tin someplace and put it on there with screws and we had a floorboard. Because you did it, you had to do it. We didn't have the money to do things. Now today, we don't live on that level, most of us, most of our ministers don't, thankfully. But there was that time. Now I'm trying to explain to young people that your days of easy going is gonna come to an end. Someday you're gonna have to face reality. Now you're working, how much rent do you pay to your parents? Do you all pay, you girls, do you pay rent to your parents? You make money, right? And you pay $50 a week rents to your parents. And even that wouldn't cover it, because with board and room and clothing. Now sometimes you get to keep all that money so you can spend it on yourself. It's great. You can buy new clothes, you can buy whatever kids probably, young men probably save for the car that they want and they dream about and eventually they can get it if they're consistent. And then they go to work and they can make much more money. Are they paying rent? Are they paying for their food? Who pays for your food? Oh, it must be God, huh? That's your mom and dad. They have to pay for your food. And your dad, when he comes home at night, he expects you to work. That's unfair. Why don't you expect him to work? Somebody's got to do it. So if you're not going to do it, he's got to do it. That's OK, because he's your father. Listen, it's not OK. You've got to learn responsibilities. The day is going to come when you're going to have to learn it. We're all self-centered. And the Bible teaches us either we're centered in Christ or we're centered in ourselves. And experience shows us and teaches us that that's exactly right, exactly true. If you're not following the law of God, you're following the law of yourself. You're doing what you want to do if you're not doing what God wants to do. I like that passage in Romans 1 because it really puts it on the line to us in plain Language, Romans 1 verses 18 to 21, I'll read it for you. You probably know it, it's very familiar. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. How is the wrath of God revealed from heaven? The Bible tells you, that's what the Bible is. The Bible teaches you that God is angry against you. He'll pour out wrath on you and is doing it partly now too. You can't, you know, in America you can get by with a lot of stuff. You kids, you can come home and you're tired, you just flop. But what if you have a baby? Ladies, what are you gonna do when you have a baby? When you come home from work, you're just gonna flop and let the baby go on his own. Let him feed himself, the little booger. He doesn't pay any rent. He doesn't bring home any presents. He just takes and takes and takes. And then sometimes when they get to be 13 or 14, they continue to take. And they don't voluntarily help. So who cleans the house? Well, mom, she's done that for our whole lives. She's always cleaned up. So why don't you help some? Well, it's not my job. And so if it's a pig pen, that's okay, you don't mind living in a pig pen, because you're a pig, right? But you're not a pig, you're a human being, and you're supposed to learn to take care of yourself. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven in the Bible against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That is, they know the truth, and they suppress it anyway. And then Paul goes on, because what may be known of God is manifest in them. They're not acting in ignorance. for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. That is, every man, every human being, knows God. They know the true God, and they know His invisible attributes. They may deny it, But men are great deniers. When my mom and dad came home and we were doing something bad, they asked us, have you done so and so? What did we say? Of course we did it. No, we said no, we didn't do anything. You know, it was just innocent. We were just beautiful, wonderful kids. We just lied. We knew we were lying, and sometimes my parents knew too. But there's a possibility when we lied that we wouldn't get disciplined. And so we always took that possibility. We always tried to be not disciplined. I mean, don't kids do that? Until you're Christians, you don't think it's wrong to lie. Non-Christians believe it's perfectly all right to lie. Most of them lie all the time. Sometimes even Christians do, because we're not perfect. But we know it's wrong, and we work on it and try not to lie. But non-Christians, including kids, they lie. When you come into a room, sometimes you have a little child that tells the truth. I think we had one of them. And we'd ask her something, she'd always tell the truth. No matter what it meant for her, she'd tell the truth. So I think we found out, and she said to us that she thinks she was a Christian from a very young age, and I think so too. Her work showed it. But most of our little kids were heathen. They needed to be saved, and we prayed for them. We tried to get them to be saved. Of course, we can't change them, nor can we change you. But we all know we have transgressed, which means gone beyond the law of God. We have transgressed against God, we have sin of all different varieties and shades, whatever word is used in the Bible to define it, going beyond, being rebellious, going against the law, there are various concepts used in the scripture, going to the side instead of keeping on the path, there are various ideas. So we all know about our transgression and our sin. And You know, some people, I've worked with men that were very wicked and women that were very wicked. And openly, I mean, even to non-Christians, they're wicked. They were guilty of cheating and lying and stealing. And sometimes they were drunks. Maybe they were, I remember one man, he just liked to get little girls and teach them all the rules of human sexuality. He was coming to the Christian school. And he had one little girl there that he took. Well, at any rate, he was a hard man to deal with. And he never became a Christian. We had to just debar him from the school. And eventually we had to, I don't think we had to get the police after him, but we just had to take steps. There's a penalty for that. There's a penalty for it. if not in this life, in the life to come. And the Bible warns you that if you don't repent of your sin, if you don't come to Christ and ask forgiveness, you're going to pay a penalty. How many of you would willingly stick your hand in the food grinder? Do you know what a food grinder is? Do they still have those things? We used to have mechanical ones, you know, as a little metal thing, and it had a mouth here, and it had an exit out here, and you stuffed the carrots or whatever down into it, and you turned this big wheel, and it just crushed the carrots and whatever, and made them into little polarized things, you know. It was better to eat that way, and it was delicious, but try sticking your hand in there. Would you purposely stick your hand and have your hand cut off and have it all ground ups and the little pieces of meat and the blood be flowing out of your elbow or whatever? That's a gruesome thought, but people do that to themselves. We warn our young people, live for God and avoid all that pain. And they don't, they ignore us. We do what we can. Well, verses three to five, when I kept silent, says the psalmist, I didn't confess my sin, I didn't acknowledge, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. Now, you don't have old bones, but I have some old bones, and I tell you, your bones grow old. And it's the muscles grow old. I mean, you just can't do what you did before. It's unbelievable. You want to do it, you've got a lot of discipline, you try to do it, you just can't do it. It's not there anymore and it hurts. Now thankfully, I haven't had a lot of pain, but some people as they get older, they get tremendous pain. And they're not fake, and it's there, it's pain, it's old age. And sometimes your muscles hurt, and then ultimately the worst thing is your muscles just won't do what you want them to do. And I've always had a lot of discipline in my life. When I was a young man, I used to go to bed every night about one o'clock or two o'clock, and I'd get up at seven to go to work again. And I did that for many years. Of course, every year I had virus, pneumonia to pay for it. But I did that for year after year after year. I can't do that anymore. I just can't do it. My mind won't do what I want it to do. My body won't do what I want it to do. Now, that's coming to you. If you live long enough, you'll have it. And you'll certainly die and you'll certainly go through the pains of old age and you'll stumble around and you stand up and your knees will go like this and you say, what's happening? What's happening? Well, you get an old guy. That's what's happening. And it happens to everybody. We're warning our kids that, look, it's not just getting old. There's a hell that's after this life if you don't know Jesus Christ. And so the psalmist says, when I kept silent, my bones, I felt it internally. This is an illustration. My bones grow old through my groaning all the day old. When I kept silent, I was grieving over my sin because of my conscience. From day to day, your hand was heavy upon me. God was working on his heart. I don't remember when God worked on my heart, but I know he did. Because I came to a point in my life when I knew that the Bible was the Word of God. How did I know it was the Word of God? Because when I read it, God spoke to me in the Bible. Did he tell me things that are not in the Bible? No, he told me what was in the Bible. And those are precious things. Those are things that are helpful. Those are things that guided me through life. I thank the Lord. He saved me when I was still quite young. Now the education I got wasn't always true. In the Baptist church where I went, they had some errors in doctrine. They had some errors in practice. But they were Christians. And they believe you should follow the word of God and taught me that as clearly as they can. I grew up, I went to a Baptist seminary. They taught me I should follow the scripture and as I studied it, I became convinced of Presbyterianism. But I still believe the Baptist are Christians. And there are others that are Christians. I mean, we're not the only Christians around. The only thing that distinguishes us in my mind, in my heart, is that we're more accurate biblically than they are in our doctrine. What difference does that make? Well, just try talking, just let me try to describe my wife as a fat 300 pound, 350 pound person that always speaks loudly and is rude. That's not a good definition of my wife. And if you defined your wife and spoke about her that way publicly, she'd rightfully be upset with you. She'd probably put salt in your food or something. But when we love someone, we want to describe them as they are. We know that they have faults, but we love them because and in spite of their faults, like God loves us. God doesn't love me because I'm perfect. God loves me because I'm His. And so when we love God, we want to describe God to the best of our ability as he describes himself in the Bible. These are serious things. When we worship God, we try to worship God as he's described in the scripture. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality, my strength was turned into the draught of summer. I acknowledge my sin to you. And this is, of course, the section entitled The Relief of Forgiveness. I acknowledge my sin to you. Now, why did he acknowledge his sin to you? Is he smarter than all the rest of us, that he just came to it intellectually? No, God spoke to him. You don't see your sin clearly unless God speaks to you. Now, if you live long enough, you're gonna find out that you're not very smart as you thought you were, and you're not as good as you thought you were. I mean, when I was 11, I was a lot smarter than when I was 30. And that's the way kids are. Sometimes, I mean, some kids are really brilliant. They know more than anybody. Just ask them. And some of us, they don't grow out of it. They're always that way. I know some adults that are that way. And they just know, they know everything. They don't know everything. We only know a small, itty-bitty part of what's available. I did a lot of studying in my life. I learned a lot of things and they're just a little bitty part of what can possibly be known. And there's a lot of things that I don't know anything about, practical things. I don't really know a lot about automobiles. I don't know very much about airplanes. If you go on an airplane, you see me in the cockpit, jump out. Because I don't know a lot about a lot of things, but I know a lot of stuff. But I can't, we just don't have the capacity to know everything. But we have in the Bible certain truths that are communicated to us, and one of us is that we're all sinners. And that's always in our minds, that's always in our hearts. Paul says in Romans 1, you know you're a sinner, you know the true God, you know he's there, and you know this didn't all come by accident. Because that's what evolution teaches, it's just a big accident. There's no sense in it. Things happen a certain way. Boy, you really get detailed in evolution and how these things happen. It's not, it all happens by accident. Even the atoms, they can't explain to you, they can't explain really what an atom is. Oh, they've got a lot of explanations, but it comes down to saying it's a bunch of nothing that's hard. How can you have hard nothing? Well, that's irrelevant. Now, they don't say those words. If they said those words, we'd all say, you guys are nuts. Because we know that there's something there. That something is not nothing. Don't tell me it's nothing. Well, they say, of course it's something, but it's all made out of nothing. Well, don't say that. That's not the way they say it. But you see, our knowledge is so limited. And you guys, you young people, you're going to find out. Adults, you already know it. You already know you don't know everything. If you don't, you're foolish. But we know we don't know everything. Even in our areas, we don't know very much stuff. We know a very, very limited amount of stuff. And when God says you're a sinner, that's God speaking, and he speaks to your heart. And unless you harden yourself, you know it's true. Look, a good illustration is how many boys today in the world believe they're girls. Well, they're more and more. And how many girls believe they're really boys? More and more. It's anatomically impossible. They may be uncomfortable with what God has said to me, but it's anatomically, their bodies just aren't male. Their bodies are female. If it's a boy, their bodies just aren't female. They might feel female, that's fine. It's a little bit of craziness. Because if you believe you are something that you are, I know I had a dog once that believed he was a human being, I think. He liked to sit in chairs instead of on the floor. So when we came to the chair and he would sit on the chair, we said, we realize you think you're a human being, so just stay there and I'll sit over here or maybe I'll sit on the floor. So we just said, dog, get off of there. Not that bad, but we'd get the dog off of there or sit on him. Because he's not a human being. And so we have this vast confusion today in our society about what a human being is. We used to have that more clearly because we used to believe we were all created in the image of God and we were either saved or lost. We had that clear. Now we've gone off, you know, what's happening in our society? The whole thing is crumbling. Our society is falling apart. And I'm not going to give the example that's in my mind, but it's just falling apart completely. But the only way for us to survive and enjoy this world without any penalties is by living for God. admitting that what God says in our heart is true. I know that there is a God. I didn't have to be convinced there was a God. When they told me there was a God, I believed there was a God. I realized that this whole thing didn't happen by accident. The first time I heard evolution, it was ridiculous to me. It all happened by accident. Now they're telling us that the universe is at least 80 billion years old. What do you mean 80 billion years old? That's the latest thing from the latest microscope or telescope they have. But God, the psalmist says, I acknowledge my sin, and the implication behind that is God brought him to the truth. God brought him to confess and acknowledge what he knew. I knew I was a sinner. when I heard I was a sinner. No one had to talk to me and convince me that I was a liar. I knew that I was a liar. And all the other sins that I had, I knew I needed to be saved from it. I acknowledge my sin to you, my iniquity I have not hidden. I said I'll confess my transgression to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. And that's a great day. I don't know I'm forgiven because I feel it. I know I'm forgiven because God declares it in the Bible. Do I always feel forgiven? No. But I always know I'm forgiven because God declares it in the Bible. And I've attacked the Bible and had people attack the Bible, the best in the world. I've read some of those great statements that are just complete nonsense biblically, but I've read them and I've gone through them. You know, the ungodly, they don't want to submit to the scripture. Some of them are ministers and other denominations. Some of them may be in the OPC. I know we have some of them. We found them in the past and we kicked them out. if we found out that they weren't Christians. You can't be an OPC minister and not be a Christian. You have to believe the Bible. You stop believing the Bible, that's fine, you're free to do that, but you can't continue to be a minister in our church. And you have to submit to the theology of the scripture. So it's not just saying, I believe it, but you have to submit to it, you have to be somewhat educated in it. Okay, in six and seven, for this cause, everyone who is godly shall pray to you because they're sinful and they acknowledge it by the working of God in them. I shall pray to you in a time when you may be found. When's the time God may be found? Always, he's always there. But we know he's there when he works in our hearts. Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him. That is when we have troubles as Christians, they don't come near to us, destroying our souls. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. So the songs we learn in church, even the little ditties that we learned as little kids, I mean, they're useful. The things I learned, Jesus loves me, this I know, that's a nice song, a nice little ditty. It's not really a hymn, but it's a little thing that I call it a ditty. It doesn't mean it's not true. It is true. And you sing it, and you know that it's true. The Bible says it, and you experience in this in life. And you talk, many of those little songs that we learned are very, very helpful. I will instruct you. This is what God says, the process of forgiveness. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. So what are we doing with our kids? We're trying to instruct them and teach them in the way they should go. They should walk. And we try by example as Christians. We work and we try to be good workmen in our job no matter what it was. If it's high or if it's low, in the eyes of men makes no difference. If it supports us, then that's respectable work. If it's not criminal. And God says he'll instruct us and teach us in the way we should go. Working for a living is part of the things. When your children, you have a free ride until you're what, I mean our kids had a free ride until they were about 15 or 16, and then we said you'd have to get a job. And then some of the others of you do that too. And our kids got jobs. And then they were about 20, 21, there came a time when they had to get a place to live. One of our kids was living at home, and he didn't like the fact that I had him move his car. Because I'm the father, I'm the head of the house, and I didn't like to walk halfway down the block to get home at night. So I told him, you're going to walk. You park over there, and this is my parking space. I'm not going to put a sign there, but be it known to all the family, this is my parking space. And if you park there, you're going to have to walk. He got mad and moved out. I said, goodbye. He did well in life. He had a good job. But it was time for him to leave because he wanted to be the head of the home. He's not the head of the home. I couldn't beat him up. He's much stronger than I am. I couldn't outthink him because he's smarter than I am. But I'm the head of the house. And so he had to do it. And the same with my girls. There came a time when they had to leave. because they didn't want to live according to the rules of the house. That's fine. They're free to do, in our state and in the Bible, they're free to do whatever they can. God's given us free will, whatever they want. So we had a parting of the ways. But they found out that it's harder to live outside the house than it is to live in the house. Mom no longer makes meals for them. They come home at night. What do they have to do? They're tired. After work, they have to make their own food. Yay! Mom doesn't do it anymore. Dad doesn't supply all the little extra dollars that they need for everything. I mean, they're on their own. They've got to make it. And they have to learn the hard way sometimes. God instructs us the way we ought to go. We must read the scripture. I'll guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding. We talked about mules with a little bit different terminology. They act like mules, stubborn. You never worked around mules? Boy, they plant their feet and they won't go anywhere, so you just shoot them. Or you just let them stand there and starve. Some of them you can train pretty well. But the mules and the horse and the mule, they have no wisdom. If you get on a horse and you want to go somewhere, you don't say, okay horse, take me to the grocery store. They don't understand what you're talking about. They have no understanding. They have no wisdom. You say, I want to get there quickly, so please go. They don't go, and so you have to train them to go. Sometimes you can get them going by kicking them in the thighs, or a little bit, or sometimes they just go, and they'll go, if they're a good horse. But don't be like a horse or a mule that have no understanding. Young people, he's describing you. You have no understanding. You don't understand what's going on in life. And you want to make it your own way. And you inevitably fall into the clutches of Satan. And I'll tell you what, he's a hard taskmaster. And he'll ruin your life. And you'll end up in a marriage, if you get married at all, you'll end up in a marriage that's totally miserable. What do you do if you get a miserable husband or wife? Or you'll complain. Or you'll live all your life with him. If you're still somewhat Christian. If you're not Christian, just divorce that one and get another one. But the problem isn't just him, it's you. And if you're not a Christian, then you're the problem. Even Christians aren't perfect mates. And so we learn in the Bible how to live together. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord That is the aftermath of forgiveness. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Trust in the Lord and God says mercy. Where's that come from? From God. You Christians, haven't you ever done anything stupid? Now you don't have to stand up all set to speak once, but haven't you ever done anything foolish or stupid? And God makes it work out just fine. Now I'm not intentionally stupid in life. But I've done a lot of dumb things. Just ask the person that knows me. She told me I can't mention her anymore, so I won't talk about my wife. Many sorrows should be to the wicked, but who trusts in the Lord? Mercy shall surround him. So you do stupid things as Christians. You don't do them intentionally stupid. I don't get up in the morning, I don't ever remember doing this and saying, now what can I do today that's really stupid? I've never, I've never, have any of you ever done that? But you've got up in the morning and surely that day you've done a lot of stupid things. Maybe you only do one big stupid things. And I've done that and you've done it too, but if with God with you, God will make the best out of it. I've done stupid things and somehow it came out just fine. Now that's not, that's not encouragement for me to go out and do more dumb things so they come out right. It's just God's work and he looks, he watches over you. in a wonderful way. If you're a Christian and you're really trusted, now sometimes you do stupid things and you have to pay the penalty. Stupid does, stupid gets, you know? And you get the penalty, because you were stupid. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in the heart. So no matter what happens, we are called to be glad in the Lord. And you can find peace in life only If you're a Christian and you're rejoicing in God and to the best of your ability, you're doing what he says in the Bible. And no matter what happens, no matter how miserable it gets, you've got the assurance that God is on your side. And sometimes it's hard to see, but God is there and he'll bring you through everything. Our walk with God, it's described in this psalm, is the road of forgiveness, the road of confessing our sin, not just to be saved, but to be sanctified by God. As we go through life, we learn all kinds of lessons. Sometimes we have to stub a toe or break an arm or something to figure things out. I know I've done a lot of stupid things that God didn't make me pay for. I'm glad he didn't, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna do more stupid things. the joy of forgiveness. Hopefully it's yours. Let's pray.