This evening we'll be reading from God's Word, Psalm 51. Psalm 51. It's page 601 in your Bibles, and we'll be reading this passage of Scripture together as we continue as well to consider the summary of God's Word, the summary of God's Word's teaching found in Article 15 of the Belgic Confession. Continuing there to have a summary of what Scripture teaches about man after the fall with the doctrine of original sin. And so we'll be reading again from Psalm 51, and then reading as well from Article 15 of the Belgian Confession, which is on page 169 in your Forms and Prayers book. But first of all, from Psalm 51. Again, page 601. This is the holy and infallible Word of our God. To the choir master, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation. And my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bowls will be offered on your altar." This ends our reading from God's Word. And again, we're looking at this in connection with Article 15 of the Belgian Confession. where we confess the doctrine of original sin. There we read, We believe that by the disobedience of Adam, original sin has been spread through the whole human race. It is a corruption of all nature, an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother's womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God's sight that it is enough to condemn the human race, and it is not abolished or wholly uprooted even by baptism, seeing that sin constantly boils forth as though from a contaminated spring. Nevertheless, it is not imputed to God's children for their condemnation, but is forgiven by His grace and mercy, not to put them to sleep, but so that the awareness of this corruption might often make believers groan as they long to be set free from this body or the body of this death. Therefore, we reject the error of the Pelagians who say that this sin is nothing else than a matter of imitation." And the sons are reading from Article 15 here tonight. Well, brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, it's one of those stories that I don't think we'll ever forget, likely because we have such a hard time comprehending the great fall from grace that it was. And it's a story, of course, of David and Bathsheba, the story behind the psalm that we're considering here tonight. And of all the parts of that story that I find the most remarkable is simply the brazenness of David's actions. In one respect, it seems like God gives David all these opportunities to repent. You read through the story and you see ways in which God was allowing David, or calling David, you might say, to repent along the way, but which He never took, before things get really bad. Just think about it for a moment. There's obviously no denying what He's done when Bathsheba gets pregnant. She's pregnant, the evidence of his sin is there, and there's no covering it up. She's pregnant. And yet, although the sin of his doing is very clearly coming to light, he still does what he can to cover it up. So rather than admit his sin at that point, he recalls Uriah from war and has him come back that he might lay with his wife, and everyone thinks that it's Uriah's child rather than his own. And when Uriah doesn't cooperate, again, it's as if God is giving David the opportunity to say, I sinned, I did something evil and wrong, I confess it, I can't cover it up anymore. No, David doubles down on his sin, and he has Uriah come to his home, and he does get Uriah drunk, that Uriah in his drunkenness might go home and lay with his wife. And still, when Uriah won't cooperate, it's as if God is giving David another opportunity to repent because it just can't be hidden. And yet, David still clings to his sin, and now he orchestrates the death of Uriah so that he can marry Bathsheba, and everyone will believe that this child was born through or in his marriage to Bathsheba. All these opportunities, and yet the harder it becomes to hide his sin, the harder David works to cover his sin. to see there just the utter commitment to hold on to sin, to refuse to bring it to light and to acknowledge it before the Lord. And if you read the story, it's also, I find, quite interesting that God doesn't even confront David immediately through Nathan. You'll notice the story tells us that Bathsheba was able to carry this child full term. And even, it's only after this child is born, sometime after, we're not told exactly when, but after the child has been born that God finally sends Nathan to confront David with his sin. Which means that God, you might say, let David get away with his sin for a year, maybe two years, before he even confronted him. And through it all, David clings to his sin. You know, sometimes we say that it seems to us that a person has to hit rock bottom before they will finally have their eyes opened to the lesson God is planning to teach them. And it really looks that way when you consider David, doesn't it? It's like God lets David drift so far, as far as he could, before finally bringing him to his senses. But after God did that, after God brought David finally to his senses, after David finally hit, as it were, rock bottom, and all his deceptions have been torn down, David writes this psalm. And in it, he shares what I think God taught him in this situation. What God taught him as a result of this experience. God, you see, taught David something. God opened David's eyes to see something he didn't really understand before. The reality of who he is. The reality of who he is. The reality that we as well are called to confess and acknowledge before the Lord, that by means of this experience, you might say, by means of this drifting and God shaking him and bringing him to his senses, David came to understand the reality that by the disobedience of Adam, original sin has spread to all mankind. By the disobedience of Adam, original sin has spread to all mankind. That's what David was taught, what David learned. We want to look at that together tonight and think, first of all, what that tells us about Adam's children. And secondly, what that might tell us about God's children. And those will serve as our two points tonight, Adam's children and God's children. Well, here in Article 15, we confess the doctrine of original sin. But what is original sin? What do we mean when we speak of original sin? It might be easy to think simply in terms of Adam's sin being the first sin. It was the original sin. But the doctrine of original sin means much more than that Adam's sin was the first. Instead, it actually means that Adam's sin is the source or the origin of all other sins. As we saw last time with Article 14, when Adam and Eve sinned, they were immediately corrupted. They lost true knowledge. They lost true righteousness. They lost true holiness. In that moment, they rebelled against God, and they decided to follow the leading of Satan. They became slaves to sin, and they could no longer please God or obey God. Original sin is that corruption that Adam and Eve received through their sinning, and that corruption, you see, has been passed on to every human being ever since. As our confession puts it then, original sin is a corruption of all nature, a corruption of all human nature, an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother's womb and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. Now, there are many Christians who disagree with this. There are many Christians who disagree with this very idea. who speak of children being innocent, who speak of little babies, infants as being pure, as if they're clean, as if there's nothing wrong with them. But those who argue such are following the error of the Pelagians, which is mentioned as well at the end of this article. Who are the Pelagians? As you might have guessed, they were people who held to the teachings of a man, a theologian by the name of Pelagius. He lived in the 300s, and one of the things he taught was that when we are born, we are something like a blank slate. You might say Pelagius taught we're born neutral. That when we're conceived and born, we are neither good nor bad. There's nothing wrong with us and there's nothing good with us. We come into this world just a blank slate. And Pelagius taught then that the reason why we sin is simply because we have bad examples. We sin because we see our parents sin. We sin because we see our siblings sin. We sin because we're surrounded by people who commit all these kinds of sins. And so the reason why we sin is only because we have a bad example. Pelagius said we're not inherently sinful, but rather the issue is simply examples of wickedness around us. As the end of Article 15 tells us, they taught that sin is just a matter of imitation. And what we need, then, Pelagius taught, is simply a good example. And that's who Jesus is. He's simply a good example. He shows us what perfection looks like. And so by looking at Jesus, we can be good. And the one who opposed Pelagius was the church father Augustine, arguing instead that we are born corrupt. And one of the basic passages he turned to, which is referenced as well in this Article 15, is Psalm 51. David, you see, has been utterly broken by his sin. As mentioned, he had done everything he could to cover it up, to hide it from everyone. But in the end, he realizes God has seen his sin. God knows his sin. and God has taken account of his sin. And so what does David do? He cries out to God for complete forgiveness. He cries out to God that God would cleanse him of all his iniquity and that God would cover up his sin. David doesn't hide it. He says, Lord, you cover it. You take it away. You remove it from me. But even as David cries out for forgiveness, he makes an interesting confession. The interesting confession of verse five, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now, he isn't saying that his mother had done something wrong. He isn't saying that he was conceived as his mother engaged in some kind of sinful action. He's not saying that his birth was the result of his mother doing something against the law of God. Instead, he's confessing What he learned. He's confessing what he learned through this experience, through his sin with Bathsheba, through his murder of Uriah, what God had opened his eyes to see as he was confronted with Nathan. What David came to understand, what he came to realize, was that this wickedness, this sin, was the result of the very nature he possesses. He confesses that he sinned, he did this with Bathsheba, he did that to Uriah because of who he was. You might say that David was like a man who has done something evil. And he's looking back on everything he did. He's looking back at that first sight of Bathsheba and the things he felt and the things he thought. And he's thinking back to what he did with her and how he killed Uriah and how he married Bathsheba to cover up his sins. He's thinking of everything he did. And it's like he thinks to himself, how could I have done this? Have you ever been there before? Have you ever been there? You've done something wrong. You're on the other side of your sin, and you're thinking back. You're thinking back maybe to the anger that consumed you, or you're thinking back to the feelings that were driving your heart, and you're thinking back to the words that you said, and the actions that you undertook, and you're thinking back, and you're disgusted with yourself, and you hate yourself, and at the same time, you're puzzled. How in the world could I ever have done that? How could I have been so angry? How could I have let those words come out of my mouth? How could I have acted that way and treated this person that way and done these things to them? How could I have done this? Right, have you ever been there before? I've been there more times than I care to ever remember or count. And you see, that's what was going on in David's heart. How could I have done this? And God, by the Spirit, opens David's eyes to see and to understand, I have done this because of who I am. In other words, David comes to realize that his sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah was not a freak accident. See, the reason why he did this was not because he had some lapse in judgment. It was not simply because he tripped into this kind of sin. It wasn't because somebody was a bad example to him in the past. It wasn't because, well, that's just the world he lives in. No, David says, that's not at all the reason why I've done this. The reason I've done this is because of who I am on the inside. He says, I committed this depravity. I gave myself to such sin because I am depraved. I commit depraved actions. I commit depraved sins because I myself am depraved. David says, I have no excuses. I can't blame this person. I can't blame that person. I can't blame my circumstances. I can't blame my situation. I can't blame what I knew or did not know. I can't blame anything other than my own self. Children, do you know why we sin? Do you know why we sin? Why do we disobey God? Why do we not listen to our parents even though we know we should? Why is it so hard to love others and be nice to them? Why is it so hard to read our Bibles like we should, to pray like we should, and so easy to sin? Why is it so hard to be good and so easy to be bad? It's not because you have bad examples around you. It's because of who we are. We sin because we are sinners. You see, there are many people who say the opposite. They say, we're sinners because we sin. And the Bible teaches, no. You sin because you're a sinner. The problem is who you are. You see, many people think of sin again, and sin for them is simply an action. Sin for them is simply a thought. Sin for them is simply this thing we do or this word we say. And the Bible says more than that. The Bible says, yes, that's sin, but sin is also who we are. And that's what David is confessing here. David is saying, I am sin. And that's why he asks God for a clean heart and a right spirit, because he looks inside and he sees that he's always been a sinner to the depths of his being. And you see, that's what Article 15 is talking about here with this doctrine of original sin, telling us that Adam's children possess Adam's corruption, that like David, all of us have been conceived and born in sin. It means we're all born corrupt, we're all born sinners. And it also means that as Adam's children, we're guilty. Article 15 says that our corruption is so vile and enormous in God's sight, excuse me, that it is enough to condemn the whole human race. Our corruption is so great, so enormous, that it is itself grounds for everlasting condemnation. You see, this is where we realize or come to see the enormity of our problem, brothers and sisters. This is where we see just how greatly we need Jesus. Because the truth is that it's not just our sinful actions that are offensive to God, but our very nature, our very being is offensive to God. Scripture says that God hates sinners. God doesn't just hate sins. God hates sinners. What is it telling us? It's telling us that our very nature, our very being, our very person is actually offensive to God. And God could send us to hell simply because of who we are, without any thought even of what we do. We are so vile and sinful. We are so broken and corrupt that God could send us to hell simply because of who we are. Do you see then why David cries out to God for forgiveness? Do you see why David cries out to God so strongly for grace and for mercy? Because he understands that his sin is not just things that he's done, but sin is who he is. And the Bible says, Jeremiah 13 asks, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change his spots? Jesus asks if we can add a single hour to our life by worrying, and the answer to those questions is no. And the Bible is teaching us that we cannot change who we are. You cannot change who you are. You cannot change and become a different person. You cannot change yourself. You cannot work surgery upon your own being and heart and somehow make yourself into a different person. You can't do it, says the Bible. That's not possible, says the Bible. This is who you are before God, and there is nothing that you personally can do about it. And you see, that's the lesson David learned. That's what God opened his eyes to see as a result of this sin and this transgression with Bathsheba. That's the confession he makes here in this psalm that God has revealed to his mind and his heart that he is corrupt in Adam. He is Adam's child, and therefore, Therefore, he deserves all of God's wrath and anger, not just because of what he's done, but because of who he is. He's corrupt throughout all his nature, and he is therefore deserving of God's judgment. That is our horrible condition in Adam. That's why we need Jesus so much. We need Jesus not just because of what we do, we need Jesus because of who we are. And so while our sins condemn us, Scripture then brings this word of wondrous hope and grace and mercy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what we want to look at secondly when we consider God's children. This is who we are in Adam. We're corrupt, we're guilty, we're deserving of judgment, not just because of what we do, but because of who we are as a result of original sin. But what then does God do? What then does God do for us in Jesus? And that's even what the second part of this article addresses. It speaks there of what God does for us. David is as well instructive for us in this. Because even though he's faced with the enormity of his sin, he's faced with the reality of who he is in himself, David doesn't simply give up in despair, does he? Even though you might say the deck is stacked all against him, David doesn't simply plunge himself headlong into all sorrow and despair, but no, he turns to the Lord. Even though his very person is offensive to God, he yet goes to the Lord to cry to Him, seeking grace and forgiveness. Because although David has gained new appreciation or rather understanding of who he is, that does not change his understanding of who God is. And you see, that's why this psalm I think is so beautiful, because there's no psalm that so plunges into the reality of who we are and yet at the same time reaches up to the very heights of heaven looking to God for grace and for mercy. Right? What does David say? Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Not that long ago I made reference to this psalm in another sermon and the glory of what David confesses because he admits that God is able to utterly transform him, to cleanse him and create a new heart. The glory that David holds onto here is that while he cannot change himself, while he cannot make himself a new person, God can make him a new person. God can change who he is. David says, I have many sins that stain me, and there is darkness in my heart, and yet you, God, you are able to make me clean, completely, utterly, perfectly clean. This heart of stone, you can do divine surgery, you can remove that heart of stone, and you can give me a heart of flesh. These bones that you've broken, Lord, these bones that you've torn in part, you can put them back together and you can make them whole once again. You can take my broken spirit and You can fill me with joy. This spirit that is corrupt, that's bent on evil, You, Lord, You can make straight. He cries out to God, the God of his salvation, because he knows that a broken and contrite hearted God will not despise. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's absolutely beautiful because He plunges both the depths of human sin and depravity and yet reaches up to the glory, the wondrous glory of God, the God who really can make the foulest clean, the God who can change us. And you might ask how David can possibly, how can David possibly know this? How could David possibly understand this? But you see, it's all throughout the pages of Scripture. This is what the Bible stresses time and time again, and what can be seen with the eyes of faith, what David saw with the eyes of faith. Right, it was there, first announced to Adam and Eve with the promise of a serpent whose head would be crushed. It was there in the sacrifices that God gave to His people, picturing then the blood that was shed for their cleansing. It was foreshadowed in the tabernacle that God would dwell with His people, that God would come and be with them in grace. You see, David looked at all this in faith. And David saw in God's actions and God's regulations and God's words and God's promises, he saw, he saw that this God is really the God of salvation. This God is fundamentally the God of salvation, the God who mends, the God who heals, the God who puts together, the God who makes whole, who is able to make us whiter than snow. And that which David looked forward to in faith has been made clear to us in Jesus Christ. You know, and it's beautiful. When you understand this doctrine of original sin, when you understand that the problem with us is not just what we do but who we are, you gain a new and you gain a glorious appreciation of the gospel. Because what the gospel says is that you have been made alive, you have been made a new person, you have been made a new creation. In Colossians 3, Paul says that God's people are being renewed in knowledge after the image of our Creator. Renewed, made alive. In 2 Corinthians 5, we are told that all those who are in Christ are new creations. Ephesians 4.24, we're called to put on the new self. In Christ, we have a new person. In Christ, we have a new being. We have this new creation. made after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. John 3, those who have come to Christ in faith, those who are saved in Jesus Christ have been born again by the Spirit of God. They're a new person, all of which is to say that God's children Those who have faith in Jesus Christ not only have their sins forgiven, not just what we've done is forgiven or what we failed to do is forgiven, but you see, when we come to Christ in faith, we are also forgiven for who we are. See, that's the beauty of Jesus. You're forgiven not just for what you've done or failed to do. You're forgiven for who you are. Your person is forgiven. Your being is forgiven. Your nature is forgiven. And God, by His Spirit, now brings new life into your heart and your soul. He makes you alive. He makes you a new creation. He makes you a new person. Yes, we still have this corruption inside of us. Yes, we won't be free of it until we are resurrected in glory. But for the time being, you see, the Scriptures proclaim that this corruption of our person has been forgiven. And God has broken the power of that corruption, making us new people in Jesus Christ. You see, answering this very prayer that David prays. God says, in Jesus, I have done exactly what David is seeking. I have given you exactly what David longed for with all his being. I have given you a new heart. I have made you clean. I have washed you whiter than snow. I have restored your spirit. I have given you new life. And you see, that's all across the pages of the New Testament. And I'd like to, again, emphasize that when you come to the New Testament, notice, notice how often the New Testament, it talks about being a new person. Right? It doesn't simply talk about actions. It talks about being a new person. It talks about how we are new creations. It talks about a new life. It talks about how we are prophet, priests, and kings. It talks about how we are not now who we once were. And that what God has begun to change, he will carry to completion. You see, that's again the beauty of the gospel. By God's grace, the original sin of Adam is not imputed to us. It's not on our account anymore. Because God has imputed our sin. He's imputed our sinful nature to Christ. What does 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 tell us? God made him who knew no sin to be sin. What's the spirit telling us there? It's telling us that Christ was made sin, not just that our sins were put upon him, but that Christ was reckoned to be a sinner. Christ was reckoned to be as one who was corrupt in spirit and in body. That's not who he was in his own person, but that's what God reckoned him to be. God not only laid our sins on His shoulders, He laid our sinful being, as it were, on Christ's shoulders so that Christ, when He went to the cross, paid for the guilt of not just our sins, what we've done, but also He paid for the guilt of our very being. Again, God answers the prayer of David in the person of Jesus Christ. so that as we come to Christ in faith, we are forgiven of all we've ever done, we're forgiven of all we ever will do, we're forgiven of what we have failed to do, we have been forgiven of all that we will ever fail to do, and we are forgiven of who we are in Adam. We are forgiven of who we are. You're forgiven for being a sinner, brothers and sisters. You're forgiven for being corrupt. You're forgiven for being so unholy and unrighteous in the very depths of your being. You see, that sin that you don't wanna see, but that sin you know is in the very heart of hearts, that fountain of evil that is inside of you still, you're forgiven of that. God forgives you for that. You don't have to let that destroy you anymore. You don't have to let that burden you down with guilt anymore. You don't have to be ashamed of it anymore. Yes, it's there. Yes, it is with you until the day you die, but you're forgiven of it in Jesus Christ. The glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Forgiven for who we are. Where does that leave us then today? Where does that leave us? What should that mean for us now? I so appreciate how the Belgic Confession handles that because it reminds us that God doesn't forgive us so that we can go on our merry way, living however we want, doing as we please, but as the confession tells us, God has forgiven our sins, he's forgiven us of our corruption, not to put us to sleep, but so that the awareness of this corruption might often make believers groan as we long to be set free from the body of this death." Have you ever wondered, have you ever wondered why God doesn't just make us perfect right now? Why doesn't God make us perfect the moment we believe in Jesus? Why doesn't God just remove all corruption from us when we believe in Jesus Christ? God could do it. He could do it. God could do it if He wanted to, but He doesn't. Why not? Why doesn't God make us perfect now? It's often a source of frustration, isn't it? It's very frustrating to struggle with the sin, the same sins we've been committing time after time again. It's very frustrating to make so little progress in the Christian life. And I'm not talking about being frustrated because other Christians aren't making very much progress. I'm talking about why it is frustrating why I'm not making more progress. Why I still find it so easy to fall into sin and give in to this corruption. Why does God allow this? There might be many reasons we could give, but one of them is, as we read, to make us grown. I wonder, brothers and sisters, do you groan? Do you groan? Oh, I know we groan about a lot of things. We groan about the food mom or dad maybe made for dinner last night. We groan about the homework we have to do. We groan about our jobs. We groan about the weakness of our bodies. We groan about the sickness or the pain that we have to deal with. We groan about the losses that we face. But do we groan? Do you groan? for the day you might be made perfect. Do you long to speak perfectly? Do you long to think perfectly? Do you long to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do you know that hunger, Lord, set me free. Lord, please deliver me from this body of death. Lord, please send your Son and make me perfect. Lord, I want to be done with this. I want to be finished with this sin thing. Lord, I don't want to do this anymore." Do you know that longing? Do you feel that longing in your heart? Do you pray that your longing might finally be satisfied? Do you pray that God would finally, fully, and completely liberate you from this corruption? that you might obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. The Bible tells us that creation itself groans. This world is groaning. This earth is groaning. And it's groaning that it too might be set free from corruption. Ever since the fall, even this creation has been chained to corruption. And this world itself, so to speak, groans and longs for the day that it can be set free of thorns and thistles, brambles and briars, and so on. Do you groan for the redemption of the sons of God? We are Christ, you see, and we are forgiven in Christ, but there is still so much Adam inside of us. But the day is coming, the day is coming when we will put on the new man in all glory. For we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, and then we will know the victory of Christ over all sin and death. Until that day, we're called to wait and to groan, to groan, joining with all God's people who cry out, come, Lord Jesus, come. Come and free me. Come and liberate me. Come and finally deliver me from corruption forever. We are to groan, brothers and sisters. So let us pray. Come, Lord Jesus, come. Come indeed. Amen. Let's pray together. O Lord our God and Father, We come before you in the name of Jesus Christ here tonight to confess, Father, that we have been brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did our mothers conceive us. We are sinners, Father, to the very depths of our being, and we acknowledge that our sin is not simply something we do or think or say, but that sin is who we are. We are sinners, and we are corrupt, and we are evil within. Lord, we acknowledge it, we confess it. And so we cry out to You that You would create in us a clean heart, Father, and that You would renew a right spirit within us. That, Lord, You would make us new, that You would make us new creations in Christ Jesus, that You would help us as well to put on the new self, being transformed and renewed after the image of its creator. Lord, change our person, change our being by the working of Your Spirit within our hearts and our lives that more and more we would die unto sin and live unto righteousness. And Father, bring the day, we pray, bring the day of Christ's revelation, bring the day when He will come and we will see Him as He is and we shall be like Him, utterly free of all corruption and wickedness. Father, thank you for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for the hope, the hope of forgiveness and grace, a forgiveness of grace that is truly able to make us whiter than snow. Lord, our God and Father, grant us your blessing and grant us your assurance of pardon as we leave here tonight, that as we go forth into this new week, we may go forth in the knowledge that we are forgiven, forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son. And so, Father, hear us tonight in the name of the Lamb who was slain. Hear us, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen.