Psalm 51, beginning at verse 13, this is the word of the Lord. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, 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 will you delight in right sacrifices and burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. And then bulls will be offered. on your altar. May God bless His word today as we consider it this morning. You may be seated. Okay, we started in Psalm 51 last time I was speaking, two weeks ago, you might remember that. We were at the Sand Hollow Community Center, I believe. And how many could tell me what the title of that message was? Or could anybody? That's OK. You've got a space in your bulletin to write it down. The title of that message was True Repentance. True Repentance. And this psalm, as you know, was written by David following that event in his life in which he was confronted by Nathan the prophet about his sin with Bathsheba, and then all of those horrendous spiraling acts of sin that followed that. Because of that, David obviously responded in repentance and wrote this psalm as a psalm of repentance. And being that psalm and coming from such a broken and contrite heart, he presented to us true repentance in this psalm, a picture of what complete repentance would look like. And we looked at that last time. saw the characteristics of true repentance. We took time to remind ourselves that there is a repentance that follows the grief of this world. And there is godly grief that produces true repentance. Paul speaks about that in 2 Corinthians 7.10, and we touched on that last time. What proceeds from worldly grief, a grief that really can actually involve great mourning and sadness and inner turmoil in a person's life, but it lacks certain qualities that actually are characteristic of true repentance. And Paul says that which proceeds from worldly grief actually produces death. It actually produces death. And Paul may have had in mind the spiraling down of a person's life, even physically. People who don't know what to do with their grief and their guilt. for what they may have done, been a part of their life, but they realize it was not right and they know they have hurt individuals, they have lost things in their life and they get a worldly sorrow, they often try to deal with it in ways that actually are destructive to themselves. You know, alcoholism or drugs or other kind of vices are drawn upon to cover these things up or to try to hide them away in their life, but they ultimately are a destructive act of themselves that they're choosing to do because of that great grief. guilt and some may even go as far as even Judas who also suffered from that worldly grief and couldn't find relief from it and ends up taking his own life. You know, what do you do with that guilt? That's the bottom line. What do you do with that guilt? that you bear in your life that God has put there and rises up inside of you when you are doing wrong. And that guilt needs to be addressed somehow. I think I heard R.C. Sproul in one of his radio programs or talks say that that is one of the questions he always asks somebody who he's dealing with from another religious persuasion or cultic type of organization that they're a part of. He says, well, what is the answer for your guilt that is offered there? What do you do with your guilt? It has to be addressed somehow, some satisfactory way. And usually, it's addressed in something you have to do in order to overcome it, something that is out of your own performance. And that's usually what is offered by the religions of this world. You resort to your own efforts to cover this guilt. You're either doing that which you're hoping is going to add up to enough that it is way greater than your sin and thinking that takes care of it, or you do that which is self-punishing, hoping you can punish yourself enough to pay for it. So worldly grief and worldly religions have no real answer. to that guilt we all have and really only godly grief that leads to repentance. And I'm gonna call it true repentance because there is a repentance of this world. Even the scriptures say Judas repented of what he had done, but he didn't truly repent. He didn't have true repentance. So we're gonna use that to differentiate from an incomplete or a false repentance. That's what we called it last time. This topic was true repentance that which actually leads to life, Paul will say in second Corinthians 710 and Psalm 51. that we pointed out last time was dealing with a picture of true repentance and the characteristics that are a part of it. And we identified some of those, and there's probably others that could be mentioned even out of it, but I highlighted six. True repentance involves actually calling on the mercy and grace of God. Because you know that's the only place you're going to receive it is from his mercy and grace. True repentance knows their only hope for dealing with their guilt is addressing it before God, because that's who they're guilty before. And as the judge, it's only his mercy and grace that will be able to address this in their life. There's no hope of forgiveness or salvation without God's grace. Secondly, they recognize, very similar to that, that their ultimate sin is against God. The world only deals with make it right with the other individual or do something horizontally, but that doesn't get rid of the guilt because it's before God. And your ultimate offense is before Him, and true repentance recognizes that. It's before God you need to humbly bow. Third, to repentance recognizes one's own depravity. Total depravity and total inability. To repentance recognizes that it's not just that you blew it this time. It's not just a dumb decision. Yes, probably was a dumb decision. It was, if it's sin. But it wasn't a matter of just slipping up. It's a matter of you have a rebellious nature. And it's that that needs to be addressed. You are depraved before God because you've inherited a fallen nature from Adam. And out of that comes your sin. You're not a sinner because you sinned. You sinned because you are a sinner. And you are incapable, total inability, You're incapable, outside of God's grace and the work of Christ, to deal with this issue. The fourth thing we noticed is that true repentance, in line with what we just said, desires a deep cleansing. Again, it's not just a matter of this one wrong to be done, dealt with, though it must be, but it's a matter of one's inner nature. So wash me. You know what you are to think when you hear wash me in this psalm. It's not the nice warm soap and water soaking in a tub type of thing. It's a beating of clothes on a rock in order to get the deep stain out. So true repentance knows there is a deep work that must take place and it's desired. The fifth thing we notice. is that true repentance acknowledges the just punishment they deserve. They don't go there thinking, I got this, God's grace. No, they realize that God would be just to turn his back and annihilate them, send them to hell. They recognize the punishment they deserve is God's full wrath on their life. And true repentance knows that. True repentance recognizes that concerning their stand before God. But they know they are not standing before God alone if they're in true repentance. So the sixth thing is they have hope. There is hope because God has said He will forgive, He will cleanse, and He will give a new heart. God will give a new heart. He will give a new spirit. He will give a new life. True repentance recognizes in all that they are as nothing before God, in God, through Christ, they can be made new. Those are the characteristics of true repentance that we saw in these first 12 verses. They mark what true repentance is. But that's not all this psalm teaches about repentance. It not only teaches the characteristics of true repentance, but David goes on to say, these are the results now that come forth out of one's life who has truly repented. And so the remainder of this psalm and the part that we're going to be dealing with today the results of true repentance or the results of repentance. And so what are those results? What should be seen in lives of individuals that have truly repented? So we're going to look at what is manifest by David here in the latter part of this psalm that speak to that. So we started in verse 13. And it says, then, so that's as a result, as a consequence, coming forth from, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. So the first result. of true repentance that is noted here by David is an urgency or an anxiousness to tell others of God's forgiveness. Someone who's truly repented and experienced the forgiveness of God for their sins and the cleansing of God deep within their life wants to tell others what the Lord has done and wants others to have that experience. So the first thing that comes out of a truly repentant life act is a turning to those who need to hear this, too, and an anxiousness or an urgency to tell others so that they can truly repent and be forgiven. Just think of the individuals that Jesus touched their life when he was on earth as a man, whether it be for forgiveness of sin or for healing in their body, how often they wanted to speak about it, and even when Jesus told them not to. Because we start a little late. I'll just give you the reference Matthew 9 27 to 31 and Mark 7 31 to 37 are two places you could go read and there Jesus heals an Individual or a group of individuals says don't tell others, but they can't keep it inside They are so overwhelmed with what God had done in their life. They went out and spoke of it To others You know, what people saw and what people experienced at the hand of Jesus, they wanted to tell others. And so now, in each of these things, we ought to turn the light on ourselves and say, is that characteristic of me? Is that characteristic of me? Have you experienced the hand of God in your life? Have you had your life touched by him? physically, spiritually, I hope at least spiritually. And how much more significant is that? That God touches your life. Have you received salvation at his hand? Have you had times in your life when you know you've fallen into some horrendous sin and you're just, you can't believe you would even do it, but you did? Have you fallen broken before him and he's touched you and forgiven you and cleansed you and You have experienced that forgiveness and cleansing. You know, if those who received something in the body from Christ that was a miracle of healing couldn't remain silent, we've got to get our thinking right. How much more? Those who have received a touch in their soul, and it's not just a healing that takes place, it's life. Because you are dead in your sins, and now you've been made alive in Christ. How much more should an individual want to tell others of this? So is that part of your characteristic? And are you, like David, saying, then I will teach transgressors your way? What David's talking about there when he expresses that is not just speak about godly living. In particular, he's talking about, this is God's way of salvation. Then I will tell others about that, what I have experienced, how I have come into new life in Christ. And this result, I am going to tell others. And by telling others, David says, the lost turn back to the Lord, come back to the Lord. Paul in the book of Romans, He tells us that there needs to be those, there needs to be, am I saying that right? Anyway, people need to go out and share the gospel, okay? It has to happen. They need to go forth and share it with others. In Romans 10, we can probably quickly go there and read some very familiar verses, but pay attention to what Paul is saying. In Romans chapter 10, verses nine and 10, he tells us how to be saved. And then he says, but how can they be if they have not been taught? In verses nine and 10, it says, in Romans 10, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved. And so that's what needs to take place, especially in one's initial repentance before God. But look down at verse 13 now. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Continuing on, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? Okay and so Paul works it all the way back to the fact that someone needs to go forth and certainly some are formally sent as a church might sponsor or actually even commission a missionary to go out but what David is sharing here in Psalm 51 and the scriptures do make clear as a whole is that all who have received from God such a glorious blessing are commissioned to go in whatever fashion to share the truth with others the gospel message such that as David ends verse 13 of Psalm 51 sinners will return to the Lord. Now this picture this picture of having received and Going out and sharing is actually a picture of the gospel covenant That was very first shared with Abraham. All right And we're not going to go to Genesis right away. Let's go to Galatians because Paul explains it for us there in Galatians chapter 3 verses seven through nine, Paul writes about what Abraham received by covenant. In Galatians chapter three, verse seven, it says, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham and the scripture, so the writings of old, which came by the giving of inspiration, the work of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. Well, that was the result. But it's part of the gospel. And it was part of the covenantal arrangement God made with Abraham. That covenant is spoken about in Genesis 12, two and three. So we can now go back there, seeing that Paul says, this is the gospel. So in Genesis chapter 12, we have God meeting with Abraham. I guess I should have marked all these verses beforehand. There we go. Genesis chapter 12, Verse two, and this in verse one, you see the Lord's calling Abram out of his own country and from his father's house. And in verse two, I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. Verse three, I will bless those who bless you and curse. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Paul is quoting particularly verse three, but verse three is the final statement out of God's active covenant with Abraham. The gospel message here is that God has spoken to Abraham, as he's called him out, is this, that you will be a blessing, but it's gonna come out of me having blessed you. Okay? The point is this. Blessings you receive from God are not those things, especially the gospel and salvation, are not those things to be kept piously inside and just personally enjoyed, though they should be. But that's not where they remain. It's not something that you enter into with God to only be a vertical act. But God has done this work in your life such that there will be a horizontal act on your part. So just as Abraham was blessed, as it says here, in order to be a blessing to others, so too with you, because you're a child of Abraham, Paul said. Those who are of faith are Abraham's children, and so they walk in that same covenant. the gospel, which is more than God saved me. Although it starts there. It's vertical, and it starts with that. But you walk in that same covenant agreement, and you too now have been blessed to be a blessing. You have been blessed to be a blessing to others and share with others the great truth of what God has done to the forgiveness of sin. that great truth for you to teach about him as the great God who forgives the greatest of sins. Yeah. The first result of Psalm 51 that is expressed concerning the result of truly repenting before God is the desire to tell others of what the Lord has done. And again, is that your desire? Is that your desire? I mean, we need to apply and assess these characteristics of our life. Is that your desire? Are you overcome with the desire to tell others what the Lord has done in your life? Does that quality characterize you? Let's now move on to the second characteristic. The second result of true repentance that's expressed in this psalm. Verses 14 and 15. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, 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. This sounds a little similar to what we have talked about here, but it differs in this, that it's not the particular of sharing with those who need to hear the gospel necessarily that's being spoken about here. What it's talking about is, what is your talk like now? Is it truly God talk that comes out of your mouth? Is that the speech that you have, the language of a truly repented individual is, you might call it, God talk. The result is that not so much, again, speaking to the sharing of your testimony. That's more like the first result here. But rather, it's the language that's now a part of your life. the language that comes out of a life that's truly committed before God. Having been forgiven, think about David, having been forgiven of such a horrendous sin, he uses the word blood guiltiness here at the beginning of this verse, so you know where his mind is. He had that hand that he played in Uriah's death, okay? He follows that up with, my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. In other words, he is going to sing aloud. He is going to declare God's righteous law in reference to his guilt, that God is righteous, holy, and just. And it is a violation of his law, what I did. And so the sin, having been forgiven of, becomes the impetus to declare to others, this is against God's law. God denounces the taking of innocent life. And it becomes a burden in a person's life, because that was their sin, that he has forgiven them. And it's God's righteous law that now must be declared. You see, having been a recipient of God's grace, the one who truly repents doesn't use that grace as a license for sin. That's what Paul again talked about and warned about in Romans. Go to Romans chapter 6. This is the contrast. really of those who repent incompletely and say, well, you know, God's grace will cover this wrong that I've done. In Romans chapter 6, we're going to actually back up to 5 to get a running start here at this. Chapter 5, verses 18 through 21, it says, Therefore, as one's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so Paul has put forth this argument that says God's grace is greater than any of your sin. So now, where does your thinking go? Any sin I commit, God's grace will cover. And if that's where your thinking stops, then you may feel free to sin. Because God's grace is greater. And Paul anticipates that erroneous thinking. And that's where we go now in Romans 6, 1 and 2. What shall we say then? Or how am I to think? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? He says, by no means. There in the first part of verse two. That by no means, the KJV translates as God forbid. The idea is, may that never be the case. Here we learn another way of expressing the characteristic of one who has truly repented. The truly repented individual dies to the sin, dies to the sin that they've committed, and dies to sin that they may live in Christ. And that's where Paul goes with this argument here in Romans. Let's go ahead and jump down to verse 12. in Romans 6 and pick up what Paul has to say here. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace. Under God's grace, you actually proclaim his law. and you submit your members as instruments for righteousness. Well, one of your members is your tongue. And it now is a part of a body that has been redeemed by the Lord and is to be an instrument of righteousness. As David has said in the psalm, I will sing aloud of your righteousness. boldly and clearly declare the law of God and its declaration of what is right and what is wrong, its application to our lives. And this is the type of thing that David declares, like in Psalm 1, where he says, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scoffer, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. That's the position of a truly repentant individual. And those are the kind of words that come forth out of their mouth. So being overwhelmed. with the righteousness of God, which is found in his word, the truly repentant individual can't help but speak of his righteousness and break forth in praise. Oh, Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise, he says in verse 15. So the truly repentant individual is filled with that impetus to praise God, and it naturally begins to flow from their lips. They know that's the calling on their life, is to praise God. Open my lips, and that's what's gonna come out of my mouth. It's interesting. The King James says this. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. And I always thought that was kind of an interesting way of wording things. And there's another place in scripture that words that expression the same way. And that's in 1 Peter 2, 9, when Peter depicts the church, and he actually identifies the characteristics that God declared concerning Israel of old as the characteristics of the church. But you are a chosen generation, he said, a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation, a peculiar people. All those characteristics that you read of in the Old Testament for Israel, Peter is saying, the church, the church, the church. And the church has a calling. He goes on that ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness. and into his marvelous light, the total repentant or truly repentant individual speaks of God's righteousness, declares his word as the words by which we are to live, and his speech overflows with praise for God, who he is, and what he's done. Question, does that characterize you? Does that characterize your life? These are the qualities of a life of one who has truly repented. Let's go to verses 16 and 17. Psalm 51, verses 16 and 17. 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. Here again, our third characteristic that is given is that a truly repented individual understands that where they fell from was their own pride and proud position that they held in their heart, that exalted themselves and determined that they would be their own master, that they would determine their own ways of right and wrong, and they would live independent of God. And that's where sin comes from, that proud, independent position. And it's a humble heart that God desires. It's a humble spirit, a contrite heart, the disposition of humility and dependence upon him. That's the position from which one can walk and keep the way of the Lord. That's what he delights in, a broken spirit and a contrite heart. There's a scripture in Micah that speaks of this. And you're probably already anticipating what it would be. But in Micah 6a, it tells us that he has shown you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly. There it is. And to walk humbly. You can't do the other two if you're not doing this last. To walk humbly with your God. And what's unique here in scripture is that it's the humble one who's uplifted, all right? It's the exalted one who is put down. When you seek to lift yourself up in pride, God will bring you low. But when you submit yourself lowly before the Lord, He promises to lift you up, right? He will lift you up. That's what James says in James chapter 4, verse 10. Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you, or the King James, lift you up. And Peter reiterates it in 1 Peter 5, verses 5 and 6. He says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. It may be in time, because humility and being humble works a great work in our life. But God, in his time, lifts up. the humble. He resists the proud, those that exalt themselves, but he delights in the humble. And that's where the truly repentant individual now lives. because they know it was their own pride that led to the horrendous sin. And they were broken before God, and they realized that's how they should live. You should live your life readily repentive, you might say, before God, always humble before Him and allowing Him to lift you up. A broken and contrite heart. is the result of one who has truly repented. Does that characterize you? And I put my name there too, okay? I'm not just pointing fingers. One points this way, four, three, whatever, point back. Does it characterize me? No, not all the time, I'll tell you that. That is not true. But it helps us realize are we living out of having truly repented before God, whether it be our initial act in which we were saved or it be the stumblings along the way that we fall into. Verse 18 speaks about a fourth characteristic of the truly repented individual. It says, do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. What is that speaking about that is characteristic here? What David is expressing is his concern for the health of God's people. The Old Testament, Zion is the type of the church. Jerusalem is the type of the New Jerusalem, which is the church. David realizes this. His sin hurt the church. You don't sin in isolation. His sin hurt the body, the body that he was a part of. And when a member of the body of Christ is living in sin or living with unrepentant sin, the body is affected. And when that individual is restored through true repentance, he wants the health of the church to be strengthened and restored as well, that it be a pure church and a strong church. And so his cry is to God, out of his repentance and receiving of forgiveness, extend the goodness to the body. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure, he prays. So David prays for God's blessing upon the church. He prays that his sin that had affected the church, that God, through his blessings, would thwart that act, that it would not extend to the extent that it could have, and that he would bring blessing and goodness to the body. even blessing and goodness that maybe had been shut off because of what he had done. You know, build up the walls of the Jerusalem. You know, the walls depicted the strength and the integrity of a people. And that's, again, a type of what David is saying. He's praying, bring back integrity, bring strength, bring uprightness to the people of God, knowing my sin affected this body. my sin brought this body down, has inhibited its walk before God and he has a great concern for the body of Christ. Just as you would build up a wall and strengthen a place where maybe time and weather and or even attacks had caused cracks in the wall. And so you would go out and you would build it back up and make it strong. That's what David's saying. My life caused cracks in the wall of this church. And let's restore it. Let's build up the walls. God, help us to do that. So what are we seeing here? Well, a truly repentant individual has a deep concern for the body of Christ, in particular, that body that they are a part of. because they've affected the health and purity of the church and they want it restored. Again, what does that mean for us? How central is the concern and the health and the purity of this body in your prayer life, in my prayer life? Do you truly take time to pray for individuals in this church outside of our time here? And do you actually pray for the health and purity of this church? Those who have truly repented hold on to a deep concern for the body of Christ, especially the one they participate in. The final trait of a truly repentant individual is seen in verse 19. What he shares here in this verse We see that one is truly repentant, has a great awareness of how they worship in the body. It's not just a road happening. It's not just, oh, Sunday, and I made it to church this time, and I went through the motions. David makes it very clear that God is wanting right worship. In verse 19, it says, then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will be offered on your altar. And obviously, in context and culture, he's talking about how the form of worship took place then. But those very happenings of burnt offerings and bulls or nothing we learned in Psalm 50 if there wasn't something else evident. Remember Psalm 50, God told Israel, you're fine. You're doing the doings. So externally, you're fine. That's not the problem. It was the heart. Did it truly come out of a thankful heart? And there's a thankful heart. It's one who's truly repented and had that work done in their life. And they realize that they, like David, he, how long did he carry this guilt? At least nine months, OK? And that's quite a guilt to carry for nine months. Some guilt is a little bit easier to kind of tuck away on the side, right? But murder and adultery, I mean, how could you? But he did. And I bet he participated in worship. in those nine months. And he realized, I'm a hypocrite. I've been a hypocrite. I have offered the sacrifices and never repented. Hypocritically participating. He's played the hypocrite here in the church, in the gathering, hiding that unrepentant sin. But now he's broken. a broken and a contrite spirit and a contrite heart. And his heart is filled with genuine thankfulness, right? Genuine thankfulness for what the Lord has done and who God is in his life. And he, like all people who truly repented, can now offer a right sacrifice, can offer what is right. proper worship before God. The sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving in song are not just rote happenings, but are true expressions of joy and thankfulness out of his heart. Think about, where am I in this? The worship of God in prayer is not just a time of simply saying words that you know sound right for the time and for the condition that needs to be prayed for, but it's a genuine appeal to the throne of God to respond to a hurt, to a need, to the care of his people. And the worship through reading and hearing of the word of God It's not just a time of enduring the formality, all right? I made it to the end, and I didn't fall asleep. No. One who's truly repented is engaged in their heart and their mind and is excited to hear, what is God speaking to us today through his word? Right worship, right sacrifice. and the worship of participation in the sacraments. Today, I'm taking communion as a body, celebrating this. Again, it's not just a simple formality to be done. You can go to the Catholic Church and do that. But it's an exercise in true worship as you partake of the bread and the cup, praising God for what he's done and thankful truly to him as these elements remind you of Christ's work and remind you how undeserving it is for you. And yet God did it. Oh, truly repented individuals have that level in their understanding of where they are before God. And therefore, right worship comes out of that deep appreciation and love for Him. So to quickly summarize five characteristics that are results of true worship, truly repenting, the desire to tell others of what the Lord has done, a speaking of the righteousness of God, A language that's filled with praise of him. A life lived in humility. A broken and contrite heart becomes characteristic of your life. A concern for the welfare of the church. It's a burden on their heart that the church be strong, of high integrity, and pure. And fifth, a heightened awareness of right worship, of engaged, thankfully, praising and worshiping God in every element of that worship time. It's 12 o'clock. I think I can sneak in the last thing. Because it bothers me. And I think it's a question people often have is, You read the psalm and you realize where it came from and who did these horrendous sins. And the question often arises because David's been called a man after God's own heart. Samuel was told when Saul blew it and God said, Saul is not gonna continue as king, but I will seek a man after my own heart. In fact, that 1 Samuel 13, 14, you just referenced it, if you want to read about it, is confirmed in Acts 13, where David is called a man after God's own heart. So that question comes, how could a person who is described as a man after the heart of God commit such a multitude How could he do that? I mean, to me, it's a disconnect, and it's like something's not right. He either wasn't a man after God's own heart, or, I don't know, he really did this? And I've thought about that, because both are true. They're in scripture, inspired. He's a man after God's own heart, and he did this. And like a lot of things, and I think Rob Zacharias did this a few times in his debates with individuals, is they would ask certain questions. He would consider their question, then he'd help them realize they're asking the wrong question. And I think for us to have that question, how could a man who is described as a man after the heart of God commit such a multitude of sins, is the wrong question. We should be thinking differently. We should be looking at this series of horrendous sins that a man who was described to be a man after God's heart committed. And we should be asking this question, why haven't I fallen into such treacherous sin? It's only by God's grace. See, he was a man. who had that same fallen nature, who had a heart after God, but he still had that nature. And he fell into that trap and that sin. And it tells us that's what a man characterized that way can do. What about you? And what about me? How much more should we say, I want to live in the results of a truly repented life, that I not fall? into such horrendous sin that I walk humbly and contrite with a humble, a broken, and a contrite heart before God. Because only out of that, I think, can you truly even approach what Jesus said is the basis of this walk before God that is honoring to him and will help you not stumble in such sin. And that is to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your being, and only if you're truly humbled for him. and know you're living dependent upon Him, and truly exult in your heart and mind what He's done, can you walk that way? Well, may that be our position, that we take time regularly to reflect, where am I in my walk? Am I walking out of the results of what God actually has done in my life? Or if I let that nature that's in me that I battle with, even Paul did so often, rise up and I started on another path. That's not the path of the truly repentant. It's time to repent again. And humble yourself before God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and just how powerful and meaningful it is and what it has to say to each of us. Lord, I pray that you would continue to bless us now as we worship you in the partaking of communion and the continuation of fellowship one with another. We pray this in Jesus' name.