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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All right, excellent. Welcome to church this morning, brethren. I do appreciate those that came in early, cleaning up, tidying up, getting these chairs organised. I think we still may, you know what, we'll just leave it as it is, because on Monday the painters are coming back but they're just doing final touches. I think the wards are definitely done and I can't remember what the final touches were that they have to do, but I think we'd all agree for those of us that have seen the building beforehand that it's looking a lot better, a lot nicer, still a lot of things to do, still want to organise the cabling, just other little things to just make the place look a lot more attractive and just easier to worship in. So once again, I do appreciate it and I do apologise to some extent that it is a little bit messy today, but anyway, we're squeezed in a little tighter, a little bit more comfortable this morning and anyway, let's go to the Lord God in song, so please open your hymnals and let's start with hymn number 459. Hymn number 459 will begin by singing Fairest Lord Jesus, Fairest Lord Jesus, and if you're able to stand, please do. Hymn number 459, Fairest Lord Jesus. Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O thou of God and member son, Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honour, Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. Fairer are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, Rote fair the blooming dove of spring. Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, Who makes a woeful heart to sing. There is a sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, And all the twinkling starry hosts. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer, Than all the angels there can host. Beautiful Saviour, Lord of all the nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor, praise and adoration, Now and forevermore be Thine. Lord, I thank you for making salvation so easy, simple faith in Christ alone, His death, burial, and resurrection. Lord, what a great salvation, what a great God that we worship. Lord, we want to thank you for this building, Lord, the work that's been done, the trades people, Lord, the people in our church as well. Lord, we want to beautify this building a little bit more. Lord, we know that the church is the people, it's not the building, but Lord, even so, it's nice to have things a little bit neat and tidy, a little cleaner, looking a little sharper, Lord, and I thank you for giving us the provisions to be able to make these upgrades, Lord, and I pray, Lord, that you'll continue to work in our church in the different ways that you do. Lord, I thank you for the soul winning that was done yesterday as well, the seven souls that were saved, Lord, in Caboolture, and Lord, I do pray that you'll work in the hearts of those people, that they will be encouraged to attend Open Door Bible Church as well, Lord, in their local area. Lord, we thank you so much for being a great God, great Saviour, and we give you all praise and worship. We pray all things in Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. Okay, our next hymn is hymn number 256. 256. And we'll sing Look to the Lamb of God. 256. Look to the Lamb of God. If you from sin are longing to be free, Look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you died on Calvary, Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For here your Lord is able to save you, Look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts, send out a fizz or sail, Look to the Lamb of God. You in his strength shall over all prevail, Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For here your Lord is able to save you, Look to the Lamb of God. Are you a weary, does the racing horn, Look to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill your heart with song, Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For here your Lord is able to save you, Look to the Lamb of God. Fear not when shadows on your pathway fall, Look to the Lamb of God. Enjoy your sorrow, Christ is all in all, Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For here your Lord is able to save you, Look to the Lamb of God. Alright I know we don't sing that one very often but good job singing it. Alright our last hymn before the Bible reading is hymn number 312 Let's turn to 312, 312 Open my eyes that I may see, 312 Open my eyes that I may see Open my eyes that I may see Open my eyes that I may see Open my eyes that I may see Clipses of truth thou hast for me Clipses of truth thou hast for me Place in my hands the wonderful key Place in my hands the wonderful key That shall unclasp and set me free That shall unclasp and set me free If I wait for thee issred in mine God five will to see Open my eyes, illumine me Spirit divine Open my ears I may hear voices of truth thou sendest me And while the wave needs fall on my ear Everything false shall disappear Silence me now, I wait for thee Pray, my God, thy will to see Open my ears, ye human being Spirit divine Open my mouth and let me bear Gladly the whole truth everywhere Open my heart and let me prepare Love with thy children thus to share Silence me now, I wait for thee Pray, my God, thy will to see Open my heart, ye human being Spirit divine Great singing. It's time for the reading now. Please take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 51. This is the final Sunday that we'll have brother M for a while. Next Sunday we see him, he's going to be a married man. Hopefully, hopefully. Lord willing that's all going to happen. I wanted brother Michael to do a little bit of work for us before he leaves. So we'll be reading from the book of Psalms chapter 51. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou might be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward paths and in the hidden path thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. Thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion, build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shall thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. Dear loving Father in heaven, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you and praise you for the precious seven souls who got saved yesterday. I pray that they would grow, that they would be in a good church and would become soul winners themselves as well. Thank you Father in heaven for the changes in the church. Thank you for the preacher. I pray that you would fill him with your Holy Ghost, that you would be ready to receive the truth from your word. And please help us to be more like Jesus. In his beautiful name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you for that brother. Okay, so we are up to our last Psalm. As you know, as we go between books, we go for three Psalms at a time and then we'll hit a new book of the Bible. So the next book that we'll be hitting next week is the book of Ecclesiastes. And then when we're done with Ecclesiastes, we'll do another three Psalms and we'll do another book. And so for those that are new to our church, we have some first time visitors, welcome to church this morning. It's a blessing to always have, we've got three first time visitors today, it's always a blessing to us. I hope the church can be a blessing to you as well this Sunday. And we do go chapter by chapter, verse by verse through the Bible normally, at least one service per week. And so we are up to Psalm 51. And you know Psalm 51, I'll just share with you, is my go to Psalm when I'm feeling a little far from the Lord. Or when I'm struggling with some weaknesses or some sins or some burdens that I have and I might feel a little bit far from the Lord. Psalm 51 is my go to Psalm that I read through and it's such a special Psalm. If you have a look at verse number 17, let's start there, Psalm 51 verse number 17, it says, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou would not despise. So the title for the sermon this morning, brethren, is A Broken and a Contrite Heart. You know there are many things that we can do in life that will cause God to despise. You know obviously God hates when we sin. God hates those things. God hates the things that are wicked. There are so many things that we can do in life that God despises. But one thing we learn here, if we come before him with a broken and a contrite heart, and a contrite means to show remorse, then God will not despise that. God accepts that kind of humility to go before God and say, God, we failed again. Lord, I've made a mistake again. Lord, I feel far from you. And it's something that God receives. And if you have a look at, I think most of your Bible should have a bit of a title to this psalm. If you have a look before verse number 1, it says to the chief musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. So this psalm was written when David committed the sin with Bathsheba. And David is far from the Lord. And so he writes Psalm 51 to be brought back into fellowship, and to be brought into forgiveness in the eyes of the Lord God there. So you can see why it's so powerful. You know, obviously the story of David is so famous. The fact that he committed such a great sin, this adultery, and then ended up killing the husband of the woman he committed adultery with. In fact, keep your finger there, and let's go to 2 Samuel. Let's go to the story. 2 Samuel 11, please. 2 Samuel 11 and verse number 1. We're not going to read the whole thing, but we're just going to get a little bit of context around what took place here. 2 Samuel 11 and verse number 1. Keep your finger there in Psalm 51 as well. But 2 Samuel 11 and verse number 1. The Bible reads, and it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle. So let me just stop there for a moment. You know, obviously in the time of Israel, in the Old Testament times, you know, even in recent times really, you know, kings are meant to be the generals. They're meant to be the ones that lead an army to war. This is why they get the prestige and the honor and the wealth is because they're meant to be hardened warriors. They're meant to be leading their nation into victory. And this is a time when the kings are meant to go to battle. But David decides not to go to battle. It's so strange because David is known in the Bible as a man of war. David knows how to fight. He's taken down the bear. He's taken down the lion. He's taken down Goliath. He's taken down the Philistines. David's been very successful in warfare. But this time, as we keep reading here, he doesn't go to war. It says that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they destroyed the tomb of Ammon and besieged Rabah. Look at this. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. So David sends all his men to go fight the war. He goes, you know what, I'm just going to hang around Jerusalem. Mistake number 1. He was meant to go and fight. He was meant to go and fight the battle. And brethren, we are in a spiritual warfare. You understand? We are all soldiers for the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we have a spiritual war that we are all fighting in. We're all soldiers enlisted in the army of the Lord. And we need to get busy in that battle. You know, if we just tarry around, if we just waste time, you're going to find yourself getting yourselves into sins that you would later regret, of course. This was the same issue with David. He tarried in Jerusalem. Let's keep going to verse number 2. And it came to pass in an eventide that David arose from his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman and once said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Now this is obviously, I personally believe this was not, a lot of preachers say David just fell into sin. He just happened to walk, saw a woman and ended up committing adultery. That's not the case. David inquires about this woman and one of his servants says, well, you know, this is the daughter of, what did it say there? The daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David knows who these guys are. You know, I'm not going to go through the whole lesson today. I've taught this before. But these men, the father and her husband, these are mighty men of David. You know, he's met Bathsheba before. This is, you know, I personally believe this was very premeditated. He knows exactly who she is, okay? But he's still asking the question like, oh, who is she exactly? You know, and they're like, well, you know, she's the daughter and she's the husband of men that are mighty men of you, David. These are people that, you know, close to you, David. These are soldiers that you've enlisted as your mighty men. Anyway, let's keep going there, verse number four. And David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived and sent and told David and said, I am with child. And so we know this great sin takes place, this sin of adultery. And according to the Bible, this sin is worthy of death, okay? This really deserves the death penalty, especially in the time of the Old Testament there. And so David commits this great sin. Obviously we know what takes place. He tries to cover up the sin. He brings her husband from war, or desires to bring him from war, so it would look like this child would be the child of her husband, and he ends up causing the husband to die in warfare. So the sin would be covered up, and he ends up taking Bathsheba as his wife. Now keep your finger there in 2 Samuel. Please come back to Psalm 51. Let's have a look at what David says here in Psalm 51 verse number 1. Psalm 51 verse number 1, it says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy love and kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. So we know immediately why David is writing this Psalm. He wants to be made right with God. He's feeling the regret. He's understanding that he's in sin against the Lord God. He's done such great sin. He appeals to the mercy of God. And brethren, you need to do the same when you're in sin. You know, when you need to be made right with God, you need to appeal to his mercy. Say, God, I know you're a mercy for God. You're a forgiven God, but as I said, the title of the sermon was A Broken and Contrary Heart. You have to come, not in pride. Hey, not trying to justify yourself in your sin. You know, sometimes people sin, and they try to justify themselves. Oh, but I had good intentions. I meant well. It wasn't me. It was someone else. It's come out of your heart. You know, God wants you to be broken. Humble yourself, and go and seek his mercies. Now, when we think of this story of David and Bathsheba, we know why we call David the man after God's own heart. How long do you think David went with unconfessed sin? You know, my encouragement to you, brethren, is as soon as you have sinned, don't wait. You know, the mercies of the Lord are new every morning. It's new every morning. We have the ability to go before God at every moment and confess our sins before God. My strong encouragement is that you should be doing this as soon as you possibly can, as soon as you are able to take down your pride and your ego and break your heart a little towards the Lord God and go before God and say, Sorry, Lord, for the sins that I've committed today. I'd say do it as soon as you can. How long do you think David took to go before God in confession? Well, if you can keep your finger there in Psalm 51, please go back to 2 Samuel 11. Hope you kept your finger there. Please go to 2 Samuel 11, verse 27. 2 Samuel 11 and verse 27. Now, the story is that the Lord God would punish David because of this great sin. The child that Bathsheba would bear would pass away and then God also says there's going to be a sword in your family. And if you know the story of David, there was a lot of disaster with his children afterwards and even after Solomon's reign, the kingdom was broken into the two nations. And so David's family fell apart because of this great sin. There were these consequences of his sin that fell upon his family. And it says there in 2 Samuel 11, verse 27, And when the morning was past, that's the morning of the loss of the child, it says, David sent, oh sorry, the morning, let's keep going there. It says, David sent and fetched her to his house and she became his wife and bear him a son, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. And so, sorry, it was Bathsheba that was mourning her husband. And so once he had died and she had gone through her time of mourning, David takes Bathsheba as a wife for himself. And you can see here that she bears the son. So obviously how long does it take for a child to come into the world? Approximately nine months. For a normal pregnancy, for a child to come into the world. Now let's go to the next chapter, 2 Samuel 12, verse number 1. 2 Samuel 12, verse number 1. It says, And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him and said unto him, There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeded many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up. And he grew up together with him, and with his children, he did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. So Nathan tells this story, which is really a parable, about what David had done. He had taken this man's wife, David was the king, he already had multiple wives, and he said, No, I'm going to take this man and his one wife, I'm going to take her for myself. And so Nathan, the prophet Nathan, comes with this parable. And the fact that this rich man had many flock, but he took the one lamb of the poor man, and took it for himself and slew it for a feast. David says, As the Lord liveth, this man needs to die. Now if you understand the laws of God, hey, theft was not deserving of the death penalty. But adultery of another man's wife definitely was. And so I don't know if David is speaking just out of ignorance, or he's speaking for the power of the Holy Spirit, it is actually correct that this man should surely die, because that is the punishment for adultery. That is the correct punishment. And you know what? If these laws were still the laws of Australia today, you know where one partner would commit adultery on another person, yeah, he should surely be put to death, then the other partner can mourn, spit on his grave if she feels better, or he feels better about that, and then move on with his life and get remarried. That should be the right way to do things. God's way is always perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect. And that would be right. So I don't know if David is just out of ignorance saying, hey, kill this man, he took this one lamb, or if he's just speaking kind of prophetically or spiritually for the power of the Holy Spirit about himself, the fact that his sin is definitely worthy of death. But look at verse number six. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. So that would be the correct punishment, to restore fourfold. But anyway, verse number seven. And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. So you can see, you know, Nathan says, you are the man. You know, God finally sends a prophet to confront the king. You are the one that has stolen this lamb. You are the one that has committed this sin. You are the one that has stolen Uriah's wife. Drop down to verse number 13. It says, and David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord, and Nathan said unto David, the Lord also have put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. So you can see, this is the point where Nathan confronts David. The child has already been born. So how long did David go with unconfessed sin? With great unconfessed sin, over nine months. I want you to realise that. Over nine months, okay. For the child to be conceived, for the child to be born, and we don't know exactly how long this has taken. You know, it could have easily been another six months before Nathan came on the scene, you know. And again, why does God take time? We've seen this before. God is long suffering. God is merciful. Sometimes we can create, you know, or do certain sins and we feel like God is silence, but God gives us time. He gives us time to be made right with him. He gives us time to have that broken and contrite heart, to go before God and say, sorry, Lord. You know, God's mercies, you know, they're new, and he's long suffering toward us. He's not quick to anger. You know, and when that happens to you, brethren, I just want to remind you once again, don't think, oh man, then God must be okay with my sin. You know, God's letting me get away with this. No, just remind us that God has given me time to be made right with him, you know. And this is what's exactly taking place. You know, David's gone over nine months, you know, with unconfessed sin. A so-called, as the Bible says, you know, the man of God, a man after God's own heart, spoken about David, and you can see that even a great man like David can go so long far from the Lord. You know, that entire time, he's not walking with the Lord. That entire time, he's got the guilt and the remorse about this great sin that he's committed, you know. He's filling himself with pride, you know, thinking that, you know, well, I can go this whole time and not have to confess this before the Lord. You know, it's time to obviously embolden his flesh and, you know, he thinks he's getting away with it, but God had to send Nathan, and this is why Psalm 51 was written. So let's go back to Psalm 51 and verse number 2. Psalm 51 and verse number 2. David speaks, and he says, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Now, I've taught on this a lot, but I realize that a lot of Christians get confused about this. Now, the moment you got saved, you've been cleansed of your sin. Amen. Your sins have been put on Christ, okay. He bore the punishment that you deserved, okay. Your sins were nailed to that cross, you know what, and you're saved. You know, your past sins, your present sins, even your future sins have already been paid for by Jesus Christ, okay. And sometimes people go, well, hold on, you know, David here is asking for, you know, to be cleansed from his sin. Does this mean he wasn't saved, or did he lose his salvation and he's got to get it back again? No. You know, the moment you're saved, you're given eternal life, everlasting life. You cannot lose it, otherwise it's not everlasting. That's the very definition of everlasting or eternal life is that it lasts forever the moment you have trusted Christ. You cannot lose your salvation. But one thing that a lot of Christians get confused about when I speak to people, they look at certain passages about the forgiveness of sins or being cleansed from sin, and they forget that there are two aspects of our life. You know, there's our position before God. That is righteous. You've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It's the new man. You've been born again of the Spirit. Hey, that part, the new man never sins. Even when this outward flesh sins, the new man within remains sinless, okay. It's the flesh that commits great sins. That's why flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You know, you can never get this body cleansed enough. You can never repent of sins enough to get this body cleansed. You're already a sinner, okay. This is why you need the new man, and one day God promises us the new resurrected body which cannot sin. That's our position, okay. That cannot change. But then we have our walk. We have our fellowship, our day-to-day, you know, and as we walk day-to-day, we commit sins. Okay, you're going to commit sin to the day you die, brethren. You know, hopefully, in your Christian journey, you become holier, you become more like Christ, you have greater victory over sin, but the Bible says even the thought of foolishness is sin. How are you going to get away with that? You know, how many foolish thoughts do you think about? Probably every day, you know, and even the thought of foolishness is sin, and so we sin, but this is our walk, okay. This is our fellowship. This is our communion with the Lord God on a daily basis. These things, we can get far from the Lord. You know, we would call this backsliding when you get far. King David was backsliding at this point in time. He was far from the Lord. He was not in fellowship with the Lord, but he's still a saved man. He's still going to heaven when he passes away. It's just that his walk has been affected in this, and this is why we need to go before God and confess our sins, not to be re-saved or get saved or maybe I'm not saved. It's none of that because that's all in Christ. It's a free gift, okay. This is about our fellowship, being close to God, being in his presence, you know, having his close presence in our life. This is why we need to go before God on a regular basis and ask God to cleanse us from the sins that we commit as we walk in our Christian life. You know, I won't get you to turn there because Brother Jason preached some good sermons on this recently, but I'll quickly read to you from 1 John 1.6. You don't need to turn there. It says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. So notice that passage about walking with the Lord. It's not about how to get saved. It's how we remain in fellowship, a close relationship with the Lord God by having our sins forgiven as we go through life by the blood of Jesus Christ. It also continues in verse number nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And again, so we need to confess our sins, be cleansed from all unrighteousness so we can stay in fellowship with God. Could you imagine if this is how you get saved? By confessing your sins? Then none of us will be saved. Because I guarantee you there are sins that you've committed that you can't even remember. There are sins that you've committed that you've been so ignorant about that you don't even know they're sins. Could you imagine that's salvation? All right, salvation is you've got to confess all of your sins that you've committed to get saved. It's like, man, where do I start? I mean, that's a long process to get saved. I mean, you've got to go back and remember like, Mum, when I was two years old, did I disobey you? I can't remember, Mum, when I was two, yes, you did this or that. All right, Lord, I'm sorry for that. I'm still trying to get saved through this process. That's not how you get saved. Salvation is faith on the finished work of Christ. Okay, that's your position. But again, brethren, as we walk, as you come to remembrance or some prophet, like if God sends you a Nathan and in your face just rebukes you for your sin, you better be made right with God. That's your walk, okay? So as we continue going for Psalm 51, please don't think this is how David got saved or this is how people get saved. No, this is how we walk with the Lord, staying in fellowship, in the light, you know, not walk in darkness but walk in the light of Christ. So let's keep going there, Psalm 51 verse 3. Psalm 51 verse 3. David says, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. So when we want to confess our sins before the Lord, what do we do? We have to acknowledge our transgressions. You know, don't just have this prayer. Oh, God, please forgive me for all the sins I've committed today. Look, you know what sins you've committed, all right? Say, God, you know, I want to be careful what I say here, but like, Lord, you know, I've done X, Y, and Z. I'm sorry, Lord. Please forgive me for this. Please give me victory over this sin. Lord, I'm a sinner. You know, Lord, I've done wrong. He says that my sin is ever before me, meaning that he's dealing with the consequences. You know, it's been over nine months, as I said, the guilt, the remorse, right, trying to hide all the evidence of what took place, I suppose, what David is doing. He goes, man, the consequences. It's not just a sin. It's the consequences of my sin, and sometimes that can be even worse, not just what you've committed, but the effects that it has in the long run. You know, when people tell a lie, you know, this is why it's just better to tell the truth, but when people have to tell a lie, then they have to tell a lie to cover up that lie, and then they have to tell a lie to cover up that lie, and before you know it, you've got this web of lies, and you don't even know what you've said anymore. You know, and someone just comes and pulls a little bit afraid of that lie, and the whole web falls apart, and then you're revealed to be, you know, untrustworthy. You know, it's so much, you know, the consequences, they catch up with you. It's why it's just better. Go before God, confess your sins, all right. Ask God to help you, the consequences to come, and just be honest, be truthful about what you've done and who, you know, who you've wronged. If you can keep your finger there, go to Psalm 32, verse number five. Psalm 32, verse number five. Just this idea of acknowledging your transgressions. In Psalm 32, verse five, it says, I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgaveth the iniquity of my sin, Selah. So notice, what does it mean to acknowledge your sins? It says, and mine iniquity have I not hid. This is again, don't just be like God, forgive him for my sins today, thank you. Now don't hide them. God knows what you've done. You can't hide your sins from God, okay. He wants to see that broken and contrite heart. He wants to see that remorse, that I should not have done this, all right. So it's best for you to just name it before the Lord God. This is what I've struggled with, Lord. This is what I'm struggling with right now, Lord. Can you please help me? Okay, so the guilt, remorse, regret, and what's wonderful about Psalm 32, verse five, immediately you know if I go before God and confess that he's gonna forgive us of our iniquities. You know there are some people that I talk to sometimes that have committed great sins and they think, I don't think God will ever forgive me for what I've done. Really? Like did you commit adultery and then murder the husband? You know what, and yet David had forgiveness of the Lord. Okay, I mean we can commit some grievous sin, not that it's okay to do that, okay. But you know what, when people say, I don't think God can forgive me for this sin, in comparison to the sins that King David committed, you know you got no problems, trust me, okay. Once again, God's mercies are new every morning, okay. He's eager to forgive of us. The Lord God not just saved us, but he wants to be in fellowship with us. He wants to influence us. You know, he knows that we sin. You're gonna sin, brethren, you just have to accept this is part of who I am because of my sinful nature. You know, but God wants me to walk with him, so I better go before him, confess, and acknowledge that I'm a sinner. Tell him what I've done, say sorry to the Lord God. Back to Psalm 51, verse number four. Psalm 51, verse four. The next thing that King David recognizes is, well it says in verse number four, against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. So David knows that, hey, the judgment fell upon him, it would be the death of that son, and then the damage of his family, the consequence that would come. You know, because David recognizes, I didn't just sin against Bathsheba and against Uriah, but you know what? Every sin that we commit is against the Lord God. Every sin. If I wrong you personally, I still sin against the Lord God. You know, whatever sin you've committed, brethren, even if you think, oh, it's just toward a man, no, you've sinned against the Lord, okay? The Bible says in 1 John 3, 4, You so that commit of sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. Okay, whatever sin you commit, you've transgressed God's laws, okay? You've offended God by your actions. And so look, if you've wronged somebody and you make that right with that individual, I mean, that's great, but what you really should be doing is going before the Lord God. You've sinned against the Lord God as well, okay? So yeah, Dave recognizes, yes, he's sinned against the Lord. He's sinned against the Lord. This is why God is right to judge him. This is why it's right for God to correct him. You know, God's correction and judgment is always righteous. It's always correct, okay? God's measure of chastisement is always the right measure that we need to be corrected and to walk back in fellowship with him. Verse number five. He goes, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. So he says, look, when I came into this world, when I was shapen, when I was brought into this world, I was brought in iniquity. He says, even in sin my mother conceived me. That's not saying that his mother was sinful like committed fornication or adultery to bring forth David. What he's speaking about here is the fact that we all have a sin nature. We're all born with a sin nature. David says, Lord, I failed again, and Lord, I just had this sin nature in me. Even my mother who conceived me had a sin nature. Even her mother and her father and down the century, all the way to Adam, we've been given this sin nature. This is why we fail, brethren. This is why when people teach that salvation is a repenting of sins. They've got it all wrong. You can't fix this sinful flesh. Salvation is not repenting from sins. You cannot turn from sins enough. You cannot cleanse this body enough to be righteous because it's got a sin nature. You've been conceived in sin. It's what this flesh is. It's why this body breaks down. It gets sick. It's why this body has all these problems, brethren, because it's got a sin nature. It's fallen apart. This is why, for the wage of sin is death. We're all dealing with death eventually. We're going to have to face that reality because we are walking in a sinful flesh. The Bible says in Romans 5.12, don't need to turn there, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. All of us have sinned. We all have the sinful flesh, and David's just speaking to God and saying, God, look, I suppose in some ways, Lord, please understand what I am. I've got a sinful flesh. My mother passed this on to me. It's been passed all the way from Adam and Eve for the centuries. This is why salvation cannot be the cleansing of this body, cannot be turn from your sins and thou shalt be saved. It's impossible. It's impossible. Salvation is only found in Jesus Christ. Again, we don't go to heaven because how righteous we are. We go to heaven because of the righteousness of Christ. When God the Father looks upon you, He sees you through the righteousness of Christ, your position, not your walk, your position. The moment this body perishes and the soul and the spirit leave the body, as I said, that's the new man, and God will look at that new man and say, wow, that new man is sinless. That sinful part of Pastor Kevin or whoever passes away, that's all buried in the grave. And one day God's going to sort that out, as I said, with a new resurrected body to come. Back to verse number six, please. Psalm 51, verse number six. This is also important. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. So David, he's going about life. I suppose many, even though he's far from the Lord, many would have looked at King David and go, man, what a godly man. What a holy and righteous man, okay? But David, on the inward, is not right, okay? This is one of the problems with the Pharisees. Hey, they looked great on the outside. They looked like these holy men and clean on the outside, but Christ said they were full of dead men's bones on the inside, okay? You know, what does God desire? You know, I use this illustration, and for the men who preach, I always say this, you know, when we get up to preach, we put on a nice tie, a nice shirt, you know, a jacket, look nice on the outside, look presentable on the outside, but this should be a reflection of how you are on the inside of the Lord, okay? What does the Lord desire? Does he desire the jacket and the tie? Does that please the Lord? Lord, look how dressed up I am, preaching your word before God's people. No. I mean, it's great, but it says, Behold, thou desire's truth in the inward parts. You know, God wants us to have a clean mind and a clean heart. This is why if you see me before I get up to preach, I'm in prayer, even before, you know, during the Bible reading, because I'm just saying, God, if there's anything else in my heart, you know, if there's any sin that I've committed that I've just overlooked, Lord, just please clean me. You know, use me as a vessel, you know, a clean vessel in your hands to preach your word. You know, because I know that, you know, if I want to be used by the Lord God, I'm going to have to be as clean as I can. You know, if I want to preach the truth and not preach heresy, I'm going to be as clean as I can. Not clean on the outside, but clean on the inside. So important. And David recognised, I guess he was walking around looking like the great man of God, but on the inside, it was not truth. On the inside, he was far from the Lord. And, you know, this reminds me of the words of Christ. Again, you don't need to turn there. But Matthew 5.27, this is a significant teaching of the New Testament. I mean, there is teaching of this in the Old Testament, like what we just read, but it's something that Christ, when he walked this earth, he taught about a lot. It's about the inward man, okay, the mind, the heart. He says in Matthew 5.27, You have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. And you might say, yep, I've not committed adultery. Well, praise God for you. But then it says in verse number 28, But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, have committed adultery with her already in his heart. So notice, yeah, outward sin, sins of this body, yeah, we should, you know, obviously not do such things. But then some people might think, well, I can just sin on the inside. I can sin in my mind. I can have the foolish thoughts. I can look upon a woman who is not my wife and lust after her, and nobody's going to find out about that. No, God wants us to have truth on the inward man. You know, have a clean heart, have a clean mind. That's what's important, okay. So many Christians look great on the outside, but like Pharisees, full of dead men's bones, okay. Or David, going a long time, probably looking great on the outside. But he knows full well that on the inside, he was far from the Lord. He had committed great sins, and he had it hidden. So, brethren, not just what we do with the body, but what we think about, what we meditate upon. If you know it's been sinful and wicked, you need to go before God and confess such sins as well. Verse number seven. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. And so you can see why people might look at these passages and think, oh, this is how he got saved. Again, this is not salvation. This is our walk. And the fact that it says purge me with hyssop, hyssop was a, it's a herb, and it would often be used in the sacrifices to apply the blood. So once an animal had been sacrificed, they would take the blood and appoint in different places. They would often use hyssop as like a brush, to some extent, like a paintbrush, potentially, and use it to put blood in the certain areas. Probably the most famous one is, of course, the Passover lamb. You know, when the Israelites were in Egypt, and they were to kill their Passover lamb, they would take the blood, they would take hyssop, and apply that blood to the doorposts. You may remember that story, okay? So the fact that, you know, David is speaking about being cleansed with hyssop is saying, basically, can you apply the blood? You know, can you apply the blood? And I read earlier that, of course, our forgiveness of sins comes by the blood of Jesus Christ, all right? So that's really what he's pointing to, not just how you use a herb in general, but, of course, what is the ingredient in that herb that he's doing the cleansing, that is, of course, the blood of the lamb. He says, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. So this is what's wonderful about going before God and confessing our sins. You press that reset button, and you confess, you go before God, and God forgives you, and brethren, you're made whiter than snow at that very moment. You're cleansed, and you can be used by God to accomplish great things. Once again, we know whatever task you do for the Lord, not just preaching behind this pulpit, but you go preach into the lost community, you go giving the gospel to people, or you're doing some service for God, make sure that you go before God and confess your sins. Be clean, be whiter than snow, and then God can use you most effectively. Verse number eight. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. So what else did we learn about David? Going with unconfessed sin for so long, he's lost joy. He's lost gladness. He feels as though God had broken his bones. So he's miserable, he's broken, and again, when you're so prideful, brethren, and you can't go before God and confess, you're going to start to find that you lose the joy. You lose excitement. You lose happiness. It's going to really affect you from the inside. This is why I just say, go before God and confess as soon as you can. I've often said, I just want to be happy. I want to live a happy life. I want, at the end of today, to be like, man, I had a good day. That's what I want. I want to be happy. And so part of that is going before God and confessing when I do wrong. Verse number nine. He says, hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. So David's so embarrassed. Oh man, God, you know the sins that I've committed. He goes, can you just look away from those iniquities? And again, this is the wonderful truth of salvation, the wonderful truth of forgiveness. And I'll just quickly read to you. You guys know this passage. Isaiah 43, 25. The Lord God says, I, even I am he, that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins and will not remember your sins. As far as the east is from the west, and the Bible speaks that God will take our sins so far away and God says, not only will I forgive your sins, I'm not even going to remember them. He says, I'm going to forget the sins that you've committed. It's wonderful. I love it. It's so good. And sometimes I'm like, you know, I'm sure we all are like, oh man, the sins we've done in the past. But you know what? If we've gone before God about them, he's already forgiven us. He's forgotten about it. God says, I, even I am he, that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake. Because God does not want to look upon sin. God does not want to think about us as sinful people. Okay? God wants to have that all forgotten against salvation in Christ. When we're in the millennium and when we're in the, specifically the new heavens and new earth, for all eternity with God, sin will be forgotten. Never remembered anymore. Obviously, we would know that sin took place. But you know, we're not going to be carrying the regrets and the sadness and the tears and the hurt. Christ is going to come or God's going to come and wash our face from all our tears. Exciting times to come. All the regrets, all the sins that you've committed, brethren, that you're embarrassed about, you're going to forget them one day. Okay? That's the exciting future of eternity. Verse number 10. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. So yeah, you go before God confess, you're going to clean your heart. But then also, David says, look, can you renew a right spirit within me? This is not talking about the Holy Spirit. This is just talking about our spirit, as it were. You know, when you go through a time of unconfessed sin, you know, hiding your sins, it's going to affect your spirit. It's going to affect, you know, not just losing the joy, but you're just not going to be the same person. It's going to bring you low. It's going to affect you. It's going to be a burden. Okay, bitterness will creep in, all kinds of negative feelings, negative emotions are going to overwhelm you. You're going to lose, you know, that part of you that is the right spirit, as it were. Okay, and so it's going before God. And again, how long did David look great on the outside? Probably a long time, but he knows that within himself, it's eaten away, eaten away, and he's not the same man that he used to be. And he's asking God, can you renew my spirit within me? Verse number 11. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. So what do we learn there? When we are in sin, we walk away from the presence of God. We are not in fellowship. As we walk in darkness, God, hey, He has no darkness. He's a God of light. We need to be brought back into fellowship with God when we confess our sins. When we commit sins, brethren, we lose that presence of the Lord, that close presence that we ought to have in our lives. But what's quite interesting about these Old Testament times, it says, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me, is that David was concerned, because he, you know, as a king, he had been given the spirit of God. In fact, keep your finger there, and please go to 1 Samuel. Please go to 1 Samuel, chapter 16. Go to 1 Samuel, chapter 16. David was worried that the Holy Spirit would leave him. Okay? Now, I've got a sermon this afternoon. Okay, so we have a second service at 12 p.m., if you're able to join us. And initially, I had so many notes on this verse that I had to take it and make it its own sermon. Okay? So, this afternoon's sermon is almost like part two of Psalm 51, but it's just touching upon this one verse here, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Because I guess when we think about salvation in the New Testament, you know, and look, salvation is the same, Old Testament, New Testament, but when you think about the writings of the New Testament, we understand that the moment we got saved, we've received the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Okay? And the concern is, well, if we can have the Holy Spirit taken away from us, does that mean we can lose our salvation? And so, I want to tackle that topic this afternoon, so I'm not going to touch it right now, but what is David really concerned about here? If you look at 1 Samuel, chapter 16, 1 Samuel, chapter 16, verse number 13, so this is the point when Samuel would anoint David to be the future king. It says in 1 Samuel 16, 13, then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, look at this, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward, so Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Okay, so is this when David got saved, when he was anointed to become king? Of course not, okay? But, to be able to get to the point and to do the job of the king, the Holy Spirit came upon David. Okay, to accomplish the task, the responsibilities that David would have. Now let's keep going there, verse number 14. But, the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. And so what happened to King Saul? The Holy Spirit departed from him, the Spirit of the Lord departed from him, all right? And the Lord sends an evil spirit. Now of course evil means harmful, and so God sends a harmful spirit that would bother King Saul, okay? Because he had been far from the Lord. He was not walking in the Lord's path. The Lord changed his mind. No, the kingdom is not going to be with Saul. He takes away the Holy Spirit from Saul, and the Holy Spirit comes upon David instead, okay? So the reason David's saying, don't take your Holy Spirit from me, is because he knows that's what happened to King Saul, all right? And that's why he's been thrust into the position as king, because King Saul had failed. And now he's thinking, man, I've committed great sins. Surely God might be considering now to take away his Holy Spirit from me. And he needs that Holy Spirit to be the king, to have authority, to pass correct judgments, you know, to have a holy nation serving the Lord. He needs the help of the Lord. And so David starts to fear, this might happen to me. What happened to Saul might happen to me as well. And again, if you want to understand that a little bit in greater depth, come this afternoon at 12 p.m. and I'll preach a sermon on this topic. But let's go back to Psalm 51. Psalm 51 verse number 12. Psalm 51 and verse number 12. It says, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. So what else did he lose with unconfessed sin? He lost the joy of his salvation. See, he did not lose his salvation, because he cannot lose your salvation, he lost the joy of his salvation. So is he saved the moment he says that? Of course he's saved, but he doesn't have the joy. He's not excited about salvation anymore. And again, you go far from the Lord, brethren, you're not going to be excited about salvation. Alright, I mean, the moment you've trusted Christ, and the burden's been lifted off you, and you know you're going to heaven no matter what happens, it's a great burden, great rejoicing, great excitement. You probably want to tell everybody you know about what Christ has done for you. But you know what, as we walk through life, and we get far from the Lord, and we sin, and we do wrong, you can go through times when you just lose that excitement. Lose that joy of the salvation. You're going to take it for granted, you know? And again, that's the result of unconfessed sin. He says, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Now, again, if this is God's spirit, then this would be the Holy Spirit. But the free spirit would speak of liberty, I suppose. We know that we've been made free in Christ, we know that we have power over sin when we're saved. You know, God gives us the ability to overcome sin and live a more holy life. And I suppose for David, you know, as he has been captured in sin, he's got the power of sin over him at this point in time, he feels trapped. He feels imprisoned. And so he's looking for that free spirit, he's looking for that liberty to break out of this sin, break out of this remorse and problems and sorrow that he's having, and he asks God to deliver him once again, just to free him from the sins and the consequences of the sins that he has committed. Verse number 13. And this is so important. This is so important. Let's read verse number 13. Then, so once, Lord, once I've confessed my sins to you, and I've been made right with you, then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Brethren, this is a soul winning church. Okay? This is a soul winning church. This is a soul winning church. And yesterday, we had the soul winning marathon. Brethren, seven salvations. Why do you think there were seven salvations? Well, because we went out as clean vessels for the Lord. Okay? There must have been some confession leading up to this before, right? Be made right with God. Because listen, if you do not, if you have unconfessed sin, it's going to affect your ability to teach transgressors. It's going to affect your ability to convert sinners to Jesus Christ. You're not going to have the empowering that you need to do great works for God. This is why I said to you, brethren, when I come behind the pulpit, I have to be clean with God. Because we're all transgressors. We're all sinners. We all do things that aren't right. We all have lessons to learn from the Bible. And if I'm not made right with God, how can I teach transgressors, you know, the ways of the Lord? How can we go soul winning and lead someone to Christ? If we have unconfessed sin in our life? So, brethren, you know, if you're going through a time of drought, and you feel like, man, I've just been so unsuccessful, you know, seeing souls saved, so unsuccessful teaching God's Word, you know what, you need to do some self-examination. There might be some sins in your heart that you just haven't let go of, that you're not willing to go before God and confess. If we want to do great works for God, brethren, once again, we want to teach other people God's ways, then we need to be made right with Him. Okay? Let's keep going there. Verse number 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. So what's the next thing we need to do? Once we have our sins forgiven, we need to go before God and give Him praise. Say, thank you, Lord. You know, when I go before God and I confess my sins, I'm not wondering, is God going to forgive me? No, because we have the promise He will. The next thought is, once I've confessed my sins before God, I've asked Him to forgive me. The next thought is, then I need to praise Him. Then I need to thank Him that He's a merciful God, that He's a forgiven God. I need to thank the Lord, I need to praise Him. Church is so important, a place to come and praise God, to worship Him in song, together as a church. But again, us as individuals, brethren, the moment you go before God, just thank Him, just praise Him for who He is. Oh Lord, open down my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. Once again, if we want to use this mouth for the service of God, we need to be clean on the inside. Okay, then we can speak of Christ. Then we can show forth His praise. Verse number 16. And thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, thou would not despise. You know, King David says, Lord, if you need me to do a sacrifice for these sins, then I would do it. I would do what you need me to do. He goes, but that's not what you need. What you really desire, Lord, the real sacrifice you need from me, Lord, is my broken and contrite heart. That's the sacrifice that God wants. Okay? Don't forget that, and I'll quickly read to you from Hebrews 10 four. Hebrews 10 four says, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Okay, it's not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. When the Old Testament Israelites did the sacrifices, it was not taking away their sins. Okay? That's not what gives God pleasure. Once again, those sacrifices were a shadow, a picture of what Christ would ultimately do for us. Okay? It's a constant reminder to the Israelites that God would one day have his own lamb that would shed his blood for us. Okay? That's why David says, look, I would do extra sacrifices if this makes me right, but that's not really what he needs. It's the broken and contrite heart. Okay? And when you read the stories of the Old Testament, when the Israelites are far from the Lord, many times they are carrying out the sacrifices. Many times they are doing the religious practices, but the reason they're far from God is that they haven't got that broken and contrite heart. They're just going through the motions. They're just going and offering some lamb, they're offering some bull, and they're, well, we must be right with God now. No, it's about your heart. And if you get your heart right, then your practice will be right. It's always about the inward. You get the inward fixed, then you serve the Lord. Okay? You don't just serve the Lord and have the inward all wrong. That's not what God wants. He wants you. You know, he wants your fellowship. He wants you to be walking in the light. He wants you to be more like Christ-like than just going through the motions. It's easy to go through the motions of just going to church. Got church every Sunday, got church every Wednesday, just go through the motions. Okay? But hey, you can be going nine months plus with unconfessed sin. You know what God really wants? Just for you to be broken, humble enough to go before God, and say, God, make me right with you. Help me walk in your paths. That's greater than coming to church three times a week. Okay? Now, is going to church three times a week important? Of course. Make sure your heart is right. There's a point. Okay? The broken and the contrite heart. Verse number 18. Verse 18 seems like it just comes out of nowhere, but there is a point to it, of course. Okay? It says, Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Like, hold on, David, right? You're just confessing your sins. Now you're talking about Jerusalem? Build the walls? I mean, why did we go to that? Well, don't forget, David is the king. Okay, here's the politician. He's in charge of over all this place. And I'll quickly read to you from Proverbs 29 verse 2. It says, When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Okay, this is a teaching you'll find throughout the Proverbs many times. You've got a wicked ruler, so goes the nation. The nation's going to suffer with the hands of a wicked ruler. Hey, but if a ruler is righteous and serving the Lord, then the whole nation's going to benefit from that as well. The whole nation will be blessed. So David realizes at this point, I believe what he's saying here, is that he realizes, man, as a king, I've been so far from God, my sins are going to have consequences on Jerusalem. They're going to have consequences on the nation. You know? And so he goes before God, and he's confessed his sins have been made right with God. And then he's asking God to bless Jerusalem. To build the walls of Jerusalem. Not to destroy Jerusalem. Not that his sins would have these horrible consequences on his nation, but rather that God would now rebuild his nation, rebuild the city that he rules from, because he's been made right with God. And again, this reminds us of this truth, that when we sin, we don't just affect ourselves, but our sins have consequences on those that are closest to us. Our sins have consequences on our marriages, on our friendships. Our sins have consequences on our children. Okay? And we need to be careful and mindful about all of this. And that's not just some sin that I do in private. You know, the lasting effects are going to affect those that you care about the most. Okay? And for David, in such great authority of a nation, he knows his sins are going to affect his entire nation. Okay? God may very well, and we see this again in the nation many times, when they're far from the Lord, God will allow the enemies to come, and cause them problems, and of course David does not want his entire nation to suffer because of his wrongdoing. So sin has consequences on others. Verse number 19. Then shall thou be pleased, then shall thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with the sacrifices of righteousness. So does God want us to offer sacrifices like in the Old Testament they'll offer? Yeah, of course he does. Okay? But he'll only be pleased with that when you're right with him. Okay? When we come, we sing praises to the Lord, these are sacrifices of praise, but it's only going to please the Lord if you're right with him. Alright? Then shall thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then shall they offer bullocks upon mine altar. Okay? So again, what pleases the Lord? The broken, the contrite heart. That's what brings a sinner back to the Lord. That's what causes a sinner to confess their sins. We all have a problem with pride. Alright? We all, you know, we all just think that we're better than what we really are. You know, this flesh has a way of making us think of ourselves as something great. But remember, this flesh is not great. This flesh is not great. The new man is great. Okay? The child of God, that which is born of the Spirit, that which is born of God, that's great. It's got the greatness of Christ, you know? But you know this flesh, when we sin, we get hardened sometimes, we get a bit prideful. Well, I'm not as bad as other sinners. Isn't that what people are like at the door when you go preaching the gospel? I'm a good person. I mean, I'm not a murderer. I'm not a rapist. Yeah, but you've come short of the glory of God. Yeah, okay. To a fellow man, you might look just fine, but when you compare yourself to God, you're on your way to hell. Yeah? That's what people think. I'm not as bad as other people. It's that pride, you know? And no, we need to cause people to understand they've sinned against the Lord. When we're going to preach them the gospel to get saved, they have to understand they're a sinner. And if they die without Christ, they go into hell. But you know what? Even as Christians, okay, our position is sorted. We're not going to hell. Praise God. But our walk needs to be sorted. Every day. Every moment. You know, in the fellowship, in the light of the Lord God. Rejoicing. Being happy. You know, rejoicing in your salvation. You know, being excited for the things of God. We can lose all of those things when we're far from the Lord, when we don't confess our sins. It's that pride stops us from going before God. Or the embarrassment stops us. Sometimes it was the embarrassment that stopped me going to the Lord. Oh man, I don't even want to tell God what I've done. But then He knows anyway. I can't hide it from Him. He knows anyway. So I might as well just go and tell Him. I might as well just face the music. And then you're reminded about God's forgiveness of His mercies. And you're back walking in the fellowship of the Lord. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I just want to thank you for Psalm 51. Lord, King David committed such a grievous sin. But I thank you that we can see his heart and his mind, Lord, as he confesses before you in this psalm. And Lord, I know it's been a psalm that has really motivated me in the past, Lord, to be made right with you. And Lord, I just pray, Lord, if there's anybody here in this church that is not broken, Lord, that is prideful, that has unconfessed sin, Lord, that are trying to justify themselves, Lord, I just pray that they go before you, Lord, and be made right with you. Lord, we want to be a church that is walking in fellowship with you. We want every man, woman, and child to be walking your paths in righteousness, Lord. Lord, walk in your light. Because at the end of the day, Lord, I want our church to be a church that pleases you, Lord, as we sing and we offer our sacrifices of service toward you, Lord, that you would be pleased and you would receive it. Lord, if we are far from you, Lord, I just ask you that you would just forgive us, Lord, help us to know your ways, and Lord, once we are cleansed, Lord, that you would use us to do some great works for you. We thank you so much for this passage of scripture. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, brethren, thank you for that. Let's take our hymnals. And let's turn to hymn number 252. 252, Whiter Than Snow. And obviously the title for this hymn comes from Psalm 51. So, Whiter Than Snow, hymn number 252. Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole. I want thee forever to live in my soul. Break down every idol, cast out every foe. Now watch me and I shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow. Now watch me and I shall be whiter than snow. For Jesus, for this I most humbly entreat. I wait, blessed Lord, at thy crucified feet. Thy faith for my cleansing, I see thy blood flow. Now watch me and I shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow. Now watch me and I shall be whiter than snow. Lord Jesus, thou seest I patiently wait. Come now and within me a new heart creates. To those who have saw thee, thou never said snow. Now watch me and I shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow. Now watch me and I shall be whiter than snow. That's it. All right. We did sing all three stanzas though, so the music's a little bit longer. All right. Well, great singing. On to the announcements. Don't forget we have our afternoon service at 12 p.m. As I mentioned, the painter is going to come back on Monday, but it should be completely done on Monday, and we have our Wednesday service at 6.30 p.m. this Wednesday. Birthdays. Are there any birthdays this week? Is that your hand, Sebastian? You got a birthday coming up? Which day? Amen. Today Sebastian turns 11, so let's give Sebastian a round of applause. Happy birthday. I did see a birthday cake out there in the foyer, so we'll get to celebrate. Are there any other birthdays this week? Any wedding anniversaries? No? All right. I don't really have any other announcements except just a reminder that this is our final Sunday with Brother Michael for about a month. Lord willing, he'll come back from the Czech Republic. We have a wife and a family, so let's just keep that in prayer. Obviously a significant change in Brother Michael's life, and I don't know. I feel like I'm more excited than he is. I'm looking forward to meeting Vera. Heard so much about her for many years, so excited to meet her. Lord willing, keep it all in prayer. Obviously it's a lot of work to bring them to Australia for them to settle in.