Sermon on the Mount Part XXIX - More on Forgiveness

[0:00] Sometimes it takes you 50 years of singing something before you understand what you're singing. That's the case with me. Psalm 51, if you would please. We are continuing with the theme of forgiveness.

[0:13] And I was just somewhat amazed this morning as we watched the Les Feldic video because we are virtually neck and neck in the subject content that we are teaching.

[0:25] And we took a hiatus from the Les Feldic video series for the past many, many months. And we've been dealing with some other video materials and other messages, other subject matter, and then just returned to it this morning.

[0:42] And lo and behold, he is talking about Acts 16 and Acts 17. Well, that's exactly where we are in the men's Thursday morning class that's been meeting since 1965.

[0:54] And that's where we are in the book of Acts. And then this morning he was talking about the subject of forgiveness and the confessing of sin, etc.

[1:06] And that's where we are for our morning service. So I guess maybe the Lord wanted us to have a double dose of that. So we continue to talk about forgiveness.

[1:18] And we have already described this as every human being's greatest need. No matter what your station in life is, no matter what your responsibilities, no matter what your gifts or talents, the greatest need that you have as an individual is not even the air you breathe or the food you eat.

[1:40] It is forgiveness from an utterly holy and righteous God. And we have already presented somewhat of controversy regarding the subject of forgiveness, because there is absolutely no question about the conditionality of forgiveness being taught in the Sermon on the Mount that we have already quoted a number of times and have been working on.

[2:06] And it's found in Matthew chapter 6. By the way, we are still, in case you're interested, we are still pursuing the subject of the Sermon on the Mount, which we began many months ago, and we will conclude it once we have finished chapter 7.

[2:22] So right now we are kind of stuck in chapter 6, because we are dealing with what is a very clearly stated condition that Christ has attached to the subject of forgiveness.

[2:34] And you've got to remember, because this is key, Christ spoke these words to his apostles in connection with the time frame under which they were living and the program under which they were functioning, which was clearly the Mosaic program.

[2:56] We have emphasized time and again that when Jesus Christ came to this earth and at the age of 30 years was introduced by John the Baptizer to the nation of Israel as Israel's Messiah, Christ was functioning under the Mosaic law.

[3:16] He was not living in the New Testament. It is amazing how many Christians do not understand that, because they automatically think that the beginning of the New Testament is with the birth of Jesus.

[3:32] No, it was not. Jesus was born a Jew under the Mosaic law. He kept the Mosaic law in every regard. He upheld the law.

[3:43] He said he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law. Everything he did, he did with a Jewish motif and in that standard. Because the nation of Israel had been raised up of God to be a peculiar people at a peculiar time in a peculiar place.

[4:02] And the directives that were given by God through Moses did not apply to any other nation in the world. The law of Moses was given to Israel exclusively.

[4:16] It wasn't given to any of the heathen nations around him. It wasn't given to any other people. It was exclusively for the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had directives delivered to them that no other nation ever had from God.

[4:30] And all the other nations were purely pagan and polytheistic, worshipped many gods, many idols, and all the rest of it. Israel stood out like a sore thumb among all of her neighbors because Israel was the only nation that was monotheistic, believed in one God and one God only.

[4:52] And it was into that kind of a religious culture that Christ came. He kept the Mosaic law in every regard. However, and by the way, one of the qualifications given under that Mosaic law and repeated by Christ had to do with, if you forgive men their transgressions against you, then your heavenly Father will forgive you your transgressions.

[5:21] But if you do not forgive others, then God will not forgive you. And that is very clearly stated. And some are of the opinion that because it's there in the Bible, and especially because it's in the red letter spoken by Jesus himself, that's the official line.

[5:41] That's the one you go by. No, it isn't. I know that sounds like blasphemy to say it isn't when Christ was the one who gave it. But it isn't.

[5:53] Because Christ is later going to give another directive regarding forgiveness that will update the earlier one. Because that earlier one was cast in the culture of the Mosaic law.

[6:06] What was it that changed that law? It was the death of Christ. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

[6:18] Romans 10.4 So when Jesus Christ died on that cross and paid the penalty for our sins, everything changed. A whole new order is ushered in.

[6:29] It is not immediately going to be realized. Because the Jews are going to continue right on with what? Judaism. The Mosaic law.

[6:42] None of the Jews, including the 12 apostles, by the way. Including the 12 apostles. None of them are going to say, well, Christ is crucified, buried, raised again, ascended to heaven.

[6:57] Now everything's different. This is the New Testament. No, no, no. They did not realize that. It is true that it happened. And I think it happened with the rending of the veil in the temple.

[7:08] I think that in the plan and program of God was when the change actually took effect. Because God is effectively negating the Mosaic system.

[7:18] And this is a big sticking point for the Jews. And I'll tell you why. They never in their wildest imagination believed that the law of Moses would ever come to an end.

[7:36] And the reasoning was this. The law of Moses was given by God. And God isn't going to come to an end. And neither are the laws that he's given.

[7:48] The Mosaic law will be enforced permanently. Well, that wasn't to be the case. And that was never God's intention. Because if you read Jeremiah 31.31, the text says, God is saying through the prophet Jeremiah, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah and the house of Israel.

[8:17] Not like the former covenant which I made with them which they broke. What was he talking about? He's talking about the Mosaic covenant.

[8:30] The law of Moses. And he says, I am going to establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the first one which they broke.

[8:41] And this one will be different because I will put my spirit in them and they will keep my laws. Well, they didn't keep the laws of Moses. They fractured them constantly.

[8:53] That's the new covenant. And I'd be the first to admit, and I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit it because having studied the scriptures for over 50 years, maybe I should know these things by now, but I'm thick-headed about some things.

[9:10] I don't know exactly what our relationship is to the new covenant. I know that we, in the body of Christ, derive spiritual benefits from it. But the text says very clearly in Jeremiah with whom he would make that covenant, and it's with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

[9:30] And I don't know to what extent we, as the church, the body of Christ, are involved in any of the covenants because we operate on the basis of grace.

[9:44] And that's different. So I'm still looking for more light on this subject, and I find it fascinating to contemplate, but I do know what Jeremiah says, and it refers specifically to Israel.

[9:58] So the Jews, in one sense, should have known that the time is coming when the old covenant would be done away and replaced with the new. And by the way, the book of Hebrews really addresses this in a couple of different places.

[10:11] And the writer of Hebrews makes it very clear that God has taken away the first, which is the Mosaic law, that he may establish the second, which is the new covenant.

[10:28] And Hebrews reinforces that as well as from Jeremiah. So the Jews just could not contemplate the idea of the Mosaic law ever passing away at all.

[10:43] And you will recall as you read through the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul, he had continual conflict with the Jews everywhere he went because he did not seek to impose the demands of the Mosaic law upon the Gentiles to whom he preached and all the Jews thought he should have.

[11:02] But he didn't do that. However then, with the death of Christ and the removal of the law for all of these restrictions, it was a whole new thing.

[11:15] And one of the things that became new was this business of forgiveness that we are talking about that was a conditional forgiveness. If you forgive others, God will forgive you.

[11:27] If you do not forgive others, God will not forgive you. And then you'll recall we inserted that passage from Colossians, I think it's 2.13, where Paul refers to Christ having forgiven us all trespasses.

[11:41] And we describe that as a blanket forgiveness. When you exercise your faith in Jesus Christ, you are given the righteousness of Christ as a gift.

[11:55] It becomes yours. It is permanent. It is unchangeable. It cannot be added to. It cannot be subtracted from. You possess a standing, a status before God that is just as righteous as Jesus Christ.

[12:13] And I know that's difficult to conceive of because we all know ourselves and we know we don't deserve anything like that. But that's not why you have it. You aren't given that status because you deserve it.

[12:26] You're given that status because God is gracious and because Jesus died for your sins. But the Mosaic Law with the commands you forgive and God will forgive you, you don't forgive, God won't forgive you, that's all under the law.

[12:42] That all changed with the death of Christ. We are now living on the plus side of the death of Christ, not the minus side. So we are under a whole new directive, entirely different.

[12:56] for what the law could not do, Romans 8 says, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did in the person of His Son, sending Christ to be our sacrifice in the flesh.

[13:11] and this is absolutely glorious. And it's all due to understanding the time and the place and the purpose.

[13:23] It all goes back to Miles Coverdale. It shall greatly help you to understand Scripture if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom and to whom with what words at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goes before and what follows.

[13:44] Rules from Miles Coverdale in 1535, and they've never been improved upon. And you know, if you just apply these rules to the passage in the Sermon on the Mount, what looks like a contradiction just melts away.

[14:01] It isn't there. There is an update, and the update is different. So, I want you to look at Psalm 51 because this too is operating under the Mosaic Law.

[14:13] However, and I hope this won't sound contradictory, but I must insist that I think this is the way it is. At least it's the only way that I can understand it.

[14:25] Even though we are not under the Old Covenant at all, and never were. Never were. Yet, there are principles in the Old Testament that are valid and applicable for all people of all times across the board in any dispensation and all dispensations.

[14:47] There are certain unchanging truths that contain principles that are to be applied anywhere, everywhere. And here is one of them.

[14:59] It is in Psalm 51, and it has to do with forgiveness. This is David's penitential psalm. As best as we can determine, and most of the scholars, if not all, agree with this, that this psalm was written by David as a consequence to his being found out and having the finger of Nathan pointed at him as regards his affair with Bathsheba and his ordering the execution of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah the Hittite.

[15:47] And apparently, David thought this was all hush-hush and that actually, what he had done, you know the story, he had had an illicit affair with Bathsheba, he impregnated her, and she is with child, and now they've got a problem.

[16:08] So when she explains her pregnancy to David, he of course, being in the position he's in as king, is able to issue all kinds of orders, and he calls one of his men in, and this is after he goes through all of this rigmarole of bringing Uriah the Hittite home from his deployment and telling Uriah, you need to rest a while and enjoy the home life for a while and enjoy your wife.

[16:41] And Uriah threw him a curve. Uriah had more integrity than David did. And as David was contemplating going in and having relations, which he was certainly entitled to have, with his wife, Bathsheba, the thought struck him.

[17:06] Boy, how can I do this? How can I go in there and sleep with my warm wife tonight when all of my men who follow me so loyally are out there in the field and they're separated from their wives and their homes and their children.

[17:28] And you know, I just can't do that. And David was more of a man than most of us would be.

[17:39] He slept outside the house, I believe, on the doorstep. I suppose that made Bathsheba feel somewhat rejected, but David just couldn't enjoy the situation when he knew his men were not.

[17:56] And that completely foiled David's plan because the plan was Uriah the Hittite is going to come home and spend the night with his wife while he's on furlough and of course they are going to cohabit and that is close enough to the time when I impregnated Delilah and voila, we're home free.

[18:17] Everybody will assume that David or that Uriah and Bathsheba his wife got it together and that's when she got pregnant when he was home on leave.

[18:28] But it didn't happen. So now David has to go to plan two, plan B. He calls in one of his leading officers and says in a few days we are preparing for a battle at such and such a place with such and such an enemy and his general says yes and he said and you know there is a certain area where troops on both sides are extremely vulnerable.

[19:00] It's kind of like a World War II motif where we were told that the average life span of an American machine gunner was about 15 minutes.

[19:12] Because when somebody is firing rapid rounds from a machine gun they are a big target and the enemy is always after them. Well they didn't have machine guns in Uriah the Hittite's day but they did have strategies of military conflict and involvement where men would be placed in positions where they were extremely vulnerable from the enemy.

[19:35] and David told his general assign that place to Uriah. I'm sure he didn't tell him why and the general taught to carry out orders no matter what probably didn't ask why just said yes sir and saluted and left and Uriah was put in the place of vulnerability and as would be predicted he didn't survive the battle.

[20:09] He was a KIA killed in action. And when news came from the front back to the palace David says oh Uriah the Hittite Uriah was killed oh what a shame and all the while he was congratulating himself inwardly thought he'd gotten away with it.

[20:28] everything looked clean and one day prophet by the name of Nathan requested an audience with the king.

[20:45] Nathan sure yeah be glad to see him send him in. Nathan came in and said your majesty I have a story to tell you.

[20:57] Okay what's your story Nathan? Well there was this man who had lots and lots of sheep. He was a very wealthy man and he was going to put on this banquet for his friends.

[21:14] But instead of taking one of his own sheep he went next door to his neighbor who only had one little lamb and he confiscated that man's lamb and slew that lamb and served it to his guests.

[21:34] What do you think of that? David said well that low down dirty rat why death would be too good for him. I can't imagine anybody doing something like that.

[21:47] And Nathan said thou art the man. and the little lamb of course was Bathsheba.

[22:00] And David the king was the one with all of the lambs and all of the sheep and yet he took one from someone who couldn't defend himself that was Uriah.

[22:18] And when Nathan said that David just lost it. He just came unglued. It is known.

[22:32] Found out. Embarrassed. Miserable. Guilty. He was wracked with guilt night and day.

[22:46] Kept him awake at night. Bothered him during him during the day. He couldn't help but wonder who else knows. How many others know. And against that backdrop he wrote Psalm 51.

[23:01] Let's read it. Be gracious to me O God according to thy loving kindness. According to the greatness of thy compassion.

[23:13] Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

[23:31] Against thee, thee only, I have sinned and done what is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified when thou dost speak and blameless when thou dost judge.

[23:44] See, David is coming clean. Nothing, absolutely nothing resolves sin issues like coming clean.

[24:00] It's always a last resort thing that we want to do. We will try every other avenue first before coming clean.

[24:10] We'll go to plan B, plan C, plan D, coming clean means admitting, confessing, acknowledging, and there is no indication here that David is making any excuses.

[24:25] He is taking full responsibility. He isn't saying, but God, you are the one that allowed me to view that delicious dish as she was taking her bath on the rooftop a couple of houses away.

[24:42] why didn't you prevent me from seeing her? Why didn't you prevent her from bathing at that time of the day so that I would never have seen her? Actually, it's your fault that I saw her.

[24:54] It's your fault that I was tempted. No, no, no, no, no, no. There's no effort to blame God for anything. And sometimes people do that. Sometimes people blame God for not having changed or removed the circumstances that led them to do what they did.

[25:16] It's all God's fault. It's not my fault. Oh, yes, it is. Yes, it is. God gave you a volition, the power of choice.

[25:27] God doesn't set us up for that. We allow ourselves to be set up. God to be up. This is beautiful. Behold, I was brought forth.

[25:42] David, he's in a spiritual meltdown. This man is just oozing with conviction, with contrition, with regret.

[25:55] All of these ingredients are necessary for genuine repentance to take place. And that's exactly what's happening. I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.

[26:10] Behold, thou dost desire truth in the innermost being. What have I been doing? What have I been doing in my innermost being? I've been living a lie.

[26:21] That's it. Been living a lie. But you desire truth in my innermost being. And in the hidden part, thou wilt make me no wisdom.

[26:33] Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Now, I want you to notice something. It's very fascinating, and I never noticed this before, and I've read this psalm I don't know how many times over the years, but I never picked up on it.

[26:51] David is not asking for anything. He is telling God. God. He isn't asking God to do these things.

[27:02] He is telling God to do these things. How can that be? Don't think of it as David ordering God around and telling him what to do.

[27:15] No, no. All David is doing is claiming the provision of God, which is a guarantee of forgiveness provided repentance and contrition are forthcoming.

[27:27] He knows that and that's what he's doing. He is here meeting the qualifications. And let me tell you something. This is a wonderful thing because this is true. This is true in any dispensation.

[27:42] God always moves and works on the behalf of a repentant individual. Old Testament, New Testament, Mosaic Law, Age of Grace, whatever.

[27:54] Nothing. Listen, if you don't hear anything else I say, hear this. God absolutely delights in human repentance.

[28:08] Human repentance is an acknowledgement and admission of being wrong and doing wrong and taking responsibility, not blaming it on anyone else.

[28:23] nothing so warms the heart of God than for a person to do that. In fact, that is a condition of salvation. You cannot come to Jesus Christ for salvation without repentance.

[28:39] It's impossible. Repentance means to change your mind and when you put your faith and trust in Christ, you can't do that without changing your mind because you held a position previous to that that was different from the one that you are now expressing when you come to faith in Christ.

[28:59] So someone has asked the question, does repentance save you? No. But it's impossible to be saved without repentance because it's impossible to be saved without changing your mind.

[29:13] You have to change your mind about yourself and your true condition. You have to change your mind about Jesus Christ and who he is. You have to change your mind about God and what he provided through Christ. All of these things.

[29:24] And sometimes this change of mind is rather automatic when you hear the gospel and you get on board with it. But what David is doing here is pouring out a repentant and a contrite heart.

[29:37] And God always responds to nothing moves God more than man's repentance. Because when you repent when you change your mind about these things you come from a position of falsehood into a position of truth.

[29:51] And that's what God is all about. It's truth. He exercised this same kind of attitude to a whole nation of people who were pagans. Ninevites.

[30:03] Jonah went and preached to them. And he preached yet forty days and Ninevah shall be overthrown. of your sin. And the city was spared.

[30:15] God always responds to repentance. Because when you repent you come from your side over to his side. You come from falsehood into reality. And God is a God of reality. Let's read on.

[30:28] Verse 10. Create in me a clean heart O God. He's not asking O God will you create in me a clean heart? And the reason he isn't asking God to do that is because he knows in meeting the conditions God will do that.

[30:44] And he is simply acknowledging that. It's a beautiful thing. And it ties in. It ties in with 1 John 1.9. And you have heard me say in time past.

[30:56] It is not appropriate. It is wrong. For a Christian to ask God for forgiveness about anything. Now I realize that sounds terrible.

[31:11] But it's truthful. In fact, I think it is downright insulting to go to God regarding any issue or any sin that you've committed and beg and plead with God, will you please forgive me?

[31:24] That is insulting to the Almighty. And the reason it is, is because the principle is, if we confess our sins, He is faithful, reliable, dependable.

[31:38] You can count on Him to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Because the moment we ask God to do something, do you realize what that implies?

[31:50] It implies, maybe He will, maybe He won't. There is no such implication with 1 John 1.9.

[32:05] That's why He simply says, if we confess our sins, God is faithful. What's the only condition? Confession. What is confession wrapped up in?

[32:18] It's in admission. It's in repentance. It's in changing your mind. It's all part of the same ball of wax. So when we confess our sin, it is downright insulting to suggest the possibility that God might not forgive you.

[32:36] Especially if it's a biggie. And especially if you've done it before. And you're back again. Maybe this time God will say, hey, Buster, I've already forgiven you for the same thing three times.

[32:52] Nothing doing. No more forgiveness. He can't do that. He absolutely cannot do that. There are a lot of things that God can't do.

[33:04] And one of them is, He cannot refuse to forgive someone who confesses their sin to Him. He can't do that. He would deny His own integrity.

[33:19] Now, some are of the opinion, well, if this is true, then we can just sin with abandonment. We can just, you know, well, you just, you can just, you can just live like a Catholic.

[33:36] Like, only you don't have to wait to go to confession. You can just confess those sins day by day. And then, and you don't have to go to a priest. You just go to, you know, it's a blanket sin.

[33:48] So, whoop-de-doo. Just go out and live however you want to. Just raise all the hell you want and sleep with whomever you want, whenever you want. And then you just confess your sin and God will forgive it. Isn't that neat?

[33:59] Isn't that slick? Well, we know it doesn't work that way. We know it doesn't work that way. And one reason it doesn't is because there's another little element involved in all of this.

[34:12] And all of this, all these packages, they've got different ingredients, but they all go together and the whole is not complete without all of them. There is a thing called contrition. That means, how do you feel about your sin?

[34:28] Now, this gets into the emotions. Contrition means you are remorseful. What is it?

[34:40] How is a Christian supposed to feel about his sin? How are you supposed to feel when you know you have sin? How are you supposed to feel about that sin?

[34:54] Proud of it? Ignore it? Excuse it? How does it affect you?

[35:04] How does it make you feel? It ought to make you feel lousy. And if you don't, you are not contrite.

[35:16] If you have no remorse, if you just flip it off as if it's nothing, that's not true repentance. True repentance means you recognize you have wounded the heart of God.

[35:31] You have offended the Holy One. And after all he's done for you and you respond with this kind of behavior, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

[35:44] And you may well feel shame. And you deserve to feel shame. The opposite of it, what are you going to do? Be proud of it? Rejoice in it?

[35:55] Exalt in it? Of course not. Of course not. You know, I really feel rotten for what I've done. Good! Good! You know what also that does? That is also an aid to prevention.

[36:10] If you don't want to feel that way again, don't do that. Because that's what it results in. This contrition, confession, admission, conscience, all these things are wrapped up in the same package.

[36:24] They constitute a whole. And they are essential in the mind and heart of the individual if he's going to be serious with God. You just can't write these things off. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

[36:42] Do not cast me away from thy presence and do not take thy Holy Spirit from me. I don't understand exactly how that worked in the Old Testament. This is under the Mosaic Law.

[36:57] The Israelites enjoyed a different kind of relationship with the Holy Spirit than we do today. What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Spirit of God which is in you which you have of God and you are not your own?

[37:14] Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6 I think it's verse 19. The Spirit of God comes to indwell the believer and he will never leave you nor forsake you and the good news is you cannot send the Holy Spirit away but you can certainly grieve him and you can quench him and you can resist him and as believers we probably all have done that.

[37:47] I know I certainly have at one time or another but you cannot grieve him away. He the Spirit of God is the earnest of the Spirit it is the down payment that God has made in you and on you and the guarantee that he will complete that which he has begun in you.

[38:07] So David prayed I think what is a legitimate prayer do not take thy Holy Spirit from me. Apparently that could have been realized in David's day under the Mosaic Law but that is not a fit prayer for today.

[38:21] No child of God has any business praying oh God please don't take your Holy Spirit from me. He has already said the Spirit of God indwells us and abides in us and he does so forever.

[38:35] Restore to me the joy of thy salvation and the point has been made and I think it's a very valid point too. David isn't asking God to save him again. He's not looking for a new dose of salvation but he certainly doesn't have any enjoyment of the salvation he has and let me tell you something anyone who is a true believer in Jesus Christ cannot enjoy living a sinful life.

[39:05] You can live one but you can enjoy it. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.

[39:20] Joy in our salvation is a byproduct of obedience and when we are obedient to the Lord the joy is there.

[39:32] When we are not there is misery conviction guilt shame discontent everything that goes with it and all of that all of those things are designed to wear us down and bring us to the place where we need to be.

[39:52] And that's exactly what David is experiencing here. Sustain me with a willing spirit God will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners will be converted to thee.

[40:08] This is another way of David's admission is that God cannot and will not use an unclean vessel. If we want to be instrumental in reaching others to change their lives we've got to be living the kind of life we should be living otherwise we won't be the kind of witness to them that we need to be.

[40:33] And David is saying how can I in a position of leadership direct and lead others to the Lord when my own life is so messed up?

[40:45] And he acknowledges that that can't be done. Deliver me from blood guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation then my tongue will joyfully sing of thy righteousness O Lord open my lips that my mouth may declare thy praise for thou dost not delight in sacrifice otherwise I would give it.

[41:09] That would be the simple way out just offer an animal clean up the slate just offer the sacrifice and that will take it all away no it won't no it won't you cannot give a substitute you cannot you cannot be harboring a sin that you know displeases the Lord and I'll tell you what I'm going to do Lord I'm going to put an extra hundred dollars in the offering box this week okay are we square now and God will say no we're not square you think I can be bought off with a hundred dollar bill what does God want God wants a repentant and a contrite heart that's what he wants he doesn't want your money he wants your heart thou dost not delight in sacrifice otherwise I would give it thou art not pleased with burnt offering but wasn't it wasn't it burnt offerings that

[42:15] God required yes it was well then how is it that he's not pleased with he is not pleased with him being a substitute he's not pleased with trying to buy him off by offering more animals sacrifices of God you know the sacrifice that God really wants the sacrifice that God really wants is a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart oh God thou wilt not despise what does that mean when you despise something you disregard it literally literally the word means to look down your nose at someone to demean them depreciate them to disrespect them you despise them it means not to even give them a second look don't take them into account at all but the thing that causes

[43:21] God to sit up and take notice is this a broken and a contrite heart oh God thou wilt not despise you will take note of it you will regard it you will account it and that's what David is doing this is the most manly thing this is the most manly thing that a man can do is to take responsibility for his actions and boy do we ever have a big need for that today it's so easy to blame somebody else but you know David David was brought up short he was embarrassed he was mortified he was shamed he was found out his sin was revealed we don't know how many other people knew about this but you know how people in the king's court had burning ears and talk and the groomers and all the stuff floating around wasn't any different with him than it would be with anybody else in my estimation the thing that really demonstrated that

[44:47] David had come full circle and he still deserved the title a man after God's own heart was that when David's son was born guess what he named him Nathan Nathan named him after the man that fingered him to me that is a real indication of a full blown repentance that really led to wonderful frame of mind and heart the way he regarded the man who called him out because you see when you really love somebody you will confront them about their sin there's a lesson there for us isn't there and father we are grateful for the testimony of

[45:59] David we see his foibles and his weakness and all of us can see something of ourselves in David because in our humanity we are all cut from the same bolt of cloth we are all human we are all in this together we cannot begin to thank you enough for the incredible act of forgiveness a God who is absolutely utterly holy and just to be willing to stoop to forgive us of our sin willful sin that we know we ought not to do and yet we do and you forgive us when we come to reality of admission and confession and acknowledgement you are ever ready to forgive just like the prodigal son and his father saw him coming from afar off and embraced him a forgiving father and a repentant son these are such wonderful and priceless principles thank you for being able to explore them however inadequate it has been we bless you for all that you've been pleased to reveal in

[47:17] Christ's name amen