Seeking the Mercy of God - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Psalm 51, David seeks the mercy of God through a repentant heart after his sin with Bathsheba.
Transcript:
I'm going to say something to you that may seem obvious, but I think it's an important thing to recognize, which is that only the guilty need mercy. Only the guilty need mercy. The innocent do not need mercy because they haven't done anything wrong. The innocent only need justice, for their rights to be upheld. Maybe they need charity, they might need love, but they don't need mercy because they've done nothing wrong. But who among us is innocent? Among other human beings, in certain times and places and courts, we might be judged to be innocent. But what about before God? Can we claim perfect innocence before Him?
The honest person will admit that we cannot. God sees everything. The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 1:10, if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar and his word is not in us. Before God, we are all guilty and so we are all in need of mercy. But what does it look like to call and receive God's mercy? In our last Sunday here in the Psalms, we turn to Psalm 51 to learn from David's example.
So we begin with verses one through six. David writes. For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
So the superscription for this psalm, if you recall, usually a line or two at the beginning that kind of gives us the context or what the purpose or the musical instruction for the psalm, tells us that this psalm is written in the context of when the prophet Nathan came to David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba. I'm not going to go over the entirety of that story, of that account with you, but the short of it is this, is that David saw another man's wife, a woman named Bathsheba, decided he wanted her for himself, and in pursuing her, she became pregnant and as a result, David decided that he was going to kill her husband in order to cover it up. So it's after all this that the prophet Nathan comes to confront David on his sin. And what we find here is David's response.
Now, before we get to that response though, just the fact of this, the fact of David's great sin gives us quite a bit of pause because if you're familiar with the Old Testament and the story of David, you'll know that God chose David to be the king of Israel. He rejected Saul who was the first king of Israel because He perceived David to be a man after his own heart. How can it be that David is a man after God's own heart when he's committed such a terrible sin? Well, we certainly can't see it in the sin., where we do see the heart of David in alignment with God's own heart is in his genuine remorse and repentance over his sin. And this is different than Saul. Samuel confronted Saul a couple of times when he didn't do what God wanted him to do and Saul was very stubborn and obstinate about it and defiant. As we look at this song we find that is not the case at all with David.
David comes pleading mercy from God in light of his sin. In verse one he says, have mercy on me, God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion. See, David's not asking for mercy on the basis, well God I did all these other things for you and so please just have mercy on me this one time. He makes no excuses for himself. He does not try to justify himself. He says, God, I'm asking for your mercy because I know your unfailing love. I know your great compassion. It's only on that basis I could ever expect to receive mercy. It’s on the basis of who you are, God, that I even make this approach.
He pleads that God would blot out his transgression. Verse two he says, Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. David's asking that God would wash away all his iniquity and cleanse him from his sin. He's not asking for him to just kind of white out the record. As though God would just simply ignore that part of that sin that David committed. No, he understands that the stain of sin runs deeper than that. In fact, it actually springs from his own sinful heart. See, sin is not just a matter of an act that was done that was wrong. It's actually a condition. And David is sensitive to that. And he knows how just unclean he is because of his sinful ways. And so he's asking God to cleanse him. Give me a good scrubbing, God. Wash away all all my sin.
And the reason why David asks this of God is because he fully appreciates the depth of his sinfulness. He knows that this is not just a casual oopsie. He sees its depth. He sees its extent. See, very often when we think about sin, we usually just think about certain actions that are sinful. And when we think about the sinful actions, we usually think of the really bad ones, like the ones that David committed, adultery, murder. might think about stealing, greed, maybe really lashing out at somebody, you know, things along those sorts of lines. And those are sins. Usually when you come to Christ, those are some of the first things that God addresses. Those big, gargantuan sort of sins. Those external, superficial sort of things. But actually, those aren't the real issue in the human heart. Sin runs deeper. The issue of sin comes down to our will, to our desires, to our loves. Do we love God with all our heart? Do we love others as we love ourselves? Maybe we will to do the right thing, but do you even desire to do it? Sometimes I can say this for myself. Sometimes I do the right thing even when I don't want to do it. And that's commendable. But the better thing is to want to do it. And the fact that I don't desire to do the right thing is a reflection of the sinfulness of my heart. Do we have that sort of grief and recognition of our condition of sinfulness? This is how it is that as you progress in the Christian life, as you follow Christ, and you've been maybe many decades in the faith, you can still recognize even perhaps more than you did when you first began, God. I am just such a great sinner in need of your mercy and in need of your cleansing. And our sins are not only those things that we do, acts that we do, it's those things that we fail to do when we fail to do the things that we should do. Sins of commission and sins of omission. And the most significant thing of all that David recognizes here is that the issue of his sin, the offense of his sin, at the end of the day is an offense against God.
He says, against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Now we might ask, how is it that David can say, it's only against you I have sinned? Certainly he's sinned against Uriah. You can say he's sinned against Bathsheba. So how can he say that it's only against God that he has sinned? Well, I don't think we should come away from this thinking that David isn't saying that he hasn't wronged anyone else. That's not the point. What he's saying is this, is that God is the one whom he has primarily wronged here. And the best way I think we can imagine this sort of distinction, I think, is when we think about our relationships with others. There's certain things that we owe to all other human beings just on the basis that they are human beings made in the image of God. But then there are certain human beings that we owe more to. I owe more to my son than I owe to any other little boy. I owe to my father something more than I owe to any other man. And we owe to God something more than we owe to anyone else. We owe to him the entirety of our lives. Complete devotion.
And so it's in that way, because David has failed to do that, that he could say, my sin is only against you because I’ve failed you, just, so fundamentally. I'm supposed to be this man whose heart is after your own. Clearly, I've fallen short. It could also have this aspect of it as well, and Saint Augustine in commenting on this passage says this, says essentially that God is the only just judge. God is the only one who is perfectly innocent and so in a position to judge. You can think of it in this way, while we have all wronged each other in various ways, I could, someone could say, you've wronged me in this way, but behind that person would be someone else tapping their shoulder, well, you wronged me in this way. And it would just be an endless chain until it gets to God, who is the only one who hasn't wronged, and it's to him that we all must give account. Makes me think of when Jesus confronts the woman caught in adultery in John 8:7. He says, let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. So it's in that sense that all of us are not in a position really to act like I'm the one who must be satisfied. It's the God, the one, is the one who must be satisfied.
And this is the great human crisis. We have sins. You've fallen short of the glory of God. We are deserving of punishment. How might we receive mercy? Now David recognizes in verse 6, he says that he was sinful from conception. He was sinful from birth. And what he's kind of picking up on here is this reality that because of Adam and Eve's rebellion against God, there's been imparted to every single human being a sin nature which has corrupted our human natures. So that right out of the gates, we are sinners and so we sin. Sin is not a thing that needs to be taught, even though it often is. We have some biblical testimony to the, further biblical testimony to this reality. Also in Psalm 58, says even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies. Paul in Romans 5 says just as sin entered the world through one man, so we see how sin and evil entered into the world through Adam, and then verse 19 he says for just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners. There's a reason why we all seem to be messed up and none of us seem to be able to get it right. Because we walk in the footprints of our parents, Adam and Eve.
And then we get to verse 6. And it says, yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Now, I have to admit that when I read this verse in the NIV, I struggled with it. And whenever you struggle with a verse, it can be good hint to maybe look at some other translations to see if this is a verse with maybe some different opinions on how it should be translated. And what I found is that the translators of the NIV chose to translate the word tahoth (inner region) as meaning womb. And I'm guessing that is because David was just talking about how he was sinful from his conception. But I tend to prefer the translations given by the ESV and the CSB. ESV says, behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. The CSB, surely you desire integrity in the inner self, and you teach me wisdom deep within. Now, maybe the NIV writers are correct. But I think, I think. the ESV and the CSB get to the same point, and perhaps all of them share, would come to the same interpretation here, which is that what God really desires is wholehearted devotion to Him. Again, not just a superficial compliance, but obedience from the heart. And that, in fact, we all know what we are supposed to be doing. I think that's what it might be getting at there when it says you teach me wisdom in the secret heart, you teach me wisdom deep within.
It makes me think of what Paul says in Romans 2.15 about the Gentiles who had never received the law, that is the Bible, they didn't have the Old Testament. But Paul says, they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times times even defending them. See, people don't have to go to church to know that they've messed up. People in their hearts know what's right, what's wrong, even if they don't know all of the details. The full picture that we do receive from scripture is a reflection of God's design for us. He's put His imprint upon us because we are created to be His image bearers and we know in our bones when we walk away from that.
What David is doing here is he's taking responsibility for his sin. He's making no excuses. And as he asked for mercy, we see that he's asking for his God to change him. Continuing on in verse seven. Says, cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Now he makes reference to something that you might be unfamiliar with. He says, cleanse me with hyssop. What is hyssop? Hyssop is a plant in the Near East that is used in the Old Testament to apply blood and to apply water for cleansing or marking out the people of God. If you look up hyssop, it won't look like that. They actually call this, I guess the other name for this is Syrian oregano. I guess it's a spice. But you'll find if you look at biblical hyssop, this is the picture of it you'll get. You can kind of see how can be used as a bit of a dauber. In Exodus 12 when the Hebrew people are preparing for Passover, to be protected from the angel of death that was to sweep over Egypt they're instructed to take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the door frame. None of you shall go out the door of your house until morning. Numbers 19:18 talks about a man who's ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in water, and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who are there.
Now, this raises a bit of a question, is how is God going to do this? How is he, because hyssop needs something to be dipped in, how is it that David is going to be cleansed? How is he going to be washed clean, whiter than snow? Though it's not stated explicitly, what David is really anticipating here is that work of atonement, that work of cleansing, which can only be provided by Christ. All the animal sacrifices that happened were just pointing to Jesus Christ. Paul says in Romans 3.25-26, says, God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood — to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
You see, without Christ no one could be justified. Not by the good things that they tried to do, not by animal sacrifices. Everything was left unpunished until Christ appeared. Because Jesus is the man, the human being, that all of us were supposed to be, have never been, and never could be. He is the only one who didn't deserve death, and yet, in perfect obedience unto God, he offered up his life as a gift, as a ransom, as a sacrifice unto God to make amends for our sins. Now that doesn't automatically cover everyone, but it stands as an opportunity that if we will put our faith in him, if we will trust in him, if we will be united with him, we will be covered by his righteousness. so we can be cleansed and receive this mercy that David is seeking. See, it's Christ who, though not born at this time, it is Christ who makes it possible that David could hear joy and gladness yet again. So that the bones that have been crushed because he feels God's conviction, that these crushed bones of David might rejoice yet again.
Christ is the one who makes it possible for God to hide his face from sin, to blot out our iniquity. Again, going back to 1 John 1, the Apostle John tells us this. says, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
This is everything that David is desiring here. And this is what is realized in Christ and made available to all of us if we, like David, will confess our sins, seek the forgiveness that he offers. So it's rather profound as we're looking at this passage, just how much it anticipates the work of Christ. Because again, this is the only way in which we can imagine David to be spared based on what he's done. But we see elsewhere in the Old Testament how this work of Christ is anticipated.
I'm not going to take you to all the passages, but just this one that is rather iconic, Isaiah 53 verses five through six. where it says, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The curse that David deserved to bear is borne by Christ. And Christ bears the curse that all of us deserve. He bears it upon himself.
And there's more here, because David's not only asking for this, for superficial cleansing, again, not just to kind of make an alteration to the record book. He wants to be a new person. Verses 10 through 12, he says, create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
You see, sincere remorse, sincere repentance seeks renewal. No one who's truly sorry just goes right back to doing what they were doing. We all know that's phony, right? If someone says, oh, I'm sorry I did that to you, and then they just do the, they just go right back to doing that thing again.
We see here that David is genuinely remorseful for what he's done and so he desires to be truly restored. Not just in his standing with God, not just, in his person, that he would be who he has been created and called to be. A man after God's own heart. That he have a pure heart, those who are pure in heart, who have a pure heart, will see God. That's what Jesus tells us in his Sermon on the Mount. And what David wants here is a steadfast spirit, a willing spirit, not one that's faithless, but one that's loyal to God day after day. For that to happen, we need the Holy Spirit. And we see David make reference to the spirit. saying don't take away your spirit from me. The Holy Spirit wasn't indwelling people at that time, but the Spirit was always operating at that time. And he now inhabits his people. And it is he who makes it possible that we might have a willing heart. But it's worth asking ourselves in our prayers, do we pray God, help me, make me loyal to you, help me be faithful to you? That's what David is praying here. Not merely for forgiveness, but that he would be faithful and loyal to God. And the joy that David is seeking here is that joy which is realized as God delivers us when he raises us to be who we were created to be in communion with him. And that's something that we begin to experience today. God sanctifies us and does restore us to who we're supposed to be. But we're obviously a work in progress. And so There's a complete joy that we're looking forward to when Christ returns. And everything will be made new.
What David is desiring here is something that. is anticipated for all, the Old Testament anticipates it for all. Ezekiel 11:19 says I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. We turn to the New Testament and look at Hebrews 9:14, comparing how the blood of the animal sacrifices was just a superficial, ritual cleansing. Says, how much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! That's David's desire here, says I want to serve the living God. Is that your desire? Set your hearts crying that you would serve the living God.
The life that David anticipates for himself, thereafter is one centered on knowing God and making God known to the world. It's the kind of life that we have said defines the purpose of our church. Closing in verses 13 through 19, it says, then I will teach transgressors your ways so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, God, you will not despise. May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
What David aspires to do is to teach transgressors, transgressors like himself, to turn back to God, to receive the mercy that he himself is seeking. David is aspiring to a redemptive purpose and ultimately this is a purpose which we are invited to join in Jesus Christ, the one who is the true Redeemer, who invites us to go out to the world with this message of the gospel that people may turn to God and receive the forgiveness of their sins. We find the example of one of the disciples doing this, the apostle Peter speaking in the temple in Acts 3, verses 19 through 21. He says to the crowd gathered there, repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he's promised long ago through his holy prophets. So obviously at this point, Christ has been raised from the dead, he has ascended to the right hand of the father, but he's going to come again. What Peter is saying is repent. Repent and receive the forgiveness of your sins.
Because otherwise, there is a judgment that is coming. The apostle Paul, writing in 2 Thessalonians 1, Verses 8 through 10a says, the Lord Jesus will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.
And so it's in anticipation of Christ that David says he would devote his life to being centered on teaching transgressors to turn to God. He's kind of almost like a pre-evangelist. And also this, that his life would be devoted to singing God's praises. It's by God's deliverance that David's lips are opened to sing his praise. When we think about Israelite worship, we have to remember that it consisted not just of song, but actually centrally in sacrifice, offering sacrifices unto God. And those sacrifices just weren't, they weren't just about atonement. A lot of times when we think about Old Testament sacrifice, we think about the people dealing with their sinfulness before God. It was those sacrifices, sin offerings, atonement sacrifice, but they also just offered sacrifice to give thanks to God, to praise Him.
But David notes this. He says that the true sacrifice that God desires is not the animal sacrifices really. This is in verse 16 and 17. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, you, God, will not despise. That's the sacrifice that God desired then, the true sacrifice that God desired then. It's the sacrifice that God desires now. God continues to desire sacrifices. We just shouldn't think the sacrifice is atoned for our sin or justifies before God because Christ is the atonement sacrifice that is given once and for all that doesn't need to be repeated. Even so, God very much welcomes the sacrifice of a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart.
It's such contrition and brokenness that is at the head of us seeking this new life in Christ. We come to Christ not in pride, but in humility, in need of forgiveness. That doesn't mean Christians are supposed to be down in the dumps and like grievous all the time. We go from grief to joy in the grace that we receive in Christ. And then thereafter, we continue to offer sacrifices to God by offering up the entirety of our lives to Him.
The apostle Paul says this in Romans 12. Says, therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies, meaning here is all of yourself, as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. And if you didn't know what this means, negative here in verse two explains, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Present ourselves as living sacrifices unto God, as to be conformed to Christ rather than the world.
And then David says this. Verse 18-19 says, may it please you to prosper Zion, to build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar. Now this is one of these verses where sometimes as a Christian you're reading this and you're like, well does this really have any relevance to me? You know, we're not, there's no temple in Jerusalem anymore. That has kind of passed away in Christ. There's still something that we can understand here. Because, in fact, there is a new Jerusalem that we're anticipating. When David is asking for God to build the walls of Zion, he's asking for God to bring prosperity to the city in which his presence is found. To bring prosperity to his people. We can understand that quite literally, geographically, at that time. But there's also application today. And to understand this, we turn to Revelation. We go to Revelation 19 and Revelation chapter 21 where we learn who this new Jerusalem really is. 19 verses 7-8 says, let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people. Okay, so we have in Revelation 19, this bride of the Lamb, and clearly it's the church, it's the people of God because saying that she's clothed in the righteous acts of God's holy people. And then how interesting it is, you go a couple chapters over in Revelation 21 and talks about the bride again in association with something else. Says, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, come I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. The angel tells the apostle John, I'm going to go show you the bride. And he takes him to this mountain and he shows him the city, shows him the city of Jerusalem descending down, and when you see the description of the city that goes onward from there, talks about the twelve, it makes allusions to the twelve apostles, clearly he's talking about the people of God and God dwelling in the midst of his people. And so certainly we can pray this, that God would build up his people, that he would build up the church.
And likewise, there's application here when we think about the sacrifices that are being offered. animal sacrifices have gone away. They've passed away. David says God will delight in them again though, because the true heart of righteousness is actually present in his people, not just superficial compliance and just offering up animals while living sinful lives. When we think again about the sacrifices that we're offering to God, we're doing it in a way of Paul, offering ourselves as living sacrifices unto God.
So in this chapter, in Psalm 51, David shows us how to seek God's forgiveness, anticipating our deliverance in Christ. King Solomon, second son of David by Bathsheba, writes this in his Proverbs. Proverbs 28:13 says, whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. When I read that verse, it just awakened my imagination to think about David sitting with Solomon and talking about his regret over his sin, for the mercy that he received from God. It's not hard to imagine that Solomon learned this wisdom from his father. When confronted by Nathan, David did not conceal his sin — he confessed it. He sought mercy and found mercy — his life was spared both then and for eternity because of Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, in his lifetime, he did have to bear serious consequences for his sin. The words the prophet Nathan tells him in 2 Samuel 12 would come to pass. He tells David this, says, now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. This is what the Lord says: out of your own household I'm going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel." Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan replied, the Lord has taken away your sin. You're not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die. This is how Solomon came to be the second born son of David and Bathsheba.
Repenting of our sins and receiving God's mercy does not necessarily mean we will be spared in the immediate. When we sin, we often have to bear the consequences — from having to stand before a judge in court to losing the trust of others that might have to be regained because maybe we've sinned against them in some way. St. Augustine in commenting on Psalm 51 and thinking about David's life, how he sinned and how he repented, applies this kind of pithy saying of the early church. in light of this man who fell but repented and found mercy. Says, let them hear that have not fallen, lest they fall; let them hear that have fallen, that they may rise. In other words, learn from the example of David, lest you fall like him. But if you, like David, have fallen, hear this. Hear God's offer of mercy so that you may rise.
We should not sin, but we are sinners. Those without Christ are enslaved to sin. Those who have turned to Christ have been liberated from sin's tyranny. And yet, even so, Christians do sin. Sin should grieve us. Falling into sin is no light thing, It invites God's judgment. In the face of such sin, we see Christ in us when we are brokenhearted by our own sin and respond the way that David does. I have no problem saying that we have reason to be concerned for the faith of a person who casually sins and thinks nothing of it when admonished by fellow believers in the manner of Nathan.
We all have fallen we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, some more lately than others. Whatever the case, here now is your invitation to rise up from the dust. God has mercy for you in Jesus Christ. If you confess your sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive you of your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness. Not because of any performance on your part, but because of what Christ has done for us. It is for this purpose that God sent his son into the world. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Receive the mercy he offers. Receive that mercy, take it to others. See that mercy, present your life to God in thanksgiving and praise.
Let's pray. Father, along with David, we confess our sin before you. We have sinned in so many various ways, Father, even just in the past week, not even thinking of our lifetimes, Father. We confess our sin before you, Father, desiring that we would remain whole, that we would be truly cleansed and restored unto you. And Father, we seek your face because your unfailing love is your great compassion. And we know that your love has not failed us because you so loved us that you sent your son into the world. Father, we turn to you seeking our forgiveness under the blood of Jesus Christ, that by trusting in Him, and the provision that you yourself are providing through your Son, we have confidence that we can be saved by Him. Father, if we lack this repentance, Father, this remorse, create it in us, Father, I pray. And in turn, Father, give us this great zeal for for leading others to seek this mercy in you. To teach others to turn away from their sins and turn to you. That we would praise you with joy because of the grace you have offered us in Jesus Christ. We ask this Father, in the Holy Name, the all-powerful name, the name of the great King, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)