Well, good morning again, church. And one thing is true about today is that you guys are on fire. Uh, today, you know, some weeks I'm a little worried about you. Uh, but this week you came to do it all right? You came to worship. And then also, let me say this about the last couple of weeks, just a moment of thankfulness. Uh, number one, you guys have loved this church well over the last couple of weeks. You have loved this community well. You have loved your families well, and from your pastor, I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you. And then also, I just wanna say, keep on doing it. Keep on doing it, and let's just keep watching how God, how God just blesses this place. Well look, speaking of blessings over the last couple weeks, as you just saw in the bumper, we are in a series walking through eight of the 150 of the Psalms that God has given us in the Bible. And uh, many of them that we've looked at so far have dealt with this idea of being blessed. We saw in Psalm one that God really does want to bless us. We saw in Psalm 32 that we are blessed 'cause God is the God of second chances. We saw in Psalm 1 28 that we're blessed when we fear God and put him in his rightful place, and we walk in his ways. And in last week in Psalm 1 21, we said that we're blessed not when we just look to the mountains, but when we look through the mountains at the one that has given us life. Well, this morning we're gonna continue in that mode, but from a little bit of a different angle. And I want you to turn with me this morning to Psalm 51, all right? Psalm 51, as we just continue to walk through what I've been calling these ancient Israel top 150 songs, all right? Because ultimately that's what these are, they're songs. And ultimately, one of the cool things to think about the Psalms is, is that these musical psalms are really and truly written for us to see the heartbeat of God. One, one of the things that I've been praying over you over these last couple of weeks is that you would grab a hold of the hope and the joy and the blessedness of what God is saying to ancient Israel because it's the same thing that he wants to say to us now. And these songs, if you would, are really speaking into people's lives right where they are and right into the situation they're in. But isn't that really what music does for us? I mean, if you start thinking about just music in general and songs in general, or if you start thinking about, let's just say your playlist, if you would, right? Your Spotify account or, or your presets in the truck or for you, children of the eighties, your binders, amen. Remember trying to drive and flip through those things, right? If you start thinking about those, the songs that we listen to in a lot of ways show us where we are in life. They show us what we're going through in life. If you just broke up with that special person on that car ride home, it is all about the country music, isn't it? It's all about the dogs died, the ports fell in, and now I'm wailing, right? If you're trying to conquer the day, it's all about journey. Is it not? Don't stop believing. There it is, right? It's all about lifting up our spirits. Well, listen, these psalms are kind of like that. They come at different people for different reasons. Some of 'em are all about praising God. Some of them are all about on our way to meet God. Some of them are written at for when we're at the temple, these guys where they were worshiping God. But then there's another genre of Psalms that we haven't really looked at and and that's the Psalms that just lament, that's the heavy ones. It's the soul battling, I guess you would, Psalms of forgiveness where God steps into a heavy moment in our lives. And that is what Psalm 51 is. Psalm 51 is actually a look into David's life. Now, I want you to see something about Psalm 51 and about actually most of the Psalms when you open your Bible, if you all go ahead and turn over there and look at Psalm 51 before you get to verse one, and most of the Psalms, there's actually a description that tells us what the psalm is, who it was written by or to, and what it's for. And let me read you what that says. That description about Psalm 51, Psalm 51 says this, it says, for the director of music, this is not scripture, it's just a description of what it is for the director of Music, a Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Now, that's quite the qualifier, is it not? I mean, right off the bat, you can see this is not gonna be one of those over the mountain Psalms, one of those really joyful moments are over the moon love moments. This one's gonna be heavy, but it's gonna be useful. This one's gonna be right at us to give us what we can do in the moments of despair. Second thing I thought about this was how would you like to write a song? I don't know if maybe Carrie wrote something or one of the other people writes something and And before your song, every time Casey, Casey came on the radio, am I aging myself on that one? Right? Every time it came on the radio, it's like, and here's another one by the adulterous murderer, right? Poor David. It's what it is. But why does the Bible do that? Well, I think there's a really big point in that, and the Bible is showing us exactly what it looks like to follow Jesus, that even in the points of despair and even in the points where we feel like we're disqualified, that we have a God that wants to come behind us and lift us out of the pit. This psalm is actually David after his fall with Bathsheba, after not only the fall, but after some time has gone by and after his son has died. And this is King David. We talked about him a couple weeks ago, but just in case you forgot, this is the shepherd that was launched into the kingship of Israel. It's the shepherd that killed Goliath, the giant. It's the shepherd that in first and second Samuel, we see him as a king and a man that is after God's own heart. But this is after he fell, after he had his moral failure of adultery and murder. To sum it all up, David should have been fighting at war, but yet he was on his rooftop looking over the tops of the roofs of all of Jerusalem. And he spots a lady named Bathsheba, taking a bath late in the evening and calls her into his palace and commits adultery with her. Now, look, if you would ask David off the bat, David, is this the first time this has ever happened to you? He would say, yes, probably, right? But we know that it probably wasn't the first time. In fact, David's house looked over all the other small houses. They were like these little brick ovens during the day, and they would heat up all day long. So at nighttime, they would have dinner on the roof, they would have entertainment on the roof. And David knew that his palace overlooking all these other little bitty houses around him late at night, that he could actually see all of what was happening. He knew where the close ones were, he knew where the far ones were. And let's be honest, we all have rooftops in our lives. We all know where those little areas in our lives are that there's that that keep the stuff that we don't need to be a part of, but we know where it is. You see, David knew where that site was. I mean, that rooftop was, David knew where that magazine was hidden. David knew where that website was. He knew where that person was, he knew where that follow was. He knew where that channel was or that book was, or that show was, or that conversation was that would drag him away from who God is. And it wasn't just in the area of sexuality. Yours might be in the area of work or money or greed or pride. D David knew where to look just like we know where to look. And he went after it commits adultery with yeshiva. Yeshiva gets pregnant. And then the writer of the 73 of the Psalms that we're looking at over this whole summer, the writer of 73 of those writes a letter to have one of his friends, one of his top commanders killed in the battle. And as a noble guy, he brings Bathsheba into his house and marries her. While some time goes by. And this man named Nathan, this prophet comes into David's kingdom as a voice of God and says, Hey David, we have a problem. There's this wealthy man that has thousands of sheep having a party next to him. This poor guy who scraped together. All he has has one sheep. And then the wealthy man that was having the barbecue took the sheep, the one sheep from the poor man, slate it and had a barbecue with it. What should we do? And David says, that man should perish. Nathan, the prophet looks at David and says that man, sir is you. And at that moment, God begins to deal with David's heart about his sin and about where he broke God's heart. And actually David repents, he repents, but Nathan tells him that he's forgiven in this moment, which is true, but the heartbreak of it begins to mount in David's life. And actually David's son dies after this. And as David is dealing with this huge mess, as David is dealing with this huge runway of just sorrow in his life, as David is dealing with his heart, he actually writes this psalm as an example to you, and in his example to me of how to get back up when we fall. Let me read it to you and lemme give you a couple what I'm just calling this morning simply lessons from the fall. Here's what David says in verse one. He's speaking to God. Remember, he says, have mercy on me according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions and wash away my iniquity and cleanse. He's talking to God and cleanse me from my sin. I love this because David starts in the beginning where all of us should start and he shows what I'm just kind of calling the first lesson from the fall, and I want you to write it down. It's quite simply this. It's that healing starts with the power of God. That's where healing starts. In fact, when you look at the Psalm, you begin to see this really quickly. How does it start? Who is the object of the psalm? Is it David? No. It is God. What's the basis of his plea? Is it David's power? Is it David's hope? No. It is the hope of God and the power of God. When you look at the Psalm right off the bat, David looks at God. He proclaims God's mercy. He asks for God's mercy. He recognizes God's unfailing love, and he asks God for his great compassion. Now, what does David do? David actually takes us to a point that is actually present in so many of our lives. You see, we've all got stuff in our past. Maybe it's even in our present that we, here it is, that we are not in position to fix. Now we think we can fix it because we're God blessed Americans, right? We think we can, but we can't. We can't fix our sin. It's not on us. Listen, we're never gonna be good enough to fix our sin. We're never gonna be good enough to get back to God. We can't participate in our ourselves and church enough to get back there. We can't buy our way back to there. Not even our past righteousness can get us there. And even as the king, David couldn't buy his way there, he couldn't justify his way there. He couldn't redeem his way there. He couldn't rationalize or excuse his way there, or even just promise to be better. No, David is showing us that healing always starts in the power of God and not in the power of me. It doesn't start with me just pulling myself up by my bootstraps and hoping to do better. Now, David, for the first time in likely a year between his sin and him experiencing even the pain of his son dying is now coming before God and experiencing God's true hope and his true healing and the power of God's mercy. And David is finally leaning in and learning that he is not the starting place for all things. The power of God is, and the mercy of God is, in fact, we see this in the cross. Do we not listen to what Paul says about it in Romans five eight? He says, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? In other words, if he did it when we were at our worst, how much more will he do it now that he has already justified us? Watch this. For if we, for if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more have he been reconciled? Shall we be saved through his life? Not only is God the starting point, God is the sustainer, and now he wants to walk with us. He says it again in Colossians one, verse 21. He says, once you were alienated from God and you were enemies in your mind because of your evil behavior, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through the death to present you wholly in a sight without blemish and free from accusation. Listen, if we could save ourself from our own sins, the cross was unnecessary. If we can save ourself, what Jesus did was a fool's errand. But it's not. It should be a freeing thought to all of us to know that forgiveness does not start with us. It starts with God. Yes, sir. It starts in his power. And when David comes to his senses, he finally jumps onto this train of realizing that just because he's the king, just because he has everything together, just because he has all the resources and all the people and everything is disposal, that's not what matters in moments of despairs. It's the power and the healing of God that matters. Number one lesson from the fall is that healing starts in the power of God. But number two, he doesn't stop, doesn't stop there. Number two, he would tell us this second lesson from the fall. Here it is, is that owning my sin, it positions my heart for God's healing. Are you seeing it? I'm recognizing God is the powerful beginning of my source of hope. But then secondly, I have to come to a point in my life where I begin to own my sin. What does that do? It puts my heart in a place where God can do something with it. Now, this is the opposite of most of our approaches to sin. Most of our approaches to sin is justify blame, excuse, redirect, or redefine. Is it not? Yes, it is. That's most of our approaches to sin. But I want you to see David's approach to sin of how God got all over him and what God does for him and gives him his joy about watch his confession, learn from it. Verse three, he said, for I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. So what is David saying? Here's the Matt Petty version of this verse. God, I'm owning it. God, I'm not excusing it. God, you know it. Anyway, so here is all of me at my worst God. You are right. I am wrong. And I'm sorry. That's what he says. See, that's the position that God is asking us to be in, for him to start His deliverance and, and really, God knows. Anyway, let me ask you something. Have you ever, have you ever been confronted for something that, that you know that you were wrong in and that you know what the other person is saying is true? But, but, but you pushed back anyway. Can I get a witness to that? Amen. Yeah. You ever been there? Yeah, you have, right? So what do we do? We justify it. We blame shift. We even just avoid the person. 'cause that's the best thing to do in the South, right? Just walk away from 'em and then we turn the conversation on them and then well, let me tell you something about you that is not good, right? Here's what David says about that. Do the opposite. Do the opposite. When it comes to God and our sin, say, God, I did it. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You were right and I was wrong. Listen, this is the first step, right? In fact, David goes as far to say, not only does he know this transgression, if you skip down to verse five, David eventually says, listen, that's not even all of what I've done. Watch what he says in verse five. This is pretty interesting. He says this, surely I was sinful at birth. I was sinful. Listen to what he says from the time my mother conceived me. You know what David is saying right here? David is not only owning this sin with Bathsheba, right? David is owning all of his sin. He's at the point of saying, Hey, listen, that Bathsheba thing, God, that was just a drop in the bucket for how wretched I am, right? I've been that way from birth. David is saying, I'm not a good person. That eventually does some good thing. I'm not a good person. That occasionally does bad things. David's saying, no, I'm a sinner. I'm a wretched person that occasionally does something and follows you Lord. David's like, look, God, you didn't catch me in a bad moment. God. That's just what comes outta me much of the time because I'm flawed. And every now and then, it actually comes out where people can see it. David's like, listen, God, I need you because without you, my natural bent is to drift away from you even farther. Listen, church, this is not just David. This is all of us. This is the condition of all of mankind. David was sinful from birth. Just like we're sinful from birth, right? What did it do? Sin started at birth, did it not? And then what do we do? We, we started to grow in it in our toddler, yours. Anybody with a toddler wanna testify about that? Right? That's what we do. We start growing in it. In our sin, in the toddler years, in our teenage years, we start perfecting it. Amen? That's what we do in our teenage years. We start perfecting sin. And then in our young adult years, what do we do? We start pressing it down and not even calling it sin anymore. We try to redefine it a little bit. And then before you know it, we're so far away. We don't even know how to get back. Until we realize church, that we're in sinners in need of a savior, God cannot work in our lives. It's no secret to him who you are. It's just way better to go, God, I own it and I'm walking towards you 'cause I've sinned against you. Number one, it always starts with the power of God. Number two, it moves into this idea that we need to own our sin. Here's the third one. I want you to look at the third lesson from the fall, and that's that sin always starts against God and then moves to others. Now, lemme say this one again. Lemme say this one again. Maybe you've never been taught this. Sin always starts against God, always, and then it moves to others. Now, this is a hard one, and it takes some thinking. Why? Because we're looking at a guy right here who not only committed adultery, who not only lied about a lot of things, who not only ordered somebody to be murdered who had some of the most grotesque, premeditated sin against other people. But it's true. It always starts with God and it moves to others. In fact, let me prove it. Look at verse three and four. It says this, for I know my transgressions, David says, and my sin is always before me against you. You only, he's talking to God. Have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Now, I feel like I need to slow down in this and help us process it. So here's the group participatory part of the message. All right, you ready? Here it is. Did David sin against Bathsheba? Yes or no? Yes. That was pretty weak. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna take it as a yes. All right. There it is. All right. Yes. Did David sin when he had Uriah killed? Yes or no? Yes. Yeah. Hey, we did better on that one. Now you're a little more sure. You're like, I don't know if this is a trick question or not, but he murdered him. All right? There it is. Yes, he did. He did. He did. Did David sin against the people that God had called him to lead? Yes. Yes. Okay. Alright. We're on the train. We're getting there. Alright, here it is. Did David destroy lives? Yes. Yes. Okay. Did David split families? Yes. Did David cause some generational hurt from what he did? Right here? Listen, listen, listen, listen. I'm not disputing any of those things, and there's a heaviness in it. And I'm not even saying from this message that David didn't sin against other people because he did sin against other people. But listen to me closely right here. Primarily, primarily, and first, David and all of us, we sin against God first. First and foremost, we sin against God. Listen, that is where it always starts. Sin always starts with us not being satisfied from something God has done or not done. Now, listen, listen, listen. It always starts with me not trusting God to do something that he has said he's going to do. Sin always starts when I go outside. Here it is. When I go outside of God's will, when I go outside of God's plan to get what I feel like I need and to get what air quotes God should have done, the result of that sin is that I sin against someone, but I always sin against God before I sin against someone. Are you feeling where I'm stepping in that? Yes, sir. You see, I don't think we think about this a whole lot. I think we think I sin against you or you sin against me, or I sin against Melissa or not. Melissa doesn't sin against me, but I I almost say that, but she's in here. I get in trouble. But here's the thing. When we sin against someone, we always sin against God. Primarily. Why? 'cause God is the maker of the universe. God is the designer of morality. God is the layer outer of all things good. And we sin against him. And, and what do we do? We say, well, I will get my justice. I will take that thing. I will wish harm. I will go in the way and and in the process, yes, we hurt other people, we hurt the other person, but it's always against God first. And it really always goes back to breaking the first commandment. And that is to love God with our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to trust him for justice, mercy, and peace, and not do it on own. In fact, lemme lemme show you how JI Packard says this. He's, he's so much smarter than I am. And he just said it in a couple sentences. I, I took like five minutes. Watch what he says. He says, we sin against others by doing to them what God has forbidden or by failing to do to them or for them what God has commanded for the commands do not come from others, but from God. Therefore the sin is first and foremost against him. Listen, this is why David, when, when Nathan confronts him, the first thing that David said, second Samuel 12, 13, if you go back to it, it says this. Then David said to Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord. Listen guys, every sin that we ever commit is always against God first and foremost. And this crushes the whole argument. Well, if it doesn't hurt anybody, is it really sin? Oh yeah, it's sin because it hurts God if nobody knows about it. Is it sin? Oh yeah. Why? Because God knows about it always against sin. What David did to you right, was evil. But look what he said. He doubles down in verse four. Watch what he says. He says Against you and 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. There's two yous there. It's not a typo. It is the Hebrew way of bringing intense emotion and intense importantness right here. And it's saying, God, you've given me everything. God, you've given me all life. God, you've prepared me and given me all things I need, yet I still forsook you. And as a result of it, I did this. Let me, let me ask you this question, and I put this in your notes. When was the last time you were deeply emotional about what your sin has done to God? To God? I'm not downplaying to others, but I'm saying our sin is primarily God, first others second. Now, here's why some of us can never get past our sin against others because we've never dealt with it with God. You see so many times we try to deal with it with others. We try to deal with it with others. We try to deal with it with others on a horizontal level. But God's saying, if you'll deal with it, me first, the overflow of that is, Hey, listen, I sin against God and I sin against you. And I'm so sorry. Forgive me man, that's a little bit stronger. So not, yes sir. Ooh, thank you David. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Number one, healing starts with the power of God. Number two, owning my sin positions my heart for God's healing. Number three, my sin is always to God first and then it moves to others. And if that's not enough, lemme give you a couple more. Number four, our forgiven past sins can still have consequences. Now. No, no, no. Now, some of you grew up in places that said, Hey, listen, God forgives and forgets. Yes, he does forgive and forget prior to salvation. He wipes the slate clean. But listen, after that, after salvation and even some of the ramifications of things that sin brings into our lives might just hang with you. I'm not saying you're not forgiven because God does forgive, right? He forgives. But I want you to see this. This is heavy as a redeemed follower of Jesus. Here's the question. Am I fully forgiven? Yes or no? Yes, yes. My past, my present and my future. But there still can be consequences. There still can be wounds. There still can be hurts. That last, in fact, when David confesses before God, listen to what Samuel says to him in two Samuel 12, verse 13. It says this, Nathan replied, the Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. In other words, hey, you're forgiven. But because by doing this, you have shown utter contempt for the Lord. The son born to you will die. Though David is forgiven, David knows his sin. So what is he doing in Psalm 51? He's processing through some of the consequences of what his sin has brought into his life. In fact, that's why verse three says, for I know that my transgressions and my sin is always before me. But look at his cry to God. Look at his beg. For God's hope. He says this. So cleanse me with the hisp. That was the plant that they put the blood over the doorpost in Egypt. I love that. Cleanse me with the sap and I'll be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have crushed God, rejoice and hide your face from my sins and then blot out my iniquity. What is he saying? He's saying, God, I know that I'm forgiven. I know that you are God, I know that you an ever loving everlasting, all good, hopeful God. God, I need you to take this from me and move me down the road into your hope. So why do we have these past consequences of our sin? Why doesn't God just flush 'em? You ever thought about that? Let me read you what John Piper says, way smarter than me, says in one paragraph, watch this. He says, the aim of God sent consequences of forgiven Sin is not to settle accounts demanded by retributive justice. Now that's a fancy way of saying the the, the goal of our consequences of our sin is not to pay our sin debt. Jesus already paid that debt. Alright? That's a smart way of saying that. Watch this. The aim of God sent consequences of forgiven sin is to demonstrate the exceeding evil of sin. In other words, it's to show you don't go back there. Don't go back there. That is not a place you want to be. You're already forgiven. Don't do it again. Watch this. Number two is to show that God does not take sin lightly, even when he lays aside his punishment. In other words, God doesn't give us this grace card that we can just go live like hell and do whatever we wanna do and say, I'm sorry God. He says, no, no, no, no, don't go there. It hurts and it lasts. And number three, he says this to humble and sanctify the forgiven sinner. In other words, consequences of our sins is to move us in a direction of godliness going. Don't go there. I can tell you, go here. God's grace and his mercy and his justice and his hope and his love, it rests over here. Don't dip your toe back over there. 'cause if God took it all away, we would be like a toddler who had no consequence. Anybody ever have one of those That's a grandkid? Yeah. The writer of Hebrews says it like this. The Lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastens everyone who he accepts as his son. You know why? 'cause God's God's ultimate goal is not just your happiness right now. It's your eternity with him. Yes sir. And God leaves it there. So David's looking at this and he's going, man, these consequences of my sin is pointing me towards you, God and you alone. But then we come to number five, and this one's my favorite 'cause He didn't stop in the consequences. Write this one down real fast. Number five lesson from the fall is that God offers freedom and usefulness even after we fall. Amen. Man, can you see that? That that God doesn't disqualify you, that God doesn't throw you to the side. And if David can say this, I'm pretty sure that like 99.9% of this church can say this. Amen. That if David didn't throw a murderous adulting king, that that pillaged over this man's wife away and he's not gonna throw you away. He's not gonna do it. So what did David do? He went back to who God is. He acknowledged who God is. He reminded himself of who God was and the character of God and the offer. And what did he do? In the next passage right here, he asks God, God set me free and make me yours. And actually David takes us to school on what our prayers should look like to offer and to invite God's freedom and usefulness back into our life. David did said and say, Hey God, forgive me. That's what you're supposed to do. Watch David's prayer and I challenge you to pray this this week. Watch what he said in verse 10. Lemme walk through it slow. He says, create in me a pure heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Are you hearing it? He's begging the God of the universe to make him pure, to make him new, to make him strong, to give him a stance of steadfastness. Listen, this is our prayer. This can be our same prayer today. God, give me your grace and plant me in you. Watch you Kennedy. He keeps going. In verse 11, he says, do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Now he's in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit was a little bit wonky then it was in and out. But for us post Pentecost that followed Jesus, the Holy Spirit is implanted or imputed is a better word for that into your life. Listen, I got news for you. When you give your life to Jesus, you get the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit never goes, but his power does. His power does. At the moment of sin, we begin to draw ourselves back from the power of God. So what David is saying here, he says saying, David, keep me in your power. Keep me in your hope. It's not about me. I tried that. It's not about my covering up. I tried that. I need all of you to walk and watch what he says in verse 12. He keeps going and restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Are you seeing this? He's not only looking backwards, he's not only looking at today. He's going, God, if you'll do this and you'll plant this in me, it'll be all I need for today and it will sustain me for tomorrow. Now, be real careful here. 'cause David doesn't ask God to restore his salvation at the moment of salvation. You are sealed in Jesus. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He ask God to restore the what? The joy of His salvation. Why? Because sin robs joy. Sin robs hope. And God can restore you. No matter how evil or vial or where your past has God can restore you. Are all the families that are involved with this fixed ? No, they're not. Will they ever be fixed? No. But listen, even though all the other families aren't fixed, God can still restore you. He can restore you. And there's hope in that. In fact, if you go from Psalm 51, go about 10 chapters from there through the next 10 chapters, you will see it is a different spring. In David's step, those chapters are thankfulness chapters of what God did as a result of walking this for all God had done. Even for a sinner like him and a sinner like me and a sinner like you. You gotta love the honesty. You gotta love the plea. You gotta love the I did blow it, but I'm all yours. God. Walk in me in church. This should be our heart. What a model. What an example that God doesn't expect us to get knocked down and lay on our backs and wallow in our sin the rest of our lives. No. He wants us to grab hold of his power and allow him to jerk us out of the Mary Clay and set our feet upon his rock. And it's his promise to us. In fact, it's so much of a promise he gives us and the rest of this how we're gonna land this. He gives us a way to know if we have truly walked this process that David's talking about here, it's the real result. It's a test of it. Really hit. Write this, write this one down and I'll tell you what it means. David would say this from the fall, that true restoration, it always starts inwardly, but it flows outwardly. Now, here's what I mean by that. You wanna know if you're really walking in the full restoration of God, you can't keep it inside of you, what God has done for you. It has to come out of you. You see Christianity, while it is a personal decision, it is not a private thing. Christianity is all about us that are broken sinners telling the world how they can experience the hope, joy, love, peace, and forgiveness that God has given us. When God heals our hearts, we can't help but to proclaim His grace. In fact, look at the rest of these verses and we're done. Here's what David says. Verse 13, notice the word it starts with it says then. Then you see where David has come from. Right? Then I will teach transgressors your ways so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed. Oh God, you who are God my savior. Watch this. My tongue will sing of your righteousness. You wanna know if God has moved in your life, you'll sing of his righteousness. Open my lips, verse 15 Lord. And my mouth will do what? It will declare your praises. Why? Because every single person that has ever been set free from bondage cannot help but to tell people what God has done in him. It's the old crusty ones of us that are not celebrating that I begin to worry about. He says, you do not delight and sacrifice or I will bring it to you. You do not take pleasure and burn offerings. My sacrifice. So God is a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. God you will not despise. Do you see it? Restoration sets us into a place that we can finally walk out God's will for our lives as his children. And that is to proclaim his message by glorifying him. Can I tell you something? Believer, this is what fulfills you when you're so delivered by Jesus. That your mouth, your life, your heart, your steps begin to tell others. I don't know all the answers, but I know the one that does for the next 30 to 40 years. After this, David grabs hold of this message. He pursues God in such a way that we know him as not only the giant slater, not only as the adulterous murderer, but we know him as the man who is after God's own heart. Let me ask you something. Where are you in the process? Are you still in the fall or have you begun to walk in the freedom that God is offering to you? Healing starts with the power of God. Owning my sin positions me for healing. My sin always, always is against God. And then it moves to other people past forgiven. Sin does have some consequences, but let's thank God for him. 'cause it keeps us from returning. And God offers freedom and usefulness no matter where you've been.