I suspect some of you may have heard the story of an individual, of a man who sent a letter to the IRS saying, I haven't been able to sleep very well because last year when I filed my income tax report, I deliberately misrepresented my income. And so I'm enclosing a check for $150. And if I still can't sleep, I'll send you the rest. Now, that's one way of handling a bad conscience. I will predict that it really doesn't work very well. But but sometimes when our conscience is not going very well, we we try to deal with it in many different ways. Sometimes we go into denial. Well, this really isn't a problem. Everybody else is doing it. I don't see why this should be. There are other things that are bigger. And so as a result of that, we have a way of dealing with those areas of our conscience that way. Sometimes we would say it's only a small infraction. God doesn't really care about this. There are other things that are much more important that are on his mind. And so how I choose to live my life in this regard really isn't that big a deal. That's one way of doing it. Another way is to go to the other side. And maybe we are living with a condemning conscience, one that continues to tell us that we have failed and we are a failure before God. We continue to struggle with a particular besetting sin that continues to trip us up and that God maybe has given up on us and that our sin is too big or too serious for God to forgive. We've done it too many times and we may think that it is a hopeless situation. So no matter where we find ourselves in regards to that, this morning we want to look at a psalm that reminds us of what it means to have a heart made right before God. That every single person, regardless of our background, even when we've come to know Jesus Christ, we are going to sin, we're going to stumble, we're going to fall, we're going to fail before God. And so how do we handle that? How do we respond to those things that trip us up in life? And so we're going to look at a psalm this morning that reminds us about that. It's a psalm that's referred to as a penitential psalm. Last week, we looked at one that was a lament as David talked about the fact that it really wasn't David. We're not sure the author is last week. Didn't really tell us, doesn't identify it for us last week, Psalm 42. But how to have hope in times of hopelessness and sometimes life is hard, sometimes life kind of sinks. And so how do we respond? We looked at that last week, this week. We want to look at what is a penitential psalm? What does it mean to deal with our failures before God? How do we do that? So I invite you to grab a Bible to turn to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, as we look at this psalm, is a reminder of how we are to respond to our failures in life. If you're following along in a Pew Bible, it's page 581. You're turning on your electronic Bible, help yourself, find your way there to Psalm 51. But before we jump into the text, the background is really critical. What has brought us to this point is really important that we understand so that the psalm makes better sense. You do notice at the beginning of Psalm 51, it says, For the choir director saw him of David when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. So David is the author of this psalm and the background to the background story, some of the things that goes on behind the scenes was the fact that David was the king in Israel and he was called to be by God. He was raised up. He was placed in that position of leadership in Israel. And God had blessed David. God had brought favor into David's life. And as a result of that, the kingdom was at peace. Yes, they would be fighting some minor skirmishes out there, but there really wasn't anyone or anything that could apply pressure to the nation Israel. Because things were going so well, David determined that he was going to stay at home. It was that time of year when kings... We read in the Bible, you can read about this in 1 Samuel 11-12. It was that time of year when kings went out to war, but David did not. Because things were going well in times of prosperity. Sometimes could be dangerous times. So he's at home and one afternoon he's out walking on the deck of his palace and he happens to look down and there's a beautiful woman taking a bath. continues to play with that thought a little bit more. And as a result of that, he said, you know, I'd like to get to know her a little bit better. So he asks one of his servants who she was. And the servant told her that she was Bathsheba and that her husband's name was Uriah. And Uriah was one of David's soldiers who was out fighting in the battle. And David sends the messenger to Bathsheba, invites her to come to the king's bedroom for that evening. And she does. Whether it was consensual or whether it was coerced, we're not told in this story. But this man of God, David, who had a heart for God, is now getting entrapped. And so he has this one night stand with Bathsheba, and she goes back to her home and begins to find out a few weeks later that she's pregnant. So she sends a message. She sends word to David, hey, I'm pregnant. My husband's not home. There's a problem. David begins to run this through in his mind. How's he going to deal with this? So he decides he comes up with a solution. What I'll do is I'll send a message to Joab, who's the commander of the armies, and I'll have him send Uriah, her husband, home. And he can spend the night with her, and I'll just cover my sin. They'll think it's his child, and I'll be off the hook. So he does this plan. He brings Uriah home, but the problem is Uriah doesn't go in and sleep with his wife. David calls him in and says, you know, what's the problem? I mean, everybody else will be doing it. And Uriah says, I can't do that when my troops, my soldiers are are sleeping out in tents. It's not right. So David throws a party. for Uriah and gets him drunk, hoping that maybe somehow he would forget about that. And when he went home at night, he would go in with his wife and they would sleep together and everybody would think it was their child. But Uriah doesn't do that. So he tries again the following night. Another party, more alcohol is flowing and again, trying to lower those inhibitions and Still, Uriah doesn't do it, and so David's got a problem, so he goes to plan B. Since Uriah's not going in to sleep with his wife, I guess what I need to do is get rid of Uriah. Now, that doesn't make a lot of sense, but sin doesn't, does it? So he writes a letter, and he seals it, and he closes it, and he sends it back with Uriah to Joab, who's the commander, and says to Joab, here's what I want you to do, Joab. I want you to go and attack this city, and I want you to get very, very close to the city. And then at the right sound, when you give the command, everybody is to pull back. You're to tell everybody to pull back, but don't let Uriah know the plan. And so they get very close to the city. They're attacking the city and they're being some of their men are starting to lose their life. It's dangerous. And so Joab gives a command and they all pull back except for Uriah, who didn't get the message. And as a result of that, he's dead. Word goes back to David saying, hey, we lost some men in the skirmish. And if David should say to you, why did you get so close to the city? I just gave him this final word. And Uriah is dead. That's what he does. And so here's this man who had a heart for God. He has now committed adultery. He has murdered the husband, in essence, of Uriah. But David doesn't come clean. We read that, as we understand the chronology, that for over a year David's hidden this in his heart. He's not told anyone. But friends, you can't. I mean, that's a dumb plan. Really. Isn't it? Certainly the servants in the palace knew what happened. Hey, did you hear that David had Bathsheba over for the night? That filtered its way through. And I'm sure it didn't even stay in the palace. Bathsheba's pregnant. Uriah's dead. Joab knew exactly what was going on when he sent that. I mean, it was known to everybody. And David still is trying to conceal his sin. And for over a year, there's not been any really close relationship with God. And God cares enough about David and frankly, dear friends, God cares enough about you and me to confront us in our own sin. And so God sends a prophet, a man of God, to go and confront David about his sin. But Nathan doesn't go and point his finger in David's face and say, you're a sinful man. He goes and tells him a story. And he tells him the story about this really wealthy man who had lots and lots of sheep. And he gets a visitor one afternoon that was unannounced. And so he wasn't really prepared. And so it's time to kill something and put on the table. And rather than going to his own sheep and taking one of the sheep that he has from his great flock. He goes over to his next door neighbor who only has one sheep that they really treated pretty much as a member of the family. And he takes that one sheep and he kills it and he puts it on the table so that this guest who has shown up can have something to eat. And David is livid. He is angry. And he said, that guy has got to die. And Nathan turns and says, you're the man. David, that's you. That's what God thinks. and David is broken in his heart. And it is out of that background that Psalm 51 comes to us. What are the marks of true repentance? What does it look like? The consequences are painful and we could have the tendency to say, well, you know, they're just sorry they got caught. Now, David, as we look at these six marks of true repentance, we understand that there was a heart that was really sorry, that understood the seriousness of what has transpired in his life. And dear friends, as you and I look at these events, even with our own life, and we might say, well, I didn't do that. I didn't murder anybody. I didn't commit adultery with anybody. I didn't do those big ones. But there are other things in our life that are barriers between us and God. And so this morning, let's look at these six marks together of what a heart of repentance really looks like, because I want you to see that true repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of heart. that leads to a changed life. True repentance is a change of mind that leads to a changed heart, that leads to a changed life. The first mark of true repentance we read in verses one and two. It's a cry for forgiveness. Where David says, Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgression. See, David realizes that his only hope is to be found in God. God is the only one who can give mercy. What we have done is too big. What he's done is too big that it's only going to take God's mercy, not God's justice. Because if we demand God's justice, friends, we're condemned people. It's got to be God's mercy. And so David calls out and he understands that his only hope is for mercy. And it's interesting, throughout the psalm, we don't have time to identify all of them, but there are triads, there are groups of three words. For example, you see gracious and loving, kindness and compassion. And then David identifies his sin with a group of three words or a triad. He says, look at my transgression and my iniquity and my sin. Those are those are different words. But he's pointing to, first of all, the idea of transgression. A transgression is like the idea of crossing a boundary. You've crossed over a boundary that the God has established boundaries for us within he wants within which he wants us to live, because that's the area of blessing. That's the area in which he showers his blessing upon us. And God has established those boundaries. If you go back in history quite a few years, the story of Julius Caesar and the Roman Senate told him that Julius Caesar, if you cross that Rubicon River, that you are declaring war on Rome. And the moment that Julius Caesar crossed that boundary, he has now declared war. Friends, the moment you and I cross God's boundary, we have declared war on God. They're God's boundaries. They're not something that we get to move around and identify and say, well, we're living in a much more modern time than what they did back then. So we have some new thoughts and some new ways to deal with this. No, we have crossed the boundary. God, we have declared war on you. And that's what David says. It's a transgression. Secondly, he says it's an iniquity. And that's depravity. That's original sin. That's what we carry because we're human beings, because within us, it happened way back with our great, great grandparents, Adam and Eve, and there was sin that was interjected into the human race. And there's that iniquity that just follows in all of us. And thirdly, he says, there's sin and sin means falling short of the mark. It's like you had a target. You know, the bullseye is the center, which is God's righteousness and God's goodness and God's holiness. But we fail to hit that target. We miss. We're off to the side. And so we've sinned. We've missed the mark that God has for us. So David is crying and he says, wash me thoroughly, cleanse me, verse two, from my sin. I want it really removed. So the first mark of true repentance is a cry for forgiveness. By the way, I think the order is important that we read through here. Each one of these marks built upon each other, and they need to happen in this order. And the first one is this cry for forgiveness. Secondly, is a confession of sin. We see that in verses three through six. David understands the seriousness of sin. Look at verse three. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. So why did he go for a year before he dealt with this? Because we don't like to deal with it. In fact, there's a there's a song that probably links very closely into this, if you'd read Psalm 32, where David talks about his bones were just like they hurt all the time and there wasn't any fun in life and it was just empty. And that seems to be the application that is taking place. And so David says, I'm aware that I'm a sinner. In verse four, against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. So you're justified when you speak and blameless when you judge. And we look at that and we say, wait a minute. How can you say that, David? I mean, look, here's Bathsheba. You violated her. Uriah's dead. How can you say that you've only sinned against God? I think what David is saying here is that, God, I broke your law. Any sin, yes, it is against our if any sin against our neighbor is a sin against God. When we cross over, in fact, isn't it interesting, first four commandments of the Ten Commandments are our vertical relationship and the next six are horizontally related. And so any time I cross this horizontal relationship, any time I violate a relationship with another human being, I am violating, first of all and foremost, my relationship with God. Because God establishes the parameters. We don't make it up. We don't say, well, I think this is what a rule ought to be, and I don't think this is what the rule ought to be, and this is where the boundary is, and I don't like this. No, those are God's designed rules for us to play the game of life properly so we don't get hurt, friends. So it isn't a matter that he was saying that I haven't hurt anybody else. He's saying my basic problem is I hurt them, but I hurt you because I crossed your rules. I transgressed your law. And therefore, that had ramifications to the individuals around me. It's interesting, I think, in the text, too. There isn't any self-justification. There's no defense. David doesn't claim entrapment. God, it's your fault. I mean, I was just out walking on my deck and lo and behold, you're the one who put the beautiful woman in the bathtub. The Bible says she was kind of beautiful in form and figure. God, it's your fault. That's entrapment. He doesn't do that. God, it's your fault. that things weren't going well at home. And so this guy who seems to show some attraction at work and therefore we just sort of started getting to know each other. No. And neither is it a matter of Flip Wilson. Well, the devil made me do it. You know, David says it's me. It's me. Young people, sometimes you get mad at your parents, probably hardly ever, but every once in a while that could potentially happen because you don't like one of their rules that may be something they've established for you. And maybe you've had a falling out with them. And so you think, well, I don't need to because of how you acted. I don't need to follow the rules. You're not breaking your parents rules, you're breaking God's rules. That's what David is saying here. And so he says, I'm a sinner, verse five. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. That wasn't a matter that they had. His parents had sex out of marriage. That's not what he's talking about. He's saying deep within me, I'm a sinner and I know it and I recognize it. Alcoholics Anonymous, for example, you know, one of the first things that take place is that, you know, you go in and say, oh, my name is and I'm an alcoholic. Maybe we need sinners anonymous. Hello, my name is Dan Pritchett, I'm a sinner. Except I'm not anonymous. But dear friend, every single one of us are sinners. The problem and the root is deep within me. It's deep within you. It's deep within every single human being. And so we understand that there is something that has been passed down from generation to generation. That's why you bring those beautiful bundles of joy home from the hospital and it doesn't take very long before you realize they've got a sin nature. And you as dad want to say it came from mom, and mom wants to say, no, no, you're just like your father. We both had a part in that. He doesn't play games. He doesn't say, well, you know, This person over here is very, very critical and they just need to get the work of Holy Spirit in their life. But I'm very good. I've been given insight. I'm just going to help you with your failures a little bit. Not two different stages of that. There's an old hymn. Some of you may remember it. Some words go like this. If I have wounded any soul today, if I have caused someone to go astray, if I have walked in my own sinful way, dear Lord, forgive. Now, I don't know the author's intent, but I read that and say, you know, that's not a very good hymn, is it? God, if by chance I didn't respond like I should have to my wife, if I kind of flew off the handle to the kids, if somehow I just offended someone just kind of slightly, you know, it really wasn't my fault, but would you just forgive me? No, identifying sin. Man, I should not have said that. I should not have acted that way. That is sinful. See, confession of sins is calling sin the same thing that God calls it. It's failure of the mark. I have sinned. Verse 5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and sin. My mother conceived me. Going on to verse 6, Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom. What's he saying there? He's talking about the fact that it's inside of us. that God wants to see as well. It isn't merely outward conformity. It's inward desire to be obedient to God. I've used that illustration before. It's like the kid who's at the supper table, the little boy at the supper table. The parents are trying to get him to sit down so he can eat his meal. And if you don't sit down, there are going to be some dire consequences. So the little boy sits down, he looks at Dad with fire in his eyes and says, you know, I may be sitting on the outside, but I'm standing on the inside. Friends, when we come before God, it's not a matter that we, OK, God, you said to sit, so I'm sitting, but I really want to stand. You desire that inward part. And so your truth is hidden deep within me. So the first mark is a cry for forgiveness. We realize we need that. The second mark is true confession of sin again. Remember, the order is important. And then there's a third mark of true repentance, and that is an appeal for cleansing in verses seven through nine. Purify me, verse 7, purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. So what does he mean by that business of purify me with hyssop? Well, hyssop was a bush that grew in the area of Palestine, actually still does, and it was used like a brush. I wonder the first times we come across the mention of that word is at the Passover. If you recall, that was as Israel is getting ready to be released from Egypt. And God has said the 10th commandment, excuse me, the 10th plague is the fact that the angel of death is going to go through the land. But whoever has killed an animal and taken that piss up and applied the blood to the doorframe of their house, when the angel of death would see that blood on the doorframe of the house, it would pass over and the firstborn would not die. And the idea being that the only way of forgiveness comes with the shedding of blood. And we understand, looking back, that they were talking about Jesus, who was to be that Passover lamb. And so that in your life and mine, the only way in which forgiveness can come is because what Jesus did on the cross, that he gave his life for you and for me, so that whoever puts their faith and trust in the completed, finished work of Christ can have sins forgiven and can enter into God's family. But even once we come into God's family, it doesn't mean we live perfectly our lives. Henceforth, forever after, we still find that we stumble. We still find that we fall. We still find that we fail and we still find that we sin. And therefore, that work of Jesus, the blood of something, someone innocent is needed. And so David understands that sin's a big deal. Purify me with hyssop. And verse 8, make me to hear the joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. You see, even though David has not confessed his sin for the last year, it's like he's been living death. He couldn't hear. There was no joy. The bones hurt. There was a barrier between him and God. Friends, sometimes in our lives, if we are in that time where it's dark, And it's painful. It may be that there's sin in our life that we're not willing to deal with. Not always. Because sometimes we live in a dark time. Sometimes life is hard. But sometimes it's because there's something in our life that we're unwilling to deal with. And David said, look, I want that joy to come back into my life because there's not been very much of heaven going on in any part of my earth when I'm at war with God. And then he says, God, I'd like you to eradicate my sin, verse nine, hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities, like take the white out over that charge and get rid of it, eradicate it. Because sin disgraces. It disgraces our God and it disgraces. How many times do you see on television somebody's been arrested for something? What do they do? One of the first things I got to hide my face. Don't want anybody to see. Your friend, I read a statement this past week in a book, and I thought it was really very good. And it's a reminder to us that every single day we are writing something in our permanent record. We're writing something in our permanent record. here on earth. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not suggesting that God does not forgive sin completely. God removes it. He deals with it. It's forgiven. But we are writing something in our permanent record every day, didn't David? We remember this man who had a great love for God, a heart for God that God blessed, and yet he had this tremendous moral failure. And one of those things we remember is this moral failure as part of his permanent record. God forgave him. And even when God forgives, so this idea that somehow I'm going to do what I want to do, I'm going to ask God to forgive and everything will be just as if I never sinned. It's not that way. Yes, before God, we're forgiven. But oftentimes the marks, the scars of sin in our life go on with us. It's like taking a two by four. You can pound a bunch of nails into it. And then you can remove the nails, which could be pictured as that which is the sin. But there's still going to be marks that are left. Now, God's grace forgives. Don't misunderstand. But there's still marks. So David appeals for cleansing. Number four, he appeals for renewal. Cleansing isn't enough. I mean, we need that, too. You know, that cry for forgiveness, I am a sinner, that confession of sin, the appeal for cleansing and then a desire for renewal. You see that in verses 10 through 12. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. The word that he uses, therefore, creates an interesting word. It's the word bara, B-A-R-A in the Hebrew language, which is used in Genesis of God creating the heaven and the earth out of nothing. Which I think is significant. So David doesn't say, God, just rehabilitate this heart. If you had a heart attack and it's done some damage to the heart, if you could, I'd like a brand new one, please. This one has some scars that's broken. That's what David is asking for. God, I don't want the same heart that's failed in a failure. I want a new one. And then renew a right spirit. Help me to live rightly before You. Then he goes on and he says, do not cast me away from your presence and do not take away your Holy Spirit from me. Was he afraid he was going to lose his salvation? I don't think that's what he's talking about at all. Don't let me get out of the area in which you are blessing me, in which the Holy Spirit walks with me. You see, God, there's a place of fellowship that we can enjoy with God. And then if we get out of that place, we are no longer in fellowship with God. Sin breaks our relationship, our fellowship with God, doesn't remove us. And if you recall, David had been in the palace of his predecessor, King Saul, and Saul had continually gone against everything that God had instructed him to do. And we read that God removed the Holy Spirit from Saul, that Saul needed to lead and guide Israel properly. And David saw that and he said, I don't want that to be part of my life. I need the Holy Spirit's leading in my life. You see, disobedience normally results in the loss of God's protective presence. We don't feel like doing spiritual things then, do we? We don't feel like opening up the book, the Bible, and reading. We don't feel like praying. We don't feel like joining others in worship. There's this convicting nature of it. We don't feel like hanging out with other brothers and sisters in Christ because there's a conviction that's going on by the Holy Spirit, and we just don't want to do that. So David says, I want to clean. I want a new heart. Look at verse 12. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Sustain me with a willing spirit. I want it inside. I want to follow You rightly. That's a great mark of repentance. I'm not saying I wish these consequences weren't here. I wish something were different. But I really want to follow you, God. Then the fifth mark we find in verses 13 through 17, and that is the fact that I want to teach others what I've learned. Then I will teach transgressors your way and sinners will be converted to you. Now, it's interesting, isn't it, that David is the one writing this psalm. I don't like to hang out my failures in front of people. Do you? And yet David says, God, I know that there's something that others need to learn about what you're doing. And that's one of the neat things is to hear people share stories of what God is doing in their lives and how maybe they wandered a little bit from God or maybe even a lot from God. And God in His grace and mercy is restoring them back into a place of usefulness and a place of rightness beforehand. Yesterday, I don't think they would mind me sharing this because they asked me to do it yesterday. But one of the neat stories of God's grace, I was asked to make sure that when I took part, I shared responsibilities for a wedding yesterday for Nick and Lacey. And one of the things they said they really wanted to make sure was that people, number one, understood what it meant to know Christ as personal savior, how you have a relationship with him. They also wanted people to know that they had a desire to build their home on the person of Jesus Christ. Some of you know them and their story, and they would share it, that they tried to do life their way. They made their own rules. They didn't want to, you know, these boundaries really aren't for me. These aren't God's, you know, these are just opinions. I'm going to do life my way. And yet in the last year and a half, God has grabbed a hold of their hearts and souls and placed within them a desire to build a Christian home. And they said, we want we want our friends to know because some of them know what we were like here, but we wanted to understand what God is doing. Some of you have been in the Bible Institute with Nick and Lacey, have heard them share prayer requests. I need a job and God provided. We rejoice with, you know, some of the neat things that God is doing. And that's a story of God's grace. And they said, you know, we tried life our way. And we found out it wasn't working. And they were wise to figure it out really early on. And they're teaching others the way of God. It doesn't mean we don't make a mistake, friends. And it doesn't mean that when someone makes a mistake and they tell the story of God's grace that we pick up stones and say, oh, I remember you. It's the fact that there's a God of grace who continues to forgive sin and bring us back to Himself. And we have the privilege of instructing others. Don't walk down that way. It's dangerous. You'll get hurt. Oh, it looks like it's fun. It's exciting for a while, but it's truly painful. And I'll give you praise. Verse 14, David says, Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, of my salvation, and my tongue will joyfully sing your righteousness. I'm going to tell others a personal truth, verse 16, for you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it. You're not pleased with burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart of God. You will not despise. God's not interested in mere externals of the heart, isn't it? So David says, I'm going to teach others about your goodness. But again, notice it went through a process. He he needed that cleansing. He needed a clean heart. Notice that he might be able to teach others. And then lastly, verses eight and nine, a prayer for blessing. By your favor, do good to Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem, then you will delight in righteous sacrifices and burn offerings and whole offerings. The young bulls will be offered on the altar. So, you know, how in the world does that fit? In fact, there's some quote unquote, Bible scholars to look at that and say, well, see, David didn't write all of this because, you know, the walls of Jerusalem weren't built. I don't think that's what he's referring to. I think he's asking God to place some protection around the people of Jerusalem because our sin is never done in isolation. And David realized that he as leader, king of his people, the consequences of what he did could filter down into the people that he is called to lead. And so he's asking God to place protection around the people. You see, our sin always affects others. It always affects others. And David understood that. And so he's praying for God's protection. I challenge those of us, maybe some here this morning, we're kind of caught in that aspect of, you know, I'm going to do life my way. I'm doing something I know I ought not to. This is not where I need to be. But. Come back to the Lord. Walk with Christ. But I want to challenge those of you who are walking with Christ, because we hear the statements about, you know, there's this easy kind of life. You know, the easy kind of life is not walking with God. It's kind of doing your own thing. But there's nothing easy about that, dear friends. There's nothing easy about multiple partners. There's nothing easy about addictions. There's nothing easy about abuse and bondage and debt. There's nothing easy about a careless life. Yes, it's a costly life to walk with Christ. It's harder. It means not living carelessly. It means not living immorally. It means not living an undisciplined life. But it's much better. And we need to watch out for the little indiscretions we call them. Don't trivialize the little stuff. I know we hear that statement. You know, don't worry about the little stuff. Don't sweat the little stuff. Well, that may be true for a lot of things in life. But when it comes to morality and truth and righteousness, be concerned about the little stuff because it's the little stuff that grows to be the big stuff. You see, what happened on that afternoon in David's life wasn't a matter that just, boom, out of nowhere came this temptation. There were little indiscretions that had been going on in his life, little bit by little bit by little bit, until this big event. So we need to watch and we do need to sweat the little things because it will become the big thing. We often have this idea, well, God isn't too concerned about our little disobedience. He's only concerned about the big disobedience. Dear friend, God's concerned about disobedience. Don't put an adjective in front of it. How about Aten? Remember him? Old Testament. Israel's going out to fight, and God says, look, I'm going to make you successful. You are going to win this battle, but I don't want you taking any of the stuff. You don't have to take any of the spoil, anything. Don't take any of the money. Don't take any of the clothes. They go out. They fight a battle. They're successful. Athan is thinking, you know, I mean, you know, God owns a cattle on a thousand hills. It's all his. So what's a few coins? What's a few clothes? I'll just take them back. I'll put them in my tent. Nobody's ever going to know. God knows. We read that the next time Israel went out to battle, there were men who lost their lives. We read that Achan and his family lost their lives. It started with a small little indiscretion. Those momentary indiscretions have lifelong implications. Those seemingly insignificant choices suddenly turn out to have huge proportion. Things that we never dreamed would happen. Just going to drink and drive once. I'm just going to borrow from the company slash steal from the company just this once. I'm just going to cheat on this test once. And we cross the line. August 13th, 2012, the title reads Submarine Commander Sunk. after allegedly faking death to end an affair. A submarine commander is in hot water after he allegedly faked his death to end an extramarital affair. Navy Commander Michael Ward II, who is 43 years of age, met this 23-year-old woman on a dating website last October, according to the Connecticut newspaper, the New London Day. Ward, who was married with children, told the woman he was separated and worked as special ops, the paper reported. He had just been named commander. This was a week ago before this article broke. So the early part of August, he had just been named commander of the USS Pittsburgh a week earlier, and it was his dream job. But he realized he was in too deeply. He allegedly contacted the woman by email, claiming to be a co-worker whose name was Bob. And he writes to this woman. He says, I'm extremely sorry to tell you that he is gone. We tried everything we could to save him. I cannot say more. I'm sorry it has to be this way. He loves you very much. And he goes on to say that Ward wanted her to have something. Well, on July 9th, this woman drove to Ward's house in Burke, Virginia, to pay her respects, only to find out from the new homeowner that Ward had just been relocated to his new job. So the woman goes on to report him to the NCIS, and as a result of that, Lieutenant Commander Michael Ward was a submarine commander for one week. How did that happen? It didn't just happen on that day. Minor indiscretion. I'll just visit this dating website. You know, I don't really intend to do anything, but I'll just take a peek. Oh, she looks pretty attractive. I think I'll just have a little conversation. I don't really intend to do it. Just a little conversation. The conversations get just a little bit more salacious, just a little more risque. It can happen in texting, it can happen in email, it can happen in instant messaging. That's kind of archaic anymore, I guess. And it just goes and how about we meet? I don't intend to do anything, but let's just meet. Let's just talk. Oh, she's pretty attractive in real person, too. He never started off, but he got so intricately tangled in that web. A minor indiscretion, dear friends, will sink the ship. You see, belief is not something to cross the line. Belief is, OK, God, I'm going to trust you. I know that this is where the line is. You know, part of the problem is with sin. is that it doesn't make mathematical sense a lot of times. Do you know that? It just doesn't make sense a lot of times. Mathematically, for example, you know, if I just had my resume, I'm going to get this job that's going to pay more. As a result of that, it's going to be better for my family. A few months ago, did we not see the CEO of Yahoo company, an Internet company that had only been in place for a couple of months? He'd only been in place for a couple of months. They began to do some research into his background, found out he had padded his resume. Some of the things he claimed he had done and gone to school for, he did not. But I could just help. It didn't make mathematical sense. Young people, if you're struggling in a test, in a class, and you're thinking, you know, I need to cheat a little bit on this test so that I can get a better grade, so that I can pass a little bit higher and get into a college. It makes more sense to do that. Maybe we'll do a little different living arrangements because, you know, if we pool our resources and do that kind of thing, it makes more mathematical sense than trying to do it on our own. But what we fail to calculate is God's favor. We fail to calculate God's favor. And so I challenge us this morning, dear friends, no matter where we are, each of us are in some some area of that aspect of life. Maybe we're in an area right now we don't belong and we look before God and say, OK, God, I need to get this cleaned up. I need to confess it before you. Here's my sin. I need to appeal for cleansing. I want to change. That needs to change. I encourage you. Do it now. For some of you are continuing to say, you know, my goal is to continue to lead and to walk with God. But I need to make sure and every single one of us need to evaluate those minor, minor indiscretions and not playing with stuff because it takes us in a path. We remember that true repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of heart. That leads to a changed life. Let's pray. Father, thank you for a word of warning. It's right where we live in 2012. Father, each of us get caught up in the stuff of this world. We're right with David when David said we are people who have us in nature. It's in us. It's not somebody entrapped us. Things aren't really going that well at home, so I find this a little bit better. It isn't a matter that I need to do this so I get a better test grade, so I can get into college that I need to get into. Father, we need to walk with You. And when we fail, You are gracious and You are merciful. You will cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sin before You. But Father, You want us to walk as holy people, righteous people, so that the world is able to see the reflection of our Savior Jesus and You, our Father. Lord, speak to us. Continue to do that through the ministry of Your Holy Spirit. May we go out and walk with You carefully, being careful of those small things that lead to the big things. And Father, if we're involved in one of those big things, to come clean, get us straightened up, and walk rightly with You, because only there do we experience a bit of Your heaven on earth. Father, thank You for each one who's here this day. We're not here by accident. We need to hear from You. In Jesus' name, Amen.