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[0:00] Welcome to you all to our service this evening as we join together in the worship of God. We pray for his blessing upon his word to us.

[0:13] We can begin by singing to God's praise from Psalm 103. Psalm 103. At the beginning of the psalm, the first six stanzas, verses 1 to 7.

[0:30] O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord and all that in me is. Bestood up his holy name to magnify and bless. Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God, and not forgetful be of all his gracious benefits he hath bestowed on thee.

[0:49] All thine iniquities who doth most graciously forgive, through thy diseases all and pains doth heal and thee relieve.

[1:00] Who doth redeem thy life, that thou to death mayst not go down. Who thee with lovingkindness doth, and tender mercy's crown. Who with abundance of good things doth satisfy thy mouth.

[1:14] So that even as the eagle's age renew this thy youth. God righteous judgment executes. For all oppressed ones, whose ways to Moses, he his acts, made known to Israel's sons.

[1:30] And so on. Let us sing these verses. O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord and all that in me is. O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord and all that in me is.

[1:58] O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord and all that in me is.

[2:28] O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord and all that in me is.

[2:58] O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord and all that in me is.

[3:28] O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord and all that in me is. Thank you. الف supported by the Lutheran Society of Сп mir等ary ordained by the book of the series.

[4:00] and praise His friend. Who is the fund and song and his God that is my loving life so that in us Yahweh is that liberté inside Him God righteous judgment andнут's God For all of rest are once

[5:00] His wisdom will Ilta Golden State fired pure victory Israel's son Let's join together in prayer.

[5:24] Let's pray. Gracious God, we are indebted to you again for the opportunity to gather in your name and to seek your blessing upon us, and in particular upon your word.

[5:48] We are made to hear what this word has to say to us. We are under its teaching.

[6:03] We are governed by it in our lives, for your word testifies to the effect that it is this word that is a rule of life, and it is the scriptures that principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.

[6:41] We bless your holy name for every individual that has come to know that for themselves, who have discovered through your word who the source of eternal life is, who have discovered through your word their need to apply to that source.

[7:08] Because every other source that they drew near to and drank from were polluted by reason of sin.

[7:22] We bless you that your word tells us how this came about, that as you created us in our first appearance, we were found just, righteous, holy, without sin, walking before God in perfect perfect peace.

[7:48] But sin intruded into that environment, desecrating that place that was a place of harmony and peace, and resulting in this peace between God and his creature.

[8:09] And the aftermath of that is seen to this day. We live in a world that knows much of this peace.

[8:21] There is discord in our own heart. We often find ourselves, and we are in a state of perplexity and confusion, as we struggle to make sense of what is patently senseless, as we struggle to unravel threads that are so bound up and convoluted that we cannot begin to understand reason for these things in our life.

[8:57] We see in the world in our lives. We see in the world in which we live, within the confines of families, discord and turmoil.

[9:09] There is so much of it in our communities, even within our family circles, within the world in which we live that testifies to the aftermath of sin.

[9:23] We see it in the present world situation, where there are wars and rumours of wars.

[9:34] We are constantly reminded of the awful reality of the destruction man is able to wantonly bring about.

[9:45] We see and we feel for those people of the Ukraine whose homes have been desecrated, destroyed, spoiled.

[10:01] We see a wickedness that is in the heart of man. Not only do these things go on within that conflict, we see other conflicts also throughout the world, whether it is civil or nation against nation.

[10:21] All these things testify to the fact that sin is in the world, and that as long as this world remains, we will see evidence is in the world remains, we will see evidences of it.

[10:32] But we thank you of God for the provision that you have made for the sinner in the person of Jesus Christ. You lift him up before us in the gospel, and you tell us that there is peace to be found with him.

[10:53] A peace that he gives, not as the world gives, a peace that is lasting, a peace that is permanent. We give thanks for all the ways in which your people have experienced that in their life, as they enjoyed it, as they closed in with you through him.

[11:16] May they even tonight be reminded of that, and encouraged by it, and know that there is a Sabbath rest awaiting your people, where they will enter into the joy of the Lord, where there will be none of these things that have destroyed their peace in the world.

[11:40] We pray your blessing upon us as we wait upon you, mindful of those who cannot be with us because of sickness or illness, because of the duties that devolve upon those who care for such.

[11:57] We pray for those who are grieving and sorrowful, as we hear of the visitation of death, touching the lives of some who belong to the congregation here.

[12:10] And we pray for all such affected, remembering each one who may still have heavy hearts with reason for these reasons.

[12:21] We pray that you would sanctify the voice of death to us, that we would not neglect to consider our own end, for sooner or later every one of us will be on the same journey to meet with God.

[12:38] And death is waiting to bring all into thy presence. So hear us and bless us, we pray. Bless all that we entrust to your care and keeping, especially the affairs of the day.

[12:53] We pray for those who govern us. We pray for the royal household, especially for her majesty, the queen. We give thanks for her long reign.

[13:04] And even as we see the ravages of time having an effect upon her, we give thanks for her continuance in that role. And we pray that the evidences that are presented of uninteresting things of God, that they would be genuine and that they would be heartfelt, and that she would know the king of kings as her king and her sovereign.

[13:33] We pray, Lord, for those who govern us in her name. And we pray for wisdom to be imparted in trying circumstances.

[13:45] We remember those who are affected by the financial situation that embroils us at this time.

[13:57] And we pray for your own intervention in all the difficulties of the day, especially spiritual difficulties.

[14:09] The darkness that embroils us as a nation is there for all to see. The indifference that there is to the things that matter and the trivial things having a priority, causing turmoil, causing all kinds of talk.

[14:33] And in the light of eternity, these things are not things that really matter. But as the things that really do matter are ignored or treated with disdain.

[14:47] Sanctify every dealing that you have with us in providence, that the eyes of man would be directed to God, and that you, the God who is God over all, would be given your true place.

[15:01] Hear us, O Lord, and bless us together under the teaching of your word. Remember all who gather as we do, and all the congregations that we represent, and all the places where your name is lifted up.

[15:17] May the people of God rejoice that they hear the name of Christ presented to them as a name to which they can turn and upon which they can rely.

[15:32] For give sin in his name, cleanse us, each one. Amen. We're going to read from the scripture of the Old Testament.

[15:45] We're reading from the book of Psalms and Psalm 51. The Old Testament scripture, the book of Psalms, Psalm 51.

[15:56] We can read the whole Psalm. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

[16:13] Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

[16:24] Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

[16:37] Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

[16:50] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

[17:05] Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

[17:16] Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit.

[17:33] Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

[17:50] O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering.

[18:03] The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, thou wilt not despise.

[18:15] Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness.

[18:26] With burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. Amen, and may the Lord add this blessing to this reading of this holy and inerrant word.

[18:41] We're going to sing now from Psalm 68. Psalm 68, from verse 17 to verse 20.

[18:54] Five stanzas. Psalm 68. God's chariots twenty thousand are. Thousands of angels strung.

[19:04] In his holy place God is. As in Mount Sinai's them among. Thou hast, O Lord, most glorious, ascended up on high. And in triumph victorious, led captive captivity.

[19:19] Thou hast received gifts for men. For such as did rebel. Yea, even for them that God the Lord in midst of them might dwell. Blessed be the Lord, who is to us of our salvation God, who daily with his benefits as plenteously doth load.

[19:39] He of salvation is the God, who is our God most strong. And unto God the Lord, from death the issues do belong.

[19:49] These verses of Psalm 68, from verse 17 to 20. God's chariots twenty thousand are. Thousands of angels strung.

[20:00] God's chariots twenty thousand are.

[20:11] Thousands of angels strung.иной fath Geschw� Авлат worrying.

[20:40] Lord may be singing If annual ascended upon high Colors Will be singing The heavy при cartoon The Hosánh we see the y meatballs for Him.

[21:15] For such a just every better than another.

[21:27] that God of the Lord gave me a soul and a mighty well.

[21:38] Let's be the Lord to His best, O Lamb, salvation on earth, good living with his championship, heav'n of us, He also is the God, is the God most strong.

[22:22] And the Lord, the Lord from death, the angels who belong.

[22:42] I'd like us now for a short time to turn to this psalm that we read together from the book of Psalms, Psalm 51. And we can read again at verse 12.

[23:01] Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Particularly the words, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.

[23:18] Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Psalm 51 is one of the better known psalms.

[23:29] We know some psalms better than others. Some we sing more frequently than others. And I would imagine that this psalm here is one that many of you will be familiar with.

[23:44] You can see from the heading given to it, in some of the Bibles anyway, it's described as a psalm to the chief musician.

[23:57] A psalm of David when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. And that places the psalm in to the chief of God.

[24:09] And that places the psalm in a particular setting. It is described as one of the penitentiary. It is described as one of the penitential psalms. The seven psalms.

[24:20] And the focus upon the psalm in a particular psalm in a particular psalm in a particular psalm. Psalm exploring upon one of his people. And describing the return of that person of the need for the return to God.

[24:40] Demonstrating a penitent heart. Sorrow for sin. Grief for sin. And a desire to pursue a new life of obedience.

[24:51] The commentator Bishop Horn summarises the psalm in words which I suppose are quite appropriate to it.

[25:04] He states, it is composed upon a sad occasion, the royal supplicant robed in sackcloth and crowned with ashes in treats for mercy.

[25:21] And that is a good description of what we have in the psalm. But I want us this evening to focus on the words that we read last year, the words of verse 12, the beginning of that verse.

[25:39] But consider it in light of what the psalm is all about. And to try and understand what the psalmist means in the desire that is expressed.

[25:54] He wants the Lord to restore unto him the joy of thy salvation.

[26:08] The joy of thy salvation. What is implied by that desire for restoration? And what is sought as a result of experiencing that restoration?

[26:29] When we consider these words, I don't think they're difficult for any one of us to understand.

[26:41] I would hope not anyway. The psalmist wants to recover something. Something that he has lost.

[26:52] Something that was taken from him. And there are two things about that which we can see. First of all, we can recognize that he himself considers that he is responsible for its loss.

[27:13] He's not in a position where he blames anybody else. The loss of what he wishes to recover is attributable to none other than himself.

[27:25] And that's important. Certainly when we think of the desire that there is to come to God with a penitent heart.

[27:35] If there is not an acknowledgement of the reason for the need to return, then we're on a false journey.

[27:49] We're on a wrong road. The second thing that is patently obvious, I think, is that the desire that is expressed clearly understands or appreciates that what needs to be restored cannot be restored by any other than the God to which he comes with that expression.

[28:20] It's clear from the psalm itself that as he acknowledges his sin, that he does so before God, recognizing the responsibility for it.

[28:37] And that is the reason for his need to come to God in the first place in this way. So these two things have to be considered under her first heading.

[28:51] You cannot really, I would think you understand, you cannot reclaim something that you haven't previously possessed.

[29:03] The word itself means that. It doesn't make sense. You can't restore something that wasn't already there. A work of restoration.

[29:14] If you're going to restore a home or restore a building or restore a car or whatever, there is an original. There is something that was there before that restoration can take place.

[29:30] And the psalmist recognizes that he has lost something that he wishes to recover. And this is what the psalm is all about.

[29:45] And what he has lost, God has taken from him. And that again is something that is acknowledged by him. And the reason that God has taken from him is, as I said, attributable to himself and described by himself as being sin.

[30:08] The consequences of sin in his life. And the psalm, as you go through it, describes to us some of the elements of that sin.

[30:23] It doesn't go into the sin itself as such. It doesn't go into the detail of the sin. It's not necessary for him to do that. But the consequences of that sin are descriptive of the way God deals with him as a result of it.

[30:43] For example, in verse 10, he desires the renewal of a right spirit. Which is, I suppose, a parallel to what he's wanting in verse 12.

[30:58] He's wanting something that he's lacking. Something that he's missing. Something that he once possessed that he is no longer able to identify as being part of his life.

[31:10] And the bottom line for him is that sin is behind it. And the bottom line for every one of us is that when we suffer deprivation of the kind that is described here, sin lies at its door.

[31:35] And that is the way it is. Whatever the sin may be, it comes with a price tag. And I think everybody who professes the name of God knows that.

[31:51] They're not being told. You're not being told something that is a new bit of information. Whenever there is sin in our life.

[32:02] It doesn't. We don't need to go to David and the extreme nature of his sin to think this is the outcome of his sin.

[32:15] But his sin was the sin of a king. His sin was the sin of somebody who had great privileges.

[32:25] The sin that he committed of which he was accused by Nathan and which he came to acknowledge was a grievous sin.

[32:38] The fact of the matter is that no matter what the sin is, as I said, it comes with a cost. And it comes with this experience.

[32:52] We may for that time perhaps be like David, go on oblivious to the cost of our sin.

[33:04] Because we're oblivious to the fact of our sin. But God, if he's merciful and he is, will reveal to us the nature of the sin, the extent of the sin, the presence of the sin, and the cost of the sin will be made known to us.

[33:23] And usually, in the experience of a believer, it will manifest itself in this way. Here, the withdrawal of God's spirit and the absence of joy that is the result of God's displeasure.

[33:40] One of the commentators, Professor Alan Harman, makes an interesting comment regarding what we have described to us here.

[33:55] His opinion, you can all share it and you'll all agree with it, I'm sure. The presence of sin causes the absence of joy.

[34:06] The presence of sin causes the absence of joy. But he gives this explanation for that. Because, he says, peace has gone.

[34:20] Now, maybe you didn't think of it like that. Why should the absence of peace be accompanied with the absence of joy?

[34:33] Well, the simple reason is that where there is no peace with God, there can be no joy in the heart of the person who professes his name.

[34:48] It is something that is a necessary accompaniment. And, they both, they are like Siamese twins in many respects. Now, surely, every one of us who know what it is to live the life of a Christian can understand that.

[35:09] We can, if the peace that we are looking at is peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, then, what accompanies that, the sense of it, the understanding of it, is joy.

[35:29] There is a necessary accompaniment to it. And the absence of it is the absence of joy of which the psalmist is speaking here.

[35:39] Now, it is important for us to recognise that, although what we are seeing here described for us, is the experience of King David, the experience of a covenant leader of the people, somebody who sins by reason of the fact of who he is, brings greater displeasure upon his head, it is still the truth that wherever God's people are in a relationship with him, where they sin, that sin cannot but be accompanied with a manifestation at some point of his displeasure.

[36:27] Now, it's interesting, when you listen to certain Christian experiences, it's not always the case that there is an instant recognition that God is missing from their life, or that God is not revealing himself to them in their life in the way that he formally did.

[36:56] I think the best example we have of that, just occurs to me here, is the example that we have in the scripture of one of the saints of God, Samson.

[37:15] And he is a saint, he is a Nazarite from the womb, he is someone who knew the favour of God, and yet he went out as on other occasions, and he wist not that the Lord was not with him.

[37:34] He thought he would go out in his own strength, he thought he would go out as he had done before, he thought he would engage with the enemies that were before him, and triumph over them, just as before.

[37:51] He was unaware, he was oblivious to the fact that God was not with him. Now it can be the same for a Christian. You don't have to be a David, you don't have to be a Samson, but you do have to understand that where there is sin, there is always consequences accompanying it, whatever the nature of the sin may be.

[38:17] And it's not unique to David. The sin may be different, but the loss will be every bit as real. And that's what you need to understand, that's what I need to understand, that's what we all need to understand, because if individual sin, it affects the individual.

[38:42] if the sin permeates the corporate body that is the Church of Christ, and their sinfulness goes on and acknowledged and recognised without any awareness that it's there, it cannot but affect the testimony, the witness, the willingness of God to own and honour his own name through the Church that be Israel's name, if the Church is like that.

[39:16] Whatever sin is, it will bring consequences. Now perhaps we cannot understand that fully without asking and answering the second question.

[39:30] What does this man want? What does he want to be restored? Well, it's not just joy.

[39:42] We would be mistaken if we read that he wants to have joy restored. Nor is it, we need to say, salvation.

[39:54] He doesn't want the salvation to be restored. In David's case, we might think that the sin was so gross, so vile, so blatant, so defiant, that salvation itself would be in jeopardy.

[40:13] There's no way we can belittle it. There's no way we can make it out to be anything other than what it is. And yet, his salvation is not what he is fearful of losing.

[40:29] I'm not saying that he was without thought. It could be that David's heart trembled at the thought of the consequences of his sin. Certainly his petitions help us understand the reality of his sin and his understanding of the reality of his sin.

[40:54] But I don't think that he, for a moment, or at least for any length of time, thought that his salvation was in danger. David and everybody like him who have experienced salvation from God can never lose it.

[41:20] It doesn't matter who they are. once you are saved, you are always saved. And some people will say that is really something very dangerous to declare.

[41:36] Something very dangerous to emphasize. But it has to be emphasized because the scripture emphasizes it.

[41:48] That the person that has experienced salvation at the hand of God, they are in God's hand and nobody, nothing, can put them, take them from the hand of God.

[42:04] They are in a permanent state of salvation. But that does not prevent a person who falls into sin from believing that his salvation could be jeopardized.

[42:26] People will say, people would have looked at David and the holy, holier they were, they looked at him and they would say, David, you've really messed up this time.

[42:38] there's never been a king like you who was so favored by God and yet you've done this gross deed and you've added to it by a further gross deed.

[42:53] Why, vile sins that hardly a person would have done without knowledge of God? And it seems to me that you have done that and you can't really have known that, God yourself.

[43:10] It would be easy for you to see that looking at David. The devil would say it to him, David, there's no proof that you've ever known this God as your God.

[43:23] It's very obvious that the kind of life you've lived is a life that speaks to ignorance, speaks to defiance of God. Probably, as I said, David himself would have said that.

[43:40] But, the fact of the martyr is, as far as the salvation that belongs to the sinner who has closed in by faith with Jesus Christ, they are saved by grace and that salvation is a permanent reality.

[43:58] Now, it doesn't mean that when they sin, that they will not experience the displeasure of God. it doesn't mean that when they sin, that there will be every evidence that would suggest that God's displeasure is of a sort that would indicate that God has cut them off.

[44:21] but I don't think from this psalm that David was of that opinion because he goes to God and he goes to God as one that he knows is able to block out his sins.

[44:38] He knows that this God is able to carry out everything necessary to deal with this sin, whatever that sin may be, no matter how gross, no matter how vile, no matter how dark his heart is, God is able to deal with it.

[44:59] Purge me, he says, with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than the snow. He understands who God is and what God is able to do.

[45:12] He knows that, but he knows to go to God with his sin. he confesses his sin because he knows God is able to deal with it and deal with him.

[45:28] He knows already the forgiveness and he knows already that that forgiveness is something that he needs to hear about and tell others about.

[45:41] perhaps the fear of not being forgiven may have filled his heart, but he could not countenance going on in that sin because he had already enjoyed the joy of salvation.

[46:01] He had already enjoyed the power of God blotting out his sin and that was irreversible. In the Westminster Confession of Faith it has a chapter dealing with this fact and Robert Sean's commentary on the confession he cites David as an example of the saint's perseverance quoting from this psalm cast me not from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

[46:34] he says this implies that he had the same experience of God's presence and that the Holy Spirit had never wholly departed from him.

[46:50] Now what do you think David then means by the joy of salvation? He wants the joy of salvation to be restored and I think at the heart of what he wants.

[47:05] Even though he's an Old Testament saint, the Old Testament saint, however cloudy their vision was, however much they depended upon the Spirit of God to give them glimpses of the glory of Jesus Christ which the gospel has given to us with greater clarity.

[47:25] David nevertheless understood that provision would be made by God where sin would be dealt with and through the Old Testament dispensation and all that belonged to that he understood that there was going to be a sacrifice for sin which God would be pleased to receive and their sins would be dealt with and they would be cleansed and they would be secure and they would know that salvation was there and his peace and his joy rested upon that.

[48:01] So effectively what he is able to say he is able to say because at the heart of what he understood was that God was in Christ going to deal with the sin of the sinner and it gave him the deepest joy.

[48:23] Now if you can say at this moment that this is where your joy comes from.

[48:36] If your joy as a Christian believer is fixed on the same Christ then your joy is something you want to preserve.

[48:53] I was thinking for myself and I can only use my own experience in this sense. The first time that I ever glimpsed for myself the power of Christ's death on the cross it was a momentous occasion.

[49:22] It was of the sort where my sins paled into insignificance. They were no longer something that intruded into my relationship with God.

[49:38] Christ blotted them out. For the first time the cross made sense. For the first time the incarnation made sense. For the first time the Christ of God made sense.

[49:52] peace. And what happened? There was joy. A deep joy.

[50:05] I would like to say a lasting joy. It didn't last joy. In the way that it was experienced in the first instance.

[50:25] But that joy is part of the Christian experience. It is not something that remains in the same intensity.

[50:37] It's not something that remains with the same clarity that there is with it when you first experience it. But because it comes through Christ it is something that is ever part of your Christian experience.

[51:01] when the cross of Christ made sense. Now going back to David because sin was in his experience he could not at that moment say that the joy of his salvation not even the joy of his salvation it is what we have is the joy of thy salvation the joy of the salvation that comes to him through God and he wants that restored because sin has taken away from him it has taken away from him what God had initially given to him and maybe that's the experience of every believer but their desire is to get back to there to get back to the full possession of that joy to have it so that they are uplifted and possessing the fullness of it.

[52:17] I came across the comments of Charles Hodge he's quoting he was commenting on a passage in Paul's epistle to the Romans and talking about the joy of the believer Romans chapter 14 and I'll quote the words of the passage he says this is what Paul says for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost now the comments of Charles Hodge the commentator are this the righteousness peace and joy intended are those of which the Holy Spirit is the author righteousness is that which enables us to stand before

[53:20] God because it satisfies the demands of the law it is the righteousness of faith both objective and subjective peace is the concord between God and the soul between reason and the conscience between the heart and our fellow men and joy is the joy of salvation that joy which only those who are in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost ever can experience I think that explains to us or describes to us what David in particular here is seeking he wants to get back to this place where he knows he confidently is able to assert this belongs to me this is mine sin has for a time taken it away from me he's taken away from me the certainty that I had the awareness that I had the provision that God had made for me and how many of us are robbed by sin in that way whatever the sin is whatever it is they don't have to be vile sins gross sins they don't have to be extreme sins but any sin that offends

[54:47] God can result in what God has provided to us being hidden from view but what we need to remember is this that while sin can for a time hide the Lord from us hide the gifts and the graces that he has promised from our side the Lord is not obliterated the work that he has done is not undone the hold that he has upon his people is not loosened our Christianity is something that should go on and go on apace and I was looking at this and thinking of this again the psalm came to mind

[55:47] I joyed went to the house of God go up they said to me and I was saying to myself how many of the Lord's people joyfully go to be in God's house with God's people here in God's word preached listening to the name of Christ and their heart gladdened at every moment that they enjoy of being in the presence of God's people under the sound of the word have we become a joyless people have we become joyless Christians have we become joyless in the pursuit of God it shouldn't be like that yes we need to recognize our sin we need to acknowledge our sin we need to repent of our sin we need to go to God and pray the prayer of David that our sins would be blotted out that he would hide his face from our sins that he would create in his clean heart but in order to what just to allow us to go on sauntering our way through life dull as dishwater and morose and people would say well what's the point of your

[57:13] Christ what's the point of your Christianity what's the point of your profession we can't live like that by all means recognize your sinfulness deal deal with it deal with it how by going with your sin to God and acknowledging it and seeking his grace so that it won't be there again whatever the sin will be restore unto me the joy of thy salvation how's that for a prayer how's that for a petition how's that for something that every one of us should have coming before God tonight restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and if you can't rejoice for the saving that you enjoyed at the hand of

[58:23] Christ you know the joys of this world I don't know which one which commentator I was reading or a sermon perhaps and he was saying if David went back to the joys of this world I wouldn't agree with him I don't think David got much pleasure from the sins that he embraced they were all too quickly coming down upon his ears bringing misery in their way but very often we mistakenly think that what this world has to offer is enjoyable and the opposite is far more the case well may God encourage us by considering his word more deeply let's pray Lord help us to understand the reality that sin brings into our experience the awfulness of it the hurtfulness of it the damage it brings help us to repair that damage by going to you the physician who was able to heal who was able to bind up wounds who was able to right the wrongs that we are guilty of cleanse us from our sins they are many they are vile they are gross they are extreme the more we know the more terrible they should be in our sight may we confess them honestly and earnestly with a view to abandoning them turning our back upon them and embracing

[60:09] Christ freely offered to us in the gospel cleanse us in whose name amen i'm going to conclude singing from psalm 51 psalm 51 at verse 8 and we'll sing to verse 14 of gladness and of joyfulness make me to hear the voice that saw these very bones which thou hast broken may rejoice all mine iniquities blocked out thy face hide from my sin create a clean heart lord renew a right spirit me within cast me not from thy side nor take thy holy spirit away restore me thy salvation's joy with thy free spirit me stable sing to verse 14 of gladness and of joyfulness make me to hear the voice of gladness and joy joy make me to hear the voice that so is every hope which now has broken may be mine happyש my case may god—

[62:02] Our glory here, Our righteousness be within.

[62:15] Cost me along Thy shining arches, Thy holy spirit of wind.

[62:30] With joy implies The risen sky The night in this remedy Gain.

[62:48] Then with attention I rest unto those up at all, just ejemplo.

[63:04] I was not dead and eternally to Thee.

[63:22]  O God, O Christ our spiritual B thing about the givenness it is an angel of the supernatural sing on thy righteousness Now may grace, mercy and peace God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you all now and always Amen