WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.260 1st John chapter 1 verse 5 to chapter 2 verse 2 it's page 1225 00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:26.679 this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you god is light in him there is no 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:34.840 darkness at all if we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness we lie and do 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:42.359 not live by the truth but if we walk in light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:51.100 another and the blood of jesus his son purifies us from all sin if we claim to be without sin 00:00:51.100 --> 00:01:00.260 we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just 00:01:00.260 --> 00:01:08.599 and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness if we claim we have not sinned 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:17.500 we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives my dear children i write this 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:25.299 to you so that you will not sin but if anybody does sin we have one who speaks to the father in our 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:33.219 defense jesus christ the righteous one he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for 00:01:33.219 --> 00:01:49.099 ours but also for the sins of the whole world okay so next reading from um sam 32 i don't have a page number 00:01:49.099 --> 00:01:50.780 so i'll be called it 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:57.019 560 00:01:57.019 --> 00:01:57.059 560 00:01:57.059 --> 00:02:03.099 okay 00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:11.060 sam 32 blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven whose sins are covered blessed is the man 00:02:11.060 --> 00:02:16.859 whose sin the lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no is in no deceit 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:25.080 when i kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long for day and night your hand 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:31.900 was heavy upon me my strength was soft as in the heat of summer then i acknowledged my sin to you 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:38.380 and did not cover up my iniquity i said i will confess my turned transgressions to the lord 00:02:38.380 --> 00:02:46.300 and you forgave the guilt of my sin therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be 00:02:46.300 --> 00:02:53.260 found surely when the mighty waters rise they will not reach him you are my hiding place you will 00:02:53.260 --> 00:02:59.439 protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance i will instruct you and teach you in 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:06.480 the way you should go i will counsel you and watch over you do not be like the horse or the mule which 00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:11.640 have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:18.159 many are the woes of the wicked but the lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:24.359 rejoice in the lord and be glad you righteous sing all you who are upright in heart 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:35.160 thanksgiving peter's going to come and speak to us now and apparently johnny thinks that the only 00:03:35.160 --> 00:03:40.800 things worth noting about peter are that he's originally from tipperary he now lives in cork 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:48.040 um as a monster staff worker with ice and he's married to maive and i'd like to add that peter's so 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:53.840 much more than all of those things he's also um a tipperary man but he's probably quite nervous about 00:03:53.840 --> 00:04:00.479 today's match against waterford where's it in the bag and i'm gonna keep on you in the bag as well 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:03.620 thanks for thanks for having me sharing it 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:09.680 good morning everybody 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:15.039 yep um as rightly noted my name is peter originally from feathered 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:20.879 in county tipperary which is a very important point uh married to the beautiful maive for 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:28.500 uh a year and a month and a bit um yeah so we're looking at sam 32 this morning i was thinking as we 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:33.579 were standing up and sitting down earlier on it's interesting how our body language can uh just 00:04:33.579 --> 00:04:38.899 display something of what we're thinking or what we're feeling in our hearts um and i think for this 00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:44.980 um probably initially the body language is certainly one of kneeling um and then it goes on to one of 00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:49.000 standing or rejoicing i'm not going to ask you to kneel i know some of you have babies in your 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:54.360 hands and things like that so uh that wouldn't be appropriate um yeah i'd just like to ask as well 00:04:54.360 --> 00:05:04.680 does does everybody know who tiger woods is vaguely yeah okay cool well in 1996 earl woods who is tiger 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:11.900 woods and his dad said of his 21 year old son listen to this now tiger will do more than any other 00:05:11.899 --> 00:05:19.179 man in history to change the course of humanity when i found that quote i was just like wow 00:05:19.179 --> 00:05:26.279 this is gold for sermon material it didn't take so it takes so long to read actually though through 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:32.120 all of tiger's uh achievements on and off the golf course um that i had to cut it out it'd take just 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:37.819 too long to read through it all so you begin to wonder if his dad's prophecy is coming through to a 00:05:37.819 --> 00:05:43.560 certain extent and he is an amazing god for probably the best of all time and through the likes of his 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:50.500 tiger woods foundation uh he raises a huge amount of money for charity he's married to ellen who's a 00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:57.039 former swedish model with whom he has two children however in recent times you may have heard that tiger 00:05:57.039 --> 00:06:04.039 has admitted to having a string of extramarital affairs uh offering the following reasoning i convinced 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:10.640 myself that normal rules didn't apply i thought only about myself i thought i could get away with 00:06:10.640 --> 00:06:19.760 whatever i wanted to i felt i was entitled i suppose it's easy um to look at tiger and to look at others 00:06:19.760 --> 00:06:25.400 and judge them but the truth of the matter is that we've all been there haven't we we may not be the 00:06:25.400 --> 00:06:31.640 most successful sportsmen in history even though sometimes a thursday night soccer as i rack up goal 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:37.419 after goal i just wonder uh we may not be all um part of multi-million pound sponsorship deals 00:06:37.419 --> 00:06:46.560 um we may not have had uh affairs outside of marriage but we've all been there we've either done 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:51.560 things that would have shocked us in clear conscience or we've not done things that we should have done 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:57.019 and then even when we do things right we get all proud about ourselves and think that we're great 00:06:57.019 --> 00:07:03.039 like tiger we've covered our sins in the hope they wouldn't be uncovered we've kept silent 00:07:03.039 --> 00:07:09.279 and not confessed our transgressions like tiger we all know what it's like when we've had 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:16.799 a spirit of deceit when we've been trying to fool ourselves and others what tiger has done is 00:07:16.799 --> 00:07:23.259 extremely serious many of the companies sponsoring tiger have either suspended or cancelled their support 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:29.659 of them all together resulting in the value of the companies falling and one economics professor 00:07:29.659 --> 00:07:35.860 estimates that the loss caused to companies because of what tiger has done is between five and twelve 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:42.899 billion u.s dollars when you consider that the the outfall or the fallout of the islandic 00:07:42.899 --> 00:07:48.439 um ash cloud was i think something between one and three billion dollars it kind of puts it in 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:55.219 perspective um but far more serious than the the financial cost is the emotional mental and spiritual 00:07:55.219 --> 00:08:01.540 cost that has been accumulated and will continue which someone will have to pay for so he's called 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:10.139 this huge um cost to be put on his family on his wife imagine if he came home one day and his wife 00:08:10.139 --> 00:08:16.600 ellen said to him tiger i know exactly what you've done but never again will i bring up your transgressions 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:23.720 to hurt you or make you feel guilty or remind you it's at huge cost to myself but i forgive you 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:26.900 wouldn't that be amazing wouldn't that be incredible 00:08:26.900 --> 00:08:35.700 if tiger were to read the opening verses of sam 32 he would come across a mouth-watering prospect 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:43.279 that david sets before us this morning a person there in verse one whose transgressions are forgiven 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:50.220 whose sins are covered whose sin the lord does not count against them in verse two and in whose 00:08:50.220 --> 00:08:57.439 spirit there is no deceit these two verses they're like a headline over the psalm and a headline that's 00:08:57.439 --> 00:09:03.679 far more interesting than anything written in recent times in the tabloids or the broadsheet about tiger 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:12.359 how extraordinary it would be if ellen forgives tiger how much more so if god who is perfectly holy 00:09:12.359 --> 00:09:15.199 forgives us how could this be 00:09:15.199 --> 00:09:22.319 well as we've mentioned david writes verse one and two as a kind of a headline which grabs our attention 00:09:22.319 --> 00:09:28.919 but in verses three to five he brings us back in time to understand how verses one and two came about 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:36.679 we shall see something of how david got to this point and how if at all we can share in the same 00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:44.299 experience of forgiveness i don't know if like me you enjoy watching wildlife documentaries on tv 00:09:44.299 --> 00:09:50.259 um as mabel tell you and sometimes what they'll do especially in the good quality bbc ones is that 00:09:50.259 --> 00:09:56.379 they'll have uh an image of a desert for example and they'll have it speeded up so the video will be 00:09:56.379 --> 00:10:03.679 taken over months uh of time and they'll have this picture of this dead dull dry desert and just as 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:09.820 the rain starts to come in the desert uh bursts into life so it becomes full of life full of water 00:10:09.820 --> 00:10:15.720 rich green grass um and the whole scene is amazing really it's just a total transformation 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:23.700 well it's like the total opposite here in verse four david's strength was sapped as if in the heat of 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:30.920 the hottest summer and we're left wondering has he taken a vow of silence in verse three when i kept 00:10:30.920 --> 00:10:38.620 silent my bones wasted away but it seems there's something much more sinister going on as we look 00:10:38.620 --> 00:10:45.240 at the results of his silence it's as if the spiritual air pressure is high while david was silent 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:52.519 you can see there in verse four god's hand was heavy upon him resulting in the groaning of verse 00:10:52.519 --> 00:11:00.259 three his bones wasting away and his vitality or his strength being sapped as it says in verse four 00:11:00.259 --> 00:11:08.480 well if verses three and four um describe the drought of summer verse five is surely the first sign 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:15.440 of much needed rain we'd already seen how blessed is the man in whom spirit is no deceit 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:21.639 and here in verse five david is explaining what it looks like when he stops trying to fool 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:29.220 or to deceive god because self-deception i suppose by its very nature is difficult to see in our lives 00:11:29.220 --> 00:11:35.259 it obviously means that we're deceiving ourselves i think it'd be good to spend just a little bit of 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:42.939 time thinking about david's way out of the trap of self-deception and there are four things briefly 00:11:42.939 --> 00:11:51.840 worth noticing firstly you'll see that david owns up to his sin in verse five i acknowledged i did not 00:11:51.840 --> 00:12:00.539 cover i said i will confess so the onus was on david he doesn't blame other people he doesn't blame his 00:12:00.539 --> 00:12:08.120 circumstances he doesn't blame god even though he had great opportunity as king to pawn off 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:14.779 responsibility to others he doesn't do that here and he also doesn't pretend that it isn't that big 00:12:14.779 --> 00:12:22.860 a deal so secondly he doesn't water down the seriousness of what he has done it's thought that 00:12:22.860 --> 00:12:27.779 this psalm is part of david's reflection on the sins of his scandalous affair with bathsheba 00:12:27.779 --> 00:12:35.879 but he doesn't dilute it he doesn't pretend that it isn't that bad he calls it like it is he calls 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:43.059 sin sin thirdly he realizes that that it's primarily against god that he has sinned so 00:12:43.059 --> 00:12:48.899 this this whole verse here david is talking to god he's communicating with god with the lord 00:12:48.899 --> 00:12:56.839 and fourthly there's a serious intentionality to what david does in verse five he can see it in the 00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:04.960 language i said i will confess so he makes up his mind to do this and i think i really think those 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:10.660 four things are a good pattern for us to learn to get out of this trap that we so often fall into 00:13:10.660 --> 00:13:17.860 of self-deception firstly to own up to our sin secondly to not water down how serious it is 00:13:17.860 --> 00:13:23.840 thirdly to realize that that it's against god who is holy that we've primarily sinned 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:30.600 and fourthly to be intentional to make a decision and follow through on the confession no matter what 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:39.340 so in very stark contrast to the hiding and the cover-ups of verse three and four david here 00:13:39.340 --> 00:13:46.080 acknowledges his sin to god he doesn't hide his iniquity and he says i will confess my transgressions 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:57.720 to the lord now the tiger has confessed and his wife ellen to put it mildly can withdraw her love from him 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:05.500 she can pour out her anger on him she can take his fortune and his children and she can sell her story 00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:12.960 to the media if she likes or she can forgive him she can bear the cost of that forgiveness herself 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:21.259 you see the person we have offended the person to whom we confess our sins has the right and the 00:14:21.259 --> 00:14:28.580 ability to become our savior or our destroyer so they can accept or reject our confession it's a bit 00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:35.780 unnerving when you think about it not that i'm taking pity on politicians but it's no wonder in the 00:14:35.780 --> 00:14:41.600 doll when politicians have to be before the opposition parties and they're sometimes so reluctant 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:48.720 to admit that they were wrong it's no wonder as children before our parents how we always blamed 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:56.340 our siblings and didn't admit our own wrongdoing it's no wonder breaths i'm sure were held as tiger 00:14:56.340 --> 00:15:04.019 finally admitted to his transgressions how will the offended party react what will they say what will 00:15:04.019 --> 00:15:16.259 they do in the case of hand in this psalm here with david and god it's even more tense because we know god to be holy and totally opposed to sin 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:26.679 it's god's hand which is heavy upon david back in verse four god is already showing his holy opposition to sin 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:35.899 by sapping david's strength by david's bones wasting away etc and so we wonder if david confesses sin 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:44.120 excuse me if david confesses sin surely god will destroy him altogether will withdraw his love 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:47.599 will pour out his anger destroy david altogether 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:56.540 what's been going on up to this point is that david has been trying to bear the cost of the particular 00:15:56.540 --> 00:15:57.540 sins in view 00:15:57.540 --> 00:16:05.500 it is by those same means so what we see back in verses three and four it's by those means that god 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:11.540 has been pressing david to confess to come clean with god so that he would be forgiven 00:16:11.539 --> 00:16:20.480 or in other words so that god himself might bear the cost of david's sin rather than david being destroyed 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.659 by trying to bear the cost himself 00:16:22.659 --> 00:16:29.919 well how does god bear the cost of david's sin we might ask 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:36.559 and the simple answer is that god bears the cost of david's sin in the cross of christ 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:44.279 god the son becomes man so that we might so that he might associate with mankind with david 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:52.559 he willingly lays down his life for david on the cross as god the father pours out the wrath that 00:16:52.559 --> 00:17:01.939 david deserved on god the son jesus bones wasted away because of david's sin jesus groaned because of 00:17:01.940 --> 00:17:09.299 david's sin god's hand was heavy upon jesus and his strength was sapped to the point of death 00:17:09.299 --> 00:17:10.600 for david's sin 00:17:10.600 --> 00:17:18.559 as paul tells us in second corinthians god made jesus who had no sin to be sin 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:23.660 or in this case god made jesus who had no sin to be sin for david 00:17:23.660 --> 00:17:28.220 so that in jesus david might become the righteousness of god 00:17:28.220 --> 00:17:35.079 so rather than withdrawing his love for david and pouring out his anger on him 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:42.720 god father son and spirit shows his love for david by diverting his anger to jesus on the cross 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:50.180 who laid down his life for david god bears the cost as the father gives up his only son 00:17:50.180 --> 00:17:54.039 as the son becomes man and dies the death of a criminal 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:57.879 as the son bears the outpouring of the father's wrath 00:17:57.879 --> 00:18:01.759 and the love of the father is withdrawn from him 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:07.220 it's for that reason and that reason alone that the beautiful words 00:18:07.220 --> 00:18:09.759 at the end of verse five are true 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:13.460 god forgave the guilt of david's sin 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:18.379 as augustine said the word is scarcely in his mouth 00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:20.540 before the wound is healed 00:18:20.540 --> 00:18:26.100 you see david has realized how unnecessary it is 00:18:26.100 --> 00:18:29.580 for him to be experiencing the things of verse three and four 00:18:29.580 --> 00:18:33.980 because jesus has already experienced those things fully 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:38.140 to their limit and in their most awful sense on the cross 00:18:38.140 --> 00:18:43.540 and so david and us and we are brought back 00:18:43.539 --> 00:18:46.019 to the happy man of verses one and two 00:18:46.019 --> 00:18:49.159 when david stopped trying to cover up his sin 00:18:49.159 --> 00:18:50.920 god really covers it up 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:52.339 through christ 00:18:52.339 --> 00:18:57.119 oh what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven 00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.420 whose sin is put out of sight 00:18:59.420 --> 00:19:02.079 yes what joy for those whose record 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:04.240 the lord has cleared of guilt 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:07.339 whose lives are lived in complete honesty 00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:18.099 oh is that embarrassing moment when the priest takes his stuff of water 00:19:18.099 --> 00:19:24.579 as we've been reading this morning the question naturally arises 00:19:24.579 --> 00:19:26.879 how much do we relate to david here 00:19:26.879 --> 00:19:29.699 how much or how much should we relate to it 00:19:29.699 --> 00:19:33.899 well david gives us an amazing answer in verse six 00:19:33.899 --> 00:19:35.699 he says therefore 00:19:35.700 --> 00:19:39.640 or in other words because of the reasons i've just outlined 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:43.660 let everyone who is godly pray to you 00:19:43.660 --> 00:19:44.620 or pray to god 00:19:44.620 --> 00:19:46.880 while he may be found 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:51.480 did david have saving faith prior to the experience of this psalm 00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:52.740 i would say he did 00:19:52.740 --> 00:19:55.519 what he's reminded of in this psalm though 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:57.200 as we need to be reminded 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.880 is that this honest confession of sin 00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:02.840 is something that's an ongoing part and parcel 00:20:02.840 --> 00:20:04.680 of life as a christian 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:07.100 as we heard already 00:20:07.100 --> 00:20:08.740 if we say we have no sin 00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:10.620 we deceive ourselves 00:20:10.620 --> 00:20:13.840 while we're in this fallen world 00:20:13.840 --> 00:20:15.240 the battle rages on 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:17.440 sin still wields its power 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:19.799 the battle rages on 00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:22.019 there's a warning from david in verse six 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:24.680 god is truly patient with us 00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:27.799 but we shouldn't take this for granted 00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:31.960 perhaps this morning there's something in our lives 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:32.919 in our minds even 00:20:32.919 --> 00:20:34.480 that's eating us up 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:36.359 that's wasting our bones 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:38.839 and we're avoiding god 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:41.980 sometimes it's easy to be in the midst 00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:44.019 of sunday morning worship 00:20:44.019 --> 00:20:46.180 and to be totally avoiding god 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:47.539 i've been there myself 00:20:47.539 --> 00:20:52.220 this psalm warns us that in a flood of great waters 00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:53.640 we shall not come near him 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:56.279 in other words there will come a time 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:57.660 when it will be too late 00:20:57.660 --> 00:21:00.360 when we have covered it up too often 00:21:00.360 --> 00:21:01.799 and for too long 00:21:01.799 --> 00:21:05.220 we should realize that not only 00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:07.579 will this prayer be often on our lips 00:21:07.579 --> 00:21:08.539 as christians 00:21:08.539 --> 00:21:11.000 but with great urgency as well 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.660 in a time when god may be found 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:17.279 but also be encouraged 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:18.400 we should be encouraged 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:19.599 by our merciful god 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:20.619 that presses us 00:21:20.619 --> 00:21:22.079 to be honest with him 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:23.960 and not cover this matter 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:27.400 for the christian the cross of christ 00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:28.619 plunges deeper 00:21:28.619 --> 00:21:30.680 than the depths of our sins 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:34.420 and surely the delight that we will see 00:21:34.420 --> 00:21:35.839 in the following verses 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:37.019 should inspire us 00:21:37.019 --> 00:21:38.579 to come clean with god 00:21:38.579 --> 00:21:40.279 and not to cover our sins 00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:44.099 the joy we see in verse 7 00:21:44.099 --> 00:21:45.240 it's a most delicious 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:47.779 a most immediate thing for the christian 00:21:47.779 --> 00:21:49.879 who has like david said 00:21:49.879 --> 00:21:52.759 i will confess my transgressions to the lord 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:56.000 god who before was pressing down on us 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:57.960 becomes our hiding place 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:01.339 becomes the one who will preserve us from trouble 00:22:01.339 --> 00:22:03.720 the one who will surround us 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:05.759 with songs of deliverance 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:10.039 we're told in the book of revelation 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:24.440 it's a most important thing for the christian the people will hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and will say to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:29.400 it is true that we need a hiding place from god's wrath 00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:31.400 but the question is 00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:36.019 are we hiding in the chlorine and this morning 00:22:36.019 --> 00:22:38.000 are we desperately trying to preserve ourselves 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:41.940 are we desperately trying to preserve ourselves 00:22:41.940 --> 00:22:47.360 are we like david saying that the author of life will preserve us 00:22:47.360 --> 00:22:50.280 are we surrounding ourselves with deception and defence and denial 00:22:50.279 --> 00:22:57.440 defence and denial, or are we allowing the almighty Lord of creation to surround us with 00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:03.460 songs of deliverance? 00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:09.500 As Tiger made his apology in front of the world media, one very astute journalist made 00:23:09.500 --> 00:23:16.460 the observation that we felt Tiger wouldn't have been there if he hadn't been caught, 00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:23.640 but a tiger doesn't change his stripes. We shouldn't be like the horse or the mule of 00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:30.259 verse 9 or the tiger which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle 00:23:30.259 --> 00:23:37.779 else they will not come near God. God out of his love for us will be heavy handed with 00:23:37.779 --> 00:23:44.880 us if needs be, if we are like David or like the horse or the mule of verse 9, but that 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:51.540 is not his preferred way of relating to us. Even as we dwell on the example of David this 00:23:51.540 --> 00:23:58.460 morning, God, as he promises in verse 8, is instructing us and teaching us in the way we 00:23:58.460 --> 00:24:07.060 should go. He is counselling us and watching over us. What sweet truth this psalm contains. 00:24:07.059 --> 00:24:16.919 Verse 10 and 11 say, Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds 00:24:16.919 --> 00:24:26.460 the man who trusts in him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad you righteous. Sing all you who 00:24:26.460 --> 00:24:38.140 are upright in heart. Father God, we thank you so much for your plan of salvation. We thank you for 00:24:38.140 --> 00:24:48.100 the cross of Christ. We thank you, Father, Son and Spirit, for how wonderful, how perfect and how amazing 00:24:48.099 --> 00:24:57.939 what you have done is. And Lord, we pray that, like David, we would realise quickly, or even more 00:24:57.939 --> 00:25:04.759 quickly, Lord, when we are not coming clean with you. And Lord, that we would know that the cross of 00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:12.019 Christ, what Jesus has done, is not just, Lord, for our conversion experience, Lord, but that we should 00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:19.920 live in the shadow of the cross, day by day, Lord. We thank you for these wonderful truths, and we pray, 00:25:20.099 --> 00:25:26.599 Lord, that they would be sinking deep into our minds, into our hearts, into our actions. Lord, that 00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:33.680 throughout the week, we may live out of the truth of your word, rather than out of the deception of our 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:35.920 hearts. In Jesus' name, Amen. 00:25:42.019 --> 00:25:48.619 Our final, uh, choading in number 793, and where are my choading faces?