Ed Loney: If you have your Bibles. We're going to go to Psalm 51. Psalm 51.

For the reading of the word of God this morning. Psalm 51. I have been given the topic of rising above shame, rising above shame.

And I think this is a topic that all of us at some point in time in our life, we're going to need to hear. And most importantly, we're going to need to practice. Either we're going to do something that is shameful or someone is going to do something to us that makes us feel shameful.

But either way it go, we are going to have to learn how to rise above shame. And in Psalm 51, we are reading the prayer of a man that has been broken down by his own sin. And he's feeling shameful about it.

And I believe in this chapter, David gives us a formula of how to rise above shame. So I'm going to begin reading in verse number one. We'll read the entire chapter.

We won't look at everything in great detail in this session, but I believe the word of God, it has power in of itself. So even while I'm reading, I want you to be in the mind frame that God is speaking to you, even while I'm reading, because we are reading the word of God. So Psalm 51, verse number one, if you're there, would you say amen?

You're not there. Say wait on me. All right.

Get there. Get there. Psalm 51.

All right. There. All right.

Verse number one. David says, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgression. Wash me throughly from my sin, from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against thee. The only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judges. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and sinned and my mother conceived me.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part. Thou shall make me to know wisdom. 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 was thou has broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sin and blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.

Uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation.

And my tongue shall sing aloud all shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifices, else would I give it.

Thou delightest not in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, thou would not despise.

Do good and thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.

Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. Let's go to Lord in prayer and then we'll jump into this session this morning. Father, we thank you again for your word.

And God, even as we read your word here this morning, God, we're mindful that your word, it has power in of itself. But God, we thank you for times like this where we can gather together for the teaching and the preaching of your word. And God, I pray you help me as I teach your word for these next few moments.

God, give me exactly what you would have me to say. God, I want to rightly divide the word of truth. God, I don't want to do anything or say anything that I should not do or say.

But God, I want to be sensitive to your spirit. So I pray just help me as I teach your word. Be with others who are teaching at this very moment as well.

Keep your hand upon them and be with the young people as they listen. Speak to their hearts in a way that only you can. And we'll give you all the praise and all the honor for it.

In your name, Jesus, we do pray. Amen. As I mentioned, Psalm 51 is a psalm of David.

If you remember all the way back in 1 Samuel, the nation of Israel, they looked at God and they demanded a king. Now, when God first chose the nation of Israel, God intended for them to be what we call a theocracy, simply meaning that God did not intend for the nation of Israel to be ruled by a man. God intended for them to be ruled by him.

But they began to look at all the other nations. And when they saw that all the other nations had a king, they looked at the king of heaven and demanded a king on earth. Look, you know that one of the quickest ways to become discontent with what you have is to start looking around what everyone else has.

So they started looking at what everyone else has and they looked at the king of heaven and demanded the king on earth. And we know that God gave them Saul. Saul disobeyed God.

And because Saul disobeyed God, God rejected him from being king over the nation of Israel. God made it known that he was going to choose a new king, a man that was after his own heart. And we know that that man would be David.

We know that David, he was on many great mountaintops in his life from the time that he killed Goliath, from the time that he literally walked into another man's kingdom, took the crown off of his head and put it on his own head. Look, David has been on many great mountaintops. But when we're reading Psalm 51, David is in, though he may be on a physical mountaintop, he's in a spiritual valley.

I want you to hear me well this morning. It is possible to be doing well physically and to not be doing well spiritually. It is possible to be on a mountaintop in certain areas, but then to be in a valley on other areas.

And when you're reading Psalm 51, we are reading the prayer of a man that is being burdened down by shame. We could find the back story to this chapter in 2 Samuel chapter 11. And I'll just tell you this back story so you can feel a little bit of the weight of what David is feeling in this chapter.

In 2nd Samuel chapter 11, the Bible tells us that all of Israel, they went out to battle at the time where all the kings went out to battle. And the Bible says in 2nd Samuel chapter 11 that David, he tarried still in Jerusalem. Look, David is in a place that he should not have been.

I want you to hear me well, young people. If you are in a place that you should not be, don't be surprised when you do something that you should not do. The two major sins that we see David engage in when he numbered Israel and when he sinned with Bathsheba, both times it says he tarried still at Jerusalem when the other men were at battle.

He should have been at battle as he was many times before. But for some reason, David decides to sit this one out. So David is in a place that he should not be.

And he started doing some things that he should not do. David, while he's out his palace, he goes out and he sees Bathsheba bathing. And the Bible says that David, he inquired about the woman.

Look, there's always an inquiry of sin before there is an indulgence in it. Look, some people will say things like this. Well, I can't believe that man fell into sin.

As if a man is just walking in a field one day and he stumbles and all of a sudden he just falls down into sin. Look, sin is not an oops. Sin is not a mistake.

Sin is not an accident. Sin is not a my bad. Look, sin is a present indulgence of a previous inquiry.

So he inquired about the woman. But not only did he inquire about the woman, he ignored all the warnings. They told him, this is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah.

He should have known immediately that that means that woman is off limits. But David, he ignored the warnings. Young people, listen to me now.

Don't live your life ignoring the warnings. Look, when we have youth meetings like this and youth conferences like this And you go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night youth groups. You read your Bible.

If you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you. You never sin without there being warnings. So David is in inquiring about the woman.

He's ignoring all the warnings. But then David, he starts to indulge in wrongdoing. He indulges in wrongdoing, even though he got the warning.

He still says, bring Bathsheba to me. He takes Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. Bathsheba is now expecting she's pregnant.

And David tries to manipulate this whole scene. David calls Uriah back home from the battlefield with the hopes that Uriah would go home to his wife. And then it would seem that the baby is Uriah's and not David.

But he underestimated how good of a man Uriah was. Look, if the Bible did not tell us that David was a man after God's own heart, I would think it was Uriah. Look, Uriah was a good man.

Uriah was a godly man. Uriah was so good that he wouldn't even go back home to his wife while the other men were at war. Look, he was loyal in three areas.

He was loyal to the Lord. He was loyal to the land and he was loyal to his leader. He says, look, I will not do this.

The ark of God is not in this rightful place. And you want me to go home and be comfortable? He says, I'm not doing it.

He said, Israel is sleeping in tents and you want me to go and sleep in my bed? I'm not doing it. He says, David, I will not do this as long as you shall live and as long as your soul shall live.

Look, Uriah was a good man. So David comes up with this plan. He says, he's such a good man, I'm gonna get him drunk.

I'm gonna get him drunk. And maybe in his drunken stupor, in his drunkard state, he'll stumble home and he'll go to his house and be there with his wife Bathsheba. As one man said on this day, Uriah was a better man drunk than the king was sober.

Consider that. So even when he was drunk, he still didn't go home. He was such a good man that David says this.

I can't manipulate him. I got to murder him. David was going to kill him.

Look, not was going to. He did kill him. He calls Uriah in.

He gives Uriah a letter to take to Joab, who's the captain of the army. And in the letter, it says, put Uriah in the hottest part of the battle. And once the battle gets really heated, pull everyone back except Uriah and let Uriah die on the battlefield.

Now, some of us know that plan would not have worked for us. You know why it wouldn't have worked for us? Because we're too nosy.

How many of you like are nosy like me? All right. Look, think about what David did.

David gave Uriah his own death sentence as a letter and says, take this to Joab. And Uriah was so unnosy, if that's a word, he was so unnosy that he didn't even open the letter. Some of us would have held it up to the light, says, put him in.

Oh, no, I'm not going to battle today. But he was a good man. He was a good man.

And on that day, Uriah dies in the battlefield. They start trying to come up with this plan. Well, how in the world are we going to tell David that that Uriah died on the battlefield?

There were other men that died. David wanted just Uriah to die, not the other men. And they even tell this story that there was a woman that took a rock and threw it over the wall.

And the rock hits the men in the head and a man drops dead. Look, some of you like, I don't remember that. Read your Bible.

It's in there. I'm telling you. And they said, well, how are we going to appease him?

Because the last time we told him that we got so close to the wall, David was angry that we got so close to the wall. How are we going to appease David? They said, tell him that some men died, but your servant Uriah died also.

And David responds just by saying the sword devoureth one man as it devoureth another. They say this is what happens in battle. It's no big deal.

David thinks that his plan worked. And the Bible says that the thing that David did, it displeased the Lord. Look, David has done something that was absolutely shameful.

I want you to listen to me, young people. Sin always brings shame. It always brings shame.

We see that all the way back from Genesis chapter three. The very first sin that took place, Adam and Eve, they sinned. And what did they start doing?

They got shameful. They knew that they were naked. They start taking fig leaves and putting fig leaves on top of them.

They were so shameful that they tried to hide from God.

Look, sin always brings shame. But as you heard last night and then other points throughout the week, you've heard that God never intended for us to live underneath the condemnation of sin. He did not intend for us to live underneath the shame of sin.

God intends for us to live in victory in our walk with him. So the question this morning is, how do we get from underneath the shame that we feel, whether it was something that happened to us or maybe even something that we did?

How do we get there? Well, I believe David gives us a formula. Many of you may remember the story.

In 2 Samuel chapter 11, God sends Nathan to go to David. And Nathan gives David a parable. He says there was a rich man.

He had a seeding amount of flocks and an exceeding amount of herds. And then there was a poor man. He only had one lamb that he raised since the lamb was little.

He said, but the rich man had a guest that was coming in and the rich man goes over and kills the poor man's lamb to prepare a meal for his guest. Nathan says, what do you think should happen to this man? And David responds, this man shall surely die.

And Nathan looks at him and says, thou art the man. Isn't it something that we often can see the shame in other people's sins, but we can't see the shame in ours? It's oftentimes not until our sin is exposed that we feel the shame.

By the time we get to Psalm 51, David's sin has now been exposed and now the shame is settling in. What is the formula that David gives us to get over our shame? The first thing is this.

There has to be a confession of sin. There has to be a confession of sin. Look, in this chapter, David is addressing his sin from two angles.

He's addressing it from his sinful nature. He says, and sin did my mother conceive me. He's not talking about that the act of his mom and his dad was sinful.

No, no, no. This is what he's saying. When I was born, I was born a sinner.

So he's addressing the nature of his sin. But then he's addressing the nurture of his sin. He says, I was shapen in iniquity.

In other words, he's saying, God, not only was I born a sinner. This is what he's saying. God, I've gotten pretty good at this sinning thing.

Look, there are some people who never really get better from their sin. They just get better in it.

They learn how to hide. They learn how to sneak. They learn how to delete.

They learn how to look the part. They really have not gotten better from their sin. They got better in their sin.

So David is addressing his sin from both angles. The sin that he nurtured and his sinful nature. Look, your sinful nature, it impacts your relationship with God.

We are all born separated from God because we have a sinful nature. But the sin that you nurture, it impacts your fellowship with God. Your fellowship with God.

Look, most young people who grew up in church and they now may be adults right now. Now, there are many people who, though they are adults now, they still struggle with the same sin as adults that they did when they were teenagers. You know why?

They've nurtured their sin. They've nurtured it. Look, God never intended for you to live like that.

If you're going to get victory over it and if you're going to get from underneath that weight of shame, you have to learn how to confess your sin. The first prayer that any believer should make when they are in sin is a prayer of confession, a prayer of confession. Now, how do we confess our sins?

Well, we have to confess it precisely. Confess it precisely. When we read throughout this chapter, David calls his sin things like this.

Transgression, transgressions, iniquities, sin, evil, blood guiltiness. Let me ask you a question. What do we call our sins?

Somebody said, oh, my sin is a oops. My sin is a mistake. My sin is a my bad.

Look, no, no, no, no, no. Sin is always a choice. When we are going to confess our sin, this is what we got to do.

We have to start calling it what God calls it. Got to call it what God calls it. Now, when we look at the sin here, we see that David, he used, look at verse number one.

And we'll look back at this in a minute. He'll say, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercy. Look what he says, blot out my transgressions.

And then he'll say this in verse number two. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Look, we don't talk about this often, but there is a difference between a sin and a transgression.

There's a difference. Look, a sin is something that is against God. A transgression is something that is not only against God, but it's against another person.

Our sin is vertical. A transgression is both vertical and horizontal. Look, there are some people who do something that is absolutely shameful.

And this is their excuse. Well, we're all sinners. We all just said, look, there's a difference between a sin and a transgression.

All right. If you wrong someone, you have to get that right with the person that you've wronged when you also get it right with God. So if you're going to get over the weight of shame, the shame of your sin, you have to learn how to confess your sin.

You confess your sin precisely. Look, the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 28, verse number 13. Listen to this verse.

He that covered this sin shall not prosper, but who so confesses and forsaken them shall find mercy. Listen to me, young people. Don't live your life trying to cover up sin that God wants to cover for you.

Don't live your life trying to cover up sin that God wants to cover for you. Adam and Eve is sitting in the Garden of Eden and they're sowing fig leaves together. God says the fake leaf, that's not enough.

Let me kill this animal and cover you with animal skin. But oftentimes we are trying to cover up our sins. But look, God wants to cover it for us.

And the covering that you do is insufficient. But the covering that God does, it is sufficient. Listen to me now.

You can cover your sin from God and God will expose it. Or you can expose your sin to God and just let him cover it. You can cover your sin from God and God will expose it or you can expose your sin to God and God will cover it.

So if you want to get from underneath that weight of shame, listen now, you have to learn just to expose your sin to God and let the grace and mercy of God cover it like only he can. So we have to acknowledge our sin precisely, but then we have to acknowledge our sin personally. Personally, all throughout this chapter, this is what David's saying.

I acknowledge my sin and my sin is ever before me. I, me, my, mine. Look, look, look, when you when you start exposing your sin to God, this is what stops.

The blame shifting stops. It stops. Adam, Adam, what did you do?

God, that woman you gave me. Eve, what did you do? That serpent you made.

Look, if you're going to get it right, you got to acknowledge it personally. It's no more blame shifting. It's no more, well, if they wouldn't have done that, then I wouldn't have done this.

Man, if I had a better home, if I had a better mom, if I had a better dad, if I had a better church or if I had a better youth group, David may have said, well, that woman knew she had no business on that rooftop.

Look, look, look, if we're going to acknowledge our sin, we have to acknowledge it personally. God is not them and they. God is me and mine.

It's me. He acknowledged it precisely. He acknowledged it personally, but then he acknowledged it properly He acknowledged it properly.

Look at verse number four. He says against thee, the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judges. Look, all sin is ultimately against God.

So when you acknowledge your sin, you acknowledge it properly that this sin is against God. He's acknowledging his sin. Not only acknowledging his sin, but he's addressing the agony of it.

The agony of it. Verse number three. We'll speed up here a little bit.

He says, for I acknowledge my transgression. And here's the agony. And my sin is ever before me.

You know what David is saying? David is saying, God, the wrong that I've done. He's like, God, it's like it's just right here.

It's ever before me. The sin that I did. He says, God, it's almost like it just keeps playing over and over and over.

In my head. Says, God, it's agonizing. Listen to me, young people.

Don't let the devil agonize you over something that Jesus wants to free you from.

One of my favorite verses is in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 17. The author of Hebrews says this and their sins and iniquities. Will I remember no more?

Think about that. Think about how amazing that verse is. Your sins and your iniquities.

Will I remember no more? Can I remind you that God is what we call omniscient?

[Unclear], science, knowledge, God is all knowing. There is nothing that God does not know. But when it comes to your sins and all knowing, God says your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more.

Listen now, stop letting the devil remind you of something that God himself has forgotten about. Your sins are in the depths of the sea. They are far as the east is from the west.

And if your sins are covered in the blood of Jesus, even God himself says, I don't remember it anymore. Look, and it's not only saying that God has just forgotten about it. God knows it.

But this is what God is saying. This is what God is saying. Think about it now.

God knows it. We're saying I'm not going to keep bringing it up before you. This is what the devil does.

The devil is the accuser of the brethren. The devil keeps bringing up your sin. Look at what Ed did.

Look at what Ed did. Look at what he did. Look at what she did.

But God says I'm not going to keep bringing it up. I've forgotten about it. One day you're going to stand before the Lord.

And God is not going to keep. I used to think this as a kid. I think, man, I'm going to stand before God.

It's going to be this big line of people. God's going to pull down the biggest projector screen that I've ever seen. And he's going to play all of my sins for everyone to see that standing in line waiting.

God says your sins and iniquities will you remember no more. If your sins are covered in the blood of Jesus, he's forgotten it. Don't let the devil keep reminding you of it.

If you do, you'll find yourself really stooping down into a state of depression. Into a state of depression. So if we acknowledge our sin, we got to acknowledge it properly.

It is against God. Judas in the New Testament is another man that let the weight of the sin, the shame of his sin sit on him heavily. Judas, he after he betrayed Jesus, he realized what he did.

He says, I have betrayed an innocent man. I've betrayed innocent blood. The chief priest looked at him and said, what is that to us?

See thou to it. Look, he went over. Look, look, look.

Judas made a right confession, but he made it to the wrong person. He made it to the chief priest of Israel instead of making it to the high priest of heaven. Look, you can have look now you can you can feel the shame and the weight of your sin.

You can go talk to mom about it. You can go talk to dad about it. You can go talk to your pastor about it, your youth pastor about it.

All of that is great. But listen to me now. You better take it to God.

Take it to God. There has to be a confession of sin. Not only does there have to be a confession of sin, there has to be a concentration on the Savior.

There has to be a concentration on the Savior. Look at what David is looking at. The very first verse.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Look now, before David ever mentioned his sin, he mentioned the mercy of God. Have mercy upon me, O God.

Look, listen now, listen now. You want to get over your shame? Look, stop looking at your sin or stop looking at the offense more than you look at your Savior.

You want to get over the weight of your shame? Stop focusing on that and start focusing on him. David says, have mercy upon me, O God.

He is crying out for the patience of God, for the patience of God. I just finished reading through the Psalms in my personal devotional time and I came across that Psalm 136. In Psalm 136, it's 26 verses in Psalm 136.

And 26 times the psalmist says this, for his mercy endureth forever. For his mercy endureth forever. For his mercy endureth forever.

Look now, God is a God that is full of grace and mercy. His mercies are new every morning. If you want to get from underneath the weight of your shame, stop looking at the offense and start looking at the Savior.

He never runs out of mercy. And if we're honest, if we're honest, grace and mercy is truly unfair.

If we're honest, let's even just consider this story. David takes Bathsheba. Has Uriah killed.

He tries to manipulate the whole situation. A baby ends up dying. It's it's a terrible situation.

You know what mercy does? Mercy silences the cry of justice. So mercy does.

You know what justice says? God, this must be paid for. Cain, the voice of your brother's blood, crieth unto me from the ground.

This must be paid for. This is what mercy says. It's paid for.

Justice says it must be paid for. Mercy says paid for. If we're honest, that's unfair.

What about Bathsheba? What about Uriah? What about that innocent baby that's dead?

It sound fair to you? No, it seems very unfair. But look, can I tell you this morning?

I'm thankful even in my own life for God's grace and mercy. It's unmerited favor. He's crying out for God's patience.

Not only is he crying out for God's patience, but he's crying out for God's purity. For God's purity. Look at verse number seven.

He says, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Now that hyssop, that was an herb that was used in the Old Testament.

For example, if a house was covered in mold, they would clean the house with hyssop. If someone had leprosy, they would go and clean their area with hyssop. Now, David takes what is used for physical cleaning and uses it as an illustration for spiritual cleaning.

Just God, can you purge me with hyssop? All throughout this chapter, this is what we're reading. God, can you wash me?

God, can you clean me? God, can you purge me? God, can you create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me?

Listen to me. God has the power to wipe the slate clean. David would use the word all the way back from Genesis chapter one in the beginning.

God created the heavens and the earth, creating me a clean heart. Oh, God, and renew a right spirit in me. Listen to me, young people.

Regardless of what you have done, God has the ability to give you a new beginning.

He has the ability to give you a fresh start. He's saying, God, can you purge me with hyssop? When we look in the word of God, we see hyssop in two two key places in the word of God.

You remember when the children of Israel, they were in bondage to Egypt and God started sending those plagues over Egypt. Then on that time of the Passover, God told the man of the house, he said, you are to kill a lamb. And he says, take the blood of the lamb and put it over the doorpost.

He says, when I see the blood, I will pass over thee. But God gave clear instructions. This is what God said.

He says, take a hyssop branch, put it in the blood and then take that hyssop branch and put the blood over the doorpost. He didn't say, hey, go out in the garage and just get this that old paintbrush you had. No, no, no.

He says use a hyssop branch. And then we get over into the New Testament. When Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, I thirst.

And they took a hyssop branch and attached the vinegar and extended it up to Jesus on the cross. Look, where do we see hyssop in the word of God? Listen now, we see hyssop under the blood and at the cross.

Look, you know where you're going to get your cleansing, young person. You're going to get your cleansing, look now, from the blood of Jesus and at the cross. He has the power to clean you and wipe the slate clean.

He's requesting God's purity, and he's requesting God's patience. When I was a—when I was a kid, my mom, she would, um, tell me, Ed, go in there and clean that bathroom, or Ed, go in there and clean that room.

And I just got to be honest with you, I was real good at straightening up. How many know the difference between cleaning up and straighten it up, right?

Your mom tells you go in there and clean the bathroom. What do you do? You put the soap over here, put the cap back on the toothpaste and put your toothbrush up.

Clean. It ain't been no Pine-Sol, no bleach, no cleaning solutions. And my mom would say, Ed, she said, I told you to clean up, not straighten up.

You know, we're good at in the Christian life. We're good at straightening up. We've learned how to put on the suit.

We've learned how to put on the tie. We've learned how to wear the right clothes. We learn how to sing the hymns without even looking at the song, but go ahead on with your bad self.

We learn how to straighten up real good. But look now, if you're going to get from underneath the shame, it's not going to come because you were straightening up. It's going to become because you cleaned up.

Because you cleaned up. When we look at this story, we're seeing that God has the power to start it over again, but it comes from a concentration with the Savior. He's requesting God's purity, but then he's making a plea for revival.

Look at verse number 10. Verse number 10, he says, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Look, I just I just love this. I absolutely love this.

Let me get let me just tell you what John Phillips said about sin. John Phillips said, according to verse number seven, sin defiles us. According to verse number eight, he said, sin deafens us.

He says, make me to hear the joy and gladness that the bones was thou has broken may rejoice. So according to verse number nine, sin, it disgraces us. Hide thy faith, hide thy face from my sins and blot out mine iniquities.

He said, according to verse number 10, sin damages, created me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. According to verse number 11, sin dooms us. He says, cast me not away from thy presence and take not the Holy Spirit from me.

And according to verse number 12, this is what he says. Sin depresses us. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit.

Look, if you continue to live under the weight of your sin, you're going to find yourself in a very depressing state. You're going to you're going to begin to feel the weight of shame. God never intended for you to live that way.

God intended for you to live in freedom. Not underneath condemnation. Again, we can reference the story of Judas.

Judas regretted his sin so much. That he ran out and hung himself on a tree. Look, there have been people since Judas who have done the same thing.

They've done something so wrong and so wicked that they couldn't bear the weight of it. Look, you're not meant to bear the weight. If you could bear the weight of your sin, Jesus would never would have came to the cross.

He's the only one that can bear the weight of sin. And Judas went out and he hung himself on a tree because he regretted his sin so greatly. Before he even realized that Jesus was about to hang on a tree for him.

Because he had regarded his sin so greatly. Look, look, look, if you're going to get over the shame of your sin, stop looking at your sin so much and start looking at your Savior. He has the ability to give you a fresh start.

But then let me give you one more. Let me give you one more. There has to be a confession of sin.

There has to be a concentration on the Savior. But then there needs to be a continuation of service.

There needs to be a continuation of service. Look at verse number 13. Look at what David says.

He says, then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. He says, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Look now in verses one through twelve, David is requesting have mercy upon me, O God. Have mercy upon me, O God. Clean me, wash me, purge me.

But when we get to verse number 13, he's not just talking about his request. He's going to talk about what he's going to do once he receives what he requested. Look at what he says.

Then will I teach transgressive that way. In verse number 13, he says, I will teach. Verse number 14, he says, I will sing.

And verse number 15, he says, my mouth shall show forth thy praise. Look, look, as young people now, one thing that you never want to learn, that you can do is that you can continue to serve God while you're in sin.

Listen, that's something you never want to learn that you can do. I preached a message recently titled WWJD. What would Judas do?

And basically the summary of the message is this. Judas did everything the disciples did.

Everything the disciples did, Judas did. Judas learned how to do the work of the Lord without really knowing the Lord of the work. One thing as young people you never want to learn that you can do is that you can continue to serve God while you're in sin.

But this is one thing that you all need to know. You can continue to serve him once you've gotten your sin right.

Once you get your sin right, you can continue to move forward and serve the Lord. He says, then will I teach transgressive thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Now, when we get to the end of this chapter, something very interesting that that David said, look at verse number 16.

He says, for thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. He says, thou delight is not in burnt offerings. He says the sacrifices of God are broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

Oh, God, thou would not despise. Do good and thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build out the walls of Jerusalem.

Now, look at verse 19. He says, then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness. Time out commercial break.

I thought in verse number 16, he says, for thou shalt not, for thou desire is not sacrifices.

But then at verse number 19, he says, then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices.

What in the world is going on? One verse, he says, God doesn't want the sacrifice. The next verse says God is pleased with the sacrifice.

You know what changed? A broken spirit and a contrite heart of God, thou will not despise.

Look, David is saying, God, God, you don't want me to continue in my service to you while I'm in sin. But once that sin is made right. Then you'll be pleased.

Look, God is not just concerned. Listen now with our hands. He's concerned with the heart.

He's not just concerned with the hands. He's concerned with the heart. And if you're not careful, look now, you'll learn.

I'm telling you what I know as a young person. How many how many of you young men are preachers, young preachers? Put your hands up high.

Young preachers, put it up high. Good. Put your hands down.

As young preachers, it's a very scary thing. I'm talking very practically here now. It's a very scary thing.

I knew that God called me to preach when I was 12 years old. I've been preaching consistently since I was 16, 17 years old. One of the scary things about being a young preacher is that you learn how to do before you learn how to be.

You learn how to preach, you learn how to outline, you learn how to exegete a text, but you don't learn how to be holy first. And I'm telling you, every young person has to get over the hurdle of holiness.

But young preachers now, you not only have a hurdle of holiness, you're going to have to get over a hurdle of hypocrisy.

Because while you stood up and preached to others, you yourself became a castaway. And there are some young men who God truly called, God truly wants to use, but they're stuck because they can't get over that hurdle of their shame. Look, you cannot you do not need to learn that you can continue to serve God while you're in sin.

No, no, no, no. But you do need to know that once you get that sin right.

God will accept you and he can use you. Some people say, well, well, I got I got a song. Well, God would love to hear your song, but not from dirty hands.

So I got a message. Oh, we need more preachers, but not from dirty hands. I got a testimony.

We need to hear the testimony, but not from dirty hands. God is not just looking at the action. God is looking at the heart.

And there will be times where God rejects you. But look, good news, when you get it right, he'll receive you with open arms. My wife, she was at Subway one time.

And she's getting a sandwich and she was hungry. I'm talking, she was hungry. I'm talking, we were gonna get the raspberry cheesecake cookies and macadamia nut cookies.

We already had it all planned out, right? And she called me and she says, I kind of lost my appetite. I said, why?

He said, the man that made my sandwich didn't have gloves on. Look, she wanted the sandwich, but she didn't want it from dirty hands. Right.

Look, God's the same way. God wants your service. God wants your worship.

God wants you to fulfill what he's called you to do, but he does not want it from dirty hands. And through his son, Jesus, he has made a way to clean us all, to wash us all, to purge us all. If you want to get from underneath the burden of your shame, listen now, confess your sin.

You're not going to say anything to God. You're not going to get down on your knees and say, God, can you forgive me for this? And God is going to say, oh, my goodness, I can't believe you did that.

He already knows. Just confess it. Just be real with God.

Confess your sin. Have a concentration on the Savior. Stop letting the devil make you look at your sin and look up to Jesus and then have a continuation of service.

Failure is not final. If you're falling down, get it right. Get up and go on and serve the Lord.

Don't live underneath shame. Learn to live underneath the grace and the mercy of almighty God.