In this sermon, the preacher discusses the challenge of believing in a God that cannot be seen. He shares a story of two friends who went hunting together, one being a Christian and the other a non-believer. The Christian prayed for wisdom to answer his friend's doubts about God's existence. The next morning, they discovered fresh tracks of a deer near their tent, which the non-believer initially doubted until he saw the evidence. The preacher uses this story to emphasize the importance of faith and the evidence of God's existence in creation. He also highlights the inherent sinfulness of humanity and the need for repentance.

Shall we pray? Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to gather together. We ask you to be with us. Touch our hearts through your word. Amen. I'd like to speak today from Psalm 51. I won't read it all. But I do ask that when you are at home, you would read it. Psalm 51. It is the song of one, the prayer of a person who is thirsty for the Lord, bringing his sin to God. In the beginning it says to the choir master, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. In verse 10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your way, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. In verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God. There is much that is contained in this psalm, but I'm just going to take a few of them, a few points. I want to speak about godly remorse and repentance in David. Many preachers wallow in sin today, saying and reveling in David having sinned. They say he did it too. They twist the scriptures. Yes, he did sin. It was his first time in this sin. You who sin repeatedly don't dare to quote David. Those words of David will actually lock you in hell. Not only was it his first time, but it was also his last time. Right into old age, he never returned to that sin again. Many like to speak about his sin and his fall, but very few are willing to speak about his deep repentance and his parting from sin right until his death. Now, let's speak about his sin. But I also want to speak about his repentance from sin and his turning away from it. There was a great battle to which the soldiers had gone, but David stayed at home. Some say that he should have actually been in that battle, but he remained at home. Then after dinner, he got up and wandered around on the palace roof. It wasn't the type of roof that we know, but rather it was a flat roof upon which you could walk. That is the way that their homes were built. Then after walking around after dinner, he saw a woman bathing. Then he inquired from others, who is that? For she was beautiful. Then they said, it is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, who is in battle. Then he called her and said, bring her to me, and that is how he fell into sin. When she went back home, she sent news that she had fallen pregnant. David realized that his sin was going to find him out. As the Bible says, your sin will find you out. Nothing is hidden which shall not be revealed. Then he sent a messenger to go and fetch the husband of Bathsheba, Uriah. So he came to him. He asked him, how is it going with the war? He told him, he said thank you. David then told him he can go home, sleep at home, and the next day he can go back to the battle. But Uriah said, how can I do such a thing that I go and sleep at home while my brothers are out in the open fighting a war? Satan whispered this cunning plan in David's ear, about sending Uriah back home so that he will sleep with his wife, and then the pregnancy won't be blamed on David. Uriah said, I will not do such a thing. I would rather sleep outside, there like a dog, outside the palace. There are men. They are a rarity, but there are a few real men. We will see them as we enter into heaven, those who are true heroes. So he said, what? Can I go to my home there and be with my wife while my brothers are busy in the struggle, in the battle? Never. What a marvelous thing. Preachers note this. There are those preachers who are out there struggling and preaching the gospel, while then there are those who just lazily stay at home. I remember Joseph, the husband of Mary. When the angel came with the message that Mary is pregnant, that he should take her to be his wife, Joseph never touched her right until she had given birth. He recognized that the Messiah is God. And so he did not touch her. Do you hear you men? You men who are consumed by lust, here is a real man. For he said, Jesus is in her. This morning, as I got out of my car, a girl and a boy standing together, I went to them and I asked, are they relatives? And they said, no, but we are in the same class. I said, don't you know that here there is no relationships between girls and boys? No chatting and flirting with each other. Those headed for hell behave in that way unless they repent, until a co-worker came and rebuked the young man because it seemed like he just took it lightly. I said, if you caught again alone together, chatting each other up, you will be sent away from Kwasi Zabantu. It is not allowed here. Oh, Joseph, honored the Lord Jesus in Mary, knowing that while Jesus was in her, he would not touch her. An amazing man, he is counted among the heroes, those who will receive a special reward in heaven. When you read the psalm, you discover that David's sin was before his eyes day and night. He cried and said, even my bones wither up in me and are broken within me. And when Nathan the prophet came to him, he did not hide his sin. Like some who when one speaks to them, they start with denial. Parent, if your child is like that, behaves like that, remember it is a child of the devil and is on the way to hell. But David did not hide his sin, he admitted, I have sinned. For Nathan had told him the story of the rich man who had many sheep. He just loved it. He would embrace the lamb. And then the rich man had a visit from a relative, and then said, I will slaughter his sheep. But instead of taking from his own sheep, he took the poor man's lamb and slaughtered it to give his guest. When David heard that, he was furious. He said the man is guilty, the rich man. He deserves to die and be executed. The prophet turned around and said, you are the man, O king. And immediately David crumbled, he said, indeed, O God, I have sinned, forgive me. He did not excuse himself, but in his sorrow, which was a godly remorse from the Lord, a sign of repentance revealed genuine repentance, true salvation. There is a type of repentance that springs from a godly remorse. But then there is also remorse which just brings death. Remorse because a person has been caught, because they are found out. However, true godly remorse, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, brings about real repentance. David says, when I kept quiet, my bones grew old, with my groaning every day. For day and night, O God, your hand was heavy upon me, until I confessed my sin to you, almighty God. It is an amazing thing that he says, I have sinned against you, O God. For, we might say he did not sin against God, he had sinned against Bathsheba. In sleeping with her. And secondly, he had sinned also against her husband. For she was a married woman. And thirdly, he also sinned in murdering the husband. And fourthly, he also sinned against his own daughter. And fifthly, he also sinned against his own daughter. For when David had realized that Uriah was not going to go back to his wife at night, David hatched a plan and sent a note, an execution note, to Joab the general, put Uriah at the very hottest part of the battle, and then withdraw so that he dies. That's how he committed murder. Sin is terrible. It brings about such awful consequences in the mind and body. Sin does not remain alone. It hatches more, and so it only increases and continues. And if you don't repent by the mercy of God, the chain of sin is link after link pulling you right down into hell. But David's sin gave him no rest. He said, when I kept quiet about my sin, my bones grew brittle and decayed because I groaned. I don't know why people like to rejoice and they are glad about the sin of David, but they're not glad about his repentance. And they do not point out his deep remorse about his sin and the broken heart he had, and that the broken heart God will not reject. And what is it? A contrite spirit? A contrite spirit God will not reject. Then he said, I have sinned against you, O God, against you alone. We might deny this that David says that he sinned only against God, for he had sinned against Bathsheba, the husband. But let us closely inspect this when he says, I sinned against you alone, O God. And I did what was evil in your sight. David's remorse was very great. So great that he recognized his sin was not only against man, but against God in particular. When you sin against another person, the huge part of your sin is against God. And he saw how great his sin was against God. There are boys who come and men who come and smoke. They are not sinning against me or against the mission. They are sinning against God. They are putting their finger, poking their finger in God's eye. So consider then that when you sin against another person, the greater part of the sin against God and your sin is in front of God. If you say your parents aren't there and then you sin in some way, it would have been better that you had sinned with your parents being there rather than that you would have sinned against God because he is right there in the room. David's conviction of sin went so deep that he had full realization that his sin was against God. He had slapped God in the face. No wonder that he said, my bones were broken and brittle because I was groaning every day. He repented in a very genuine way. We confess our sin and the next day we back to it again and again. That's being like a dog. He confessed once. He parted, he never confessed it again. He turned from it right until death. Are you like that in your repentance? In his old age when he was very ill, he began He began to get very cold in his illness. His counsellors said, let's go and find the most beautiful girl in all of Israel and put her in the same bed to warm him up. The Bible says David did not touch her. David did not touch her. He never molested her. He did not touch her. See what a man he was. And that is written so that we might learn from it. When we sin, we do our best to hide it and cover it up. David, though, exposed his sin and right until now, every generation has known about the details of David's sin. David recorded his sin and repentance and wrote it in the psalm and sent it to the choir master of that day. And exposed it, brought it to light. For the whole world to see and to know and every generation to this very day where I talk about it. The whole world would learn what it is when a believer repents of his sin and parts from it. And the choir master taught the choir members this song of David's, this psalm. That all may see when a person has sinned, how he repents and how he parts from it, from his sin. When Jesus was born, he was called Jason, the son of David. When Jesus was born, he was called Jason, the son of David. Now I understand why the blind man said, Jesus, son of David. Do you see why he is Jesus, the son of David, this person who confessed his sin but also reparted from it? Is your repentance like that? And are you a son of David? David said, oh God, forgive me. Give me a new, clean heart. Purge me with hyssop. Hyssop was a branch or a little bush. And they would take that little branch of hyssop, put it into the blood and splatter the place where there was to be forgiveness. Just remember. And in the redemption of the children of Israel, blood had been put on the doorpost. Now in the great ceremonies of Israel at the time, they would take the hyssop and when the people needed forgiveness and splatter the blood with it. And also, for a leper, if he was healed from his leprosy, the hyssop would be put into the blood and then it would be splattered on the person as a sign that they had been purged from their disease. And then it would be declared clean. Now this branch of hyssop, when there were great rituals and cleansing ceremonies, they would use the hyssop. And David saw his need to be purged with hyssop there in the Holy of Holies where the hyssop was used. He said, so that I may be able to rejoice again and sing and shout with a loud voice of your forgiveness. Being sanctified, purged, never more to roam into that sin again. David is an example to the whole wide world that if you have sinned, how you ought to repent. How you are cleansed, how you are washed and purged. And how the Lord parts you from your sin and how you never return to it again. Otherwise, sinning again and again, you are poking your finger into God's eye. And if you do not repent like David, God's foot will kick you into hell, that bottomless pit, that fiery furnace. Think of what it will be like. Now let me go to another point. Why does a person fall into sin and into the sin of lust? In Romans 1 verse 21 and 24. It says, knowing God, they did not acknowledge him and worship and praise and thank him as God. We are all born with inherent sin. That depraved nature is there right from the beginning, right from birth it is there. You will see a baby upset, angry with the mother, biting her. Showing that every person in this world is a sinner and has need of repentance. Everyone knows the Lord. We know him in the sense that we see creation. The sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the river, no one can look at God's creation without knowing there is God. And the realization that he is being created which speaks therefore of the creator. There were two boys in one class. They were great friends. One got converted. The other mocked him. And said, what? Are you now a Christian? I don't believe in God. How can you believe in a God that you haven't seen with your own eyes? Now both of them were fond of hunting. And one day they camped out there, pitched their tent to hunt for deer or buck. And when they were about to go to sleep, the Christian prayed and asked the Lord for wisdom. How to answer this brother of his so that he would find repentance. For he didn't go out to hunt because of his fondness, being fond of hunting, but rather as a method to win over this friend. So out in the forest they had their tent pitched on sand and they fell asleep. As you get some areas that are very sandy. Even in the Congo where it rains a lot but you find that there is sand everywhere. Their tent was pitched out there in the open, a spot in the forest. And they fell asleep. The Christian prayed. The non-believer said, I don't do things like that and he went to sleep just like a cow does. And in the morning when the Christian had prayed again, Lord give me wisdom and plans to win my friend. I don't want him to go to hell and sin against you, oh God. Early the next morning he got up and went out the tent. And when he went out he noticed the tracks of a buck or deer. He saw that it was the very hoof mark of an Inyala. So the buck had passed very close to their tent while they were asleep and didn't realize it. And he ran back into the tent and woke him up and said, come there's a deer out there, there's a buck, it's been close to the tent. And then the friend said, did you see it? He said, no I didn't see it. He said, don't tell me fairy tales if you tell me that there's a buck and you haven't seen it. He said, but I have. I've seen it because of the tracks. Come here and look at the hoof marks. And if you examine the tracks you'll see that they are fresh tracks. It's just passed by here, they're not old ones. He got out and he said, you're right brother, yes it is a buck that has just passed by here. Then he said, brother, the Christian said, well brother, that is how I know God, I know him through his tracks. I see the sun, the stars, I see the mountains. Those are the tracks, the evidence of God. And his friend just could not argue against it and said, brother, forgive me. I denied God's existence because I hadn't seen him, but now with the evidence you bring, I see I cannot argue against it. That is why even heathen people, even if they've never seen God, they see the evidence. And so they see the evidence of the creator God because of the creation. Even our ancestors, if they weren't Christians, but in the Zulu nation, they didn't use the word, meaning the great, great one, but rather the word which means the one who was there from the beginning. They knew him and they knew him as the creator God who always was there. But the Bible says, though they saw the evidence, the tracks of God, they were blinded in their minds and hearts. And in their confused minds, their hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise, but being fools. God gave them up to the filthiness of their perverted hearts. They dishonored their bodies among themselves which is a disgrace. If you do not worship and thank God, you will be dishonored. You see, you who have fallen into sin, God has handed you over to your sin. That is why you find girls marrying each other, men marrying each other, homosexual marriage. They did not praise God and that is why they were handed over to perverted lusts. And the same with David. Instead of him praising God, singing praises to his name, he did not and God handed him over to his lusts. When he repented with deep remorse, saying, restore to me the joy of your salvation, O God, and remove not thy spirit from me. Then will I teach sinners your way and then transgressors will return from their evil ways. After sinning he became an evangelist saying, restore to me the joy of your salvation, so that though I have sinned that I might have your salvation returned to me, that I might rejoice again. Then will I teach transgressors your way and sinners will return to you. Marvelous. What an amazing man. Even today the Lord speaks to you through him. You who have fallen into sin, you come with godly remorse and say to the Lord, restore to me the joy of your salvation. You will be used by God to teach others the Lord's ways. That's the gospel, God's news. If it's not God's news to you, child of the devil, it's your own fault. If you do not share the gospel with someone, you are still living in sin. You are still a child of the devil. Let us stand to our feet and pray. Thank you so much Lord that David can preach to us today and we can sing with him and read about how you helped him. Indeed Lord, it was right that they should call you the son of David. For David understood this mystery of your good news which brings forgiveness of sin. And a complete salvation that rescues a person from sin so that he doesn't have to fall into it again. Amen.