This sermon emphasizes the importance of repentance and surrendering to God, highlighting the consequences of willful sin and the need to confess and turn away from wrongdoing. It calls for a genuine acknowledgment of sin, a plea for God's mercy, and a commitment to living a righteous life. The message underscores the transformative power of God's forgiveness and the joy that comes from walking in obedience to His Word.

If I were, if I had a, if I knew that we had a short time left only, that what I'm about to preach this morning is the message that I would speak. If I knew, for example, that one month from now that we will all be gone, let's say, into eternity, this is what I would preach. I'm trusting God with all my heart that nobody in this sanctuary, at the sound of my voice, will end up in hell when this is all over. I'm trusting, and if you can receive the word that God's put on my heart as a pastor from a pastor who cares about you, I care about your eternity. I know you're not here to be entertained, and if you are, you're in the wrong house, I'll tell you right now. We're not here to entertain you. You will be, you'll be gladdened in your heart. You'll have a joy that is deeper than any superficial entertainment you could ever experience anywhere in this world, even in places of Christianity that are entertaining. No, this is deeper than that. I'm trusting that God will show you the reason why a certain lifestyle is required of the Lord. Psalm 32, please, if you'll turn there. The message is entitled Free, Surrounded, and Shouting for Joy. I don't sound very enthusiastic about it, but you probably will be by the time we get to the end of this. Free, Surrounded, and Shouting for Joy. Do you know that can be your future, and that should be your present. Father, I thank you, Lord, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I thank you, God Almighty, as always, for the strength that only you can give. I ask you for an anointing, God, that this Word just simply come alive in our hearts. Make this desirable, this truth today. God, for those who are living carelessly, handling lightly the truth of a holy and eternal God, let the fear of the Lord become our treasure today. Jesus, the Son of God, I implore you to be glorified in this sanctuary today. I implore you, mighty Christ, to go into every darkened place, every prison, every tangled theological understanding. Go into everything that defiles your presence in our lives and challenge it. Challenge it lovingly. I thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. This is the Psalm of David, King of Israel. Blessed is he, verse 1, whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. That means deception. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Verse 6, For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Be not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bid and bridle lest they come near to thee. Or the other translations basically say, whose mouths must be held in with a bid and bridle or they won't come to you. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that trusts in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Now verses 1 and 2 say, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and whose spirit there is no guile. Now King David is writing from a position of complete forgiveness after having come through perhaps the darkest spiritual, mental, and physical battle in his life up to that point. Now many of you know the story. David got spiritually lazy. He had had many many battles. He was in his 50s historians speculate at least at this point in his life. He was tired of the fighting perhaps. Sent Joab and the armies into the battle and he himself stayed at home in his palace and in the evening he got up out of his bed and he wandered around his roof terrace looking over the edge he saw a beautiful woman. In his heart he longed, he lusted after her. He sent and inquired about her. She came into his palace. He ended up committing adultery with another man's wife, a faithful man who was fighting for the glory of God in the same army that David was part of. Took his wife to himself and suddenly this woman comes back to him after a short season and says I'm I'm pregnant. I'm about to have a child. What are we going to do about this? Now the sweet psalmist of Israel, the man of truth who saw God. David had seen God perhaps as few did in his generation. Suddenly became a person of guile. Guile means a person of deception. He tried to cover his sin. He did everything possible to cover his sin and folks when when you and I ever get to the point where we're trying to cover something in our lives that God clearly states is wrong, it opens the door to deception. It doesn't stop there. It might be just one thing in your life that you're trying to cover. You're trying to, that God says is wrong but you're trying to make it right. You want to maintain your image. You don't want anyone else to know about this thing going on in your life but you've made peace with something that God says is wrong and subsequently what happens is the doorway is opened and instead of a sweet psalmist of truth he's now, it's a dark period in his life but it is recorded in Scripture for all of us. It's hard to fathom that this young boy that once came into the camp of Israel with such a pure conscience, such an undefiled mind, could so clearly in his teens see the glory of God. He saw something of God that the whole army of Israel didn't know and because he saw it he could fight giants in his generation. And you think of the sweet songs that God gave him so that when Saul would be oppressed by evil powers David would sit before him with his stringed instrument and he would play these songs and there was such a touch of God on them that the devil himself was forced to flee and leave Saul alone for those those moments. You think about David when he was fleeing at a certain point in his life and it grieved him even that he had touched the garment of the king of Israel even though the king of Israel at that time was trying to take his life. He had such a clarity of thought, such a pureness of heart, such a singleness of vision. This was the man that God was going to use to bring the ark of God representing the very heart and presence of God right back into the center of the people of God again in Jerusalem. Probably never a more magnificent king in history than King David. The history, the record, the songs, the story is all there for our reading and as Paul the Apostle told Timothy that all scriptures inspired by God and is profitable for our instruction, our correction, for instruction in righteousness. God allowed this segment of the life of David to be recorded. Now I thank God he didn't finish in Giles, he finished as he started, the man of God and I praise God for that with all of my heart. In 2nd Samuel chapter 11, I want you to go there please if you will with me, we're talking about how this young man of God or at this point he's an older man turns from this life of purity and now listen to me carefully. The scripture says let every man take heed when you think you stand. There's nobody here that's above what we're about to study, none of us, myself included, all of us. We can all fall prey to this if we will allow any part evil or dark to come into our hearts, any part dark. Listen to what happens to David now. Remember he said blessed is the man in whom there's no guile. He's speaking about himself now when he writes this song. He remembers the time when this crookedness got into his character and it affected every part of his life. Now when he found out that Uriah's wife was pregnant, he called Uriah home from the battlefield hoping that he would go into his wife, that they would have a husband and wife relationship and then the whole thing would be covered, the sin would be covered. Uriah would think it's his child and everything would go on and David would be scot-free and off the hook for what he had done. In chapter 11 of 2nd Samuel and in verse 8 we see how his speech became deceptive. David said to Uriah, Uriah came to him and David said to Uriah in chapter 11 of 2nd Samuel verse 8, no actually go to verse 7. He said when Uriah was come to him David demanded of how Joab is doing, how the people did, how is the war prospering. Now it's all to cover his sin folks. It's full of guile now. Guile is deception. Guile is when we're saying one thing but the motive is something else. Guile is when our speech is not clear, it's not clean, it's not true. Something has gotten into us that's made us crooked. I just want you to envision this. Uriah is coming in. Uriah is a godly man. He's been fighting the battles of God. David has just committed adultery with his wife and Uriah comes and David says how's Joab doing? I hope Joab is well. Hope everything is good this morning. Praise God. Good to see you this morning brother. Good to see you this morning my sister. How is your family? Is everything well? And he says how is Joab? How are the people? How is the war coming? How's the battle? How are your children doing? How's your, how's your job? And then David said to Uriah go down to your house and wash your feet. In other words not wash your feet like take a shower. And Uriah departed out of the king's house and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. A mess of meat. That's very well described isn't it? A mess of meat. His acts of apparent kindness were tainted with self gratification and no longer represented the God who simply gives to us and threw us out of the goodness of his heart. He was giving and there was an apparent generosity but it had an underlying wrong motive to it. It was about self and folks we can get to that point where we give but it's got the wrong motive. It's all for something that we're trying to cover. It's something that we're hoping about ourselves. We're not really just giving out of the generosity of a heart that loves God. Now Uriah was a righteous man and Uriah just said I can't go home to my wife when all of the soldiers of the king are sitting and sleeping out in the field and battling. He said it's not right to do this thing. David found out about it so he invited him back to his house again and in verse 13 he said when David had called him he did eat and drink before him and made him drunk and at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of the Lord but he went not down to his house. His actions towards others he tried to draw good men into manifestations of the same intercorruption that's now alive in his own heart. He's drunk with what he has done in a sense. He's intoxicated in his mind. He's moving in a direction that is not right. It's not righteous. It's not holy but he's trying to draw others now into the same form of behavior. He can no longer appeal to righteousness. He's got to move to something that's of the flesh. In verses 14 to 17 when he saw this wasn't going to work and says it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah and he wrote in the letter saying set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retire from him that he may be smitten and die and it came to pass when Joab observed the city that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew that valiant men were and the men of the city went out and fought with Joab and there fell some of the people of the servants of David and Uriah the Hittite died also. This is where it really becomes reprehensible because you see that he's willing to let good people die to protect his own image and interest. Now quite often when we preach this myself included we just talk about Uriah but the scripture says clearly there fell others of the servants of David. Joab had to send a whole company as it were probably into a place where he knew that many people are going to be killed because he knew that the king wanted this man dead and he wanted him dead simply to cover his sin. Folks when we're trying to cover sin people get hurt all around us. Your family gets hurt, your children get hurt, your grandchildren get hurt. People that should have known life don't find it because there's a crookedness in your spirit to go into the workplace and people look and they say well he's called a Christian but I'm not sure if that's what a Christian is. I'm not sure that I want this and it's it's very much the same as sending people into a place where they're going to die. He's willing to let good people die to protect his own image in his own interest. And then verse 25 when Uriah was finally killed and he sends a messenger Joab sends a messenger back to David and Joab says if he gets angry you know which which a righteous leader would be angry because it was a militarily a very foolish thing to do to send people in close to a wall like that because people would throw stones and weaponry over the wall it's almost sure death to try to attack a city like that. And he said if he gets angry tell him that Uriah the Hittite is dead as well. And so when the messengers came in verse 25 the messenger came and David said to the messenger thus shalt I say to Joab let not this thing displease thee for the sword devours one as well as another. Make that battle more strong against the city and overthrow it and encourage him. Amazing. He's now a man of compassion offering forgiveness and benevolence towards others without accountability and repentance because he had because he had become a partaker of their actions. He was a partaker of this murder and so being a partaker he couldn't challenge he had no authority to challenge Joab because his hand was in it folks. Beware if you are sitting anywhere under a gospel that does not challenge you when you're not living right before God. Something is wrong if I truly am called if these pastors are called of God when we step in this pulpit you should be very wary if you're living in willful sin in your life. You should know that God is going to find you out and you should know that it's for your good and not for evil. Beware of a place that offers you soulless and forgiveness and encouragement that says to you it shall be well when the scripture says it's not well with you. Don't be in those places. Be in a place especially in this hour if you're visiting here today if you're watching online if you're listening in the future make sure you're in a church that is not ever allow you to be comfortable in your sin. Verses 26 and 27 and when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead she mourned for her husband and when morning was past David sent and fetched her to his house she became his wife and bare him a son but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. You know folks it must have seemed like such a good plan to David must have seemed like it worked I pulled it off I concealed this thing and now not only have I concealed it I can now pursue my lust legally. This woman was now officially legally in a sense lawfully released from her husband because her husband was dead so now David says well not only did I escape the stain of sin but now I can pursue my lust lawfully. Now I can have this woman which is what he was after all along and it must have seemed like a perfect plan. I don't know how many people here today you've got a plan to cover your sin. Come on I know there's a lot of people you've got a plan. You've been into something you're doing something whether it's a plan of how you're going to get out a plan of how you're covering it a plan of how nobody's going to ever discover it and it must have seemed like such a good plan. That's of course what sinners do especially sinners in the church. They have a plan and the plan says well I've got my cake and I can eat it too. Everything is fine I come into the house of the Lord I'm lifting my hands I feel the presence of God just like Delilah sleep on the lap of something that wants to take his very strength not aware that there is a day coming when he's going to rise up and shake himself off as at other times but the strength of God is going to be gone from his life. It was a perfect plan except for one thing it had displeased the Lord and when you know when you and I displease God he just doesn't forget other people you can be 20 years covering your sin and when you go back into the prayer closet with an honest heart God says now now I say we're saying to you 20 years ago a day with the Lord he says a thousand years in a thousand years as a day you can run the road you can try to cover but suddenly you're going to be back wanting to get right with God and he's going to take up right where the conversation left off. Now God in his mercy will never let you go you and I go away without with thinking that practices that do not conform to truth are right in his sight. When I kept silent Psalm 32 verses 3 & 4 David said when I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long for day and night the hand was heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of summer say la. Oh a perfect plan except for one thing God has taken his presence away from me and even worse God has put his hand upon me it's a weightiness of God that's come upon me I can't escape it no matter how much I try to put it away how much I try to say this doesn't matter how much I try to say well it's just a weakness God understands how much I try to say well God knows God understands somehow we find he doesn't under he does know but he doesn't understand the way we do in his hand we try to lift our hands we try to enjoy the presence of God we we try to get back into the presence of God that we've known but there's an inner roaring in our bones that just doesn't go away there's a dryness that no amount of hand clapping no amount of tapes and church attendance and singing and prayer doesn't take it away because God is after something and you and I should be thankful he's after it if he didn't love you he wouldn't go after it if he didn't care he'd let you go into delusion you and I should be thankful he doesn't let us go when our minds begin to stray when our feet start walking off the path when we start thinking about or embracing things that are going to take the very life from us in time and in some cases take our lives eternally thank God he doesn't let us go thank God he's not like other men are thank God he doesn't walk away let me just share this with you very quickly but Romans chapter 1 is a very cheerful fearful rather chapter of Scripture it tells us that the wrath of God is shown towards those who hold the truth in unrighteousness in other words men and women who know it is right but persist in doing what is wrong and the wrath of God is revealed by releasing people to their own foolish imaginations in effect they're released from true conviction and become just as Satan suggested to either own God the Scripture calls it a reprobate mind talks it about those who knew truth but held it in verse 18 in chapter 1 of Romans says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness in other words I I knew it I knew clearly what it said but I chose to become my own God I chose to say no this is what I hold to is good and everything else is evil my practice is acceptable with God even though the Scripture says clearly that it isn't and the Scripture goes on and says when a person has been released to a reprobate mind a reprobate mind is simply when we begin to believe that wrong is right and evil is good that's a reprobate mind it's it's we've embraced and endorsed and moved into practices that God says clearly are wrong they're evil they're soul damning for eternity but in spite of knowing the truth we fall to the very lie that's at the core of the fallen nature of man which says I can be as God and make my own standards of good and evil that was the temptation that Satan brought to Eve and Adam and that was the fruit that they bit into and that is the nature of fallen man that is it very much in you and very much in me all of us today that nature is only kept in abeyance by the power of the Holy Spirit of God within us and the Word of God which is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path thy word the psalmist says I've hidden my heart that I might not sin against you no we can't stand in our own strength and we can't walk this pathway in our own imaginations and the Scripture tells us that those who hold the truth lightly when God finally gets to a place where he says I've tried but I can't reach this person I've tried but he or she is entrenched in the view of what is right and what is wrong practice and for this cause God gave them to vile affections where they began to discredit and dishonor their bodies one with another he turned them over to a reprobate mind now listen to what a reprobate mind is filled with unrighteousness fornication that means sexual intercourse outside of the covenant of marriage on a continuous basis with no repentance and somehow I heard a testimony last Sunday night of a young lady trying to get right with God brought to this church by a young man who attended this church the two of them came to the altar together she realized that having sex together was wrong and he turned to her and said show me in the Bible where it says that we can't have sex together and still walk with God she said I didn't know where it was in the Bible but I knew in my heart this wasn't right I knew it wasn't right wickedness covetousness maliciousness I mean open desire for vengeance full of envy murder debate you ever know a person that's just willing to argue at the drop of a hat about almost anything deceit malignity whisperers whisperers calls it a reprobate mind here folks with somebody who's giving given to whispering about other people whispering about leaders in the in the church just whispering about anything that they can think to whisper about and they don't see it as wrong anymore they don't see it as soul damning don't realize what it does to the heart back biters haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant breakers in other words their word is worth nothing they'll say one thing to you on Monday and if it's more convenient to do another on Tuesday they'll change their mind without natural affection that means no family affection implacable cannot be pacified unmerciful who knowing the judgment of God that they do they which commit such things are worthy of death not only do that but have pleasure in them that do them not only do they do it but just as David did remember at the end they have no longer any measure of spiritual authority simply because they are partaker with others how do I correct somebody else's behavior if I'm doing the same thing how do I stand and bring to you the Word of God if if I have no authority if I'm not walking in truth as the Lord has shown it to me in the scriptures Psalm 32 verse 5 David says I acknowledge my sin to thee and my iniquity have not and hidden I said I'll confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin now the mercy of God according to Samuel God will send you a messenger and that's what the Lord did to David he brought a righteous man called Nathan one day into his court and Nathan came to him and brought him a story and he said to King David he said there was a man who had a flocks and herds and he said he he had all that anybody could ever want he was a wealthy man and a stranger came to him one day and he said he had a neighbor next door and the neighbor had only one lamb and that lamb laid it was so precious to him that laid in his bosom at night and was it was dear to him as his own child and he said the rich man instead of taking from his own flock took this little lamb from his neighbor and sacrificed it to feed his neighbor and David the scripture says David's wrath was kindled I can see him rising up out of his seat and said the man he said the man who's done this will die and he said he'll pay four times back what he has done I mean he's angry but his judgment is somewhat tainted because if you're dead you're not going to be repaying four times what does it matter if you're dead but the reality of it is you see the mercy of God will send a messenger with a message to you that's the mercy of God Nathan was not there to hurt David Nathan loved the king Nathan was a righteous man Nathan wanted to see this man of God restored in this path of destruction stopped the evidence I really believe of somebody who's truly loyal to you and loves you is that they will come to you when need be and challenge something that they will know that in your life is going to bring you into destruction and he draws them into agreement with the foolish actions of others just like I did today open the book of Romans and talked about people who have the truth but they rejected it they start having indiscriminate sex outside of marriage they start quarreling they start debating they start coveting they start envying they start holding grudges they start having pleasure and sins that they would like to commit but perhaps too timid at this point so they start watching it on television or watching it on the Internet things they would like to do and they start taking pleasure which is actually the final step of reprobation if you read it they start taking pleasure in the sins of others they start to be entertained as it is by the evil actions of others and so I show you the book of Romans today and you would agree with me this is wrong this is terrible this is tragic to have any person turn and start committing this kind of behavior and that's what Nathan did to David he said this this man did this thing and David said this man this man should die for what he has done and then Nathan took as it is the Word of God that had been given him turned it around as a mirror and said I'm talking about you you know it's always easy for us to think of another person in a message like this and how I wish I just wish my brother Sam was here oh if that woman was just here to hear this message that's what David did that man should die for what he's done that man should pay four times for what he's done and Nathan takes the mirror says I'm talking about you I'm talking about you I'm talking about a practice that you have embraced I'm talking about something you're doing I'm talking about something that you've done that has displeased the Lord I'm talking about the reason for the dryness I'm talking about the reason why you can't seem to find God in this season in your life I'm talking about you David David turned we know the story and said I've sinned against the Lord and then the moment he turned and sinned and confessed his sin rather Nathan said to him you will not die well folks if you and I have the courage to turn and face the reality of what we might be embracing in our hearts the Lord says you'll not die you'll live and it's an incredible life that you begin to live in Psalm 32 verse 5 he says I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity if I not hidden I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin you forgave not just the sin but the crookedness it brought into my character the crookedness of that sin that brought into my spirit that's why first John 1 9 says if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness it's not just the sin we committed it's what the unconfessing of that sin brought into our lives the crooked speech the crooked action the crooked giving everything is deceptive and filled with guile all with the intent of covering up that thing God says if you'll just bring it to me if you'll not try to hide it I will forgive it and cleanse you of all the crookedness it is brought into your mind and into your character David found out that God was never against him but always for him always God is not against you God is for you we went to a cross for you he lives for you he stands he sits at the right hand of God to make intercession for you he's waiting for you he's building a mansion in glory for you he's never been against you if he had been against you he would have destroyed this world and you in it long ago but he is for us not against us thanks be to God he says you forgave the iniquity of my sin for this shall everyone that is godly pray verse 6 to thee in a time when you may be found David said this is how people will pray in a season where you may be found folks we're living in a season where the mercy of God can be found in Christ but don't play with that mercy don't toy with that mercy don't do despite to that mercy he says surely in the floods of great waters they will not come nigh to him I know what David's thinking when he wrote this he's thinking of the waters of judgment that came upon those armies trying to pursue the people of God the waters that became a wall to those who were walking in truth and became judgment to those who aren't and David says God you forgave my sin you forgave the iniquity that had brought into my life and I know that when judgment comes it will not touch me I will not be judged I'm free from judgment because I've made the choice to walk in truth you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free I'm free the Bible speaks in the book of Revelation chapter 12 and verse 15 about a great great in time delusion when Satan himself spews out of his mouth deception with the intent of confusing the pathway to eternal life through Christ now this refers to Israel but it has an application to the church as well says the serpent cast out of his mouth water is a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away from the up by the flood he said I'll not be taken down by the floods of judgment I'll not be taken down by these waters of deception the folks were living at a time there are so many opinions about almost everything now you there's no truth anymore we're living in a generation like Isaiah where truth has fallen into the street and anyone who tries to depart from this confused way of speaking that seems to have become the norm as this it makes himself a praise suddenly there's something wrong with you because you believe there's a right and there's a wrong everything is gray now everything is ambiguous and the enemy is sending a flood after the church of Jesus Christ a flood of deception a flood leaving the bride in her iniquity so that so that Christ can't reveal himself she stays in a place of deception does not come out folks if ever there was a time to come out and be separate to the Lord it's now if ever there was a time to deal with sin deal with it I plead with you deal with it I hear testimony after testimony I thank God for people whose lives are in order I thank God for the young people in this church that are studying their Bibles and they're sincere in their walk with God and they're walking that covenant relationship with God in Christ but I hear so many stories of people who sit here for years years with willful sin in their lives years sitting here worshiping God dancing till four o'clock in the morning at some club week after week after week never able to make up your mind Joshua said choose this day who you will serve if God is God serve him the numbers of people are living together attending this church you're not married you're living together you attend this church how long is it going to take for you to get married numbers of people not under authority not under authority in the home not under authority in the street walk and live and rebellion and somehow think that's acceptable with God when the scripture in Romans 13 says otherwise Oh Davis is no I'll be free from the iniquity of my sin I'll be free from the floods of judgment the floods of deception and he says you're my hiding place verse 7 you will preserve me from trouble and you'll accomplish me about with songs of deliverance in other words I won't be I won't go with the crowd that's going in this generation I can see folks in my spirit there is a mad scramble to whoever can get to darkness first I'm not going with them I don't care if I stand alone and you shouldn't care either I'm not going with them I'm going with Jesus Christ I'm going with this book verse 8 he says I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go I will guide you with my eye do not be like the horse and the mule that have no understanding must be drawn with a bit and bridle or they won't come to God says don't be like that David is saying in the psalm God was trying to draw me but I was stubborn and because of my stubbornness a dryness came into my spirit until the word of the Lord came to me and challenged my situation and I began to realize it's the loving hand of God all along who has wanted to restore me many sorrows verse 10 will be to the wicked but he that trusts in the Lord mercy will compass him about mercy surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever mercy truth strength vision the glory of God in my soul praise God the ability to live right according to what God says a heart that lives with a holy understanding that God loves me but yet I must not abuse that love hallelujah be glad in the Lord he said and rejoice you righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart shout for joy that's the end of my life I hope it's going to be the end of yours finishing this course with a shout in my soul hallelujah to the Lamb of God they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death hallelujah to the Lamb of God glory to the Lamb glory to the Lamb glory to the Lamb hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah shout for joy you righteous shout for joy shout for joy you righteous shout for joy glory to God glory to God glory to God hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah we'll finish this walk free surrounded by God and shouting for joy glory to God glory to God hallelujah now we're going to worship for a moment David the psalmist said don't be like a mule or a horse come willingly to the Lord come willingly deal with the issues turn from sin sin separates from God remember the right of Hebrews says if we sin willfully willfully after we come to the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sin it's a dangerous thing to sin willfully when you know the truth I'm not talking about the struggles and the frailties of an honest Christian it says God I just I want out I don't want to do this now the Lord's going to give you the victory because you already recognize your condition but I'm talking about the danger today of those who have made peace with sin made peace with a certain practice made made peace with a certain lifestyle made peace with something that God clearly indicates is wrong and separates from his life made peace you've been trying to hide it you're trying to hide it from God you're trying to hide it from your wife or your husband or your children or others you're trying to maintain an image that God says is not right it's not true you're trying to create a righteousness it's not of me says the Lord if we would just have the courage and it took courage for David to finally confessed it to a spiritual authority called Nathan in his life and said I've sinned you're the man I'm the man that God is talking about and from that moment onward yes there were consequences to what he had done but he's he's now being restored and becoming that sweet psalmist that God always intended him to be all folks please listen to me don't don't lose out on what God has for you in time or eternity because you foolishly choose to make peace with something you know in the Bible says is wrong come to the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ come to Christ and just even if you're trapped and you don't know how to get out he'll show you the way out he will lead you out he says I'll guide you with my eye he'll lead you out and give you strength and you didn't believe ever that you had but on your part in mind he requires a confession he requires that we just honestly come to God and say Lord this is me this is what I'm doing Lord you've nailed me to clearly to the wall with your word I don't want to live here anymore God Almighty I'm tired of the dryness I'm tired of the inner groaning I'm tired Oh God of your hand being so heavy upon me but oh Lord thank you you've only done it because you love me you've only done it because you want to restore me you've only done it God because you want my fellowship for eternity if you can realize that today I'm going to give an altar call here and in the end all the call is just a call to the front of the church to come forward and today it's just a humility for those who could say pastor you open the book and it became a mirror and I realized that the Holy Spirit was talking to me not to somebody else it was me that God was talking to I'm the man I'm the woman that God is after today if you know it in your heart and you are willing just willing to say Lord I'm the one it's not the person beside me it's me I'm the one causing the problem that seems to be all around me Oh God if God gives you the grace today as we rise to our feet momentarily just step out balcony you've got either I exit you can slip out of your seat in the main sanctuary and just come to this altar that just come to the front of the church in the annex stand between the screens and we're going to pray and the promise of God is that you're going to be free you're going to be surrounded by mercy and a shout of joy is going to come into your soul instead of the agony of trying to hide sin let's stand together please the Lord spoke in your heart please make your way down thank you Lord thank you God father I praise you today Lord this church was built on the foundation of repentance of sin and turning to the mercy of a holy God it's for this reason that you have always manifested your presence and your glory in this sanctuary and father I pray for the graces of people Lord as more and more and newer and newer people come into the sanctuary that we will not ever take that mercy that presence of God and turn it into a vile thing that allows us to live in manners and do things that are against the Word of God I thank you Lord with all my heart for how pastor David Wilkerson was used of you to build this church on that solid foundation and once repentance was established then mercy could be made known God we can't know mercy until we return from our sin until it's in the heart to want to live a holy life we can't possibly understand the mercy of God I thank you for these people have come to this altar today Oh God this is another time another season another generation I pray God is as Joshua did take another generation into the promised land Lord that we can go into all that was promised without forgetting what you've done without forgetting who you are without forgetting Oh God Oh God Oh God Oh God Oh God I pray this church as long as it exists would be a place for the full counsel of God the full wrath against sin the full justice and judgment of God and then the full sacrifice of Calvary the full understanding of the mercy of God be in this house of God help us to be a holy people a righteous people Lord as we walk the streets of the city and wherever we come from Lord that we truly represent we leave the true savor of God in Christ Oh father I thank you today Lord for those who've had the courage to respond now Lord you'll take them and God you'll bring something good out of this situations Lord even out of this this terrible situation with Uriah's wife you brought Solomon eventually a man that you loved Lord and God we don't fully understand it we just know it's mercy it's mercy rewrites everything mercy mercy cancels the effects of sin mercy mercy gives us a way out mercy takes us into a life that is other than our own Oh God give every one of these men and women the power to turn from whatever it is that has beset them whatever it is that they've embraced whatever practice they've become part of and comfortable with give them the grace now to turn from it Oh God you said I'll guide you with my eye I'll show you the way to go I'll help you to get out of this situation Oh Jesus you promised it will not be judged you promised that will not be deceived you promised it would be surrounded by mercy and songs of joy will come into our heart and so Lord we received that promise we believe it with all our heart today and God we thank you no matter what happens whether mountains shake whether seas roar no matter what happens in this generation you will have a people that have the joy of the Lord as their strength God Almighty we give you praise and we give you thanks in Jesus mighty name give a shout for joy hallelujah hallelujah shout for joy you righteous at heart shout for joy of your righteous give God glory hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thanks be to God