Mike Bickle preaches on the profound encounter between David and the prophet Nathan, emphasizing how God's rebuke leads to David's heartfelt repentance. Nathan's parable reveals David's hidden sin, prompting him to acknowledge his wrongdoing and seek God's mercy. Despite the severe consequences foretold by Nathan, David's genuine contrition opens the door to restoration and forgiveness, as seen in his poignant Psalm 51. Bickle highlights the importance of recognizing our sins and the need for a clean heart, ultimately showcasing God's grace even amidst judgment.

The story takes a sudden turn for good. I mean, here we are in this negative downward spiral. And the Lord sends Nathan. Now, it shocks David and it, you know, it confronts his heart. But it ends up turning the entire story into the restoration dimension begins right here. Verse 1. The Lord sent Nathan the prophet. Now, he was a young prophet. David had three prophets. Samuel was the old prophet. Gad was David's peer. And Nathan was probably several decades younger than David. So, that's pretty intense to be a younger man standing before King David to correct him about his secret sin. That's pretty intense. Well, Nathan comes to him and he tells him a parable. He says, David, let me tell you a story. And this story, this parable actually draws David into the reality of what God wants to say to him. I mean, this was a brilliant way to approach David that the Holy Spirit gave Nathan. And it's a parable about two men. There's a rich man and a poor man. In verse 2, the rich man had many, many flocks. Many, many, many sheep. And the poor man only had one little lamb. And this little lamb was so dear to him that he fed this lamb from his table and nurtured this lamb and cherished this lamb like a daughter. Verse 4, the story goes on. David's listening. David's sitting in his official seat as the judge to make decisions for justice. And Nathan says, here, I've got a case for you. And so David doesn't understand that David is the person that's on trial. But Nathan tells him the story. And he says, and there's this rich man. He's got thousands and thousands of sheep. And a traveler comes in from out of town, needs something to eat for dinner. The rich man goes over to his poor neighbor that's only got one little lamb, takes it. Cruelly, arrogantly, just seizes it. Kills the lamb, makes the dinner, and told the poor guy just to move on and get on with his life. David, paragraph B, verse 5. He is so angry. He says, how dare that man. He doesn't know that that rich man is David. David is the one that's on trial. And David is going to give the judgment against the rich man not knowing he's the rich man in the story. So David's anger is greatly aroused. And his compassion is stirred up. That's what stories do. Stories, in this story, drew David in to where his anger and his compassion, both complete extreme emotions, were completely engaged. He said to Nathan, that man shall die. Kill him. Nathan says, anything else you got to say? He goes, yes. Make him restore fourfold. And then kill him. First pay the guy back and then kill him. Paragraph C, verse 7. Nathan says, let me tell you something, David. You are the man. You're the rich man. Thus says the Lord. I anointed you king over Israel. Thus says the Lord. I delivered you from the hand of Saul. Thus says the Lord. I gave you all of Saul's household and all of Saul's wives. What did you do with it? You despised the commandment of the Lord. You committed adultery with Bathsheba. And you killed Uriah by the sword. I mean, David is absolutely overwhelmed. I mean, he's taken completely by surprise. Verse 11. Verse 10. The prophet says, here's your judgment. The sword will never depart from your house. That is a terrifying statement. David has about 20 to 25 more years left in his reign before he dies. Never will there be a time where the sword, which means conflict, violence. Strife that is expressed in violence. That's what it means by the sword. Your family will have never-ending strife that is expressed in violence. Never will it depart from it. You'll still defeat the enemies of God, the nations around. You'll still have tremendous wealth. You'll still see the tabernacle of David go forward. You'll still write the Psalms. You'll still enjoy the Lord. But you're going to have this other dimension in the story. You're going to have strife in your family that's expressed with violence. I mean, what a terrible word. Verse 10. Never will the sword depart. I can't even fathom what that would mean. And even more painful. Because the Lord says, David, you despised me. Yes, you sinned against Bathsheba. Yes, you sinned against Uriah. Yes, you sinned against their families and others as well. But more painful to David than even the sword in his house, the Lord says, David, this was personal to me. We love each other. I talk to you in the language of love. You respond in the language of love. We tell our secrets to each other. I partner with you. You're near to me. You love my presence like no one else. And here's what I have to say, David, in this act. You despised me. It's me that you were standing against. That had to break David's heart more than anything else. Then he goes back on into the circumstances, the chastising circumstances, that in Psalm 38, this is what he didn't want to happen, was this chastising circumstances or this open rebuke. He goes, verse 11, he goes in very specifically, I want you to pay attention to this, David. I'm going to raise up an adversary, a particular man. I'm going to actually help this man rise up. I'm going to raise him up. So I'm going to help him succeed against you. And here's the problem. He will be from your house. He will be one of your own sons. He will betray you, David, in the way that you have betrayed me. And I want you to not get the punishment of it. It's not a tit-for-tat punishment. But I want you to understand the implications of what's happening between you and me and me and the nation and the nation and you, and you're going to experience it even in your own life and your own family. He says, this man, he will be one of your sons. It boils, it's Absalom. Most of you know the name Absalom. We'll read about him in chapter 15 to 18, four chapters about Absalom and how Absalom rose up to overthrow his father, his beloved son that he wept over in love, broke David's heart. And the Lord would say, David, I wept over you. I love you. This is what you've done to my heart. And Absalom led a revolt against David. And the idea was not just to overthrow David and take the crown, but it was to kill David, to actually kill David. That was the plan. His beloved son would turn on him and kill him was the idea. And he goes, and this son, this adversary, verse 11, because, again, he doesn't name the adversary, but we find out very soon it's Absalom. He's going to take your wives, and he's going to sleep with them. He's going to lie with your wives. But instead of doing it in secret like you did with Bathsheba, he's going to do it and all of Israel will know. It will be publicly announced and proclaimed throughout the nation. I mean, I can't even imagine all that the Lord has said here to him. David is absolutely stunned. But notice paragraph C. I'm going to read the notes. First, the Lord reminds David how he blessed him. And this is how the Lord talks to us. And the reason we care about this is because this is how we talk to people as well. God doesn't go right to the rebuke. The Lord says, let's review the history of our loyal love to each other. Because this is about loyal love. This is not about me punishing you. This is about me showing you the glory of what we have. And this is what I cherish. And this is what I want you to value more. Because this is what life indeed is. So verse 7 and 8, he reminds him of the way he blessed him. And again, this is about loyal love between the God of Israel and David. Then in verse 9, he identifies the sin. You killed Uriah, and you committed adultery. He says it clear. There's no mistake. Then next, he lays out the judgment. Verse 10, the sword won't depart. You'll have violence in your family. Verse 11, an adversary, one of your sons, we find out later, will rise up against you. Now here's an interesting thing that I want you to highlight in verse 8. He says, the Lord says, David, I gave you your master's house. The master's house would be Saul. Meaning, I gave you his property. I gave you his authority. I gave you all of his possessions. You inherited, because Saul's entire family was killed, nearly. I gave him, I gave you David, Saul's harem. All of it is yours. But here, look at this. If that would have been too little, David, I would have given you much more. Our relationship was such, I would give you much more than that, if that was too little. I mean, what a statement. I mean, that right there would hurt and pain David's heart. But the ultimate one is the idea that you despised the command of the Lord, the Word of God. But number two down here in the notes, you despised me. Yes, you sinned against the others, but you despised me. Now it's interesting, isn't it, that paragraph 3, you'll see at the end, that David, when he talked in the parable, he said, that rich man that had all the sheep, that took that one poor man's little lamb, make him pay it back fourfold. It's interesting that David lost four of his sons to death, premature death. Death by unnatural sins. The very number that David gave in the parable was the very number of sons he lost to an unnatural death, page 2, paragraph E. Now here's the challenging thing that can happen, is that often when God speaks a word, a word of blessing, but even a word of discipline like this, it doesn't happen immediately. Because David, I mean, when Nathan the prophet left, that day was the normal day. It's like, okay. And when we read the story carefully, it maybe was five or ten years, we don't know exactly, but it's some years down the road before the trouble even starts. I think probably ten years is a safe bet, five to ten years. And David's thinking, okay, where's this sword coming from? But he knows it all the time, that it's, the word of the Lord's going to come to pass. And here's something that his son Solomon wrote. Undoubtedly, even through David's inspiration, in part, or his instruction, Ecclesiastes 8, Solomon wrote this, Because the sentence of evil is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of men are fully set to do evil. God will often give a sentence where there's trouble, but He doesn't execute it instantly, because He wants processes, emotional processes. He wants people to think it through. He wants them to ponder on it. And then it unfolds in His own timing, in God's own timing. And so, the discipline of the Lord on David didn't happen externally for a little while. That's sometimes a little bit unsettling. You think, oh my goodness, you mean I'm going to have all of this? Well, you're not the king of the covenant nation, so you won't have the same consequences, because you don't have the same sphere of authority. I mean, though we look at David and we glean principles, David is the premier position of authority in salvation history in that generation. I mean, there's, you know, so we've got to keep that in perspective. And, I mean, the good of David and the bad of David is in far bigger proportion than anything we'll ever touch, the good and the bad, in terms of circumstances. Now, in the spirit, we can go where David's gone and beyond. Like, for instance, when the Lord told David, when he was about 17 years old, you're going to be the king of Israel, Samuel the prophet. He isn't the king of Israel for 20 more years. I mean, you think, Lord, would you, yay, a breakthrough's coming. Don't give up too quick. Yes, I'm going to do this. Well, Lord, it's been two years. The Lord says, yeah, I said I'd do it. Two years. The Lord says, oh, we're not even close yet. Just hang in there. My Word is true. I will do it. But in the negative sense, because a sentence is not executed speedily, many people don't take it to heart that it's even real. That's the point. Well, David's response, he's not offended at Nathan. I mean, he's a young prophet, a couple decades younger possibly. I mean, there would be a natural intimidation standing before the mighty King David who has this string of unbroken victories and military victories and the wealthiest man in probably that part of the world and the glory of God in his life. I mean, I look at Nathan. I go, that's a pretty intense assignment, Nathan. But David responds, and he says, I have sinned against the Lord. You're right, Nathan. I'm wrong. David doesn't rationalize it. He doesn't blame shift. He goes, you know what that girl did? I was out. I was tired. I was having a bad day, and she took that bath right in front of me. No. He didn't blame it on her. He didn't blame it on Uriah. Yeah, but he would have. He didn't blame it on anybody. He said, I did it. No rationalizing, no blame shifting, full responsibility. And that pleased the Lord. Then Nathan comes with a word of comfort. He says, the Lord has another word for you. He's put your sin away. He's covered it. Yes, you're going to have trouble in your family. You're going to have strife because you murdered a man. And so from being the position of king over the covenant nation, you used the sword illegally with the authority and the anointing I gave you. You used the sword wrong. So the sword will be used against you wrong because you used the sword wrong. But you murdered a man and you committed adultery. Both of them are death sentences. Thus says the Lord, you will not die. There won't be a death sentence. However, the child that has been born is going to die. The new baby with Bathsheba, that child is going to die. Because your deed has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme God. And here's what that means. When a man or woman who's a representative of the kingdom, particularly in a leadership role, when they defy the Lord in a major way like this, it causes many people to say, to blaspheme God, God's not real. God's not powerful. God's not even powerful enough to keep him straight. This thing is God's not attractive. God's not worth it to somebody who knows Him. That's the sense of which God is blasphemed. God must not be that attractive if David could despise Him and cast God off that quick. God must not be that powerful if He let David do it. God may not be real. Look at this. Nobody is real. If a person won't obey God in the privacy of their life, maybe God's not even real. That way God is blasphemed by the enemies of the Lord when a leader engages in something at this level. Well, number one, David says, I've sinned. I like this statement. Because see, David has been walking before men as a powerful king. In the eyes of man, he's the most powerful man in the nation, and he's a very successful military king, and he's a very successful king in terms of a successful president. He has justice throughout society. But now he's standing before God as a broken man in need of mercy. It's a different posture. I'm the sinner. I'm the one in need. I'm not the powerful one that everybody relates to me according to my power. I'm the broken, needy one. And, beloved, that's the place of salvation. That's the place where the grace of God is magnified in a person's life. But also, when we acknowledge our sin, when David acknowledged his sin before the Lord like that, that is a place of hope. You know, people talk about, well, you know, some of those Christians, they grovel in their sin, and they, beloved, acknowledging our sin before God in truth, that's the place where restoration begins. That's the place of hope. That's the place of experiencing forgiveness and goodness. I love this phrase. He says, God says, thus says the Lord, He will put your sin away. He will put your sin away. The most powerful declaration you could hear when God says to us in our guilt, I put your sin away, you're not getting what you deserve. But just because, paragraph G, God forgave David, that doesn't mean there won't be consequences in his circumstances. His relationship with God will be strong and healthy. His communion with God can be fully, was fully restored. But because under the anointing, he had a position of authority to use the sword, and he used the sword in a way that despised God, that's why the sword was released back on him, because the Lord wanted him to see that God gave him the sword because they had this covenant relationship, this deep relationship, and David pained, said no to God, cast God off, and he wants David to see what that's like so that David would more esteem and value and treasure and protect that relationship he has with God. He would never take it for granted again. He would see the pain of it. When he saw his sons, he'd go, God, I don't ever want to do this to you. I will cherish, I will protect, I will honor the relationship that I have with you as the son now, Roman numeral two. Well, Nathan then departed to his house, and later, we don't know if it's a day later or a week later, the Lord struck the new infant, the little child. Uriah's wife, again, she's not called Bathsheba just yet. She's still Uriah's wife. That's negative. And the little boy becomes ill, struck by the hand of God. Verse 16, David now goes into intercession. He's pleading. Oh, God, save the child. He fasts. He lays all night before the Lord. Somebody could say, well, David, God already said the child's going to die. David says, I don't care. Father, show mercy, show mercy. The elders, verse 17, went into him, and they were trying to console him. Verse 18, seven days later, the child died. But the servants around the king's court, they were afraid. Oh, no, the child died. David might do something harmful to himself. He's so distraught. I mean, he's been laying down seven days fasting in prayer with such grief, pleading with God. Now that he knows the child's dead, it could go really bad. They were whispering. Verse 19, David looked over there and saw them whispering, and David, being the incredibly perceptive man he was with human dynamics, he looked over and said, hey, the child died, right? They go, uh, uh. He goes, tell me straight. Yes, the child died. Talbot, page 3. David, verse 20. He arose from the ground. Been seven days fasting and praying. Washed himself. Anointed himself. Means put some deodorant perfume on. Changed his clothing. Went into the house of the Lord. Where's the house of the Lord? That's where the ark is, where the singers are night and day. It's in the city of David, just a little bit over the way. It's in that 11-acre complex of the royal city of David. David's property, that's where the ark was. He went and sat before the ark, and he worshipped. So he went to the prayer room, and he worshipped. That was his prayer room. Then after a while, he went to his own house, and he said, I'm ready to eat. His servants were very confused by all this. They said, what is it, David? We don't get you. You're mourning. You're crying. You're weeping while the child's alive. But when the child dies, you should be doubly mourning. Now you're taking a shower, worshipping God, eating. We don't get it. You should be twice as sad. Verse 22, David said, no, no, you don't understand my relationship with God. You don't understand how I think about God, what he's like. I know what he's like. When the child was alive, though struck ill by God, though getting weaker and weaker, I fasted and I prayed. I said, here's the phrase, I love it. Who can tell with God? He just might be gracious. He goes, I know he said he would die, but I know him. I know the Lord. I know him. He's moved by mercy. And I was appealing to mercy. I was plucking that string of mercy because I know he abounds in mercy. Who knows? What a sentence. Maybe the child would live. You don't know with God. But now that the child's dead, I don't need to fast. I don't need to cry out for it. I'm not going to be able to bring him back. Then he makes a statement about eternity. He goes, I'll go to him. I'll meet the child in the resurrection. He won't come back to me. He's not going to get raised from the dead. But I'll meet him in the resurrection is what it's saying from the New Testament language. Now, paragraph one, the part I want to highlight is that when the child died, David worships. He doesn't ---- I mean, there's nothing wrong with asking God questions. And the Lord can handle even when we ask questions even with a wrong spirit. He gets it. Some people, like I've seen them, they're real upset and they're talking to God this way. And someone goes, oh, man. I go, you know, I don't encourage people to talk to God the way they are. But God's ---- he's got big shoulders. That's not really a right way to say it. But he can handle this. He gets it. He is kind. He's generous. I don't encourage talking to God that way. But David doesn't do that. He doesn't question God with offense. David accepted both the worship. I mean, David accepted both the judgment as well as the grace from the Lord. I love this confidence that David has. That even when things are bad, verse number 2 here, he says, who can tell? Now, Joel the prophet comes along a couple hundred years later. And Joel possibly inspired by this story about David because he's a couple hundred years after David or a little bit longer possibly. No one knows exactly when Joel. David's a thousand years B.C. Some say Joel was 800 years or the other group says that he was 600 years B.C. But it's a couple hundred years either way. Here's what Joel said. God is gracious, merciful, great kindness. But God relents. He changes the plans that are going to happen negative. Sometimes he changes. In Joel's verse 14, it's like he's quoting David. It's like he's been inspired by the David story. Who knows? Maybe God will turn. Beloved, I don't care how bad a situation is. I want to approach God with the David heart. I don't care how horrible it looks. As long as God is on the throne, which is forever, and God is love, which he is consuming love, we're going to have this language in our relationship with God. Who knows? Who knows? I'm going for the 5 till 12 turnaround. Who knows at the last moment what might happen? Well, the Lord's warned you that trouble's coming. Maybe the Lord will relent. Paragraph C. Then David went in, verse 24, comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went in to her and lay with her. They bore a son. Now, follow this closely. This is a really great verse. They named the son Solomon, which means peace. But the Lord loved this little boy. And the Lord sent Nathan the prophet with a prophetic word. Nathan knocks on the door. David goes, oh, boy. Nathan, I've heard from God, okay. We just had a baby. What's happening, Nathan? What's happening? He goes, I got a word from the Lord. The Lord came to tell me. Name the child Jedediah, which means the Lord loves him, beloved of the Lord. He goes, thus says the Lord. This child is a statement that I love you, David, and I love this child. And I love the promises. Yes, you've had a time of judgment. But know this. I give you a living testimony. Every time you look at this child, even when you go through the next 20, 25 years of the sword touching your house, you will always see this child as a statement that I've declared to you through the mouth of the same prophet that brought judgment. Thus says the Lord, I love you. He goes, and this child will be a trophy, a witness, a statement all of your days. Because David's going to have some dark times in family strife in the years to come. Now, not most of his family is killing each other. It's not mostly that, but there's enough of it to where his heart is pained over and over and over again. But he always has this statement of Solomon. He was one of the younger of the sons. One place it says David, when you put it together, had 15 sons. Another place makes it appear that he had 19 sons when you put a couple passages together. So whether 15 or 19, some debate it one way or the other, Solomon was one of the youngest ones, so he's the boy growing up. Every time David would look at him, and the sons got into this strife and revolt against one another. And one son murdered another son. Absalom murdered Ammon, and Ammon raped David's daughter Tamar. I mean, all this violence. I mean, not that it's all violent, but enough of it again to pain him. He would look at that boy, Solomon, and remember the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, I love you. You know, and the Lord has benchmarks in your life. It's not necessarily a child, but there's evidences. There's, if I could use the word, trophies of the love of God that God gives you occasionally over the years. And they're at benchmark moments of your life, watershed moments, key moments. Just a few times where you look at it, and the Lord's saying, look at that. Remember, I love you. That's the same principle that's going on here. Paragraph 3, under C. Bathsheba had four sons. Solomon was one of them. He's the fourth, the youngest one mentioned. But notice this. They named one of their sons Nathan. David and Bathsheba got together. The man that brought the rebuke of the Lord, they said, we so honor him for being true because it brought our restoration. We so honor the truth he spoke. We're going to actually, we're not offended at him at all. Because a lot of folks, they don't like the message, so they shoot the messenger. They don't like the word, so they get rid of the prophet. That all through Israel's history. David said, I don't like the word, but it saved my life. And it showed his gratitude towards young Nathan that he named, I mean, could you imagine King David naming one of his sons after you? That shows he was grateful, he was humble. He was not offended. And then later, through the family line of Bathsheba, the Messiah comes. When God from heaven looks down and says, where will Jesus, what family line of David? David has X amount of wives. He goes, I'm going to make a statement. Through the adulterous affair, in the redemption of my grace, I'm going to show you how far grace will go. Yes, David, there's discipline in your life. There will be a sword in your family. Again, not his whole family, not every minute of every day, but enough over the years where it pained him. But the Lord says, I'm going to redeem this relationship, this fallen, broken relationship. And the very son of David, the Messiah, will come forth from the line of David through Bathsheba's line. Roman number three. Well, Psalm 51 is, if you open to Psalm 51 in your Bible, it says it right there. This is when, this is the Psalm David wrote when Nathan exposed David's sin. It's real clear. The title of the Psalm makes it clear. It's a model confession. Meaning, for the person who sins grievously before the Lord, this is a model. This is a, God says, this is how I want you to respond. Paragraph B, he starts off, God have mercy. We start off crying out for mercy, and David says, I don't want a little bit of mercy. I want the measure that's according to the multitude of your tender mercy. I know how high this thing will go. I know how far the love of God goes. I want the multitude of tender mercy. David says, I know you've got enough to know that's what's in your heart. Top of page four. Verse three, he says, I acknowledge my transgression. Now remember, this confession is coming a year after the adultery. A year plus. Because they've had the baby that died, the young infant that died. You know, it went through the whole term of the nine months, and then it's born, and then a little bit of time goes by, and then the baby gets sick. So it's about a year later before Nathan even knocked on David's door. Verse three, David says, I acknowledge my transgressions. I don't blame anybody, no blame shifting, no rationalizing. I'm not looking at a Bible verse to kind of figure out how this sin works, how I can get away with it. I did it. He said, my sin is always before me. He goes, for the last year. Again, I think he's in Psalm 38 for the year before. I'm burning on the inside. The arrows have pierced me. God's hand is upon me. He goes, my sin is before me. But he says in verse four, I do acknowledge, though I did sin against Bathsheba, Uriah, their family members, and others. Ultimately, I sinned against you, God. David says, I own this. It was you I despised. It was the loyal relationship we had with each other, that's what I presumed on. That's what I did not value and cherish. Ultimately, he goes, the other sins are real. I really did sin against them. But ultimately, it was me not cherishing the way that you love and relate to me. That's what I despised. But look at the end of verse four. But he says to the Lord, but I want to say this, Lord. I was wrong and you're right. So that you're found, here's the word, just when you speak and you're blameless when you judge. He goes, this idea that I'm going to have the sword and my family the rest of my days, that's justice. You're blameless. It's not too harsh. It's not over the top. You're right, I'm wrong. You're wise, I rebelled. You're just and blameless. I mean, this is incredible humility in the midst of sinning. I mean, because he's writing this right when it's all unfolding. And he goes, I know how to respond now. But often what happens, the enemy gets in and he wants us to accuse God of being negligent. Accuse God of being harsh. Accuse God of not being loving. David says, none of that. My discipline is hard. But you're just. And you're blameless in the sentence that you've put on my life. Paragraph D. Verse 10 to 12. This is at the very heart of this psalm. There's a couple very important phrases here. He says, create, verse 10, created me a clean heart. These are the things he's asking. He asked for mercy. And then he describes the way he's dealing with the discipline that's on his life. God, you're just. You're blameless. I'm not charging you. I'm the one that's wrong. You're the one that's right. Now he's saying, here's what I want you to do to my heart. And he has several phrases here. I think six different phrases. Created me a clean heart. Number one. Number two. Renew a steadfast spirit. Number three. Verse 11. Don't cast me away from your presence. Number four. Verse 11. Don't take your spirit from me. Number five. Verse 12. Restore the joy. My salvation. And number six. Uphold me by a generous spirit. Or many translations say a free spirit. Or even some say a cheerful spirit. A spirit that's free. I want to have a free spirit. I don't want to be under the weight of this Psalm 38 anguish. I don't want to be in this conversation where I'm just replaying and preoccupied with how horrible what I've done. I want my spirit freed up. And I want to live like I know to live before you. Uphold me with a generous spirit. Well, it starts off. Created me a clean heart. Well, there's several applications to all of these. But these are just a few little takeaway points. It's not comprehensive. When he says a clean heart, he knows he's forgiven. That he already cried out in verse 1 for mercy, abundant mercy. He's not asking for forgiveness right here. He's saying I want the turmoil of Psalm 38 out of my emotions. Remember, he says that it was like I was inflamed. I was broken. I was in turmoil. The hand of God was on me. I was miserable. All that negative preoccupation with all the negative going on in his emotions. Shame and pain and conviction. He goes, Lord, I'm asking. This would lift. I want this out of my emotions. And another thing when he says a clean heart. Because the point I made in the last session. You yield to immorality as an act. It will incite stronger desires for immorality. You yield again, the desires get stronger. You yield again, the desires get stronger. It's less satisfying but more captivating. That's how sin works. David is saying I want the reversal of that. I want that enhanced negative sinful emotion. I want it gone. Instead of escalating, I want it diminished. I want that gone away and it will go away. We respond to the Lord. The way the emotions become dark in an accelerated way is the way they become light. We sow to the spirit. He says I want that preoccupation of all the negative emotions. And I want the sinful lustful desires that have been accelerated. I want those gone. Or I want them diminished in my life. Then he goes number two, I want a steadfast spirit. I want you to restore that resolve that I'm so used to, David could say. I am so used to being focused and fixed and resolved. And I lost my way over this last year. Like Psalm 38, I was so into the pain and the anguish. I need that resolve, that steady spirit restored that I've walked in for all of these many, many decades. Number three, I want the joy of salvation. David hadn't lost his salvation but he lost the joy of it. That spark, that freshness. He goes I want the freshness. I want that returned back to me. Now when he says don't take your spirit from me, that's what he's talking about is because in the Old Testament there was an anointing on a king or a prophet. The anointing of the Holy Spirit would come on a man or a woman to do a task for the covenant nation. And when the anointing or the spirit was taken, it meant they were no longer empowered to do that task for the covenant nation. Like when it says in 1 Samuel 16, the spirit departed from Saul. It meant that special anointing to function as king. And David said I saw that happen to Saul. And I did the same. I murdered like Saul did. He goes I'm asking you not to take that anointing of the leadership calling you put on me, not to take that anointing for that task off of me. Because some people read this and they read it through the lens of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit will never leave us because we sin. He's not talking about a new covenant believer losing the Holy Spirit because we sin. He's talking about losing that special anointing for the task of that leadership role in the covenant nation. He didn't want to lose that like Saul did. That's what he meant. Because in the New Testament we're not just anointed to do tasks. We are. Heal the sick, preach the gospel, many things. We're also anointed for a relationship. The anointing in the Old Testament wasn't about relating to God. It was about serving God. The anointing of the Spirit in the New Testament is about serving God but also about relating to God. And we don't lose that anointing to relate to God. We don't lose the Holy Spirit in that sense. What he says cast me not away from your presence. I mean the presence of God is with us. The presence of God is with David. The presence of God was often associated in the Old Testament with the ark of the covenant. And when the ark of the covenant was taken away from Israel, they would use language like His presence is gone or we can't sit before His presence. The ark of the covenant was in the room just a couple yards down from David's house. He goes I don't want to lose that privileged position that I have as having put the ark to sit before in the house of the Lord, to sit before the presence of the Lord, meant in David's language is to sit before the ark. He goes I don't want to lose that privileged position. So it's not talking about you and me today. The Holy Spirit leaving us and now we don't have the presence of God. That's not the application of what David is talking about. Then he talks about the generous spirit again. He wants the shame lifted. He wants that free spirit happening in him again like he's so accustomed to. In paragraph E he says I want my confidence back to teach sinners. He goes everybody knows I'm the big sinner. You know what? It takes a lot of boldness for a man or woman who has sinned in a scandalous way like this to teach sinners to repent. David says I want it all back. I want the boldness. I'm going to tell them how I know. I'm a trophy of the grace of God. I'm going to tell them my story and I'm an example that the grace of God works. But I also now I stand before God anointed so I'm going to call sinners to repent. And I'll be mocked. They'll say who are you to tell us? And he says I'm going to say the anointing of the Lord is on me. Because you sinned sometime in your life you don't lose the authority and the commission to call people to forsake their sin to walk in love for God. You can still do it. David says I'm going to do it. Verse 15. But open my lips. Help me. He goes because they look at me and they wag their head at me and I'm going to use myself even as an example to embolden them. And then the final thing verse 17. David said here's I know what you're after. The sacrifice you want isn't for me to give animals on the altar. That's not what you're after. The sacrifice you want you want me to come to you with a contrite heart. I get it. You don't want me to come to you arguing, rationalizing, blaming other people. They did it. That's why I'm mad. Everybody's wrong. That's why I'm mad. That's why it's not working. Lord I love you. I got bitterness in my heart. I sin in this way. You love me. I love you. I'm coming in humility. You're right. I'm wrong. I love you. Let's do it and renew ourselves to obey him. And the Lord and David said I found that's the key way forward. The humility and the full open heart with full responsibility for what's ever not working in our heart. And the Lord says yes David. That is the model. That is the way. You can teach sinners. Right now David's teaching sinners. Us through his own written word here. Because we saw it work in his life and we know that it will work in our lives. Amen and amen. Let's stand.