Confession

Good morning. We're still walking through Psalms. We're taking a little mini-series between books of the Bible. We finished Mark, and there's five books of Psalms. We're going to be working through each one. Brian will be preaching next week from Psalm 78 as our nominated elder, so please be prayerful for him. This morning we're looking at a well-known psalm. My guess would be Psalm 23 is the most well-known or most familiar psalm. But Psalm 51 is also a very well-known psalm to us. It's a, it's a confession. We see here he is gripped with his own sin and he is confessing it. And I want to be clear about what this psalm is doing. Right? So communication is everything in a relationship. Knowing what to say, knowing what not to say, knowing how to say it. Our relationship with God matters. And so God has first spoken to us. That is one of the most fantastic, overlooked, and underappreciated truths. God speaks. We're not left to guess what he's like. We're not left to guess what he expects. He's spoken to us, who He is, and what He does, and what He expects of us. But here in the Psalms, we actually see more, a different kind of communication. He's helping us know how to talk to Him. How helpful is that? Right? In important conversations, job interviews, meeting with significant others, you're always kind of wondering, what is it I need to say? Is there some way that I could just know, like, the right words and the right formula, and I'd be able to communicate what I really feel, how I think? It's hard to know how to communicate sometimes. This is why it's so encouraging, Psalm 51 especially, God's saying, this is how you come to me and seek forgiveness. This, after sin, is how you come and seek restoration. And so this morning we're looking at Psalm 51, a psalm of confession and restoration. I've divided it into four parts. The first is context. Context. What was not just read is that little subscript there for Psalm 51. And oftentimes, psalms are written in such a way that you can guess the context. Really, it's meant to be a prayer that we can read in our own context. But we know the actual situation. To the choir master, a Psalm of David, King of Israel, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba, after he lied with him. Now this is found, this account is found in 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel 11 rather, 2 Samuel 11. And it's important. Saul was the king. David has replaced him. In 2 Samuel 7, David says, I want to make you a house. God says, no, but my steadfast love is with you. That's a key word. You see then an account of Mephibosheth where David wants to be a representative king of God's steadfast love. He wants to show kindness to this cripple who was the son, the grandson of his own enemy. And then we have 2 Samuel 11. To, to, to be quick, David is at home. He's supposed to be out at war. Bathsheba bathes on the roof. You're not supposed to do that. She's obviously not innocent in this. David sees her and takes her, lies with her. And then she becomes pregnant. Well, David has to figure out, how am I going to get her around this? Her husband is a general in his army, and he's out to war, so he calls him back, hoping he'll lie with her, and then the people might assume it's his child. But he's a noble warrior. His men are out to battle, not sleeping in their own bed. He will not do so. But she, his husband, does not go home. He sleeps in the street. So then David's got to figure out, what am I going to do to cover this up? So he sends a ride to the front line and tells the other soldiers, back away. He murders him. He has him killed unjustly. So let's think about what David's done in 2 Samuel 11. He's taken another man's wife. He's committed adultery. He's coveted her first. Then he commits adultery. Then he tries to cover it up. He's lied. He's then murdered. His parents probably aren't too happy about it either. So we can just say he's not honoring his mother and father. He's broken more than half of the commandments of God. He as the king is supposed to be the one who's leading and teaching Israel according to God's righteousness, according to the law. He thinks he's got it all covered up. Right? He's all happy at home, and he's covered up his own sin. And then Nathan comes and tells him a story. There was a man who had many sheep. And when he wanted to have a celebration, a feast, he doesn't take one of his own sheep. He takes the sheep of this guy who only has one sheep. This other man who loved his sheep, he took that one sheep from him and stole it and killed it for his own guests. And David says, that man deserves to die. So Nathan says, you are that man. By God's grace, the blinders come off. He realizes what he's done. He realizes what he's committed. And that his words were right. He, David, deserves to die. I do want to point out one significant aspect of 2 Samuel 11. In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab and his servants. He stayed home. David's not in the right place and therefore he gets into significant And it's interesting. You see, one sin leads to more sin. And children, please understand and hear this. One lie always leads to another lie. You don't get to control that kind of thing. You always end up expanding. But let's focus here. The context. Here's the king of Israel. He has great power to take this woman. He has great authority given him by God, and he uses it not to bless his people, but to bring a curse. He is unfaithful. If we look at the preamble of the Psalm, verse 1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions. God has given him such a significant place and position. He has committed egregious, gross sins that all would say, this is horrible. You do deserve to die. And yet, we actually see God forgives him and restores him according to his steadfast love, according to his abundant mercy. There's something here, especially for you, who might be just gripped with guilt. God can never love somebody like me. You don't understand how sinful I've been. You don't understand the kinds of thoughts I have in my head, the kind of desires that come in through my heart. I probably do understand them, because we all have them. What's amazing here is, is we couldn't possibly think of how to compile worse kinds of sins than what David has done here. And he is leading us. God is using David to lead us to know how to call upon him according to God's steadfast love. Have mercy on me. Blot out. Remove my transgressions. Something important we're going to learn about Christianity today, or the God of Christianity, Jesus Christ, He invites sinners to confess their sin. And He forgives. That's the one unique truth about Christianity that we're going to see. The one unique truth about the God of the Bible is He speaks, and the word He declares is, come to Me, confess your sin, and I will forgive you. There's really only two options. You can hold fast to your sin, he will judge you. You can confess your sin and he will forgive you. So the context is a, is wicked. The context is, is gross. But God, in his abundant mercy and his steadfast love, forgives. The second point, first is context. That's the subscript in verse 1. And here we see David's confession. This is verses 2 to 6. David's confession. He's making requests to God. And I want you to hear the repetition. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. He uses three different words. Right? Iniquity, transgression, sin. And they all capture different aspects of sin. Iniquity is that internal just perversion. That part of us that just twists everything. God gives us good gifts and we twist them and corrupt them and pervert them. Transgression, that's just simply breaking the law. God said don't do this and we do it. Or God said do this and we refuse to do it. Sin. That's the most basic general word we have for, for wrongdoing in Scripture. If there's a target, it just means you missed the target. You're, you're off. You're, you're, you're, you're not straight according to God's path. You've, you've missed. Something that's helpful for us here is my iniquity, my sin, and my transgression. There's no blame shifting, and there's no qualification in this confession. One of the things that makes this a model confession, there's no blame shifting. Remember, and this is what we do. In Genesis 3, when God approaches Adam, where are you? What have you done? Well, God, that woman you gave me. This is our natural inclination as sinners. Let's try to figure out some way of making my sin not look as bad as it is, or at least find somebody else who's party to it that I can kind of blame shift a little bit. No, David, David has none of that. It's not, well, she was on the roof. No, it's, it's my sin. My twistedness. My breaking your laws. And an apology, there's no qualification to it. We don't get to say, I'm sorry, but... I'm sorry, period. He's come to be fully aware of his sin. Psalm 19, at the end, it says, make known to me my hidden sins. There's something really important for us here. We do not know how sinful we are. God, in his grace, helps us see our sin. David had committed these incredible gross sins, and he's sitting in his palace happy. Until God uses Nathan to help him see what he's done. It's a grace to see sin. Look at verse four. Against you, you only. Now that stands out as pretty significant. What, what about Uriah? What, what, what about, what about Bathsheba? Really, David? You've not sinned against other people? You've coveted, you've taken, you've murdered, you've not done something against other people? I want us to see what David is doing here is not in any way lessening how he's sinned against other people. He is overwhelmed with the significance that is most important of how he sinned against God. He is not in any way trying to step back and not take responsibility on how he sinned against others. His, his burden is how he sinned against his, his God, his Creator, his Redeemer. He's broken his, God's commandments. He's forsaken God's covenant. He's murdered someone made in God's image. He's defiled the marriage bed God declared sacred. He's boasted of himself and that he's righteous in all of this. The emphasis is on his sin against God, because that's, that is who we first and foremost sin against. We can actually think about how this is on the flip side, right? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. If we don't love our neighbor, we're not loving God. One of the ways we love God is by loving our neighbor. Here, he's, he's sinned against his neighbor, neighbors, his own kingdom. But first and foremost, it's, it's against God. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what's evil in your sight. There's a Latin phrase, Coram Deo. It's a fantastic motto. To live before the eyes of God. To live as if God is always watching because He is. We should be living in a way that seeks to honor Him and glorify Him. And we have to realize that when we're sinning, He's watching. He sees us. You know, it's kind of funny. Whenever somebody wrongs us, we really expect God is paying really close attention. But when we want to pursue sin, we assume maybe He's turning around. He's hiding His face. No, God sees us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. So far, I wanted to see if there's really some essential elements to a prescribed confession. First, it's unqualified repentance. My sin. Second, he agrees that it's against God. Right? He's recognizing, I have sinned against you. My sin against you. The third element of a confession is seen in verse 4. The second verse, second part, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. He's agreeing, God, because of my sin I deserve to die. I deserve your punishment, wrath, just judgment. He is not trying to, to, to lessen what he's done and what it deserves. He trusts God's good judgment. Now this next section, it's, it's, it's pretty difficult to, to wrestle with. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth and the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. We need to wrestle with verse 5. What is, why is he talking about his conception? Now, I don't think David is saying there was something unique about his mother that's caused his sinfulness. Right? This isn't the kind of psychological blame-shifting that says the parents did something wrong. He's trying to make it clear, I am this bad. I am this extreme in sin. And now he's saying it goes all the way back. I am entirely, fully a sinner at all times of my existence, from the very beginning of life. And that's because all of us are sinners from the very beginning of life. There wasn't something unique about David and his mother. When Adam sinned, he ruined the whole human race. That's hard. That doesn't seem fair. But it's what God's Word says is true. Adam was made good. He was the last good human being. When he and Eve conceived and bore children, they were born naturally sinful. They were born with the predisposition to sin. They had twisted hearts that then demonstrated itself, well, and eventually murder. This is hard. But, but it, it makes sense to the world because we're not born good. We're not born as a blank slate. Everyone is born with this natural inclination to sin, and therefore we do sin. And this idea that Adam was the representative man is good news when we look at it in light of Romans 5, because God has sent another man. Jesus Christ. to be the head of a new humanity. He did not know sin, and therefore he's come to take the punishment of sin upon himself, so now there's a new Adam. A new beginning. See, if we're only dependent upon the blood we get from our parents, the, the bloodline of the parents, and think somehow that, that connects us to Christ, it only connects you to sin. But if you look to Jesus, and you're born again, and you're washed by His blood, you have a new life. Your sin is forgiven. I believe what Dave is doing here is emphasizing how sinful he is, and that he has been a sinner since the beginning. Now, let's pause here. Why is sin so bad? Right? We all think it's kind of fun. That's why we do it. Let's be honest with it. It seems enticing. Why is it so bad? First, it separates you from God. God is holy and right and just. When we sin, we are separating ourselves from God. When we separate ourselves from God in sin, we're separating ourselves from true joy. We're trying to find the light in the things that, that only bring temporary pleasure. We're, we're, we're, we're, we're riding ourselves of true joy which is only found in the one who's created us for joy. Why is sin so bad? It, it truly crushes us. It robs us of who we really are, made in the image of God, meant to know Him, love Him, enjoy Him. And the only way to be renewed is by believing in Him who was crushed for our sin, Jesus Christ. Here we see a confession, verses two to six. My sin against you, God, your punishment, your, your, your, your choice to punish me would be just. But here we see a request for cleaning. Cleaning is point number three. Cleaning. Again, let's go ahead to verse 1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgression. That is the basis of the prayer. But before you can ask for forgiveness, before the good news is good news, you have to realize there's, there's sin. He asked for cleaning, cleansing, restoration in numerous different ways. Purge me with hyssop. That was, it's a branch you'd beat something with. and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew the right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. After he says, there's something wrong with me, he says, help me. Our contribution to forgiveness is sin and confessing it. And then we trust God to do it. He believes God can help. The words here, wash me, purge me. One word is just kind of like you wash your hands, right? You just kind of go through normal, get the dirt off. One of these words, wash. It's, it's a very aggressive word. It's kind of like when you take your rug outside and you beat it. It does mean beating. And pummel the sin out. It's like when there's a garment and it's, there's a, there's a stain, a red stain on a white garment. You have to get aggressive with it. That's the word Paul's using here. Get aggressive. Sin is sticky. Sin is difficult to remove. Its consequences are difficult to remove. Notice what he feels because of his sin. Again, the consequence of sin is a loss of joy. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Now, we don't know that David suffered any physical injury in this. I believe he's likening the feeling of conviction to breaking of bones. This is kind of like that feeling you get after, you know, a cop car turns its blue lights on after you. I don't know. I hear this. So they tell me. You know, that gut feeling. What just happened? Or what have I got caught doing? Or what's going to happen next? I'm busted. That brokenness. And let me tell you, if you do not feel that, you should be worried. The conscience seared. A life that doesn't feel conviction of sin. If you've gone a long time without feeling convicted of sin, is it because you're not sinning? It's because you've gone on so long refusing to confess and repent, that you just don't even hear it anymore. That is a terrifying place to be. David was in that place, by God's grace. He had a friend, Nathan, who was willing to say those hard things, and now he's confessing, ah, the brokenness, let me rejoice in the midst of it. Hide your faith, blot out my iniquities, remove them. Verse 10, created me a clean heart. The heart's the problem. Everything about us thinks if I just dig down a little deeper, if I just turn inward and find my own strength, if I just find my own spirit, I can do it. No, that's what's wrong. What's wrong with us is what's inside of us. That is the source Jesus teaches us in Matthew 15 and Mark 7. The heart is a source of sin. I'm dirty, I need to be cleaned. The heart is twisted and corrupt and deceptive. God, you alone can clean it. That's some hard self-reflection there. If that bothers you, if that concerns you, if that confuses you, don't leave here without talking to somebody about it. The most important point, the most essential truth of Christianity, help comes from outside. Sin comes from inside. We like to think that sin is something that's always imposing ourselves, and we're going to help ourselves. No. Sin comes from inside, and help comes from outside. God is able to cleanse us. Cast me not away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. David saw the Holy Spirit leave Saul. Right? The Holy Spirit came upon the king to anoint him for his good work. He was afraid that he would also lose that, that, that role as king with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He's committed murder, adultery, lied. He doesn't lose that role. God is gracious. Verse 12. In summary, restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. Notice Paul, or David, does not say, restore my salvation. He can't lose his salvation. He says, restore the joy of my salvation. When we choose to sin, we do lose joy. It's one of the great blessings of God. He lets His people live in the misery of sin. He will not bless or disobedience. That is a great blessing. If you're choosing to try to delight in sin, if you're choosing to want to live in sin, if you think that's the way you're gonna go as a Christian and be happy, well, God says, I'm pulling back my joy. I'm gonna pull back my presence. And then we come, like, like the, the young man in Luke 15, we, we come to ourselves. The Holy Spirit reveals Himself. Restore the joy of my salvation. He's pleading with God, the God who saves, the God who hears, the God who forgives, the God who renews, the God who restores. We can cry out to this same God. Now let's just play a little game here for a moment. I like games. What if David were to go to a judge and confess to the adultery and murder that he just committed? What would that judge do? You're guilty. Here's your sentence. What would Muhammad do? If David were to go to Muhammad and say, I've done these things. Muhammad, like most religious leaders, would say, you've done these things, but you need to do these so many good works to make up for this evil. And then maybe God would have mercy on you. What would happen if David went to the typical American neighbor? Well, you'd probably be shunned and gossiped about. What would we do this morning before the Lord's Supper and David came up and said, I've committed adultery and murder and lied? Forgive me. Would we be as quick to receive, restore, and rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ as God is? This is what is supposed to be unique about Christians, about Christianity. Sinners are welcomed to confess their sin. They're not welcome to remain in sin, but they're welcomed to confess their sin. So we need to make sure we are armed with the gospel of forgiveness and confession ourselves, but let's just ask another question. What keeps us from confessing? Could it be a lack of faith? Or just a hopelessness? God couldn't forgive me. I'm just too far gone. I believe we see here David, he's able to forgive any and all sin. There is no sin greater than God. He is more powerful. Maybe there's a lack of love for God. It's just not worth it. You're so far removed from the joy you once knew in the Lord that you don't see the point. Be terrified if this is where you are today. Maybe it's just too much love for sin. I, I like this too much. It's, it's just part of my routine. I've got it under control. I, I only do it on certain occasions. You're never in control of sin. It's more powerful than you. You're self-deceived and deceived to think you have any power there. Maybe it's just apathy. What's the point? Your life is the point. Your joy is the point. Christ, if He has redeemed you, quickly confess. If you're not a Christian this morning, this is the gospel truth that we celebrate at the Lord's Supper and what we sing about. We're sinners. We need help. God came down. He, Jesus Christ took on flesh. He, He lived like us, yet without sin. So that when He died on the cross, He, the innocent one, was treated as if a sinner and crushed, taking the punishment we deserve. And then He rose again, is at the right hand of the Father, interceding so that we can confess our sin in His name and be forgiven. Not guilty. and live to enjoy Him. What we're talking about is repentance. David is repenting. You confess sin, you ask for washing, and, and, and you can't say forgive me for sin with like a, a plotting plan to continue in that sin. That's a false confession. It's, it's, it's, it's realizing this is destructive. I've got to turn around. confession defines sin. Repentance rather. Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God, two important things, his sense of true sin and the mercy of God, does with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it into God. with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. Sin is married to hell and the only way you can make a divorce is repentance. Be renewed in the joy of your salvation. One question, would God have me back? Is God really this abundant in love? Is he really this abounding in mercy and steadfast in his love? A story of what I believe going back to God is like. A young man, he ran away from home. And he had come to his senses finally of realizing how his decisions had led to his own destruction. And he longed to be back home. He longed to be back with his family. But he knew he had brought lots of shame upon himself, and them, and the embarrassment, and the hurt. So he wrote a letter to his parents and said, mom, dad, I want to come home. But I understand if you don't want me, that's right. I have been a horrible son. I've not been a son at all. He says, I'm going to be on the train. The train goes right by the house. You can see the house from the train. I'll be on the train tomorrow. And if you'd have me back, just put a simple white sheet on the clothesline. And I know you're welcoming me back, and I'll come home. But if not, that's fine. I understand. So the boy's on the train, and his gut's wrenched, right? This is the moment. Is he gonna be received? And the train turns a corner, and there's white sheets in the trees, on the roof of the house, in the bushes, in the yard, everywhere saying, son, come home. That's what God's like. There's not a qualification. It's an abundant, welcome, come home. This is how God responds. We see it in Luke 15. The young man comes to his senses, and as he's coming back with this prepared speech, Dad, I'll just be a servant. You know, I know I've done too much to be a son again. I'll just be a servant. The dad runs out to him, which is against custom, and the dad doesn't even pay attention to what he's saying. Get the ring. Get the robe. He's not dead. He's alive. He's not lost, he's found. We're gonna have a feast. That's how God receives us. Our last point, contrition. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. David realizes that it's what's happened to him as a representative of God in his kingdom. He has sinned against his people, and now he must lead his people the right way. Now, the way we typically want to lead is by being a good role model, right? We would love to just be able to say, like Paul, follow me as I follow Christ, but we have to remember that the same person who said that also said, I'm the chief of sinners. to make known only Christ in Him crucified. True Christian leadership means we point to His greatness by pointing to our weakness. We point to His mercy by pointing to our own sin. Teach others. This is the desire. We're supposed to be teaching one another. What does that look like? Let's just be very clear. The world has so many examples of self-righteous judgment. We as a church do not need to add to it anymore. We're supposed to be adding the new witness, not of harsh judgment, but of mercy. One of the most damaging and deflating words that, that, that can be received or witnessed is, is someone belittling or, or refusing another person's confession. This happened once. I was with a young man. He had a conflict with his parents. He asked me to meet with him and his parents to, because he wanted to confess his sins. And I was like, all right, this is front lines of gospel ministry. This is gonna be great. So we sit down and he weepingly gets through all the different ways he's sinned. He asked for forgiveness. It was a long pause. And then the first words he heard after confessing his sin and saying, I'm sorry, were the words, you have no idea how much you hurt us. I wanted to take the young man and crawl on the table with him. That's not how Christians act. That is not representing the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's teaching sinners I forgive you because I'm forgiven. I wanna forgive as God has forgiven me, Ephesians 4, 32. Praise God, Jesus never responds like that. Praise God, Jesus never says, let me first make sure you understand how bad you've acted. No, he says, come. Wide open. We gotta be careful of being that other prodigal son, the real prodigal son, that when the brother comes back and the father runs out and starts to feast, the older brother, he's just out there. Refusing to go home. I am not going to celebrate that guy. That son of yours. That's just self-righteousness. David will tell of the forgiveness. He will sing. He will declare the praise of God of how he has forgiven him. Now notice there, there's some truths about God that are important here. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise. Now God established the sacrificial system, but, but that's the point of Jesus who's a true sacrifice. I think what David's getting at here is going through the motions of just doing something to try to satisfy God. That's just mere paganism. I'm going to make God happy with what I do. No, as sincere as he's sinned, he is sincerely apologizing. His humility, his rejection of sin, his remorse, his contrition. It's not pride. He's coming to God. What you've said is right. I'm wrong. Forgive me. As we think about what this means together as a church, There's a table before us. This is not a sacrifice. We're remembering and celebrating the sacrifice Christ has already made. And let me just be very clear, as we prepare and transition for the Lord's Supper here soon, no one's worthy in themselves to come up and partake. None of us should have anything to do with this table apart from the abundant mercy and steadfast love of God. There's only one name that makes anybody qualified to partake in this celebration. It's Jesus, whose body was crushed, whose blood was poured out, so that we can be declared innocent. We can be declared not guilty, so that we can be washed. David ends with a blessing. Do good and design your in your good pleasure, build up the walls of Jerusalem, bless your people. Then you will delight in our worship and right sacrifices, burnt offerings. I want to conclude with a statement from the 19th century. And whereas it is fitting and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme government of God, to bow in humble submission to his chastisements, to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to pray with all fervency and contrition for the pardon of the past offenses and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action." Those aren't the words of a pastor, not even a Christian. That's the words of President Abraham Lincoln, 1861, calling for a day of prayer for our country to repent of the Civil War. But let's just meditate upon this, because these are right and true words by God's common grace. Here is a leader of our nation recognizing the turmoil And what's called for us is not to keep doing finger-pointing, but to acknowledge and revere the supreme government of God, to humble submission, to confess and deplore sins. We can't imagine a president speaking this way, much less many pastors, to speak this clearly that we're the problem. If you think about how this applies, this psalm specifically. When there's conflict in your home, it's not pointing the finger. It's, I'm a sinner, I confess, find the joy restored. When there's trouble at work, you meditate upon your own sin and consider what's required of you in prayer. When there's problems in the church, when there's problems in your own soul, the right and first place to turn is, how has my sin contributed to the problem? How can I confess and have absolute assurance God receives us and He forgives us? Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you Lord for your clear invitation that we as sinners can come and make our known sin to you and you forgive us. Lord, what a freedom there is. And not trying to hide our sin, and not trying to make it look not as bad as it really is, to not try to blame shift, but to hand it over. Lord, help us to be a church that is marked, first and foremost, as a people who confess, find forgiveness, and show forgiveness, and give forgiveness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.