2 Sam 24:10, Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have acted very foolishly." 
We are in that consideration of why it is so necessary to have a heart that is soft to the voice of The Lord as we walk on this earth. We will make mistakes and have those missteps, either through lack of discernment or through deliberate seeking of our way instead of Jehovah’s way and guidance. The residue of our old nature infests our beings with its darkness at times, as we sojourn in this realm with all its influences after evil. Therefore, we are to be on guard constantly for the sake of the testimony of God in our lives. 
This is a reality that we have dealt with in the past and will continue to emphasize as the years proceed forth. None of us are immune to those elements that would try to persuade us to give into the lusts of the flesh. However, and most importantly, we have the Omnipotence of God, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to cause us to seek after His Holiness and His Righteousness day after day after day. 
The problem is that in our humanity, we grow tired and weary of the constant strain and stress of the battle. We take our eyes off the guidance and the leadership and the goal that is before us in Jesus Christ. So frequently we suffer fatigue and frustration and discouragement in the daily struggle against the flesh. 
This utter exhaustion is despite the fact that the One in us is greater than the one who is in the world as we are told in 1 John 4:4. 1 John 4:4, You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 
That is something that we need to beseech The Lord to instill continually into our minds as we are here, in the midst of the swirling, pounding, confounding, blaring, shattering cesspool of filth and refuse that this age puts forth as its tawdry elemental force of enticement unto evil. We need to learn what it means to walk by the power of the Holy Spirit, day after day after day without giving in to the frustration and fatigue, ever following Our Lord Jesus Christ into the eternity that He has set before us.
Consider what the Apostle Paul wrote concerning this reality in Gal 5:16-26. Please open to it in your Bibles.
Gal 5:16-26, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. 
This is a great detailing of that which is of this world, set in the fleshly desires and lusts and behaviors of the old humanity as opposed to what is now true of us in Jesus Christ. We are partakers of the new humanity which His death and resurrection brought forth to reign eternally in our beings. If we have been crucified with Him, and resurrected with Him in the glory of His power, His life will become the more and more perfect expression of how we live and operate. This will be in evidence even today, with each other, and with all those whom God brings into the intersection of our walk on this earth. 
That old nature must be continually pushed aside as it tries to tell us that we are guilty, that we are no different than any other person. It feeds us the lie that there is still the stain of iniquity upon us and we might as well indulge in the actions of the flesh because it does not matter anyway. 
Those deceitful taunts, if we lend any credence to them, will drag us into the quagmire of what used to be the course of our carousing and dissipated existence apart from Jesus Christ. We will very quickly recede into those elements which will only bring forth …immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these….
When we are caught off track, when we are beset by our ignorant and foolish disobedience, like that of King David, as detailed in this morning’s passage, we need to confess our sin before God and seek His forgiveness. When we do that, with the desire that He be glorified and that He would rule and overrule in our lives unto His good pleasure and His delight, we will relish and cherish that restoration of what is now true for us today and forever in Christ Jesus.… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control….
There is a very potent demonstration of how this played out in the life of the Apostle Peter that is recorded in Mark 14, verse 72. Remember that Peter was one of the most fiery and ardent of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth. He was willing to lay down his life for this teacher, his friend, his Rabbi. That is what he proclaimed on several occasions. He truly wanted to walk as Jesus walked, seeking to do the good work of the Heavenly Father as was detailed by this Only Begotten Son of God. He had seen the miracles and he had been a partaker of the difference that it made to walk on this earth with Jesus.
However, when that day came, when Jesus was torn from the disciples and tortured and disfigured under the scourging lashes of those Roman soldiers, when confronted with the accusation that he was part of the group who followed Jesus, Peter vehemently denied it. He found himself denying even knowing this Rabbi from Nazareth. His fear of the consequences of being identified with Christ gained the power over his mind and his lips. As a result, he rebuffed any implication that he was one of the disciples.
Mark 14:72, And immediately a cock crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, "Before a cock crows twice, you will deny Me three times." And he began to weep. 
	There was great sorrow in this man, who had stridently and virulently demanded to know the depths of a relationship with Jesus. He wanted to be the greatest among the disciples, and yet, at this juncture, he was at the lowest point of his walk with The Christ. There was that sorrow which led to his repentance. 
	The Lord made an overture to Peter which is easy to overlook in the joy of His resurrection. If you will turn to Mark 16:5-7, there is something wonderfully warming and forgiving in the manner in which the declaration of the resurrection of Christ was to be announced to the disciples. 
	Mark 16:5-7, And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. "But go, tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He said to you.'"  
	God’s provision of forgiveness can be seen in this announcement to the Disciples of Christ, particularly pointing out that it was to be proclaimed to Peter. He was to personally know that he was forgiven by the Lord for that betrayal in that he was especially one to receive the Good News of the power and the might of God over death forevermore. 
	We can only put forth our sense of what it might have been like for this disciple, having denied his friendship and relationship with Jesus in the hours before His crucifixion. He was probably wallowing in that self-piteous state of horror at the betrayal of his lips. Then to be singled out as one to whom this word of the life of his beloved rabbi was restored, worked to bring forth that peace and that joy and that sense of the forgiveness of God within his spirit and his mind. Whether he actually confessed his denial, we do not know, but God does. Jesus was intimately aware of the heart of this tortured and utterly mortified soul. That is one of the reasons that the angel made sure that Peter was specifically apprized of the glorious power of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
	This then leads to another expression of encouragement from the Apostle Paul to those who are faced with the pressures and the trials and the tribulations of our walk in faith on this earth. Like Peter, we are daily brought face to face with those choices of honoring Christ or denying the power of His might in our lives. We need to be encouraged to hold ever to the true Lord of all creation as we make the decisions that each cross road brings before us.
Therefore we are given the reality of Eph 5:1-21 as the means of being a blessing to God and to others in our honorable walk together with The Lord. Please open to it as a testimony of how full and vast and precious is the life that we are given to live steadfastly despite the taunts and the assignations of this realm.
Eph 5:1-21, Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you." Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. 
	We need to be exceedingly careful as to the manner in which we are presenting the testimony of Our Beloved Savior and Lord. There is to be the definitive difference in evidence as we deal with others. There should be that selfless expression of the Love of God that Jesus shared so freely and perfectly with those in His sphere of influence. We know that we will not be faultless, as we have expressed earlier, but we should want to be! There should be that inner desire that The Lord is blessed in the manner in which we obey Him and express our living trust in Him to deal with the every issue that comes before us! 
	The Apostle John brings the truth before us of the need for our continually seeking after the working, forgiving, life-altering power of the Holy Spirit to be the expressed and single influence upon our hearts and minds. This is encapsulated for us in 1 John 1:8-10.
1 John 1:8-10, If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 
	We are to be known by the nature that seeks to honor and to obey God in the every course of our influence upon those around us. If we are living by the power of the Holy Spirit, honoring and reverencing and obeying the every whisper of His Word within our hearts, we will be reveling in the greater depths of our commitment and dedication to Him in the study and the joy of His Living Word. We will be humble of spirit and contrite of mind to the point of ever being willing to confess our failures and our sins. This will be with hearts and souls that yearn to please and to completely obey and to bless our God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
We will not be putting our will before His, but rather asking Him to put to death that self life which so foully and manipulatively brings nothing but pain and misery and numbness of mind and heart! Instead, our lives should be evidenced by the righteousness, peace and joy of the Holy Spirit which is our heritage in Jesus Christ! So be it!
Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have acted very foolishly." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Heb 10:23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; Amen.