Judg 10:15+16 And the sons of Israel said to the Lord, "We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to Thee; only please deliver us this day." So they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the Lord; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer. 
	This morning, we need to take to heart a daily reality of our walk with the Lord. This is something which should become part of our relationship with the Holy Spirit as we deal with each moment of our lives. This is also something which we tend to disregard, or rather, ignore because it requires a death to self in order for the life of Christ within us to arise. That is a most painful experience and is utterly opposed by the desires and lusts of our old human nature. 
	The Apostle Paul highlighted this struggle within himself, if we will turn to the New Testament for a moment. Throughout his epistles, we can read about his battles with the issue of who we used to be apart from Christ Jesus, and who we now are in Christ Jesus through the wondrous and miraculous working of the indwelling Holy Spirit. 
We will read together one with which we are most familiar, that of Gal 5:16-25. Herein the difference between the old and the new is highlighted carefully and distinctly. We have this daily battle line within us detailed in this passage.
Gal 5:16-25, 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. 
	Our every day, moment by moment walk with the Lord requires that we lay out before Him those aspects of our lives that need to be dealt with. Every one of us, no matter how long we have been a Christian, has that residue of the old nature which needs cleansing. It must be done by the work of the Holy Spirit in line with the Word of God. 
Be very aware of the truth that it is not something that we are capable of doing with our will and with our determination and with our limited abilities of understanding. It is a deep and eternal issue that absolutely requires the Hand of God in His Omnipotently effective putting to death our selfish and defiled desires and lusts, and establishing His greater and far-reaching life in Christ. This is manifested through all the glorious fruit of the Spirit. 
This divine work does, however, require something from us that was evident in the sons of Israel which this morning’s passage highlights. It is the complete matter of our obedient repentance unto the Lord. We need to see that residue of our old nature for what it is, idolatry and prideful self-indulgence, and disobedience to the Sovereignty of Our Lord God Almighty. We need to have it established within our minds and beings that those things are to have no place within us. We must beseech God to forgive us for our sins, and then ask Him to help us, by His Holy Spirit, to turn from that wickedness and obey His plan of holiness which results in the glory to God that He Alone deserves in our walk on this earth. 
This is something that we despise hearing. It is not an easy word to accept. It is definitely not the feel-good message of the social churches of today, given so that no one feels condemned or in need of contrition or repentance or redemption. This sermon is not the siren song that everything will be ok if we only learn to get along. 
Rather, this is the intense entreaty to diligently search the deepest core of our beings for the Lord to reveal every detail and aspect of self that needs to be obliterated from within us. We should be hearing the clarion call to repent from our wickedness, no matter how private and hidden we may think it to be! We are to beseech God to forgive us and to cleanse us in order that we can turn away from anything that displeases Him in us. This fundamentally includes the every sullied covert self-indulgence that we think is hidden from the eyes of all. "We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to Thee; only please deliver us this day." So they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the Lord… 
Can we so exclaim this unto the Lord in our hearts and beings? Can we open our innermost core essence which we have so diligently and seriously hidden deep in the recesses of our minds and imaginations, only to be brought forth when there is no fear of being exposed by any other prying eyes? "We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to Thee…
    	One of the foremost examples in the Old Testament of being able to repent with all his heart is David. He was a man whose heart was after the Lord. Still, despite this relationship, David sinned in large and deliberate ways which often catch us off guard. How could such a man of God open himself to do the things that he did, thinking he could hide away because of his place as King of Israel. Yet sin he did. 
What sets David apart in this line of discussion is the fact that he sincerely and humbly and contritely faced the sin and sought the Lord to forgive him. He was absolutely aghast when he was brought face to face with the course of his disobedience and he repeatedly and earnestly repented, beseeching the Lord to forgive him.
Consider the heart that was evident when David was confronted by the Prophet Nathan with the fact that David had committed both adultery and murder, thus shattering the relationship that he had with the Lord. Notice, when faced with his sinful and self-indulgent actions, David did not try to excuse his behavior. He did not try to cover it up before the Prophet. He humbled himself in his grief and agony and besought the Lord to forgive him for breaking asunder what God had put into place in his heart and being.
Then, David admitted his sin and asked for forgiveness, as recorded in 2 Sam 12:13. 2 Sam 12:13, Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. 
	Once again, as we can read in 2 Sam 24:10, David committed a great error when he puffed up his Kingship by counting the populace. He did so in order to show what a great and powerful king he was over such a vast multitude of people. This was precisely in spite of the fact that the Lord had forbidden such an action. Again, hear the heart of David in the manner of his contrition as he repented of this action and the harm that it brought to his relationship with the Lord.	    
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 now turn to the prayer of Solomon, David’s son, at the dedication of the temple, which David had so earnestly sought to build for the dwelling place of Jehovah with His people. Please open in your Bible’s to 1 Kings 8:22-53.
	In this lengthy prayer of Solomon to the Lord God Almighty, there is expressed the core element of what the heart of the people of God always needs to be! There is the ongoing, daily need to search out our hearts and our minds as to anything that would hinder our relationship with God. There needs to be an earnest contrition in our vital essence against anything that would cause the Lord to be dishonored or disrespected in even the most personal and hidden ways of our walk on this earth. There is no area and no arena in which we can try to justify anything that is against the Holiness and the Glory and the Splendor and the Awesomeness of Our Lord God Almighty!
While this prayer was for the people in dealing with the physical dwelling place of the Lord within the framework of the nation which He had brought into being, it needs to carry forward into the spiritual fabric of the life that we have received in Jesus Christ. We need to continually seek to manifest the purity of being and thought that will bring pleasure and delight to the Lord. We also must be willing and seeking for God to cleanse away all the dross and impurity which would bring shame and dishonor to the truth of who we now are in Jesus Christ.
As we read this prayer, let it be the prayer that we offer unto the Lord with respect to our His living temple as He indwells us and communes with us. We need to guard that relationship with every essence of true and honest repentance from those elements of this age which serve to make us puff ourselves up in our perceived self-grandeur at the cost of our daily communion and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Kings 8:22-53, Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. And he said, "O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who art keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Thy servants who walk before Thee with all their heart, who hast kept with Thy servant, my father David, that which Thou hast promised him; indeed, Thou hast spoken with Thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with Thy hand as it is this day. Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, 'You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked.' "Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Thy word, I pray Thee, be confirmed which Thou hast spoken to Thy servant, my father David. "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built! "Yet have regard to the prayer of Thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Thy servant prays before Thee today; that Thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which Thou hast said, 'My name shall be there,' to listen to the prayer which Thy servant shall pray toward this place. And listen to the supplication of Thy servant and of Thy people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place; hear and forgive. "If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Thine altar in this house, then hear Thou in heaven and act and judge Thy servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. "When Thy people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against Thee, if they turn to Thee again and confess Thy name and pray and make supplication to Thee in this house, then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them back to the land which Thou didst give to their fathers. "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee, and they pray toward this place and confess Thy name and turn from their sin when Thou dost afflict them, then hear Thou in heaven and forgive the sin of Thy servants and of Thy people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Thy land, which Thou hast given Thy people for an inheritance. "If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Thy people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; then hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, for Thou alone dost know the hearts of all the sons of men, that they may fear Thee all the days that they live in the land which Thou hast given to our fathers. "Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Thy people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Thy name's sake (for they will hear of Thy great name and Thy mighty hand, and of Thine outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house, hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to Thee, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Thy name. "When Thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way Thou shalt send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which Thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for Thy name, then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. "When they sin against Thee (for there is no man who does not sin) and Thou art angry with them and dost deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to Thee in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying,' We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly'; if they return to Thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and pray to Thee toward their land which Thou hast given to their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name; then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Thy people who have sinned against Thee and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against Thee, and make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are Thy people and Thine inheritance which Thou hast brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace), that Thine eyes may be open to the supplication of Thy servant and to the supplication of Thy people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to Thee. For Thou hast separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Thine inheritance, as Thou didst speak through Moses Thy servant, when Thou didst bring our fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord God."
	This is the expressed heart of repentance that is necessary in order to come into the living relationship that is opened in Jesus Christ! We cannot have it both ways! We either confess our sins and humbly seek the forgiveness of the Lord and desire that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness, or we will cling to our self-made gods of this age and harden our hearts against the work of the Lord. We need to be soft-hearted and open to the correction and the discipline of the Lord which will have its perfect work in us. 
	As Solomon points out with us in our sin, if we will recognize the course and the reality of what we are doing and stipulate that we have sinned against God then …because they have sinned against Thee, if they turn to Thee again and confess Thy name and pray and make supplication to Thee in this house, then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people…
	Also, when we are experiencing those droughts of our spiritual and physical lives, …"When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee, and they pray toward this place and confess Thy name and turn from their sin when Thou dost afflict them, then hear Thou in heaven and forgive the sin of Thy servants and of Thy people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk…
	As Solomon prays, there needs to be that realization within each one of us as to the truth that we need to pray to God …each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; then hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, for Thou alone dost know the hearts of all the sons of men, that they may fear Thee all the days that they live in the land…
	And finally, for this week, when we recognize that we have been taken captive by the fleeting attractions and the deceptions and the lies of this age, thus being removed from our habitation of the joy and peace and assurance of our relationship with Christ, then …if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to Thee in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying,' We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly'; if they return to Thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and pray to Thee…then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Thy people who have sinned against Thee and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against Thee, and make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them… 
	Lord willing we will recognize our need to repent and to turn from our wicked ways and to beseech the Lord to cleanse away all that is within us which hinders and frustrates our further ongoing with the Lord. This is all for His glory, alone, in His people whom He has redeemed unto Himself! So be it!
And the sons of Israel said to the Lord, "We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to Thee; only please deliver us this day." So they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the Lord; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Ps 84:4. How blessed are those who dwell in Thy house! They are ever praising Thee. Selah. Amen.