“And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on sin no more.’” (John 8:11, ESV)
Grace leads to a transformed life. When you love Jesus and appreciate His sacrifice, you don’t want to sin–you are doing everything you can to avoid it! But, if you do sin, you repent. God forgives you and makes you righteous—without stain or blemish–by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:9). The key is sincere repentance.
King David is a good example sincere repentance. The Lord called King David a “man after His own heart”. Why? Didn’t David commit grievous sins? Yes, but David confessed his sins and repented. We have a record of David’s sincere repentance in Psalm 51, which David wrote after he committed adultery (with Bathsheba) and had a man murdered (Bathsheba’s husband Uriah) to cover it up (2 Samuel 11:1-12:25). David received grace from God and so can we. Watch the video presentation below or keep reading to…
Discover Five Keys for Transformation from the Life of King David–a Man after God’s Own Heart.
Step One: David admitted his sin to God. He didn’t try to justify his sin or blame others for it.
Psalm 51:1-4, Living Bible – O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. 2 Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. 3 For I admit my shameful deed—it haunts me day and night. 4 It is against you and you alone I sinned and did this terrible thing. You saw it all, and your sentence against me is just.
Step Two: David confessed his sins and asked the Lord to forgive him.
Psalm 51:10-11, Living Bible – 10 Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. 11 Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Step Three: David asked the Lord to help him obey.
Psalm 51:12, Living Bible 12 Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
Step Four: David had a desire to teach others to repent and obey.
Psalm 51:13, Living Bible – Then I will teach your ways to other sinners, and they—guilty like me—will repent and return to you.
Step Five: David knew that good works do not make up for a “wrong” heart.
Psalm 51:19, Living Bible – “And when my heart is right, then you will rejoice in the good that I do* and in the bullocks I bring to sacrifice upon your altar.”
King David, the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul all knew and taught this truth… God’s grace leads to a transformed life.
Rest your hope fully on grace and be holy.
1 Peter 1:13-16, New King James Version– 13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
Avoid sin and strife.
2 Peter 3:14, Living Bible – Dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen and for Him to come, try hard to live without sinning; and be at peace with everyoneso that He will be pleased with you when He returns.
Read scripture in its entirety to avoid confusion. If you are not sure what a scripture means, pull up the same passage in several versions to compare them. Get a study bible and use a concordance to look up the meanings of words. (Many free tools are available online through sites like biblegateway.com, biblehub.com, biblestudytools.org and others)
2 Peter 3:15, Living Bible – 15-16 And remember why he is waiting. He is giving us time to get his message of salvation out to others. Our wise and beloved brother Paul has talked about these same things in many of his letters. Some of his comments are not easy to understand, and there are people who are deliberately stupid, and always demand some unusual interpretation—they have twisted his letters around to mean something quite different from what he meant, just as they do the other parts of the Scripture—and the result is disaster for them.
If you make a habit of reading the bible for yourself, you will not be led astray. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand as you read.
2 Peter 3:17, Living Bible – I am warning you ahead of time, dear brothers, so that you can watch out and not be carried away by the mistakes of these wicked men, lest you yourselves become mixed up too.
