Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
O LORD, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would
not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51:10-17
This is the message we have heard from him and
proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at
all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking
in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the
light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will
forgive us our sins and 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.
1 John 1:5-10
Moses writes concerning the righteousness that
comes from the law, that "the person who does these things will
live by them." But the righteousness that comes from faith says,
"Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'"
(that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the
abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what
does it say?
"The word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart"
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one
confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, "No
one who believes in him will be put to shame." For there is no
distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and
is generous to all who call on him. For, "Everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Romans 10:5-13
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, "I will confess my transgressions
to the LORD,"
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.
I will instruct you and teach you the way you
should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.
Many are the torments of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in
the LORD.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Psalm 32:1-11
What then are we to say about these things? If
God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own
Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us
everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is
God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died,
yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed
intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will
hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? As it is written,
"For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39
But now, apart from law, the righteousness of
God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets,
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who
believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a
gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put
forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through
faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine
forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was
to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he
justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:21-26
For the love of Christ urges us on, because we
are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And
he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for
themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
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