David prayed for mercy.  David had sinned.  Sin caused a chain reaction in David’s life.  It lead to Uriah’s death and Bathsheba’s baby dying.   It caused David’s daughter (Tamar) to be violated by her own brother (Amnon).   It caused Amnon to be killed by his brother Absalom.  It caused Absalom to be killed by Joab.

We live in a culture that considers pride to be a virtue.  People are encouraged to seek personal dignity and blame others for their personal failures and iniquity.  Our culture declared war on guilt.  They feel guilt is obsolete and unproductive.  Therapists seek to build their patients’ self-image.

There are many magazines with articles about how to stop being so tough on yourself.   They say that guilt can drive you crazy.  They say that you should not feed the guilt monster.  It is not your fault.  Yet, the Bible says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We all do rotten things, yet we think of ourselves as good. 

What used to be called "sin" is now called victimization.  People think that there is no longer any such thing as sin.  If you have sin in your life, all you have to do is just tell people that you are a victim. 

• A man in New York was robbing a store.  The storeowner shot and paralyzed the man.  The crook was able to sue the storeowner because he claimed that society had driven him to rob that store.
  
• In London, a woman ran over her boyfriend.  She claimed that her problem was PMS.  She was set free.
  
• A man in San Francisco murdered another man and was set free because he said that the junk food he had eaten had made him act crazy.
  
• Another man in New York shot eight women.  Two of those women he shot in the head.  He was set free from jail because they said the drugs he was using had made him act crazy.

Are we victims or are we sinners? People treat sin as if it were a handicap.  They think of themselves as patients, not as malefactors.  And no one expects them to recover completely.

We are blame-shifters.  We blame our parents, we blame our children, and we blame other things.  It is easier to say "I am sick" than to say "I am a sinner." To say "I am a sinner" requires repentance and confession.

Mark 2:17

Jesus didn’t come to call the righteous.  He came to call the sinner.   We need to stop blaming others for our problems.  We are sinners – we need to repent and be saved.

When we remember what we did, we can realize how good God is.

We are not victims.  We are sinners.  Work out your soul’s salvation.   Deny yourself.  We have the Holy Spirit Who prays for us.  We have Jesus who sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 

We don’t have the right to look down on others. 

You are not a victim – you just had some trials and tribulations.

The only victim was the One who went to the cross and died for you.  You have trials and tribulations but if you repent and ask for forgiveness, you can move on.

If you go into God’s house and act ugly, sin is tearing you up.  You are evil.  Nobody did anything to you.  Sin is prideful and arrogant.