1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,360 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. 2 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:18,720 This season of messages takes us through some of the great comeback stories in the Bible. 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:23,820 Pastor John Metter of Cross City Church will show us how God can take any situation in 4 00:00:23,820 --> 00:00:27,800 any life and bring hope and victory out of hardship. 5 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:34,080 These messages will inspire you to trust God in your own challenging seasons. 6 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,320 We are so very glad that you're here today and I know it's a holiday weekend and it takes 7 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:40,640 a little special effort to be here today. 8 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:41,640 Thank you for being here. 9 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,040 You know, the truth is God's not done with you. 10 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:47,360 Don't you like that statement? 11 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,120 God's not done with you. 12 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:53,640 Sometimes we think God is done with us, God's had it with us, God doesn't have any more 13 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,120 use for us, but God's not done with you. 14 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:01,120 The Bible tells us that all the way through from Genesis to Revelation today. 15 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:06,000 A message called after you've blown it, after you've messed up, after you have sinned so 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:12,060 big you think you're so distant from God that there's no way that anyone can bridge 17 00:01:12,060 --> 00:01:14,880 that gap between where you are and where God is. 18 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:16,600 Anybody ever blown it in your life before? 19 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:21,920 Anybody ever had that moment in your life where you think I'm far, far, far from God? 20 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:23,740 I want you to take your Bibles this morning. 21 00:01:23,740 --> 00:01:28,800 There are two parts to this message, part one means that we will be in 2 Samuel chapter 22 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:34,920 11, the story of David and David with his affair with Bathsheba. 23 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:37,560 So 2 Samuel chapter 11. 24 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:44,040 And then the second part of this message is from Psalm chapter 51, the first four verses 25 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:45,040 there. 26 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,280 2 Samuel chapter 11, Psalm 51, have them both open. 27 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,480 I'll tell you when we're in part one and I'll tell you when we're in part two and we'll 28 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,880 read along together in just a few moments. 29 00:01:54,880 --> 00:02:01,240 Back in the year 2000, 23 years ago, a movie hit the theaters called Castaway, the Tom 30 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:02,240 Hanks movie. 31 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,280 And almost everybody knows what Castaway was. 32 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:10,320 Castaway was the story of a man that survived a plane wreck over the ocean. 33 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:16,160 And so he is the only survivor and he ends up being washed up on the shore of a remote 34 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:17,160 desert island. 35 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:18,920 There's no one living there. 36 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:23,120 He has no access, no communication, no ships seem to go by there. 37 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,280 He is completely and utterly alone. 38 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:33,160 It's what I call a disaster drama and it details four years of his life in an attempt to survive 39 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:37,640 far from anyone or any source of help at all. 40 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:43,320 It's fascinating really to watch Castaway and his numerous attempts to get back to civilization, 41 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:44,320 to get back home. 42 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:48,340 And at the conclusion of the movie, before he's actually rescued, you come to the conclusion 43 00:02:48,340 --> 00:02:53,000 with him that he just doesn't know how to get back. 44 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:59,160 And ultimately he does shift or make a makeshift kind of ship, if you will, a boat, and he's 45 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:04,200 rescued by a cargo ship coming by and he gets back to society. 46 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:09,680 For the most of the movie, he absolutely has no idea how to get back home. 47 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,560 When I read the life of David at this particular time in his life, David is in the same situation. 48 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,920 He has no idea how to get back to God. 49 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:25,240 He has sinned against God through this act of moral decision that in an affair he had 50 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,880 with Bathsheba and he's so far from God, so far from his responsibilities that God has 51 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,820 given him that he has no idea how to get back in today. 52 00:03:32,820 --> 00:03:35,160 We're going to look at the story of David's life. 53 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:41,560 Would you stand with me as we read a few verses out of 2 Samuel chapter 11 verse 1 is where 54 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,560 we're going to begin. 55 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,680 So it happened in the spring at the time when the kings go out to battle that David sent 56 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:53,240 Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they brought destruction on the sons of 57 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,360 Ammon and besieged Rabah, but David stayed in Jerusalem. 58 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,760 This is the key part of the whole story. 59 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,880 David the king was supposed to be at battle, but he stayed behind. 60 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:07,480 Now in the evening time, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the 61 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:08,480 king's house. 62 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,720 From the roof he saw a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful in appearance, so 63 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,160 David sent service and inquired about the woman. 64 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:21,560 And someone said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 65 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,520 Then David sent messengers and had her brought and when she came to him, he slept with her 66 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,920 and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. 67 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:37,840 But the woman conceived and she sent word and informed David and said, I am pregnant. 68 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:41,840 And most of us know that first part of David's story here. 69 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:44,240 We know what happened, we know how it unfolded. 70 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,600 And I want you to see this as we get to the second part that we'll look at in a few moments, 71 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,080 beginning with Psalm 51. 72 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:57,360 Now it is a year later when Psalm 51 is detailing the prayer of David as he comes to God in 73 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,800 repentance, but it's taken a whole year for him to figure out how to come back. 74 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:06,560 He's dealing with all the excuses that have been said, he's not coming to God and finally 75 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,240 in Psalm 51 he comes back to God. 76 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,040 And here's what we read there. 77 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:13,360 Be gracious to me, O God. 78 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,960 According to your faithfulness, according to the greatness of your compassion, wipe out 79 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:18,680 my wrongdoings. 80 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,480 Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. 81 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:27,760 For I know my wrongdoings and my sin is constantly before me against you and you only. 82 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:32,760 I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you're justified when you speak 83 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,920 and blameless when you judge. 84 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:36,920 Pray with me. 85 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:43,640 In Jesus' name, my prayer today is that we will see both of these texts with equal weight 86 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:45,960 in how we connect with you and relate with you. 87 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:50,840 And Father, today I know there are many that have walked through the same kind of circumstances 88 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:52,520 David did. 89 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:58,160 Today they need to be reminded of how difficult sin is and how great your mercy is. 90 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:03,040 And Father, all of us are in some situation in our lives where we are in desperate need 91 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:04,960 of your grace and your mercy. 92 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:10,680 Father, help us be able to lead today understanding that it's truly there, that after we have 93 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,400 blown it, we can be restored. 94 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:18,600 And I thank you that you're the kind of God that restores people who wander like all of 95 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:19,600 us have. 96 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,520 I ask this in Jesus' name and all God's people said amen. 97 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:24,560 Please be seated if you would. 98 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:30,920 When I talk to people in serious sin, there's one thing in common about all of them that 99 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,320 Tom Hanks' character had in Castaway. 100 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:37,840 And here's what's in common, they don't know how to come back. 101 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:43,400 They have no real idea about how to come back and overcome disastrous decisions and moral 102 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,560 choices and illicit relationships. 103 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,280 They just don't know how to come back and consequently they end up drifting further 104 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:56,120 and further away or at least continuing to be remote and distant from where God is and 105 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,520 where their relationship really ought to be. 106 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,960 Now I might encourage you today, I hope it does, that one of the greatest characters 107 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:11,760 in the Bible is a character that fell so greatly and yet was restored to God and to others. 108 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:13,440 I hope it encourages you. 109 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:18,000 I hope it also sends a little bit of a warning to you if David could fall into sin like this. 110 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,180 David who was a man after God's own heart, David who was a passionate worshiper of God, 111 00:07:23,180 --> 00:07:28,200 if this guy could fall into sin, this bold and this public, this was the most public 112 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:34,920 affair in human history, if this guy could fall so could you so be on guard. 113 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:41,720 But also remember that even if anyone does, God is there to restore and to forgive and 114 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:48,200 to cleanse and aren't you glad about the restoring, cleansing, forgiving God that we have. 115 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,800 Now we see all that in the life of David, we see all that in these two texts that we 116 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,360 read in just a few moments ago. 117 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,680 Remember we know David's story, David's sin against Bathsheba is a well-known story, it's 118 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:01,960 told so often. 119 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,720 And literally everything bad that could happen does happen with David and Bathsheba. 120 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:13,080 They have sex, she gets pregnant, David then tries to hide his sin and obscure it the way 121 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:14,880 we all try to do it and it doesn't work. 122 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:19,720 And David's story reminds us of what we need to know about sin, that sin will always be 123 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:20,720 found out. 124 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:26,720 We always have to deal with it at some point just like David had and we need to understand 125 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:27,720 how to deal with it as well. 126 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:31,680 So today I want to look at the life of David, I want to end up equipping you with a couple 127 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:36,760 of answers to the question, what do we need to know about coming back from sin? 128 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,280 What do we need to know about coming back from a distance from God? 129 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:41,600 What do we need to know? 130 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:48,760 Well let me give you four things today beginning in 2 Samuel chapter 11 that we began with 131 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:50,600 and let me give you the truth about ourselves. 132 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,600 You and I need to know the truth about ourselves, our nature. 133 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:59,320 In the account of 2 Samuel chapter 11 we're given a detailed look into David's life. 134 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,920 In reality we're looking into his bedroom window so to speak. 135 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,920 And if you dig even deeper we're really looking into his soul. 136 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,500 We're looking into his mind, his will and his emotions. 137 00:09:09,500 --> 00:09:14,560 We're looking into how he deals with the fact that he's been tempted and fallen into this 138 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:15,560 temptation. 139 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:20,760 And we see something about the frame of David's mind and what he does after he sins. 140 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:26,160 Let me tell you something about ourselves, not just David but all of us. 141 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,760 First of all we try to cover our sin. 142 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:35,800 The Bible says in 2 Samuel chapter 11 and verse 6 that after David discovered that Bathsheba 143 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:42,400 was pregnant David sent to Joab his commander and said, send me Uriah the Hittite. 144 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:46,040 In other words, bringing back from the battle. 145 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:51,520 What David is doing here is attempting to cover his sin by bringing Bathsheba's husband 146 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:52,520 back home. 147 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:57,720 And he's hoping that Uriah will come back home like any man would after being at war 148 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,840 and being gone for a time and want to be with his wife. 149 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:06,360 And he's assuming that Uriah and Bathsheba will sleep together and that will cover David's 150 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,120 sin of impregnating Bathsheba. 151 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,680 But Uriah has such noble character that he's not even going to go home. 152 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:17,240 He actually sleeps outside the doorway to David's house. 153 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:18,440 He's such a loyal soldier. 154 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:23,000 How can I go home when all my fellow soldiers are out there doing battle? 155 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,080 I can't do that. 156 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,720 I'm going to stay and guard the king. 157 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:28,520 So David has another strategy. 158 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:29,960 He sends wine to him. 159 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:33,000 He tries to get him drunk and he literally gets Uriah drunk. 160 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,680 But even in this drunken state Uriah still doesn't go home. 161 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:38,520 He still doesn't sleep with his wife. 162 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:43,440 He's still trying to be this loyal, faithful servant. 163 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:47,480 And David's attempt to cover his sin fails. 164 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,160 Covering sin is always our first response. 165 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:52,000 We do it from the time that we're little children. 166 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:57,000 I remember being six years old and committing a capital crime in my house, which is to steal 167 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,960 the allowance of my little brother who was four years old. 168 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:05,920 I stole a dollar from him and I walked two blocks to the five and dime store. 169 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:06,920 Now this may date me. 170 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:08,400 I don't know. 171 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,960 Nobody in this room can remember a five and dime store, but it was a store where you could 172 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,280 — if you had a dollar you could get a lot of candy. 173 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:15,280 And I did that. 174 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:17,600 I bought a dollar's worth of candy at the five and dime store. 175 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,360 I remember the sack was about this big, around about that tall. 176 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:25,000 I went home and I ate it all afternoon, letting no one know where I'd got the money or where 177 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,640 I'd gotten the candy or even that I was eating the candy. 178 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:29,540 I ate it all afternoon. 179 00:11:29,540 --> 00:11:33,180 That night I woke up in the middle of the night sick and throwing it all up. 180 00:11:33,180 --> 00:11:37,760 My sin had found me out. 181 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:39,520 We're great at covering sin. 182 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,440 We're not so good at keeping it covered. 183 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:44,200 That's happening to David. 184 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,920 It's human nature and our first response is we want to cover our sin because we don't 185 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,640 want anyone else to know about it. 186 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:52,180 We ignore it. 187 00:11:52,180 --> 00:11:54,700 We lie about it. 188 00:11:54,700 --> 00:11:56,240 We deny it. 189 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:58,440 We blame someone else. 190 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,880 At some point we redefine reality. 191 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:02,680 Oh, that's not a sin. 192 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:04,840 I'm free to do whatever I want to do. 193 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:09,240 You live in a culture where all that's happening and it's okay. 194 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:10,440 It's okay to lie. 195 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:12,160 It's okay to deny facts. 196 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:13,880 It's okay to redefine reality. 197 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:17,000 You live in a culture where there is no absolute truth. 198 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,500 There is no ground to stand on, but you and I know better than that and we know there 199 00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:24,960 is an absolute truth because there is an absolute God, right? 200 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,600 God has given us the truth, but no matter what's going on in our lives, when we sin, 201 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:33,640 we attempt because of our human nature to cover sin. 202 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:39,480 Everything I've just described is a coping mechanism for not acknowledging our sin and 203 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:43,520 none of those coping mechanisms fix sin. 204 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:45,200 Nothing makes it better. 205 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:52,160 The second thing we see in David's life is like us, David is trying to make up for sin. 206 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,020 We try to make up for sin. 207 00:12:54,020 --> 00:13:00,640 If you read all the way through 2 Samuel chapter 11, you get to verse 27 and what happens is 208 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:06,520 Uriah is sent back to the front lines as David is commanded and Uriah is killed. 209 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:12,160 Word gets back and this pregnant wife who's just lost her husband is in mourning and 30 210 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:13,880 days later she's out of mourning. 211 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:18,680 The Bible says in verse 27, when her time of mourning was over, David sent and brought 212 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:23,000 her to his house and she became his wife and she bore him a son. 213 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,400 Now David is trying to play the noble man. 214 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,160 He's hoping that nobody really knows that it was he that impregnated Bathsheba, not 215 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:30,280 Uriah. 216 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:34,840 We don't have any indication that anyone else really knew apart from one or two people in 217 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:40,040 the palace who are presumably too frightened to say anything about it. 218 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,440 And so he's trying his best to make up for sin. 219 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:46,680 How noble is this king? 220 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:52,680 He will take the widowed wife of Uriah who died in battle and say, I'll take care of 221 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:55,240 her, she'll be mine. 222 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:57,520 And yet he's still unaccused. 223 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:00,120 Often in life we try to make up for our sin. 224 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,400 We also try to move on from sin. 225 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:08,520 In verse 27 we find this last line in that chapter, that verse that reminds us of where 226 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:09,720 David stands with God. 227 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:10,720 I want you to see what it says. 228 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:11,720 It's so important. 229 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:16,240 It says, but the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord. 230 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:18,600 In other words, he tried to cover it. 231 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:20,320 He tried to make up for it. 232 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,520 He tried to move on for it and from it. 233 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:29,840 But that last verse there says that David was still doing what was evil in the sight 234 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,080 of the Lord. 235 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:36,560 Doesn't that intimidate you to know that God knows everything about our lives? 236 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,000 He knows about where we are. 237 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:39,120 He knows about what we do. 238 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:40,400 He knows about what we think. 239 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:45,520 And even when we try to cover sin and are able to cover it with it from everyone else 240 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,960 being able to see it, we can't cover it from God. 241 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:50,080 David was an incredible king. 242 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:51,760 He had great power. 243 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,800 He had the ability to silence everyone, but he couldn't silence God. 244 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,480 And he couldn't hide from his sin at all. 245 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,160 God is not going to let him move on. 246 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:04,480 That verse tells us that God sees and God knows and God remembers. 247 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,320 That's a great warning for us that no matter where we are in life, God is aware of where 248 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:10,360 we've been and what we've been doing. 249 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,880 Now, if you keep reading in second Samuel, we get to chapter 12. 250 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:21,520 In second Samuel 12 is the chapter where Nathan, the prophet, comes and confronts David. 251 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:27,440 If your Bibles are open, I'm going to read the story of what Nathan said to David. 252 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:32,040 It's a parable, if you will, helping the king recognize what he's done. 253 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,240 So Nathan said this to David. 254 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:39,520 He said, Now there were two men in a city, the one wealthy and the other poor. 255 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:42,900 The wealthy man had a great many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing at all 256 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:46,720 except one little ewe lamb, which he bought and nurtured. 257 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:48,480 And it grew up together with him and his children. 258 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:54,280 It would eat scraps from him and drink from his cup and lie in his lap and was like a 259 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:55,280 daughter to him. 260 00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:00,280 Now a visitor came to the wealthy man and he could not bring himself to take any animal 261 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:05,360 from his own and vast flock or his own herd to prepare for the traveler who had come to 262 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:06,360 him. 263 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:12,240 So she took the poor man, you lamb, and prepared it for the man who had come to him. 264 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:16,280 David's anger burned greatly against the man and he said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, 265 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,140 the man who has done this certainly deserves to die. 266 00:16:19,140 --> 00:16:23,560 So he must make restitution for the lamb four times over since he did this thing and had 267 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:24,560 no compassion. 268 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:29,280 Nathan then said to David, you yourself are the man. 269 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:36,320 Now that's a wild moment for a prophet who was supposed to know nothing about what David 270 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:41,880 and Bathsheba did to come into the presence of the King and make this incredible statement. 271 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:49,740 It reminds us that there's no way that we can get away from God when we sin. 272 00:16:49,740 --> 00:16:56,440 David has sinned, Nathan has exposed it, so now David only has one recourse, to go to 273 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:58,840 God personally. 274 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,200 Sometimes we come to that place in our lives where we're given no other opportunity but 275 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:03,760 to come to God personally. 276 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:11,040 Now by the time we get to Psalm 51, a year has passed since David and Bathsheba's sin 277 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:18,280 and of course the child that they have together has died, which is a whole different story. 278 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:24,400 And now he's coming to God having been exposed by Nathan and we come to Psalm 51. 279 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:29,000 You know, David tells us so much about the truth about ourselves, but Psalm 51 and the 280 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,560 prayer of David tells us the truth about God. 281 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:36,160 And it's the truth about God today that's the difference maker because we're all the 282 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:37,160 same. 283 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:38,160 We all have human nature. 284 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:39,440 We all try to hide sin. 285 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,940 We all try to make up for sin and cover sin, but the reality is there is a God who knows 286 00:17:43,940 --> 00:17:47,040 what to do with sin and how to deal with sin. 287 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:48,920 And that's what Psalm 51 is. 288 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,680 It tells us the truth about our God. 289 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:57,440 Notice chapter 51 verse 1, that's where you should be in your Bibles now. 290 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:02,640 The Bible says that David prays and says, be gracious to me, O God, according to your 291 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,320 loving kindness. 292 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,200 I love that David doesn't go the religious route. 293 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:10,300 I love that he doesn't go to some intercessor. 294 00:18:10,300 --> 00:18:13,600 I love that he realizes that he's got to go to God himself. 295 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,160 He's got to go directly to God. 296 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:17,360 He's got to talk to God. 297 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:19,920 He's got to acknowledge his sin before God. 298 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:25,120 But while he does that, he's also acknowledging what he knows about the character of God. 299 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:30,000 You know, the tendency we all have is to run from God when we sin. 300 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:35,480 But finally, after running from God for a year, David is now running to God in his sin. 301 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,000 I want to tell you today, that's the difference maker in your life. 302 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,280 You can run from God as long as you have strength, but one day you'll get worn out and weary 303 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,440 and discovered. 304 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:50,120 Or you can turn the other way and run towards God the way David is at this moment. 305 00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:53,000 And it's so hard to watch people run away from God. 306 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:58,360 So hard for me to interact with people, talk to people who say, I know what I need to do, 307 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:00,320 but I'm just not ready to do that yet. 308 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,100 And they sometimes compromise their livelihoods. 309 00:19:03,100 --> 00:19:07,800 They compromise their families, certainly their reputation by continuing to run from 310 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:12,000 God and they just get to a place where they're finally, finally desperate. 311 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,600 It's hard to watch. 312 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:20,600 David's life was a hard life to watch for that year before he ran to God. 313 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:22,920 But now David's going to run to God. 314 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:28,320 And as he runs to God, he's going to throw himself at the mercy of God. 315 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:32,160 The loving kindness of God is on David's heart, correctly. 316 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,000 I mean, God is filled with loving kindness. 317 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,520 The word means goodness and kindness and tenderness. 318 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,920 Our heavenly father absolutely loves us. 319 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:47,080 The latter part of chapter 51 in Psalm verse one says, according to the greatness of your 320 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:51,360 compassion blot out my transgressions. 321 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:55,840 The word compassion means the insides of God, the bowels of God is one way that is sometimes 322 00:19:55,840 --> 00:20:00,880 translated in what David is acknowledging is even though he knows God is a holy just 323 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:05,720 God, he also knows that God is a loving, compassionate, merciful God. 324 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:12,320 And of course he's emphasizing the mercy of God as he comes to confess his sins to God. 325 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,840 This is what I call the prodigal son in the Old Testament. 326 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,480 How many of you know the story of the prodigal son? 327 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:23,280 Luke chapter 15 that Jesus told, what a story. 328 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:30,280 What an amazing story of this prodigal son who had much to inherit and demanded the inheritance 329 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:32,360 from his father. 330 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:36,160 And as the father gave the inheritance, the son went to a far country, the Bible says, 331 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,320 and spent it all, spent all of it and rioted living. 332 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,920 And finally he comes to the end of himself. 333 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:46,400 He's eating the food that the pigs are eating and he doesn't have any hope of any change 334 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:47,400 taking place in his life. 335 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:49,840 And he says, this is what I'm going to do. 336 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:51,440 I know I've stolen from my father. 337 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:53,160 I know I've squandered the inheritance. 338 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:57,160 I'm going to come back to him, but I know I can't come back to him as a son. 339 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,200 I'm coming back as a servant. 340 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:00,760 I'm going to throw myself at his feet. 341 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,560 I'm going to say, father, I know I've sinned against you. 342 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:08,040 I don't deserve to be restored to be your son, but would you just let me work for you 343 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:12,400 and just let me eat in the same level that your servants eat. 344 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,800 But of course, you know the story is a great story. 345 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:21,400 As he comes back, he comes back straight into the arms of his waiting, compassionate, patient 346 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:27,080 father who is just standing there waiting for him to come back and embraces him when 347 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:28,080 he comes back. 348 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:33,840 And of course, the story is he's restored as a son and the ring is placed on his finger. 349 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:34,840 The fat calf is killed. 350 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,400 They have a big feast because the son that was lost is now found. 351 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:42,920 That's the God we have that the scripture paints a picture of for us. 352 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,720 If you go to Romans chapter two, there's a great verse or two that talks about the character 353 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:48,400 of God. 354 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:54,240 Romans chapter two, verse four said, do you think likely of his riches and his kindness 355 00:21:54,240 --> 00:22:01,000 and his tolerance and his patience not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 356 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:06,160 Or the way in life, I don't believe that most people think about the judgment of God leading 357 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:11,600 them to repentance, but the Bible says the kindness of God always leads you to repentance 358 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:16,620 to know he's a personal God that knows you, that realizes where you are, a God who can 359 00:22:16,620 --> 00:22:18,960 forgive you and cleanse you and restore you. 360 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:23,840 Now that surprises some of us because we're brought up to believe that God has been indicative 361 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:29,040 and he's angry and he's judgmental and that he's just waiting to zap us for our sin. 362 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:33,200 I like to remind myself and others that if God wanted you zapped, he would have done 363 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,880 it a long time ago. 364 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,880 But this patience of God, this patience of God means that he's waiting for you to come 365 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:47,660 home like that prodigal son's father waited for him to return like God was waiting in 366 00:22:47,660 --> 00:22:54,360 Psalm chapter 51 for David to return home. 367 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:56,080 God is waiting. 368 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:58,760 God is ready to restore. 369 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,320 I am so glad that I have parents when I was growing up that knew how to love me with a 370 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:07,320 tough love but knew how to restore me when I needed to be restored. 371 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:14,880 I love the fact that they would do what was necessary in order for me to not forget those 372 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,800 moments when I did wrong, disobeyed them or did something wrong at school. 373 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:22,520 And there were plenty of those opportunities. 374 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:27,000 And that instructed me well but at the end of the instruction, at the end of the punishment 375 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,640 or the discipline, whatever you might want to call it, at the end of that time they would 376 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,040 draw me close and hug me and say, you know, you deserve what you got but also we love 377 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:36,640 you and we will never let you go. 378 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:41,400 I am thrilled that I was raised by parents like that and I'm aware that not everyone 379 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,400 is. 380 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:49,080 Not every father, not every mother reflects the character of a loving, compassionate God 381 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:51,920 but we ought to. 382 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,760 And whether you had a loving, compassionate father or mother or not, let me tell you, 383 00:23:55,760 --> 00:24:00,480 God is still loving, God is still compassionate, God is still forgiving even if your earthly 384 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,440 father was not. 385 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:09,920 So David comes to this God who is loving and compassionate and we learn the truth about 386 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:10,920 this God. 387 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,600 We will absolutely forgive him of sin. 388 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:20,280 As we walk into this story further, we have to also learn the truth about sin. 389 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:25,440 The truth about sin is discovered in this prayer, Psalm 51. 390 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:27,600 Notice what he says as he prays. 391 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,560 Verse three says, for my sin is ever before me. 392 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,240 In other words, I can't get it out of my mind. 393 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,600 We've been led to believe that sin is just simply pleasurable. 394 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,280 It's just a choice we make and we get what we want. 395 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,600 It has no consequence at all. 396 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,040 We believe this because we want to believe this and we don't want anything to get in 397 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:51,880 the way of our sinful activities but David is saying something entirely different from 398 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:52,880 that. 399 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:54,720 I can't get away from the sin I've committed. 400 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,240 It's there and it's irreversible in my life. 401 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,560 I can't remove the consequences of that. 402 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,360 Listen, I believe this. 403 00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:09,400 If we knew what David experienced and thought about the sin that he had committed with Bathsheba, 404 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:13,360 it would warn us to never do it ourselves. 405 00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:19,440 Verse three again, I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. 406 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:25,920 During that year between the sin and before Nathan confronted, it was ever before him 407 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,360 and his life was suddenly far different from where he thought he'd be. 408 00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:35,160 If I'm considering serious sin, I need to listen to David's perspective about sin first. 409 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:41,080 Now, if you've got your Bibles open to the book of Psalms, Psalm 51, go over to Psalm 410 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,640 38 just a few pages away. 411 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:48,840 I will read Psalm 38 but I want you to see it for yourself because Psalm 38, in case 412 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:56,080 you didn't know, was a Psalm of David that speaks about how he felt and what he was going 413 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,600 through in his sin. 414 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:03,160 The first eight verses are very, very convicting. 415 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,640 Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath. 416 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:11,920 Do not punish me in your burning anger for your arrows have sunk deep into me and your 417 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:13,920 hand has pressed down on me. 418 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,520 There is no healthy part in my flesh because of your indignation. 419 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:22,640 There's no health in my bones because of my sin for my guilty deeds have gone over my 420 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:23,640 head. 421 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:24,640 In other words, I'm buried. 422 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,920 I'm drowning in them like a heavy burden. 423 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:28,280 They weigh too much for me. 424 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,200 My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness. 425 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,560 I am bent over and greatly bowed down. 426 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:36,640 I go in mourning all day long. 427 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,360 My sides are filled with burning and there's no healthy part in my flesh. 428 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:42,200 I feel faint and badly crushed. 429 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,880 I groan because of the agitation of my heart. 430 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:47,480 It's a study of anguish. 431 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,960 God, this is so painful. 432 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:56,000 If I'd only know how painful this sin would have been, I would never have done that. 433 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:01,560 That's where I am today because of my foolishness, David is saying. 434 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,000 It leads us to say what you've probably seen before. 435 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:08,280 Sin will always take you further than you intended to go, keep you longer than you intended 436 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,280 to stay and cost you more than you wanted to pay. 437 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,880 You find that to be true in your life? 438 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:20,080 The truth about sin is that it costs you more than you realize. 439 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:25,560 David goes on and says, against you, you only I have sinned in verse four. 440 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:29,360 I think we can all acknowledge that David was a man after God's own heart. 441 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:37,000 David loved God and did not set out just to sin against God, but his desires led him to 442 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,440 an exhilarating but disastrous decision. 443 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,640 That's just human nature. 444 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,480 We do that in non-sinful ways sometimes. 445 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:48,960 Sometimes we see something that we just think we just have to do. 446 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:49,960 We shouldn't do it. 447 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,920 We probably should stay as far away from it as possible, but it looks exhilarating. 448 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:54,120 It looks exciting. 449 00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:56,300 It looks like it'll thrill us and we're going to try to do it. 450 00:27:56,300 --> 00:28:00,840 The others are watching, so we just dive right into that opportunity and it's just human 451 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:01,840 nature. 452 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:06,760 A few years ago, my son, whose name is Joshua, lived in Colorado. 453 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:11,000 We went to visit with him and we went to St. Mary's Glacier, which in the summertime is 454 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:16,720 a beautiful crystal clear cold lake of water surrounded by cliffs. 455 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:21,000 He challenged me to jump off one of those cliffs, 60 foot tall cliff. 456 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,400 My ego kicked in and I thought, if you can do it, I can. 457 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,280 We climbed up the 60 foot cliff and we looked down into the water. 458 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:29,560 I could see rocks down there. 459 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,600 I thought I might be able to clear them, but I wasn't sure I could. 460 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:36,120 He jumped first and then I knew I had to jump after that. 461 00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:40,000 Again, it was one of those moments where I really shouldn't have done that. 462 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,920 There were people watching. 463 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:43,560 He had just jumped. 464 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:44,560 I was looking. 465 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:46,400 I was kind of longing to do it. 466 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,400 I was kind of leaning into it. 467 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:54,200 Finally, I leaned so far into it, I went off the cliff. 468 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,480 I'm standing here today so I am alive. 469 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,000 The story ends okay. 470 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:05,640 But I did hit the rock and I did end up with all kinds of bruises on my other side, you 471 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:06,640 know. 472 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:09,840 Will I ever do that again? 473 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:11,840 No I will not. 474 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:16,280 But sin's kind of like that. 475 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:21,400 We look at something, we rationalize in our minds, I could probably do that. 476 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:24,240 I might even be able to get away with that. 477 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:30,280 We look for a while, we long for it for a while, we justify it in our minds. 478 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:35,920 After a while we lean that way and before too long we leap. 479 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:37,200 This is what happened to David. 480 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:43,680 In fact, the Bible describes sin happening this way with all of us in James chapter 1. 481 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:48,360 James says, let no one say when he's being tempted, I'm being tempted by God for God 482 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:53,200 cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone but each one is tempted when 483 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:58,440 he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 484 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:02,960 Then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings 485 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:03,960 forth death. 486 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,320 Now put David on that rooftop for just a moment. 487 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,820 He sees Bathsheba bathing. 488 00:30:09,820 --> 00:30:11,940 He sees that she's beautiful. 489 00:30:11,940 --> 00:30:13,760 He sends an invite. 490 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,600 All of those things should not have taken place. 491 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:21,480 When the inevitable conclusion takes place, and I want you to know today sin always takes 492 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:25,560 a step by step, decision by decision path. 493 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:27,080 It never just happens. 494 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,160 It never explodes on the scene. 495 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,080 It never just shows up. 496 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:37,200 We look and we linger and we long for something and we lean towards it before we leap. 497 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:42,520 That's just how sin works in any kind of sin. 498 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,980 I want you to be aware of this because you don't need to be looking and you don't need 499 00:30:45,980 --> 00:30:46,980 to be longing. 500 00:30:46,980 --> 00:30:49,280 You don't need to be leaning in that direction. 501 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:53,760 Temptation is not a sin but the second look is and the leaning and longing and lingering 502 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:59,520 is because the inevitable conclusion is you're going to leap at some point and be in the 503 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:05,640 same place that David was at the end of his sin. 504 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:11,440 And you do it all along knowing the character of God, his holiness, and his desire for your 505 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,440 life. 506 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:21,000 You sin willingly that you are really offending the character of a God who has perhaps already 507 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:26,720 forgiven you if you're a believer in Christ and a God who's promised to forgive you if 508 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,720 you repent and you are mocking his character. 509 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,760 To know his character and still sin is the worst thing. 510 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:38,160 John Munyon years ago made the statement, he said, sin is the dare of God's justice, 511 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:43,480 the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, and the contempt 512 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:44,480 of his love. 513 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,080 That's a strong statement. 514 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,520 All these were happening in David's life and he was acknowledging that his sin was before 515 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,040 him and his sin was against holy God. 516 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:57,560 Listen, when you sin, you don't just sin against somebody else even though others are involved 517 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,240 in the collateral damage, you mainly sin against God. 518 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:03,320 It is God that's called you to walk with him. 519 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:09,320 It's God that's called you away from the behavior that the rest of the world is involved with. 520 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:10,880 In verse five, David says one more thing. 521 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,800 He says, in sin my mother conceived me. 522 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:15,920 It's just a reference to original sin. 523 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,800 The idea is that I am prone to wander. 524 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:24,240 We have an o-hem that we sing from time to time, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone 525 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:26,160 to lead the God I love. 526 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,160 I've got to tell you today, you're prone to wander too. 527 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:29,960 I'm prone to wander as well. 528 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:34,320 That's human nature, that's sin nature that we have been saved from by the power of Jesus 529 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:35,320 Christ. 530 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:41,160 You need to know about sin for you to come back to God. 531 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:46,400 Finally, you need to remember sin is always a setback. 532 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:48,440 Sin is never a secret. 533 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:49,440 Sin is not the end. 534 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,440 Aren't you glad it's not the end? 535 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:57,480 I want you to see one more thing and that is the truth about repentance. 536 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:04,000 By the time you get to verse six of Psalm 51, David is really, really breaking through. 537 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,880 He's really becoming clean before God. 538 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:12,160 He says, behold, you desire truth in the innermost being and in the hidden part, you will make 539 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:13,400 me no wisdom. 540 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:17,840 I consider this a breakthrough verse because David is saying, I know what you want, God. 541 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:20,960 You want me to be transparent and honest before you. 542 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,400 You want me to not try to hide anything from you or from anyone else. 543 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:28,800 I just need to bear my soul before you and be completely transparent with you so there 544 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,560 will be no deception between you and myself. 545 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,880 God will never deceive us, but we often try to deceive God. 546 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,680 And David is at this place where he says, no more of that. 547 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,240 No more of that. 548 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,240 I'm going to be real with you. 549 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:50,560 Repentance begins by being honest with yourself and your actions and taking ownership of them. 550 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:56,040 And if that happens, cleansing and confession are there. 551 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,160 This is what happened when we confess and repent of our sin. 552 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:03,600 It's spelled out in verses seven and eight and nine. 553 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:11,160 David says, on this side of God's cleansing, purify me and I shall be clean. 554 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,080 He knows where he wants to be on this side of God. 555 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,600 He says, cleanse me. 556 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:21,320 And on this side of that cleansing, I will be whiter than snow. 557 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:28,040 He says in verse eight, the bones you've broken will rejoice on this side. 558 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:34,640 He says, my sin that separates me, you will blot out on this side and remember no more. 559 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:38,680 In other words, in this prayer, he's saying, I know what's going to happen. 560 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:40,000 I'm on this side of you. 561 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:45,640 I'm separated from you, but as I confess my sin, I'm going to be brought over here to 562 00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:46,880 cleansing. 563 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:51,080 As I have these broken bones from the sin, I know those same bones are going to have 564 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,400 joy again because you're going to cleanse me and forgive me. 565 00:34:54,400 --> 00:35:01,120 Folks, what David is telling us is the before and after of repentance, which is also the 566 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:04,080 before and after of the gospel. 567 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,900 Did you know that before the gospel, you are always over here? 568 00:35:07,900 --> 00:35:10,260 Your sin is always before you. 569 00:35:10,260 --> 00:35:15,260 You have no way of getting out of your sinful life and your sinful separation from God. 570 00:35:15,260 --> 00:35:20,720 But after Jesus Christ dies on the cross, your sin is removed from you, placed on him. 571 00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:25,360 He forgives you and you are now in a new place of restoration. 572 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,520 Aren't you glad about that? 573 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:35,760 The cross of Jesus means you move from being distant from God to being close to God. 574 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:40,740 And David is saying those kinds of words in Psalms chapter 51. 575 00:35:40,740 --> 00:35:43,200 This is good news for sinners and practicals. 576 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,360 This is good news for every single one of us. 577 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:50,040 Like a sunrise after a long night of difficulty and anguish. 578 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:54,520 This conclusion in Psalm 51 is such a bright spot in David's life. 579 00:35:54,520 --> 00:36:00,200 Now, make no mistake, his life after the sin was compromised in a number of ways because 580 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:02,240 of the consequences for his sin. 581 00:36:02,240 --> 00:36:04,600 You can choose your sin, but you can't choose your consequences. 582 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,800 And some of those things happened to David. 583 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:07,840 He lost his son. 584 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:09,800 He lost some of his reputation. 585 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:15,720 He was restored to the throne, but he was still known for this adulterous affair. 586 00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:21,120 That God did restore him back to a relationship with God. 587 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:27,080 Let me ask you today, did you hear the call to come back to God? 588 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:33,240 Do you hear the invitation of a loving father who says, it doesn't matter how far away you 589 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:39,480 are, you can be as remote as the most remote desert island imaginable. 590 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:44,320 But I can still bring you back if you would just turn to me. 591 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:50,920 I love one of the last lines of Psalm 51 verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, 592 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:55,920 a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. 593 00:36:55,920 --> 00:37:00,120 David talks about what kind of sacrifices God does not want or honor, but he talks about 594 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:01,960 one that God will honor. 595 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:07,760 And that is a broken heart and a broken spirit, which takes us right back to the prodigal. 596 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:15,240 The prodigal son in the parable that Jesus told was so far away, so broken, had no answers, 597 00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:16,240 no way to get back. 598 00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:19,640 So he divides his own plan, I'll come back and be a servant. 599 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:24,760 And that loving father was waiting to restore him to become a son again. 600 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:28,740 I want to leave you with that truth today, that truth about God. 601 00:37:28,740 --> 00:37:35,200 After looking about the truth about yourself, the truth about sin, I want you to walk away 602 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:37,320 knowing the truth about God. 603 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:44,880 When we turn and we come to God, He reaches out and restores us. 604 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:49,160 And in whatever way you come back to Him through this repentance, whatever time you come back 605 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:55,600 to Him, however far away you have been, you'll be perfectly restored to a God who forgives 606 00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:58,720 and cleanses and transforms. 607 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:05,600 I wonder how many of you today need to make a decision to take steps towards God. 608 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:07,520 You've never taken any steps towards God. 609 00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:12,800 I would say that one of the greatest experiences of your life, if not the greatest experience 610 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:17,800 of your life, is to take one step towards God and watch Him meet you there. 611 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:20,480 Today we have decision stations that will be available for you. 612 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:26,080 Take a step towards God by telling someone you want to take that step towards God. 613 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:29,360 They'll walk with you, pray with you through that decision. 614 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,200 Those decision stations are at the back of our services. 615 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,880 As you walk out today in just a few moments, you can't miss them, they're there, the people 616 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,880 that are there cannot wait to talk with you and visit with you. 617 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:43,980 But I will tell you today that you don't need to wait a year before you come back to God 618 00:38:43,980 --> 00:38:45,800 if you're in sin. 619 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:49,840 Don't do what David did in the sense of how long it took him. 620 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:51,520 Go back to God quickly. 621 00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:53,920 Go back to God directly. 622 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,760 Or if you're coming to Him for the first time, come today. 623 00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:57,920 He's there. 624 00:38:57,920 --> 00:38:59,640 He's ready for you. 625 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:02,040 My first invitation is for you to do that. 626 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:06,080 Maybe that you're a guest today, a second invitation I would give you is to meet me 627 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:10,040 in just a few moments in the guest reception room right outside our center exit doors and 628 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:11,040 across the hallway. 629 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:12,360 It's a glassed in room. 630 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:17,720 I'd love to talk to you about Cross City Church and our message and what goes on in our church. 631 00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:22,400 So maybe you'd like to stop there if you've already made the spiritual decisions you need 632 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:23,400 to make today. 633 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:26,640 A third invitation would be bring someone with you next week. 634 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:29,440 They're invite cards as you leave today. 635 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,640 Week by week as we walk through this, God's not done with you. 636 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:36,480 It's a great opportunity for you to reach out to someone that thanks God is done with 637 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:37,760 them. 638 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:41,080 Next week I'm looking at the life of Peter who denied Christ three times. 639 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:46,200 Can you imagine denying Christ three times and being so disillusioned with Jesus that 640 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:49,560 you would do that but Jesus restored you. 641 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:50,560 We'll look at that next week. 642 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:53,080 Would you stand with me for prayer? 643 00:39:53,080 --> 00:40:00,320 Father, I am so thankful for the good news of the gospel, so thankful for David's life 644 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:05,160 on display so that we would not have to walk that way into sin. 645 00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:13,040 But Lord, I'm also thankful that his prayer shows us how to come back to you and that 646 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:18,120 you are a God filled with loving kindness and compassion. 647 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:22,960 Today there are many in the room that need to think through where they stand with you 648 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:24,560 and what next steps they need to take. 649 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:29,320 I pray that you'll give them the courage and the boldness to take these next steps and 650 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:31,080 come to you today. 651 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:35,680 Father, thank you so much that you are the loving father in the story of the prodigal 652 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:38,480 son that you are waiting endlessly for us to return. 653 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:40,240 Lord, let us return to you today. 654 00:40:40,240 --> 00:40:42,000 I thank you for this. 655 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:54,440 In Jesus' name I pray, amen.