WEBVTT 00:00:05.730 --> 00:00:08.330 Hey friend, welcome back here to the Seminarian. 00:00:08.390 --> 00:00:10.570 Another week, another episode of our Bible study 00:00:10.570 --> 00:00:13.710 series. We call the Bible for Grownups. And just 00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:16.109 as a quick reminder, what we're doing is we're 00:00:16.109 --> 00:00:18.149 looking at the Bible from an adult perspective. 00:00:18.289 --> 00:00:22.690 Because many of us, all of this comes from the 00:00:22.690 --> 00:00:26.449 inspiration of Andy Stanley, a pastor in Atlanta, 00:00:26.629 --> 00:00:31.250 Georgia. He argues, and I happen to agree, that 00:00:31.250 --> 00:00:34.509 one of the big disconnects I think that we have 00:00:34.509 --> 00:00:38.649 as adults in Christianity today is that many 00:00:38.649 --> 00:00:41.750 of us were taught the Bible as children, or we 00:00:41.750 --> 00:00:44.810 encountered the Bible later in our lives, and 00:00:44.810 --> 00:00:47.170 we were taught the Bible as adults, but unfortunately 00:00:47.170 --> 00:00:49.789 we were taught the Bible as adults by people 00:00:49.789 --> 00:00:52.149 who were taught the Bible as children. So we're 00:00:52.149 --> 00:00:54.030 often left with this childlike understanding 00:00:54.030 --> 00:00:56.759 of the Bible. Tonight, we're going to look at 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:02.140 the harsh reality of what do we do when we sin? 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:09.500 And which is better, to conceal our sin or confess 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:18.420 it? I'll see you on the other side. Hey, real 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:21.400 quick, I'd like for you guys to participate in 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:24.790 this with me. By raising your hand, how many 00:01:24.790 --> 00:01:26.790 of you would be honest, actually honest enough 00:01:26.790 --> 00:01:28.609 to say that you've ever been caught in a lie? 00:01:30.989 --> 00:01:33.909 Okay, see the people who don't have their hands 00:01:33.909 --> 00:01:39.750 up? You've just been caught in a lie. Because 00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:42.409 we've all at some point, big or small in our 00:01:42.409 --> 00:01:44.489 life, right? At some point, we've been caught 00:01:44.489 --> 00:01:50.939 in a lie. What happens when we sin is it's really, 00:01:50.980 --> 00:01:55.900 really, really easy for us. So tempting to try 00:01:55.900 --> 00:02:01.219 to cover up a lie. So let me just jump right 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:04.599 into the teaching tonight. Because what we're 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:07.040 going to talk about tonight is what do we do 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:11.659 when we sin? Because when we sin, we have one 00:02:11.659 --> 00:02:14.960 of two choices. The first one that we're tempted 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:20.699 to do is conceal. Our sin. When we sin, it's 00:02:20.699 --> 00:02:24.800 very tempting by our very nature. We try to cover 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:29.780 up our sins because we feel bad about them. And 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:32.800 we see this in the Holy Bible over and over and 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.759 over again. In fact, just the first few stories 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:39.000 we read about in the Bible, the earliest stories 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:42.080 we find in the Bible, we find a common thread. 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:46.680 We see a sin followed by a cover up. followed 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.620 by a cover -up, followed by a cover -up, followed 00:02:49.620 --> 00:02:52.860 by a sin, followed by a cover -up. We could start 00:02:52.860 --> 00:02:55.740 at the very, very beginning in Genesis in the 00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:58.379 Garden of Eden. God says to Adam and Eve, you 00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:01.300 could eat of any tree, but just don't eat from 00:03:01.300 --> 00:03:06.400 this one. The serpent comes along and says, did 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:09.840 God really say that you couldn't eat of any tree? 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.379 Now, that's an interesting twist because we talked 00:03:12.379 --> 00:03:15.460 about that the other day, about how... The devil 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:18.180 sometimes will trick us by twisting the truth 00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:23.020 just enough to kind of knock us off kilter. But 00:03:23.020 --> 00:03:27.099 in this story, the serpent tempts Eve. She took 00:03:27.099 --> 00:03:30.560 a bite of the forbidden fruit of that tree. She 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.719 gave it to her husband, and he took a bite. God 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.319 comes around, and what do they do? They hid their 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:43.879 sin. And God says, hey, why did you do this? 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:50.639 And Adam, being a perfect example of a guy, says 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:56.439 it's her fault. She says it's the serpent's fault. 00:03:56.659 --> 00:04:00.419 And the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on. 00:04:00.860 --> 00:04:08.620 LOL. Sin hiding. Another story. The very next 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:12.340 story in the Bible. Cain and Abel, two brothers. 00:04:12.520 --> 00:04:15.210 Cain is jealous because of... Abel's offering 00:04:15.210 --> 00:04:19.110 was acceptable to God, so Cain does the unthinkable. 00:04:19.149 --> 00:04:21.389 He murders his own brother, and God shows up, 00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:23.629 says, where's your brother? And this is actually 00:04:23.629 --> 00:04:27.050 where we, you might have heard this Bible verse 00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:29.730 before, because Cain's response is, I'm sorry, 00:04:29.829 --> 00:04:34.009 what? Am I my brother's keeper? I don't know 00:04:34.009 --> 00:04:39.910 where he is, right? Sin, cover up. We see it 00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:43.439 in the story right after that. Joseph is this 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.180 young guy. He has a vision from God that he's 00:04:46.180 --> 00:04:48.439 going to be a great leader one day, and he tells 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:51.060 his brothers about this vision. His brothers 00:04:51.060 --> 00:04:53.000 then get very, very jealous of him, and they 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.540 say, we don't like you and your cocky dreams. 00:04:58.300 --> 00:05:03.399 So the brothers beat Joseph up, throw him down 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:07.439 in a pit, and leave him for dead. I'm sorry. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:11.259 It's not what they did. They sold him into slavery. 00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:16.040 I don't know why I said that. And at that point, 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:20.899 we're thinking, oh, no. Dad is probably going 00:05:20.899 --> 00:05:24.199 to be mad at us for what we have just done to 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:31.439 our little brother. So they take a coat, kill 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:35.480 the goat, put the blood of the goat on the coat. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:39.079 Then they came to their dad and says, we don't 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:42.740 know where his brother is, but. Look at his coat. 00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:46.279 It's all covered in blood. He must have been 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:53.300 killed by a wild animal. Sin, cover up. When 00:05:53.300 --> 00:05:58.800 we sin, we have two choices. First one we're 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:04.480 talking about is we often choose to conceal our 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:08.160 sin, but there's a second option available to 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:13.810 us, and that is... We can confess our sin. We 00:06:13.810 --> 00:06:18.509 can conceal them or we can confess them. Well, 00:06:18.769 --> 00:06:23.029 which is the right thing to do? Well, you're 00:06:23.029 --> 00:06:25.269 not going to take my word for it because this 00:06:25.269 --> 00:06:28.009 is a Bible study. We're going to look at what 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:30.810 the Bible says about which of these two things 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:33.629 might be the right thing to do. Let's look at 00:06:33.629 --> 00:06:37.370 Proverbs 28 and 13. The Bible says the one who 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:43.240 conceals their sin. does not prosper. When you 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:49.199 hide behind a mask, when you try to fake it out 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:52.139 and conceal your sin, Scripture says you don't 00:06:52.139 --> 00:06:55.980 prosper. But the verse goes on to say, but whoever 00:06:55.980 --> 00:07:00.579 confesses and renounces them, their sins, will 00:07:00.579 --> 00:07:06.220 find mercy. Whoever wears a mask conceals their 00:07:06.220 --> 00:07:09.399 sin, they don't prosper. The result is never 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:14.000 good. Whoever has the courage to stop faking 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:18.300 it, to actually confess, renounce their sins, 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:21.040 Scripture assures that they will find mercy. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.240 And this evening, maybe some of us are at some 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:29.259 sort of crossroads with this regard. You'll be 00:07:29.259 --> 00:07:31.759 confronted by your sin and you'll have a choice 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:37.540 to make. You can continue to conceal. You can 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:41.720 continue to fake it and not prosper, and rather 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:48.139 suffer more harm to you. Or we can confess it 00:07:48.139 --> 00:07:52.759 and find healing and find mercy. The choice is 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:58.779 ours, and it is a significant, it is a life -changing 00:07:58.779 --> 00:08:02.500 choice. Tonight, maybe you stand at a crossroads, 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:06.360 confronted by your sin, and you have this choice 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:09.800 to make. To help you make the right choice, because 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:13.240 again, this is a Bible study. What I want to 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:15.100 do is I want to tell you a story from the Bible, 00:08:15.220 --> 00:08:19.259 one that most of us are familiar with, but I 00:08:19.259 --> 00:08:21.839 think there's a couple of... parts to the story 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:23.560 that maybe some of you might not be familiar 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:25.579 with that kind of rounds out this whole story, 00:08:25.699 --> 00:08:28.420 okay? And it's a story about a famous character 00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:31.040 in the Bible named King David. The story is found 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.399 in Hebrew scripture. And what's interesting, 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:36.019 again, to me, and every time we talk about King 00:08:36.019 --> 00:08:37.919 David, I always like to bring this up because 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.360 the truth of the matter is in many, many, many, 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:44.360 many ways, King David is a lot like we are. He 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:49.379 loved God. In fact, Scripture describes him as 00:08:49.379 --> 00:08:54.080 a man after God's own heart. Right? So David 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:01.039 wasn't just some vile sinner guy. Right? He was 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:06.100 a very good man. But he happened to get tripped 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:10.879 up in temptation. And that should prove to each 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:15.210 one of us. That there isn't a single one of us 00:09:15.210 --> 00:09:19.889 that are not vulnerable to temptation. The story 00:09:19.889 --> 00:09:26.110 we find in 2 Samuel chapter 11. And we're going 00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:29.769 to look at five verses in 2 Samuel chapter 11. 00:09:29.990 --> 00:09:32.409 And I'll start right here with verse 1. Scripture 00:09:32.409 --> 00:09:37.590 says, in the spring, at the time when kings go 00:09:37.590 --> 00:09:41.629 off to war. Remember, we're talking about King 00:09:41.629 --> 00:09:46.750 David. So he's supposed to be at war, but he 00:09:46.750 --> 00:09:53.169 wasn't. He stayed behind in the palace. And during 00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:58.409 this time, Scripture says, David instead sent 00:09:58.409 --> 00:10:02.750 Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite 00:10:02.750 --> 00:10:07.269 army. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening, 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:10.610 David got up from his bed. and he walked around 00:10:10.610 --> 00:10:14.169 on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he 00:10:14.169 --> 00:10:18.929 saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful. 00:10:19.889 --> 00:10:24.490 Now, is that a big deal? He saw a woman naked. 00:10:24.570 --> 00:10:28.690 Is that a big deal? Well, it's not the worst 00:10:28.690 --> 00:10:31.570 thing in the world if you're kind of, oh, there's 00:10:31.570 --> 00:10:36.549 a naked woman, right? And avert your eyes. But 00:10:36.549 --> 00:10:39.009 that's actually not what David does in this story. 00:10:39.629 --> 00:10:42.250 Let me kind of explain that. The Hebrew word 00:10:42.250 --> 00:10:45.129 in this portion of Scripture that is translated, 00:10:45.470 --> 00:10:52.649 the word saw, is translated as ra 'ah. Ra 'ah. 00:10:53.169 --> 00:10:59.429 And it actually means to look intensely. So he 00:10:59.429 --> 00:11:01.870 doesn't go, oh, there's a good -looking woman, 00:11:01.990 --> 00:11:04.090 and, you know, kind of revert his eyes away. 00:11:04.149 --> 00:11:07.690 Instead, he went, there is a very good -looking 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:13.779 woman. right like look at that woman raw right 00:11:13.779 --> 00:11:24.080 yeah it's r -a -a -h so that's what he does he 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.700 looks upon this woman lustfully she was a beautiful 00:11:28.700 --> 00:11:32.840 woman picks up story verse three david sends 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:35.539 some messenger some guy around the palace to 00:11:35.539 --> 00:11:37.870 go find out about her and dave Scripture says 00:11:37.870 --> 00:11:40.629 David sent someone to find out about her, and 00:11:40.629 --> 00:11:44.049 the man said, isn't that Bathsheba, the daughter 00:11:44.049 --> 00:11:47.909 of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite? In 00:11:47.909 --> 00:11:51.149 other words, King David, right, respectfully, 00:11:51.370 --> 00:11:59.210 she's not yours. She's married. Verse 4, David 00:11:59.210 --> 00:12:03.649 doesn't listen. Then David sent messengers to 00:12:03.649 --> 00:12:06.779 get her. She came to him. And he slept with her, 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:10.679 and she went back home. The woman conceived and 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:15.740 sent word to David, saying, I am pregnant. This 00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:24.200 whole tragic story, King David, like King David, 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:30.860 Goliath David. This whole tragic story of the 00:12:30.860 --> 00:12:33.600 downfall in this particular part of David's life 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:38.919 is composed of... Five very short, simple verses. 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:46.100 Sadly for some of us, that's a tragedy of sin. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.419 A sin that could cost you more than you could 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:53.620 ever imagine. Could one day, when it's all kind 00:12:53.620 --> 00:12:56.700 of said and done, be summarized in just a few 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:02.929 short sentences. Will dad, he, or mom, she, or 00:13:02.929 --> 00:13:05.990 my wife, she, will this person I look up to, 00:13:06.110 --> 00:13:11.470 he, in just a few verses. Because that's how 00:13:11.470 --> 00:13:16.889 sin works. It overtakes us, takes us down. And 00:13:16.889 --> 00:13:21.330 then looking back, people could just say, here's 00:13:21.330 --> 00:13:24.409 what happened in just a few short sentences, 00:13:24.549 --> 00:13:29.139 and lives are ripped. How did it happen? Just 00:13:29.139 --> 00:13:35.539 a few simple things. First of all, in this story, 00:13:35.659 --> 00:13:37.980 we notice quite simply, David's not where he's 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:42.620 supposed to be. And whenever he wasn't where 00:13:42.620 --> 00:13:46.009 he was supposed to be, He saw something he wasn't 00:13:46.009 --> 00:13:48.909 supposed to see, which led him to do something 00:13:48.909 --> 00:13:52.950 he was most assuredly not supposed to do, and 00:13:52.950 --> 00:13:55.750 it ends up costing more to him than he would 00:13:55.750 --> 00:13:59.929 have ever been willing to pay. The reason is 00:13:59.929 --> 00:14:03.230 because we are so vulnerable to a type of sin 00:14:03.230 --> 00:14:07.389 called the lust of the flesh. There are different 00:14:07.389 --> 00:14:09.830 types of sins, all different types of sins, and 00:14:09.830 --> 00:14:12.580 I'm not saying... One sin is greater than another 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:16.120 sin, but the lust of the flesh, for those of 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:19.960 us that call ourselves Christians, you'll know 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:23.779 that the lusts of the flesh are an ongoing battle 00:14:23.779 --> 00:14:30.419 in our lives. Because now, as Christians, spiritually, 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:35.759 we're connected, should be, to God. Right? We 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:40.059 should have... intimate relationship with our 00:14:40.059 --> 00:14:47.220 God. And on a good day, our spirit leads us and 00:14:47.220 --> 00:14:50.639 we follow and we do what is pleasing to God. 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:58.039 Now, we might also have a battle with our fleshly 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:01.159 nature. Our body still craves its own selfish, 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:04.820 sinful things. But on a good day, we make choices 00:15:04.820 --> 00:15:09.049 that honor God. But on a bad day, On a bad day, 00:15:09.110 --> 00:15:14.149 our body screams. It overwhelms our spirit. It 00:15:14.149 --> 00:15:18.009 silences our brain. And we end up doing stuff 00:15:18.009 --> 00:15:20.350 that we might not even realize in the moment 00:15:20.350 --> 00:15:24.309 is going to cost us, but we know for sure that 00:15:24.309 --> 00:15:28.269 it's wrong. You know it's potentially dangerous. 00:15:29.210 --> 00:15:32.669 You just can't help yourself because the lust 00:15:32.669 --> 00:15:35.669 of the flesh overwhelmed the logic of the mind. 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:40.240 and the truth of the Spirit. So the emotions 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:42.940 overwhelm the logic of the mind, the truth of 00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:46.120 the Spirit, and leads them into destructive sin. 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:51.200 It's called the lust of the flesh. So, what do 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:55.840 we do when we sin? By nature, especially these 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:59.440 sins of the lust of the flesh, often, like I 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:03.179 said earlier, we attempt to conceal it. Who, 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:08.259 me? I didn't do that. Right? Wasn't me. Da -da 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:11.379 -da -da -da -da. Wasn't me. Right? Because the 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:17.419 lust of the flesh is very embarrassing. You have 00:16:17.419 --> 00:16:19.179 a choice to make, though. The tempting thing 00:16:19.179 --> 00:16:21.919 is to conceal it, to cover it up, and that's 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.340 what David did. And he comes up with this elaborate 00:16:25.340 --> 00:16:27.600 plan. Let me go ahead and tell you how this story 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:33.039 ends up, tragically. Basically, plan A was bring 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:36.019 Uriah, the husband, her husband, bring him back 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:39.019 off the battlefield so that he could go home 00:16:39.019 --> 00:16:42.779 and be a little romantic with his wife Bathsheba. 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:44.799 And then nine months later, he'll think, oh, 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:49.559 I have a kid, right? So plan A, King David brings 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:52.919 the husband back. Uriah, though, has too much 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:57.559 integrity. He slept outside saying, I'm not going 00:16:57.559 --> 00:17:00.279 to go inside and enjoy my wife when my men are 00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:05.049 out there suffering in battle. So? He went to 00:17:05.049 --> 00:17:10.809 plan B. Plan B was to get Uriah drunk. And once 00:17:10.809 --> 00:17:14.930 he's drunk, surely he'll have that good old loving 00:17:14.930 --> 00:17:20.089 feeling, right? Well, he did get him drunk, but 00:17:20.089 --> 00:17:23.230 again, Uriah had too much integrity and doesn't 00:17:23.230 --> 00:17:29.190 go through with it. So plan C was to send Uriah 00:17:29.190 --> 00:17:34.500 out to the front lines and hopefully... intentionally, 00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:38.400 he would be killed in battle. And sure enough, 00:17:38.700 --> 00:17:43.859 Uriah was killed in battle. Why? Because sin 00:17:43.859 --> 00:17:47.380 always ends up costing us way more than we could 00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:51.299 ever imagine. So what do we often do? We choose 00:17:51.299 --> 00:17:56.140 to conceal. Now, here's what I think is neat 00:17:56.140 --> 00:18:02.039 about God. When we choose to conceal our sin, 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:06.660 When we try to cover something up, you may or 00:18:06.660 --> 00:18:10.000 may not know this. I hope maybe your life has 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.420 been so spirit -filled that you don't even know 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:17.220 what I'm talking about, but I doubt it. Right? 00:18:18.019 --> 00:18:20.660 What happens when we try to cover up a sin, God 00:18:20.660 --> 00:18:26.339 has this amazing way of uncovering our sin. Kind 00:18:26.339 --> 00:18:28.539 of like when we're kids and we think we pulled 00:18:28.539 --> 00:18:30.539 one over on mom and dad and don't think they're 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:34.819 smart enough to figure it out. Jesus says, this 00:18:34.819 --> 00:18:37.339 is so powerful, in Luke chapter 8, verse 17, 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:39.799 he said, for there's nothing hidden that will 00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:41.799 not be disclosed, nothing concealed that will 00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:45.140 not be known or brought out into the open. In 00:18:45.140 --> 00:18:47.720 the Old Testament, in Numbers 32, verse 23, he 00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:51.940 says, you may be sure that your sin will be found 00:18:51.940 --> 00:18:58.140 out. Sin has this way of coming out. You may 00:18:58.140 --> 00:19:01.579 not get caught for a while. Sin has a way of 00:19:01.579 --> 00:19:03.859 coming out. And if you are unlucky enough that 00:19:03.859 --> 00:19:06.500 it never comes out while you're here on earth, 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:10.099 the bottom line I happen to believe is you know 00:19:10.099 --> 00:19:13.799 and God's going to know. And there's a chance 00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:16.119 it could cost you more than you could ever possibly 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:20.000 imagine. Here's the thing about God, though, 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.119 what I think is cool. I said this earlier. Often 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:27.059 what we choose to conceal, God has this way of 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:30.119 bringing out into the open. But what's neat about 00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:35.039 God is, is whatever we confess, God has a way 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:40.500 of covering up. When we confess our sins, God 00:19:40.500 --> 00:19:44.059 is faithful, forgives us of our sins, and cleanses 00:19:44.059 --> 00:19:47.019 us of that unrighteousness. Here is the good 00:19:47.019 --> 00:19:50.579 news, friends. God loves you. God loves me enough. 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:53.779 He's maybe brought you here today to confront 00:19:53.779 --> 00:19:56.859 you with a sin, maybe to give you a chance to 00:19:56.859 --> 00:20:02.619 confess. This is what God does to David. In fact, 00:20:02.779 --> 00:20:05.720 I would love to read the whole chapter to you, 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:08.259 but we don't have time this evening. But in 2 00:20:08.259 --> 00:20:12.279 Samuel chapter 12, this is where this part of 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:16.119 the story comes from. It shows the love and the 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:18.960 compassion that God actually has for David. Now, 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:21.980 how does God show this love and compassion for 00:20:21.980 --> 00:20:25.200 David? He sends a guy by the name of Nathan. 00:20:25.930 --> 00:20:30.230 who is a prophet of God, to confront him. So, 00:20:30.269 --> 00:20:33.829 2 Samuel chapter 12, the very first verse says, 00:20:34.150 --> 00:20:38.970 The Lord sent Nathan to David. Now, you might 00:20:38.970 --> 00:20:41.650 be saying, all right, golly, man, every time 00:20:41.650 --> 00:20:43.750 I think I've got a handle on this, there are 00:20:43.750 --> 00:20:46.509 new people involved in the story. Who is Nathan? 00:20:47.190 --> 00:20:51.690 Again, right? Nathan was a prophet of God, and 00:20:51.690 --> 00:20:55.420 God had sent Nathan to confront him. And Nathan 00:20:55.420 --> 00:20:58.099 the prophet says, and I'm just paraphrasing the 00:20:58.099 --> 00:21:01.940 story here, David, sit down. I want to tell you 00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:05.539 a little story. Once upon a time, there were 00:21:05.539 --> 00:21:10.579 these two men. One was filthy rich. He had so 00:21:10.579 --> 00:21:13.740 many lambs, he couldn't even count them all. 00:21:16.660 --> 00:21:22.160 Everywhere you look on this guy's farm, all over 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:25.730 the place. There's another guy. He's a poor guy. 00:21:26.170 --> 00:21:31.529 He doesn't have any money. And he just has one 00:21:31.529 --> 00:21:38.690 little lamb. Just one little lamb. And to him 00:21:38.690 --> 00:21:42.930 and his family, that lamb was a pet. It was a 00:21:42.930 --> 00:21:47.509 member of their family. One rich guy, lambs everywhere. 00:21:47.670 --> 00:21:52.410 One poor guy, one little lamb. One day, David, 00:21:52.910 --> 00:21:56.829 Bathan says. This traveler came along and was 00:21:56.829 --> 00:22:01.009 hungry. The rich guy didn't want to take any 00:22:01.009 --> 00:22:03.569 of his lambs to feed the traveler. But instead, 00:22:03.789 --> 00:22:07.789 the rich guy took the poor guy's one little lamb, 00:22:07.970 --> 00:22:12.789 killed it, gave it to the traveler. And at this 00:22:12.789 --> 00:22:15.890 point in the story, King David snaps. He's like, 00:22:15.970 --> 00:22:19.450 what? That's the worst thing I've ever heard. 00:22:19.549 --> 00:22:24.190 That is awful. That guy deserves to die. He should 00:22:24.190 --> 00:22:27.529 pay that guy back over and over and over again. 00:22:27.569 --> 00:22:30.789 I couldn't believe somebody would do something 00:22:30.789 --> 00:22:34.009 like that that would be so horrible. And Nathan 00:22:34.009 --> 00:22:37.549 looks King David in the eye and says, David, 00:22:37.809 --> 00:22:46.890 you are that man. You're the one. You're the 00:22:46.890 --> 00:22:51.170 one who sinned against God. You have done the 00:22:51.170 --> 00:22:54.890 same thing, and it is time for you to come clean. 00:22:56.390 --> 00:23:00.430 The Lord sent Nathan to David because God loved 00:23:00.430 --> 00:23:05.490 him. And if I can say humbly, perhaps the Lord 00:23:05.490 --> 00:23:07.609 will send someone to tell you the same thing. 00:23:07.690 --> 00:23:11.029 Time's up. You're the one. You're the person. 00:23:11.170 --> 00:23:13.750 And it's time to do the right thing. Whoever 00:23:13.750 --> 00:23:16.210 conceals does not prosper. It's not good. It 00:23:16.210 --> 00:23:19.470 doesn't even help. Whoever confesses... and renounces, 00:23:19.529 --> 00:23:25.130 finds mercy. So we're all there. What are you 00:23:25.130 --> 00:23:28.549 concealing? Whoever conceals does not profit. 00:23:28.609 --> 00:23:31.190 Whoever renounces and confesses finds mercy. 00:23:31.349 --> 00:23:34.549 The good news today is I hope you're going to 00:23:34.549 --> 00:23:37.329 make that right decision to confess. Not halfway, 00:23:37.470 --> 00:23:40.609 because that's often what we do. We do halfway 00:23:40.609 --> 00:23:44.069 confessions. But I'd like to tonight, this is 00:23:44.069 --> 00:23:46.130 maybe the part of the story you didn't know. 00:23:46.289 --> 00:23:49.839 I want to show the fullness. of confession as 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:52.559 christians there are two different places and 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:55.000 people we confess to there are two distinct reasons 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.980 we'll talk about first of all we confess to god 00:23:57.980 --> 00:24:02.539 now why do we confess to god we confess to god 00:24:02.539 --> 00:24:06.599 for forgiveness because the bible says if we 00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:10.019 confess our sins god is faithful god is just 00:24:10.019 --> 00:24:13.359 to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness 00:24:14.659 --> 00:24:16.460 Maybe that's what many of us are going to do 00:24:16.460 --> 00:24:18.339 this evening, confess. I'm going to show you, 00:24:18.380 --> 00:24:20.160 this is again the part I don't think a lot of 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:23.259 people know. But right after David was caught 00:24:23.259 --> 00:24:30.059 in this sin, he wrote the 51st Psalm, Psalm 51. 00:24:30.940 --> 00:24:34.920 Right after David was caught in this sin of this 00:24:34.920 --> 00:24:40.410 famous story, he wrote Psalm 51. And if you're 00:24:40.410 --> 00:24:42.710 being confronted by your sin, this could be exactly 00:24:42.710 --> 00:24:46.150 what you might pray to God today, this week, 00:24:46.170 --> 00:24:49.890 for weeks, months to come, maybe. Psalm 51 and 00:24:49.890 --> 00:24:52.289 1, David cries out. Listen to the repentance 00:24:52.289 --> 00:24:57.109 in his heart. Have mercy on me, O God, according 00:24:57.109 --> 00:25:00.950 to your unfailing love, according to your great 00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:06.549 compassion, blot out my transgressions. Maybe 00:25:06.549 --> 00:25:09.200 that's our cry to God. I've sinned against you, 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:13.599 God. Forgive me. Blot this out. David goes on 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:16.660 to say, wash away all my iniquity and cleanse 00:25:16.660 --> 00:25:22.119 me from sin. Dirty, make me clean again. Give 00:25:22.119 --> 00:25:26.559 me a clean heart, a pure heart. Oh God, renew 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:31.059 a steadfast spirit in me. I want to be strong. 00:25:31.180 --> 00:25:33.920 I don't want to give in again. Do not cast me, 00:25:34.059 --> 00:25:37.079 he says. from your presence, or take your Holy 00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:39.920 Spirit from me. He's saying, I need you, God. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:44.119 Then he prays, restore me to the joy of your 00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:48.240 salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:53.339 me. In other words, he was saying there was a 00:25:53.339 --> 00:25:55.420 time that relationship we were talking about 00:25:55.420 --> 00:26:00.240 where God and I were so close, had this intimacy, 00:26:00.259 --> 00:26:04.519 but because of this sin, It's blocked that relationship. 00:26:05.740 --> 00:26:08.019 Bring it back, God, because I need your presence. 00:26:08.059 --> 00:26:10.319 I need your spirit. Please don't take it away 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:14.440 from me. Restore to me that intimacy that we 00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:19.240 once had. For some of us, you know what I'm talking 00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:20.779 about, right? There was a time where you were 00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:23.640 on fire from God. You could sense God in you, 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:27.500 that he was real and present. But now he's not. 00:26:28.420 --> 00:26:32.779 Why? Well, it's perhaps probably because there 00:26:32.779 --> 00:26:36.799 is sin blocking that intimacy. Oh, God, how did 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:39.579 I let this happen? How could I be so stupid, 00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:42.740 creating me a clean heart? I don't want this 00:26:42.740 --> 00:26:46.559 to happen again. Restore me to your salvation. 00:26:47.019 --> 00:26:50.019 Confess to God. And let me tell you, friends, 00:26:50.220 --> 00:26:55.740 that part is the actual easy part. That's a partial 00:26:55.740 --> 00:26:59.160 confession. We confess to God, but we also confess 00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:02.880 to other people. We confess to God for forgiveness. 00:27:02.920 --> 00:27:07.660 We confess to others for healing. Jesus says, 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:09.859 therefore, confess your sins to each other and 00:27:09.859 --> 00:27:12.539 pray for each other so that you may be healed. 00:27:15.059 --> 00:27:17.099 Confess your sins to each other, praying for 00:27:17.099 --> 00:27:22.279 each other, that you might receive healing. Now, 00:27:22.380 --> 00:27:27.000 some people like to push back on this and say, 00:27:27.140 --> 00:27:31.029 well, I don't have to do that. I'm only going 00:27:31.029 --> 00:27:35.630 to confess this to God. And let me tell you, 00:27:35.690 --> 00:27:39.569 if that's where you come down, I'm going to guess 00:27:39.569 --> 00:27:42.210 that you might probably be still trapped in your 00:27:42.210 --> 00:27:46.049 sin. The reason you're trapped is you prayed 00:27:46.049 --> 00:27:48.569 to God over and over again, but you never let 00:27:48.569 --> 00:27:53.089 God's people in to help you heal. We're not made 00:27:53.089 --> 00:27:56.529 to be Christians alone. We are made to be knitted 00:27:56.529 --> 00:28:00.690 into the body of Christ. And some of you say, 00:28:00.750 --> 00:28:03.630 well, I don't want to do that. Because there 00:28:03.630 --> 00:28:06.710 are complications when we confess. Absolutely. 00:28:06.710 --> 00:28:10.349 I mean, no doubt about it. There are complications, 00:28:10.650 --> 00:28:13.150 but I promise you, they're not as great as the 00:28:13.150 --> 00:28:15.690 complications that we end up having with concealed 00:28:15.690 --> 00:28:20.269 sin that continue to take us down. So may we 00:28:20.269 --> 00:28:22.609 have the choice to do what's right. And may we 00:28:22.609 --> 00:28:25.890 watch for God's faithfulness as God brings forgiveness 00:28:25.890 --> 00:28:29.490 and healing. Perhaps you stand at a crossroads 00:28:29.490 --> 00:28:33.430 today and you've got a choice to make. When making 00:28:33.430 --> 00:28:35.789 that choice, friend, remember that whoever conceals 00:28:35.789 --> 00:28:38.730 his sin does not prosper. Whoever confesses and 00:28:38.730 --> 00:28:43.630 renounces their sin finds mercy. Amen? Amen. 00:28:44.109 --> 00:28:57.529 Any questions? Cool. Thank you. I think one of 00:28:57.529 --> 00:29:01.450 the reasons why it's so important for us to constantly 00:29:01.450 --> 00:29:05.089 talk about the consequences, the wages perhaps 00:29:05.089 --> 00:29:11.190 you grew up hearing of sin, are that they never 00:29:11.190 --> 00:29:18.369 cost less than we expect. We find ourselves in 00:29:18.369 --> 00:29:23.569 this same cycle, because we're human, of sinning 00:29:23.569 --> 00:29:26.069 and covering up and sinning and covering up. 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:30.339 and sinning and covering up, do we find ourselves 00:29:30.339 --> 00:29:35.380 in a position where, and maybe it's even in the 00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:38.960 story of our incredible downfall, like we found 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:43.680 with David in five simple sentences, find our 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:48.160 place where the sin that we didn't even think 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:51.200 was super important cost us more than we could 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:55.940 ever imagine. I think that's why it's important 00:29:55.940 --> 00:30:02.480 for us to keep the cost of sin in front of our 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:09.319 minds. Because we may never know what that innocent 00:30:09.319 --> 00:30:11.960 sin, at least we thought at first, might end 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:16.900 up costing us and what we pay for it. At least 00:30:16.900 --> 00:30:21.500 something to think about. Hey, until next week, 00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:24.309 friend, be blessed. Thank you.