One second, sorry. I'm not very good at the placement of that fan, am I? Same thing happened the other week. I was starting to blow my papers a little bit. I didn't want that to happen during the sermon. Sorry about that. And again, I'm the one who put the fan up there this morning, so I'm not very good at it, apparently. Now, the title of this morning's sermon is Balancing Sin, Death, and Forgiveness. The title of this morning's sermon is Balancing Sin, Death, and Forgiveness. If you're new to joining us, we're in a series discussing temptation. We began in James 1 with a verse that led us to Proverbs 7. You don't have to turn to James 1. Please stay in Proverbs 7. That's where we're going to be for the sermon. Let me share this verse with you that's very important. James 1 14, each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And we have been looking at a great picture of this verse in Proverbs 7. where we see a young man who is drawn away by what? By a harlot and enticed by her. And we've talked at length about how that harlot represents temptation. So to be clear about this chapter and my desire for it as we go through it, we want to recognize that the way the harlot pursues the young man is a great picture of the way that temptation pursues us and the way that this young man gives in to the harlot is a great picture of how we should not give in to temptation. And we'll see this morning that the consequences this young man experiences as a result of giving into this harlot are also a great picture or illustration of the consequences that we experience when we give into temptation. We have studied verses six through 23, and we're gonna pick up at verse 24. We've spent a couple weeks studying verses six through 23, and we're gonna pick up at verse 24. Essentially, this is right after the young man had given into the harlot. The narrative has concluded, and the father begins to speak to his children. Verse 24, now therefore, Listen to me, my children. Pay attention to the words of my mouth." Now notice the word therefore. What does the word therefore always do for us when we're reading God's word? Look back. We ask ourselves what it's there for, and the reason it's there is to make us look back at what was previously written. It connects us to what was just said, And we just read about the young man that gave in to temptation and it cost him his life. And so we're supposed to be keeping that in mind as we read this. And I want to remind you of one other thing that I've shared with you a few times up to this point. We know that the literal father in Proverbs speaking to his son or his children is whom? is Solomon, but we need to read this or we need to understand as though there's a true and a greater father speaking to us, and that's who? There's a heavenly father, that's God, right? We should read this as though our heavenly father is speaking to us. So with this verse, verse 24, what's our heavenly father trying to do? He is lovingly reaching out to us. He is appealing to us. He's graciously trying to make sure that we don't make the same mistake as this young man. He's saying, now therefore, after seeing what happened to this young man, listen to me, my children, Pay attention to my words so that you don't end up like him. And then this is the Father's counsel for us in verse 25. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths. Now, if you briefly look back at verse 8, just briefly look back at verse 8. It says, passing along the street near her corner, he took the path to her house. And then verse 25 says, do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths. And so you see that the young man did the exact opposite of what the father said not to do. And you can see how what the father said would have prevented him from doing exactly what he did, or you could say the father's words would have prevented him from the consequences that he ends up experiencing as a result. And I'd like you to notice something important about verses 24 and 25. In verse 24, the father commands his children to listen to him. Listen to me, my children, pay attention to the words of my mouth. And then in verse 25, the father tells his children, or he tells us, what to do, or we could say what not to do. He says, do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths. And this is often the case with listening. We listen so that we can do what after? Obey or we listen so that we know later what not to do or we listen so that we know what to do, right? We don't just listen for the sake of listening and this brings us to lesson one in your bulletins my wife pointed out to me that I need to stop saying inserts because since we have rearranged our bulletin, it's no longer on the insert. The lessons are on the bulletin itself. So I'm sorry for confusing you. Katie said every time you said insert, some people are holding up the insert from the bulletin looking for blanks to fill out on there, and obviously there aren't any. So I'm sorry about that, but when you come in, you want to make sure that you grab a bulletin. It has the lessons for the sermon. There will usually be greeters at the door. And make sure you get a bulletin. We have lessons with blanks to fill in. And this brings us to lesson one. Listening should lead to obedience. Lesson one, listening should lead to obedience. Listening should lead to obedience. Is listening important? Is listening important? It's not a trick question. It is important, it is important, but it's not important enough. It's not important enough to just listen without obeying. It should result in, or it should produce obedience. The father told his children to listen to him, and then he told them what not to do. And so if they were to listen to him, but that didn't result, or if we're to listen to him, but it doesn't result in obedience, then the listening itself would be worthless. It would be no good to listen to the words, but then to turn aside to the harlot or stray into her paths. The application for us would be anyone to listen to this sermon and then to go out and to give in to temptation or commit this same sin as this young man would be listening without leading to obedience in their life. Now, if you think back a few weeks ago to the parable of the wise and foolish builders, both builders heard the exact same words from Jesus, but here's the difference. Matthew 7, 24, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I'll liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock." And then Matthew 7, 26, almost identical words. Everyone who hears these things of mine and does not do him will be like a foolish man. So you have the wise and the foolish man, identical in every sense in terms of hearing the same sayings of Jesus. The only difference is the wise man obeyed or did them, went beyond listening, and the foolish man only listened. James 1.22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. And James mentions deceiving ourselves. We always want to take note where there's an instruction in God's word regarding deception or regarding deceiving ourselves because we're graciously being shown by God where there's clearly a potential area for us to be deceived. And what is the deception? How is it that we deceive ourselves? Regarding James 1.22, we deceive ourselves into believing that it's enough simply to do what? To hear or to listen without being a doer. And he says, don't deceive yourself. Don't be deceived into thinking that you can simply benefit from hearing God's word or listening without obeying or without doing. Now, Proverbs, it also contrasts two men. It contrasts two men. There's the foolish young man that we have been reading about in Proverbs 7, and there's the wise son. There's the wise son. These two stand polar opposites to each other. Proverbs 10.1 and 15.20, it says, a wise son makes a glad father. And then Proverbs 13.1, it says, a wise son heeds his father's instruction. And so it's heeding the father's instruction that makes him a wise son, and it's also what happens to make his father what? Make his father what? A wise son does what? He makes his father glad, and it's that obedience or that heeding that makes the father glad. And so the difference between these two sons is simply obedience. And so the question we face is this, when we hear from our father, whether it's through reading the word on our own or whether it's listening to a sermon, when he speaks to us through his word, will we obey what we've heard? Will we be like the wise builder or will we be like the foolish builder? Will we be like the wise son or will we be like the foolish son in Proverbs 7? Moving on, I'd like you to notice something important in verse 25. verse 25, please look at the words, do not let your heart turn aside. In particular, notice the word heart there. Do not let your heart turn aside. And this relates to the story of the young man. This is actually the conclusion of the story with the young man. So what we read right here completely relates to the story with the young man, and that's why part of this verse is very striking. Because if you look back at verse eight, it says, he passed along the street corner, or near her corner, he took the path to her house. And so when we read verse 25, what would we expect it to say? We would expect it to say, do not turn aside to her ways like he did. Encouraging us not to be like the young man, but instead it says, do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. And why does it say this? Why is there mention of the heart? Because it's identifying where temptation begins. It's identifying where temptation begins. It relates to what we need to guard against temptation. And this brings us to our next lesson in your bulletin. Lesson two, temptation begins in the heart. Lesson two, temptation begins in the heart. Temptation begins in the heart. If you think back to James 1, 14, one more time, Each one is tempted when he's drawn away, and then listen to this, each one is tempted when he's drawn away by what? By his own desires. By his own desires and enticed. And those words, his own desires, reveal how temptation begins where? Or begins with whom? It begins with us. It begins in our hearts. It's our desires. Verse 25 says, do not let your heart turn aside. And the words turn aside, they have the idea of walking. They have the idea of moving or going somewhere. And obviously our hearts don't walk anywhere or they don't go anywhere. It's personifying our heart. It's personifying our heart. As an individual that has the potential to go somewhere it shouldn't, and we're told not to let it do that. So here's what I'd like us to think. Before the young man ever physically turned aside to the path to the harlot's house, before he ever physically went that way, what had already turned aside? What had already went that way? heart. And so before he ever took a physical step in that direction, he had already taken a step in that direction in his heart. In verse 25, if you're writing your Bible, you can circle the word heart and you can write Proverbs 4.23. If you're writing your Bible, I commonly invite you to do so. You can write Proverbs 4.23. If you have a study Bible, I might already make mention of that or a reference Bible. Proverbs 4.23 says, keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life. The NIV says, above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. The NLT, guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life. And so we need to understand that the real battle with temptation takes place in our hearts. And that's why we have to be so careful In guarding them, we have to make sure that they don't turn aside toward things that they shouldn't. There's an emphasis on keeping or protecting or guarding our hearts because where your heart goes is where you're gonna end up following. Where your heart goes is ultimately going to determine the course and the direction of your life. If you let your heart go where it shouldn't, then pretty soon you're gonna find yourself where you shouldn't be, right? Now please look at verse 26. Look at verse 26. So she has cast down many wounded. She has cast down many wounded. And just pause there for a moment. Considering the harlot picture's temptation, I mean, how perfect are these words? How many people have been cast down by temptation? And then the second question we should ask ourselves is how many of those people who were cast down by temptation thought ahead of time that they were going to be cast down by temptation, right? Nobody ever thinks that. Nobody ever thinks they're gonna be cast down. Of course, that's what we all think before we give in to sin, that we won't be taken down by it. Verse 26, all who were slain by her were strong men. All who were slain by her were strong men. And let me tell you something interesting about these words. If you briefly look back at verse 7, how does it describe the young man? This is where the young man is introduced to us in this chapter in verse 7. And look at the words that describe him. He's called simple. He's called devoid of understanding. So we see that and we get this description of him. That's how he's introduced to us. So when he's overtaken by the harlot, we look on and what do we say? I can see why that happened. It makes perfect sense why that would happen to him. He's foolish. He's simple. He has no understanding. He's weak. He's pathetic. We might even say, indirectly we're saying, whatever happened to him, there's no way that that would happen to me. I'm not that simple. I won't have any problems. I can get into this and I can be okay. I'll be able to stop when I want. And basically what we're saying with those types of statements we make to ourself is we're saying that I am too what? I am too strong for this to happen to me. I am too strong to be slain or to be taken down by this." But then when we reach this verse, when we reach verse 26, something interesting happens. We see that she doesn't just take down simple men who are devoid of understanding, like the young men in the story. We see that plenty of strong men have been slain by her. It actually says all who have been slain by her were strong men. And so how is she able to slay or take down all these strong men? And the answer relates to what we've discussed in previous sermons. The temptation does what? It deceives us. Temptation lies to us. Temptation appeals to our pride. Temptation makes us think that we won't experience any consequences. One of the most common ways that temptation lies to us or deceives us is making us think that we're strong enough to handle it. Now, if there were certain places in this chapter that I can encourage you to remember, and as your pastor, very often I'm thinking when I'm looking at stuff in my office, I just really wish they would remember this. I really wish this is what they would take home with them. I really wish when they're experiencing temptation, these are the words that they'd remember. They'd go to this place in scripture. So if there's a place I could encourage you to remember, it would be these words right here. All who were slain by her were strong men. When you're tempted, just remember those words. If you're a parent, show these words. to your children. When you're starting to let your guard down because you think you're strong enough, remember this place in Scripture, possibly memorize it, turn there, read the words so that you can be convinced by the truth of Scripture that you're lying to yourself or that you're deceiving yourself. So when you're considering giving in to sin, you might even turn here and read this and just remind yourself that all who have given in to her have been strong men and they've been slain. Then verse 27, It says, her house is the way to hell, her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death. Now before discussing this verse in detail, I want to make a brief point to the young men here. So I'd like to ask in particular the young men to be listening while I share this. I said from the beginning that the harlot represents temptation, but it wouldn't be too much to say that there are women in this world who are exactly like this harlot. And so all the young men here should understand that there are wicked, evil ladies out there like this harlot, or like Delilah, or like Potiphar's wife, and they would want nothing more than to destroy you, like this young man. Like the young man was gonna be destroyed by this harlot, or like Delilah wanted to destroy Samson, or like Potiphar's wife wanted to destroy Joseph. those ladies that want to destroy you. And so when you think of looking at women on the internet, or you're thinking of looking at women on your phone, you need to remember that these are women that are going to destroy you. That you're turning toward something that's going to ruin your life, potentially ruin your marriage, ruin your relationship with Christ. It's going to ruin your self-respect. It's going to rob it from you. It's going to destroy your dignity. It's gonna destroy your relationship with your wife in the future. Worst of all, it's gonna compromise your relationship with God. And so when you think of looking at or associating with women who are ungodly or who are like this harlot, you need to turn to verse 27 in your Bible. Remember Proverbs 7, verse 27, read these words and tell yourself what? Her house is what? Her house is the way to hell. The chambers of it descend to death. This is going to kill me in different ways, which we'll talk about a little bit later. Now let me briefly address the young ladies here. There are wicked, evil young men out there. and they wanna use you just like this harlot wanted to use the young man. They're gonna be smooth talkers just like the harlot. They're gonna want nothing more than to prey on you like the harlot wanted to prey on the young man. Now, if you wanna read about it, something a little more parallel for ladies so that you can be challenged, or that's not even the best word, so you can be warned by scripture, sobered by it, read Genesis 34. Read about what happened to Jacob's daughter Dinah from Shechem. Read about 2 Samuel 13 with Amnon and Tamar. Read about what happened to Tamar and how she felt after. The devastation that she felt after Amnon had had his way with her. The way she felt toward the end of that chapter in 2 Samuel 13. The number of young ladies, countless young ladies made to feel exactly like her after young men have had their way with them. And just understand that's how you'll be left feeling too. Now I'll just say this, I don't mention it often in sermons. In fact, I don't know that I ever have before. But one reason that we prefer courting at WCC is it put someone of significance and importance between every young man and every young lady And that's the young lady's father right that's parents, and it puts them in there puts the young men in there or puts a father in there For protection and so we prefer courting we recommend it here And I would just say if there's any young ladies who don't have a father in the picture for whatever reason then we'd consider a privilege to be able to provide an elder who would do his very best to act in that father's place and serve you and protect you in that way. Now, I'd like you to notice something that's strongly repeated toward the end of the chapter. Something that's very strongly repeated here. The theme of verses 22 to 27 is death. You cannot miss it. Death is the theme of verses 22 to 27. In verse 22, an ox goes to the slaughter, a deer in a trap. Verse 23, an arrow pierced in the liver, a bird in a snare. He didn't know it would cost him his life. Verse 26, she's slain many strong men. Verse 27, her house leads to hell, her chambers lead to death. You've got eight different references to death in four verses. Eight different references to death in four different verses. And so God really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wants us to recognize that giving into temptation or sinning results in what? Death. You guys didn't miss it. I heard one person say it and I thought it was pretty obvious. Giving into temptation or sin results in what? Death. God wants you to get that. I hope we will. And that brings us to lesson three on our bulletins. Lesson 3, Part 1, Sin Leads to Death. Lesson 3, Part 1 on our bulletin, Sin Leads to Death. I understand that I've mentioned this before. I go over my sermons enough times to know when I repeat myself. Sometimes when I suspect I might be repeating myself because I read out manuscripts for my sermons with all the words, I'll go back to a previous sermon, an earlier sermon two weeks ago, three weeks ago, sometimes even months ago, to see if I'm repeating myself, make sure that I'm not doing that. But the reason I'm telling you this is I do end up repeating myself at times. And the reason that I do often is because God has done what in his word? He's repeated himself. And if I'm going to preach expositionally, then I'm going to end up repeating myself because hopefully I'm being faithful to what scripture says. And if God has been repetitive, then I figure I should probably be repetitive. And God has been very repetitive here. He really wants us to understand in these final verses that sin leads to death. He repeats it a lot to us. Now let me briefly get you to think back to James 1, which led to this. Each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed, but we've moved past that. We have left James 1.14. This young man is no longer being tempted, he's no longer being drawn away, he's no longer being enticed. He's past James 1.14 and he's entered James 1.15, which says, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. And that's where this young man is. Now I've really tried to share the number of parallels between Proverbs 7 and James 1.14 and 15. Like I mentioned a few times, a number of commentators believe James actually wrote the words of James 1.14 and 15 with Proverbs 7 in mind. So I've tried to identify the parallels for you. And at the end of the chapter, this is the final parallel. So if you look in Proverbs 7.27 at the word death, you can write James 1.15. If you write in your Bible, you can circle the word death in Proverbs 7.27, and you can write James 1.15, where James says exactly what was gonna happen to this young man. James 1.15, it says, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it's full grown, it brings forth death. And I want to tell you something very interesting about this. In James 1.15, when you listen to that verse, when desire has conceived, gives birth to sin, sin when it's full grown brings forth death, you've got the language of conception. You've got the language of conception, and you've got the language of birth, of a child. And it's actually the same in Proverbs 7, because when the young man sinned with the harlot, what was one of the most obvious and natural results of that union? A child, right? There was a potential for that. That's what's in view. Conception and birth, a child. And so one of the reasons that a harlot might have been chosen as a picture of temptation is because when the young man sins with her, there's a potential for conception, there's a potential for birth, and there is a child that's produced from that union, but it's a hideous child. It is a hideous child. What child is produced from that union? Death. Just like James 1.15 says, that's the child produced. Death is the child produced by giving into temptation. It's the death produced, or it's a child produced by sin. It's described that way in James 115, and it's illustrated for us that way in Proverbs 7, verses 22 to 27. Now I had a whole bunch of commentators that had these phenomenal quotes explaining it probably way better than me, and I think I had initially seven quotations, and I narrowed it down to five, and then narrowed it down to three, and now I think I'm just gonna share one with you because my sermon was already fairly long. Just listen to this quote, please. This is Ellicott, and he said, Actually, here's one more. I like this one, too. The harlot draws away and entices the man. The sinful union is committed by willingly embracing the harlot. The consequence is that she bears sin, and then sin, when it's grown up, as if all along pregnant itself, brings forth death. And so the point is, when the young man joined himself to the harlot, they brought forth a child, and that child is death. And so when you think of this chapter, think of James 115, think of the young man and the harlot producing a hideous, Terrible, horrific child, and that child is death. Now before we move on, I want to be clear about two things. First, I want to be clear about a desire that I have for you as your pastor, and second, I want to be clear about a concern that I've had associated with this desire that I have for you as your pastor. I know that might sound slightly confusing, so let me try to explain a little bit. My desire as your pastor is to help you, or I suppose I could say help us, because I include myself in this, to develop a biblical worldview. I want us to have a biblical worldview. And all that means is I want us to see things biblically. I don't want us, I don't want us to see things the way the world see things. I don't want us to see things the way our flesh tempts us to see things. I don't want us to see things the way the devil tries to deceive us into seeing things. I want us to see things the way they're presented or the way that they're described in scripture. You could say I want us to see things biblically. So this is what I want us to have. I want us to have biblical views of marriage. I want us to have biblical views of parenting. I want us to have biblical views of finances, biblical views of trials, biblical views of finances, of salvation, the gospel, of Christ, of scripture, and the list could go on with all the different things that I want us to see biblically. And for this series on temptation, guess what I want us to see biblically? Temptation and sin, right? And what the Bible makes overwhelmingly clear is that giving in to temptation leads to death. You can see it extensively in those verses at the end of Proverbs 7, but there's a whole bunch of other verses in Proverbs about it. There's a whole bunch of other verses in Scripture saying that sin leads to death. Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. So I desire that we recognize giving into temptation leads to death, but now here's my concern. Here's my concern, thinking about being your pastor, and this desire that I have. I'm concerned that this sounds a little dramatic to you. I'm concerned that it sounds a little exaggerated to you. I'm concerned that you might be thinking, well, you're a pastor, you're teaching the Bible, so you're supposed to make temptation sound really serious, and so of course you're gonna tell us that sin leads to death, but to be honest, it seems a little heavy-handed. I suspect you might even be saying, I've given in to temptation and I'm still alive. It hasn't led to my death. And I want to be clear that I understand you possibly thinking this way. because when we think of sinning, we often think that it might cause what? We might think that it causes problems. We might think that it hurts people. We might think that it's something that we have to repent of. We might think of sin leading to some amount of guilt or shame or regret in our lives, but we probably don't often think of sin leading to death. Now, since my desire is for us to see things biblically, When we think of sin leading to death, or whether we think of that, or whether we think that sounds dramatic or exaggerated, we need to understand that the Bible is overwhelmingly clear that sin leads to death. It is completely, perfectly clear in Scripture that sin leads to death. And I think the reason why, and I include myself in this, that we tend to think that sin doesn't lead to death is we think only in terms of, and this is very important, physical death. We think only in terms of physical death. And let me be clear that, yes, sin can lead to physical death. This is a large part of the sermon that I took out. We see a number of examples of that in the Old and New Testaments where people sinned and it led to physical death. So I'm just going to give you a few names instead of the stories. Judah, his first two sons, Ur and Onan, committed sins that led to physical death. Nadab and Abihu, Nabal, Uzzah. When you read about the old and the young prophet, the young prophet, These are all people who committed sins that led to physical death. In the New Testament, who comes to mind when I talk about people sinning and it leads to death in the New Testament? A couple, probably off the top of your, Ananias and Sapphira experienced death as a result of their sin, and probably one of the most unique deaths, Herod had allowed people to worship him. In Acts 12, 23, it says, immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. That's what it says. Probably a way none of us would want to go, I'm sure. First Corinthians 1130, Stephen mentioned it during his communion devotional. It mentioned certain people dying because they were partaking of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. First John 5, 16 and 17, it discusses people sinning, I would assume in a deliberate, rebellious way that led to their death. And so we see support for it even in the epistles. So I think you see examples of people dying physically as a result of sin in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and I think it can happen today. So I just wanted to be clear about that. But considering we've all sinned and haven't died as a result of it yet, and considering we probably haven't seen anyone commit some sin and then die immediately as a result, it leads us to think that sin doesn't lead to physical death. Now here's the two important points that I want to make. First, sin does lead to physical death eventually, right? It's like Adam and Eve. They ate, they started dying physically, and they eventually died. And it's the same with us. Everyone that's followed them, we sin, we start dying, and then eventually we die. But the second and the equally important truth that we need to keep in mind is this. There are plenty of other deaths, besides just physical deaths, that can result or be a consequence of sin. There are plenty of other ways that sin produces death. in people's life other than physical death. And this brings us to the next part of the lesson. Lesson three, part one, sin leads to death. Part two, in all areas of our life. Lesson three, part one, sin leads to death. Part two, in all areas of our life. I feel like I want to lift the congregation out of a confidence or belief that sin leads to physical death. It does, but we need to think beyond that. We need to think about the other deaths that sin causes or leads to in our lives. And what kind of deaths would those be? Using the language of James 1.15, what kind of death is brought forth or birthed by sin? And it's plenty of deaths. It could be the death of your jaw. It could be the death of your health. And I mean, there's plenty of people, they aren't dead yet, but they have sinned and their health takes a toll as a result. It could be the death of your self-respect, your dignity. It could be the death of your marriage. It could be the death of your family. It could be the death of certain relationships in your life, relationships with your children, relationship with your parents, with your friends, with your neighbors, with your coworkers, relationships with people in the body of Christ. And the list could go on and on. Now I can't say that it's going to be the death of our salvation, because I don't think we can lose our salvation. But I can tell you that there's a death that sin causes that we probably don't think about enough. So please hear me when I say this. There's another death that sin causes, and it is the death of our sanctification. is the death of our sanctification. Sin kills our sanctification. Sin has the opposite effect on our sanctification. It reverses our sanctification. It makes us less like Christ. And so the point is, there's not one specific death that sin can lead to. It can lead to death in any number of ways. And so when you read this chapter and you see that language of death at the end, don't disregard it. Don't blow it off as being dramatic or exaggerated. Understand that it's not just talking about physical death. It's talking about death in any number of areas of our lives. that we can experience when we give in to sin. Spurgeon said, and I want to close this lesson with this quote, please listen, it's phenomenal. Spurgeon said, if you will not put sin to death, sin will put you to death. There is no alternative. If you do not die to sin, you shall die for sin. If you do not slay sin, sin will slay you. Let me say it one more time, the end of it in particular. If you do not die to sin, you shall die for sin. If you do not slay sin, sin will slay you. Now with all that said, I want to explain, transition a little bit in the sermon here to explain the title of the sermon. The title of the sermon is Balancing Sin, Death, and Forgiveness. Balancing Sin, Death, and Forgiveness. Because one of the real difficulties I found in preaching relates to balance. And I don't know if there's been certain truths in your life where you've tried to explain to people and you found the real difficulty associated with explaining those spiritual truths, very often when preaching, it's hard to find the right balance between spiritual truths. For example, whether it's faith and works, or for example, whether it's God's sovereignty and man's free will. And there's plenty of other examples that I could give you, and every time I do, it's very tempting to want to go off on one of those. detours and explain the difficulty associated with the balance. But for this series, I wouldn't just say for this sermon, but for this series, there's a balance that's very difficult to strike regarding temptation and sin, or it's been very difficult for me to strike, and it's this. I want to discourage you from sinning. I want to make temptation and sin sound very serious for what reason? Because it is, right? And I wanna make the consequences of sin sound very serious for what reason? Because they are. But at the same time, what do I know? What do I know? And we can be honest about this. I know that we're all gonna do what again? We're all gonna sin again. And when we do, I don't want you to feel completely what? Hopeless. I don't want you to feel completely defeated. I don't want you to feel condemned or worse. I don't want you to feel like there's no forgiveness for what you've done. I don't want you to feel like you're beyond the love of Christ, do you see the difficulty regarding trying to strike this balance? My wife has a joke when we were going over my sermon, she said, you should tell everyone, see how tough your job is. So I want you to know that there's mercy, that there's grace, that there's forgiveness, but even in this desire, I don't want to make you feel like you have license to sin. And here's the other difficulty. I want you to know there's forgiveness, I want you to know there's grace, I want you to know there's mercy, but I think I've told you before, I sat with people in my office, it's only happened a few times, And I've talked to people and said, this is sin. This is sin what you're doing, or this is sin what you're considering encouraging or allowing this other person to do. And people have said to me, well, isn't there what? Isn't there forgiveness? Isn't there grace? Isn't there mercy for doing these things? And so that's another tough balance. You wanna talk to people about grace and forgiveness and mercy, but you don't wanna start making them feel like they have license to sin. Like Paul says in Romans six, should we sin that grace might abound? And then what did he say? the strongest Greek negative for it. God forbid, God forbid that anyone would have that view. So it's very tough to find the right balance striking these truths, the balance between God's love and forgiveness and grace and mercy, and then His what? His justice, His wrath, His anger, His discipline. And I'll add this before I move on. It's hard for all of us because all of us are called to rightly do what with God's word. We're all called to rightly divide it. We're all called to encourage. We're all called to rebuke. We're all called to exhort. So I know that this is a challenge that's not just for me as your pastor, it's a challenge for all of us as we're teaching our children, as we're speaking to our friends, as we're dealing with our church family, we all find this challenge associated with trying to find the right balance. And as I thought about this sermon, here's two truths that we all know. We know that we've all sinned, and second, we all know that we're going to sin again. And my hope is this series will help us resist temptation, but I also know, like all of you know, that as long as we're on this side of heaven, none of us will ever perfectly resist temptation. All of us will give in to temptation, and sin again. And so for that reason, for the sake of the balance that I wanna strike, I wanna do two things. First, I wanna discuss what we should do when we do sin, because we're going to do it. And then second, I wanna discuss the hope that there is for us when we sin. Of course, I don't want any of us to sin, but when we do, I want us to know how to handle it, and I want us to know about the forgiveness and the mercy and grace that's available for the humble and repentant person. Now we've been talking about sin leading to death, and I chose this example for a number of reasons. If there was ever a sin, or I suppose I could say sins, that should have resulted in death, it was David's sin, or it was David's sins. Because according to God's law, David had committed two sins that should have resulted in death. You could say David had committed two sins that demanded death, according to God's law, serious sins, adultery and murder. And there's something else that made the, I mean, you don't have to be convinced that adultery and murder are terrible sins, but there's actually something that made those sins even worse in David's life, and it's his accountability, because he was the king of God's people. God had blessed him greatly. God had brought him out of that shepherd's field to make him the leader of his nation. And making him most accountable, there's something that David knew very, very well besides God, and it was God's what? It was God's law. It was God's law. David knew it. It was interesting when Nathan confronted David and gave him that idea of that sheep or the story about the sheep, and David said, let him repay fourfold, because David knew what God's law required. So even after his sin, it's not as though David had ever forgotten what God's law said. So consider these other examples of forgiveness and mercy, and you'll see what I mean about David's high accountability. The Ninevites were some of the wickedest people in the Old Testament. I don't even want to go into describing some of the horrific things that they did to others. And that's why Jonah was so upset about the Ninevites being forgiven for their sin. And when God wanted to rebuke the lack of compassion that Jonah was showing, God said in Jonah 4.11, should I not pity these people? that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons, and then this is why God said he should pity them, because they could not discern their right hand from their left. He was saying that they had lower accountability. We know Saul, before he became the apostle Paul, had been a terrible persecutor. the church. And interestingly, Paul described why he was shown such mercy from God. In 1 Timothy 1 13, Paul said, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. That's what Paul said. So you ever wonder, why was Paul able to get away? And I'm using the words get away loosely. Why was he able to get away with those terrible things he did? least part of the reason, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as Paul said, he did it ignorantly in unbelief. Jesus, he asked for the forgiveness of those who are crucifying him. Hard to imagine sins much worse than that, crucifying the Son of God. And when Jesus hung on the cross and was being crucified by these people, what did he say? Father, forgive them for They do not know what they're doing. They know not what they do. When Peter gave his second sermon in Acts 3, he told the Jews, you denied the Holy One and the Just One, referring to Jesus. You asked for a murder to be granted or given to you instead, referring to Barabbas. You killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which were witnesses. So he levies these terribly serious accusations against the Jews for what they did, and then right after that, he says, yet now, brethren, because he's a Jew and he's talking to Jews, and he says, yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in what? Does anyone know? You did it in ignorance. You did it in ignorance. You didn't know that you were crucifying the Son of God. As a result, there was lower accountability. I'm not defending, justifying what they did, but there was lower accountability. Now, the reason I'm mentioning all this, I hope, is obvious. Was David ignorant? there an amount of ignorance or unbelief associated with his sins? Did he not know what he was doing? Was he at all like the Ninevites? Was he at all like Saul before he became Paul? Was he at all like the Jews calling for Barabbas instead of Jesus? Was he at all even like those people who were crucifying Christ? And the answer is no, he was not like them. There was no ignorance that he was acting in, Regarding Davidson with Bathsheba, you could say that he was like the young man in Proverbs 7, because he was drawn away, he was enticed, it was a sin of passion, he was acting foolishly, he was caught up in the moment. I'm not defending it, but I'm just explaining this is what happened. He was tempted and he gave in. But when it came to Uriah, it was premeditated. It is probably one of the darkest stories in the entire Old Testament as he planned this honorable man's death, writing a letter that he had Uriah himself carry to the battle. It ended up being killed. You read it and you almost can't believe it's heartbreaking to think that David did something like that. So there was no ignorance, there was no unbelief. David should not have been shown mercy is the point I'm trying to make. He should not have been shown mercy. He should not have been forgiven. We're talking about sins leading to death, and if there's any sins that should have led to death, if anyone's sins ever should have led to death, it was David's. And this is why 2 Samuel 12, it contains one of the most gracious and wonderful moments in scripture. Nathan the prophet confronted David with his sin, and please listen to this. Second Samuel 12, 13, after Nathan told David, you are the man who has done these things. Listen to these words. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. I have sinned against the Lord. We're all going to give in to temptation. And when that happens, this is what we should do. And this brings us to our last lesson, lesson four. Lesson four, part one. When we sin, we should humble ourselves and confess. When we sin, we should humble ourselves and confess. When we sin, we should humble ourselves and confess. Those six words, I have sinned against the Lord, six short words, that phrase just filled with tremendous application for us about confession and humility. This is how we should respond when we sin. We should confess it like David did. We should call it what it is. What did he call it? I have sinned. He called it sin. He acknowledged who he had sinned against. I mean, a lot of people that David had hurt, a huge number of people. I mean, that's why one of his closest friends and greatest advisors, Ahithophel, turned against him. But he said, I have sinned against the Lord, so we should acknowledge who our sin is against. Did David make any excuses? Did David shift blame? Did he justify our excuse of sin? Not at all. No excuses, no blame shifting, and that's how we should confess our sin. And then listen to these amazing words from Nathan. Listen to these amazing words. Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. Now, it is almost hard for me as your pastor to find the words to capture the greatness of what Nathan said to David. These words might not seem that tremendous upon first reading or upon first hearing, but let me ask you this. How many sacrifices had David made for his sins? How many offerings had David brought to God for his sins? Any idea? None. Not one sacrifice, not one offering, despite the enormity the terrible enormity of David's sins despite the wickedness of it, despite the complete absence of any work or effort on David's part to see his sins forgiven. If anything, all he had been doing for the last possibly year was what in regards to his sin? You could sum it up in one word, hiding. Hiding. That's all he'd been doing for months, probably a whole year. And I want to be clear about why David didn't give God any sacrifices or offerings. Now, you might say, well, that's because he was hiding his sin. He was denying it. That's true. And you might say, well, Nathan just confronted him, so he didn't have any time to offer sacrifices or offerings. That's true, but Nathan could have told him to offer a sacrifice. Nathan could have told him to bring God an offering. Or David could have done it later, simply. He could have just offered one on his own. But we know for a fact he didn't. And we know for a fact that David didn't offer any sacrifices to God for a certain reason that he wrote about. And it's this. He knew that his sacrifices and his offerings would not provide forgiveness for what he did. This is not my opinion. Let me say it one more time. David knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that any sacrifices or offerings he brought to God would not provide for his forgiveness. Listen to these words that he wrote in his great psalm of repentance, Psalm 51. He says, Psalm 51, 16, you do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it. You do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it. I would have brought that to you if that's what you wanted. You do not delight in burnt offering. David said, you don't want a sacrifice or I would have provided it. You don't want an offering or I would have given that to you. David knew that there was no animal sacrifice that he could give. He knew there was no offering he could provide that would please God and make up for the sins that he had committed. And so despite the terrible sins that David had committed, he was still one of the most spiritually-minded men in the Old Testament. We might lose sight of this sometimes, especially when we're in the middle of this discussion about what he had done, but David had a tremendous insight into God. He was one of the most spiritually-minded men. The illumination that God had given him of spiritual matters was tremendous. There's truths that he understood in the Old Testament that were later revealed in the New Testament. He understood aspects of the New Testament before it was even written in the Old Testament. And one of the things that he understood was that no sacrifices could take away sins. Hebrews 10.4 and Hebrews 10.11 both state, it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. And David knew that. that say nothing about forgive sin, they can't even take away sin. But please listen to me carefully when I say this. David knew there was a sacrifice. David knew there was a sacrifice he could provide. He knew there was a sacrifice, there was an offering that he could bring to God that would please him, that God would accept, that God would desire, and he discussed it in the very next verse. Psalm, right after talking about the sacrifices that God didn't want, Psalm 51, 17, he says, the sacrifices of God, or the sacrifices that God does want or would want, are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, oh God, you will not despise. or these you will accept. And so David knew this is what God wanted, this kind of humility, this kind of brokenness, this kind of contriteness, this is what God would accept. He knew that all he could do was humble himself, confess his sin, there was no animal that he could slaughter and bring to God as a result. And when he did this, when he humbled himself and when he confessed his sin like this, it took away even the most horrific sins that he had committed. First John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, here's what's beautiful. The truth of 1 John 1-9 has always been at work, even in the Old Testament, even under the Old Covenant, because forgiveness has always been the same, whether it's Old Testament, New Testament, whether it's Old Covenant, New Covenant, forgiveness has always come from humbling ourselves, confessing our sin, and that's what David did. And when he did, he's able to hear those tremendous words from Nathan, the Lord has put away your sin. Or the NIV and NES, the Lord has taken away your sin. Now to be clear, we know forgiveness is ultimately accomplished through the work of Christ on the cross. And I want to tell you something else that's really amazing about these words that Nathan spoke to David. Even those words that Nathan spoke foreshadow Christ, or they prefigure what Christ was going to accomplish, and this brings us to the rest of lesson four. On your inserts, lesson four, part one, I'm sorry, I keep saying inserts. I need to break that habit. It's not on your insert, it's on your bulletin. I'm sorry that I keep saying insert. I mean your bulletin. And if you're with us in future weeks when I keep saying insert, I mean bulletin. Lesson four, part one, when we sin, we should humble ourselves and confess. Part two, receiving the forgiveness found in Christ. Part two, receiving the forgiveness found in Christ. Nathan told David, the Lord has taken away your sin. I just read Hebrews 10.4 and 10.11, which says, it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. So just follow me on this, please. Nathan said, the Lord has taken away your sin. Hebrews 10.4 and 10.11, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. But when John the Baptist saw Jesus, and this is how beautifully Nathan's words prefigured Christ, John 1.29, John said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. First John 3, 5, Jesus was manifested to take away our sins. All this being prophesied, even in the Old Testament, even when these sacrifices and offerings were being brought to God, Isaiah 53, 11, He shall bear their iniquities. He bore the sin of many. Because if any Old Testament sacrifices had ever been able to take away sin or forgive sin, then what would have been completely unnecessary? The sacrifice of Christ or the cross, right? So please don't miss this. When Nathan spoke to David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, something truly amazing happened. You've got sins that should have led to death, and please follow me on this. Sins that should have led to death, but instead they received what? They received grace, they received mercy, they received forgiveness, and that's Christ. You're getting a beautiful glimpse, you're getting a wonderful foreshadowing, and I don't want you to miss it. Of the New Testament and the Old Testament, you're getting a window into the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness of the New Covenant while under the Old Covenant. You're getting to see what Christ was going to accomplish on the cross and taking away and forgiving even the worst sins, like what? Adultery and murder. Because David did what? Because David had brought all these sacrifices to God, because of all the wonderful offerings that David had provided, because of all of David's penance, all of the Our Fathers and Hail Marys that he had said to receive forgiveness because of all the effort and works he'd went through for that past year to earn his forgiveness? No, he'd done nothing more. It's practically like the thief on the cross when he confesses this sin and then he receives that kind of grace and mercy. is because of his humility, his confession. And amazingly, even though David's sins demanded death, there's something else he found. He found life. Nathan was able to tell David the second half of the verse, you shall not die. You shall not die. And those words actually mean something. Those words mean that David was going to what? Why would Nathan say you're not going to die, except that David was going to die for his sins? And if you read about it in Psalm 32, I don't know how much longer he would have lasted. And you don't have to turn there right now, but as David described what was taking place physically in his body, as it was wasting away and deteriorating things, he described experiencing and feeling in his own bones. Who knows how much longer he would have made it. I mean, he died at 70, which was a relatively young age in the Old Testament, showing that his sin had definitely taken its toll on him. But when David was told, you shall not die, it means you were gonna die, but now you won't. God has chosen to have mercy on you and let you live. The old covenant, the law, the Mosaic law, demanded of David the same thing that always demands, and what's that? I mean, as you read the law in Leviticus, or you read the Mosaic law, what's the consequence? What is it always demanding as a result of violations? Death, death. David's sins demanded death. But amazingly, he was able to find life. And let me conclude with this. When we give in to temptation, which will end up happening. Let me give you two encouragements that we can learn from David. First, respond like David did. Be honest, be humble, confess your sin, don't try to hide it. I mean, the toll that was being taken on David's body as he tried to hide his sin over those months, which you can't tell what's happening in 2 Samuel 11, but you can tell when you read Psalm 32 and some other places. I'm not looking for a show of hands, but how many of you have experienced that wasting away when you've sinned, and you tried to hide your sin, and you keep it in your heart, and you know that God just wants you to do what with it? Just confess it and be free of it so that he can take it away. That you would repent, that with humility you would confess it and make no excuses, no blame shifting, and just say, I've sinned against you. I've sinned against you in doing this. And second, be encouraged by the reality that just as freely, just as freely as David received what? Forgiveness and mercy from God. We can freely receive that same forgiveness through Christ. The forgiveness and mercy that David knew when he sinned, it's the same forgiveness and mercy that we can know when we sin. You see the tough balance? Do you see the tough balance to strike with God's Word? What I want more than anything is you know, a saved congregation that resists temptation, resists sin. But I know we will sin. I know that it's going to happen as long as we're on this side of heaven. And when we do, I just want us to know that there's grace, there's forgiveness, there's mercy from the Lord through Christ and what he's done for us. Here's the beautiful balance that scripture strikes much better than I ever could. This is the balance. It's found in this one verse. I don't even need to explain it because of how beautifully this balance is pictured. Romans 6, 23. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We're gonna sin, we're gonna experience physical death as a result, but we don't have to experience eternal death as a result. Because of Christ's work on the cross, because of the greatness of that sacrifice, God is able to forgive the most terrible sins, like adultery and like murder. He's able to save the most terrible sinners like David and like Go like this, like me, like us. If you've never surrendered your life to Christ, or if you're struggling for some reason with whether you're truly forgiven, or perhaps you're struggling with whether God really loves you because of something that you've done, Pastor Doug and I will be up front after service. We would count it a real privilege to be able to speak with you. If you're new here, we'd love the opportunity to talk to you. So any way for us to pray with you or pray for you, we'd count it a privilege. Come forward to see us, please.