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I want to preach today to you
on something, I guess, a little difficult for us. I want to preach
on sin for a few minutes. Sister Janie said it so well.
Maybe really that's where I'm headed at. I don't know, Sister
Janie. I think it is. I just want to
make this clear to all of us today. We all wrestle with sin. Every one of you sins. The preacher
behind the pulpit sins. Amen. Is that not so? I mean,
we're still in the flesh and before, most likely before this
day is out, you'll sin some way or another. Isn't that how it
is? John said this, if we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
you were to stand up and say, Preacher, you're wrong, I don't
have any sin in my life, you would either be deceiving yourself
and you'd be lying. That's just how it is. If we
confess our sins as faithful and just forgive, verse number
10, that's verse 9, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
We make him a liar and his word's not in us. If you say you've
not sinned, you're making God's word a liar and the truth's not
in you. And that's just, that's how it
is. So this thing of sin's important
for every one of us. We're going to look at King David
who committed a terrible sin. You might say it's a terrible
sin. But I don't want to think of one sin in particular. I want
us to look at sin in the whole. Brother Allen, sin, the Bible
says if you're guilty in one point, you're guilty of all.
That's what it says. And James, I know that's a rather
unusual scripture when you start thinking about what's being said
there. But I want us to think about
sin in our lives. Every one of us wrestled with
it. We're going to read about a man who had a heart that was
after God. A man after God's own heart is
what the Bible says. You would think a man after God's
own heart was above sin. That's what you would think.
But can I tell you, he failed. He messed up. And you may be
sitting on the pew and think, I would never do this, or I would
never do that. Save for the grace of God, you're
not above doing anything. That's exactly right. And even
being saved, you're still saved for the grace of God. Even as
a saved man, boy, girl, or woman, you're still subject to sin in
your life. And so I want to look at this
fellow who sinned and really what I want to do is see the
solution for it. What did he do? How was it corrected? And really that's where I'm headed
at. And so we're going to talk about
sin for just a little bit and I'm going to begin reading. I'll
tell you what I'd like to do. I'd like to pray first and then
I'll read and we'll get right into the message. Our dear Heavenly
Father, I sure do appreciate the good spirit that you've That's
been here this morning. Your presence that I've sensed
and the good singing, Father. No doubt the good Sunday school
classes like ours this morning. Father, I ask you if you would
now that you'd just help me to preach in a way to be helpful
to your people. Father, I ask you, Lord, if you
would to just help me be your mouthpiece. do in this service
today what needs doing and lord, we'll just thank you for it and
praise you for it. I love you. Thank you for Calvary.
Thank you for coming where it wasn't saving me one day. Now, father, please be glorified
out of the preaching. We'll thank you and praise you
for all you do. In Alright, chapter 11, verse number
1, the Bible says this, and it came to pass, after the year
was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that
David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and
they destroyed the city of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David
tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an evening
tide, that David arose from off his bed, walked upon the roof
of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing
herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David
sent and inquired after the woman, and one said, Is not this Bathsheba
the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David
sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and
he lay with her. For she was purified from her
uncleanness, and she returned unto her house. The woman conceived
and sent, and told David, and said, I am with child. And David
sent to Joab, saying, Send me, you ribe, the Hittite. And Joab
sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto
him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people
did, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, Go down
to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the
king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of
the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went
not down to his house. And when they had told David,
saying, Uriah, went not down unto his house, David said unto
Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? Why then didst thou
not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said unto David, The
ark, and Israel and Judah abide in tents, and my Lord Joab and
the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields, shall I then
go into mine house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my
wife as I livest, and as I so livest, I will not do this thing.
David said, Uriah, tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will
let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that
day and the morrow. And when David had called him,
he did eat and drink before him, and he made him drunk. And at
even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his
Lord, but went not down to his house. And it came to pass in
the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it
by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter saying,
Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retire
ye from him that he may be smitten and die. And it came to pass
when Joab observed the city that he assigned Uriah to a place
where he knew that valiant men were. And the men of the city
went out and fought with Joab, and there fell some of the people
of the servants of David, and Uriah the Hittite died also. Then Joab sent and told David
all things concerning the war. and charged the messenger, saying,
When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of war unto
the king, if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto
thee, Wherefore approach ye so nigh unto the city, when ye did
fight, know ye not that they would shoot from the wall Let
me read that verse again. And if so be that the king's
wrath arise. And he's saying to thee, Wherefore
approach ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? Knew
ye not that they would shoot from the wall? Who smote Abimelech
the son of Jerubaseth? Did not a woman cast a piece
of a millstone upon him from the wall that he died? And Thebes,
why went ye nigh unto the wall? Then say thou, thy servant, you
rob the Hittite is dead also. So the messenger went and came
and shook David all that Joab had sent him for. And the messenger
said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came
out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the
entering of the gate. and the shooter shot from off
the wall upon thy servants, and some of the king's servants be
dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. Then David said unto the messenger,
Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease
thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another. Make
thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it, and
encourage thou him. And when the wife of Uriah heard
that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
And when the morning was past, David sent and fetched her to
his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. I want you to notice this last
phrase of chapter 11. But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord. Let's look in chapter 12. And
the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him, and said
unto him, There were two men in one city, the one rich, the
other poor. The rich man had exceeding many
flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little
ewe lamb, which he had bought and nursed up, and it grew up
together with him with his children. It did eat of his own meat, drank
of his own cup, laid in his own bosom, and was unto him as a
daughter. There came a traveler unto the
rich man, and he aspired to take of his own flock and of his own
herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him, but
took the poor man's lamb. dressed it for the man that was
come to him. And David's anger was greatly
kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord
liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die,
and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this
thing, and because he had no pity. Verse number 7, listen
to what the old preacher had to say. And Nathan said to David,
Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul. I gave thee thy master's house,
thy master's wives, and to thy bosom. gave thee the house of
Israel and of Judah, and if that had been too little, I would
moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore
hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his
sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword, hast taken his wife to be thy wife, hast slain
him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Notice what the man
of God said in verse 10, Now therefore the sword shall never
depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and hast
taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine
house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes, and give them
unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight
of this sun. For thou didst secretly, I will
do this thing before all Israel and before the Son. And David
said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan
said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, I want
to stop reading. I know that was quite lengthy
this morning, but I felt like it was necessary. And so I want
to talk about sin in the life of the believer this morning. look at, it's some things that
happened before he sinned. You see, sin doesn't just come
up and happen. Most of the time, and I don't
know, I'd like to say 100% of the time, I don't know if that's
so or not, but a big portion of the time, I'd like to say
at least 99% of the time, that sin is conceived in the mind
before it's carried out in action. I'd like to say that. And so
we're going to see that. I want you to notice some things
about David's life. It should have been a red flag
that I'm going down the wrong road. That I'm getting a little
bit sideways on God. committed this great sin, there
were some indicators. And I know this is, for you Bible
students, it's just repeating what you already know, but I
think it's important that we refresh our memory from time
to time. In verse number 1 of chapter
11, I want you to look at some things that he forsook in his
life. Some things that were in his
life, but he let them slip away. And so many times I think we
do the same thing today. In 2 Samuel 11 verse 1, the Bible
says this, And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at
the time when kings go forth to battle. Now King David was
a king, and the time came that kings go forth to battle. He's the king of God's people,
the king of Israel. It's time for him to get in the
fight. get in the spiritual battle,
it's time to go to the battlefield, it's time to engage himself in
warfare. And I want you to notice what
he did. You would say a man after God's own heart, he'd get himself
ready, he'd get the army gathered up, he'd gather everybody together
and off to the battlefield he would go. But that's not what
we see here. I want you to notice what the
Bible says. At the time when kings go forth
to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and
all Israel. They destroyed the children of
Ammon, but seized Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. Very unassuming verse. David just tarried at Jerusalem
while everybody else was fighting the Lord's battle, David decided
to take it easy. While David had the God-given
responsibility to lead the children of Israel and to step up and
be on the battlefield, he decided, no, I'm not going. That reminds
me of a lot of God's people today. Really good people, not caught
up in sin per se, but they have decided, I'm backing out of the
spiritual fight. Serving God is just too hard. It's just too much. It just wears
me down. I'm just going to back off for
a little while. I'm going to take it easy. I'm going to get
out of the fight. for a little while. You see,
David, he forsook his God-given duty. And a lot of God's people
have done that same thing today. He's still not sinned at this
point, the sin we're going to see. He's not committed that
great sin, but he has sinned by being neglectful of what God
wanted him to do. I'm afraid we're living in a
time where many of God's children are neglectful of what God wants
out of their life. And I don't know what God wants.
I say that to you all the time. Some, I think He wants them to
be prayer warriors. Some, I think He wants them to
Just be faithful to the house of God and support the man of
God and support the church and sing in the choir and do those
things. I believe that. I believe that's
what God has for some of his people. Just to be good, faithful
church members. serving Him. For some, He wants
to be Sunday school teachers and singers and deacons. Whatever
God has for you, whatever your God-given duty is, when you forsake
that, when you say, Hey, I'm not going to do that. I'm going
to stay home. I'm going to stay away from the
battle. I want to rest and take it easy. Can I tell you? You're
headed down the wrong road today. You're headed down the wrong
road today. So he forsook his duty. He forsook the battlefield. I
could say this, he forsook his spiritual work ethic. And I want to be careful that
I'm not too harsh on David. Can I just give you this disclaimer
before I go on? He is a much better man than
any of us in here. As far as I'm concerned, I couldn't
even dust his shoes off. I'm not belittling the man of
God. He just made some mistakes like we all do along life's way. He just messed up. And my, he's
no less flesh than we are. In fact, we're probably more
carnal than David was. But he stayed out of the battle
and he forsook. And maybe there was just a little
bit of slothfulness that came in his life. Maybe a little bit
of laziness. Maybe he just thought, hey, this
thing of us winning, he just took it for granted. I don't
know what it was. The Bible doesn't tell us what
was going on in his mind. But some of these things had
to be. Had to be happening in his mind. He stayed away from
the battle. And I just like to say this,
I wonder how many God's people has found themselves caught up
in sin because they stayed away from the house of God. And they
didn't get around good sound preaching, good sound teaching,
good godly people that challenged their lives. And they just began
to get cold on God. And because they weren't where
they were supposed to be, the devil took advantage of that
and tempted them and put them in a temptation and they failed. I just wonder about that. Today,
they're saved people, sure as I'm standing in this pulpit,
saved people and really deep in their heart, they love the
Lord. They love the Lord, but they're not in church today.
They're not hearing a message from a man of God. They're not
being challenged. They're not being given truth
that they can lean on when the devil comes to them and tempts
them. They're out and away from the battlefield. And that's where
David was. I see he forsook his fellowship
with the mighty men. I'm going to tell you what will
happen. I'll tell you what will help you to get around godly
people. Godly people will challenge you.
It'll pull you up. It'll strengthen you. I say this
example to you many times. Have you ever watched one of
those National Geographic's and the lines charging the day? Our
adversary, the devil's like a roaring lion. You know what that lion
does? He charges that pack of antelope or deer or whatever
it is. He'll charge and swerve away.
And then he'll come back and he'll charge again, and what
he's wanting is the little scared one to run off to itself. And
when the devil catches that little one off to itself, away from
the herd or away from the pack, what he does is attack that little
one who doesn't have those others around. Have you ever seen that?
Have you ever seen that some way or another, maybe on the
television or whatever, in school or something like that? That's
how it works. That's how the devil works on
God's people. He gets them off to themselves.
He gets them away from the church, away from God's people, away
from those that can encourage them and challenge them and help
them along the way. And he gets them off to themselves
and then he attacks. That's what he did to David.
That's how he was working. So David's here. He's forsook
his duty. He's forsook the battlefield.
He's forsaken his work ethic. He's forsaken his fellowship.
I could say he's forsaken his self-discipline and the temperance
in his life. But not only this, I see his
focus has changed. His focus has changed. Here's
a man who's after God's own heart, but his focus is not on God now. Oh, see, now it's went from his
outward responsibilities and duties, now it's went to the
inside. It's went to the inside. I could
ask you this morning, what is your focus? Is it on God? Is your focus on God this morning? Is it on your Creator? Is it
on the One that saved you? Oh my! Here's David, his focus
is not on God. Fact of the matter is, his focus
is not on the adversary. He's not even concerned about
the enemy on the battlefield. He's not concerned about God's
people, whether they're... His focus is not on them, whether
they're in danger, whether they're being defeated. He's not praying
for them. He's not concerned. His focus
is on Himself. His focus is on himself. It's
not on the work of God. It's on the things that please
His flesh. He's resting. He's taking a nap. He sleeps all the way to evening
time, it says. That's up in the evening. He's
taking a nap at 5, 4, 5, 6 o'clock in the evening. He's getting
up off the bed. I understand maybe a little nap
in the middle of the day or something if you just wore out, but taking
a nap before bedtime? I mean, I don't know. Maybe he's
been in the bed all day. I don't know. But I do know He's
about resting. He's about pampering His flesh. He's about taking care of what
makes Him feel good. That's where His focus is at.
And of course, He's focused on rest. He's focused on another
man's wife. He's focused on ungodly thoughts. We see all of that. He's not
sinned yet. He's just thinking about it.
He's just entertaining the idea. He's just rolling it over in
his mind right now, like most sinners do. And so we see he
has forsaken the godly things in his life and he's focused
in on himself. We live in a selfish world. We
really do. It's not about sinners and strugglers
anymore. It's about us. My four and no
more is the philosophy of this world. You know I'm telling you
right. How much time if you give to
trying to help some poor sinner? How long will I sway this way?
How much time in prayer have you been begging God, just begging
God, move on the hearts? Some say, you don't have time
because you're too busy with your time and I'm too busy with
my time. Listen, when I'm preaching to
you, I could sit down and you could preach to me this morning.
We're all in the same boat in this thing. We're really, we
just, our time is consumed with taking care of ourselves and
no one else. Well, amen. I mean, that's a
hard thing to say to the group of people I love dearly, but
that's so. That's where we're at. Well,
what have you done? I say this sometimes, but what
have you done today? Everything that's been done,
it's about ourselves and how it helps us and what we've accomplished
for us. My, that's not the Christian
life. Our focus ought not be on us,
it ought to be on sinners. Our focus ought to be on the
Savior. Our focus ought to be on them struggling saints. They're just on the fence, they
could go either way. No, we're so focused on self. So focused on us that we can't
help others. That's where David's at. Now
he's not seeing yet. He's sideways now. But he's not seeing yet. His
focus is off. He's just forsaken the godly
things in his life. And then I want you to notice
this. He failed, and I've already said this. I want you to notice
his follow-up. He entertained those thoughts
for a while, but then he put those thoughts into action. He
put those thoughts into action. He did not deny himself. Hey, can I just stop and say
this? You have a flesh, and we've talked
about it. Me and Brother Bud talked about
it again yesterday. Bud brought it up in the prior
breakfast. We've got a flesh that's the
enemy of God. Let me just stop and say, if
I were to say to you, if you were to say to me, if you were
to accuse me of being the enemy of God, you would offend me. But our flesh is at enmity with
God. But Steve, even now in your saved
state, your flesh hates the things of God. Oh my, isn't that something
that hurts us? And my flesh hates the things
of God and your flesh hates the things of God. And we have to
put the flesh down and bring it into subjection. And we have
to, through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within
us, we bring the flesh in line to the obedience of the commands
of the Word of God. That's what we must do. And if
we kick out of gear, put our flesh in neutral like King David
did, we're headed on a downhill spiral. That's how it is. And so here, here he is, he's
lost his, he's forsaken his godly duties, he's focused on himself
and the desires of his flesh and what will satisfy the flesh
and now he's thought on those things and he begins to carry
out those deeds. He follows up and he, instead
of denying self and denying the flesh, he indulges the flesh. And can I say, that ought to
be in a red flag. If you're selfish, if you're
self-centered, that ought to be a red flag to you. You're
headed for trouble, spiritually speaking. You're headed for trouble. My, if you're forsaken the things
of God and the work of God and the battlefield of God, can I
tell you, that ought to red flag you and say, hey, something's
got to change or I'm going to get in trouble down the road.
But that's where he was. And sure enough, he followed
through with the desires of his heart. David, while others are
fighting the good fight, he finds himself in the wrong place, focused
on the wrong things, fellowshipping with the wrong people, and finally
commits a sin that will affect his life forever. I guess what I'm saying, prior
to sin, God sends us some warning signs in our life to help us.
And my, we need to ask God to help us. And when we catch ourselves
in those situations, what do you do? You repent. You just
tell God, God, I've been idle. I've forsaken the battlefield. I've forsaken the house of God.
I've forsaken the people of God. I've forsaken Bible study. I've forsaken prayer. Oh God,
would you help me before I get in trouble? We see that, our focus, when
it becomes self-centered. Oh, there's nothing, there's
nothing I struggled with more. Well, maybe a few things, but
it really bothered me when my children would be, when they
were little, and they would be selfish. I did not like selfishness. I just didn't like it, brother
Steve. It bothered me. When they wouldn't share, when
they had more than other kids had and wouldn't share with them
and wouldn't be good to them, that bothered me. And when you
and I, when we become selfish and our life's all about us,
was. Ah, there's something bad wrong.
It's where David was. Well, what happened? What happened? By the way, let me say this to
you. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also I'm just telling you, preacher, I'm going down
the wrong road. I may sin. I don't care. Hey,
can I tell you? You'll reap whatever you sow. You'll reap. Have you ever planted
a garden and you sowed one or two grains? Can I say this? On
a normal harvest, you'll always reap more than you sow. That's
right. Here's what a lot of preachers
say. It's been so commonplace. They say this sin will always
cost you more than you want to pay. Isn't that so? Isn't that so? Here's David. He's going to trade one night
of pleasure for a troubled life the rest of his life. Brother
Steve, how sad. How sad that is. Well, here he
is. He's still not sinned yet. He's just got the warning signs. He's just getting set up to be
tempted so he will sin. And so we see not only that, We see His personal response
to His actions. He goes and He gets the girl,
He gets Bathsheba to commit sin with her. They're going to have
a baby and here's what you would think would happen. You would
think a man after God's own heart would immediately go to God and
say, Hey, I've messed up. God, I've sinned. Lord, I don't
know. I don't know what to do but come
to you and ask you to forgive me for it. You'd think that's
what David would do. That's what I would have thought.
You would have thought he might have done like Peter and immediately
went out and wept bitterly. That's what I'm thinking. Here's
a man after God's own heart and he messes up, and you and I would
have thought he'd just go to God and cast himself at the mercy
of God immediately. Before anything else, without
anybody coming to him, without any kind of prompting by anybody
or anything, he'd have just went to God. He'd have just started
weeping and been broken for the sin he'd done. You would have
thought that. I would have thought that. But I want you to notice how
he responded. He didn't do that. You would
have thought he had repented and said, Oh God, I messed up. You would have thought that.
But he didn't. What was David's response to
his sin? Can I tell you what he did? He
tried to cover it up. This is a saved man. This is
a child of God, a man at the God's own heart, the man God
chose to be king over his children, over his nation Israel. And he
sinned. And instead of just admitting
and being honest, his pride, I guess it's pride, I don't know
why people cover up sin unless it's pride, his pride got the
best of him. And here's what he said, I'm
going to hide this. I'm going to hide it so nobody
will know. Nobody will know what I've done.
And he starts thinking, what am I going to do? How am I going
to do it? I know, I'll call Uriah, her husband, back from the battlefield
and let him spend some time at home and that'll take care of
the problem. That's what I'll do. He had a
plan. Hey, can I tell you something? He was more concerned about what
people thought than what God thought. That's right. That's where he was. He cared
more about what people thought than what God thought. Isn't
that where we're at? Don't we care more what people
think than God thinks? That's where he's at. What a
sad situation. I want to say this, if you care
more what people think, what God thinks, you're sideways.
You're sideways. Really? And I understand our
influence and our testimony is important. I understand all that.
I'm not trying to belittle that. But when you put more emphasis
on what people think and what God thinks, you missed it. And you're going to do the wrong
thing. You will do the wrong thing in your life when you put
more emphasis on what people think than what God thinks. Well,
here's where he's at. He's dealing with his sin and
his method of dealing with his sin. I'm covering it up. I'm
not letting anybody know. I'm going to bring you right
back. And so he brings you right back.
And here's what he says when he brings you right back. How's
the war going? I'm putting it in my own words,
but that's what he said. How's the war going? How's everybody
firing up on the battlefield? You know what? He's being deceptive. He didn't care about the war,
brother Steve. He didn't bring you right back
to question him about the war. He brought you right back to
cover up his sins. And now he's acting like he's
interested. There's a lot of folks in the
house of God like that. I'm not saying it here. I'm not
saying it down at the church down the road. I'm just saying
there's a lot of folks in this thing we call Christianity and
really all they're doing, they're putting on a pretense like they're
concerned. They're putting on preaching.
Maybe some here. And I guess we've all been guilty
of that along the way. I'd say we have from time to
time. Act like we're interested in
the spiritual warfare that's going on. We care about those
that's battling. And the fact of the matter is
we don't care at all. We're just concerned about ourselves. That's where David was. He brings
you right back and he's going to start adding to his sins now.
He has hypocrisy. He's going to cover up, cover
up his sins. Then he brings Uriah back, and
that's his plan, to cover him up. You know the story. He even gets Uriah drunk, so
he's got the sin of drunkenness on his hands now. And my, we
could just talk on that progress. By the way, if you don't deal
with sin in your life, can I tell you what will happen? He'll just
get bigger and bigger. Sin don't ever stay the same. It grows,
it's like cancer. It grows and it grows. That's
why you have to repent, get right with God, get out of your life.
Because if you don't, it'll grow. You ever seen people start neglecting
the house of God? It starts usually on Wednesday
nights. Now you folks been in church
20, 30 years, you know this is right. It'll start on Wednesday
night. And it won't start, they won't just start missing all
at one time. They'll just miss once every now and then. Once
every now and then, once every now and then. And then it'll
be half the Wednesday nights. And then it'll be all the Wednesday
nights. And then it'll be the Wednesday nights and the Sunday
night every now and then. You know where I'm going, don't
you? For long, the house of God. It progresses, it grows. I had
a, well maybe I'll not say it, but I had some relatives who
were alcoholics. And can I tell you, it started,
Brother Steve. I asked him the first time I
ever saw him drunk. He was throwing up on his porch.
I asked him after he got sobered up, I said, what in the world
was wrong with you last night? And here's what he said, I was
just having a good time with my friends. It was a weekend
thing, just going to go out and drink with my friends on weekends.
Well, to make a long story short, it got where he was drinking
every night, not just on weekends. And it wasn't just a beer or
two, at first it was just a beer or two, then it was a six-pack
a night. And it even got to the point
where he told me once, he said, Wayne, I drank a whole case of
beer and it didn't even affect my driving. What he said to me,
like it was really something. Really, really manly or something
like that. And what happened, it kept growing,
kept growing. I know I've told you this story a hundred times.
One morning I sat in my house and he called me up and he was
weeping. And he said this. He'd went on from alcohol to
he'd mixed some drugs with it. And he said this. He said, Wayne,
I won't quit and I can't and I need help. I need help. He'd come, you know what happened,
sin got a hold of his life. He'd start out and he'd progress,
and he'd progress, and he'd progress, and he had control way back here.
He could've stopped. He had the ability to, but he
was enjoying it too much. But come down here. and had a
holt on him. He couldn't get loose. Sin progresses. David committed adultery, but
then that wasn't it. That wasn't all of it. Next thing he did, he became
deceptive. He played the hypocrite. He acted
like everything was alright. It just kept growing. And then
he was deceitful, and then drunkenness come in his life. You put the bottle to his brother's
lips, let me say it that way. and drunkenness became part of
his guilt. And so I'm saying to you today,
here's David and we see this sin, it's just getting bigger
and bigger and bigger. The preacher wants the answer.
What do you do? I'm going to tell you what you've
got to do. You've got to ask Him to forgive you. Hey, hey,
let me read you what first. Aren't you glad we've got a way
to be forgiven? Aren't you glad if you mess up
it's not over? Oh, that's so sweet to me. I've
made such a blunder out of my life. I still blunder. I still, my tongue gets the best
of me sometimes. I'm not talking about cursing.
I'm just talking about saying things in the wrong spirit. In
an old ungodly spirit. Maybe just a hateful attitude. Things like that. But I'm glad
when I do that, I've got a way to get forgiveness. Aren't you?
I'm glad I can get forgiveness. Here's what it says in 1 John
1 verse 9. If we confess our sins, What
do you have to do? You just have to admit you sinned.
I'm telling you, you just gotta admit, hey, I messed up. We're
gonna say that's what David does in a little while. He just, over
in Psalm 51, he just said, God, I've messed up, and I need you,
I need you to help me. And my, that's what we've got
to do. Let me see if I can get through verse nine. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just, that he might. He'll forgive
you. No, no, no, no. That there's
a possibility He'll forgive you. No, no, no, a thousand times
no. We confess our sins, He's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins. And I like this part. And to
cleanse us. To forgive us and to cleanse
us from all, A-L-L, all, A-L-L, all unrighteousness. How are
you? He made a way for us. He made
a way for us. Here's David. Here's David. He's sinned. He's sinned and
he's progressed in his sin. I want you to go to Psalm 51.
Now, I'm going to quit here in just a minute, just about another
5-10 minutes. You'll just go with me to Psalm
51. We're going to see the prayer
of this sinner. What did he do? Let's see what he did in Psalm
51. Verse number one, here's what
the psalmist said. He's praying, when Nathan the
prophet came unto him after he'd gone in unto Bathsheba, that's
the header over this psalm. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies, listen to what he says, brought out my transgressions. The law said he ought to have
died, but can I tell you faith was in effect even during David's
life. Grace and mercy was in effect,
even during David's life. Would you blot out my transgression? Verse two, wash me throughly
from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression
and my sin is ever before me. I know I'm a sinner. I know I've
sinned. I know I've transgressed. I acknowledge
it, Lord. Would you blot it out? Would
you clean me? That's what he said. Behold,
I was shaped. I'm going to jump down. Verse
5. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity and in sin that my mother could
save me. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Purge me. That means get the
impurities out of me. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy
and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and
blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, renew a right spirit in me. Verse 12, Restore unto me
the joy of thy salvation. Sin had robbed him of his joy. had no joy in his life. He said,
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Verse 13, Then will
I teach transgressors. Sin had stopped his service.
He had immobilized him in his service. He said, if you'll restore
unto me the joy and renew a right spirit and create a clean heart,
then will I teach transgressors how ways and sinners shall be
converted. My, you say, what's the psalmist
doing? What's David doing? David's confessing
to God that he's sinned. He's confessing to God that he's
sinned. He's just admitting he messed
up. And can I tell you what Nathan
said to him? Let me see if I can find that
real quick. Nathan come to him and he said
this, The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not
die. Aren't you glad we can get forgiveness
when we mess up? Because can I tell you, we all
mess up. It's not if you're going to sin,
it's when you're going to sin. I'm not trying to preach a defeatist
Christian life. I'm not saying that at all, but
I'm saying we have flesh. that we have to deal with. And
when we sin, we ask God to forgive us. That's what he did. That's
what he did. He asked the Lord to forgive
him. And the Lord forgave him. We
see his prayer in Psalms 51. We see his preacher in Psalms
12. We see his profession in Psalms 12 and 13. Nathan looked
at him and said, Thou art the man. And David said in verse
13, I have sinned. against the Lord. He just admitted
his sin. In 2 Samuel 12 and 13, the last
part of that verse, he said, The Lord also hath put away thy
sin. We see his purity. God can forgive
you. Hey, from this pew back, down
this road, down that aisle, God can forgive you when you mess
up. And He will forgive you. And
He wants to forgive you. Oh my, here's David. Here's David
and he's forgiven and he's restored. But then we see the product of
his sin. You say, that's the end of it?
He's forgiven? Hey, you reap what you sow. You reap what you sow. Forgiveness
does not do away with the law. of reaping and sowing. It doesn't do it away with you. He said about that little story
Nathan gives that he'll pay fourfold. He'll pay fourfold. David lost
four. He preached his own message. Lost four sons if you study the
Scripture. Started with a little baby there
that died. And then I went to three other
sons, and I'm simply saying to you, what was going on? His reaping. what he sowed. We're going to look at that.
I'm going to take you through the life of David. He made an
enemy out of Ahithophel. Didn't even know it. Ahithophel
was Bathsheba's granddaddy. That's who he was. He was his
counselor. He was the king's counselor and
they was buddies. But when he committed his sin,
he made an enemy out of Ahithophel. When Absalom rebelled, Old Hithefeld
joined up with him. I believe he wanted revenge,
Brother Allen. I believe with all my heart. He told Absalom,
he said, give me 12,000 men and I'll go get him. That's what
he said. Hithefeld said, I want to build the army that goes after
him. Hithefeld made an enemy. He didn't even know him. Made
an enemy. You know the story of Absalom,
the rebellion. My, we could just go on and on
looking at his whole life. It's just one tragedy after another. His daughter was raped by her
own brother. What a horrible thing to have
to face in his family and how to deal with it. My, we could
just go on and on mentioning things. What was it? Can I tell
you? The sword. He was reaping what
he sowed. Sin cost him more. And he wanted
to pay. Here's what I say. Here's what
I say. When we see those warning signs,
we're forsaken the godly. We're becoming self-centered.
It's all about us. Our focus is on the ungodly. Our focus is on ourself. Our
focus is on pleasing our flesh. Oh, we better take heed that
something's sideways somewhere. And my, if we sin, we better
repent. We better say, oh God, I messed
up, forgive me. And He said, if you will, I'll
forgive you. And we better live for Him and
ask Him for mercy. Oh God, show us. Hey, we all
need mercy. I need mercy. And you need mercy
today. Oh my, this thing of sin, I wish
I could paint it as black as the word of God paints it. We
live in such a sinful age, we become numb to sin. But I'm telling
you, sin is shaking your fist in the face of God and saying,
no, I won't do what you want me to do. It's serious. It's serious matter. Oh my, how
about it this morning? I'm through. I'm through preaching
to you this morning. How about it? Lord willing, I'll
preach on Ahithophel tonight. I just want to go through David's
life and just show you what sin done in his life. How is it with
you? Where's your hard hat? Would
you have to say I've forsaken the Lord, the things of the Lord,
the fire, the house of the Lord, the people of the Lord? Would you have to say I'm focused
on me, what satisfies me? Can I tell you, you're headed
for trouble. You're headed for trouble. The
devil's got you where he wants you. You say, well, I'm saved.
I know. David's saved. We get to heaven, you'll see
David there. He'll be there. Ain't no doubt
about it. He'll be there. You'll never
find where he was saved again. David was saved and stayed saved,
but God dealt with his sin. And, my, He'll deal with your
sin. Why don't you repent today if God spoke to you from the
youngest to the oldest? You see, I know this message
is fitting because we all sin. It affects every one of us. And
here's what we do if we're not careful, we'll pull a David and
we'll try to cover it up. Well, I didn't do anything. I've been rude to people before. Just said, oh, something about
my tongue, I just can't seem to control it sometimes. Somebody
flares off at me, if I'm not careful, I'll just say something
hateful to them. And if I'm not careful, I'll
justify it and I'll say, well, I didn't say near what they said
to me. I'll say something like that and I'll be justifying my
sin. And still just admit I did wrong. Lord, would you forgive
me? And asking them to forgive me.
I'll just try to cover it up. That may be where we're at today. I don't know. I don't know. I'm
just preaching to you what God gave me. The best I know, anyway. I'm preaching to you what God
gave me this morning. Here's what I'm saying. Deal
with your sins. Usually if I come to that altar, everybody knows
I'm sinning. They know anyway. We're sinners. If this old church
got on this altar, it wouldn't surprise me. If none of you come,
it wouldn't surprise me. Nothing surprised me, but the
fact of the matter is, we all sinned. And we may have all dealt
with our sin, dealt with it the right way, and took it to God.
And I pray we did, but if we didn't, we ought to get right
with God. There's a lot riding on it. There's
a lot riding on it. Your joy is riding on it. Your
happiness. Your spiritual victory. Here's what I've done. I've given
you what God gave me. Now it's up to you. Do with it
what you need to do. That's all I'm saying. God's
dealt with your heart. Do business with Him. If He's
not, we'll go home here in just a few minutes. Brother Allen,
come. I want to get a verse of an invitation. I want to ask
you. Maybe you're going down the wrong
road. Maybe you're headed down that road. If you don't turn
around, you're going to find yourself in sin. Maybe you need
to ask God to forgive you. I don't know. But be obedient
to the Spirit of God. I ask you all to bow your heads
this morning. Every man, woman, boy, girl,
if you would, bow your heads. Just you and God. It's just you
and God now. The rest of it don't matter.
It doesn't matter what anybody thinks. It doesn't matter what
anybody says. It doesn't matter where anybody
is at. Why don't you come this morning? Why don't you come? If God is dealing with you, don't
put it off. Don't say, I'll take care of
it later because it will grow cold to you. There you go. Just be obedient to the Spirit
of God. Be obedient to the Spirit of
God this morning. If He spoke to your heart, do
business with Him. Maybe you need to pray for somebody
else. I don't know what you need. But I encourage you, be sensitive
to the Spirit of God. If He speaks to your heart, Brother
Allen is going to sing and you come. You come this morning.
The Terrible Cost of Sin
| Sermon ID | 3815124530 |
| Duration | 55:15 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | 2 Samuel 11 |
| Language | English |
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