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.