All right, we'll be in Matthew chapter 4 this morning. Matthew chapter 4. Open your Bibles there. We'll read a couple of passages of scripture. Matthew chapter 4, verse 18. Matthew chapter 4, verse 18. And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. Down in verse 21 or I guess it's the next verse and going on from thence he saw two other brethren James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in a ship with Zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him as Jesus passed forth from thence In Matthew chapter 9 verse 9, I'll read it, you can turn there if you want, but Matthew chapter 9 verse 9, as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said unto him, follow me. And he followed him. Right? An amazing thing, what we have here, I know that you think you're going to get a sermon on following Jesus. Eh, wrong. Sort of. Of course, they're all about following Jesus. But what we have here are some responses, a bunch of examples of responses to what these disciples did when the Lord called them. When the Lord dealt with them, when the Lord spoke to them personally, they each responded. I mean, Jesus Christ is walking down the street. He saw these guys. And of course, he knew who they were. And basically, he said to them, he said, hey, hey there. He goes, hey, leave what you're doing. Just drop everything. And why don't you guys right now, this moment, come and follow me? Which, of course, required some type of a response. And that's a tall order, if you think about it. Remember, Peter was married, right? We all know that. I don't recall Peter going home and discussing this with his wife. I'm not saying, gentlemen, that's a good idea. But I don't, you know, we're not given that he did that. It's just something there that I kind of wonder about. But what you have here, like I said, is a bunch of guys that heard the Lord Jesus Christ knew the Lord Jesus Christ was talking to them, and they responded. Have you ever sat down as you read through passages like this in the scriptures and wondered, what would you have done? I mean, what would you have done just on the spur of the moment? You're in the middle of work, or you're walking down the street, and the Lord Jesus Christ comes by, this man. I'm sure they've heard about him. I'm sure there's some kind of rumors floating around, and, hey, there's this new guy in town, and what John the Baptist did. I mean, I'm sure that they had some knowledge of what was going on. But all of a sudden, this guy comes up to you, who for the most part is a complete stranger, and says, hey, just quit everything you're doing and follow me. What would your response have been? Right? I'm not talking about if you're in a place where you've got a lot of troubles and you think, OK, anything to get out of these. But things are going well. I mean, they've got a successful fishing company. And it's obvious that Peter loved fishing. When everything fell apart, that's what he went back to. He was asked to walk away from that thing that he loved. So I've titled this message very simply this, A Sinner's Response. And this morning, I want to talk about three different responses that men and women can have when Jesus Christ gives some type of a call, when he tries to get your attention, when he tries to get you to take action, to do something, or to enter into a new stage in life. What is going to be your reaction? And typically, you can kind of divide it up into usually about three categories. And then I'm going to ask you about a couple of situations in your life. And I'm just wondering, how is it that you're responding to those situations? But before we do that, let's go ahead and bow our heads for a word of prayer. And then we'll get started here. I've got to try to be very cognizant of time here. Father, we thank you again for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the book that you've given us, the book that guides us in our life. It gives us the answers that we need if we will just search the scriptures. Father, we love you. We just ask that you would work on our hearts. You know what the needs of the people that are here this morning are. And I just pray, Father, that you administer to them and give them what they need. I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, I will grant you, ladies and gentlemen, that the Lord doesn't often call people, you know, like he called these disciples, out of the blue. Just, hey, drop everything that you have and let's go. This was a pretty special occasion. But then again, those were some pretty special men. Amen? You know, we, more often than not, we need a little level of assurance that what we're doing is right. We often need to seek counsel. And that's a biblical principle. Nothing wrong with that. So what the Lord often does with you and with me when he calls is he actually gives us some time for us to think. He begins to deal with us, and we begin to feel that calling of God. We begin to know in our heart, hey, you know what? The Lord's dealing with me about this. And you're given some time to sit back and think over and ponder it for a while. All right? He often sends other people by that'll be a counselor and encourage you and be a help to you along those lines, and maybe somebody that you can confide in and talk to. He does that. He encourages you to think about your decisions, the decisions that he's asking you to make. Very, very rarely are we asked to do something on the spot like these disciples were asked to do. Okay, I think that's pretty true. However, the Lord still does require, even though He gives you time, He still does require a measurement of faith in your decisions. He says, you know, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lead not unto thine own understanding. You know that verse. And the Lord does still require that of you. A lot of times when He calls, when He speaks to you, you won't have the full picture of what's going on, and there'll be an element where you've got to kind of take that step out by faith. And that is as it should be. But with all of that, what he wants you to do is he wants you to listen and then to take some sort of action. So what I put forth this morning or put together this morning here are three typical responses, three typical responses that men often have, and women, when the Lord is calling them and asking them to deal with a particular matter, whatever that matter may be. The first response that oftentimes men make, ladies and gentlemen, is oftentimes, and maybe you have found yourself in this case too, is they will be apathetic. Apathy is a lack of feeling or emotion. Apathetic is a lack of interest or concern or indifference. That is, the Lord's trying to get a hold of you. Can you imagine the Lord walking up to Peter and James and saying, follow me? And their response is, You know, it's about lunchtime. I've got some other things to do. Just not really caring what the Lord said at all. That's an apathetic response. In John chapter 19, you can turn there if you like, but I'll read it to you. In John chapter 19, the Lord's going up before Pilate. And Pilate, therefore, took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple robe and said, hail, king of the Jews. And they smote him with their hands. And Pilate, therefore, went forth again and said unto them, that is, unto the Jews, behold, I bring him forth to you that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Right? So the Lord Jesus Christ is there. And they brought him up. And he's about ready to be crucified. And Pilate finds himself. in a very precarious position and he is being asked to make a decision or take some action with the Lord Jesus Christ. And as often is the case when the Lord deals with us, we kind of know on the inside, hey, he's trying to get my attention here. Right? Pilate wasn't oblivious to what was going on, and so he brings him forth to the Jews and he says this, Behold, I bring it forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in him. And when Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, and he took water, in Matthew chapter 27, and he washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You know what Pilate did? The Lord was there about ready to be crucified, and you know that the Holy Spirit had to have been dealing with Pilate's heart. And I know that scripture has to be fulfilled, but woe unto the man by who it's fulfilled this way, right? And I bet Pilate was sitting there, and he was pondering back and forth. And at some point in time, he's like, well, what am I supposed to do? I know that he's innocent, but they want him murdered. You take him and deal with him. He just kind of shucked his responsibility. He kind of, in a sense, became apathetic to what was brought before him. Now, I understand that he was under conviction. You know what the sad part is? A lot of times, folks, when the Lord starts to deal with us about things, you and I will know that we're under conviction. And we'll still find a way. to get around it. Ultimately, Pilot turned around and ran from that conviction. He didn't make the right decision at the time. He basically punted, fine, I washed my hands of this. I'm out of here. You guys do what you got to do. I can't deal with this right now, or more accurately, I don't want to deal with this right now. Apathy, lack of interest, lack of concern, indifference. I'm just, you guys take care of it, I'm not going to mess with it. Someone once said this, they said, the nice thing about apathy is you don't have to exert yourself to show you're sincere about it. I thought that was kind of cute. Hey, did you hear about the company that makes blank bumper stickers? They're for people who don't want to get involved. Sometimes we find ourselves in a position and we pride ourselves in being strong and liking to make decisions, but sometimes the Lord deals with us about things in our life that we just assume Him not deal with us about. And we find a way to kind of push it off to the side. The world is filled with people that are like that. In Matthew 23, the Bible says this, and Jesus Christ, again, talking to the Jews, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often I would have gathered thy chickens together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens, or thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. You know what he said? He said, listen, I've called. I've called. I've called. I've sent profits. I've done everything I could do. My heart, my desire was to get your attention in this matter and to bring you unto me or to adjust this in your life. And I've tried. I've tried. I've tried. And basically, you kind of just didn't want to deal with it. One of the responses a sinner can make is that of apathy. Maybe during a church service, maybe you've been here and the Lord's tapped you on the shoulder or pricked your conscience a little bit or gotten a hold of your heart and you've known. Come on, be honest. You know what? I really should go to the altar and talk to the Lord about that. But you didn't. Hey, I'm guilty of that too. I made the same stuff you are. What is that? Apathy. Let's just push it off. Maybe it'll go away. You found a way to kind of change the subject or just not deal with it. I bet Pilot regrets that decision right now. You stop and think about it, Pilate has been burning in hell, most likely burning in hell for 2,000 years. And I bet he's down there right now thinking, oh man, if I would have only cared enough to do what was right. It's a rough place. Apathy. Why didn't I take action? Why didn't I just tell those Jews? I knew they were wrong. I was the one in charge. I looked at the situation. I know that he had no fault in him. Yet, you know what? I backed off and I let it happen. That's rough to deal with. You know what the hardest student to get to is? It's the one that doesn't care. Right? We had, you know, countless martial arts students. You guys know that. And, you know, we dealt with students all the time that had ADD, ADHD, and every other alphabet you can think of. In fact, you know, we got to the place where we even named a disorder that was an extremely common problem that we ran into that apparently psychologists and parents were unaware of or they didn't want to deal with. We called it NBS. And we had a lot of students come in the karate school with NBS, naughty boy syndrome. But I tell you what, I'd rather take a whole room full of kids with ADD, ADHD, and NBS, give me those kids all the time as to someone that is apathetic. You know what you can do with somebody, you can deal with or do something with the students that have ADD, that's no problem. NBS, oh, we can take care of that. My wife will make them do push-ups. But when you get somebody that's apathetic, they just, man, you just can't move them. A sinner's response. Hey, when God calls you, when God deals with your heart, when you're sitting in service and the Lord taps you on the shoulder, do you find yourself falling into that trap of being apathetic? I hope not. I hope not. Dangerous place to be. I hope you never get to the place where that kind of becomes your response. Amen? I'll tell you another response that sinners make when the Lord calls. And that is, instead of being apathetic, they can be antagonistic. All right? Antagonism is actively expressed opposition or hostility. When you're antagonistic, you're showing dislike or opposition. You're hostile. You're just downright unfriendly, unpleasant, kind of hard to be around. Something is said and it just irks you. And inside, there's that little fire that kind of starts to well up. You resist. You fight. You squirm. Turn to 1 Kings, chapter 13, if you will. 1 Kings, chapter 13. And in 1 Kings, chapter 13, we're going to be talking about a king of Israel named Jeroboam. 1 Kings, chapter 13, verse 1, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel. And Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Hey, listen, Jeroboam was at church. I mean, he stood by the altar. Why? To burn incense. He was at church. We don't have all the time to discuss all the things that were wrong with the way he went to church. But some, right, they include, A, he had a bad attitude. And he had a desire to preserve what he had. What had happened is the Jewish kingdom had been divided. Under David and Solomon, there was one big nation of Israel, 12 tribes. Solomon's son took over after Solomon's death, and his name was Rehoboam. And Rehoboam didn't walk with the Lord and made some mistakes. And so the Lord told Rehoboam, hey, listen, buddy, I'm taking part of the kingdom away from you. And God split the kingdom in two. And so Rehoboam had the southern tribes. We refer to them in the Bible as Judah. And he had those two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. And then God gave Jeroboam 10 tribes, the northern tribes. So first off, Jeroboam was king. He was put there by God. And God gave him 10 out of 12 tribes, right? And Jeroboam didn't want to lose that little kingdom that God had given him. God had put him in charge of this particular number of people here. And Jeroboam found himself in a place where, hey, I don't want to lose this. They became very important to him. And that was his focus. And that was his priority. And so Jeroboam knew that, hey, listen, if these people up here in the northern tribes, if they head down to Jerusalem, which was in Judah, the other country now, if they head down to Jerusalem to worship, well, there's a chance they may not come back up to me. And so he was worried about that. He was worried about losing the people that God had given him. And God gave him those people. And he was supposed to be in charge of those people. But he was nervous about it. He was scared. And so his mind began to, you know, the gears in his mind began to turn. And he came up with a plan. He came up with what he thought was a good idea. You know what? I'll set up two altars. one in Bethel, and one in Dan, and we'll make two golden calves, and then the people up in Israel can worship there, and they won't have to go down to Jerusalem. Now you know as well as I do, that was an idiotic plan. Right? I mean, who on earth would think that creating an idol so that people could worship at an idol would be something God would be happy with? Hey, when you're in the middle of this kind of thing, and you're in a place, and God's given you this responsibility, and the load of that responsibility, you become afraid of losing it, and all those things that happen with Jeroboam, sometimes you'll do some pretty foolish things to keep what you got, to keep from losing what you have. And that's where Jeroboam found himself. I mean, the reality is, in his mind, I bet Jeroboam actually justified his actions. Hey, listen, God separated these two tribes. Obviously he must not want us to go down there to them because that's why he separated us from them and God put me in charge So, how am I gonna how am I gonna satisfy the people they need somewhere to worship? We need to make something for these people to worship God I bet he went through this whole process as deluded as it is and you and I look back on it and we have the the benefit of being able to read the beginning in the end but but We know that Jeroboam probably had a bad heart to begin with about it all. No question about that. But nonetheless, I bet he spent a lot of time trying to justify it in his mind that this is the way that I should fulfill God's responsibility that he's given me. You can justify just about anything if you reason with yourself long enough. That's the story there. Anyway, God sent a man to preach unto Jeroboam and to tell him, hey, listen, buddy, you blew it. You're heading the wrong direction. God sent a prophet. And in verse 4, in 1 Kings chapter 13, verse 4, it says this. And it came to pass, when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar at Bethel, and he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, lay hold on him. I mean, Jeroboam is kind of fit to be tied here. That man of God comes in and basically begins to preach against Jeroboam. Hey, you've messed this up. You've created an altar. You've created an idol. And that man of God begins to get this thing that Jeroboam is kind of important. And Jeroboam, instead of listening, becomes very antagonistic. Get that guy. I like this. Folks, this happened right in the middle of a church service. Look at what it says. And when it came to pass, when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar. That means in the middle of all this, while this was going on, his very hand was right there in the altar. He was in the middle of, quote, worship, church service. And this man of God came up and ruined the whole thing. And his hand's right there in the altar. The man of God comes up, starts prophesying to him. And Jeroboam's response was not apathetic. I'll give him that much. But it was antagonistic. He pulls his hand up out of that altar, and he became very antagonistic. I mean, the nerve of that man of God talking about my altar. Hey, do you got an altar that God can't talk about? I was in the middle of worship. I was at church and this guy came in and yelled at me. Who do you think you are talking to me like that? I'm the king. Who do you think you are, butting into my business? God gave me these kingdoms. He told me to take care of them. I'm the one that's supposed to choose. Who do you think you are? He became very antagonistic. Hey, how do you respond when the Lord speaks to you about something that you love? Is that what happens on the inside? Sometimes the Lord steps down and he tries to deal with you about something in your life. And sometimes, folks, you love it and you become very defensive about it. We all do. Oh, no, Lord, don't deal with that. It's a rough place to be in. We call this kicking your horse or stepping on your toes. That preacher just stepped on my toes. What does that mean? I hit a nerve that's a little raw. Hey, folks, that's rough to deal with, man. That's rough. It's hard. And it's never pleasant. But one of the responses that a sinner can have, you and me, sinners, one of the responses a sinner can have when the Lord begins to start to rub into place, you know, the nerves are exposed a little bit, One of the responses you can have, you can certainly become apathetic. But usually when the nerves are exposed and the Lord hits it, that causes a different reaction. You ever had one of those falls on the bike and your knee hits the gravel and he just scrapes along? And you get done, you got more gravel in your knee than you do skin? And then you've got to clean it out. And all the while, your mom's saying, yeah, but this is good for you. With a brush. No, I'm just kidding. In some cases, that's what they have to do, huh? But that nerve is raw, and it's exposed, and it's just being hit. And it's really easy. It's really easy to become very antagonistic when that happens. It's almost impossible to avoid. But fear had set into Jeroboam's heart, hey, I'm afraid I'm going to lose what I got. I don't want all my people going down there. That's my kingdom. In trying to fulfill the very responsibilities God gave him, He made a couple of mistakes along the way that were going to set the course of this nation for years and years to come. And when the Lord tried to send a man of God to tap him on the shoulder and warn him about it, he didn't listen. He became antagonistic. It says in 1 Kings 13, verse 4, When Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, lay hold on him. Get that man, get that preacher, get that man of God, get this guy out of here. I've got a place for him in the dungeon. He'll never get out. It's probably January 6th when that happened. I don't know where that came from. Yeah, I do. I was actually watching Mary Sturgeon on an interview. uh... last night it was kinda interesting but anyway but he he reared up and that hand went out and he became angry he became agitated and he was he was hot and it says there his hand came from the altar saying lay hold on him and his hand which he had put forth against him that that he pointed that finger at that man of God and said lay hold on him And his hand, which he had put forth against him, dried up so that he could not pull it in again to him. God gave this man ten tribes in the nation of Israel, made him king. And the reason he was made king is because of mistakes of Rehoboam. And God said, I'm not leaving you in charge. So he had a good start, or should have had a good start. But because he got things going in his head, because he became worried, because he became afraid, because he made some mistakes, the Lord had to try to deal with those mistakes. And he got, instead of responding the way that he should have responded, He responded with antagonism. He got mad that hand went out said you know lay hold on him and that and the Lord said oh, that's enough boom and that hand just kind of And all of a sudden He couldn't pull it in unto him it was it became useless I Mean right in the middle of pointing I Wonder what the skin looked like Just, like, um, atrophy. You know, just everything's kind of shrunk. Useless. You know, that's what'll happen to you if you fight against what God's doing. Eventually, eventually you run into a point, you know, where God's trying to deal with us and eventually your antagonism wells up. You get angry about it because the wound, the nerve is raw. The wound is bare. And the Lord's rubbing that wound. And before you know it, you know, your emotions get the best of you and you become a little bit antagonistic. That becomes your response to God's call. And if that happens long enough, if it continues long enough, eventually, The Lord may just show who's boss, like he did Jeroboam. At that point in time, Jeroboam, you know, all of a sudden has a change of heart. And the king answered to the man of God in verse 6 and said unto the man of God, entreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me that my hand be restored to me again." A little late, Jeroboam. But again, I want you to notice Jeroboam, you know what he was? He was worried about protecting something God gave him. But he went about incorrectly trying to protect it. He was worried about himself. He had the wrong heart. Obviously, you know, like I said, he managed to justify things in his mind that made absolutely no sense at all. How could you ever, after all that Israel had been through up to now, how could you ever justify building a calf for God's people to worship at? But he built two, one in Bethlehem, one in Dan. Hey, no matter which way they go, they got to run. But he did. When the Lord calls you, when the Lord begins to deal with you, when the Lord taps you on the shoulder, when something in your Bible reading, your prayer, you're listening to a sermon on the radio, or Final Fight, or you come to church, or Sunday school, and the Lord taps you on the heart, folks, you can respond in a lot of different ways. You can respond with apathy. You can be apathetic. Man, the dangerous one is when you become antagonistic. I know it's got the watermark on it, but I loved it anyway. Ha, ha, ha. Not touching you. Not touching you. You don't want to be antagonistic. Amen? So when the Lord calls, when the Lord's trying to get a hold of your heart, listen, you can be apathetic. You can be antagonistic. Finally, folks, the other thing that you can choose to be is you can be apologetic. Obviously, an apology is to an admission of error or discourtesy. Hey, you know what? I didn't handle that right. Accompanied by an expression of regret. You know what? I'm sorry. I didn't handle that situation right. That's what Jeroboam should have done. Right? Go to 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel chapter 12. Your heart should be, hey, you know what? Ah, I am sorry. 2 Samuel chapter 12, you know the story. 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 nourished up and grew it up together with him and with his children. And it did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. This must be where, yeah. You see some people, no, pets are never going to come in the house. And there came a traveler unto the rich man. And he spared a take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him. But he took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come unto him. I mean, put yourself in that scenario. This guy's got one sheep. It's a pet. It's a beloved sheep. It's in the house sleeping with him, right? It's right there. And I can't imagine having a sheep in the house. I mean, dogs and cats, OK, you can make up your mind. But really, people have pigs for pets. I'm going, to each his own, that's fine. I've cleaned out pig pens before. Anyway, right? Whatever, it's fine. It's a pet. But it was dear to him. Whatever the case is, it was dear to him. And it was like a kid, right? And this next door neighbor, this rich guy, plenty of herds, a lot of animals, probably too many to even name. Wouldn't have bothered him one little bit to take a little sheep that he had and dress it for this guest that came. But he was so worried about money. I know it doesn't say that. I'm just assuming that. I'll take the next door neighbor's lamb. That way I won't lose anything. And he goes and he takes the next-door neighbor's sheep, and he kills it and dresses it. And David's listening to this story. And David, I mean, the anger in him is welling up, going, good, because David had plenty. He understood what it was to have plenty. And David understood what it was to take care of the poor. And David's mind is rolling through the scriptures. And it's getting to him. He's going, man, this guy's got more than enough, and he's going to steal his next-door neighbor's sheep? And you know the types, and you know the story, and you know the background before all this. And Nathan turns and looks at David and goes, thou art the man. All right? Because David had plenty of wives. And he could have had more if he wanted. But instead, he took the wife of a man that only had one, his neighbor. And Nathan stood up there, and David's wrath, it says in verse five, 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. And Nathan said unto 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. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned. I have sinned against the Lord. Right? David did not respond like Jeroboam. Amen? One thing about David that was highly esteemed in God's eyes is that, hey, he wasn't perfect. He made a lot of mistakes, some pretty big ones along the way. But when the Lord tapped him on the shoulder, when the Lord called him, when the Lord got his attention, said, David, thou art the man, David's response was, Yeah, Lord, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The Lord could count on David to respond apologetically. It was a great, great attribute that David had. You know what one of the greatest things about this story is? I was thinking about this, but I love this part of the story. I noticed that when Nathan came up and relayed to David this story and we talk about the sheep and David's, you know, his hackles get up and he's angry. And then when Nathan points his finger at David and says, thou art the man. I noticed that David didn't begin to argue back and have to be convinced. Yes, David, I'm talking about you. What do you mean? I want this guy with the sheep who stole the sheep to be dead. Let's go take care of that problem. No, David, I'm talking about you. No, no, no, no. Joab, come here. I got another guy for you to wax. None of that. David did not try to defend himself. David didn't try to skirt the issue. David didn't try to get around it. He just dropped his head because he knew. Oh, yeah, Lord. I get it. I get it. And he forgot all about the guy with the sheep. One of the amazing things about David is when Nathan came in to him and began to talk to him, David immediately picked up on it. And he went from, I'm going to kill this guy who stole this poor man's sheep. He went from that to, oh yeah, Lord, I guess that's me. That's an amazing thing. I wish I was that way more sometimes. Because I try to get out of it just like you do. Right? Lord, help me to be more like David. As soon as Nathan said it, man, David got it. There was no doubt. Why? You know, because David had a good heart. And you can rest assured that the Lord had been dealing with David in his heart about this whole matter long before this ever happened with Nathan. Now, David could have used this story as an excuse to get mad at somebody else, which is where he started to go with it. But Nathan was there, and you're the man. And immediately, man, immediately, he's like, oh, yeah, Lord. Yeah. Okay, you got me on that one. That is an amazing trait, ladies and gentlemen. It is an amazing trait. The quickness with which he applied it to himself. You know what you ought to do when you come to church? I mean, when you read your Bible, when you listen to preaching, when you begin to, you know, it always got me when I watched my kids and I began to tell them what was right and wrong and I began to go, I hated that, but nonetheless. But you ought to always be willing to do that, because when you come to church, when you read your Bible, when you're sitting in a Sunday school class, when you're talking with your kids, or when you're just talking with another Christian, you ought to always, your mind ought to always be on the alert. Hey, am I talking to Nathan? Is he pointing at me? And you ought to look for that. Why? Because brethren, that is the best response you can have when God does call. So if you're waiting for it, and you're sitting out there mending your nets, like if I recall the story, I think John was mending his nets, the sons of Zebedee. And James and John, both of them, I think they were out mending their nets. They're just going about their normal business, and the Lord comes by and calls. Immediately, their mindset is, okay. Right? Why? Because their mind is in a place where they're ready for the Lord to deal with them. That's the best state of mind you can be at when you come to church. That's the best state of mind you can be at when you open your Bible to just read. And you begin to read, and you start reading through the Bible, instead of thinking of all the other people that this book's talking about. And you can find tons of other people that it's talking about, right? Let's just be honest. Oh man, I wish Billy Bob read that verse. But man, the whole idea, if you're more like David, the whole idea is when you read it, you go, hmm, is that Nathan talking to me? Is that Nathan talking to me? Is that Nathan talking to me? And you'll get so much more out of your Bible. Why? Can I tell you this? Because when you're reading your Bible, God's trying to deal with you, not Billy Bob. Amen. It's just not complicated. Trust me. For all Billy Bob's faults, God can take care of him. Right? I don't have to concern myself with worrying about Billy Bob. I got to concern myself with worrying about me. If I spend all my time worrying about Billy Bob, guess what? I become a Jeroboam. That's really. That's the secret to Christianity. It's not complicated. It's just hard to do. Because Billy Bob has so many faults. And that, you know, he's one of those guys with NBS, naughty boy syndrome, in case some of you forgot. And he deserves it. And you know what? You're right. He does. But Nathan's talking to me when I read my Bible, not Billy Bob. Amen? A sinner's response. And look at this. I'm getting done. I'm going to save Jeremy. Hey, a couple of questions for you. What is your response when the Lord speaks to you of redemption? In other words, salvation. Apathetic, antagonistic, or apologetic? I'm sorry, Lord. Those sins are mine. If you're lost here this morning, you never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, listen. There's only one response that's going to work when the Lord deals with you about redemption, salvation, being born again, whatever you want to call it. It's me, O Lord. Nathan's pointing at you, right? Christian, what is your response when the Lord deals with you to be righteous, to give up a sin, to start doing something that you shouldn't do? What's your response? Apathetic? Oh, I'll do it later. Oh, it's not that big a deal. Antagonistic? Who do you think you are talking to me about that? That's my business. I'll do whatever I want. Or apologetic? Yeah, you know, you're right. I really should struggle. I really should strive on that a little bit. What is your response, folks, when you come into church, or you're listening to preaching, or you're reading your Bible, and Nathan does point the finger at you? Apathetic? Yeah. Who cares what Nathan thinks? Antagonistic? Get that man! Or apologetic like David? Yeah, it's me. What are we talking about this morning here? We're talking simply about this, a sinner's response. And folks, you and I struggle with it. We're going to face this time and time again. We can, our response can be one of But we can be apathetic, we can be antagonistic, or we can be apologetic. How will you respond? Amen? How will you respond? Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, thank you again for giving us this book. Lord, for giving us these examples, for showing us the lives of men and how they handle different situations. And as we read through, Father, we realize there's so many similarities between how some of them handled it and how some of us handle it. And Lord, we see good examples and bad examples. But Father, as you begin to deal with us, as you walk by and you call, could you please help us to be more like David? Help us to be of that mindset where we realize, hey, you're talking to me. You're not talking to somebody else. You're not talking to, A thousand people that I could list off that need this information. You're talking to me. And Father, help us to then take the right actions like those disciples did as you walked by. All you had to say was, hey, follow me. And Lord, those men, in the middle of their workday, just dumped everything and followed you. They were that confident that you could take care of them. Lord, help us to be that confident as well. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.