January 29, 2026 • 60 mins
What if the first step back to joy is admitting where you drifted off mission? We open 2 Samuel 11–12 and get uncomfortably honest about David’s choices, the slow slide from comfort to compromise, and why “no one will know” is the most expensive lie you can buy. This isn’t theory. We map the small steps—remaining where God didn’t call, seeing what we shouldn’t entertain, inquiring when we should flee, covering what we must confess—and we name their modern forms in our phones, calendars, entertainment, and church cultures.
Together with Pastor James Wilson and Jenny Highsmith, we get practical and hopeful. You’ll hear real safeguards that reshape desire: daily Scripture that arms the mind, honest accountability that invites visibility, boundaries that protect marriages, and a mission check from Matthew 28 that helps both believers and churches stay focused on making disciples, baptizing, teaching the Word, and living in Jesus’ presence. We also explore the tension around Bathsheba—power, choice, fear of consequences—and how the fear of God reorders every decision. Most of all, we contrast David and Jesus: a good king who fell, and the faithful King who never does.
Nathan’s parable reminds us that God aims for conviction, not humiliation. Confession isn’t cheap grace; it’s the door Christ opened with his blood. When we say, “I have sinned against the Lord,” God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse. Repentance isn’t perfection; it’s a new direction—falling less, getting up quicker, and becoming interruptible by the Spirit. If you’re tired of hiding, if your church feels like a cruise ship instead of a battleship, or if you’ve mistaken happiness for holiness, this conversation will call you back to freedom and purpose.
If this helped you take a step toward the light, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review to help others find the show. What step of repentance or safeguard are you choosing today?
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
Hey, and welcome to our very first podcast with
FBCPS First Baptist ChurchPowder Springs.
I'm Chip Dean, the seniorpastor, and sitting here with
Pastor James Wilson, ourexecutive pastor of ministries,
and Jenny Highsmith, ourexecutive director of
communications.
Thank y'all so much for justjoining me here on this podcast.
(01:25):
And we're gonna dive here anddive in just real quickly, but
uh just want you to know whywe're doing this is we just we
feel the Spirit of God callingus to uh to take the word of God
uh that was preached on Sundayand just to dive in it deeper,
more practically, moretheologically, more biblically,
uh, because we believe that theHoly Spirit is doing just an
(01:47):
incredible work in our culturetoday, in our society today,
that people uh they just longfor depth.
And so we want to we want to digdeeper into the passage.
And so we're thankful that youare on this journey with us.
And uh, and and I'm just sothankful that we get to do this
together because life is alwaysbetter together.
And uh we go, we go fasteralone, but further together.
(02:10):
So let's dive in.
This this past Sunday, uh, weactually finished up our series
that we called Starting OffRight, and uh just our New
Year's series.
And and this was the lastmessage in the series, and it
was all about leaving somethingbehind to live in something
better.
And um, and so ultimately it wasabout leaving our sinfulness
(02:30):
behind in order to live in inrepentance.
Um Pastor James, what what issomething in your life that you
felt like you've had to leavebehind in order to live in
something better?
SPEAKER_01 (02:42):
Yeah.
Oh man, there's so much withthat.
But I I do think one, I thinkstarting off right, right, with
the sermon title, the sermonseries, and I think what better
way than starting off the yearwith that?
And so for me personally, it's alot of uh more frustration, uh,
more of just uh there's somethings that I've been praying
for that just haven't beenanswered yet or delayed.
(03:05):
Um as both of you know, Istruggle a lot with my vision
and some of those things.
And so it's just been reallyjust trusting God uh with the
the struggles that I have withthat it's it's lay leaving
behind the the gap of why notnow, and really receiving go do
what I've called you to do, nomatter what.
(03:26):
That's good.
No matter what.
And I think that that's been thebiggest thing for me.
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
That's good, man.
I just I I have a lot of uhadmiration for how you you serve
the Lord, man, even even withwith difficulty in your life.
Uh Jenny, how about you?
SPEAKER_03 (03:41):
Oh man, there's so many things, but I think if I
could choose one, something thatI've been thinking through this
sermon series is just um I Itend to be so dependent on
myself.
And I take God out of theequation a lot.
Like I'm gonna do this in my ownstrength, I'm gonna accomplish
this in my own power or successor whatever.
And I mean, so many times I'mjust humbled by God, you're the
(04:04):
one that's doing all this.
Like you don't really need me,but you're using me.
And I think that's just been umsomething recently that's just
been on my heart a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
So that's good.
I think think what just theLord's been doing in my heart,
in my life, just thinking aboutum even the the sermon before.
You know, so often we uh we wantto do great things for God.
And um and I'm I'm just I'm I'ma my personality is very driven,
as y'all might know.
And I know shocker.
(04:33):
Uh and and I I I love, I'm I'm adisciplined junkie, I'm a
routine junkie, and just alwayswant to uh be disciplined in
areas and and and achieve morein different areas and different
things like that.
And uh, and just what a reminderthat I need to leave behind what
I can achieve, what I canaccomplish, and just draw nearer
to Jesus so that he canaccomplish and achieve what he
(04:57):
wants to a part of his willthrough me.
And uh so that that just takesobviously um intentional time
with him and and with thatintentionality of focusing on
him.
SPEAKER_01 (05:08):
That's so good.
Really quick, that just makes methink of like whenever you're
about to go on vacation, youwant to make sure you have
everything, right?
You're checking the list, okay.
I got the toy, you know, I gotthe toothbrush, got all the
things.
Oh, what about, you know, butthe the you know, my socks, oh,
what about this?
You just making sure you haveeverything so that you can go on
this journey.
And what and it's it's so funnyto think about that because
(05:29):
God's like, hey, hey, it itdoesn't need to be come come on.
That's right.
I got you.
Let let me let me use you, letme work through you.
You don't need all that.
You don't need to be perfect,you don't need to have the best
day ever, you don't need to becomplete, 10,000% health, you
don't need to have everythingall together.
Let me work through you.
That's awesome.
Amen.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:47):
Now you see why I love working with these two
because uh we just we just havethese real conversations all the
time, and our staff as well.
And and Ginny, what we're gonnasay, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03 (05:56):
I mean, so often Satan doesn't use some dramatic
sin to get us, right?
Like I mean, the Sermon fromSunday, it's like those little
choices, and you think that it'sdisguised as something like, oh,
that's not that bad, right?
Like being prepared is not thatbad, but it's like one slippery
slope at a time, he turnssomething that didn't seem all
that bad, and you've convincedyourself is okay into you not
(06:18):
depending on God for everything,right?
SPEAKER_01 (06:21):
Exactly.
Yeah, I've been so busy tryingto prepare everything that I've
taken that time instead ofspending that time with Christ.
Hence like Mary and Martha.
SPEAKER_03 (06:29):
Exactly.
So Martha, man.
SPEAKER_01 (06:31):
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (06:31):
Let's let's dive into the passage here.
And and uh 2 Samuel chapter 11,verse 1, we talked about it
says, in the spring of the year,the time when kings would go out
to battle, that was the the besttime to fight.
And uh you'd have to go out tosee who was coming to fight you
as well.
David remained at Jerusalem.
You know, that is uh thebeginning of the passage.
David wasn't where he wassupposed to be.
(06:54):
David was getting off mission.
How do y'all feel like in in ourlife today, in our culture
today, uh where society istoday?
Um, how true is this of us?
How true of this can be of a ofa believer in Christ?
How easy is is this uh even attimes for a church as a whole,
(07:14):
that we are not where we'resupposed to be, not doing what
we're supposed to be doing, whatwe're called to do, and our life
is off mission.
I think that's what I see mostabout David, his life got off
mission.
SPEAKER_01 (07:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (07:25):
I th I think one way that Satan a lot of times with
churches, even is he disguisesit as you not even recognizing
that you need the repentance,right?
So he disguises it where you'renot even recognizing that
there's even a problem.
And so a lot of times that'slike um the first step is okay,
I'm not doing anything wrong.
Like, where what's the problem?
(07:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:48):
So I remember a video, it was a guy he was doing
street interviews.
And so it's uh uh some gentlemanwas walking by and he's like,
Hey, hey, man, hey, I got aquestion for you.
Uh, you know, what what'ssomething good that happens at
night?
You know, when he's trying toget like a viral moment, and
then the gentleman goes,brother, nothing good happens at
night.
unknown (08:04):
Nothing.
SPEAKER_01 (08:05):
And then he said, he said, You need Jesus.
SPEAKER_03 (08:09):
That's like when my my dad used to say, you're
either when you're hungry,angry, lonely, or tired.
That's usually when the devilattacks, right?
That's good.
It's like nothing good.
He also used to say, nothinggood happens after midnight.
SPEAKER_01 (08:20):
Yeah, to that point, it's like, yeah, you there
there's there's nothing for youthat is good when you're
somewhere you don't need to be.
There it there's nothing goodwill happen.
Uh even though it may lookenticing, it may look appealing,
uh, but at the end, it's justuh, you know, it's it's a it's
poison with just a pretty shinywrapping over it.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
I think this is so true for for for Christians, so
true for my life, you know, whenwhen my life gets off mission or
when I get on my mission.
SPEAKER_01 (08:46):
Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (08:47):
And get off of Jesus' mission.
SPEAKER_01 (08:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:49):
Uh and what is Jesus' mission?
To go and make disciples of allnations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, the Son, andthe Spirit, uh, teaching them to
observe everything that hecommanded, and uh, and because
he's gonna be with us.
He's gonna do it through us, iswhat he's saying.
And um that Jesus didn't givethat statement to pastors, he
didn't give that statement alsoto to to just churches, right?
(09:12):
He gave that statement toChristians.
And that is, as we are hisfollowers, what we're called to
do.
That is our mission.
And as a church, that is ourmission.
So I I think it's uh it can beeasy to understand uh how a
Christian can get off mission.
What does what do you think itcan look like when a church gets
(09:33):
off mission?
What what what are some evenquote good things a church can
do, but yet they're notfulfilling the mission of the
gospel of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
Yeah.
Jenny, you're not you can go.
So I heard a pastor once saythat your church is either a
cruise ship or a battleship.
And I think one thing thatchurches can do really, really
well is be uh very welcoming andfamily oriented.
Um, however, at the same time,it can come across of, hey,
person who's not used to beinghere, hey guest, uh, you're not
(10:07):
a part of this family.
Who are you?
What's going on?
And it can come off uh reallyunwelcoming and very protective
and exclusive.
Um again, in the inside, hey,we're family things are going
great, we're praying for eachother, but uh hold on, hold on,
and and treat other people likea leper.
Um and I think that's one of theum unfortunate things is when it
turns internal without beingthat external, that evangelistic
(10:29):
and welcoming as well.
SPEAKER_03 (10:30):
Amen.
I mean, I think anytime a churchis becoming self-reliant instead
of dependent on God, I thinkanytime they're becoming
comfortable instead of obedient,and I think anytime they're
distracted instead of repentant.
So I mean, that definitely canlook like not being hospitable,
not going out on mission, notserving your community, um,
(10:51):
getting so ingrained in your ownroutine when you go there on
Sunday, like the church as awhole, that you're not even
seeing other people.
Like you're just on your routineand this is what I do on
Sundays.
And well, what if on the way tochurch something God put
something in your way that youwere supposed to stop and
encounter?
And and you're just so focusedon.
(11:12):
I think churches as a whole canwe tend to just get in that
rhythm, get in the routine ofthis is what we do.
And well, what if God wants tointerrupt that?
You know, I think it's importantfor churches to be interruptible
in that way by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01 (11:25):
Be interruptible.
That's that's good.
Sometime last year, Pastor Chip,you mentioned you said a
statement of, and this isexactly what it looks like when
a church goes off mission.
You said, um, if your church haddisappeared, would your
community notice?
And I think that is a cleardistinction of if you're gone
and nothing happened, nothingchanged, nothing's different in
(11:45):
the community, you're youweren't on mission.
SPEAKER_03 (11:47):
What are you even doing now?
SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
You know, as I was studying this passage uh last
week and just the Spirit of Godjust asking the Spirit of God to
speak to me, one thing that I Ifelt like God was saying was,
you know, He blessed us so muchas a church in 2025.
I mean, there's just so muchthat He did, uh, more than we
could ask or imagine, more thanwe planned on, more than we saw
coming.
(12:09):
I mean, it was just anunbelievable year.
And and often just thinking,well, is it gonna happen again
in 2026 kind of a deal?
Like, you know, it does Goddoesn't have to do it, but we
pray for him to do it.
And one thing that I felt likeGod was just saying was in order
for me to do more through you,through the church, um, it's
gonna require more repentance ofsin, you know, and and just what
(12:34):
a what a calling for all of usas Christians, as the church.
Uh, the way that we grow closerto Jesus is we continue to leave
our sin behind so that we canlive in repentance moving
forward.
And um, and I just, I mean, whata litmus test as we think about
getting off mission that Jesusjust simply said, go.
(12:55):
So, one question I ask myselfis, am I going?
Jesus said, make disciples.
Another question, am I am Imaking disciples?
Um, Jesus said, baptizing themof all nations, right?
So am I uh is is my lifemulti-ethnic, multinationality?
Um, do do I see baptismshappening in my life, in our
(13:15):
church?
Um, and then thinking about,okay, are we teaching what Jesus
has commanded or just teachingpeople life helps and principles
and things like that?
Are we teaching the word of God?
And are we experiencing Jesusthat I will be with you?
Are we experiencing the presenceof Jesus?
I think that is a missionallitmus test.
(13:35):
Those things, Matthew 28, 19 and20, for a Christian's life, but
also for the life of a church.
So it goes on to say, well, thatwas that was verse one.
We got to pick up the face.
Uh verse two.
Verse two, and uh it's just theintro, baby.
Um, you might be snowing in, soit's the perfect time for us to
do it uh by this time.
But it says it happened late oneafternoon when David arose from
(13:59):
his couch again, just verypersonal language.
It was late one hot afternoon inIsrael, and David gets up from
his couch, again, not histhrone.
Uh, he wasn't ruling, he wasresting, he was relaxing.
And that's what happens for uswhen we get off mission, when we
get off course.
And he was walking on the roofof the king's house, and he saw
from the roof a woman bathing,and the woman was very
(14:21):
beautiful.
Interesting first podcastcontent here.
Uh, and so, you know, the thebiggest thing that we see here,
obviously, is when we're notwhere we're supposed to be, when
we're not doing what we'resupposed to be doing, um, man,
we can we can see things thatwe're not supposed to be seeing.
And so um obviously this is trueof all of us.
(14:42):
And and the question is, uh,even when we're doing what we're
supposed to be doing, and and weeven when we are the devil will
still tempt us.
But what are some things thatthat y'all have set up as
safeguards in your life in orderto keep from seeing what sin
wants you to see so that it'snot as as James one says, it
(15:03):
doesn't give birth to sin, ifyou will.
What are some of thosesafeguards that you protect
yourself?
And if you do see something, howdo you respond?
You know, when temptation hits,just give me some good practical
advice for people because man,this is this is real life.
Yeah, it's just real life.
Like this happens to me on adaily basis, I'm sorry, not
this, but temptation happens ona daily basis in some way,
(15:28):
shape, or form.
What do we do with that?
SPEAKER_03 (15:30):
I mean, I think it's sorry, I'll you I'm not crossed.
Um I mean, I think just not evenallowing it a foothold.
So not even there's certainthings, right?
That TV and books and media thatwe just don't have in our house,
right?
And so I think just not evenallowing it the offer
opportunity, um, I think somesafeguards with our marriage,
(15:52):
you know, not being one-on-onewith a person of the opposite
sex, I'm like it can feelextreme, but not even allowing
that to be an opportunity,right?
That Satan could use.
And I think anytime my mentor incollege used to say, like,
you're in God's will in the eyeof a hurricane, right?
And anytime you start to stepoutside of that, you go into the
(16:12):
storm.
And if you're unprepared, Imean, I think memorizing
scripture and having that readyto go, right?
So when Satan tempts you, Imean, the truth is right there
in your mind.
I mean, there's so many, so manygood things that you can do.
SPEAKER_01 (16:27):
Yeah, no, Jenny, I'm I'm with you a thousand percent.
And I think uh for me, you know,there was a time uh earlier when
I was a Christian that I viewedmy quiet time with the Lord as
more of a homework or as more ofa checklist, like, oh man, I
gotta, oh, I gotta read allabout and I again, you know,
throw, you know, don't throw nostones at me, okay?
I'm just saying this was a longtime ago.
Praise the Lord.
Uh however, uh it reallysomething really started to
(16:49):
shift in my walk with Christfrom this is an obligation to
this like this is thirst.
Like I need this.
Um, I I need this as much as Ineed water, I need this as much
as I need food because I knowwhat James wants to do.
I know what James um thinksabout, I know what James is is
uh easy to fall into, and withthat, I need the arm of God on
(17:11):
me each and every day becausethe actions that I take, um, as
you know, um they don't justaffect me.
They affect my family, my wife,my children, my yeah, my
co-worker, like everybody, umthe church, all these things.
And so for me, it's it'sprotecting that time.
And some of some people watchingmay have young kids.
I have young kids, and I do itbefore everybody wakes up.
(17:31):
So just wake up early and do it.
Um and then to your point, it'sit's the constant communication
with an espouse, uh with closefriends, it's fighting uh you
know any temptation withscripture as as Christ did, and
as the Bible says, that God willalways give you a way out.
And it's it's trusting God atHis Word.
He is a promise keeper, so let'stake him at his word, because
again, the it looks appealing,but you just remember, like if
(17:55):
you we always talk about kidshow hey, you touch the stove,
it's hot it'll burn.
But sometimes as adults, we keepfalling into the same
temptation.
SPEAKER_03 (18:01):
Yeah, and we think, oh, it's not gonna burn us this
time.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
And at some point, yeah, at some point you have to
make a decision.
You can't be loop burnt.
More hurts less.
SPEAKER_02 (18:10):
Yeah.
unknown (18:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:11):
It's it says here, and this, I think this is the
Bible is just so raw, you know.
And again, those people who saythe Bible's boring, they've
never read the Bible.
Uh because you you can't evenmake this to a movie today that
that you would even want towatch.
But it just says, and she wasthe Bible didn't say beautiful,
the Bible said she was verybeautiful.
And and let's just remember,Eve's temptation says that the
(18:34):
fruit was pleasing to the eye.
There is there is somethingabout, we talked about Jesus
said the eye is the lamp of thebody.
And what we see with our eyescan be very appeasing, can be
very pleasing, can be verybeautiful, can be very
aesthetically attractive.
(18:54):
And and that could be a lot ofdifferent things.
Yeah.
Not not just attraction topeople, but attraction to, it
could be a house.
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
Oh, the close into the food.
Now you're getting on my item.
Oh, yeah.
And uh you better get off ontoes, James.
Like a barbecue, they're gonnalike the ribs and then dripping
the numbers.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
He knows what he's doing.
So all that to say, um, we'vegot to remember that sin is
always in some way, shape, orform beautiful, appeasing,
attractive.
Um uh and so we have to rememberthat when we get into the word
of God, 2 Timothy chapter 3, 16and 17 says that um that the
(19:37):
whole counsel of God's wordteaches us doctrine, but it also
teaches us um what sin is,right?
Rebuke and correction.
And so I need to be in the wordof God uh so that I'm being
filled with the Spirit of God sothat I'm able to notice
temptation.
SPEAKER_01 (19:54):
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (19:55):
Uh, such as, like, man, the fish needs to see.
Wait a second, that's not a realword.
That is a piece of plastic witha hook in it.
That's right, you know, and andwe have to remember that, man,
the devil's the fisherman andhe's trying to pull us out of
the lake.
SPEAKER_03 (20:09):
He wants to trick us, he wants to fry us, you
know, exactly.
He wants to devour us.
SPEAKER_00 (20:13):
He's the father of lies.
And so, you know, we talkedabout just because it's
beautiful.
The the quote was, well, yes,she may be hot, but so is hell,
right?
And and for me, I have to havesafeguards in my life.
Like my wife has all mypasswords.
She can get on my phone anytime,she can get on my laptop at any
time.
Um, man, I want her all in mybusiness.
(20:36):
Uh, there are times that I'lllook at my wife, and I'll be
honest, especially when wheneverI hear a pastor fall morally, I
will typically tell her thestory.
Cause I I I kind of, you know,live in that world.
She doesn't as much.
So I tell her the story, andthen I always say, babe, there's
not a text message, there's notan email, there's not a phone
call, there's not a meeting thatyou would not be comfortable
(20:57):
with, that you would not approveof.
Um And if you ever feeluncomfortable, and I told the
church, if if I'm ever actingdifferently, you go straight to
the chairman of Deacons.
SPEAKER_02 (21:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:06):
And you talk to him because I don't want to be
another statistic.
And so we need to treatseriously our phones, our
tablets, our computers, our TVs,but also we can have every
filter and every safeguard inthe world.
And Satan still finds a way.
The ultimate point is not thefilter.
SPEAKER_02 (21:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:22):
The ultimate point is not the safeguard.
The ultimate point is ournearness with Jesus because only
He is the one that not onlypoints out our temptation, but
He is the one that He is thesafeguard from our temptation.
It's very personal.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (21:39):
It's, you know, when we start to think it'll never
happen to me.
You know, and the point isn'tthat it will happen, you know,
that you think it will happen toyou to have those filters and
safeguards.
It's the dangerous part is youthinking that it won't ever
happen to you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:53):
That's when you are at your most vulnerable
position.
But for the grace of God, Davidexperienced God in more
unbelievable ways than I havepersonally.
Yeah.
Because of what he was able toexperience here in the Old
Testament.
You know, I mean, it's it's it'sunreal.
And and uh praise God, I'm I'mI'm saved by the gospel and and
(22:17):
I've experienced Jesus.
Uh, but David being the one manof all of Israel that God
chooses to be king and he's ableto fall.
unknown (22:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:26):
Who do I think I am?
Yeah, for sure.
That I don't think I'm able to.
And um verse three, David sentand he uh inquired about the
woman.
So he not only did he see, buthe sent, he inquired.
Uh today might be he he sent hera text.
Today might be um that he slidinto her DMs, today might be
(22:48):
that he stopped by her cubicle,today might be that he um you've
even heard people today they umthey accidentally, fake
accidents, in a text or anemail.
Oh, sorry, and it kind of startsthe conversation because it
seems so innocent, right?
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:02):
And um, but the interesting thing is he asks his
people about her, and they say,is not this Bathsheba the
daughter of Elium?
Elium was possibly known as oneof David's greatest advisors.
He knows Elium personally, thewife of Uriah.
Uriah is one of David's 30mighty men.
(23:23):
He knows Uriah personally.
They're pointing out howpersonal sin is.
We talked about on Sunday, sinis personal to yourself.
Sin is personal to the personyou're sinning against or
sinning with.
Sin is personal to Satan becausehe's getting you to personally
sin against Jesus, who he hates.
Sin is personal against alsothose who are indirectly
(23:46):
involved that it's going toaffect children, spouses,
family, churches.
Satan loves destruction.
Yeah.
Um, how have you seen this playout?
SPEAKER_01 (23:58):
Yeah.
So I was just, there was a longtime ago, uh, when I was a kid,
funny story.
I wasn't doing well in believeit or not, band class, the one
class that nobody should fail.
No.
No.
Automatic A.
Literally.
Uh I somehow had an F.
Yeah.
So anyway, so I remember I got aprogress report and I was like,
and it had to get signed.
And I'm like, man, I'm I'm notsigned.
I'm not getting my mom to signthis.
(24:19):
She's gonna kill me.
And so I had a, you know, veryloving thought, a Christ-filled
thought of let me sign this andlet me not tell my mom and just
turn it in, which I knew waswrong, but I'm like, you know
what, I'll do it.
And so I did it.
And then uh, you know, ofcourse, thought I got away with
everything.
Then the teacher called.
And so I'm trying to cover itup.
And that's usually what we dowhen we sin, we try to cover it
(24:40):
up because of the shame orbecause we don't want the
consequences that will happenfrom what we've done.
And so then she called again.
And then my mom, of course,asked, Well, who keeps calling?
Nobody.
Right.
And then, of course, she got onthe phone with the teacher.
Everything I tried to cover upand hide and all that came to
light.
And then I had to deal with theconsequences.
Now, granted, it's still alittle different from what David
(25:02):
did, but at the same time, whenyou fall into sin, you try to do
what you can to cover things upbecause of fear, shame, guilt,
and also you don't want to facethe consequences that you have
to because of what you did.
SPEAKER_03 (25:14):
Yeah.
And so many times you think thatthe consequences are gonna be
like out of this world, or youjust don't see repentance happen
in other people around you.
So you don't know that, hey,it's gonna, it's actually gonna
be okay.
I think um, I mean, there's somany sins that I could talk
about in my life.
We're all sinful people, but I Iremember this one time where I
was gossiping in college aboutsomebody, and that person found
(25:36):
out what I said.
And I think, you know, that'sone of those sins that's more um
subtle.
You think, oh, this isn't gonnahurt.
This is there isn't they'renever gonna find out what I'm
saying about them, or they'reit's less hurtful seeming,
right?
Yeah.
But um I think in that moment, Imean, I was just so ashamed of
what happened.
And that was a moment where Irealized, oh wow, like even the
(25:59):
sins that seem less um invasiveor whatever, like those are
extremely hurtful to people andthey destroy relationships, they
destroy reputation, right?
They destroy all those things inyour life.
And um yeah, that was Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:14):
I'm thinking about two, two stories.
Uh I one one man as a pastor, Iwas talking to him and and uh he
had had an affair uh decadesbefore and and he had gotten
remarried and seemed like, youknow, a happy guy and
everything's good.
And and he was uh on my soundteam at my one of my former
churches, and he looked at me inmy office one day, we're just
(26:36):
having a personal conversation.
He said, Pastor Ship, I need totell you something.
He said, if you ever talk aboutaffairs, if you ever talk about
marriage, if you ever talk aboutum infidelity, he said, tell
them it is never worth it.
He said, if it was worth it foranybody, it was worth it for me
because of what I was living in,what I was going through, who I
(26:57):
had met, all this type stuff.
It had just all made sense.
He said, Today I'm here to tellyou, tell them it is never worth
it.
He said, what I have gonethrough, the loss, the
destruction that I have caused.
He said, it was so much betterfor me to stay in the marriage
as imperfect as it was.
Um he said, I I should haveworked on my marriage rather
(27:21):
than finding an escape route.
I talked to another man just afew months later.
SPEAKER_01 (27:26):
Goodness.
I know, but let me let us sinkin, James.
SPEAKER_00 (27:30):
Um I talked to another man just a few months
later, and it was the the otherend of the spectrum.
He was being unfaithful to hiswife, and he was being very
honest and very faithful, beingvery um vulnerable about it, but
but being very um he was justowning up to it, but he didn't
care, to be honest with you.
And so I'm trying to talk himout of it.
And all he could talk about washe could not understand why his
(27:54):
children were so mad at him.
Because he was so unhappilymarried.
Yeah.
And they needed to understandhow happy he is now.
But he said all they can thinkabout is what he's done to their
mother.
And I just had to look at himand say, you know, because
you're living in sin.
(28:14):
And there is something that isso critical today that Satan's
target is marriages.
Satan's target is the home.
Satan's target is Christian, um,biblical uh marriage to where
every single couple needs totake seriously how to affair
proof their marriage.
Because it is marriage that isthe reflection of Christ in the
(28:36):
church.
It is marriage that is theclearest physical picture, the
Bible says, of the gospel onearth.
And uh, and so uh we everymarriage deals in some way,
shape, or form with uhdissatisfaction, with
unhappiness, with uh um they'renot living up to what we really
want perfectly in our spouse.
(28:57):
Uh, I know I don't live up towhat my wife wants perfectly,
uh, because I can't, uh becausenone of us can.
But um, but Satan takes that andhe makes you run with it.
And and what a reminder.
We talked about on Sunday.
The reason you want to sin isbecause your sin wants you.
SPEAKER_03 (29:14):
Then we live in a way.
SPEAKER_00 (29:15):
The reason you want it.
It wants to be.
SPEAKER_03 (29:16):
It tells us that our happiness is the goal, right?
So that guy, I mean, he's seen,but I'm happy now.
Like, and so that should be whatwhat is the defining factor of
the situation.
And we live in a world thattells us that all the time.
Well, as long as you're happy,you know, like, yeah, or as long
as that's true for you.
And man, what a lie that Satantwists.
Because I mean, yeah, we want tofeel happy, right?
(29:38):
So that seems like such a goodthing, but it's that is not,
that's not what God wants.
SPEAKER_00 (29:43):
We have prioritized happiness over holiness.
God did not say, be happy for Iam happy.
No, yeah.
Because then we're we're we'rechasing everything.
Right.
Be holy.
unknown (29:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:52):
Yeah.
So one of the things I wasthinking is just the like the
way that the culture useslanguage for for stuff like this
that kind of promotes this.
So you think of Adam and Eve.
Well, that's what we know is,you know, in the Bible, in the
book of Genesis, but also withculture, they've taken that to
make a store for adults.
Or you, or the company that diduh or the company that grew
(30:13):
really big that was reallypromoting the slogan was life is
short, have an affair.
The slogan.
But to your point, you know,that's that's enticing.
Oh man, that that's uh huh.
You know, as you start kind ofreflecting on it, um, the
further you away from Christ,and you know, again, you don't
have some of these things inplace.
Um and again, uh combating withwhat the culture provides is
(30:34):
just the road for destructionfor sure.
unknown (30:37):
Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:39):
It says in verse 4 so David sent messengers and
took her, and she came to himand and he laid with her.
Then she returned to his house,and the woman conceived, and she
sent and told David, I ampregnant.
Um obviously, this uh this wasan opportunity for David to
confess.
We know that he went deeper intohis sin.
(30:59):
Uh but Jenny, just as I look atthis, uh I there's a couple of
different possibilities here inthe passage that we weren't able
to get into in the sermon.
One is Bathsheba may not havehad a quote choice in this.
She may not have had a decisionin this.
She may have even felt forced inthis situation.
And we know that that is, attimes it happens.
(31:21):
And uh today, and but at thesame time, um, we don't exactly
know.
She may have her husband's goneto war.
She may have felt very lonely.
Uh, this is obviously nointernet, no phone calls, and
she, we we don't even know who'saround her.
And here is the big, rich,powerful king interested in her
(31:42):
and wants her to come to and whoknows what happened, you know,
what happened, um, besides whatwe see in the text.
So, what would you say to towomen that may be living on
either side of that coin?
You feel like you're in asituation where you're being
forced into something that youdon't desire, or you are
desiring something that youshouldn't desire.
SPEAKER_03 (32:05):
Well, I mean, I think the first situation, I
think we're talking about twodifferent things, because I
mean, being forced intosomething, maybe let's say rape,
that obviously is not gonna bethat person's fault.
Right, right.
Not their sin.
Not talking about that, maybe umshe felt like she had to because
(32:26):
he was the king.
I think even in that situation,you have to ask yourself, am I
choosing something out of fearof the consequences more than
the fear of God?
And I think if you fear the theconsequences more is when you're
gonna say, well, they're inpower.
They're this person's making medo it.
My friend, who's like the mostpopular at school, says we have
(32:48):
to do this, right?
Like I'm trying to think ofsituations that man would have
applied to me growing up.
Um I would have feared theconsequences of how that made me
look, right?
More than I feared God.
And I think that's the importantdistinguish distinguisher fact
of the first scenario.
I think the second one, I mean,it is very similar if you um
(33:10):
maybe she wasn't, maybe it was ach more of a choice for her.
Um, I mean, anything that'sgonna keep you not from
depending on God for his graceand you're willing to do
whatever it takes to furtheryour life, to get ahead.
Maybe it's um you cheat a littlebit to get ahead in life in some
way, so that you have thisawesome thing that makes you
(33:33):
look great.
I mean, all of those things areyou pursuing success, you
pursuing image, you pursuing umfor her, maybe it was the
relationship with a king thatwould have gotten her favor.
Um all of that is you notfearing God more than that.
SPEAKER_00 (33:49):
Yeah, that was powerfully said.
Um and in that what it comesdown to, you know, as as even
Ecclesiastes says, fear God andkeep the commandments.
And um it it we will neverregret following Jesus and doing
the right thing in what he says.
Yeah.
Never regret it.
Um, because that's what his wordis there for, uh, to be able to
(34:12):
protect us in every situation,because sin will always bring
destruction.
Um just to put it in lightningspeed, uh, just just to finish
this out.
Uh 2 Samuel 11, 6 says, so Davidsent word to Joab, send me Uriah
the Hittite, and Joab sent Uriahto David.
Uh Pastor James, one thing wedidn't get into in the sermon
(34:35):
was um the comparison and thecontrast of King David and King
Jesus.
That you have King David here,who's known after a man, after
God's own heart.
He is, he's a shepherd, likeJesus was the good shepherd.
Uh, David was anointed with theHoly Spirit to be king.
Jesus was anointed with the HolySpirit as a baptism to be king.
(34:56):
Obviously, the contrast is asJesus is fully God, uh, we see
David here, he is uh he'sallowing his sin to bring him
into a lifestyle of unholiness.
But Jesus is holy, holy, holy.
He's the same uh as our kids'ministry learned last night,
Wednesday night.
Uh he's the same yesterday,today, and and forever.
(35:16):
And so we see here a quote, goodking who is falling into sin.
But we serve a righteous, holy,eternal, divine king who does
everything.
He takes all of our sin.
He dies for our sin so that wedon't have to choose sin.
(35:37):
And that's what we see withDavid.
He could have confessed rightthere.
Oh, she's pregnant.
Let me bring it to the light.
Let me confess, let me getforgiveness, let it end right
here.
No, he sends for Joab, bring,bring Uriah to me.
Uriah comes back to the palacewhile all of uh the mighty men
are off to war, all of Israel'soff to war.
Uh, he comes back, and and Davidtries to get him to go home to
(35:59):
his wife, to sleep with hiswife, uh, so that it looks like
he impregnated her, but Uriah ismore faithful to the king than
the king is to Uriah.
Today, the gospel is that ourking is more faithful to us than
we are to him.
Verse 26, and I've got a bigquestion for you here.
(36:21):
Then the wife of Uriah heard uhthat Uriah, her husband, was
dead uh because David broughthim back and then sent him back
to war with a death sentence.
They pulled back, we know fromUriah in battle.
David had all theseopportunities to confess.
When the wife, when the wife ofUriah Bathsheba, heard that
Uriah, her husband, was dead,she lamented over her husband.
(36:42):
And when the mourning was over,David sent and brought her to
his house, and she became hiswife and bore him a son.
But the thing that David haddone displeased the Lord.
David ended up looking like thegood guy.
SPEAKER_01 (36:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:55):
He ended up looking like the good king.
Nobody knew anything.
And he was like, Let me, let melook like, as he's covering it
all up, he it looks like it isover.
SPEAKER_02 (37:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:05):
And now he's brought her into his palace, his castle.
He marries her.
He even becomes the father ofher son, the child involved in
the situation.
And what happens in life, man,when we just continue to cover
it up, cover it up, cover it up,and we think that we can make it
(37:26):
go away.
What would you tell somebodyright now if they are in the
middle of the cover-up of theirsin?
SPEAKER_01 (37:34):
Yeah, if you're in the middle of the cover-up, uh,
I think the biggest thing youcan do is uh repent, you know,
and not in the the the preachersyou see on the side of the road
screaming and those things.
But honestly, uh as Paul tellsus to run the race, run, run to
what God has for you.
Don't run to what you want.
And the more that you continueto cover it up, again, the the
(37:56):
harder the consequences aregoing to be for you, the harder
the consequences are gonna befor the people you love.
And and honestly, um you youwill lose out on what God has
for you, the good plans that Hehas for you.
And so you have to make adecision at the end of the day,
because it's it's like wheneveruh there was an interview door
somebody was asking, uh it was acelebrity if if they're
(38:18):
Christian, and they did anythingand everything but say yes or
no.
Well, you know, I'm it's like,is it yes or is it no?
And I think in the same way,will you stop?
Yes or no?
Yeah.
Will you trust God?
Yes or no.
Is that clear?
Yes.
Will you give up your selfishdesires and receive God's
(38:38):
forgiveness for you to cleanseyou so you can turn around, uh,
turn away from that sin and moveto what God has for you.
And as you said, Christ is herefor us, he'll never leave us nor
forsake us.
He hasn't called us to besinless, he's called us to sin
less.
That's right.
And the more that you let go ofthat fear, as you were talking
about, Jenny, but and and reallyhold on to faith, and then you
can really just remember theforgiveness that you have
(39:00):
through Christ.
He doesn't, God doesn't see youas completely yucky and and
shame and all the things.
He sees you as his child, hesees you as somebody who's been
covered by the blood of Jesus.
And so again, the more you wantthe cover up and the more you
want, the harder life is goingto be.
Dr.
Miles Monroe said, if you want ahard life, do the easy things.
(39:21):
But if you want an easy life, dothe hard things.
And the hard thing is to betruthful, to say you're sorry,
and to trust God.
SPEAKER_00 (39:30):
The more I have covered up my sin in my life,
trying to make it go away, theworse it has always gotten.
The worse it has always gotten.
Because like like Godessentially told Cain, be
killing your sin, or your sinwill be killing you.
And the longer you wait to killyour sin, the more your sin will
(39:50):
kill you and those around you.
Because it only gets worse.
Jenny, it says um, 2 Samuel 12,1, uh that as we just finished
off with, and David, what Davidhad done displeased the Lord.
David fooled everybody.
Nobody knew.
(40:10):
Um, he looked like the good guy,but you can't fool God.
That's so good.
And he he was able to hide thesecret from everyone, but there
are no secrets with God.
You can't fool God.
That word displeased in Hebrew,rah-a-is means, man, it was
corruption, it was evil, it waswicked.
It wasn't just, hey, nobody gothurt.
Well, a man died, and a family'sruined, and and and and a king
(40:34):
is is being destructive whenwhen he is supposed to be uh
ruling over his people ingoodness and in grace.
And so 2 Samuel 12 1, so theLord sent Nathan, the prophet of
God, to David.
Um, and Nathan just tells Davidthis story.
Why do you think God led him inthe route of instead of just
(40:57):
saying, I know what you did,last year?
Summer, you know, kind of adead.
I know what you did, right?
And just because it happened inVegas doesn't stay in Vegas, uh,
it displeased God.
Why didn't God just say, Youlusted, you cheated, you killed
him, you covered it up, you'renot the good guy, you're the bad
guy.
(41:17):
Rather, he goes into the storyabout that one little you lamb.
And what what does that mean forus today?
What do we learn from it?
SPEAKER_03 (41:27):
Man, I mean, I think we all can say that God is so
gracious to us when you readthat and you're like, man, there
are so many times in my lifethat God could have just smacked
me across the head, right?
And he didn't.
Um, I think one, it speaks to hewants a relationship with us.
He wouldn't have sent Nathan,even he wouldn't have sent
(41:48):
Nathan just slap him over thehead, let alone tell him a nice
story to relate to him, if hedidn't want relationship with
us.
And I think even when we thinkwe've gotten away with sin, I
know there's times in my lifethat I thought that I'd gotten
away with something, but man, itwas eating at me.
Like maybe you think that you'reokay and you've you've um hid it
from God, but it eats at you andit eats at your relationship
(42:11):
with him.
And I know sin creates that wallbetween you and God, and God
wants that relationship withyou.
So I mean, the first thing Ithink of is that's just his
loving, gracious desire to bewith us, right?
And the fact that he um told astory about some other guy
rather than slap him over thehead.
Um, I mean, there's so manytimes in my life that God has
(42:33):
pulled me out of what Satan canso easily disguise things as
like the condemnation is gonnabe worse than what you can even
imagine.
And once you bring it out to thelight, it's God's like, no, hey,
I got you.
Like, you're mine, I love you.
And there's just been a lot oftimes in my life that God has
(42:53):
done that where I've thoughtthat hiding it and the
punishment and all of that wasgonna be the worst thing that I
could ever imagine.
Um and God's grace in situationslike that.
I had a friend as well that justpointed out, hey, like that's
not what God has for you.
And it was in such a loving waythat um I think it just speaks
(43:15):
to his character for us.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (43:17):
Isn't this exactly what Jesus did when Jesus told
so many stories, told stories tohis disciples, told stories to
the Pharisees, and and and itwas like Jesus sometimes it
feels like, why don't you justget to the point?
But he is he's being gracious,and he is the stories are
proving the point.
(43:38):
If he just says the point, theywould probably have the the
rebuttal or or theself-righteousness to be like,
no, that's not true.
Here's all my excuses and all myreasons.
But Jesus tells all thesestories because he wants them to
feel what he feels.
Because my sinfulness, oursinfulness, uh, we get so
concerned about everybody else'ssin rather than my own.
(44:03):
Uh, Pastor Christian Henry justposted a really great post, uh,
just kind of um politically, youare the man.
You need to go back and readthat.
It was just so good.
Our youth, youth and young adultpastor.
But it's right, he's so truethat we often get so caught up
wherever we are politically andwherever we are culturally, and
all that type stuff.
We get so caught up about theother side that we talk about
(44:26):
all of their sin more than weconfess our own sin to God.
We live in so muchself-righteous anger than we
live in humility and compassionand grace.
And that that's what we see.
I think Jesus is bringing it tolight so that he doesn't just
acknowledge it, he feels it.
Yeah, he feels that convictionfor for that that heart change.
(44:50):
And and just here at the theend, we know that David gets
mad, he hears the story of thisthis figurative man, and and God
has to look at David and say,You're the man.
And God reminds him, I anointedyou, I delivered you, I gave
you.
And God has this reallyinteresting line in there.
(45:12):
And I would add to you as muchmore if it were too little.
And there's something, James,that seems like is God saying
that when we try to blessourselves in our own sin, that
we're missing out on moreblessings that God has for us,
(45:33):
and obviously his blessings aregreater than us.
Man, just when you hear Godsaying, I anointed you, I
delivered you, I gave to you, Iwould have even given you more.
But you chose to sin against me,man.
How does how does that how doesthat resonate with you and what
you've experienced?
SPEAKER_01 (45:48):
Yeah, I mean, it just reflects a lot on just even
me as a parent.
I've I've seen it in in my ownfamily to where uh there was a
time to where we were talking tomy daughter, we were supposed to
take her like to the trampolinepark or something like that.
Because she kept asking.
I'm like, okay, you know, yes,seven times, okay, sure.
And uh that week, she will wegot a note from the teacher on
(46:08):
Tuesday.
And we're like, hey, pause, holdup, sweetie.
Hey, you don't need to do that.
Let's let's let's work on that.
Okay.
The next day she got anothernote from the teacher Wednesday,
and I'm like, oh my gosh.
We j do you not know what'scoming up?
Do you not know what what I haveand again, we're talking like
human helping, like, hey, uh atrampoline park.
None like of all the things thatGod can do for us.
(46:30):
And I'm just like, sweetie,we're gonna have a great time.
We're gonna like have connectionand spend quality time together.
Like this is something you'vewanted, but you keep doing okay,
okay, okay, I'll do better.
Okay, cool.
Friday, she gets another messagefrom the teacher.
And I'm just like, oh my gosh.
Never in her you know, six yearsof life has she gotten three c
(46:52):
three messages in one week.
And whose daughter is she?
Yeah, praise the Lord.
unknown (46:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (46:56):
Now, granted, I did talk about you know being
fortunate, so don't worry aboutthat.
Yeah, we praise the Lord.
Uh, but but to that point, itwas like, sweetie, there's I
have gifts for you.
It's all paid for.
You don't have to do anythingexcept be obedient and follow
the words that I'm telling youto do.
(47:17):
You don't have to worry.
It's more than and even when weget there, we were gonna get
extra stuff.
So we weren't gonna eat before,but it's like there were so much
other things that we were gonnado, but you chose this.
And as I'm explaining it, youstill chose it.
As I'm bringing it up again, youstill chose it like three times
in a row.
And so I think that's just ajust a real life version of
(47:37):
something that's just a smallblimp of what God can do for you
and through your life if you letgo of that sin.
Let it go, it's not worth it.
And when you do fall, uh Christis right there to say, Lord, I'm
sorry, protect me, keep meclose, and help me walk toward
you.
SPEAKER_00 (47:55):
Man, he is so good.
And it's it's his kindness thatRomans 2, 4.
It's his kindness that leads usto repentance.
So he is showing David hiskindness towards him, right?
Look, look what I've done foryou.
I I anointed you like he'sanointed us with his spirit.
I delivered you like he saved usout of sin.
I gave to you.
And this is not a moralistic,legalistic gospel.
(48:17):
This is not, well, we just obeyand then God will bless us.
Uh, God graciously blesses us inour salvation and even in times
in our sin.
SPEAKER_02 (48:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
He's still blessing us, but I believe scripture is
saying that there are extrablessings that we don't
experience when we choose tolive in our sin.
In other words, when we chooseto bless ourselves rather than
uh receiving the blessing ofGod.
And again, I think this is themost to end the passage, this is
the most shocking part of theentire passage.
(48:48):
It's all now, his sin is laidout public before David.
He didn't get away with it, hedidn't cover it up, he didn't
make it go away.
And David just simply said, Ihave sinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said back to David,the Lord has put away your sin.
(49:09):
That's all he had to say.
It was just the power ofconfession.
If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
of our sins and to cleanse usfrom all unrighteousness.
Jenny, it almost sounds tooeasy.
It almost sounds like cheapgrace.
(49:30):
It almost sounds like if I justsay this mantra, if I just, if I
just say it, then it's all justgonna be better.
What what is actually happeninghere?
SPEAKER_03 (49:42):
I mean, I think we know that it does not come from
our works.
And I think the point is thatDavid did nothing to deserve
that forgiveness.
There was not no long speechthat he made to like justify
himself.
There was nothing that's good.
I should have said that onSunday.
SPEAKER_02 (49:58):
That's good.
SPEAKER_03 (49:59):
You know, like he could have he could have said,
Well, this is the reasons why Idid that, Lord.
Or like, here's thejustification for what my
thoughts were, how Satan temptedme, or anything.
He just confessed.
And I think so often we thinkthat we have to prove why we're
worthy to God or why we deserveforgiveness.
And man, the point of that is wedon't, right?
(50:21):
Like, we don't deserve it.
And he it is that simple becausehe made it that way, not because
of what we did.
So it's not that simple becauseJesus had to go die on the
cross, right?
There was a lot involved in thatone sentence.
SPEAKER_00 (50:35):
There's so much, oh my goodness.
I have sinned.
Sin obviously is missing themark in the Old Testament.
He is saying, I against.
He didn't just do the wrongthing.
It was personal to God.
I have sinned against the Lord.
This, you know, he um I wouldencourage all of our listeners
(50:57):
go and read Psalm 51.
And this is the longer accountof David's confession and and uh
and what he's feeling, what heis experiencing, what the Holy
Spirit is doing in him.
And he's he's remember, he'sbegging God, like, restore to me
the joy of my salvation.
Uh, God, against you and youonly I have sinned.
(51:18):
Now that's fascinating becausehe sinned against Bathsheba, he
sinned against Uriah, he sinnedagainst Eliam, he sinned against
the kingdom.
He said, But ultimately, God isthe judge and God is the holy
one, and ultimately our sin isagainst a holy God.
And that's why God said, Youmight have thought you gotten
away with it.
I'm displeased with you in yoursin.
(51:39):
Well, how powerful is it thatwhen we confess, God, you are
right, I am wrong, and it's aconfession that is an agreement
with repentance.
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_03 (51:50):
No, just that our life wants to honor him, right?
I mean, man, that's Psalm justit's it's David wanting to honor
God again, wanting to him toknow that, like, I want to honor
you with my whole life.
And is that our desire?
You know, like, man, that's justa great reminder.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (52:08):
And people, people need to hear the promise of this
verse.
If we confess, and that'sconfessing in the gospel, that's
confessing, Jesus, I believethat your blood is covered over
the sin.
This is, I'm confessing this toyou.
And I think that we need toconfess our sin as far as it is
public, in terms of we need to,we need to confess also, the
Bible says, to people that we'vesinned against.
(52:29):
James 5, 16 says, we need toconfess uh to those that love us
and that we love, just confessour sins to them, let them in on
our secret private life thatwe're struggling with, people
that won't condemn us, butpeople that will help us,
disciple us, uh, so that we canget victory over our sin because
that's what everybody trulywants.
(52:50):
They think their sin will givethem freedom.
When Jesus isn't giving usfreedom to sin, he's giving us
freedom from sin.
Living in righteousness andholiness is true, real biblical
freedom.
And here is the glorious promisethat when we confess in the
gospel, Jesus, you died for mysin, you rose from the dead, you
(53:11):
give me power over my sin.
I'm asking you to forgive me ofall of my sin.
Scripture says, the word of Godsays you can take it to the
bank.
He is faithful.
God is faithful, even when weare faithless.
And he's just to forgive.
Psalm 103, uh, he cast our sinas far as the east is from the
(53:35):
west.
That's an eternal casting,infinite casting.
He forgives us of our sins, andhe cleanses us from all
unrighteousness.
People today live, you might beliving in guilt, you might be
living in shame, you might beliving with uh unconfessed
continual sin.
You might have something buriedin your past uh that you have
(53:57):
not brought up, but yet again,it's not been dealt with.
I just want to remind you thatit's not when you forgive
yourself, and it's not even whensomeone else forgives you, but
if you want eternal, divineforgiveness from God, it is when
you confess your sins to him.
And he promises through JesusChrist that he will forgive you
(54:19):
and we take our sin as we makeour relationship right with him.
Take our sin to those we'vesinned against that are aware of
it, so that our relationship canbe made right with him.
Um in conclusion, uh, we talkedabout we need to experience the
Holy Spirit's conviction.
Sometimes we avoid conviction uhbecause we think it's guilt and
(54:42):
shame.
No, this is this is the oppositeof guilt and shame.
Guilt and shame is hide it,cover it up, make it go away.
Conviction is deal with it,confess it, get forgiveness over
it.
Confession, God, you are right,I am wrong through the gospel of
Jesus.
Forgiveness, I am receiving andbelieving in God's forgiveness.
I can, uh this is true of me.
(55:02):
This is who I am now.
Repentance is 180-degreedirectional turn.
I am living in sin.
Now I am living for Jesus,again, not in perfection, but in
direction, and then living lifein a worshipful obedience.
I had um I had this verse that Ididn't read in for Sunday sermon
(55:25):
because I went too long.
And uh though a righteous personfalls seven times, he will get
back up, but the wicked willstumble into ruin.
The similarity in the righteousand the wicked is that we both
fall.
That's right.
We both sin.
The difference is the righteousget back up, the righteous
(55:47):
repent.
What do the wicked do?
They just keep stumbling intoruin.
Their sin leads to ruin becausethey don't deal with it, they
don't do the biblical uh thingabout it.
Someone came up to me after theservice, young man, JP, and uh
mid-20s, baseball coach in thearea, college student, and he
(56:08):
said, uh, he said, What happenedto King David?
What happened?
And uh and I got to tell him, Isaid, Man, JP, it's crazy.
Um, God forgave him.
Uh, where this happened in hislife, he's probably about 50
years old.
He's probably somewhere in themiddle of his reign.
He reigned as king another 20years.
At the end of his life, there'sthis narrative where it says
(56:30):
that he's he's old, he's he'ssick, he's cold, he's literally
on his deathbed from what Iremember.
And and they brought him someyoung women woman to lay in bed
with him to warm him.
And and I told JP, and and theBible says, and King David knew
her not.
He did not just experienceconfession and forgiveness, but
(56:54):
he took it seriously and helived his life in repentance.
And I love that the NewTestament, a thousand years
after King David, still callsJesus the son of David.
Matthew 1.1.
The very first verse, straightout of the chute.
(57:14):
I love that King David was knownat the end of his life and even
later on, still as a man afterGod's own heart, that it was not
his sin that labeled him ordefined him.
It was his relationship with Godbecause he acted on it.
He confessed and got forgivenessand got repentance and God
(57:37):
redeemed his life.
Um I'm so thankful that God hasredeemed my life from all of my
sin.
So thankful that uh God iscontinuing to redeem uh all of
our lives, even as a churchcollectively together as we
continue to obey the gospel.
(57:58):
Pastor James, any any concludingthoughts, my friend?
SPEAKER_01 (58:02):
Uh I'm I'm like a logical person, like black or
white, and I think uh if you'rein sin, repent, pick up the
cross.
Let's go.
We got work to do.
SPEAKER_00 (58:13):
Let's get on mission.
SPEAKER_01 (58:14):
We got work to do.
Uh, don't take the time forgranted.
Don't take the gifts God's givenyou for granted.
Don't take your family forgranted.
Let's go.
SPEAKER_00 (58:22):
Oh man.
SPEAKER_01 (58:23):
Thank you, Jimmy.
SPEAKER_03 (58:25):
I'm a little less direct, but um I just think I
just want to encourage anyonethat if you are in that place
where Satan has convinced youthat hiding your sin and not
confessing it is going to be thebest for you, or that the
consequences are worse.
Um, just know that bringing itinto the light is the best thing
(58:47):
that you could ever do.
Um, and that it is so muchsweeter than you can think to
confess to the Lord.
It's not like confessing to anangry parent.
It is sweet.
And the relationship that youthen restore with him is is
worth all of that.
So just an encouragement toAmen.
SPEAKER_00 (59:07):
Amen.
Thank you all for being a partof this conversation uh as we
all pursue Jesus together anddigging deeper in in this
passage in the sermon together.
And and uh would love anycomments that you have uh so
that we can continue to learnfrom your experience as well.
If we can answer any questions,just let us know also.
But uh but we pray that this hasblessed your life in Christ as
(59:31):
we live on mission with himtogether.
Hey, and welcome to our very first podcast with
FBCPS First Baptist ChurchPowder Springs.
I'm Chip Dean, the seniorpastor, and sitting here with
Pastor James Wilson, ourexecutive pastor of ministries,
and Jenny Highsmith, ourexecutive director of
communications.
Thank y'all so much for justjoining me here on this podcast.
(01:25):
And we're gonna dive here anddive in just real quickly, but
uh just want you to know whywe're doing this is we just we
feel the Spirit of God callingus to uh to take the word of God
uh that was preached on Sundayand just to dive in it deeper,
more practically, moretheologically, more biblically,
uh, because we believe that theHoly Spirit is doing just an
(01:47):
incredible work in our culturetoday, in our society today,
that people uh they just longfor depth.
And so we want to we want to digdeeper into the passage.
And so we're thankful that youare on this journey with us.
And uh, and and I'm just sothankful that we get to do this
together because life is alwaysbetter together.
And uh we go, we go fasteralone, but further together.
(02:10):
So let's dive in.
This this past Sunday, uh, weactually finished up our series
that we called Starting OffRight, and uh just our New
Year's series.
And and this was the lastmessage in the series, and it
was all about leaving somethingbehind to live in something
better.
And um, and so ultimately it wasabout leaving our sinfulness
(02:30):
behind in order to live in inrepentance.
Um Pastor James, what what issomething in your life that you
felt like you've had to leavebehind in order to live in
something better?
SPEAKER_01 (02:42):
Yeah.
Oh man, there's so much withthat.
But I I do think one, I thinkstarting off right, right, with
the sermon title, the sermonseries, and I think what better
way than starting off the yearwith that?
And so for me personally, it's alot of uh more frustration, uh,
more of just uh there's somethings that I've been praying
for that just haven't beenanswered yet or delayed.
(03:05):
Um as both of you know, Istruggle a lot with my vision
and some of those things.
And so it's just been reallyjust trusting God uh with the
the struggles that I have withthat it's it's lay leaving
behind the the gap of why notnow, and really receiving go do
what I've called you to do, nomatter what.
(03:26):
That's good.
No matter what.
And I think that that's been thebiggest thing for me.
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
That's good, man.
I just I I have a lot of uhadmiration for how you you serve
the Lord, man, even even withwith difficulty in your life.
Uh Jenny, how about you?
SPEAKER_03 (03:41):
Oh man, there's so many things, but I think if I
could choose one, something thatI've been thinking through this
sermon series is just um I Itend to be so dependent on
myself.
And I take God out of theequation a lot.
Like I'm gonna do this in my ownstrength, I'm gonna accomplish
this in my own power or successor whatever.
And I mean, so many times I'mjust humbled by God, you're the
(04:04):
one that's doing all this.
Like you don't really need me,but you're using me.
And I think that's just been umsomething recently that's just
been on my heart a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
So that's good.
I think think what just theLord's been doing in my heart,
in my life, just thinking aboutum even the the sermon before.
You know, so often we uh we wantto do great things for God.
And um and I'm I'm just I'm I'ma my personality is very driven,
as y'all might know.
And I know shocker.
(04:33):
Uh and and I I I love, I'm I'm adisciplined junkie, I'm a
routine junkie, and just alwayswant to uh be disciplined in
areas and and and achieve morein different areas and different
things like that.
And uh, and just what a reminderthat I need to leave behind what
I can achieve, what I canaccomplish, and just draw nearer
to Jesus so that he canaccomplish and achieve what he
(04:57):
wants to a part of his willthrough me.
And uh so that that just takesobviously um intentional time
with him and and with thatintentionality of focusing on
him.
SPEAKER_01 (05:08):
That's so good.
Really quick, that just makes methink of like whenever you're
about to go on vacation, youwant to make sure you have
everything, right?
You're checking the list, okay.
I got the toy, you know, I gotthe toothbrush, got all the
things.
Oh, what about, you know, butthe the you know, my socks, oh,
what about this?
You just making sure you haveeverything so that you can go on
this journey.
And what and it's it's so funnyto think about that because
(05:29):
God's like, hey, hey, it itdoesn't need to be come come on.
That's right.
I got you.
Let let me let me use you, letme work through you.
You don't need all that.
You don't need to be perfect,you don't need to have the best
day ever, you don't need to becomplete, 10,000% health, you
don't need to have everythingall together.
Let me work through you.
That's awesome.
Amen.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:47):
Now you see why I love working with these two
because uh we just we just havethese real conversations all the
time, and our staff as well.
And and Ginny, what we're gonnasay, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03 (05:56):
I mean, so often Satan doesn't use some dramatic
sin to get us, right?
Like I mean, the Sermon fromSunday, it's like those little
choices, and you think that it'sdisguised as something like, oh,
that's not that bad, right?
Like being prepared is not thatbad, but it's like one slippery
slope at a time, he turnssomething that didn't seem all
that bad, and you've convincedyourself is okay into you not
(06:18):
depending on God for everything,right?
SPEAKER_01 (06:21):
Exactly.
Yeah, I've been so busy tryingto prepare everything that I've
taken that time instead ofspending that time with Christ.
Hence like Mary and Martha.
SPEAKER_03 (06:29):
Exactly.
So Martha, man.
SPEAKER_01 (06:31):
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (06:31):
Let's let's dive into the passage here.
And and uh 2 Samuel chapter 11,verse 1, we talked about it
says, in the spring of the year,the time when kings would go out
to battle, that was the the besttime to fight.
And uh you'd have to go out tosee who was coming to fight you
as well.
David remained at Jerusalem.
You know, that is uh thebeginning of the passage.
David wasn't where he wassupposed to be.
(06:54):
David was getting off mission.
How do y'all feel like in in ourlife today, in our culture
today, uh where society istoday?
Um, how true is this of us?
How true of this can be of a ofa believer in Christ?
How easy is is this uh even attimes for a church as a whole,
(07:14):
that we are not where we'resupposed to be, not doing what
we're supposed to be doing, whatwe're called to do, and our life
is off mission.
I think that's what I see mostabout David, his life got off
mission.
SPEAKER_01 (07:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (07:25):
I th I think one way that Satan a lot of times with
churches, even is he disguisesit as you not even recognizing
that you need the repentance,right?
So he disguises it where you'renot even recognizing that
there's even a problem.
And so a lot of times that'slike um the first step is okay,
I'm not doing anything wrong.
Like, where what's the problem?
(07:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:48):
So I remember a video, it was a guy he was doing
street interviews.
And so it's uh uh some gentlemanwas walking by and he's like,
Hey, hey, man, hey, I got aquestion for you.
Uh, you know, what what'ssomething good that happens at
night?
You know, when he's trying toget like a viral moment, and
then the gentleman goes,brother, nothing good happens at
night.
unknown (08:04):
Nothing.
SPEAKER_01 (08:05):
And then he said, he said, You need Jesus.
SPEAKER_03 (08:09):
That's like when my my dad used to say, you're
either when you're hungry,angry, lonely, or tired.
That's usually when the devilattacks, right?
That's good.
It's like nothing good.
He also used to say, nothinggood happens after midnight.
SPEAKER_01 (08:20):
Yeah, to that point, it's like, yeah, you there
there's there's nothing for youthat is good when you're
somewhere you don't need to be.
There it there's nothing goodwill happen.
Uh even though it may lookenticing, it may look appealing,
uh, but at the end, it's justuh, you know, it's it's a it's
poison with just a pretty shinywrapping over it.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
I think this is so true for for for Christians, so
true for my life, you know, whenwhen my life gets off mission or
when I get on my mission.
SPEAKER_01 (08:46):
Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (08:47):
And get off of Jesus' mission.
SPEAKER_01 (08:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:49):
Uh and what is Jesus' mission?
To go and make disciples of allnations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, the Son, andthe Spirit, uh, teaching them to
observe everything that hecommanded, and uh, and because
he's gonna be with us.
He's gonna do it through us, iswhat he's saying.
And um that Jesus didn't givethat statement to pastors, he
didn't give that statement alsoto to to just churches, right?
(09:12):
He gave that statement toChristians.
And that is, as we are hisfollowers, what we're called to
do.
That is our mission.
And as a church, that is ourmission.
So I I think it's uh it can beeasy to understand uh how a
Christian can get off mission.
What does what do you think itcan look like when a church gets
(09:33):
off mission?
What what what are some evenquote good things a church can
do, but yet they're notfulfilling the mission of the
gospel of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
Yeah.
Jenny, you're not you can go.
So I heard a pastor once saythat your church is either a
cruise ship or a battleship.
And I think one thing thatchurches can do really, really
well is be uh very welcoming andfamily oriented.
Um, however, at the same time,it can come across of, hey,
person who's not used to beinghere, hey guest, uh, you're not
(10:07):
a part of this family.
Who are you?
What's going on?
And it can come off uh reallyunwelcoming and very protective
and exclusive.
Um again, in the inside, hey,we're family things are going
great, we're praying for eachother, but uh hold on, hold on,
and and treat other people likea leper.
Um and I think that's one of theum unfortunate things is when it
turns internal without beingthat external, that evangelistic
(10:29):
and welcoming as well.
SPEAKER_03 (10:30):
Amen.
I mean, I think anytime a churchis becoming self-reliant instead
of dependent on God, I thinkanytime they're becoming
comfortable instead of obedient,and I think anytime they're
distracted instead of repentant.
So I mean, that definitely canlook like not being hospitable,
not going out on mission, notserving your community, um,
(10:51):
getting so ingrained in your ownroutine when you go there on
Sunday, like the church as awhole, that you're not even
seeing other people.
Like you're just on your routineand this is what I do on
Sundays.
And well, what if on the way tochurch something God put
something in your way that youwere supposed to stop and
encounter?
And and you're just so focusedon.
(11:12):
I think churches as a whole canwe tend to just get in that
rhythm, get in the routine ofthis is what we do.
And well, what if God wants tointerrupt that?
You know, I think it's importantfor churches to be interruptible
in that way by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01 (11:25):
Be interruptible.
That's that's good.
Sometime last year, Pastor Chip,you mentioned you said a
statement of, and this isexactly what it looks like when
a church goes off mission.
You said, um, if your church haddisappeared, would your
community notice?
And I think that is a cleardistinction of if you're gone
and nothing happened, nothingchanged, nothing's different in
(11:45):
the community, you're youweren't on mission.
SPEAKER_03 (11:47):
What are you even doing now?
SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
You know, as I was studying this passage uh last
week and just the Spirit of Godjust asking the Spirit of God to
speak to me, one thing that I Ifelt like God was saying was,
you know, He blessed us so muchas a church in 2025.
I mean, there's just so muchthat He did, uh, more than we
could ask or imagine, more thanwe planned on, more than we saw
coming.
(12:09):
I mean, it was just anunbelievable year.
And and often just thinking,well, is it gonna happen again
in 2026 kind of a deal?
Like, you know, it does Goddoesn't have to do it, but we
pray for him to do it.
And one thing that I felt likeGod was just saying was in order
for me to do more through you,through the church, um, it's
gonna require more repentance ofsin, you know, and and just what
(12:34):
a what a calling for all of usas Christians, as the church.
Uh, the way that we grow closerto Jesus is we continue to leave
our sin behind so that we canlive in repentance moving
forward.
And um, and I just, I mean, whata litmus test as we think about
getting off mission that Jesusjust simply said, go.
(12:55):
So, one question I ask myselfis, am I going?
Jesus said, make disciples.
Another question, am I am Imaking disciples?
Um, Jesus said, baptizing themof all nations, right?
So am I uh is is my lifemulti-ethnic, multinationality?
Um, do do I see baptismshappening in my life, in our
(13:15):
church?
Um, and then thinking about,okay, are we teaching what Jesus
has commanded or just teachingpeople life helps and principles
and things like that?
Are we teaching the word of God?
And are we experiencing Jesusthat I will be with you?
Are we experiencing the presenceof Jesus?
I think that is a missionallitmus test.
(13:35):
Those things, Matthew 28, 19 and20, for a Christian's life, but
also for the life of a church.
So it goes on to say, well, thatwas that was verse one.
We got to pick up the face.
Uh verse two.
Verse two, and uh it's just theintro, baby.
Um, you might be snowing in, soit's the perfect time for us to
do it uh by this time.
But it says it happened late oneafternoon when David arose from
(13:59):
his couch again, just verypersonal language.
It was late one hot afternoon inIsrael, and David gets up from
his couch, again, not histhrone.
Uh, he wasn't ruling, he wasresting, he was relaxing.
And that's what happens for uswhen we get off mission, when we
get off course.
And he was walking on the roofof the king's house, and he saw
from the roof a woman bathing,and the woman was very
(14:21):
beautiful.
Interesting first podcastcontent here.
Uh, and so, you know, the thebiggest thing that we see here,
obviously, is when we're notwhere we're supposed to be, when
we're not doing what we'resupposed to be doing, um, man,
we can we can see things thatwe're not supposed to be seeing.
And so um obviously this is trueof all of us.
(14:42):
And and the question is, uh,even when we're doing what we're
supposed to be doing, and and weeven when we are the devil will
still tempt us.
But what are some things thatthat y'all have set up as
safeguards in your life in orderto keep from seeing what sin
wants you to see so that it'snot as as James one says, it
(15:03):
doesn't give birth to sin, ifyou will.
What are some of thosesafeguards that you protect
yourself?
And if you do see something, howdo you respond?
You know, when temptation hits,just give me some good practical
advice for people because man,this is this is real life.
Yeah, it's just real life.
Like this happens to me on adaily basis, I'm sorry, not
this, but temptation happens ona daily basis in some way,
(15:28):
shape, or form.
What do we do with that?
SPEAKER_03 (15:30):
I mean, I think it's sorry, I'll you I'm not crossed.
Um I mean, I think just not evenallowing it a foothold.
So not even there's certainthings, right?
That TV and books and media thatwe just don't have in our house,
right?
And so I think just not evenallowing it the offer
opportunity, um, I think somesafeguards with our marriage,
(15:52):
you know, not being one-on-onewith a person of the opposite
sex, I'm like it can feelextreme, but not even allowing
that to be an opportunity,right?
That Satan could use.
And I think anytime my mentor incollege used to say, like,
you're in God's will in the eyeof a hurricane, right?
And anytime you start to stepoutside of that, you go into the
(16:12):
storm.
And if you're unprepared, Imean, I think memorizing
scripture and having that readyto go, right?
So when Satan tempts you, Imean, the truth is right there
in your mind.
I mean, there's so many, so manygood things that you can do.
SPEAKER_01 (16:27):
Yeah, no, Jenny, I'm I'm with you a thousand percent.
And I think uh for me, you know,there was a time uh earlier when
I was a Christian that I viewedmy quiet time with the Lord as
more of a homework or as more ofa checklist, like, oh man, I
gotta, oh, I gotta read allabout and I again, you know,
throw, you know, don't throw nostones at me, okay?
I'm just saying this was a longtime ago.
Praise the Lord.
Uh however, uh it reallysomething really started to
(16:49):
shift in my walk with Christfrom this is an obligation to
this like this is thirst.
Like I need this.
Um, I I need this as much as Ineed water, I need this as much
as I need food because I knowwhat James wants to do.
I know what James um thinksabout, I know what James is is
uh easy to fall into, and withthat, I need the arm of God on
(17:11):
me each and every day becausethe actions that I take, um, as
you know, um they don't justaffect me.
They affect my family, my wife,my children, my yeah, my
co-worker, like everybody, umthe church, all these things.
And so for me, it's it'sprotecting that time.
And some of some people watchingmay have young kids.
I have young kids, and I do itbefore everybody wakes up.
(17:31):
So just wake up early and do it.
Um and then to your point, it'sit's the constant communication
with an espouse, uh with closefriends, it's fighting uh you
know any temptation withscripture as as Christ did, and
as the Bible says, that God willalways give you a way out.
And it's it's trusting God atHis Word.
He is a promise keeper, so let'stake him at his word, because
again, the it looks appealing,but you just remember, like if
(17:55):
you we always talk about kidshow hey, you touch the stove,
it's hot it'll burn.
But sometimes as adults, we keepfalling into the same
temptation.
SPEAKER_03 (18:01):
Yeah, and we think, oh, it's not gonna burn us this
time.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
And at some point, yeah, at some point you have to
make a decision.
You can't be loop burnt.
More hurts less.
SPEAKER_02 (18:10):
Yeah.
unknown (18:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:11):
It's it says here, and this, I think this is the
Bible is just so raw, you know.
And again, those people who saythe Bible's boring, they've
never read the Bible.
Uh because you you can't evenmake this to a movie today that
that you would even want towatch.
But it just says, and she wasthe Bible didn't say beautiful,
the Bible said she was verybeautiful.
And and let's just remember,Eve's temptation says that the
(18:34):
fruit was pleasing to the eye.
There is there is somethingabout, we talked about Jesus
said the eye is the lamp of thebody.
And what we see with our eyescan be very appeasing, can be
very pleasing, can be verybeautiful, can be very
aesthetically attractive.
(18:54):
And and that could be a lot ofdifferent things.
Yeah.
Not not just attraction topeople, but attraction to, it
could be a house.
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
Oh, the close into the food.
Now you're getting on my item.
Oh, yeah.
And uh you better get off ontoes, James.
Like a barbecue, they're gonnalike the ribs and then dripping
the numbers.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
He knows what he's doing.
So all that to say, um, we'vegot to remember that sin is
always in some way, shape, orform beautiful, appeasing,
attractive.
Um uh and so we have to rememberthat when we get into the word
of God, 2 Timothy chapter 3, 16and 17 says that um that the
(19:37):
whole counsel of God's wordteaches us doctrine, but it also
teaches us um what sin is,right?
Rebuke and correction.
And so I need to be in the wordof God uh so that I'm being
filled with the Spirit of God sothat I'm able to notice
temptation.
SPEAKER_01 (19:54):
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (19:55):
Uh, such as, like, man, the fish needs to see.
Wait a second, that's not a realword.
That is a piece of plastic witha hook in it.
That's right, you know, and andwe have to remember that, man,
the devil's the fisherman andhe's trying to pull us out of
the lake.
SPEAKER_03 (20:09):
He wants to trick us, he wants to fry us, you
know, exactly.
He wants to devour us.
SPEAKER_00 (20:13):
He's the father of lies.
And so, you know, we talkedabout just because it's
beautiful.
The the quote was, well, yes,she may be hot, but so is hell,
right?
And and for me, I have to havesafeguards in my life.
Like my wife has all mypasswords.
She can get on my phone anytime,she can get on my laptop at any
time.
Um, man, I want her all in mybusiness.
(20:36):
Uh, there are times that I'lllook at my wife, and I'll be
honest, especially when wheneverI hear a pastor fall morally, I
will typically tell her thestory.
Cause I I I kind of, you know,live in that world.
She doesn't as much.
So I tell her the story, andthen I always say, babe, there's
not a text message, there's notan email, there's not a phone
call, there's not a meeting thatyou would not be comfortable
(20:57):
with, that you would not approveof.
Um And if you ever feeluncomfortable, and I told the
church, if if I'm ever actingdifferently, you go straight to
the chairman of Deacons.
SPEAKER_02 (21:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:06):
And you talk to him because I don't want to be
another statistic.
And so we need to treatseriously our phones, our
tablets, our computers, our TVs,but also we can have every
filter and every safeguard inthe world.
And Satan still finds a way.
The ultimate point is not thefilter.
SPEAKER_02 (21:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:22):
The ultimate point is not the safeguard.
The ultimate point is ournearness with Jesus because only
He is the one that not onlypoints out our temptation, but
He is the one that He is thesafeguard from our temptation.
It's very personal.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (21:39):
It's, you know, when we start to think it'll never
happen to me.
You know, and the point isn'tthat it will happen, you know,
that you think it will happen toyou to have those filters and
safeguards.
It's the dangerous part is youthinking that it won't ever
happen to you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:53):
That's when you are at your most vulnerable
position.
But for the grace of God, Davidexperienced God in more
unbelievable ways than I havepersonally.
Yeah.
Because of what he was able toexperience here in the Old
Testament.
You know, I mean, it's it's it'sunreal.
And and uh praise God, I'm I'mI'm saved by the gospel and and
(22:17):
I've experienced Jesus.
Uh, but David being the one manof all of Israel that God
chooses to be king and he's ableto fall.
unknown (22:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:26):
Who do I think I am?
Yeah, for sure.
That I don't think I'm able to.
And um verse three, David sentand he uh inquired about the
woman.
So he not only did he see, buthe sent, he inquired.
Uh today might be he he sent hera text.
Today might be um that he slidinto her DMs, today might be
(22:48):
that he stopped by her cubicle,today might be that he um you've
even heard people today they umthey accidentally, fake
accidents, in a text or anemail.
Oh, sorry, and it kind of startsthe conversation because it
seems so innocent, right?
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:02):
And um, but the interesting thing is he asks his
people about her, and they say,is not this Bathsheba the
daughter of Elium?
Elium was possibly known as oneof David's greatest advisors.
He knows Elium personally, thewife of Uriah.
Uriah is one of David's 30mighty men.
(23:23):
He knows Uriah personally.
They're pointing out howpersonal sin is.
We talked about on Sunday, sinis personal to yourself.
Sin is personal to the personyou're sinning against or
sinning with.
Sin is personal to Satan becausehe's getting you to personally
sin against Jesus, who he hates.
Sin is personal against alsothose who are indirectly
(23:46):
involved that it's going toaffect children, spouses,
family, churches.
Satan loves destruction.
Yeah.
Um, how have you seen this playout?
SPEAKER_01 (23:58):
Yeah.
So I was just, there was a longtime ago, uh, when I was a kid,
funny story.
I wasn't doing well in believeit or not, band class, the one
class that nobody should fail.
No.
No.
Automatic A.
Literally.
Uh I somehow had an F.
Yeah.
So anyway, so I remember I got aprogress report and I was like,
and it had to get signed.
And I'm like, man, I'm I'm notsigned.
I'm not getting my mom to signthis.
(24:19):
She's gonna kill me.
And so I had a, you know, veryloving thought, a Christ-filled
thought of let me sign this andlet me not tell my mom and just
turn it in, which I knew waswrong, but I'm like, you know
what, I'll do it.
And so I did it.
And then uh, you know, ofcourse, thought I got away with
everything.
Then the teacher called.
And so I'm trying to cover itup.
And that's usually what we dowhen we sin, we try to cover it
(24:40):
up because of the shame orbecause we don't want the
consequences that will happenfrom what we've done.
And so then she called again.
And then my mom, of course,asked, Well, who keeps calling?
Nobody.
Right.
And then, of course, she got onthe phone with the teacher.
Everything I tried to cover upand hide and all that came to
light.
And then I had to deal with theconsequences.
Now, granted, it's still alittle different from what David
(25:02):
did, but at the same time, whenyou fall into sin, you try to do
what you can to cover things upbecause of fear, shame, guilt,
and also you don't want to facethe consequences that you have
to because of what you did.
SPEAKER_03 (25:14):
Yeah.
And so many times you think thatthe consequences are gonna be
like out of this world, or youjust don't see repentance happen
in other people around you.
So you don't know that, hey,it's gonna, it's actually gonna
be okay.
I think um, I mean, there's somany sins that I could talk
about in my life.
We're all sinful people, but I Iremember this one time where I
was gossiping in college aboutsomebody, and that person found
(25:36):
out what I said.
And I think, you know, that'sone of those sins that's more um
subtle.
You think, oh, this isn't gonnahurt.
This is there isn't they'renever gonna find out what I'm
saying about them, or they'reit's less hurtful seeming,
right?
Yeah.
But um I think in that moment, Imean, I was just so ashamed of
what happened.
And that was a moment where Irealized, oh wow, like even the
(25:59):
sins that seem less um invasiveor whatever, like those are
extremely hurtful to people andthey destroy relationships, they
destroy reputation, right?
They destroy all those things inyour life.
And um yeah, that was Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:14):
I'm thinking about two, two stories.
Uh I one one man as a pastor, Iwas talking to him and and uh he
had had an affair uh decadesbefore and and he had gotten
remarried and seemed like, youknow, a happy guy and
everything's good.
And and he was uh on my soundteam at my one of my former
churches, and he looked at me inmy office one day, we're just
(26:36):
having a personal conversation.
He said, Pastor Ship, I need totell you something.
He said, if you ever talk aboutaffairs, if you ever talk about
marriage, if you ever talk aboutum infidelity, he said, tell
them it is never worth it.
He said, if it was worth it foranybody, it was worth it for me
because of what I was living in,what I was going through, who I
(26:57):
had met, all this type stuff.
It had just all made sense.
He said, Today I'm here to tellyou, tell them it is never worth
it.
He said, what I have gonethrough, the loss, the
destruction that I have caused.
He said, it was so much betterfor me to stay in the marriage
as imperfect as it was.
Um he said, I I should haveworked on my marriage rather
(27:21):
than finding an escape route.
I talked to another man just afew months later.
SPEAKER_01 (27:26):
Goodness.
I know, but let me let us sinkin, James.
SPEAKER_00 (27:30):
Um I talked to another man just a few months
later, and it was the the otherend of the spectrum.
He was being unfaithful to hiswife, and he was being very
honest and very faithful, beingvery um vulnerable about it, but
but being very um he was justowning up to it, but he didn't
care, to be honest with you.
And so I'm trying to talk himout of it.
And all he could talk about washe could not understand why his
(27:54):
children were so mad at him.
Because he was so unhappilymarried.
Yeah.
And they needed to understandhow happy he is now.
But he said all they can thinkabout is what he's done to their
mother.
And I just had to look at himand say, you know, because
you're living in sin.
(28:14):
And there is something that isso critical today that Satan's
target is marriages.
Satan's target is the home.
Satan's target is Christian, um,biblical uh marriage to where
every single couple needs totake seriously how to affair
proof their marriage.
Because it is marriage that isthe reflection of Christ in the
(28:36):
church.
It is marriage that is theclearest physical picture, the
Bible says, of the gospel onearth.
And uh, and so uh we everymarriage deals in some way,
shape, or form with uhdissatisfaction, with
unhappiness, with uh um they'renot living up to what we really
want perfectly in our spouse.
(28:57):
Uh, I know I don't live up towhat my wife wants perfectly,
uh, because I can't, uh becausenone of us can.
But um, but Satan takes that andhe makes you run with it.
And and what a reminder.
We talked about on Sunday.
The reason you want to sin isbecause your sin wants you.
SPEAKER_03 (29:14):
Then we live in a way.
SPEAKER_00 (29:15):
The reason you want it.
It wants to be.
SPEAKER_03 (29:16):
It tells us that our happiness is the goal, right?
So that guy, I mean, he's seen,but I'm happy now.
Like, and so that should be whatwhat is the defining factor of
the situation.
And we live in a world thattells us that all the time.
Well, as long as you're happy,you know, like, yeah, or as long
as that's true for you.
And man, what a lie that Satantwists.
Because I mean, yeah, we want tofeel happy, right?
(29:38):
So that seems like such a goodthing, but it's that is not,
that's not what God wants.
SPEAKER_00 (29:43):
We have prioritized happiness over holiness.
God did not say, be happy for Iam happy.
No, yeah.
Because then we're we're we'rechasing everything.
Right.
Be holy.
unknown (29:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:52):
Yeah.
So one of the things I wasthinking is just the like the
way that the culture useslanguage for for stuff like this
that kind of promotes this.
So you think of Adam and Eve.
Well, that's what we know is,you know, in the Bible, in the
book of Genesis, but also withculture, they've taken that to
make a store for adults.
Or you, or the company that diduh or the company that grew
(30:13):
really big that was reallypromoting the slogan was life is
short, have an affair.
The slogan.
But to your point, you know,that's that's enticing.
Oh man, that that's uh huh.
You know, as you start kind ofreflecting on it, um, the
further you away from Christ,and you know, again, you don't
have some of these things inplace.
Um and again, uh combating withwhat the culture provides is
(30:34):
just the road for destructionfor sure.
unknown (30:37):
Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:39):
It says in verse 4 so David sent messengers and
took her, and she came to himand and he laid with her.
Then she returned to his house,and the woman conceived, and she
sent and told David, I ampregnant.
Um obviously, this uh this wasan opportunity for David to
confess.
We know that he went deeper intohis sin.
(30:59):
Uh but Jenny, just as I look atthis, uh I there's a couple of
different possibilities here inthe passage that we weren't able
to get into in the sermon.
One is Bathsheba may not havehad a quote choice in this.
She may not have had a decisionin this.
She may have even felt forced inthis situation.
And we know that that is, attimes it happens.
(31:21):
And uh today, and but at thesame time, um, we don't exactly
know.
She may have her husband's goneto war.
She may have felt very lonely.
Uh, this is obviously nointernet, no phone calls, and
she, we we don't even know who'saround her.
And here is the big, rich,powerful king interested in her
(31:42):
and wants her to come to and whoknows what happened, you know,
what happened, um, besides whatwe see in the text.
So, what would you say to towomen that may be living on
either side of that coin?
You feel like you're in asituation where you're being
forced into something that youdon't desire, or you are
desiring something that youshouldn't desire.
SPEAKER_03 (32:05):
Well, I mean, I think the first situation, I
think we're talking about twodifferent things, because I
mean, being forced intosomething, maybe let's say rape,
that obviously is not gonna bethat person's fault.
Right, right.
Not their sin.
Not talking about that, maybe umshe felt like she had to because
(32:26):
he was the king.
I think even in that situation,you have to ask yourself, am I
choosing something out of fearof the consequences more than
the fear of God?
And I think if you fear the theconsequences more is when you're
gonna say, well, they're inpower.
They're this person's making medo it.
My friend, who's like the mostpopular at school, says we have
(32:48):
to do this, right?
Like I'm trying to think ofsituations that man would have
applied to me growing up.
Um I would have feared theconsequences of how that made me
look, right?
More than I feared God.
And I think that's the importantdistinguish distinguisher fact
of the first scenario.
I think the second one, I mean,it is very similar if you um
(33:10):
maybe she wasn't, maybe it was ach more of a choice for her.
Um, I mean, anything that'sgonna keep you not from
depending on God for his graceand you're willing to do
whatever it takes to furtheryour life, to get ahead.
Maybe it's um you cheat a littlebit to get ahead in life in some
way, so that you have thisawesome thing that makes you
(33:33):
look great.
I mean, all of those things areyou pursuing success, you
pursuing image, you pursuing umfor her, maybe it was the
relationship with a king thatwould have gotten her favor.
Um all of that is you notfearing God more than that.
SPEAKER_00 (33:49):
Yeah, that was powerfully said.
Um and in that what it comesdown to, you know, as as even
Ecclesiastes says, fear God andkeep the commandments.
And um it it we will neverregret following Jesus and doing
the right thing in what he says.
Yeah.
Never regret it.
Um, because that's what his wordis there for, uh, to be able to
(34:12):
protect us in every situation,because sin will always bring
destruction.
Um just to put it in lightningspeed, uh, just just to finish
this out.
Uh 2 Samuel 11, 6 says, so Davidsent word to Joab, send me Uriah
the Hittite, and Joab sent Uriahto David.
Uh Pastor James, one thing wedidn't get into in the sermon
(34:35):
was um the comparison and thecontrast of King David and King
Jesus.
That you have King David here,who's known after a man, after
God's own heart.
He is, he's a shepherd, likeJesus was the good shepherd.
Uh, David was anointed with theHoly Spirit to be king.
Jesus was anointed with the HolySpirit as a baptism to be king.
(34:56):
Obviously, the contrast is asJesus is fully God, uh, we see
David here, he is uh he'sallowing his sin to bring him
into a lifestyle of unholiness.
But Jesus is holy, holy, holy.
He's the same uh as our kids'ministry learned last night,
Wednesday night.
Uh he's the same yesterday,today, and and forever.
(35:16):
And so we see here a quote, goodking who is falling into sin.
But we serve a righteous, holy,eternal, divine king who does
everything.
He takes all of our sin.
He dies for our sin so that wedon't have to choose sin.
(35:37):
And that's what we see withDavid.
He could have confessed rightthere.
Oh, she's pregnant.
Let me bring it to the light.
Let me confess, let me getforgiveness, let it end right
here.
No, he sends for Joab, bring,bring Uriah to me.
Uriah comes back to the palacewhile all of uh the mighty men
are off to war, all of Israel'soff to war.
Uh, he comes back, and and Davidtries to get him to go home to
(35:59):
his wife, to sleep with hiswife, uh, so that it looks like
he impregnated her, but Uriah ismore faithful to the king than
the king is to Uriah.
Today, the gospel is that ourking is more faithful to us than
we are to him.
Verse 26, and I've got a bigquestion for you here.
(36:21):
Then the wife of Uriah heard uhthat Uriah, her husband, was
dead uh because David broughthim back and then sent him back
to war with a death sentence.
They pulled back, we know fromUriah in battle.
David had all theseopportunities to confess.
When the wife, when the wife ofUriah Bathsheba, heard that
Uriah, her husband, was dead,she lamented over her husband.
(36:42):
And when the mourning was over,David sent and brought her to
his house, and she became hiswife and bore him a son.
But the thing that David haddone displeased the Lord.
David ended up looking like thegood guy.
SPEAKER_01 (36:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:55):
He ended up looking like the good king.
Nobody knew anything.
And he was like, Let me, let melook like, as he's covering it
all up, he it looks like it isover.
SPEAKER_02 (37:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:05):
And now he's brought her into his palace, his castle.
He marries her.
He even becomes the father ofher son, the child involved in
the situation.
And what happens in life, man,when we just continue to cover
it up, cover it up, cover it up,and we think that we can make it
(37:26):
go away.
What would you tell somebodyright now if they are in the
middle of the cover-up of theirsin?
SPEAKER_01 (37:34):
Yeah, if you're in the middle of the cover-up, uh,
I think the biggest thing youcan do is uh repent, you know,
and not in the the the preachersyou see on the side of the road
screaming and those things.
But honestly, uh as Paul tellsus to run the race, run, run to
what God has for you.
Don't run to what you want.
And the more that you continueto cover it up, again, the the
(37:56):
harder the consequences aregoing to be for you, the harder
the consequences are gonna befor the people you love.
And and honestly, um you youwill lose out on what God has
for you, the good plans that Hehas for you.
And so you have to make adecision at the end of the day,
because it's it's like wheneveruh there was an interview door
somebody was asking, uh it was acelebrity if if they're
(38:18):
Christian, and they did anythingand everything but say yes or
no.
Well, you know, I'm it's like,is it yes or is it no?
And I think in the same way,will you stop?
Yes or no?
Yeah.
Will you trust God?
Yes or no.
Is that clear?
Yes.
Will you give up your selfishdesires and receive God's
(38:38):
forgiveness for you to cleanseyou so you can turn around, uh,
turn away from that sin and moveto what God has for you.
And as you said, Christ is herefor us, he'll never leave us nor
forsake us.
He hasn't called us to besinless, he's called us to sin
less.
That's right.
And the more that you let go ofthat fear, as you were talking
about, Jenny, but and and reallyhold on to faith, and then you
can really just remember theforgiveness that you have
(39:00):
through Christ.
He doesn't, God doesn't see youas completely yucky and and
shame and all the things.
He sees you as his child, hesees you as somebody who's been
covered by the blood of Jesus.
And so again, the more you wantthe cover up and the more you
want, the harder life is goingto be.
Dr.
Miles Monroe said, if you want ahard life, do the easy things.
(39:21):
But if you want an easy life, dothe hard things.
And the hard thing is to betruthful, to say you're sorry,
and to trust God.
SPEAKER_00 (39:30):
The more I have covered up my sin in my life,
trying to make it go away, theworse it has always gotten.
The worse it has always gotten.
Because like like Godessentially told Cain, be
killing your sin, or your sinwill be killing you.
And the longer you wait to killyour sin, the more your sin will
(39:50):
kill you and those around you.
Because it only gets worse.
Jenny, it says um, 2 Samuel 12,1, uh that as we just finished
off with, and David, what Davidhad done displeased the Lord.
David fooled everybody.
Nobody knew.
(40:10):
Um, he looked like the good guy,but you can't fool God.
That's so good.
And he he was able to hide thesecret from everyone, but there
are no secrets with God.
You can't fool God.
That word displeased in Hebrew,rah-a-is means, man, it was
corruption, it was evil, it waswicked.
It wasn't just, hey, nobody gothurt.
Well, a man died, and a family'sruined, and and and and a king
(40:34):
is is being destructive whenwhen he is supposed to be uh
ruling over his people ingoodness and in grace.
And so 2 Samuel 12 1, so theLord sent Nathan, the prophet of
God, to David.
Um, and Nathan just tells Davidthis story.
Why do you think God led him inthe route of instead of just
(40:57):
saying, I know what you did,last year?
Summer, you know, kind of adead.
I know what you did, right?
And just because it happened inVegas doesn't stay in Vegas, uh,
it displeased God.
Why didn't God just say, Youlusted, you cheated, you killed
him, you covered it up, you'renot the good guy, you're the bad
guy.
(41:17):
Rather, he goes into the storyabout that one little you lamb.
And what what does that mean forus today?
What do we learn from it?
SPEAKER_03 (41:27):
Man, I mean, I think we all can say that God is so
gracious to us when you readthat and you're like, man, there
are so many times in my lifethat God could have just smacked
me across the head, right?
And he didn't.
Um, I think one, it speaks to hewants a relationship with us.
He wouldn't have sent Nathan,even he wouldn't have sent
(41:48):
Nathan just slap him over thehead, let alone tell him a nice
story to relate to him, if hedidn't want relationship with
us.
And I think even when we thinkwe've gotten away with sin, I
know there's times in my lifethat I thought that I'd gotten
away with something, but man, itwas eating at me.
Like maybe you think that you'reokay and you've you've um hid it
from God, but it eats at you andit eats at your relationship
(42:11):
with him.
And I know sin creates that wallbetween you and God, and God
wants that relationship withyou.
So I mean, the first thing Ithink of is that's just his
loving, gracious desire to bewith us, right?
And the fact that he um told astory about some other guy
rather than slap him over thehead.
Um, I mean, there's so manytimes in my life that God has
(42:33):
pulled me out of what Satan canso easily disguise things as
like the condemnation is gonnabe worse than what you can even
imagine.
And once you bring it out to thelight, it's God's like, no, hey,
I got you.
Like, you're mine, I love you.
And there's just been a lot oftimes in my life that God has
(42:53):
done that where I've thoughtthat hiding it and the
punishment and all of that wasgonna be the worst thing that I
could ever imagine.
Um and God's grace in situationslike that.
I had a friend as well that justpointed out, hey, like that's
not what God has for you.
And it was in such a loving waythat um I think it just speaks
(43:15):
to his character for us.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (43:17):
Isn't this exactly what Jesus did when Jesus told
so many stories, told stories tohis disciples, told stories to
the Pharisees, and and and itwas like Jesus sometimes it
feels like, why don't you justget to the point?
But he is he's being gracious,and he is the stories are
proving the point.
(43:38):
If he just says the point, theywould probably have the the
rebuttal or or theself-righteousness to be like,
no, that's not true.
Here's all my excuses and all myreasons.
But Jesus tells all thesestories because he wants them to
feel what he feels.
Because my sinfulness, oursinfulness, uh, we get so
concerned about everybody else'ssin rather than my own.
(44:03):
Uh, Pastor Christian Henry justposted a really great post, uh,
just kind of um politically, youare the man.
You need to go back and readthat.
It was just so good.
Our youth, youth and young adultpastor.
But it's right, he's so truethat we often get so caught up
wherever we are politically andwherever we are culturally, and
all that type stuff.
We get so caught up about theother side that we talk about
(44:26):
all of their sin more than weconfess our own sin to God.
We live in so muchself-righteous anger than we
live in humility and compassionand grace.
And that that's what we see.
I think Jesus is bringing it tolight so that he doesn't just
acknowledge it, he feels it.
Yeah, he feels that convictionfor for that that heart change.
(44:50):
And and just here at the theend, we know that David gets
mad, he hears the story of thisthis figurative man, and and God
has to look at David and say,You're the man.
And God reminds him, I anointedyou, I delivered you, I gave
you.
And God has this reallyinteresting line in there.
(45:12):
And I would add to you as muchmore if it were too little.
And there's something, James,that seems like is God saying
that when we try to blessourselves in our own sin, that
we're missing out on moreblessings that God has for us,
(45:33):
and obviously his blessings aregreater than us.
Man, just when you hear Godsaying, I anointed you, I
delivered you, I gave to you, Iwould have even given you more.
But you chose to sin against me,man.
How does how does that how doesthat resonate with you and what
you've experienced?
SPEAKER_01 (45:48):
Yeah, I mean, it just reflects a lot on just even
me as a parent.
I've I've seen it in in my ownfamily to where uh there was a
time to where we were talking tomy daughter, we were supposed to
take her like to the trampolinepark or something like that.
Because she kept asking.
I'm like, okay, you know, yes,seven times, okay, sure.
And uh that week, she will wegot a note from the teacher on
(46:08):
Tuesday.
And we're like, hey, pause, holdup, sweetie.
Hey, you don't need to do that.
Let's let's let's work on that.
Okay.
The next day she got anothernote from the teacher Wednesday,
and I'm like, oh my gosh.
We j do you not know what'scoming up?
Do you not know what what I haveand again, we're talking like
human helping, like, hey, uh atrampoline park.
None like of all the things thatGod can do for us.
(46:30):
And I'm just like, sweetie,we're gonna have a great time.
We're gonna like have connectionand spend quality time together.
Like this is something you'vewanted, but you keep doing okay,
okay, okay, I'll do better.
Okay, cool.
Friday, she gets another messagefrom the teacher.
And I'm just like, oh my gosh.
Never in her you know, six yearsof life has she gotten three c
(46:52):
three messages in one week.
And whose daughter is she?
Yeah, praise the Lord.
unknown (46:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (46:56):
Now, granted, I did talk about you know being
fortunate, so don't worry aboutthat.
Yeah, we praise the Lord.
Uh, but but to that point, itwas like, sweetie, there's I
have gifts for you.
It's all paid for.
You don't have to do anythingexcept be obedient and follow
the words that I'm telling youto do.
(47:17):
You don't have to worry.
It's more than and even when weget there, we were gonna get
extra stuff.
So we weren't gonna eat before,but it's like there were so much
other things that we were gonnado, but you chose this.
And as I'm explaining it, youstill chose it.
As I'm bringing it up again, youstill chose it like three times
in a row.
And so I think that's just ajust a real life version of
(47:37):
something that's just a smallblimp of what God can do for you
and through your life if you letgo of that sin.
Let it go, it's not worth it.
And when you do fall, uh Christis right there to say, Lord, I'm
sorry, protect me, keep meclose, and help me walk toward
you.
SPEAKER_00 (47:55):
Man, he is so good.
And it's it's his kindness thatRomans 2, 4.
It's his kindness that leads usto repentance.
So he is showing David hiskindness towards him, right?
Look, look what I've done foryou.
I I anointed you like he'sanointed us with his spirit.
I delivered you like he saved usout of sin.
I gave to you.
And this is not a moralistic,legalistic gospel.
(48:17):
This is not, well, we just obeyand then God will bless us.
Uh, God graciously blesses us inour salvation and even in times
in our sin.
SPEAKER_02 (48:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
He's still blessing us, but I believe scripture is
saying that there are extrablessings that we don't
experience when we choose tolive in our sin.
In other words, when we chooseto bless ourselves rather than
uh receiving the blessing ofGod.
And again, I think this is themost to end the passage, this is
the most shocking part of theentire passage.
(48:48):
It's all now, his sin is laidout public before David.
He didn't get away with it, hedidn't cover it up, he didn't
make it go away.
And David just simply said, Ihave sinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said back to David,the Lord has put away your sin.
(49:09):
That's all he had to say.
It was just the power ofconfession.
If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
of our sins and to cleanse usfrom all unrighteousness.
Jenny, it almost sounds tooeasy.
It almost sounds like cheapgrace.
(49:30):
It almost sounds like if I justsay this mantra, if I just, if I
just say it, then it's all justgonna be better.
What what is actually happeninghere?
SPEAKER_03 (49:42):
I mean, I think we know that it does not come from
our works.
And I think the point is thatDavid did nothing to deserve
that forgiveness.
There was not no long speechthat he made to like justify
himself.
There was nothing that's good.
I should have said that onSunday.
SPEAKER_02 (49:58):
That's good.
SPEAKER_03 (49:59):
You know, like he could have he could have said,
Well, this is the reasons why Idid that, Lord.
Or like, here's thejustification for what my
thoughts were, how Satan temptedme, or anything.
He just confessed.
And I think so often we thinkthat we have to prove why we're
worthy to God or why we deserveforgiveness.
And man, the point of that is wedon't, right?
(50:21):
Like, we don't deserve it.
And he it is that simple becausehe made it that way, not because
of what we did.
So it's not that simple becauseJesus had to go die on the
cross, right?
There was a lot involved in thatone sentence.
SPEAKER_00 (50:35):
There's so much, oh my goodness.
I have sinned.
Sin obviously is missing themark in the Old Testament.
He is saying, I against.
He didn't just do the wrongthing.
It was personal to God.
I have sinned against the Lord.
This, you know, he um I wouldencourage all of our listeners
(50:57):
go and read Psalm 51.
And this is the longer accountof David's confession and and uh
and what he's feeling, what heis experiencing, what the Holy
Spirit is doing in him.
And he's he's remember, he'sbegging God, like, restore to me
the joy of my salvation.
Uh, God, against you and youonly I have sinned.
(51:18):
Now that's fascinating becausehe sinned against Bathsheba, he
sinned against Uriah, he sinnedagainst Eliam, he sinned against
the kingdom.
He said, But ultimately, God isthe judge and God is the holy
one, and ultimately our sin isagainst a holy God.
And that's why God said, Youmight have thought you gotten
away with it.
I'm displeased with you in yoursin.
(51:39):
Well, how powerful is it thatwhen we confess, God, you are
right, I am wrong, and it's aconfession that is an agreement
with repentance.
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_03 (51:50):
No, just that our life wants to honor him, right?
I mean, man, that's Psalm justit's it's David wanting to honor
God again, wanting to him toknow that, like, I want to honor
you with my whole life.
And is that our desire?
You know, like, man, that's justa great reminder.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (52:08):
And people, people need to hear the promise of this
verse.
If we confess, and that'sconfessing in the gospel, that's
confessing, Jesus, I believethat your blood is covered over
the sin.
This is, I'm confessing this toyou.
And I think that we need toconfess our sin as far as it is
public, in terms of we need to,we need to confess also, the
Bible says, to people that we'vesinned against.
(52:29):
James 5, 16 says, we need toconfess uh to those that love us
and that we love, just confessour sins to them, let them in on
our secret private life thatwe're struggling with, people
that won't condemn us, butpeople that will help us,
disciple us, uh, so that we canget victory over our sin because
that's what everybody trulywants.
(52:50):
They think their sin will givethem freedom.
When Jesus isn't giving usfreedom to sin, he's giving us
freedom from sin.
Living in righteousness andholiness is true, real biblical
freedom.
And here is the glorious promisethat when we confess in the
gospel, Jesus, you died for mysin, you rose from the dead, you
(53:11):
give me power over my sin.
I'm asking you to forgive me ofall of my sin.
Scripture says, the word of Godsays you can take it to the
bank.
He is faithful.
God is faithful, even when weare faithless.
And he's just to forgive.
Psalm 103, uh, he cast our sinas far as the east is from the
(53:35):
west.
That's an eternal casting,infinite casting.
He forgives us of our sins, andhe cleanses us from all
unrighteousness.
People today live, you might beliving in guilt, you might be
living in shame, you might beliving with uh unconfessed
continual sin.
You might have something buriedin your past uh that you have
(53:57):
not brought up, but yet again,it's not been dealt with.
I just want to remind you thatit's not when you forgive
yourself, and it's not even whensomeone else forgives you, but
if you want eternal, divineforgiveness from God, it is when
you confess your sins to him.
And he promises through JesusChrist that he will forgive you
(54:19):
and we take our sin as we makeour relationship right with him.
Take our sin to those we'vesinned against that are aware of
it, so that our relationship canbe made right with him.
Um in conclusion, uh, we talkedabout we need to experience the
Holy Spirit's conviction.
Sometimes we avoid conviction uhbecause we think it's guilt and
(54:42):
shame.
No, this is this is the oppositeof guilt and shame.
Guilt and shame is hide it,cover it up, make it go away.
Conviction is deal with it,confess it, get forgiveness over
it.
Confession, God, you are right,I am wrong through the gospel of
Jesus.
Forgiveness, I am receiving andbelieving in God's forgiveness.
I can, uh this is true of me.
(55:02):
This is who I am now.
Repentance is 180-degreedirectional turn.
I am living in sin.
Now I am living for Jesus,again, not in perfection, but in
direction, and then living lifein a worshipful obedience.
I had um I had this verse that Ididn't read in for Sunday sermon
(55:25):
because I went too long.
And uh though a righteous personfalls seven times, he will get
back up, but the wicked willstumble into ruin.
The similarity in the righteousand the wicked is that we both
fall.
That's right.
We both sin.
The difference is the righteousget back up, the righteous
(55:47):
repent.
What do the wicked do?
They just keep stumbling intoruin.
Their sin leads to ruin becausethey don't deal with it, they
don't do the biblical uh thingabout it.
Someone came up to me after theservice, young man, JP, and uh
mid-20s, baseball coach in thearea, college student, and he
(56:08):
said, uh, he said, What happenedto King David?
What happened?
And uh and I got to tell him, Isaid, Man, JP, it's crazy.
Um, God forgave him.
Uh, where this happened in hislife, he's probably about 50
years old.
He's probably somewhere in themiddle of his reign.
He reigned as king another 20years.
At the end of his life, there'sthis narrative where it says
(56:30):
that he's he's old, he's he'ssick, he's cold, he's literally
on his deathbed from what Iremember.
And and they brought him someyoung women woman to lay in bed
with him to warm him.
And and I told JP, and and theBible says, and King David knew
her not.
He did not just experienceconfession and forgiveness, but
(56:54):
he took it seriously and helived his life in repentance.
And I love that the NewTestament, a thousand years
after King David, still callsJesus the son of David.
Matthew 1.1.
The very first verse, straightout of the chute.
(57:14):
I love that King David was knownat the end of his life and even
later on, still as a man afterGod's own heart, that it was not
his sin that labeled him ordefined him.
It was his relationship with Godbecause he acted on it.
He confessed and got forgivenessand got repentance and God
(57:37):
redeemed his life.
Um I'm so thankful that God hasredeemed my life from all of my
sin.
So thankful that uh God iscontinuing to redeem uh all of
our lives, even as a churchcollectively together as we
continue to obey the gospel.
(57:58):
Pastor James, any any concludingthoughts, my friend?
SPEAKER_01 (58:02):
Uh I'm I'm like a logical person, like black or
white, and I think uh if you'rein sin, repent, pick up the
cross.
Let's go.
We got work to do.
SPEAKER_00 (58:13):
Let's get on mission.
SPEAKER_01 (58:14):
We got work to do.
Uh, don't take the time forgranted.
Don't take the gifts God's givenyou for granted.
Don't take your family forgranted.
Let's go.
SPEAKER_00 (58:22):
Oh man.
SPEAKER_01 (58:23):
Thank you, Jimmy.
SPEAKER_03 (58:25):
I'm a little less direct, but um I just think I
just want to encourage anyonethat if you are in that place
where Satan has convinced youthat hiding your sin and not
confessing it is going to be thebest for you, or that the
consequences are worse.
Um, just know that bringing itinto the light is the best thing
(58:47):
that you could ever do.
Um, and that it is so muchsweeter than you can think to
confess to the Lord.
It's not like confessing to anangry parent.
It is sweet.
And the relationship that youthen restore with him is is
worth all of that.
So just an encouragement toAmen.
SPEAKER_00 (59:07):
Amen.
Thank you all for being a partof this conversation uh as we
all pursue Jesus together anddigging deeper in in this
passage in the sermon together.
And and uh would love anycomments that you have uh so
that we can continue to learnfrom your experience as well.
If we can answer any questions,just let us know also.
But uh but we pray that this hasblessed your life in Christ as
(59:31):
we live on mission with himtogether.
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