Time to Watch the Tape

SCRIPTURE.

12 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die,6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

INTRO.

Have you ever watched yourself make a mistake? Maybe you were watching the tape from the game on Friday and you watched yourself completely miss a block. Or maybe you were watching the tape of your concert and you watched yourself totally miss that note. Maybe you were recording a dance for TikTok and you butchered it? Hands up if you’ve ever watched yourself make a mistake.

UPSET THE EQUILIBRIUM.

I’m obsessed with those Progressive commercials where they check the tape. Have you seen those? Check this out!

[Check the Tape Commercial]

ANALYZE THE DISCREPANCY.

They’re so funny because they’re SO REAL! It’s hard to admit when we’ve messed up, isn’t it? It’s hard to go back on Saturday and watch the tape from Friday. It’s hard to go back and watch the tape of the concert. It’s hard to go back and watch the first 11 takes of your TikTok, because it’s hard to admit when we’ve messed up.

DISCLOSE THE CLUE TO RESOLUTION.

And because it’s so hard to admit when we’ve messed up, it’s rare to find people who can. Isn’t it rare to find a friend who, after saying something that hurt your feelings, can circle back and say that they’re sorry? Isn’t it rare to find a coach who called the wrong play who can come back to the team and say, “that’s on me?” Of course it is! It’s rare to find people who can watch their tape, admit where they messed up, and get better from it.

But tonight, I came to tell you that it’s time to watch the tape.

EXPERIENCE THE GOSPEL.

There’s a story in the book of 2 Samuel that I think has a lot to teach us about this. Turn in your Bible to 2 Samuel chapter 12.

King David’s had an affair with a woman named Bathsheba. And during the affair, she got pregnant, and so David tried to cover up what had happened. Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, was in David’s army, and through a series of events, David has Uriah killed at war in order to cover up what he’d done.

Not long after, David gets a visit from an old friend, the prophet Nathan.

12 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die,6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

First of all, that line from Nathan was EPIC. It’s been about 6 months since David’s slept with Bathsheba and I imagine that he feels like he’s gotten away with it because Uriah never actually found out. At least until Nathan comes onto the scene and exposes what David did. He thought he’d avoided the consequences of it. He thought he’d covered it up and it was hidden. But God saw what David did…

What David did in the dark, God brought to the light. And students,

What we do in the dark, God will bring to the light.

Have you ever experienced a moment, maybe it was on a Wednesday, where something got said from the stage and you thought, “do they know?! Did you go through my phone? Did you talk to my school?”

We have a name for moments like that, it’s called conviction. It’s a legal term that indicates that a person is guilty of an offense. And when we have these moments of conviction with God, it’s a moment where we understand that we are guilty of an offense. It’s like we’ve gone back with God and watched our tape.

And if you’ve had one of these moments with God recently, you know that, initially, it’s not a good feeling. It’s like you’re watching yourself mess up on tape. You’re reliving what you got wrong, it’s cringey, and you have to make a decision…

Avoid it or admit it.

Many times, the biggest x-factor in our faith is what we decide to do with our moments of conviction.

But like we’ve said, conviction is hard! It’s hard to watch your tape and admit you messed up because there’s a lot of pain and shame involved!

ILLUSTRATION.

And this may surprise you, but you should feel pain and shame with conviction. Pain and shame are part of what comes as a result of sin. They’re like a stain that sin leaves behind.

How’s the old hymn say it? 🎵“Sin had left a crimson stain…” [Stain gif]

And just like a stain on your clothes, the stain of pain and shame won’t just go away over time. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Ask your momma! The longer the stain goes undealt with, the deeper it sinks into your clothes. The longer the stain has to sink into the fabric, the more the stain becomes part of the fabric.

You know what I mean don’t you? Some of you, like me, experienced some abuse from your parents when you were 3, 4, 5 years old and you’re still wearing the stain. Even if the abuse hasn’t happened in 10 years, the fact that it happened left its mark, and you’ve gone so long avoiding it, unable to admit it, that it’s now part of the fabric of your life. And you may be a follower of Jesus, but you’re not an overcomer like Scripture says, that stain has turned you into a victim.

Some of you have been stained by the secrets you keep. It may not even be part of your life anymore, but it was. And the fact that there ever was a secret has left a stain on you that you’ve carried with you because you’ve never had the courage to admit it to yourself or God or anyone else. And even as a follower of Jesus, you’re not free like Scripture says. You’re not going to hell, but you’re a slave on earth to your fear of being found out.

Even if I haven’t hit your stain specifically, all of us have been stained by sin. That’s what happened back in the Garden of Eden. Even before we were conscious of the decisions we were making, our human nature has been stained by a decision made a very long time ago. The stain of sin has been so part of life here on earth that now, it’s literally part of the fabric of what life is like here.

Make no mistake, this moment of conviction was an x-factor for David. He had to decide what to do with the stain that his sin left – avoid it or admit it.

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

David does what we know is so unbelievably hard to do. In a moment of conviction, he admits it.

What David did in the dark, God brought into the light. And in a moment of conviction, when given the choice to admit what he’d done or avoid what he’d done, David admits to what he’d done, and an amazing thing happens.

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.

“Sin had left a crimson stain…He washed it white as snow.”

ANTICIPATE THE CONSEQUENCES.

This is the gospel! Jesus has made a way for you to be clean from the stain that your sin has left! A way to be free from the pain and shame that many of us carry!

The New Testament talks about it this way,

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Do you realize what this means? You no longer have to carry the stain of your sin with you!

When you lie, you can admit it to God, ask for His forgiveness, and instead of carrying the stain of the pain and shame of being a liar, you are declared holy because of Jesus.

When you fall into lust, you can admit it to God, ask for His forgiveness, and instead of carrying the stain of the pain and shame of sexual immorality, you are declared holy because of Jesus.

When you gossip, you can admit it to God, ask for His forgiveness, and instead of carrying the stain of pain and shame of being a gossip, you are declared holy because of Jesus.

The stain of your sin no longer goes with you. YOU ARE CLEAN.

BUT…

You have to check the tape. If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and will forgive us…There’s a choice. And while there is much pain and shame in admitting it, I would argue there is even more pain and shame in avoiding it. Because if I don’t admit it…

I am guilty of being a liar.

I am guilty of sexual immorality.

I am a gossip.

And that goes with me everywhere. It becomes part of the fabric of my life. There is no escape from the stain that my sin has left.

See, maybe a better way of saying it is, I can admit it now or admit it later.

There is a day that’s coming when each of us must stand before God and give an account of our lives. Think of it as standing trial before God. Scripture says that what we have earned is death. Because we are guilty of our sin, our sentence is to spend eternity in hell. In that moment, all of our stains will be exposed and on display. But thanks be to God that Jesus took on our stains so that we could put on His righteousness. For those of us who believe in Jesus and have made Him Lord of our lives, it will be like standing trial and seeing Jesus wearing our shirt. And when we look down, there is a perfectly clean shirt, His shirt, that He has given us in exchange. When God looks at us, He won’t see the stains of our shirt, He will see the spotless shirt of Jesus and welcome us to heaven.

And my prayer for you this week is that today would be a spiritual laundry day where you would feel safe enough in the presence of God to have a moment where you can admit to your stains and God would forgive them and make you clean.

2 Samuel 12 shows David admitting it to Samuel when he says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” But Psalm 51 actually gives us a much more detailed look at what it looked like when David admitted it to God.

He starts by saying,

Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I’ve been; my sins are staring me down. You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair.

Take a moment and watch the tape of your life. What stains are coming to your mind that you’ve been avoiding?

[Pause to allow response]

Maybe it’s a sin you used to struggle with but still feel ashamed of.

Maybe it’s a secret you are keeping that you know needs to come into light.

Maybe, you’ve never heard or understood that you have sinned and that you need saving, and you need to confess before God right now that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior.

What stains do you need to bring before Him?

[Pause to allow response]

What’s beautiful is that David doesn’t stop at verse 4, he goes on to pray one of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible in verse 7,

Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.Tune me

Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don’t look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don’t throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails!

Where do you need to pray that for yourself?

Ask God to wash you AND allow yourself to receive the grace and forgiveness that God has promised to bring.

Allow Him to forgive that part of your past.

Allow Him to wash you clean from the shame of that secret.

Allow Him to become your Savior and the Lord of your life.

[Pause for Response]

It is a difficult thing to check the tape, but if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And that deserves a response.

So we’re going to worship for a moment as a way of saying thank you to God for what He’s done.

But as we do, leaders are going to be down here at the front, and if you need to respond differently than singing, I want to challenge you to be brave and take one more step. If you have a secret you’ve been hiding, maybe you need to come find your leader and bring it into the light by confessing it to them and letting them pray for you.

If you don’t know Jesus but you want to and you just prayed that He would become your Savior and the Lord of your life, come find your leader, tell them, and let them pray with you to mark that moment.

Let’s respond together.

[Respond in Worship]