Way back to God
The Way Back to God Now I want you to take your Bibles Ltonl@gh and I want you to open please to II Sam., chapter 11. We're going to be looking tonight in chapters 11 and 12. We're going to he thinking on this subject--The Way Back to GOd, the Way Back to God. Now I want to read chapter 11, verses I and 2-- And it came to pass after the year was expired and the time which kings go forth to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabah but David tarried still at Jerusalem. ANd it came to pass in an eventide or eveningtide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to - ----------- I'm going to stop reading right there and just pick up the reading in just a moment but I have enjoyed studying the life of David. You will remember we started ivith David when he was just a youngster, a stripling of a boy and how he was chosen by the prophet Samuel to be the next king of Israel and what a nan David was. I think so much of David that I named one of my sons David. And it was because of this David that I named my son David. David is and was a man after God's own heart and as we look at David and study the life of David we just have to stand back and say, What a man! NO wonder the Bible calls him a man after God's own heart. Was there ever a man like David? flow brave he was when he slew a lion, xvhen he killed a bear, and then iqhen he went out against Goliath. Ilow brave and courageous was David and how tal6nted was David. He was almost as talented as Ken Whitten. He was a talented young nian. He was the sweet singer of Israel, the one who could pick up that harp and uh sing and from his fingertips would come those melodies and from his throat would come that music and from his mind and from his heart through the inspiration of the HOly Spirit would come those glorious psalms that we still marvel over and how they tell us of us and how they touch our lives. If you don't know how to pray, I want to suggest, my dear friend, that you read a Psalm a day and you just pray throught that psalm and you will learn how to pray, just by reading the psalms because they are the prayerbook as well as the psalm book of Israel. Yes, how talented and how humble he was. Why when uh Samuel caine to anoint the king and all the other sons of Jesse came, little Sam-uh little David was out there tending the sheep and after he was anionted to be the king of Israel he didn't then decide he would uh was too good to be a shepherd but he went back out to take care of his father's sheep. He was a humble man and how noble was David when he had Saul right there in his hands and Ahen he could have destroyed or when he could have made a fool of Saul and yet he respected God's anointed and even his heart was tender when he thought one time he had not acted with the full respect that he ought to have acted towards God's anointed king. Oh what a noble man that this man David and we look at David and you say, What a grand and glorious man and vet we com 11. Oh I zi@h_it were not here. 1--w@l s-h--so-m-'e h-ow t hat it w as j u s t taken from the @rC-o-"f God that we did not have to tell you this story, this horrible story, this liellish story, this vile story, yes this filthy story of David's sin. And yet the Holy Spirit has put it here and the lioly SPirit has put it here for our admonition and for our instruction and the H fp a@_p t, 'here--now listen to me-/@e o y t :L t @_@ I n- @'-Eb r i @@@ a@E"' @d-9n@Roge oly Spirit has put it here as a warning to Jim Wh o Dale Palmer and -to Scotty Shows and to everyone cons o re n t@better t t more@ @n David. David loved God. [le was a man after God's own heart. And David fell and great was the fall of David and the Holy Spirit has recorded there and he has put it here as a warning to us all and I'm glad that the Bible put it here though I'm not glad that it happened. I read somewhere that Alexander the Great had a portrait painted of him and ALexander the Great in this portrait has his head down and his hand up like this as though he's meditating but those who know know that he was not meditating. With his hand he was hiding a horrible scar but God's Word does not hide the scars upon the saints. It's there and when GOd paints a portrait there's no hand to hide is is a part of the portrait of this man David. e going to loolc at David's sin and the title of our tonight--it's a very simple study and I hope and I that it will mean the same thing to you as you as it meant to me as I prepared it. We're going to back to So first of all, I want us to look at the cause of David's sin, the cause (.rf David's sin a,-id aS T med4ta7t--d upoi th4@T would say that his sin was primarily caused by 3 things. First of all his was the sin of idleness. Look again in chapter 11 and vs. 1-- And it came to pass after the year was expired at the time when k'@ngs go forth to batt"@ tha7t Da,,,4-d s4ent Joab atid his servant with hiin and all Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabah but--and notice that the Holy Spirit puts the word but there, that conjunction there, He puts it there in contradistinction to what has gone on--but David tarried still at Jerusalem. ANd then notice in vs. 2 the lst part-- And it came to pass in an eventide that David arose from off his bed. Now you look at that. Man, I want to tell you that it was time to go to bed and David was getting out of bed. It was at eventide that he arose from his bed. See, we can hardly believe that this is the David that we once Icnew. lie is committing the sin of idleness. He is committin2 the sin that we call the sin of omission. sus s@ld-t,hat the sins of camm-@sio-n@ oy, What are the sins of omissi on9 he sins that you were supposed to Uh, no no no no. sin @ to do what you ought to be doing., James sai to im t at knoweth to go@o an oe 1 not, to him it is sin. It is a greater isin to fail to do what you ought to do than t-o do what -ou fought not to do for if you're doing what you ought to do yo Ican't do what you ought not to do. Right? Sure, absolutely. Nobody can uh do 2 things at one time so if Ul you're doing what's right you can't be doing whatis wrong. I If you thinkin what's right you can't be thinl<ing what'Si ;vrong. And so the@ fore, u@t Iy e asue he was not doing what he ought to have done. It was 1 hen '@ 1n s @en, I -f-fivolousi @. Thwe se ene mles a pposed to fight were God's enemies. These were those people that were the enemies of God and God in His righteous judgment had brought judgment and David as the king and the uh righteous king that he was was supposed to have led in battle. I appreciated these young men singing, lie're on the Battlefield for our Lord. ANd I hope and I pray God that these boys will be on the battlefield for our Lord and they'll take that 'and translate it out of a song into life because even teenage boys need to be on the battlefield for their Lord. David was a teenage boy, not mucli older tliin thpse boys, when he killed Goliath. Tlae Bible says when he slew Goliath he was ruddy and of a fair countenance. That means he had a little peach fuzz on his chin. lie hadn't started to shave yet. Just a teenage boy when he slew Goliath. Ile was on the battlefield for his Lord but at this time when he should have been on the battlefield for his Lord he was not on the battlefield for his Lord. And the Bible says in the New Testament that we as Christians are to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And that we are to put on the ivhole armor of GOd but David when he many the good gun to ta e d for granted. David now had begun to take and David had just assumed that the blessings of GOd were just going to keep on coming, just keep on coming and so David now becomes lax. David takes off the armor and David now is lol i@n _-a f @e has not ee@-&-deeming e. Well might he have read Proverbs, ch. 24 and vs. 33 though it had not yet been written but well might h the truth of that proverb-- Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one t travaileth and thy want as an armed man. Here was Dav committing a sin of idleness, a sin of laziness, a sin o omission. He was not doing what he ought ot have done. He was just simply thinking that the blessings were goina to come. I want to tell you somethino, friend. Idleness is a dangerous thing and uh you know sometimes we hear proverbs and because they're proverbs--I mean human proverbs and slogans and cliches--we seem to forget them. We say, Oh, that's only a proverb, tliat's only a cliche. How does a cliche get to be a cliche? How does a proverb get to be a proverb? When somebody sai(i that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. We've heard that so much that it oes in otie ear and out the otlieL.----But mv friend that is a AN-idle mind is the devill,@-worksh6lY@ and this is where David got into trouble to begin with, just simply by the sin of idleness, just simply by taking God for granted, just assuming that the blessings of the Lord are going to continue to come. But not only was it a sin of idleness, but right along with that it was a sin of carelessness. Look again if you %vould in vs. 2-- And it came to pass in an eventide that David arose from off his bed and wallced upon the r(i(tf- (iE f-hp- k@ng's holisp- and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. ,Now uh David could not help perhaps the lst look. Perhaps that was chance, perhaps he had not intended to see what he saw. Another proverb that we've often heard is this that we canit keep the birds from flying over our heads but @ve c-,in certainly keep them from making a nest in our hair. And David perliaps could not have helped himself at this first thing but oh if he could have only remembered again Proverbs, chapter 4, vs. 23--The trutli that later @vould be expressed by Solomon--Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are tfie issues of life. But he was careless with his thought life and a look turned to lust and ivhat fie saw sent after and inquired. h@@-ble -nrs pter 23 keth righteously and speaketh uprightly, ye that i, despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding a bribe, that stoppeth--listen !@o this, young people--that stoppeth his ears from the liear ng of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil he shall well on high IiIs place of defense shall be in the munitions of the lof@ Bread shall be given unto his--unto him and liis waters shall be sure. Now notice, what,_i,.t,-_@,g@@-:..Lf@lutgteth hIsie es from t"e -@-i-t u@ a n your seeinp of ev You canno ax7b e min 5 When David saw this, David should have looked away. David himself said In ps. 101, vs. 2 and 4--I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Oh if David could have only remembered what he wrote himself in that time of devotion, if he could have only learned what uh Solomon would later say, Keep thy heart with all diligence, if he could have only known the truth that Isaiah the Prophet had spoken, that tie must set no wicked thing before our eyes. If only, if only David could have been like uh Joseph when Potiphar's wife tried to entice Joseph a@d she said, COme lie with me. JOseph was wise enougli the Bible says that he fled, that he got away from that thiiig. He had no daliance with evil, he had no he-he had no time for evil to sprout its seeds within his heart. lie mipfit laugh at Joseph, call him lloly Joe but he stayed pure for the Bible says, There hath no temptation taketh you I)ut sucli as is common to man and GOd is faithful who will not suffer a man to be tempted above that he is able but will with the temptation make a way of escape so that ye might be able to bear it. And often the way of escape is the kino.s's highway, 2 feet and a hard run. But David didn't do this. David committed first of all the sin of idleness and the sin of idleness grew to the sin of carelessness and he was careless and he continued to look and he continued to inquire and then you will remember that he committed the horrible sin of adultery and in order to try to cover the sin of adultery he had Bathsheba's husband Uriah the llittite sent to the hottest part of the battle and he was slain and God held him accountable therefore not only for the sin of adultery but alsb for the sin of murder. So idleness turned to carelessness and carelessness turned to callousness. I can hardly believe that David would have (lone what lie did. Now it is bad enougli that he committed adultery. That ;4as a hot-blooded sin but when he committed murder that was a cold-blooded sin. I cannot believe that David, David allowed Uriah the Hittite to be put to death. You see Uriah was a friend of David's. Uriah was a man who trusted David. Uriah was under David's command and ttierefore he was under David's protection. I say that even sadder than what David did with Bathsheba was what David did to Uriah the flittite. David's pride meant more to him now than Uriah's life and he plotted the death of a devoted servant. ANd Uriah who was willing to die for David's honor died by David's hand. the sin of callousness! te you ow. dd---will--remember a while back he I spoke to 1-you about the hardened heart and the deceitfulness of sin. riend, let me te you C@-e-r-e'@"'!i6m6thihg -abbut-the deceitfulness of sin that will so callous your heart and so harden your heart and if I were to tell you what you were capable of doing, you, sitting there in that chair, you'd say, No, I would never do such a thing. But I tell you the to Ps. 32 where David te "S w hat ha 11 - t '4 R t- vear. )Tou @@iomet-tme-s v (ItL t person, you'll e out door to door soul-winning and uh somebody, a man wi @come to the door. ANd you'll tell him you are and he" sa Yeah, yeah, yeah I know what you;re talking about. I--ha ha--I used to go down there to that church. I used to he Christian. Ha-ha. Guess I'm just an old backslider--ha h ha. He's not an old backslider. He's lost and he's going to hell. No backslider laughs and carps about his sin, ridicules it, lives in ease. Let me tell you something. David sinn 0 :Lm I want you to look here in Ps. 32, vs. 4. lie says concerning that year that he covered his sin, concerning that year when he failed to confess his sin, @ihen I kept silence my bones waxed old through the roaring-through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy liand was heavy upon me. My moistures turned to the dry summer. Selah. Thin]< about it, he says. Just thinlc about it. YOu know what happened to David that year? Let me tell you, dear friend. In one year he most likely aged 10 years. @9e had a premature agina. Look he sai(I when I kept silence my bones waxed old. Therets nothing, tliere's nothing that will prematurely age a Christian like unconfessed sin in his heart and in his life. But not only was there this premature aging there was this iiiward groaning, this agony on the inside. He speaks of his roaring all the day long and this ivord roaring literally means his groaning, his sighs. When God saves you, mister, he does not fix you up where you cannot sin anymore but he fixed you where ygu cannot sin and enjoy it anymore. ANd the most miserable man on earth is not a lost man. He's a saved man out of fellowship with God and here was David a a saved man and he speaks of the aging upon, the pressure that was there, the inviard roaring and the groaning that was there. ANd then he says in vs. 4 @light and day thy hand was heavey upon me. Cod had David in HIs hand and God's heavy hand is weightino upon David. Let me tell you somethin-, friend. When a child of Cod sins GOd doesn't look the tlier way. God moves in and GOd brings conviction. It is the heavy hand of Cod that ivas upon David's life, that was convicting him of the thing he had done and day and night, night and day, the thirig David liad done so etched itself upon his conscience, his consciousness, and so reverberated througli his heart and his mind that it seemed like GOd was squeezina. the very life out of him. Not only was there this premature aging, this inward groaning, GOd's heavey hand of conviction in vs. 4 that there ivas a spiritual dryness. He says, And and my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. How dry he was, how spiritually dry. He had once known joy and victory. He had once sung unto the Lord. He had leaped and danced before the ark of God and now it's all gone, His life is dry and withered and swiveled. Now it's a struggle for Iiiui to pray. It's a struggle for him to witness. It's a struggle for him to praise. There's no you're truly saved but rather than confessing your you've been covering your sin. There used to be a you'd get in your automobile at the wlieel and just God. I mean you'd roll up the windows so nobody wo and you'd just sing and shout and pray and love the Jesus Christ. You'd get in your bedroom down upo our knees and have a glorious time. You'd read your le and weep and pray before the Lord and Jesus Christ wa earer and more real to you than the- me-mberg cLf v(YiLr Lam bijt it's all gone now and sin is in your heart and sin is in your life because because you have failed to confess your sin, you have covered it. flow do we cover our sin? Oh iie cover our sin today by rationalization, the behavioralistic sychologist have told us, I-Jell, it's really noL our fault. @ou know, we're just, we're just sonehow victims of of the culture and society has molded us and we may be sic!( but weire not sinful. lle may be ill but we're not evil. le inay be weak but we're not uh uh weak but we're not wicke(l. ANci so somehow we cover our sins I)y making some alibi, some excuse. If David had uh uh had enlre to one of these b.ehavioralistic psycholgists today he would have said, Well, it really wasn't my fault. I had uh uh a some sort of an inward frustration that society had put in me that I had to work out or I Had a glandular malfunction or sometfiing. lie would have an excuse, explained it away, explained it away. End of side one flow do we cover our sin? Some people cover their sin by activity. They g@t busy but they won't confess their sin. \You can even do church work. David continued to be king but oh he was covering his sin. SOine cover their sin by uh Eypocrisy. They act like nothing is there, nothing is wrong. Old Moses backslid. When l,loses backslid, when @loses was right with GOd his face shone so brightly he had to wear a veil over his face and then to keep uh uli uh the his face from almost blinding those who looked at his face but after he backslid and the glow was gone he wore the veil still to k,eep people fron seeing the glow was gone. ANd oh alot of you are here, sitting here looking at me with big smiles but y@u're just wearing a veil, just wearing a veil, you're c,overing your sins and there's no io here's no peace, there's no v sin but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them the same shall have mercy. Now I want you to notice not only the cause of his sin and the covering of his sin, but I want you to notice the confronting of David's sin. When a child of God sins, God confronts the child of God with his sin and as I've looked at it, I've determined that generally God confronts the child of GOd in 4 steps with his sin. Tfiere are 4 ways that He'll confront you if you're truly saved with your sin. The lst thing he will do as we've alrea(ly said is He will bring conviction. Remember Ps. 32, vs. 2 said, For night and day thy hand was heavy upon me. God will convict you of your sin. ANd if you sin an(i God doesn't convict you of your sin don't think that you're saved. It is impossible for you as a child of God to sin and not be convicted of your sin. You've not been saved. You've not been borne a,aiii if you can sin grievously and God does not convict you of that siii. Now secondly, as God confronts you with that sin, first of all, comess that conviction. If when you if you're convicted of your sin, you confess your sin, forsake your sin you'll have mercy but if you do not when God convicts you the next step is cliastisement. God %qill chastise you and that chastisement may talce many forms. It may be sickness, it riay be uh, it may be sorroiq, it may be deatli to someone or somethin@. that you love, it may be a loss of nioney, it may be a loss of health, it may be a loss of answered prayer, but God will chastise you not because ITe doesn't love you but because he does love you. God had been chastening David and that's @vhat Ps. 32 is about. The hand of God ivas upon David. David knew physical sickness and other things that had come to him for the Bible says in Heg., ch. 12 and vs. 6--For whom the Lord loveth ho chasteneth and scourgeth every son he receiveth. ANd I %qant to tell you that word scourge is a strong word. A scourge was a whip, a cat of nine tails. Ile's noL talking about a slap on the wrist. I want to tell you, dear friend, it's a dangerous thing for a child of God to sin and after God convicts that you still stubbornly, willfully, deliberatley go on. GOd is more interested in your obedience than Ile is with your driving a Cadallic. God is more interested in your relationship with HIm than He is your liealth. GOd is more interested in your being right witli him than he is, dear friend, your influence or your not being put to an ol)en shame. God will deal with you with chastisment as lie confronts yor sin. But first of all as Ile confronts your sin there coines conviction and you let that coiivictionn pass and then God brino.s chastisement and you let that cliastisement pass, then God will bring you a challenge, a challenge. God will challenge you. God will bring somebody, something into your life to challenge you right head on about your sin and this is where God is getting toward the end in His dealing with you before Ile takes you prematurely to heaven. God will challenge you. He challeng@d David with a prophet named NAthan. GOd liad sent conv-iction--that was not enough. God liad sent cirzf@Lis@iriirL tirat w@s irot @iruu&i LTird tireir God seirt Natii-a-ii the p-i-opiiet to boldly and clearly and deliberately challenge the kina.. Now the challenge may come through someone else, something else, it may your wife that God uses. It may be your husband that God uses. It may be your pastor that God uses. It may be a friend that God uses. It may be circumstance that GOd uses. It may be a sermon that God uses. It may be a iie;qspaper article that God uses but God will give a challenge and you will know it is God speaking to you. As I prepared this sermon tonight GOd seeined to be sayina. to @me---a-s,-I-pr-epa-red-i-t--,tliis' iv-e--ellk-- -a.n--dl..@-t-ho-@ug-h-t--ab-out it tonight i getting ready to preach it--God seemed to be sayin,,, to me, Adrian, the sermon that you're going to be preaching tonight is going to be my challenge to somebody listening to me. Somebody who's already been through the first step. SOmebody who's come along the lst step of conviction and they've come past that. Somebody who's come to the 2nd step of chastisement and that has not been enough and now God is ,__aending a challenge. You will remember that Nathan the Prophet came to call upon King David and chapter 12 tells us about that. Let's go to II Samuel, cliapter 12 and just look at the Scripture for a moment. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David--II Sam., cliapter 12--notice now--God sends Nathan. Now this doesn't mean that a year's past and God lias not been interested. God has already been interested. GOd has already started to work the lst 2 ways but noii ttie Lord sent Nathan unto David and he came unto him and said unto him, There were 2 men in one city, one ricli the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds but the poor man had notiiing save one little ewe lanb which he had brought and nourished out and it grew together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat and dra,-il, of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. ANd there caine a traveler unto the rich nan and he spared to take uh of his own flock, of his own herd to dress for the @vayfaring man which was come unto him but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man which was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man and he said unto Nathan, As the Lord livetli the man which has done this thing shall surely die and he shall restore the lamb 4-fold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. And then Nathan reminded David of his sin in spite of God's blessing upon David. David had a challenge from the Lord and had he not listened to this challen-e I am convinced that David would have died. This would have been the end of David's life. God %iould have killed him. God would have killed David. As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell you why I believe that in just a moment. God gave hin a challenge. As I look at the Bible and understand this, the challenge generally comes just one time. Now David uh gave a cliallenae and thank God--uhni excuse ine, Nathan gave a challenge and thank God David heard the challenge because iqhat comes after the challenge, first there's conviction, then the chastisement, then the confrontation or the challenge, and then the consummation. If a person refuses God's challenge, when God says, ALright, this is it. You'll not go any further and he refuses that he commits a sin that the Bible calls a sin unto death, a sin unto death. Turn to I John, chapter 5, vs. 16-- If any man see his brother sin a sin whicti is not unto deatti he shall ask life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death I do not say ye shall pray for it. That is there is a time that a Christian, a brother can commit a sin that the Bible calls the sin unto death and his life is consummated. I I uh believe I've seen this happen many times well not many, many times but enough times that I have I I beiieve I have seen it with my own eyes and experienced the sin unto death as as as I have seen in in other people rather uh as they transgressed against the Lord. When I first first took my first little church as a college student, the very first preaching that I did outside my home church. I preached on a given Sunday in that little old country church, several people came forward to confess Christ i-7ith tears. I meaii it was just such a blessing to iny heart. I had never preached and given an invitation where people came forward to receive Christ with tears like that and they came forward. I was so happy aiid as I was presentino those people to the church, a man stood up in that church, an elderly man, and he made a scene because lie didn't like the way I iias presenting the people to the church. ANd frankly I was presentin-@, them the same %;ay I liad all the other years and there was nothing wrong with what I ivas doing that day. But this man stood up and right in the middle of that holy and wonderful time--I was just a young boy, 19 years of age. Uh this man made a fuss in that church and so I tried to get over it and the next Sunday I preached and so more people were saved and again the same thing happened. I drove out to his house. i was just a boy. I didn't icnow exactly how to deal with the situation. Ile iias a man. I suppose in his 60's at that tiine. ANd I said, Mister, I want to tell you something. We're doing business for God down there and I !<now I don't have alot of experience but what you did to that service was wrong. And it was not the spirit of God and you must not do hat again. A few weelcs and inonths passed and God i4as @oving so mightily in that church, that maii ao.ain and I'm not going into great details--again he interrupted and moved against the service. I believe he was a man filled with inordinate pride and he had a little more education than the rest of the eople in that country community and he was p drawing attention to himself and was going to set the young preacher straight. I took it to GOd in prayer. Ile was put in the hospital with a serious siclcness. You say coincidental. YOu can believe what you want and uh he was taken out of the service. Again GOd blessed the service. THen he got well. He came back to the service one more time. I carried it to God one more time and GOd took him, GOd took him. I I @@ @. @." -1.1 .. @;@1--@- I had another man down in er church that I pastored. That man was a man that I rayed for and wept over and led to the Lord Jesus. He e a dear friend of nine and had done so many wonderful -,s for me and helped me and ncouraged me in the riinis ry. But when I left that cliurch hat man fell out of fello'wship with me and with the church. @tt was over a small thing' but soniethin-. he had no business fal,ling out of fellowsh@Iop iiith. Ile was in tie wron@. I said to hin, JAck,Jack,@'you're wron@, sir. You ouoht not to be this way. YOu ouglit not to act this way. Now let's pray and let's get this th'ing settled. I'ni leaving this churcii and I don't want to leave with uli a bad feeling here. ',-,Ir're brethren. I love yqu and you love me and you love God. Jack said to me, Li@ten, preacher, I lno@v I'm i4rong. I know it but I'm not goin'g to change. I said, Now, Jack, don't say that. It's one;thing to be wrong but don't say I l@now I'm wrong but I'minot going to change. Al@d he go mad and lie said, GOd can do ifhat he wants. I'm not going to chajige. I said, Jack, GOd's/going to judge you just as sure as I'm standing here. V,know you, I love you, I led you to Jesus, I baptized you IRrayed with you, Jack, you can't say tliat. He said, I've d @t. I said, Jack, take it bace. Ile said, I'm not ng \o take it back. I said, Jack, I want to tell you an gavv him a challenge that God told ,ne to give him. I w to *peak ;vith one of tiie other men of the church I said, iiant on record and the reason ivhy I'ni telling you tly is so ill be on rccord. Something terrible is going to h to that man and soon. Just a few weeks I pjbt a tele call. They said, Preacher, did you hear aboqt Jac]<? d, No, tell me. Jack fell dead just like th@t. It wa surprise to me. You say, coincidenc I don't beli ve it. I don't believe it. Tfie Bible says ere is a sin u eath. The Bible says Keep baclc thyse from presumpti in. It's one thing,my dear friend, to n warmblooding t s another thing to sin coldbloodi y. David sinn rmbloodingly and then David sinned col oodingly and t avid sinned obstinately as God for a r had dealt wi m and finally God said through s prophet Nathan o put his finger in the !<ing's face and ay, Thou art the man. @Thank Cod, thank God, David had eno sense to realize he h@dd gone as far as he could go. .-'When I pastoring in another church I had a youno man that I to Christ. This young m n had been a rounder and a bound but he was one of the swee%est young men I have ever kn HIs name iias Bill. He \elt God had called Iiin to prea h and I loved Bill, prayed ivith him, taught him how to win ouls. He had he led his brot@pr to Christ. ile had burde for his old dad. I as I rere'ber led his old dad a In to Chri t and hoij I loved Bill. But Bill somehow the pull of the world was getting to him and he iiould go back into the world. And I'd o,o look hin up and @ve'd weep and pray over him. Ife'd come back to churcli. I can remember him coming down the aisle so many times, tine after time after time aga@n saying, Uh, pastor, I was %irong and I'm sorry. I repent mean it this time ivith all of my heart, ivith all of my @eai@irt and then again he'd be back in the world. I remember 'Saying to Bill, Bill, I'm o.oing to give you a word from GOd,@lmister. God is finished foolin.- with you. You'd better str@aighten up. You'd better straighten up. I'I-,i giving you a.warning from God. A few weeks after that Bill, o was a policeman, was cleaning his pistol. It went off. sliot him--it shot him through the abdomen and ivent in and out and in an@, out and in and out through his intestines and uh somehow a a infection set up. I went into the hospital before Bill died. I look ed at him. He said, Pastor, I know what's happ@ned to me. I know what's happened to me and I realize tha@ it's my fault and I know that I'm going to die, I love GN . I'm saved. Bu't here was a man who comniitted in my es@imation--we'll find out ivlien we gct to heaven--but in my e@timation, Bill; a man that I loved, a inan that I prayed ov r, a man that/I had ijorked with, was ii man who let COd sign s death @ia@rant. There is a sin unto death. I do not say\tliat ye shouad pray for it. We prayed for Bill. The church @rayed for/Bill. 1,1-- interceded for Bill but God took him hqme. I know a pastor in my ho@p sta of Florida. One of the most gifted preachers I ha',ve e heard in my life. The Ist time my wife heard him pre@@h bhe said, Adrian, come over here and listen to this man'preach. I tell you he could preach stars out of the heavens. He could preach the birds out of the trees but this man got into the matter of immorality and sexual sin and the horrible vile things happened and I will not paint the sordid details because I don't want to even give the enemy uh uh room to blasplieme. For the Bible says it is a shame to speak in public those thino,s that are done in secret. But I believe the man at one time knew GOd and loved GOd and S@rved GOd and ivas anointed of God. The preachers used t'o get too.ether and they wouid t-alk aLTou@ this man and one preaciier would say to another preacher, I'm fi@iglitened for him, I'm frightened for ,iim, @I'm fr-'@ghtened fok hii-a. S@tiy-Lryg's goino to happen to this man. He t go on. He was sitting by a roadside on a busy highway a car careened of@ that roadside and took off his head believe dear friend@ that he committed a sin unto death do not say that ant prayer would have saved him. I bel that GOd put hifi un(ter conviction and then GOd put him chastisement, and t od put hiri under confrontati d then GOd put him u condenination. liot that he went.to hell--I believe lie @,niy gone to heaven if lie wasitruly saved. Paul said i or., chapter 5, verse 5 speaxing of a man lil<e that--De such a one to Satan for t@e destruction of the flesh his spirit may be saved ih the day of the Lord Jesus. why it was written. This is the psalm that David wrote a A t n going sage on,, f mail, h e con ence. 12 there must be confession. '## there must be cleansing. Now I ivant you to notice the confidlnce of David. Look if you wili in vs. 1. David says, Ilave mercy upon me Oh GOd, accordin.- to thy lovingl@indness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out iry transgression. Do you kno@@ iihy David iias such a great man? Ile l@new COd so intimately and David lnew for a multitude of si,,is there iiere a multitude of iercies. ANd David kneiv that God's lovin@.kiiidness ivill never forsale one of his ciiildren and tlierefore he could cry out to GOd. David had a -onfidence that no matter what he had done Cod still loved @im and I want to tell you so,.lething, dear friend, I don't lcnow what you've done. Perhaps you've not sinned as badly as David but I can tell yo onl,,Ii-C as God's man with all of the authority and unclion ot my soul that GOd loves you and for a nlultitude of sins the re are a multitude of nercies and ;vhere sin doth abound grace does much ,,lore abound. Arqen? Ilallejuah! Praise GOd! I want that confidence in your lieart Now the 2nd thin@. after conl'idence is confession. @lotice how David confessed uh beginning in vs. 2. Ile says-- Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me fropi m,, sin for I acknowledge my transgression and ,ny sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thine sight that thou miglitest be justified when thou speal@est and clear when thou jud-,est. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. David con-confesses his sin. liere's what he did. fle confesses his sinful nature. I was borne in iniquity shapen in iniquity. He confesses that his sin is own sin, nobody else's fault. He doesn't blame his wives. Tie doesn't blame Bathsheba. He doesn't blame Uriah the Hittite. fie doesn't blame anybody. He says, It's me, it;s me, it's me, oh God, standing in the need of prayer. The confession--there is one thing that Cod will never accept for sin and ttiat is an alibi. There's no alibi here there is a clear confession. Confidence, confession, and then hallejuah there is cleansing. Notice what he says here--Purge me with hyssop and I ivill sliall be whiter,excuse me, and I shall bc clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Do you kiio,.v wliat hyssop was? Remember the ni-ht of the Passover they took hyssop and they would sprinile the blrtod of the lamb on the doorstep. l'Issop was a little ------ tliit they applied the blood with. I-Iliei lie iias sayin@ purge c iiith hyssop it's just the Old Test. iiay of sayin@- Cleanse r.:e witli blood. And what blood? the PIew Test. tell us the blood of Jesus Christ, O@od's son, cleanses us from all sin. There it is friend. And the same God that foroave David restored David and used David is the same God %vho will forgive you, restore you, and use you. Confidence, confession, cleansino'. o 30