(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, so keep your place in 2 Samuel chapter 12. We'll get there in a minute. We'll be all over that chapter this evening. Tonight we're starting a three-part series, and we're going to be looking at the life of King David in the next three sermons, and we're going to be looking specifically at why King David. What I mean by that is why King David is one of the people in the Bible that he's one of the most documented characters in the Bible. The entire chapters of 1 and 2 Samuel are about King David's life, about David's life. David himself wrote most of the Psalms. If you read the Psalms, the author of those is mostly King David. It's clear in the Bible when you read through these chapters about King David, David as a young man, we see David as a young man all the way through his life as a king, before he's a king, as a king, and then as he dies and someone else takes over the kingdom. We see that whole window of his life, which is a rare thing as far as characters in the Bible. The Bible tells us a lot of detail about his life. One thing that's clear in the Bible is God's affinity towards David. If you look and you read the chapters in the Bible that are about David, you can just tell that God has a real affinity towards this man. That's what I want to really look at in this series in the next few weeks. Keep in mind, you know, David was chosen by God, you know, a couple of different times. David was chosen by God, number one, to be king, to be the physical king of Israel that would replace Saul, and then God also chose David, and this is a big one, but God chose David to be the lineage of the Messiah. He chose his family to be the heritage of Jesus Christ himself. Go back to 2 Samuel, chapter 7. Go back to 2 Samuel, chapter 7, and let's look at that just for a moment. But you know, God had a very specific attitude towards King David and towards David in his entire life throughout the Bible, and that's really what I want to look at throughout these next three weeks and figure out what those things were so we can, you know, reflect that in our own lives because it was a very special relationship between God and David. Look at 2 Samuel, chapter 7, look at verse number 8. The Bible says this. This was David, he was thinking about building a temple, building a temple himself for God in 2 Samuel, chapter 7, look at verse number 8. And God says, you know, no, you're not going to build the temple, and he goes through the prophet Nathan in verse number 8, he says, Now therefore, so thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from a sheep coat, and from following the sheep to be ruler over my people over Israel. They're showing that God chose David to be the king. And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are on the earth. There right there, verse number 9, you can just circle that verse and just, I mean, that just shows you right there in one verse the love that God had towards David. I mean, he was with him wherever he went. Think about that. I mean, wouldn't you want to say that about God? Wouldn't you want God to be with you wherever you went in your life? Wouldn't you like to have God cut off all your enemies before you throughout your entire life? And look, he says, I've made thee a great name. Wouldn't you like to have God bless the things that you do, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth? God has a special relationship with this man. Look at verse number 10. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more. Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as before time. And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over the people of Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies, also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, speaking to David, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. And he, he shall build an house for my name, and will establish the throne of his kingdom, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. Verse 14 is also very interesting. So basically God is telling David here, just the whole context of what I'm reading to you, he's telling David that you're not going to build my house, your son is. But in, in the whole text of that, he's also saying to David, I'm going to establish your son to build this house. And look at verse 14. He says, if he, this is proof of free will right here, because we know how it worked out with Solomon. Solomon did not do well, he did not finish well in his life, and it says, if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. And we know the story. King Solomon did commit iniquity. He multiplied wives, they worshiped other gods, he built all these altars to other gods. I mean, he failed, but this is proof of our free will to follow God, or not, in our lives here. But, even that being said, he says, if he commit iniquity, I'll chasten him with the rod of men. But look at verse 15. But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house, now he's still talking to David, don't forget. So he's saying, look, if your son, he's saying, David, you're going to build my, your son's going to build my house, not you. This is the context of the whole conversation. And then he says, your son's going to build my house, if he commits iniquity, I'll chasten him. I will punish him. He's like, but I will not take the kingdom from him. I mean, that's a pretty big promise right there. And it's for the sake of David that God is doing that, and I'll prove that to you a little bit later. But look at verse 16, it gets even better. So he promises David right here, he won't take the kingdom from his son. He will not take the kingdom from his son. Look, he'll chasten him, but he won't take the kingdom from him. Look, he took the kingdom from Saul. He just ripped it right from him. Look at verse 16. It gets even better for David, and thine house and thy kingdom, your kingdom, David, shall be established forever before thee, and thy throne shall be established forever. So not only does he say that your son is going to build the temple, your son is going to build the Lord's house, but he says, I will establish your kingdom, David, forever. And we know how he did that. He did that through the line of the kingdoms of Judah, kings of Judah, and then he did that, he sealed that into eternity with Jesus Christ himself. I mean, that's quite a promise that he gave to David. Look at verse 17. And according to all these words and according to all his vision, so did Nathan speak on to David. So God chose David's heritage to rule the world here, basically, through his sons. And then also, you know, to usher in the Messiah through his lineage. Turn to 1 Kings chapter 11. But more than that, more than that, you say, okay, you know, maybe that was just, you know, kind of a God had to choose somebody. But look, more than that, turn to 1 Kings chapter 11. God shows mercy for generations. For generations. I'm just going to show you one example. There's several in the Bible. But he shows mercy for generations, plural, for David's sake. Think about this. Look at this. 1 Kings chapter 11. Look at verse number 30. Look at verse number 30. So the kingdom, of course, we know was taken from Solomon's son. Look at 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse number 30. Look what the Bible says. Nehijah caught the new garment that was on him and rented in 12 pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, take thee 10 pieces, for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and give the 10 tribes to thee. But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. So he says, even when Rehoboam is going to lose the kingdom, he's not going to take everything from him. He's still going to give him Judah, you know, and a little bit of Benjamin and some Levites in there. But he says, he's like, I'm still going to grant him mercy. Why? Because Rehoboam is great? He said, no, for David's sake. David's gone. David's gone. Turn to Isaiah chapter 37. It's quite different than the reaction that the Lord had towards Saul. He just took it from him, period, from Saul. Look at Isaiah chapter 37. Isaiah chapter 37. This is Hezekiah, a king several generations down of Judah, who is also of the lineage of David, by the way. And Hezekiah is praying to the Lord here for protection against an invading Assyrian army. Look at Isaiah chapter 37 and verse number 33. The Bible says this. It says, therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria. God responds to Hezekiah in this way. Hezekiah prays for protection from the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria. He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return. It shall not come into the city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city and save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. David's been dead and gone for 300 years at this point. And God literally says, I'm saving you, Hezekiah. I'm saving this city. I'm answering your prayer in an affirmative way for David's sake. That's impressive. Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians in 104 score and 5,000. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. For David's sake, for David's sake, David has been dead for centuries at this point and God is still, is still granting mercy to David. He's still granting grace to David, to people for David's sake. Look, this is something that we need to study. This is something that we need to know the answer to. Why, why did God show so much mercy to this man? That is the question of the next three sermons. You know, why did he have such an affinity for this man? I mean, it seems like he loved him an awful lot. So let's, let's, let's try it this way. Let's do a process of elimination first. Maybe God did this and maybe God had this extra love, this extra grace, this extra mercy for David because he was perfect. Maybe that's it. Let's look at that. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 11, 2 Samuel chapter 11. Look that's not it. You all know that if you've ever opened the Bible in your life. The thing is David made huge mistakes. David made huge mistakes, mistakes so huge. I hope that none of you ever make these types of mistakes, these massive mistakes. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 11. Look at verse number 1. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 11 and verse number 1. This is the context of what Nathan came to talk to David about in 2 Samuel chapter 12 that we just read. But let's look at it. 2 Samuel chapter 11. Look at verse number 1. And it came to pass after the year was expired at the time when canes 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 Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. He stayed back while the men went to war. And it came to pass in an evening tide at night in the evening 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 look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman and one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliim, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite? And David sent messengers and took her and she came in unto him and he lay with her for she was purified from her uncleanness and she returned unto her house. Now we know the rest of the story that she becomes, you know, he basically commits adultery with Uriah's wife. She becomes pregnant and he tries to cover it up by basically getting Uriah to come back from the battle and go home to his wife but Uriah is too honorable to do that. He finds out he can't cover it up, Uriah's not playing along with it because he's just too honorable of a man, Uriah one of the mighty men by the way, one of the strongest, best warriors in the Bible and an extremely honorable man. And his honor is what got him killed in David's little wicked scheme that he had going here and David ends up sending Joab to murder Uriah in the battle, sending him to the front part of the battle and leaving him by himself and he ends up, you know, to cover up his sins. So once again, it's a lesson in, you know, sin leading to more sin leading to worse sin. He commits adultery and ends up committing murder to cover that up and then that is what we see, that is what we see in 2 Samuel chapter 12 when Nathan comes to confront him, when he comes to confront him. So the first, the title of the first sermon, all these things being said and we'll look at a couple more of David's mistakes but let me just tell you, it's not because David was without fault or that he had, you know, few faults in his life. David made a lot of mistakes and several of them were big mistakes and several of them had major consequences. As a matter of fact, most of David's life was dealing with the consequences of his sin. Most of his life. Most of his life, most of the things that he did in his life, most of the battles that he fought in his life were because of his sin, were judgments upon him from God. But the first sermon and the first reason that David found so much affinity with God was this, he was able to own his mistakes. That's the first thing. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 12 and look at verse number 7. So Nathan has just told David the story of the lamb. You have the poor man and he has one ewe lamb and this rich man comes in and, you know, he needs a lamb to feed, you know, his friends and visitors and things and he steals the poor man's lamb when he has a lot of lambs himself. And David's all mad and he says, that man, that rich man should, you know, he should be paid back fourfold and he should be killed. You know, David's just like, he's not connecting the dots. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse number 7. And Nathan said to David, now he tells David the answer. He says, thou art the man. He says, you are the man. He says, you are the rich man that took the one ewe lamb. He's comparing David, you know, David has all these wives, David, you know, he liked a woman and he married her and he had multiple wives and here he had to take Uriah as one wife and then murder the man on top of it. He says, thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom and I gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given thee unto such and such things. He said, if that wasn't enough, you should have just asked me and I'd have given you more. That's what God is saying to David here. He says, wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You know what? God loved Uriah, too. And hast taken his wife to be thy wife and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. He's like, your own family is going to betray you and this will be of the Lord and I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this son. For thou didst this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the son. So God is laying out here, he's like, look, you're the man and here's all the judgment that is going to happen to you because of what you've done. And God just lays out, I mean look, this is some harsh judgment right here and you know if you've read the Bible that all these things came to pass. All this judgment came down on David's head. But look at verse 13. Look at verse 13. In verse 13 you see, you see an exchange between God and David right here in verse 13. And David said unto Nathan, Nathan, look Nathan has just called out his sin number one and then he says all the terrible things that are going to happen to David. So he doesn't just call out his sin and leave it open on what's going to happen to David. He says, no, I call out your sin and here's all the horrible things that are going to happen to you for the rest of your life because of this sin. And look what David says. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Right away, I mean, was this a long, was that a monologue? Was that a monologue on, well, you know, here's what was going on there. I was lonely. Well, you know, here's, I was just, you know, I, whatever. There's no monologue here. I have sinned against the Lord, bam, right there. And then look at what Nathan says. Nathan speaks for the Lord here. You have a very quick exchange. This is how two men should deal with each other right here. I've sinned against the Lord. Nathan said unto David, the Lord has put away thy sin. Done. That's how men should deal with each other. Thou shalt not die. I mean, look, the judgment's already there. The judgment's already happening. And David's like, David's not like, come on, God, can you go a little easier? I mean, I don't think I deserve all that. He's like, yeah, okay, I sinned against the Lord, but whatever, whatever. No, I've sinned against the Lord. I put away your sin. Right there. That's it. And thou shalt not die. Well, God didn't kill him for it. God granted grace here. You say, well, there was harsh judgment. Look, the first words that David said tell the entire story. The first words that he said. David blames no one. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15. Saul, Saul on the other hand, Saul on the other hand, 1 Samuel, all he was supposed to do was go out and fight these people and destroy everybody. That's it. Simple command. Destroy everybody. Destroy the cattle. Destroy all the people. Destroy everything. That's all he was supposed to do. He didn't do it. He didn't do it. They kept some of the good cattle and they kept the king and look, you know, and he gets confronted by Samuel. And look at verse 20. We're not going to spend a lot of time on this, but what are the first words? What are the first words that Saul said? And Saul said unto Samuel, yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I mean, I'm not even God and I want to throw my Bible across the room when I read that. He's like, he didn't do it. He's like, yeah, I did. Twice in this verse, yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone out the way the Lord sent me and have brought Agag the king of Amalek. No, he's not. Did he say bring me the king of Amalek? No, he said destroy everybody. And have utterly destroyed the Amicalites. And then, so he denies it twice, basically. His first words are denying it twice and then blaming the people. Look at the next verse. But the people took it to spoil. He's like, no I didn't. No I didn't. The people made me do it. That was Saul's first words. The kingdom was immediately ripped from him. The kingdom was immediately taken from Saul. So look, he's the opposite of King David in this sense as far as owning your mistakes. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 16. 2 Samuel chapter 16. So now let's go back to David. Well you say, okay, David owned his sin. David owned his sin, but surely when this judgment comes on David, David is then, you know, he's going to tell God this is too much. He's going to tell God, you know what, I don't deserve this. You know what, what I did wasn't that bad. This is way worse than I just don't deserve all this judgment. David never said that. As you look at all the judgments, especially in 2 Samuel chapter 12 that we just read, the first judgment was that his child died. His child died. And he found out his child died. He's in there and he's praying. He's like, God, don't take the child. Don't take the child. Don't take the child. He's praying, he's got sackcloth and ashes and he's fasting and he's begging God not to take the child. God took the child. What's the first thing he did? He went and worshiped. He didn't say, he wasn't mad at God, he wasn't angry at God. He's like, I deserved it. He went and worshiped right away. That's the first thing that he does in 2 Samuel chapter 12. Here's another one. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 16. David owned his mistakes like no one I've ever seen. 2 Samuel chapter 15, look at verse number 5. Now Absalom has taken over the kingdom and David is fleeing. This is another judgment that his own house would turn on him. And this is happening in 2 Samuel chapter 16. And when King David came to Baruah, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. He came forth and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David. And all the servants of the King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. I mean, first of all, he's either really stupid or really brave, this guy. He's literally, David is fleeing and he's got all the mighty men with him. Go read on the mighty men sometime. And this guy's cursing and throwing rocks at David. Look at verse 7. And Shimei, when he cursed, said, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial. He's calling him a son of Satan. The Lord hath turned, returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, and whose stead has thou reigned? And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. First of all, is that true? That's not why Absalom took over. This is a judgment for what David did with Uriah. And behold, thou art taken in mischief because thou art a bloody man. Then Abishai, the son of Zoriah, said unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my Lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. One of his men says, Let me go cut his head off. And the king said, What do I have to do with you, ye sons of Zoriah? So Abishai is just, you know, it's an interesting study in itself, but Joab, Abishai, and Asahel were brothers. Asahel is dead at this point, but they're David's nephews. They're David's nephews, and they were by his side, you know, through good and bad, through his entire life. And Abishai is saying, and they caused David a lot of trouble too, and that's kind of where you can see the comment here, he says, What do I have to do with you, ye sons of Zoriah? So let him curse! Because the Lord has said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai and all his servants, Behold my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life. How much more may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. David here is saying, This is on me. He's saying, This is my judgment. Let him curse. Even at this point when David is running for his life, when Absalom has taken over the kingdom from him, he's remembering the words of Nathan. He's remembering the words of the Lord, and he's saying, This is just my judgment, and he took it like a man. He owned his mistakes. Turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 21. Another huge mistake David made towards the end of his life was he numbered the people. He went out and he took a census of the people, which is a big no-no. And you're like, Why is that a big no-no? Well, it's a big no-no, because if you're studying through Joshua with us, you know that it doesn't matter how many people you have, because the Lord fights for you. Because God fights for you. So me going out as a king of Israel and numbering the people is a lack of faith in the Lord. All I need to do is have faith in the Lord, and I can have 300 men. And it's fine, because the Lord fights for us. So we have to be right with the Lord is the main thing. I don't need to go out and take a census of the people. But David did it. Joab, even Joab. I mean, when Joab's correcting you, you have problems. But Joab told him, Hey, don't do this. Don't do this. David did it anyway. He had a crisis of faith there. But look at 1 Chronicles chapter 21. So God tells him, he's like, you know, you've done wrong. He gives them, he gives them, you can have three years of famine. You can have three months where men take over your kingdom. He's like, or I can just give you three days of pestilence. And David's like, I'm just going to choose the quickest. He's like, I'm going to choose the quickest. He never argues the judgment. He's like, just give me the quickest, the quickest judgment. And then God goes and he kills 70,000 people with a pestilence. Look at 1 Chronicles chapter 21. But look at what David says. Look what David says. Does David say, God, you know, I didn't deserve this. God, you're being unreasonable. Look what he says. And David said unto God, is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even it, even I is it that I have sinned and done evil indeed. But as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord God, be on me and my Father's house, but not on thy people, not on your people, God, that they should be plagued. You know, politicians today, a lot of times, you know, like Barack Obama would get up and he like had a record on how many times he would say me and I in a speech. You remember that when people would count that stuff? Because he's just so obsessed with himself. He's just like, I'm great and I am awesome and I am this and me, me, me, I, I. David's like, I'm terrible. I'm the one that made the mistake. I did it. Not these people. Me, me, me, I'm horrible. That's what David's doing. That's a leader right there. That's somebody that's owning his mistakes. Turn to Psalm 38. David wrote the Psalms. Look at Psalm 38. Look, in general, David was excellent at taking responsibility for his actions. And look, somebody that messed up so much, maybe you could say it's because he had a lot of practice, but boy, he was good at it. He was good at owning everything. Look at Psalm 38. We could read a lot of Psalms along this line, but look at Psalm 38 and look at verse number 4. These are some good ones right here, some of my favorites right here. Psalm 38 and verse number 4. The Bible says this. David writes this. The Psalmist writes this. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head, as in heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. He's like, I am in so much sin that I am in over my head. Look at this, verse 5. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled. I am bound down greatly. I go mourning all the day long. First of all, folks, David understood how God looks at us. God looks at us. God looks down at us and on our sin and he's like, you stink. He's like, you reek of iniquity. That's what God sees when he looks at us in our sin. And David saw that. David saw what God saw. When David looked at his life, he didn't see some great man. When he looked at his sin, he saw a person laying on the ground in over their head stinking of iniquity. And you know what? That's why God loved him so much because that's exactly what... God's like, man, I can relate to that. I see the same thing. He's like, you do stink. You do reek of iniquity. And you know what? That must be such a relief to the Lord that somebody actually recognized that about themselves. You have to understand how God sees you. So when you're all like, you know, I'm not that bad. When you're all like, somebody else got me into this. When you're all... Look, it just angers God. It just angers the Lord because he sees the iniquity. He sees and he smells the stench. And you're sitting there and you're saying, I'm not that bad. Somebody else made me do it. So here's the bottom line, folks. David owned his mistakes. You need to own your mistakes if you want to have this type of... Look, there is nothing on this earth. There is nothing in your life that is stopping you from having exactly the type of relationship that King David had with the Lord. Nothing. Only you. Nothing. Nothing stopping you. Somebody said the other day to me that, oh, you know, I tell people that when they're born that their life is set and the day of their death is just set and it's all great. So it's not anything to worry about. I'm just like, what in the world? Did you just make that up? That has nothing to do with what's actually true. I could take this life that God gave me and I could ruin this life with sin. I could take 30 years off my life. I could be a saved man that turns my life into a train wreck to the point where God says, you know what? You're done, buddy. I'm taking you home. I'm taking you home early. That's why the whole coronavirus thing started and I'm just like, whatever. I'm just going to do what God wants me to do and, you know, if God takes me home through this whole thing, He must have somebody better for this. He must not want me doing it. Look, that's up to Him. But look, our choices define our relationship with the Lord. And that relationship can be this great affinity, this great love or great wrath upon us. Look, you as a saved person, look, He's not going to send you to hell, but He could stop you from living on this earth right now. That's what people need to understand and that's what David was so good at. But here's the thing, to own your own mistakes, you first need to be able to realize when you're wrong. Turn to James chapter 4. Can you imagine, can you imagine a disease or a sickness setting in on you where you didn't even realize you were wrong? What a terrible place that would be. Look, prideful people, you know, prideful people will literally not know that they're in the wrong. That's a terrible place to be because you have no chance of achieving what we're talking about this evening if you don't even know you're wrong. You have no chance. Look at James chapter 4 and verse number 6. Look, this is David right here, James chapter 4 and verse number 6. The Bible says, but he giveth more grace. Verse number 4, he said, God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble. Hey, you want real trouble? You want real trouble in your life? Argue with the Lord over your iniquity. Go to bed tonight and know that you've sinned and try to argue with God over your sin. Like God, you know, I don't think, God, I don't think you realize how bad everybody else is. God, you know, yeah, you know, I was in all this sin. But God, 85% of people out there are way worse than I am. Go have that relationship with the Lord and call me in 6 months and let me know how that's going for you. God is going to bring wrath down in your head. Like that's how pride will destroy you. Right there. This person right here that God giveth grace to is humble. David, this is what shows, this is really what truly shows David's humility. The fact that he could own everything that he did and that's why he received so much grace from God. He just took his judgment and then God gave him grace. So look, here's the thing, folks. Hanging onto sin is like hanging onto a bad idea. You ever seen somebody hang onto a bad idea? I mean, look, there's a real, there's a time factor there. I mean, there's a time, like hanging onto a bad idea. I think about it from like an engineering perspective and I've seen people do this in my career. So you have some engineer has, I've had an idea. Say I have an idea and I find out either, you know, okay, I have an idea for a machine or a system and I'm like, okay, I go and I study things out and I'm like, okay, it's too expensive or oh, it won't work how I thought it was going to work. If I just hang onto that idea, it will do incredible damage to the people that I work for or to the people that have hired me to come up with ideas and whatever. You know, they'll spend tens of millions, I've seen people do this. They will spend tens of millions of dollars on an idea that will never work. I mean, physics is physics. I mean, if you find out that the math doesn't work and a machine's not gonna work, you know, you carried a decimal wrong or something, let go of that idea as soon as possible because there's a time factor in there. If you hang onto that thing, you know, it's like hanging onto the sinking ship. It's like the rat that won't leave the sinking ship. It's the same thing. Look, sin is the same way. As soon as you realize that you are in the wrong, own it. Right there. Right there. James chapter 5 and verse 16. Look at James chapter 5 and verse 16. Look, as soon as you realize, and look, you realize. When you're wrong, you realize. As soon as you realize that, you just own it right there. And just own and make it right with all parties. Look at James chapter 5 and verse 16. Look what the Bible says. James chapter 5 and verse 16. Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another. Why? Why? This is talking about Christian brothers and sisters dealing with each other. You know, it's not talking about, you know, just coming in and telling me random, you know, telling your brother random things that you've done wrong in your life. It's talking about, you know, confessing things that you've done wrong to each other in your life. And why? That you may be healed. That it may be fixed. And the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Effectual means it's sincere. It means you mean it. It means it's from the heart. And availeth much means it has great benefit. So it means a sincere prayer has great benefit. To who? To everybody. To everybody involved. But the more you hang on, the longer you hang on, and look, we see this in David's life, the opposite of it, because he never hung on for a minute. For a second. He was just like, thou art the man I have sinned. He's like, get that thing off me. Because he realized, he's like, I stink. He's like, I stink. But look, you say, you say, well, what about, you know, you get in an argument with your brother or your sister in Christ, and you're like, well, you know, they started it, or they did more to me than I did to them. Here's the thing, it doesn't matter. Here's the thing, own your fault. Own your own fault. That's your job. We talked about the other side of this over the last couple of weeks, how forgiveness is a one-way street. This is the other side of forgiveness. This is the other side of it. Look, as soon as, look, I don't know any conflict between two Christians or two anybody where only one person is at fault. I don't know any conflict. There is no such thing. You will never convince me that there's a divorce on planet earth that has ever happened that was the fault of only one party. You will never convince me that. Never. Own your own faults. Clear your faults. Look, get God off your case. Get God on your side as soon as possible. Look, people in general, and there's a reason that David was so special here because people in general, as the general population goes of people that you will meet in your life, they're terrible at this. They're terrible at it. This one thing that we're talking about tonight is one of the main reasons that God's granted so much grace and mercy to King David, period. This one thing. Most of you, most of you, I hope none of you will make the level of mistakes that David made or suffer the consequences that he suffered, yet he came out of it shining. That should give you hope. That should give you great hope because you're like, well, I didn't make those kind of mistakes, but guess what? That means that you don't have as much ground to cover. Just own your mistakes that you have made. But look, folks, not understanding what I'm talking about, and this is why I said this morning that if you listen to this sermon and you apply this sermon in your life, it'll change your life. It'll change your relationship with the Lord because guess what? Not understanding this sermon can literally destroy your life. I'm not kidding. It can literally destroy your entire life, especially as a saved person. Not understanding this one thing. You say, how? You say, how? First of all, it can ruin your relationship with the Lord. I mean, it can ruin your relationship with the words. Look, if you're, and don't forget this, don't forget this lesson from the Bible of the first words. The first words that Saul said and the first words that David said are, you know, the words, the first words of Saul invoked the wrath of God upon him. Think about, I mean, think about Psalm chapter 38. Think about God seeing you and seeing you for what you are and seeing your sin for what it is. There's no hiding anything from the Lord. And you're sitting there and you're saying, well, you know, God, maybe she shouldn't have been up on the house and bathing in public. I mean, what was that all about? You know, or maybe, you know, this or maybe that. Look, God sees the stench of your sin and if you start making excuses, you're just going to invoke his wrath right away. Be careful the first words that you use with the Lord. You say, okay, that's the relationship with God, but you know what? Could it also destroy your life and your relationship with people, particularly your brothers and sisters in Christ? Look, people think that, people think they can fool men. This is so unfortunate. People think that they can fool men. They think that they can come up with a story and excuses and they, they fool, they can fool men. But when you are talking about making things right between your brothers and sisters in Christ, be careful of the first words that you use. Because if you come in, you know, they've done, look, they've done studies on the first few seconds of a conversation and how important the first seven seconds of a conversation are. The first 30 seconds of a conversation. These are big studies and you'll find these in sales books and business books everywhere. The first, you know, look, it's important out soul winning too. You're out soul winning. You know that somebody decides to talk to you or not talk to you in the first seven seconds of the conversation. That's why I always tell you guys, don't knock on the door and be like, we're from, I don't know, we're, hi, you know, or whatever, you know, you're kind of frowning, you're having a bad day. People are going to be like, yeah, whatever, cooking ramen noodles, get out of here. But if people can tell, if you're excited, like, hi, they look at your face and they're like, I want to talk to this person. They decide if they want to talk to you in the first seven seconds. People can, you know why, you know why it's so important? Because people can see your heart in the first few seconds of a conversation. Whoa, imagine what the Lord can see. So you want to really mess up trying to get a relationship right in your life. Come into that conversation in the first few seconds, you just be disingenuous or just be, you know, try to make excuses or whatever. Look, if you come in, look, here's the bottom line folks, pick up your trash in your life. Don't come in and say, I'm going to pick up 40% of my trash. I'm going to pick up 80% of my trash. You're just going to bring wrath upon yourself. It's better not to say anything because honestly, look at 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 17. Look, honestly, if you're only at the 40% level where you're going to come in and you're going to talk to somebody and own 40% of your trash, you need the wrath. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 17, and Samuel said, Samuel's telling Saul this. You know, Samuel's telling Saul, he says, Samuel says, you know what, he's like, you know what Saul? He's like, when I was little in thine own sight, was thou not make the head of the tribes of Israel and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? He's just like, how dumb are you? He's like, how dumb are you to get prideful like this? He's like, when you were little in your own sight, you know what he's saying, he's like, when you had humility. He's like, that's when God made you king. He's like, God made you king when you were small in your own sight. He's like, now look at you, kingdom gone. Look, get small folks. Get small. Stay small in your life, and then own your own trash. Think about this. I mean, theoretically, there should never be a conflict between Christians. Right? I mean, am I wrong here? If every Christian, think about the relationship between two Christians. Think about two brothers having a conflict. You know, think about two brothers that just like, they've both been in sin and their relationship between each other is just a twisted pile of trash. It's just this huge mess of trash. They can't even tell who put the first piece of trash down. It's so messed up. But guess what? If two things happen, if they both come in, first of all, forgiveness is one way. If they both forgive one way, regardless of what the other one does, that's already done. That's a sermon for another time. But then, talking about the sermon tonight, they both come in and pick up every single piece of trash that has to do with them. There will be no problems. It will be a completely reconciled situation. Because look, there should be no trash remaining. And the forgiveness has already happened. So theoretically, there should never, I mean, we know this doesn't happen. Because we're all in the flesh, and people are not as good at this. This is why we're preaching about this tonight. Because people are not as good at this as David was. It has nothing to do with the amount of sin that David had in his life. He was just really good at owning his trash and picking it up. He was really good at it. I mean, think about your marriage. I mean, think about your marriage. I mean, I have a perfect marriage, so I'm just, I'm talking about your marriages. I'm just kidding. But think, I mean, think about an argument with your spouse. Say I came home from work, and you young people that want to get married someday, this might happen to you one day. Who knows? Say I come home from work one day, and I don't like the way my wife responds to me, or she, you know, I'm like, hey, what's for dinner? She's like, get your own dinner, punk. And I'm like, that's not respectful. And then I just get mad at my wife, and I just say a bunch of rah rah rah rah rah, and I get in the flesh, and then I make a bunch of sin, and I throw trash in the pile. So my wife came in, she threw a pile of trash in, and then I come in, oh yeah, I got a dump truck full of trash. Watch this. Beep beep beep, dump truck of trash. Now there's just this big pile of trash. But I'm like, you know what, she started it. She's the first one to put the trash in there. Look, first of all, are we in fifth grade? You know, this is why two Christians should never have an argument, including between you and your spouse. Not an argument, but she'd never have a long-lasting, you know, relationship, because it doesn't matter, just get in there, and pick up your own garbage. Own your own trash right away. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4. Just own all your stuff right away, no questions asked. And look, it doesn't depend, me picking up my garbage, it's, you will never find it in the Bible where me picking up my trash is dependent on my wife, or my brother, or whoever picking up their trash first. You're just, you're commanded to pick up your own trash. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 26, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20, let's look at verse 25, wherefore putting away lying, speaking every man truth with his neighbor. This is talking about your relationship with your neighbor. For we are members one of another, be ye angry and sin not. And then it says, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. See, you know what, there's that time factor that I told you about right there. So the Bible is saying when you have a conflict in your life, this is why it puts this in the Bible, it's trying to protect you from that T in the equation, where if you let that T get really big, it's like sin to the T. The longer you let the T go, maybe I'm getting too mathematical, the worse it gets, like exponentially, right? It gets way worse the longer you let that T go. That's why the Bible says here, hey, don't even let the sun go down on it. Get in there, pick it up, and make it right right away. He's like, oh, but she didn't pick up her trash. Get your stuff out of there, just get your trash out of there. Get your trash out of there, get your forgiveness done, and then, you know, your spouse is a Christian too, and she's listening to the same Bible, or he's listening to the same Bible you are. This is how it's supposed to work, folks. This is why the Bible is so beautiful, because everybody listens to it, there's no issues. It's just going to work out. But look, the point of the sermon this evening to just close is that one of the reasons, one of the main reasons, it's the first sermon, one of the main reasons, it is not because David was the most righteous. It's not because David had the least amount of sin. Look, David is a great man in the Bible, but he's a great man for a different reason than like Daniel was a great man. Because Daniel was, or like Job, was a great man. It's for different reasons. David's heart is what got him where it got him, and what we're talking about this evening is he was great at owning his sin. And God, just look at how God responded to that. He had a lot of garbage, but man, he picked it up himself. All right, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.