WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:01.919 It's really good to see you. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:05.040 Grab your Bibles, open them up with me to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:07.759 2 Samuel chapter 12 is where we're going to be. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:14.480 And if you brought your journals, I hope you did, open them up to page 19 as we finish up our sermon series today. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:23.600 But as you're getting those things in preparation, I want to just mention a little bit about what has happened just in the last eight days at United City Church on a Labor Day weekend. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:26.559 God has been really, really good to us and to our church. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:30.320 And just the way that He has poured out His hand of blessing upon us has been really unique. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.320 Josh mentioned earlier the church plant that we're going to be partnering with there in Denver. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:44.000 Let me just go ahead and ask you one just to put Denver on your radar for you to begin praying about and also to consider in the future when we're going to take teams to go and visit these church plants. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:50.240 Part of what we do in our strategy is we not only give money, but we also want to send people and we want to make sure that there's a relationship. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:52.640 So we'd love for you to consider going to be a part of that. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:01:00.159 But earlier this year, speaking of church plants, we had a church plant that we helped launch out of our church called Grace Bridge Church. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.000 It is in the Colony Ridge area just north of here. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:16.159 We had a number of folks from our church from the English side that went to help launch this church with Grace Bridge, as well as some folks from our Espanol congregation that went, including one of our Spanish residents. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:24.000 So that that church, the day that it was launched in February, would not only have an English congregation, but a Spanish congregation at the very same time. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:34.079 Last Saturday, they had a special baptism service and they baptized 13 people at this church plant up in Calony Ridge, which is just really exciting. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:40.480 We are financial supporters as well as prayer partners with them and really appreciate and love to see what God is doing. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:44.319 This past Wednesday night, we had our youth meet, which we meet every week, right? 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:45.680 So it's not like anything special. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:47.280 There wasn't a big special emphasis. 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.799 We had eight students give their lives to Jesus this past Wednesday. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:54.079 Eight students, which is just incredible. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.920 And then right now we've got a team that is in Puerto Rico. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:03.040 Uh Pastor Gerban, our Espanol pastor, is leading that team there in Puerto Rico. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:14.159 And they partnered with a high school, and they got three seniors at that high school in the church that they were working with, and they went and did campus ministry similar to the way that we do campus ministry here in Northeast Houston. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:17.039 And four students got saved yesterday, all right? 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:18.960 Which is just incredible. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:19.840 All right. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:29.199 On top of that, we had almost 100 guys here on Thursday morning for this before the grind uh Bible study that we launched, the first Thursday of every month. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:31.360 John's just really moving in profound ways. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:40.879 I hope that you are not just a spectator or just sitting in the audience, but that you are all in on what God wants to do, whether it's this church or someplace else, just be all in on God's activity. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:51.599 Because I'm telling you, he is moving, and we get the opportunity here at United City to see it up close and personal in the week, uh, in addition to the fact that whenever we gather, he always meets us as he so faithfully does. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:56.080 2 Samuel chapter 12 is where we're going to be hanging out today. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:00.400 Uh I am an avid reader, and one of the things that I love reading are leadership books. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:05.840 I love being able to learn more about leadership and just figuring out what that looks like to be and grow in my leadership. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:13.280 One of the persons, one of the authors that has been really influential to me, that has really helped inspire me and encourage me a lot is Jim Collins. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:14.960 You may know the dame Jim Collins. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:25.520 He wrote the book Good to Great, a four-year study that he did, looking at what takes companies from being just average, uh okay, good companies to becoming something that is really, really great. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:27.520 He also wrote the book Built to Last. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:29.759 Those are kind of his two biggest hits. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:36.000 Uh, I would argue, though, his best book actually came later after those two hits had already been released. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:39.520 It was a book that was called How the Mighty Fall. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:47.680 He did a four-year study, not looking at just what it takes for a company to go from being good to being great, but he flipped it. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:56.800 Why is it that there are some companies who experience the top of the mountain of their particular field and industry, who then now you've never heard of? 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:00.240 Like you just remember what they used to be, Motorola. 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:01.199 Remember them? 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:03.680 Zenith, remember them? 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:11.120 These are companies, some of the ones that he explored as to how do they become so great, but then how did they fall so far? 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:26.720 And you would think that the downfall led because they're in the midst of a crisis, in the midst of a tragedy, in the midst of a difficult situation, they made a wrong move or they made an immoral move, and that move led to the company falling apart. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:40.639 And what he actually discovered was that these mighty companies that fail did not fall in times of great crisis, but they actually fell during times of their greatest prosperity. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:53.600 When all of a sudden, at the top and the peak, they begin to make decisions that no one really paid much attention to and no one really noticed, but that ultimately were the demise of their future. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:56.720 You know, it's interesting, it's not just companies that we know this to be true. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:58.480 We know this in people too, right? 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:02.879 You see that marriage, and you're like, man, that marriage is they just seem so in love. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:06.639 It just seems so perfect for each other, and then all of a sudden you hear that they got divorced. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:08.160 How did that happen? 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:15.439 You you think about it with leaders and politicians or or other folks that you may see, and you're like, man, that that person is like so inspirational. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:21.519 That person has got so much charisma, that person has so much leadership until the day that they don't. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:26.720 And it's like, how in the world did we get from here down to here? 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:38.319 What Jim Collins has discovered, what I want us to see in the story of King David is that so often the cracks show up at the top, not at the bottom. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:45.360 And we've got to be mindful of this because it's so often easy for us to begin to think about things when things are going bad. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:47.839 I don't want to mess this up and you begin to get more desperate. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:54.639 But when things are going really well and you're not really paying much attention, that's when danger starts to come. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:00.480 When you're at the top, things are going well, that honorous conversations stop. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:03.120 Nobody argues with you anymore. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:07.680 The hard question that used to get asked in the meeting just quietly stops getting asked. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:20.959 The things that you used to evaluate and determine whether you needed to make changes to move forward just kind of no longer get asked because people start handing you the good news and they start letting you leaving out all of the bad news. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:26.399 You don't notice because from where you sit, it looks like agreement, and agreement feels a lot like peace. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:28.720 And who wants to disturb the peace? 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:30.800 So you just let it go. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.800 You start reading your own mail. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:37.439 And it's the most dangerous moment in a leader's life, not the valley, but the mountaintop. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:44.399 Because on the mountaintop, you start surrounding yourself with people who are only going to tell you what you want to hear. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:48.800 This morning we're finishing up this sermon series of titled The King's Table. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:51.519 The premise is this is that one, all of us are leaders. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:07:04.959 Every single person that's hearing my voice is a leader, whether you're a leader in your company, whether you're a leader in your business, whether you're a leader at school, whether you're a leader on your team, on your street, at your home, in your small group, at a minimum, you're a leader of yourself. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:09.040 And that King David, as a leader, had a table. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:10.720 That's the image we've been using. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:15.680 And who he allowed to sit at his table got influence in his life. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:20.879 Got to speak into him, got to shape the decisions and the choices that he made. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:25.839 And you also, as a leader, have a choice as to who you're gonna put at your table. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:31.040 Today, what I want to look at is a seat that for some of you is empty. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:36.639 And you have a choice today as to who you're gonna put in that seat. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:49.040 And this choice is vitally important because if you choose to leave that chair empty, then what you're gonna discover is you're gonna be finding yourself at a place where the mighty fall. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:08:00.800 But if you instead choose to put someone there in that sea who's gonna be able to speak to you when you need to hear it, it can lead you to even greater levels of both leadership. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:04.879 And more importantly, it could lead you to walk in integrity before God. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:09.519 So let me just ask you the question: who tells you the truth when everything's going great? 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:14.560 Not in theory, not like you hope they will, but like you actually will. 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:24.399 Who has a seat close enough to you to see your life clearly and say the things that needed to be said, the hard things, to your face. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:33.200 The one who, even when you're winning, well no, when no one else would dare do it, still walks in and says, Hey, this is not right, and you need to know it. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:42.240 The bottom line for the message today, I want you to write this down on page 19, is this leaders grow when they invite godly correction. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:48.080 Leaders grow when they invite godly correction. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:57.519 The irony of the story that we're gonna look at in 2 Samuel chapter 12 is that King David did not invite this correction. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:00.639 But God still sent it to him anyway. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:09.279 And what you're gonna learn from David and the prophet Nathan is what it cost when you don't fill that chair. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:18.320 The invitation for you today is to fill that seat with someone who can speak truth to you long before you find yourself in a place where you need to hear it. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.120 Today I want to show you two moves to make. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:23.759 Then I want to show you one reason why anybody would ever make it. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:30.799 Let me set the scene up for you, though, in 2 Samuel chapter 12, because uh there's a little bit of time gap in between 2 Samuel 11 and 2 Samuel 12. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:35.279 If you were here last week and you remember, 2 Samuel 11 is a dumpster fire. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.120 I mean, it is just a mess. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:39.679 It is just a train wreck over and over again. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:41.919 Like it's just from the very get-go, it's a problem. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:43.440 What you see is King David. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:45.759 He's supposed to be out in battle, and what is he doing? 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:47.440 He's hanging out, taking a break. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:53.120 He goes up on the roof one afternoon and he goes and he sees a woman that is bathing who is very beautiful. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:56.080 And right then he begins to send for her to find out who she is. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:00.240 He finds out that she is married and that she's a daughter of somebody else and he doesn't care. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.440 He goes and sins for her and he sleeps with her and he gets her pregnant. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.039 Now he's got a problem. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:10.320 And that problem existed long before he realized that it was a problem, whenever he made the mistakes in the first place. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:14.480 But the way he chose to deal with that problem wasn't to confess and to come clean. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:24.879 He instead chose to cover it up by now trying to figure out okay, how can I set this up to where it looks like the woman that I slept with actually slept with her own husband and that baby is his. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:32.000 And so he calls for Uriah, the husband of the woman, to come back from battle when he was out doing what he was supposed to be doing. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.440 And he tries to set up this arrangement where they would go and meet together. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:36.000 But guess what? 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:42.399 Uriah, a man of integrity, doesn't go and sleep with his wife while his all of his army buddies and all of his friends are out in war. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:43.200 And so what does he do? 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.159 He ends up not doing that, and David finds himself in a place where now his cover-up's not working. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:59.360 So he ultimately gives Uriah a note to hand back to the commander, and the note said, Put the men in battle, Jariah at the front, and then pull back so that Uriah can be killed. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:01.279 And that's exactly what took place. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:14.240 And what you see is this horrible situation to where David seemingly gets away with it, but at the last verse of chapter 11, it reads, But the thing that the David had done displeased the Lord. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:24.559 What you see, and what should chill us, is that the gap between the end of verse 27 and chapter 11 and chapter 12, verse 1 is a year time frame. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:28.320 For a year, David got away with it. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:31.759 For a year, David pulled it off. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:37.759 The man who committed adultery and arranged a murder to cover it up, and no one's close enough to him to notice. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:42.159 No one's close enough to say anything about what happened. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.960 Pick up with me the beginning of verse one. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:51.440 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:12:01.519 The word sent here in verse one is the same Hebrew word that's used 12 different times in chapter 11. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:04.480 David sent for Bathsheba. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:08.240 Bathsheba sent word back that she was pregnant. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:10.639 David sent word to Joab. 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:16.320 When Uriah doesn't go home, David sends him to the front, carrying the letter that orders his own death. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:18.960 Joab sent word back to David. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:23.120 All this back and forth, all this sending, all this stuff happening. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:25.759 And now we get to chapter 12, and what does it say? 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.240 It says the Lord's now gonna do the sending. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:32.799 I'm tired of all this back and forth going back, trying to figure out how to make this situation work. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:34.240 Now I'm gonna take over. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.879 And it says, the Lord sends Nathan to David. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:46.559 There's a year time frame between chapter 11, verse 27, and chapter 12, verse 1. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:53.519 But make no mistake about it, your sins will find you out. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:58.080 There is no statue of limitations with God. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.679 So we're eventually gonna be like, ah, it's been a while. 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:03.360 We don't have to worry about it anymore. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:10.240 Galatians chapter 6, verse 7 reads like this it says, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:14.480 For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:15.759 I want you to write this down. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:23.279 The first way for you to have godly correction in your life is this invite the voice before God has to send it. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:30.080 Invite the voice before God has to send it. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:33.600 For a year, it looks like David got away with it. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:41.200 Like that's long enough for a baby to be conceived, a baby to be carried, and a baby to be born. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:44.480 And in all that time, David didn't reach out to anybody. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:50.720 Left to himself, he's keeping that chair empty at his table because he doesn't want to hear about it. 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:53.279 What breaks his year of silence? 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:56.000 It's not David finally reaching out. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:01.120 It's God refusing to let him fall in silence. 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:07.759 What's amazing about this is that not just that God sent someone, but the way in which he did. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:14.960 God could have sent a stranger, someone totally random, to come up and speak to David. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:19.200 And that would have definitely been an effective way to unveil what happened. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:23.440 He could have actually chosen enemy to come and to confront him. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:31.039 And that'd be the way that he could not only experience the guilt of what he had done, but the shame now publicly that gets associated with that. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:34.480 But instead, he sends Nathan. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:45.679 A man that we know from 2 Samuel chapter 7, whenever David was in the midst of trying to build the temple, it says that he brought Nathan in, who both the prophet but also a friend to come alongside of him. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:46.720 What does this show us? 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:52.879 This shows that David was given the gift of confrontation by a friend. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:15:00.240 You see, a lot of times when we think about confrontation as someone coming at us, we begin to get defensive as an immediate reaction. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:08.000 But what I want you to see in this story is that the sending of God is a gift of grace before it is a confrontation. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:12.320 It may not feel good, but it is good. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:14.960 Who are those people for you? 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:16.639 For me, it's a group of pastors. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:17.519 We met this week. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:19.039 We meet about 10 times a year. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:21.440 And what we get to do is we get together and we share ideas. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:28.399 We get together and we share challenges, and we also get together and we ask each other the hard questions, looking at each other in the eyes. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:32.639 For me, it's it's guys in ministry that I've done life with for many, many years. 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:39.440 Many of us worked on staff together for a number of years at the last church that I was at, and we still have relationships, even though all of us are scattered. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:40.399 These guys know me. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:41.360 They know me very well. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:47.279 They know the things that I'm gonna do that that are gonna be kind of my quirks, they're gonna know my proclivities towards sin. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:52.559 They're gonna know areas in which I need to be checked, and so they're asking me on a constant basis questions. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:16:04.240 It's not some kind of checklist, it's just the relational life of iron-sharpening iron, where I get a chance to be pushed by these guys, not only in ministry, not only in leadership, but most importantly in holiness. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:12.399 Where they're asking me the questions that are uncomfortable to ask, especially if I don't have a good answer. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:19.600 Who are those people that are in your life who have the ability to come and ask you these things? 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:26.639 I found that these men in my life are not something to be feared, but instead something to be embraced. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.399 It's a gift of the Lord that He's given to me. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:34.480 That I've got these men who ask me questions that may be at times hard to hear. 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:35.840 Who is it for you? 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:41.759 Who are the people that you are inviting to call you out when you need to hear it? 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:45.039 I want you to think about how a spare key works. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:48.799 You give a spare key to a neighbor, you give a spare key to a family member. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:54.639 But you know when you don't give a spare key to somebody is whenever you need it late at night, whenever you can't get into your house. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:58.480 Because you don't have a spare key to give, right? 00:16:58.559 --> 00:16:59.360 Instead, what do you do? 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:06.880 In order for a spare key to work, what you do is you go to your neighbor or you go to your family member and you give them that on a random Saturday when no one's paying any attention, okay? 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:07.599 And what do they do? 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:14.319 They put it on a key ring or they put it in a drawer for two years, never once think about it, and you never once think about it until what time? 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.839 The time when you're at your house late at night and you're locked out. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:25.519 And then you're so thankful that on that random Saturday you gave them the key so that you can now get back into the house. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:33.279 In the same way, what I'm asking you to do is you're not gonna begin to receive the correction that you need in the midst of the crisis. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:39.759 But instead, on a random Saturday when there's not much at stake, you go and you invite that person. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:42.720 I want to give you access to speaking to me. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:45.759 I want to give you the freedom to ask me the questions. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:51.119 I want to give you the ability to say, hey man, something doesn't look right, smell right, feel right. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:54.880 And I just want to ask the question before I assume that everything's good. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.200 I just want to say, is something is everything okay? 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:07.200 You give that to them on that Saturday instead of waiting till the crisis when you don't have the ability to do anything about it. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.799 You're inviting the voice is only half of it. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:17.359 Because the voice that you invite and then refuse to hear is actually worse than having no voice at all. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:24.319 I want you to watch what David does the moment that the voice actually lands. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:26.319 Let's read verse 1 through 7. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:30.880 It says, And the Lord sent Nathan to David. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.599 He came to him and said to him, There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:44.799 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ew lamb, which he had bought. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:49.200 And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:55.279 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. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:02.880 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 guests who had come to him. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:07.119 But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:11.279 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:18.160 And he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:24.240 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:30.960 Nathan said to David, You are the man. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:40.720 Nathan doesn't walk in and say, David, you slept with Uriah's wife, and then you had him kill. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:44.240 He tells him a story about a lamb. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.480 And David, the man who has been lying for a year, gets furious. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.920 His anger, it says, is greatly kindled. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:54.319 Verse 5, he passes sentence. 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:56.720 He says, The man deserves to die. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:58.160 I want you to notice something. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:02.799 David can see sin perfectly, he just can't see it in the mirror. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:06.960 That's what a year of being in the dark does to you. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:10.319 You lose perspective. 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:15.279 You keep every ounce of judgment, but you lose it all on yourself. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.160 That's why you need somebody else in that chair. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:22.240 Not because you cannot tell right from wrong, you can't. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:24.240 You just can't tell right and wrong in you. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:35.039 Folks, have you ever noticed if you ever have a test or paper or quiz and you take the test, and then the teacher says the greatest words in the whole world, which is grade your own paper, do you know what that automatically means? 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:36.559 You pass the test. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:40.720 Nobody grades down on their own paper, right? 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:42.720 They always grade up. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:44.799 And the same way, the same thing is true for you. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:49.759 You're not gonna see things clearly if you're the only judge and jury of your life. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:56.160 Instead of gotta have people at that table who see things and they'll be like, Man, I think you're missing this. 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:57.759 I think you're just off. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:01.759 I think your perspective is not right. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:06.960 Nathan turns the story around and he says four haunting words. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.359 You are the man. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:15.519 Nathan goes on to lay out the consequences in the rest of the chapter. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.559 David thought he'd gotten away with it, but God saw every bit of it. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.599 What you think about David's state of mind? 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:24.319 Like he has options here. 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:28.400 He killed Uriah in chapter 11 for way less. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:31.119 He could destroy Nathan. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:33.519 He could discredit him. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:36.640 He could deflect, he could go cold. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:43.200 This is what David, chapter 11, David, would have done because the whole story in that chapter is all about silencing. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:45.759 Adultery is silenced with lies. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:49.440 Lies were silenced with the death of a soldier and a husband. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:54.720 And here, standing exposed, he for the first time does the wisest thing that he could possibly do. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:56.160 He stops. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.519 Look what verse 13 with me. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:17.279 No one else handled. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:28.720 I send a phrase you should get really good at saying. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:37.839 I've send How do you invite godly correction in your life? 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:39.519 The second thing I want you to see, write this down. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:41.440 Listen to the voice, don't silence it. 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:45.519 Listen to the voice, don't silence it. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:54.559 Maybe you're like David and there's nobody at your table who would speak to you when things are going well or when things are falling apart. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:59.200 And here's what you do when the voice finally shows up. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:01.200 Don't defend. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:04.160 Don't deflect. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:10.319 Receive it as the gift that it is. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:17.680 A few weeks ago, uh, before my kids scattered, went off to college, and all that kind of stuff, we had a family dinner. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.680 We were gonna meet across town. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:24.640 Uh and so we uh were riding together across town to go to this restaurant. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:28.640 And as we were riding, it's probably 150 degrees outside. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:30.559 I mean, it's just scorching hot. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:41.759 And as we're driving, all of a sudden there began to be a little warning sign on my car that said, due to high temperatures, your AC is shutting off. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.440 It's 150 outside, all right? 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:50.000 And we got reservations for this restaurant. 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:52.559 So we're like, I'm just trying to think, can I can I make this? 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.000 And ultimately, you know, I'm having Hillary chat GPT, what the heck this means, right? 00:23:56.079 --> 00:24:00.720 And so we're we're looking this whole thing up, and ultimately what it's saying is that you better pull over right now. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:03.279 Like, there ain't no messing around with this. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:12.960 The reason why your AC is shutting off is because your radiator is too hot because the coolant is not cooling on the radiator, and your engine is gonna blow, and you think it's hot. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:17.039 No, no, it's gonna be real hot and somebody in your car with a blown engine. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:30.000 And so, sure enough, we immediately pulled over and we went to a gas station, went to a number of my leaves, got our coolant, waited for the car to cool down, had to call the restaurant, delay the dinner, all of the various things. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:43.279 But you know what I had the option of doing that I was very tempted to do is when that warning came up, it also had a little thing at the bottom of it that if I just pushed the button on my steering wheel, it said dismiss. 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:52.160 And in fact, when I decided that I was actually gonna pull over, which is fine, I just pushed dismiss to see what happened. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:52.960 You know what happened? 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:55.119 It went away and everything kept going. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:05.119 But you know how dangerous it would have been for not only me, but my entire family if I'd have just dismissed the warning. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:18.079 Do you realize that's exactly what takes place when the voice comes and speaks to you, and you're like, I got this. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.200 You don't realize the whole thing's about to shut down. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:25.920 The whole thing's about to fall apart. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:30.960 The grace of God is the confrontation. 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:35.920 The grace of God is the conviction. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:41.839 If you're here today and you never feel that, that's a dangerous place to be. 00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:49.279 Because that either means that you don't have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, which I want to give you an opportunity at the end of the service to know how to do that. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:57.039 Or that means you have rejected and you have pushed aside the Holy Spirit so long in your life that you don't even know what it sounds like. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.839 Folks, you instead need to invite that correction. 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:04.720 You need to listen to that voice. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:06.960 Do not silence it. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:11.039 How you answer that warning is the whole test. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:13.440 Do you flinch? 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:15.359 Do you defend? 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:17.680 Do you punish the messenger? 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:18.799 I've done that before. 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:20.559 Oh, really? 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:22.319 Well, what about you? 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:22.960 You know? 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:24.640 And all of a sudden it's all about them. 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:26.400 And all along, it's like, wait a second. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:32.079 Just because they may have something true that you've said doesn't take one bit away from what God said to you through them. 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:40.640 But instead, if you do any of those things, it just puts you right back to an empty chair. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:51.599 But if you receive it, if you keep the voice, then you've given God a way of speaking into your life through a friend who's not going to go out and go anywhere. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:59.359 Maybe some of you have gotten called out on something recently, and if you're honest, you've done everything except take it. 00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:08.480 And maybe for you, the assignment this week needs to be that you need to call somebody and say, hey man, I blew you off when you brought this up. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:13.839 But I want to apologize for that, and I just want to ask, can you elaborate a little bit more? 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:19.119 I think I need to hear something that you need to tell me and invite that correction. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:23.200 Leaders invite godly correction. 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:26.960 I know some of you are thinking, why would anybody ever do this? 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:29.200 Like this is crazy. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:31.119 Silencing is way safer. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:36.319 Nobody chooses exposure unless something better than hiding is waiting on the other side of that truth. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:40.720 And I want you to look at 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 13, but I'm gonna read the whole verse. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:42.559 Here's what it says. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:47.759 David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:52.400 And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:55.519 You shall not die. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.519 Third thing I want you to see on how to invite godly correction. 00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:02.400 Number three, trust the mercy that sent the voice. 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:08.799 Trust the mercy that sent the voice. 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:14.799 Under Jewish law, David would have earned the death penalty twice. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:18.720 One for the adultery and one for the murder, and he knows it. 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:27.599 If you remember, he handed down the sentence in verse five to the story, and in response to that story, he said this person should die. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:33.440 And God's word back to him is not the sword, which David knew would be the case, but it's mercy. 00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:36.559 It doesn't mean the sin is not excused. 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:41.200 In fact, later on in chapter 12, we will see there are real consequences to sin. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:48.640 However, this particular sin is put away, it's carried off, and then it's gone. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:51.519 Nobody naturally chooses this. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:29:03.519 Most of us choose silencing because we are scared, we hide because we're sure of what's gonna happen if we let somebody know, if we actually bring this up, if we actually confess, we are sure it's gonna be the sword. 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:08.640 But when David finally got honest, what he found was not what he was bracing for, he got mercy. 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:12.240 And don't miss where the sentence came from. 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:16.480 David is the one who said it, verse five the man who has done this deserves to die. 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:20.640 He handed down his own sentence before he knew whose neck it was for. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:25.200 Then verse 13 comes back at him, you shall not die. 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:28.480 Church, that's what mercy is. 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:32.880 It's not God deciding that your sin really wasn't that bad. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:39.920 It's God overruling the sentence that you would have given yourself if you didn't know it was you. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:50.000 The same God who sent the voice in verse 1 is the same God who pardons him in verse 13. 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:55.680 Which shows us that the voice was never meant to destroy him, it was always meant to save him. 00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:00.720 So the reason you invite godly correction is not because it's fun to hear, man. 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:01.680 It is not. 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:06.559 It hurts, it's tough, it's difficult, it's challenging. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:19.440 The reason is because you have a God who already knows every thought that you've had, he knows everything that you've done, and he's chosen to receive you with mercy. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:27.920 Not because he's blowing off your sin, but because he has paid for all that you have done. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:31.039 I want you to think about this. 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:32.880 So often we've seen this be the case. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:38.880 So much of David's life is a precursor and a pointer to Jesus. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:44.640 God didn't just send a prophet to go confront a king. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:50.960 Look at what else he did in Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 and 5. 00:30:52.160 --> 00:31:08.400 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:14.079 Jesus was sent by God the Father at exactly the right time. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:17.279 He lived a perfect life that we could not live. 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:30.480 He died on a cross, he rose from the dead three days later, and he now gives us the opportunity to receive him as sons and daughters in the process of adoption, to be brought into his family. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:36.799 And as his children, we don't have to live afraid that one more failure is going to get us cut out. 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:39.920 We can bring our mess to him. 00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:50.720 And we can put people in the chairs around our table who will tell us the truth because mercy is what is waiting for us on the other side of being known. 00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:54.640 This truth is why we come to the Lord's table. 00:31:54.880 --> 00:31:55.920 It's why we remember. 00:31:56.079 --> 00:32:01.359 I'm gonna ask you to take out your cup that you got when you came in today. 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:16.000 It's also a time of remembrance. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:20.720 It's we can we remember what God has done for us. 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:32.799 The penalty that he paid on our behalf that actually invites us into examination. 00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:35.200 Search me, O God, and know my heart. 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:36.559 Try me and know my thoughts. 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:43.599 See if there be any grievous way in me and lead me into the way everlasting. 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.079 I'm gonna ask you to take the bread. 00:32:49.359 --> 00:32:55.440 This bread represents the body of Jesus, which was broken for us. 00:32:56.720 --> 00:32:58.960 It's broken because of your sin and my sin. 00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:06.000 On the night when Jesus was betrayed, he passed the bread one to another. 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:09.680 He said, This is my body which was broken for you. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:16.559 As often as you eat of it, do it in remembrance of me. 00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:34.160 On that same night, Jesus took the cup, which was filled with the fruit of the vine, which represents his blood. 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:38.720 He said, This is the blood of my new covenant. 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:45.680 As often as you drink of it, do it in remembrance of me. 00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:56.720 If you would just set that aside, please help us out by throwing that away as you leave today. 00:33:56.880 --> 00:34:00.160 And as you do, would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes with me? 00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:11.760 What is God speaking to you today? 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:21.280 What business do you need to do with the Lord right now? 00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:29.039 Do you need to confess to him? 00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:31.119 Would you do it? 00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:37.840 Do you need to seek his forgiveness? 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:41.199 Would you do it? 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:49.440 You need to ask him who that friend is that you need to put at your table. 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:53.039 Would you do it? 00:34:57.199 --> 00:34:59.840 You need to tell him what he already knows. 00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:02.559