WEBVTT 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:06.719 Welcome to the Enduring Grace Sermons Podcast. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:10.400 This is the home for the weekly teaching and ministry of Pastor Ben Hill. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:15.199 Our mission is to share the timeless truth of God's Word with a world in need of hope. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.359 For more resources, articles, and updates, visit us online at enduringgrace.com. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.559 And now, here is this week's message. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:27.519 Amen. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:31.920 If you're visiting with us, we want to say welcome and thank you for being here this morning. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:49.840 We've been studying this whole summer through the life of David, and we have come to a point in the story where last week we saw the sin of David against Bathsheba and Uriah and how he had thought he got away with it. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:56.240 But at the end of that chapter, it tells us that it what he had done displeased the Lord. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:07.680 And so if you've got your Bibles, I want to encourage you to go ahead and turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12 as we pick up the next part of this unfolding story in the life of David. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.359 But before we get there, I want to ask you a question. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:31.359 If for the next 60 minutes we put your life on this screen for all to see, every secret moment, every secret thought, every secret action, for all to see, would you stay seated where you were? 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.760 Or would you leave the room? 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:35.359 Right? 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.200 If we're really honest, that's a hard question. 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:42.560 But we all give an account before the Lord. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:47.040 Our life is a running play-by-play before the Lord. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:49.519 And nothing escapes God. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:51.200 Nothing. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:02:00.879 Which means that we are living our lives on the jumbo screen of heaven for all to see. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:07.920 David's life is about to be on the jumbotron for all to see. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:10.400 We saw his failure. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:16.319 And David's going to be reminded none of his cover-up schemes were successful. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.960 They were all revealed to God. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:28.159 But here's the second part of that is that it reminds us that those whom God loves, he comes after. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:34.080 Those whom he loves, he rebukes, and he redeems. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:43.840 That is the story that we're going to get to see unfold in the life of David in 2 Samuel chapter 12, beginning with verse 1. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:47.599 Now, here at 1 Baptist, we love to say word because we love God's word. 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:52.960 So if you found your place in 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 1, would you say word? 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:57.439 And would you please stand in the honor of reading God's word? 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.479 It says, And the Lord sent Nathan to David. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:09.759 He came to him and said to him, There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:23.919 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little Eulam, which he had bought, and he brought it up, and it grew up with him, and with his children. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:31.039 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. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:39.840 Now there came a traveller to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock, or herd, to prepare for the guest who had come to him. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:45.280 But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:04:00.879 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:04.639 Nathan said to David, You are the man. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:06.639 You may be seated. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:14.400 God sends Nathan to David. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:22.000 This might come across as unloving, but I want to make a suggestion that this is the loving confrontation we need. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.240 Did you know that we need a loving confrontation? 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:31.040 A love that's willing to have conflict. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:37.360 A love that's really willing to confront others in their sin. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:46.480 The loving confrontation we need is that we need people willing to come into our life to tell us when we're doing wrong. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:48.879 Because we all have blind spots. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:54.319 We all have moments in our life where we have sin in our own life that we're unaware of. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:07.920 And we need a loving person that's willing to come and talk to us and say, hey, listen, I need you to pay attention for just a moment because I see an area in your life that is broken right now as you say that you're pursuing Christ. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:12.720 But the reality is your life says something other than that. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:15.120 We all fall prey to that. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.120 We all have our blind spots. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.920 Husbands, our spouses oftentimes remind us of those, right? 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:29.040 We're sometimes a little less frequent in reminding our lovely wives because they're a little bit further along the journey, right? 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:30.720 At least we like to think that. 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:34.560 But we all have blind spots. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:37.519 We all are prone to fall into sin. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:39.360 David was no different. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:40.560 He's an ordinary man. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:44.240 He might have been king of Israel, but he was also prone to sin. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:49.279 He was prone to falling prey to the divisiveness of sin. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:56.079 David, in the last chapter, we've noticed how he was the one sending. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:58.000 He did a lot of sending. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:01.040 He sent Joab to battle instead of him. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:03.920 He sent messengers to get Bathsheba. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:06.879 He sent a messenger to bring Uriah back. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:18.160 He sent Uriah back to the battlefield with his own death note written saying how he was to be killed by pulling back from him on the battlefield. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:21.600 David did a whole lot of sending. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:27.839 But chapter 12 reminds us that it's ultimately God who sends hope. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:38.399 While David was sending a whole lot of sin out into the world, God sends his servant Nathan to David to confront the king of his sin. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.920 And so God sends Nathan. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:54.160 He sends him to confront this king, the man after God's own heart, who is in open sin that he's tried to hide from the world. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:02.319 Now, one of the interesting things I find about Nathan is that Nathan doesn't come to David and go, hey David, you know your sin with Bathsheba. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:03.120 Yeah, that's wrong. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:04.000 You should repent. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:05.920 That's not how he approaches it. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:07.759 Did you notice how he approached it? 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:09.439 He tells him a story. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:17.439 Did you know that parables are often used to communicate truth, deeper truth? 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:22.560 And parables are received better than oftentimes the direct message. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:37.759 And so what Nathan does under God's divine inspiration is he goes to David and says, Hey, listen, I need you to hear this matter that took place in a place between a rich man and a poor man. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:42.800 The rich man has many flocks, he has many herds. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:49.600 The fact of the matter is that he has the choicest supply there is. 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:59.360 But here's the thing is that there was also this poor man, and this poor man had nothing except for one little lamb. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:06.399 Sometimes having just one little lamb is enough. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:08.319 That was the case for this poor man. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:09.519 He cherished it. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.399 It was like his own family, is what Nathan describes. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:24.959 And so when Nathan is describing this wonderful little, little human-like lamb, because remember, it's like a daughter to him eating the food off of his own table. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:35.200 This rich man comes in and steals it, takes it for himself, kills the lamb, and feeds it to this visitor. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:42.080 Remember, the rich man has plenty to choose from, but he takes what's not his. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:52.960 David's enraged, and in fact, he reflects back on the law, the Mosaic law, saying, hey, look, this man deserves to die because he's a thief. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:58.240 And not only that, he has to repay it fourfold, which means he needs to pay him four lambs. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:02.399 Because that was the requirement for someone who stole from another. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:05.120 David's enraged. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.159 He thinks that this is the most unjust thing possible. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:20.799 But then Nathan flips the script, really, and says, Hey, Nathan, or hey, David, you are that man. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:25.200 Put yourself in David's shoes for just a moment. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:29.840 You have listened to a story, it has made you absolutely infuriated. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:36.960 You said this person deserves to die, and they have to pay him back, and now you're told that you're that man. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:45.120 All the while, while uh he is convicted of his sin in his own life. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:53.440 We know this to be the case because of some of the Psalms he chose to wrote that were inspired from this very event. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:57.120 That he says that his bones became brittle. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:10.879 That he was essentially drained because of the depths of despair he was feeling because of the sin in his life. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:20.559 And so David hears this, he's overwhelmed by it, his life is shaken by it. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:27.600 But before this moment, in many ways, he'd become numb to his own sin. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:36.000 It reminds me about the doctor who dedicated much of his life to leprosy and the study of leprosy. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:38.480 His name was Paul Brand, Dr. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:39.440 Paul Brand. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:43.600 And one of the things about leprosy is it's often mischaracterized. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:49.200 Most people think that leprosy is a flesh-eating disease, at least for the longest time. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:51.600 But it actually isn't. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:52.879 Did you know that? 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:55.519 That leprosy is actually not a flesh-eating disease. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:11:01.519 In fact, the number one issue with leprosy is that it kills your nerve endings. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:04.639 It destroys your nerves. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:06.879 It makes it where you can't feel things. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:08.240 And so, Dr. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:30.799 Brand, he's researched it extensively, watching these cases in India, and tried determined that actually most of the reason why leprosy victims ended up losing limbs and other things is because they no longer could feel the pain that was associated with the illness that would take their limb, such as cutting their finger off. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:36.159 Or getting a splinter and an infection that would eat away at the flesh. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.799 Over time, they would lose those limbs. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:47.600 Leprosy, in fact, the greatest horror about it is not that you have pain, it's the fact that you have no pain. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:56.000 You forget to blink, and so you go blind because you don't feel your eyes searing from dryness. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:11:59.200 Sin is like that. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:07.279 If you continue to go back to the same sin, you're essentially killing your nerve to the Holy Spirit. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:12.480 And over time you find yourself falling further and further away from the Lord. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:17.759 It is a danger to play with sin. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.679 You cannot play with sin and get away unscathed. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:31.039 It will destroy you as it destroyed David and his testimony of being the man after God's own heart. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:33.279 Because he fell into sin. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:45.440 But here's the thing is that God loved him and he sent a loving confrontation so that he could experience forgiveness ultimately, as we will see. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:56.159 But it's not just that we have this experience of being forgiven, or that we have the love of God that comes after us. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:05.120 There's another part of sin that we have to realize is that when we sin, there's the ungrateful contempt we show. 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:10.879 When we sin, there's an ungrateful contempt we show to the Lord. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:13.600 Notice what is said in verses 7 and 8. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:17.840 It says, Nathan said to David, You are the man, thus says the Lord the God of Israel. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:30.000 I anointed you king over Israel, I delivered you out of the hand of Saul, and I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:34.320 And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:35.840 Do you notice what God does? 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:45.919 God goes back with David to the past, saying, Look, I anointed you king when you were the lowly shepherd boy, the last born in your family. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:48.879 I gave you victory. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.600 I gave you victory over Saul. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:53.600 I gave you his kingdom. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.240 I gave you his house. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:58.399 I gave you all of this. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:03.039 And if it wasn't enough, I would have given you much, much more. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:11.360 Here's the reality: when we sin against God, what we're telling God is that He hasn't given us enough. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:15.279 We're showing contempt for what God has done. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:23.519 That we're essentially saying, God, you did good things, but there are better things for me than what you have in store for me. 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:33.519 When we openly sin, when we choose sin over the Lord, what we're saying is that we do not love God as much as God loves us. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:39.679 And we're testifying to the whole world that we would choose sin over God. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:43.039 That God's gifts aren't good enough. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:51.360 God's grace isn't good enough to keep us honorable, to keep us faithful to the Lord. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:15:00.399 David's sin was one that came out of really coveting and lust. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:03.440 He wanted something that God had not given him. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:05.679 And it led him to murder. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:12.000 James 4, 2 tells us kind of this process amongst even us today that is a danger. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:17.360 He says in verse 2 of James chapter 4, you desire and do not have, so you murder. 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:21.200 You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:24.879 But here's the one that hits the hardest. 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:29.039 You do not have because you do not ask. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:37.039 If I was had not given you enough, you could have asked, David. 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:39.600 I would have given you so much more. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:42.799 I would have given you better. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:46.000 But you chose your own path. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:54.480 And then 2 Samuel 12, 9 tells us, You have despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:02.320 You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:04.480 Thank God is upset. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:07.679 He absolutely is. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:13.840 But also notice that he reminds David of who he has offended. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.120 Not just the Lord, but he has sinned against Uriah. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.600 He goes, You struck down Uriah the Hittite. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:27.360 You've taken his wife to be your wife, and you have killed him with a sword of the Ammonites. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:31.200 He says, You have sinned against Uriah and me. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:35.679 You despise, you have appraised me as worthless. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:41.200 You've appraised my word as useless, is what he's saying. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:46.879 When we choose to sin, what we're telling God is that his word means nothing to us. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:51.120 That was David's sin. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:56.240 That he said, God, your word doesn't matter to me. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:00.080 I'm going to do it my way. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.519 It is one that is heartbreaking. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:09.119 Because it's so easy to fall into. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:16.240 But not only that, he also, the Lord, does not forget Uriah. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:25.839 In fact, if you go to Matthew chapter 1, verse 6 in the lineage of Christ, it's not just in this text that God addresses Uriah. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:38.400 Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew the writer writes this, and Jesse, the father of David, the king, and David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:46.640 God does not forget those who are hurt by our hand. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:52.160 God never forgets those that we step on to try to have success. 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:57.200 We should always be selfless. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:06.000 There's a very strange monument in the Saratoga National Historic Park. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.480 In fact, I've got a picture of it. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.480 It's of a boot. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.400 And you can see there that it's quite spectacular. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:15.279 It's very elegant. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:17.119 It's well done, it's well made. 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.680 And it's a left boot of a man. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.720 This man is unnamed on the monument. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:32.319 And the reality is that this man is credited for one of the major victories up north during the Revolutionary War. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:37.039 And so you might be wondering, why is that man's name not on this monument? 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:40.640 Well, it goes back to a choice this man made. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:51.519 Years after, a few years after that great battle for the Revolutionary War, he would later commit treason against the United States of America. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.880 You might know this man as Benedict Arnold. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:58.640 Benedict Arnold lost a leg in that war. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:06.480 And yet he later would betray his nation because he wasn't happy with the way things were. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:12.000 Benedict Arnold could have been a war hero. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:14.960 Instead, he became a villain. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.160 Because of a choice he made. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:27.519 David could have been the man after God's own heart and not fallen into this sin if he had kept his eyes on God. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:30.000 But instead, you know what? 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:45.440 His life is tainted by sin and the murder of Uriah the Hittite because he did not find God to be good enough, sufficient enough for his own needs. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:48.319 Don't we often do that? 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:56.319 Don't we often fall prey to that lure of Satan that we go, well, I just will have a little pleasure. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.119 It'll be okay. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:19:59.359 No one's gonna get hurt. 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.880 And so we enjoy our little pet sins. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:12.960 But God has called us to lay those sins before the cross and have them nailed to Jesus forever to be erased from us. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:17.759 God has called us to a life of purity and holiness. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.440 And then there's also the unvoidable consequence we harvest. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:34.640 So not only do we demonstrate contempt when we are demonstrating sin in our life and when we are testifying that God is not enough, there's the unvoidable consequences we harvest when we sin. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:38.480 David learns this the hard way. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:40.559 Look at verse 10. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:49.359 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:21:02.559 Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the sun. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:10.000 For you did it in did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:20.480 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:25.680 You notice the consequences that unfold. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:34.640 God says, David, there are consequences because of your actions that you will experience. 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:37.359 That you cannot avoid these. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:40.160 There's nothing that you can get out of. 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:45.359 But this is the result of your sinful behavior that you will be judged. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:56.559 Notice that he says that the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.759 David, his house would never. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.599 Be the same. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:06.720 In fact, David gave this decree himself. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:09.279 Remember what he decreed? 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:15.759 That he should, this man should surely die, and he should pay it back fourfold? 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:21.920 Well, David's going to lose four of his sons over the course of these years. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:27.599 The first is David's child with Bathsheba, who has been born to them. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:33.440 He will get sick and die just later in this text, in chapter 12. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:44.240 And then his son Amnon, he murdered, he's murdered by his own brother Absalom in chapter 13. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:54.559 Absalom is ran through with a javelin at war in chapter 18. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:04.720 And then Adonijah, he's executed in 1 Kings 2 by his brother Solomon. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:12.240 Four sons will pay the price of their father's sin. 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:20.480 Our sins impact everyone around us. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:26.319 You might think that you can play with your pet's sin and get away with it. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:30.079 And you might for a season, but there is fallout from that sin. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:33.920 There might be strife in your household. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:39.119 You might get caught and have to face punishment. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:44.000 Look, this isn't any strange news. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.079 It's in our community. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:51.599 But when a pastor falls, a whole church feels the echo. 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:57.599 But it's not just the church that feels the echo, it's the community that feels the echo. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:05.680 When a spouse cheats on their loved one, the family feels the echo. 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:08.960 The church feels the echo. 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:12.720 It impacts everyone. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:19.279 There is no such thing as a sin that only hurts you. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.599 It spreads throughout like a plague. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:32.720 David's sin spreads like a plague through his family. 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:45.680 We must understand that we have a responsibility to live holy lives before the Lord. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:49.759 To live authentic lives before the Lord. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:59.440 To seek the Lord's face on all matters, or else we risk that health and safety of our own family. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:07.680 That was the lesson David learned was that the aftermath of the sin impacts everyone. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:15.519 His sin impacted Bathsheba and impacted Uriah and it impacted the death of his four children. 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:21.279 Sin hurts everyone. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:27.440 Sin never impacts only you. 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:36.160 I think a great illustration for the impacts of sin can be forest fires. 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:44.960 You have a forest fire, it starts with a little spark, it spreads and consumes the whole region if it's left untreated. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:55.759 In fact, back in 2017, such a fire took place in California near Monticello or Montecito. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:06.160 Montecito was a little town at the base of a hilly region, and the fire took out about 280,000 acres of land. 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:20.799 But 36 days later, a heavy rainfall came. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:29.200 And what they did not realize was because of the extensiveness of the fire, there was nothing left to hold the mud in place. 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:37.440 And as those heavy rains came in the middle of the night, the mudslide rushed down, killing dozens of people. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:51.200 Sin might not show its face, and its effects might not show its face until long down the road. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:52.960 But it will.