WEBVTT 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:13.359 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:18.480 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:25.760 Let me uh tell you what we just sang about. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:31.839 I want you to understand what the Bible means, what the great hymns of the faith mean when they talk about redeeming love. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.280 There's a difference in redeeming love and just natural love. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:39.200 Natural love stays where it is and tells you how it feels about you. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:44.880 I love you, I want you, I desire you, you're my soulmate, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.960 It just stays where it is and kind of tells you, it's how I feel. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:55.359 Redeeming love comes to where you are, accepts you as you are, and makes an exchange. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:00.399 It gives something to own you, possess you, and take you to be with it. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:03.119 Big difference in the two. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:04.640 Big difference. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:06.879 Loving someone is just, hey, I love you. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:09.040 You stay where you are, and you tell them how you feel. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.680 Redeeming love comes to where you are. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:20.079 So what that means is that wherever you are today in this room, spiritually, you may be an atheist, an agnostic, a jaded cynic, a fed up person who's down on religion. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.400 Good news today, the Bible's not about religion, it's about a relationship. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:27.280 Redeeming love comes to where you are. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:37.599 So wherever you are, the God of the Bible, the only God who is, is willing to come to you and give himself for you. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:44.640 So you could be, your life could be connected to who he is and how he is in this world. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:48.560 That's the difference in redeeming love and just what we talk about is love. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:51.760 Let's pray and think about this some more. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:52.640 Let's pray together. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:54.239 God, thanks for the truth of your word. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:55.439 Thanks that you come to us. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:01.359 You left the sanctity and the security of heaven to come to earth because you have redeeming love for your people. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:08.240 And you've come to redeem and to restore, to seek that which was lost, to give back what we forfeit through disobedience. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:10.960 Even though we knew better, God, we did it anyway. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:18.159 And the Bible says you've loved us with an everlasting love, with a love that redeems, that does for us what we could never do for ourselves. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:23.199 So open up our the ears of our heart and the eyes of our soul to hear and see this today. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.520 Lord, say something today that has our name on it. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:33.680 Say something today that is so consequential in the life of a seven-year-old girl in this room right now that when she's 77, she still giggles about it. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:36.719 Only the Bible has that capacity. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.000 So we give ourselves to that now, and we do it in Jesus' name. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.759 And everyone said, Amen. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.120 If you've got a Bible, you take it and open up to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:46.560 2 Samuel chapter 7. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:49.599 If you don't have a Bible, it's one of row, I'm on page 259. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:52.080 I want to talk to you about the beauty of God's heart. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:56.479 The beauty of God's heart from 2 Samuel chapter 7. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:00.639 And while you're finding 2 Samuel, it's kind of towards the front of the Old Testament. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:04.400 Uh uh and while you're finding that, I was going to say there's kind of a progression. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:06.560 This is where we'll end up, but let me just tell you where we're going. 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:08.639 There's kind of a progression in the way you think about your heart. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:16.159 When I talk about the beauty of God's heart, uh, you start off with what I call your old heart, your natural heart, and the Bible does not place a lot of value on that. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:20.879 Matter of fact, the Bible says that by nature our heart is pretty corrupt, it's pretty deceitful. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:25.199 Matter of fact, it says it's deceitful above everything else and beyond cure. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:28.800 There's no fix for the problem of our depraved heart. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:34.639 That the Bible uses such strong language because it wants us to understand the magnitude of God's mercy. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:40.479 So the human heart is by nature sinful, alienated, and hostile towards God, okay? 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:43.199 And so that's where we all start off with that heart. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.800 But the Bible also says when you become a Christian, God gives you a new heart. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.599 He attacks the problem at its core, okay? 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:55.039 And so there's old heart, there's new heart for the Christian, and then there's God's heart. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:56.400 And I want to talk to you today. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:14.719 I want to stay right here, talk to you today about the beauty of God's heart in such a way that it makes you want to leave your old heart, which means if you're in this room today and you've never begun a relationship with Christ, my goal in speaking to you this morning is I want you to consider a relationship with this God because you see the beauty of his heart through the lens of the Bible. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:15.280 Okay? 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:17.600 Because your old heart's never gonna do it. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:19.680 Your heart can't do it. 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:25.519 And so when your friends say to you, well-intentioned things like follow your heart, that's not good advice. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.120 It's not, okay? 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:28.720 Let me show you what I mean from the Bible. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:31.839 2 Samuel chapter 7, start reading verse 18. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:38.399 And then King David went in and he sat before the Lord and he said, Who am I, O Lord, and what is my house that you've brought me thus far? 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:41.439 And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:48.240 You've spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:50.079 And what more can David say to you? 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:59.519 For you know your servant, O Lord God, because of your promise, and according to your heart, your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:07.360 Therefore, you are great, O Lord God, for there's none like you, and there's no God besides you, according to all we have heard with our ears. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:08.879 We'll just stop right there. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:11.759 Now, what do I mean when I talk about the beauty of God's heart? 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:16.959 When you see the beauty of God's heart, you begin to understand and see how God relates to humanity. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:22.639 And there's four things I want to point to, just kind of see from from the perspective of God's heart. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:24.879 This is how God relates to humanity. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:27.120 Number one, with initiation in mind. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:28.879 With any initiation in mind. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:31.680 Look at the first word of verse 18 where he first started reading. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:35.120 He says, Then King David went in and sat before the Lord. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:39.120 Then the word then implies that some stuff happened back here. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:43.360 And so whatever David does is a response to what God has already done. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:45.519 There's two words I want you to understand today. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:48.720 More importantly, I think there's two words that the Bible wants us to understand. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.600 And the words are initiation and response. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:53.600 Initiation and response. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:56.800 Now, we live in a culture that kind of says we initiate. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:01.519 We do, we're the master of our own destiny, we're in charge of our faith. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:05.279 And so we come up with ideas and we initiate and God responds. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:07.040 Here's the problem with that. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:20.399 If you live in this rhythmic pattern of you initiate, you you come up with stuff, you do it, and then God responds, what happens is that for you, God becomes therapeutic, God becomes relief and forgiveness, but God's never the truth. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:28.879 Because you're initiating, you're you're deciding what you want to do because typically you're following your heart, and that requires what happens, we make sinful decisions. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:30.879 The Bible uses that kind of language. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.360 It's sin, it's not just, hey, what's my best idea? 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:33.920 It's sin. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:42.480 And so for you, if you're not careful, you teach yourself that all God gives is forgiveness and a second chance, but he's never the capacity to not sin. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:44.480 And so you got to be careful. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:46.720 So initiation and response, that's what we do. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:51.439 We think we initiate, God responds, and so God exists to fix our life. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:52.639 That's not biblical. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:57.279 The biblical order is this God initiates and we respond. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:06:59.920 God initiates and we respond. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.240 And so the pressure's off your entire life. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:03.519 You could never outgrow. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:08.000 This rhythm of creation is so big, you can live to be 140. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:10.480 None of you will, but you would never outgrow that. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:12.720 God initiates and you respond. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:14.560 You have to understand the order. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:18.240 Otherwise, you'll be confused as to who gets the glory for your life. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:24.480 Which is one of the reasons we like to initiate because we like to point at and to kind of say, now I'm not saying don't have initiative. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:28.000 I'm not saying don't start a business, don't start a relationship, all that. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:32.720 But you should do that out of response to how you feel God is leading in your life. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:38.480 David says this word, then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, Lord God? 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:47.199 When's the last time you were so overwhelmed by the goodness of God, you just went in and sat down and just kind of said to the Lord, This is more than I can take. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:50.079 I mean, I've got to, I've got to, this is so overwhelming. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:54.800 I've got to not do anything for the next few minutes just to kind of get my head around it. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:56.560 I've got to do some Lamas breathing. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:01.439 Because this is beyond anything I could ask or imagine. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:06.959 That's what's happening right here in this prayer of gratitude that kind of flows out of the heart of David. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.360 And he just begins it all with a little word, then. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:10.639 Then. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:16.639 And because what's happened is that God just told him, by the way, you're gonna have a descendant, one of your descendants on the throne forever. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:20.000 And I'm not gonna take away my steadfast love from your son Jonathan. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:21.600 You're not gonna build for me a house. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:26.800 Your son is gonna build me a habitation for my dwelling, and it's gonna be incredible. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:30.480 And I'm not gonna take away my steadfast love from him like I did Saul. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:32.559 And David is overwhelmed by this. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:38.320 And he just kind of goes in before God and he's just like, oh my goodness, this is more than I can take. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:49.120 You see, the Bible's very clear that you're not here to initiate, but you're here to respond, which means you need to have a clear sense of who God is, what he's done, and what he's capable of doing. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:55.120 Otherwise, what happens you go through life just trying to be noticed instead of trying to be faithful? 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:57.360 You say, where do you get that? 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:02.080 This rhythm of Genesis 1, verse 1, very beginning. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:05.360 Hear these words in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:10.000 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:13.600 And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:21.840 And God said, And God said, God initiated, He's the first movement, He's the first mover. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:26.080 God said, and beloved, everything that comes after that is just response. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:30.000 It's just because God initiates with things in mind, with stuff in mind. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:32.960 Boys and girls there in the room with us today for family worship. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:34.320 I'm so glad you're here. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:37.440 But in your eight-year-old mind, you're old enough to understand this. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:38.159 Look at me. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.759 God has greatness in his heart with your name on it. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:47.600 He has good stuff in your heart, in his heart for you and towards you. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:54.240 And so when you get in bed tonight, you need to say to your mom and dad, you know what, I don't want to miss out on anything that God has in his heart for me. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:59.600 So pray, mommy, that I just experience all the greatness that's in God's heart for me. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.440 And prepare for mommy to go to the ugly cry. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:06.720 Because we don't think in those terms. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:10.399 We just think of initiation and then God responds and we kind of screw it up. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:12.639 God says, I'm the first mover shaker. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:17.759 I'm the one that sets this all in motion, and your life just gets to be a life of response. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:18.639 Why is that? 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.519 Because there's no doubt as to who gets the glory. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.919 There's no doubt from anybody involved. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:29.440 Secondly, how does God relate to humanity because of the beauty of his heart with house in mind? 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:31.120 With house in mind. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:35.279 Now, that's not a wise cracking ER doctor that used to be on TV. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:37.360 Some of you in your mind went there. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:38.559 With house in mind. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:39.519 Look at verse 18. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:40.320 He says this. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:46.240 He says that then David, King David, went in and sat before the Lord and he said, Who am I, O Lord, and what is my house? 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:46.960 Hello. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:48.000 What is my house? 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:53.120 Not his domicile, not his 3,200 square feet, four-bedroom, three and a half bath. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:54.399 Not talking about that. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:55.440 What is my house? 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:59.440 He's talking about his legacy and his lineage, those who come after him. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:01.039 And look what the Bible says. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:03.279 What is my house that you brought me thus far? 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:06.320 And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, oh Lord God. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.399 You've spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:13.840 And this is instruction for mankind, oh Lord God. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.559 In other words, David is saying, this doesn't just apply to me. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:24.159 You need to think, you need to learn to think about God in terms of your house because God's thinking about you in terms of your house. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:30.159 One of the ways that you express spiritual maturity is you begin to think about God in the ways that God thinks about you. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:33.200 And he relates to you with house in mind. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:38.720 Again, when the Bible talks about house, it's not your physical dwelling, it's your legacy. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:44.080 It's your kids, it's your grandkids, it's your great-grandkids for generations to come. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:55.759 And so if you're not careful, you'll get stuck in thinking about God in such small ways, not only about yourself, and you'll convey to God, hey, really, the things I'm really passionate about, they just have to do with me. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.200 I'm kind of all about me. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.360 And God, I want you to be all about me. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:02.240 And God will say to you, that's too small. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:04.159 That's too small. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:07.519 I I think He got the binoculars turned around. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.440 You're looking to the wrong end. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:24.320 And so when I say he thinks about you with house in mind, you ever been around someone, and the biggest thing they can talk about is their last vacation or their next vacation or what they ate last or the latest gadget they bought or what they got on good on Black Friday or whatever. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:27.840 Now, to be clear, none of that in itself is bad. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:34.000 But hear me clearly, if that's all there is, that's not bad, it's tragic. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:45.600 Because this is a person that did not learn to think about themselves in the ways that God thinks about them, that God thinks about you with house in mind, and you should as well. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:46.320 Why is that? 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:56.000 What that means, men, is that you should not do the way you break some of the bad habits you have is that you think I do not want my children and my grandchildren to struggle with this. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:59.519 Therefore, I'm gonna kill it now in my generation. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:06.320 Ladies, you say, I don't want my daughters to have this kind of plaguing insecurity about themselves and their body. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:11.519 I don't want them, regardless of how good they look, they still feel like they don't measure up. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:16.480 You deal with that now so that the generations that come after you don't have to struggle with it. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:20.159 When I say that God thinks about you with house in mind, here's what I mean. 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:23.200 This is Exodus 34, verse 6 and 7. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:28.879 The Lord, now God has given the Ten Commandments to Moses to give you the context, and God self-disclosures. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:31.919 God says, This is who I am, and this is what I'm like. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:49.679 He says, The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:55.039 Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:57.840 See, God relates to you with your house and mind. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:00.480 And David says right here, this is doesn't just apply to me. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:04.639 This isn't some one-off random Bible sentence buried in the Old Testament. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:07.440 He says, This is instruction for mankind. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:12.720 One of the ways I was talking to a friend of mine a while back, and he said, When did you really get consistent in your Christian life? 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:14.240 Which I thought was a great question. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.840 I said, when I begin to think about my house, not just myself. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:29.759 There are things that my wife and I have the responsibility of setting our daughters on this Godward trajectory by the way we live, by the things we do, by the things we don't do, by the things they see us enjoy. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:50.159 Now ask yourself, if God would have said to you what he said to Moses, hey, not just the great part, hey, I'm I'm a God of steadfast love and faithfulness, I keep steadfast love for thousands, forgiven iniquity and transgression and sin, but who by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.320 Can you imagine hearing something like that today? 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:59.519 I mean, in our culture in 2018, with all the political correctness around us, would you not sue God for mental duress? 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:01.600 Would you not be like, are you kidding me? 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.200 I can't take the pressure. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:04.960 Would you be overwhelmed? 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:05.759 Would you be mad? 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:06.720 Would you be concerned? 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:07.919 Would you feel this pressure? 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:09.360 You know what Moses did? 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:11.519 The next verse, verse 8 says this. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:15.519 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:28.879 Moses was so moved by this, beloved, that he goes on to say the next few verses, hey God, if you'll take us for your inheritance and have us as your people and go with us, that would be the biggest desire of our heart. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:36.799 We want to be in relationship with a God that is balanced like this, with a God that thinks about me in bigger terms than I think about you. 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:40.320 Because it's not a condemnation of the smallness of how you think. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.159 It's an invitation to think bigger. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:48.399 It's an invitation as a 16-year-old girl to say, I don't want to think like every other 16-year-old girl in my school. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:50.399 I want to think about my house. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:16:02.559 I want to think about my children and my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren and my great-great-great-grandchildren and great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren who will barely remember your name. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:05.200 Yep, somebody will say, Well, you know what? 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:12.639 It was your great-great-great-great great great-great-grandma that really kind of was a chain breaker and a difference maker in our family. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:18.799 She was the woman that God used to change the destiny of our family. 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.480 Can you imagine that conversation around Thanksgiving? 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:24.480 Six generations from now? 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:27.279 Some of you are like, hey man, they're with me this morning. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:28.480 Don't talk about that. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:30.399 Yes. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:34.960 That's what I mean when I say this is how God talks about you with house in mind. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:37.519 Thirdly, he relates to humanity with knowledge. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:38.879 With knowledge. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:43.519 Look at verse 20. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:45.679 He says, and what more can David say to you? 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.759 For you know your servant, O Lord God. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:49.600 Just hear that again. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.240 And what more can your servant say to you? 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:53.840 For hear this. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.440 For you know your servant, O Lord God. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:01.120 David is so bothered by this, he talks about himself in third person. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:02.799 What more can David say to you? 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.759 It's kind of like it's called disassociation in counseling. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:11.039 He just kind of did, he puts this off, he stands outside of it and says, What more can David say to you? 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:13.039 What more can David say to you, Lord? 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:14.880 I mean, for you know your servant. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:16.720 Now that cuts both ways. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:22.480 God knows him, and David knows that God knows him. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:25.839 It's one thing for you to say, Oh, yeah, I think God knows everything. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:30.079 It's another thing for you to say, I know that God knows everything. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:31.920 You know the difference in that? 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:35.680 You stop trying to convince everybody you're something you're not. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:37.599 And David is like Ricky Henderson. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:38.960 He talks about himself in the third person. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:40.960 Today, Ricky is the greatest. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:43.680 What more can your servant David say? 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:46.240 And God's like, hey, you ain't gotta go third person on me. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:47.200 You and I both know. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:48.000 Why is that a big deal? 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:51.039 In case you don't know, David was a man after God's own heart. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:54.640 Only people in the Old Testament, in the whole Bible, it's said that is set of. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:00.240 He also committed adultery, hooked up with a woman and got her pregnant to cover himself. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:03.440 He had her husband killed in war to look noble. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:07.920 And God just kind of sent a prophet named Nathan to confront him and say, Hey, uh-uh. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:11.440 You can con everybody else, but you can't con me, okay? 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:14.720 And so this prophet confronts David. 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:16.799 David falls to the ground and repents. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:20.640 We say about it a few minutes ago, a few minutes ago. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:28.240 There's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:37.599 That means that what David experienced in the Old Testament, you can experience today, is that regardless of what you've ever done, God has the capacity and the willingness to forgive you. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:39.440 So you don't have to hide today. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:44.400 You don't have to sleek out of here kind of going, man, that kind of got personal in a real hurry. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.279 No, because he relates to you with knowledge. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:51.519 Nothing would bring more authenticity to your life than this simple verse. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:58.240 Instead of overselling it, trying to make himself look like something he wasn't, David was just, hey, what more can I say? 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:02.079 I mean, you know me, which means you know everything I've ever done. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:03.759 Ask yourself this question. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:07.759 Hey, am I just content to say, oh, God knows? 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:13.359 Or do you realize what you mean when you say, hey, God knows me? 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.519 This is the kind of knowledge that David talked about. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.559 He writes this, same David, 139th Psalm. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:22.799 He writes these words, Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:31.839 You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar, you search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:37.039 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:41.680 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:44.240 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:45.759 It is high. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:47.519 I cannot attain it. 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:53.839 Translation, God, I can't get my head around how intimately that you know me. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:59.519 The fourth way that God relates to humanity is simply this, with greatness in mind. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:00.799 With greatness in mind. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:02.640 Now I want you to listen carefully, okay? 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:07.759 Because I'm not one of those prosperity preachers you see on TV that's kind of like, oh, God wants everyone to be rich. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:08.960 It's nowhere in the Bible. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:10.079 It's not the gospel. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.960 So when I say with greatness in mind, where do I get that? 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:13.759 Verse 21. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:14.960 Look at what he says. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:22.079 He says, Because of your promise and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:33.599 Because of your kindness, excuse me, because of your promise and according to your own heart, God, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:37.599 Remember where we started this morning by saying that God initiates and we respond. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:38.480 Here's what I mean. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:40.160 Look at these two things that David says. 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:41.680 This is what caused this to happen. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:43.759 Because of your promise, okay? 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:45.279 Because of your promise. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:48.799 And then secondly, because according to your own heart. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.440 In other words, it's what I started off saying earlier. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:53.119 There's three ways that people relate to God. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:57.119 You relate out of your old, I call your old heart, your natural heart, which is true. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:59.839 The Bible talks about it in Jeremiah chapter 17. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:04.640 It says this it says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:06.079 Who can understand it? 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:12.640 I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:16.559 In other words, when I say your old heart, I mean just the natural heart you were born with. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:22.640 Your natural disposition towards God is that you have this inability to do what the Bible says. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:28.640 Recently, I'm meeting with somebody in counseling, and the man said to me, I could never live like the Bible talks about. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:30.799 And I didn't say, Oh, yes, you can. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:32.240 You just gotta try harder. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:34.480 I looked at him and said, You're exactly right. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:35.279 You cannot. 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:41.359 You do not capacity, you do not possess the capacity to fulfill the demands of the Bible. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:43.359 It is impossible to the natural man. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:44.720 He goes, What do you mean, natural? 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.599 I mean, you are as you were the day you were born. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:50.480 You were born in sin and you have chosen to sin. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:52.880 So you're a sinner by nature and by choice. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:55.759 And he said, That doesn't sound very encouraging. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:59.519 And I said, It is actually, it sounds bad, but it's very encouraging. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:06.640 If you can get to the point where you admit the truth about yourself, and then the fact that Jesus came to save makes a huge difference in your life. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:07.920 And he goes, Well, I'm not there yet. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.079 I said, Oh, I'm not, I'm not trying to pressure you. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.319 I'm just saying I'm agreeing with you. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:16.960 You are incapable because of your heart, your old natural heart. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:18.000 So that's the first. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:24.640 People, everybody is born with that, that, that, that heart that is sinful and incapable of doing what the Bible says. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:26.000 It sounds like great ideas. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:32.240 It motivates you for a few days, and eventually, you go back to who you've always been. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:33.519 There's old heart. 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:34.559 Here's the progression. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:35.440 Old heart. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:37.680 Second step, new heart. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:38.559 New heart. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:39.440 What do you mean? 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:42.319 Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 25. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:43.599 This is what God says. 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:53.920 He says, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your unclean uncleannesses and from all your idols. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:54.799 I will cleanse you. 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:58.160 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:01.759 I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:06.640 I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:07.680 Hey, look at me. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:12.880 God would never ask you to do what you do not have the capacity to do. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:15.039 That's why He changes your heart. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:20.160 Recently I'm having a conversation with some friends, and one of them said, Well, you know, our heart's just wicked, right? 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:21.759 And I said, Mine's not. 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:24.400 Now, on the surface, that sounds arrogant. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:26.480 If you were there, you'd have been like, What? 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:28.480 Why do you say those crazy things? 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:30.960 I want to say about myself what the Bible says about me. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:41.279 Because the Bible says when I became a Christian in July of 1982, that God took out my old heart, he gave me a new heart, he put his spirit in me, and he moves me to follow his decrees. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:45.119 And so not only do I have the capacity, but I have the willingness. 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:46.160 Hear that again. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:50.799 Not only do I have the capacity, oh, I could if I chose to, but I have the willingness. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:51.279 Why? 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:56.240 Because my heart is disposed to do the things that God wants me to do. 00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:58.720 It's not like, now there's times it's difficult. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:07.599 There's sometimes when it's just kind of like, uh sometimes I'm talking to my wife and I'm just thinking, just do what I'm asking you to do. 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:13.279 And she asks me, I don't like when I ask somebody to do something and they ask me questions about what I'm asking them to do. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:17.519 I know that doesn't bother you, but in my mind I just think, you could have already done it. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:19.039 You could have already done it. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:20.079 But I don't say that. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:23.200 I just kind of look at her and she goes, Are you getting frustrated? 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:23.759 No. 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:25.119 No. 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:27.200 I'm not getting frustrated. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:30.319 I can feel frustration kind of coming, but it's not here yet. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:31.920 Keep asking me questions. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:37.200 Because in my mind, I'm just, she said, Well, I want you to come to me and ask me, but I just want clarification. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:42.319 And in my mind, I'm like, and I say every once in a while, I could have already done it and been done by now. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:44.640 But we wouldn't understand each other better. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:46.240 I can live with that. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:48.720 But I don't say that either. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:50.079 Why? 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:51.200 Look at me. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:54.960 Because my heart has a willingness that I by nature don't possess. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:58.559 Ask yourself today, do you have that willingness? 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:02.480 Because God doesn't just say, hey, do your best. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:03.440 Good luck. 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:05.920 He takes out your heart of stone. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:08.240 He gives you a heart of flesh. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:09.920 So there's your old heart. 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:12.000 When you become a Christian, there's a new heart. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:14.240 And this is where I'm talking to you from today. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:15.359 There's God's heart. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:16.960