WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.040 Okay, so we're going to kind of do a whistle stop tour through a number of chapters. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:10.359 If you want to have a Bible beside you and flick through it, there's some Bibles at the 00:00:10.359 --> 00:00:12.519 side or if you want to do that on your phones, that's great. 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:18.000 It might be helpful just to keep an idea of even visually of where we're going. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:22.039 But my intention this evening is to remind all of us. 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:27.120 Now, you might not think this from the passage that we're reading, but my intention is to 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:35.200 remind us, same as in the words of that song, it's really to remind us how great Jesus is, 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:41.400 how great it is to be a Christian, and how important it is to stick close to Jesus. 00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:45.760 So maybe this evening you're struggling to stick close to Jesus. 00:00:45.760 --> 00:00:47.520 Maybe you feel like giving up. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.320 Maybe you're a bit bored and fed up with it all. 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:57.159 And what I want to get across tonight from this passage is the importance of Him and 00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:02.439 sticking close to Him because it's dangerous ground being outside of Him. 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:05.439 It's a dark place outside of Jesus. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:06.840 And just want to really do that. 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:13.280 I know it's an Old Testament and Jesus is not directly in this passage, but I hope we'll 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:19.000 see what God is teaching us from this passage. 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:24.959 I would really encourage you to go home at some time, not right now, in a little while, 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:30.519 to go home and maybe read through that whole section from chapter maybe 12 or 13, right 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:33.120 up to chapter 18. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:37.719 And if you've got your Bible online and it's got lots of different versions, maybe do it 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:44.079 in the message or do it in the new living translation or one that's maybe slightly more paraphrased 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.319 because it's, you know, it's a story. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:49.679 And it's really great to read like a story. 00:01:49.679 --> 00:01:55.319 And it's just an amazingly powerful story. 00:01:55.319 --> 00:02:00.239 So if you do have time, do go back to the story. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:06.479 But just as a backdrop, just to set the scene, I want to read a couple of verses that I'm 00:02:06.479 --> 00:02:10.560 not sure if Cori read them last week, but it was part of the chapter that Cori was looking 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:11.560 at. 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:12.560 It's chapter 12. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:16.280 It's when Nathan rebukes David for what he'd done with Mashi'ib and we saw that the 00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:19.439 rape and the murder and everything went on with that. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:23.080 So it's 2 Samuel chapter 12. 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:31.599 And can you look back at verses 10, where Nathan brings the message from God to David 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:32.599 because of what he's done? 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:37.000 He said, now therefore verse 10 of chapter 12, the storage shall never depart from your 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:41.319 house because you've despised me and have taken the wife of your eye that hath hath 00:02:41.319 --> 00:02:42.840 hath to be your wife. 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:48.120 God says to the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house 00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:52.039 and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor and he shall 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:55.039 lie with your wives in the sight of the sun. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:59.520 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:01.480 David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. 00:03:01.480 --> 00:03:06.360 And Nathan said to David, the Lord has also put away your sin. 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:07.879 You shall not die. 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:13.359 For the less, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is 00:03:13.359 --> 00:03:15.319 born to you will die. 00:03:15.319 --> 00:03:17.319 Nathan went to his house. 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:23.199 And that's really the context of the rest of the whole story of David and Absalom. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:27.240 And it's not pleasant reading. 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:29.319 It's not easy to read. 00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:32.759 It's difficult. 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:39.319 What we see, what David went through, it is really significant, his laziness, his lust, 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:48.280 his rape, his murder, the cover-up, the exposure by God, the forgiveness, the redemption, and 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:53.519 the consequences are all spoken of in these chapters. 00:03:53.519 --> 00:03:59.359 And it's really the unfolding of what David, or what God says through Nathan to David. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:05.000 He's forgiven, but there's consequences for what he's done in this life. 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.200 And so we go into chapter 13, very quickly. 00:04:09.200 --> 00:04:16.800 Chapter 13, Amnon, David's eldest son, the heir to the throne, his mother is a Henneman. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:26.160 And he has this unnatural desire for his half-sister, Tamer, and he must have her. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:31.480 And so he's so arranged things that he can take her and he rapes her. 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:37.960 And Tamer is his half-sister, whose mother is Maaka, one of David's other wives. 00:04:37.960 --> 00:04:43.520 It's a brutal, ugly, lust-fuelled, hate-filled chapter. 00:04:43.520 --> 00:04:46.120 God isn't mentioned in it. 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:52.280 But at the second half of the chapter, we see the result of what Amnon had done in Absalom's 00:04:52.280 --> 00:04:53.280 response. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:58.919 From Absalom's, his half-brother, Tamer was Absalom's full sister. 00:04:58.919 --> 00:05:02.719 And he hated Amnon for what he did. 00:05:02.719 --> 00:05:07.839 And there's two years of it all bubbling up inside him until he gets the opportunity to 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:15.599 lure Amnon into an ambush, gets him drunk, murders him, and then flees on the run, just 00:05:15.599 --> 00:05:21.039 like his dad before him, except David was on the run from Saul. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:26.600 Now Absalom was on the run from his own dad, David. 00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:30.760 And then chapter 14 kind of unfolds it more, so you've got, it's like Game of Thrones, 00:05:30.760 --> 00:05:31.760 chapter 14. 00:05:31.760 --> 00:05:32.760 Who's in charge? 00:05:32.760 --> 00:05:35.360 Who's on the throne because who's running the show? 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:38.439 Is it Joab who's the commander of David's army? 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:41.560 Is it Absalom in exile, pulling the strings? 00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:48.120 Or is it this woman from Tekoa who Joab asks to go and speak to the king to try and get 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:52.600 the king to bring Absalom back into the country? 00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:59.319 It's quite interesting, verse 14 and verse 13, it's this woman, it's wise women from 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:05.000 Tekoa who says when she told her story, the woman said, why have you planned such a thing 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:06.439 against the people of God? 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:11.360 For in giving this decision, the king convicts himself in as much as the king does not bring 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.319 his banished one home again. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:19.240 And this woman told a story to try, it was kind of like a parable story, but like Nathan's 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:25.879 story to David earlier on and said, and then said, really, you're the guy, why don't you 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:29.680 bring your son Absalom home from exile if he's forgiven? 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:37.639 And it starts this movement to have Absalom come back into the nation. 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:42.399 So Absalom returns, the return of the great pretender. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:45.639 And yet David doesn't speak to him, he's kind of outside the city. 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:49.679 And then verse, if you go to chapter 14, just follow with me because it makes it slightly 00:06:49.679 --> 00:06:53.359 easier, 25 and 26. 00:06:53.359 --> 00:06:55.759 Absalom comes back to Israel. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:59.399 And we're told all Israel was there. 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:04.079 In all Israel, there was no one as much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:07.599 From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him. 00:07:07.599 --> 00:07:11.120 And when he cut the hair of his head, I'm feeling very envious here. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:14.920 For at the end of every year, he used to cut it. 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:20.240 When it was heavy on him, he cut it and it weighed the hair of his head, 200 shekels 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:24.920 by the king's weight, mine's about an ounce and a half. 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:28.439 And there was born to Absalom, three sons and one daughter whose name was Tamar. 00:07:28.439 --> 00:07:34.399 He called his daughter after his beautiful sister. 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:36.160 And it's interesting, isn't it? 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:41.079 He's just the kind of man that Israel as a nation would have wanted, wasn't it? 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:43.639 He's the Saul-like man. 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:51.919 He's this great, beautiful, golden, long-haired guy with a six-pack and a tremendous physical 00:07:51.919 --> 00:07:52.919 appearance. 00:07:52.919 --> 00:07:58.319 And the people loved him and he had his eye on the kingdom. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:02.959 So he used to sit at the gate of the city and he would get the people, he became one 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:06.719 who the common people loved because he would speak to them and he would deal with them 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:11.960 and he would judge the issues that they had just like the king should do. 00:08:11.960 --> 00:08:17.800 And because he had his eye on the kingdom at the cost of his father's life. 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:21.480 That chapter, God's hardly mentioned. 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:28.000 And then chapters 15 to 17 take that story further on where Abraham, the poster boy who's 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:34.879 working the crowd, steals their hearts and the rebellion against David happens. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:40.159 And it's an unfolding scene of loyalties and treachery and friends and enemies. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:46.439 There's a coup d'etat and Absalom takes over and he's in the palace. 00:08:46.439 --> 00:08:51.759 And what does his men, what does his advisors recommend? 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:55.080 Go sleep on the roof with David's concubines. 00:08:55.080 --> 00:09:02.399 Just show who's the boss, show who's in charge, show who's the one that is now the king. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:06.639 And he does that if you remember chapter 12. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:08.199 David then is on the run. 00:09:08.199 --> 00:09:15.079 King David, he's on the run like a fugitive, vilified, humiliated, mocked by people who 00:09:15.079 --> 00:09:16.959 see him. 00:09:16.959 --> 00:09:23.319 And yet and yet in all, in all the poverty of David, in all the poverty of his leadership, 00:09:23.319 --> 00:09:27.240 in all the mistakes he'd made, in all the folly of what he was doing. 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:32.639 Chapter 15, verse 31, he cries out to God. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:39.360 His closest advisor, Ahithophil, has turned coat and become an advisor to Absalom and 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:41.279 he's a smart cookie. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:42.879 He's really sharp. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:44.320 He's a great advisor. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:49.159 He always gives brilliant advice and David says, oh Lord, please turn the counsel of 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:53.360 Ahithophil to foolishness. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:10:01.320 And in that cry, God answers and ordains victory for him. 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:05.320 David catches a break as he cries out to the living God. 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:12.039 And chapter 18, which is the one we eventually read the last part of it, David fights back. 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:16.600 He sends out an army and as I said, as he sent out this army because he knew he was probably 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:23.320 going to defeat Absalom and his men, he says, and this would, it was a crazy thing to say. 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:29.280 In many ways, not as a father, but as a commander, as a king, he said, just look after Absalom. 00:10:29.280 --> 00:10:33.360 He said, my boy, take care of him. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:34.360 Keep him alive. 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:43.320 And of course, what happens is that Absalom is riding on a donkey and he happens to come 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:49.960 across David's men and he's fleeing from them and he flees into a forest and a forest, not 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:55.160 a good place to go in a horse or a donkey, and he gets his head caught in the bow of 00:10:55.160 --> 00:10:58.720 a tree, probably his hair. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:00.920 Remember all that heavy hair? 00:11:00.920 --> 00:11:06.240 Catches him and he's left hanging from the tree, but he's still alive. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:09.120 And the soldiers who go there say, well, we're not going to touch him. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.120 He's the Lord's anointed. 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:12.440 He's the son of the king. 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:15.960 But Joab says, come on, get your act together. 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:20.840 Stabs him three times and he's thrown into a field. 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:29.720 Pile of stones put up on him, which is really the death of someone in disgrace. 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:35.280 No legacy, just a cursed death and a sad memorial. 00:11:35.280 --> 00:11:37.160 No sons left, presumably his sons died. 00:11:37.160 --> 00:11:42.320 We're told he had two sons and Tamar, Tamar, his daughter, but they must have died. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:44.519 And then David mourns. 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:46.039 His tragic grief, isn't it? 00:11:46.039 --> 00:11:49.559 Isn't it tremendously powerful that last verses that we read? 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:54.039 His estranged son, his estranged son who hated him. 00:11:54.039 --> 00:11:59.240 And David and all is really kind of right through this kind of weak and passive. 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:01.639 Joab takes more of a lead in him. 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:04.439 Others show more grace than he showed. 00:12:04.439 --> 00:12:09.879 And there's real guilt, I think, in his cry, real guilt about the reality of the terrible 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:18.919 consequences of his own actions, allowing his own love for himself to smother, to blind 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:20.799 and deceive him. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.080 He knows the covenant God has forgiven him. 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:27.720 And yet he senses, what have I done? 00:12:27.720 --> 00:12:36.200 What have I done with all the blessings and grace that were showered upon me? 00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:41.520 He never, can I say again, I don't think he ever gets higher than the way he deals with 00:12:41.520 --> 00:12:46.520 Mephibisheth in the chapter before the Bathsheba one. 00:12:46.520 --> 00:12:51.920 He never shows more covenant love, more grace. 00:12:51.920 --> 00:12:58.600 And yet he returned to the Lord again and again because he was a man after God's own 00:12:58.600 --> 00:12:59.600 heart. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:05.879 And who am I today to stand in judgment on David with all the much greater light and 00:13:05.879 --> 00:13:10.159 knowledge of God and the gospel and Jesus Christ that I have? 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:16.799 But yet he's a warning to us, even though he's the great King and the Son, the man 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.879 after God's own heart. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:23.840 So what do you, what, quickly, what do we think God is teaching us? 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:27.679 Through a passage like this, I think there's a few things. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:33.679 The first thing I think is that God's grace is not for good people, okay? 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:37.120 Grace is not for people who think that they're good people. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.359 David's not a hero in this story. 00:13:39.359 --> 00:13:42.479 He's fallen and he stumbles and he fails. 00:13:42.479 --> 00:13:45.079 And he's not the King that humanity needs. 00:13:45.079 --> 00:13:48.519 Obviously, we've seen that points forward to a greater King. 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:54.000 But the gospel and grace is not for good people because each of us, every one of us here share 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:01.199 David's DNA, every one of us, we all share the potential to send the way David sent. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:10.080 If you have time, look up the discredited Stanford Prison Experiments of the 1970s, 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:16.040 where, I'll not explain it, but they're very interesting because ordinary people are put 00:14:16.040 --> 00:14:21.040 into an experimental situation where they're either prisoners or prison guards and they're 00:14:21.040 --> 00:14:30.960 all very balanced, ordinary people, none with psychological or violence issues. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:36.080 And when they're in a certain situation, and that's to act in a certain way, all kinds 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:40.340 of darkness and blackness comes out in the experiences. 00:14:40.340 --> 00:14:46.879 This week, a 21-year-old Russian soldier was found guilty of war crimes shooting an innocent 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:49.879 man in the head. 00:14:49.879 --> 00:14:50.879 Was he a beast? 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.320 This 21-year-old Russian soldier? 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:55.240 I don't think so. 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:57.160 He was a 21-year-old man. 00:14:57.160 --> 00:14:58.960 That's younger. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.160 That's the same age as a lot of the guys here. 00:15:02.160 --> 00:15:04.120 Probably had a fairly ordinary upbringing. 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:09.120 And yet in the circumstances he finds himself in, this darkness that can be in any one of 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:12.600 us comes out and he acts in that kind of way. 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:17.960 The reality is that darkness is in each of us. 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:21.519 And we give thanks, as I did today at the beginning of the service, for God's restraining 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:28.000 grace that allows us to live relatively normal lives because of His goodness. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.240 And yet Romans 3, 23, all have sinned, all have sinned in the fall short of the glory 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:33.240 of God. 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:37.240 We brush over that like it's, oh yeah, I know we've all sinned. 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:40.679 We all have this potentiality within us. 00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:48.799 And David's visible horrors expose the secret lusts, self-pity, hatred and pride that we 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:56.480 so often harbor in our lives, which never reveal themselves in open contempt because 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:00.720 of God's mercy, but God sees. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:07.680 And the greatest horror is to think that we are good enough for God in ourselves and that 00:16:07.680 --> 00:16:10.960 we don't really need Jesus. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:13.680 So God's grace is not for good people. 00:16:13.680 --> 00:16:23.120 But God's forgiveness, secondly, doesn't rule out repercussions, at least in this life. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:28.600 And I think that's a very solemn truth for us that we may be forgiven and we will be 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:31.919 forgiven always as Christians when we come back to God. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:37.600 But the consequences of what we do may still have an impact not only on our lives, but 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:39.799 the lives of people around us. 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:43.960 Because other people might not forgive us, for example. 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:50.200 And our example might bring a destructive reality into other people's lives because sin 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:52.799 is often learned behavior. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:57.079 When people see the way we act, they may follow our example. 00:16:57.079 --> 00:17:04.639 If you look at Amnon and Absalom, the kind of things that happened, lust and rape and 00:17:04.639 --> 00:17:09.960 contrived murder, were all things they had seen in their father. 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:10.960 They had seen it in his life. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:16.639 Now they would have known he was forgiven as well, but nonetheless they saw what he did. 00:17:16.639 --> 00:17:20.639 And David himself lost three of his sons. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:26.960 He gave his sons as a direct result of what he did, even though he was forgiven. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:35.040 His child of Bathsheba, Amnon, his firstborn and Absalom, his beloved at one level. 00:17:35.040 --> 00:17:40.880 Although there was a strange relationship, love-hate relationship between them, maybe 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:45.759 love and not sure what to do with him. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:51.720 And David's part anger and hatred on Absalom's part, but he lost three of his sons. 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:53.920 He had a divided kingdom. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:01.559 So much disaster in these, it's really horrible chapters to read in many ways. 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:06.640 And the New Testament reminds us, you know, in Ephesians 430 we can grieve the Holy Spirit. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:14.519 One Thessalonians 519, we can quench the Holy Spirit so that we can live our lives in such 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:20.920 way that we receive forgiveness, but we don't recognize the cost of that forgiveness and 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:24.759 we quickly stumble back into sinful living. 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:29.359 But our forgiveness isn't cheap and God isn't mocked. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:35.000 And we can destroy others by our attitudes and by our responses and by the way that we 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:36.920 live our lives. 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:40.759 We can never say, you know, I'm just going to sin a little bit more so that grace can 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:41.759 abound. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:44.960 That's a popular one in the New Testament and it's spoken about. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:46.759 We can't do that. 00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:48.440 That's not what we're able to do. 00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:54.079 And that is misunderstanding of ourselves and of God's love for us. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:59.279 Forgiveness can never be a license to live selfishly. 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:03.480 Have you ever heard of a vomitory? 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:04.480 Sorry to be so crude. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:14.240 But a vomitory, I think it's called a vomitory, was a channel that was down the side of a 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:20.960 banqueting hall in Roman times so that those who were engaged in the banquet could eat 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:26.880 themselves sick, vomit down the vomitory so their stomachs were empty so they could fill 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:28.360 them again with more food. 00:19:28.360 --> 00:19:32.839 Gluttony, greed, really, vomitory. 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:35.959 So that's what we're doing if we despise grace. 00:19:35.959 --> 00:19:40.399 Grace is not forgiveness that empties ourselves of our sin in order that we can fill our lives 00:19:40.399 --> 00:19:42.399 up with sin again. 00:19:42.399 --> 00:19:46.959 That is not what we're called to do. 00:19:46.959 --> 00:19:51.519 Grace is to transform us into changes and an example in our home and our life and our 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.240 private thoughts and our understanding. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:58.919 Either it's building us up and building others up and building our relationship with God 00:19:58.919 --> 00:20:01.199 up or it's destroying it. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:06.920 We're called to put sin to death because it destroys. 00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:09.080 It's a destructive reality. 00:20:09.080 --> 00:20:12.680 And you know, we struggle with that in our lives because we don't feel that that's the 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:13.680 case. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:17.640 But what path am I on and what path are you on this evening? 00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:23.240 Do we understand ourselves and what God is telling us through the story of David when 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:30.799 we choose to grumble and choose to drink too much or to watch porn or to gossip or to accuse 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:32.480 God or to be prayerless to me. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:34.319 Just say, I can forgive him. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:35.919 I'm a Christian, it's okay. 00:20:35.919 --> 00:20:40.279 I'll just carry on doing this because I'm quite enjoying it and I'm forgiven. 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:42.359 Is that true love? 00:20:42.359 --> 00:20:44.960 Is that how we should live our lives? 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:51.000 In many ways, the word always exposes us to drive us back to the safety, the warmth and 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:55.079 the light and the hope of Jesus Christ in the gospel. 00:20:55.079 --> 00:21:02.119 Because I think it's possible to know peace with God through Christ and through His forgiveness, 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:06.919 but not the peace of God felt in our lives. 00:21:06.919 --> 00:21:10.399 How many of you feel the peace of God in your life? 00:21:10.399 --> 00:21:13.000 We know the peace with God because of what Jesus has done. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:16.159 We know it theologically and I'm right with God because of what Jesus has done in the 00:21:16.159 --> 00:21:17.159 cross. 00:21:17.159 --> 00:21:18.159 I know peace with God. 00:21:18.159 --> 00:21:22.559 I'm right with God through Christ covered in the blood of the Lamb. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:28.399 Do you know the peace of God on a day-to-day basis? 00:21:28.399 --> 00:21:34.039 Because the choices we make will create the barrier to a felt peace. 00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:37.440 We might have ontological peace. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:42.079 We might have peace with God at that level because of what Christ has done, but we can 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:45.679 sometimes not feel that peace because we're making the wrong choices. 00:21:45.679 --> 00:21:52.000 We're saved but we're drifting and we're drifting into the wrong places and doing the wrong things 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:57.720 and making the wrong choices so that we don't feel His peace and we don't sense His peace 00:21:57.720 --> 00:21:59.279 in our lives. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:04.200 And there are consequences for the choices. 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:11.000 If we're selfish or self-centered or proud and we show that and we're divisive. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:15.539 Many things that Corey was talking about this morning within the church family, these things 00:22:15.539 --> 00:22:23.519 are insignificant to us so that we sin consciously and deliberately. 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:32.879 If we're shutting out God, we will know this peace, felt this peace in our lives. 00:22:32.879 --> 00:22:42.639 So we need someone better than ourselves always and we need someone better than David. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:47.160 And that's the great thing about David as he points us to the one who is better than 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:49.160 himself, the living God. 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:50.759 Have mercy on it. 00:22:50.759 --> 00:22:57.960 You go back to that great Sam connected with his response to sin with Bathsheba. 00:22:57.960 --> 00:23:00.360 Sam 51, have mercy on me. 00:23:00.360 --> 00:23:07.800 Oh God, according to your steadfast love, your hesed, your covenant mercy. 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:15.519 And that is so significant for us because we find in Christ the greater and better King. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:20.319 And we're called to follow Him and His light and His love and His goodness because Christ 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:27.240 is the better King because He is unlike David truly good. 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:29.079 And you know, that matters. 00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:33.519 It matters in your relationship with Christ that you understand and that I understand 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:35.759 that He is truly good. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:38.359 He's not like David. 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:44.839 It matters because we accuse Christ sometimes of not caring, of being selfish, of setting 00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:49.879 an example that we don't understand, of failing on His promises and we're angry with Him. 00:23:49.879 --> 00:23:55.720 We say He can't be trusted and that He's a failed King. 00:23:55.720 --> 00:24:00.279 We're saying we are better than Him. 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:10.599 But Christ can never just be a better version even at human level of ourselves. 00:24:10.599 --> 00:24:11.839 We saw it tonight. 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:16.119 He's truly human and He's truly God. 00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:22.680 And as God, He lives this totally sinless life and thought word indeed filled with perfect 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:26.480 love and utterly good motives. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:32.360 So when we trust in Jesus, we're trusting in one who has no secrets in, no duplicity, 00:24:32.360 --> 00:24:36.160 no lies, no greed, no lust, no envy, no bitterness. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:42.160 And He lived that life as God in order to be our substitute as we know. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:49.440 But you simply can't look elsewhere for the kind of life and love that we need and Savior 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:50.440 that we need. 00:24:50.440 --> 00:24:55.240 And I think it changes the way we pray because we're praying to someone who's utterly and 00:24:55.240 --> 00:25:04.319 completely good and is our Savior and Lord who died, who paid the price for our sinful 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:08.759 choices even though He had none. 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:12.559 He made no sinful choices but He paid the price for ours. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:20.680 And it's interesting when Jesus is born, Simeon the prophet says to Mary, a sword will pierce 00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:27.400 your own soul too. 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:36.640 And the sword that pierced her soul was seeing her son on the cross himself bearing the sword. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:40.200 The sword never left David's house. 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:45.560 And we had that in 2 Samuel 12, the sword will not leave your house. 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:54.440 And it didn't leave right up to the crucifixion because the greater king was dying for sin 00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:56.799 but not for his own sin. 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:03.279 And it not God's wrath not being poured out because of his life but because of our lives. 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:09.200 And he was dying in our place and he takes the sword of God's judgment voluntarily, 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:15.039 willingly, lovingly so that you and I don't take it. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:21.720 And so on the cross you've got parallel heart cries, don't you, of two very different kings. 00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:24.039 Billy kind of alluded to it in his prayer. 00:26:24.039 --> 00:26:33.039 David, he said, words that we read at the end of chapter 18 kind of in guilt with love 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:40.680 lost and a degree of self-pity, unable to bring his son back or even to take his place 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:48.519 even though he wanted to and that Jesus on the cross, Sam 22 in innocence cries, my 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:51.120 God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:26:51.120 --> 00:26:58.880 With overwhelming love and self-denial bearing our forsakenness, taking our place, doing 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:03.880 what David couldn't do, die in place of his son, take his place. 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.840 He becomes the one who dies in our place. 00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:10.759 He takes our place to restore us to himself in resurrection. 00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:19.839 So my prayer tonight for myself, much more so and for you also, is that we grasp how 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:24.480 good Jesus is and what it means to follow him. 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:32.480 He doesn't want us to follow him because it's harsh or oppressive or rigorous or legalistic. 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:37.960 He wants us to follow him because he is life and love and goodness. 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:44.039 And he wants us to learn that sin is something we should hate. 00:27:44.039 --> 00:27:50.839 You know and I know we're attracted to it so much and yet it's roots are selfishness 00:27:50.839 --> 00:27:52.920 and destructive. 00:27:52.920 --> 00:27:57.799 And you today and me today and tomorrow, we will all have choices to make. 00:27:57.799 --> 00:28:03.279 We will all be making choices and you and I need the wisdom of God today and tomorrow 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:11.279 to make the right choices so that we recognize that he wants to keep us from destruction 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:18.519 and he wants to keep us from a life that has miserable consequences and he wants us to 00:28:18.519 --> 00:28:24.559 live a life of blessing and of grace and an example to our children, our neighbors, our 00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:29.720 colleagues for good, not for ill, but for good. 00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:33.559 And he wants life, he wants us to be built up, not knocked down. 00:28:33.559 --> 00:28:38.679 And he wants that for us all as a church as well, the way we speak to one another, we 00:28:38.679 --> 00:28:44.200 think about one another, we talk about one another, we act towards one another positively, 00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:51.159 graciously, Christ in a Christ-like way so that there are positive consequences and fruit 00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:54.880 bearing for our lives and that we're not those and this is a verse that I don't really 00:28:54.880 --> 00:29:01.440 understand, we're not really like those who escape to heaven through the flames with our 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:03.560 works all being burnt up. 00:29:03.560 --> 00:29:10.200 We don't want that and Christ alone as we stick close to Him, stick near to Him and 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:13.720 turn towards Him gives us that. 00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:19.800 It's good, it's tough, it's not easy, but it's good. 00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:22.879 And that's what the gospel is all about. 00:29:22.879 --> 00:29:23.879 Let's pray. 00:29:23.879 --> 00:29:25.359 Father God, we pray that You would help us. 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:28.519 It's difficult chapters that we've been reading. 00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:35.359 Difficult to read, painful for parents, for children, for people like us to read this 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:44.720 story and to see so often it reflected in lives around us, abusive lives, hurtful lives, 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:51.839 death, misery, separation, division, yet so often we treat sin lightly and we smooch 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:58.279 with it and we caress it and we keep it close and we shrug our shoulders and say, well, 00:29:58.279 --> 00:30:03.640 we're forgiven anyway, I can just pray in a Friday evening. 00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:07.960 Lord help us to see Your love and see the cost of Your love and see the healing power 00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:13.880 of Your love and the light of Your love and that You're there for us, You love us, that 00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:19.400 You want us to turn towards You, You're like the prodigal father as we saw this morning. 00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:25.960 And help us to see You in that way, help us to deny ourselves our sinful selves and our 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:28.720 longing to be on the throne. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:36.040 Help us we pray and guide us and point us daily, hourly, minutely towards Jesus Christ. 00:30:36.040 --> 00:30:38.040 Amen. 00:30:38.039 --> 00:30:46.480 Okay, we're going to finish with the version of the Psalm 91, which is a great Psalm of 00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:50.759 talking about the protection and love of God and the dwelling place that we should have 00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:57.519 is in His presence and that's what we're looking at in our lives to be in His presence as believers. 00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:07.879 So, Psalm 91, we'll stand together and sing it. 00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:26.120 The dwelling place is almost high, my refuge and my fortress. 00:31:26.120 --> 00:31:36.040 When plague and pestilence draw nigh, I'm hidden in His presence. 00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:45.720 When terrors fall and arrows fly, His shield will be my safety. 00:31:45.720 --> 00:32:00.119 When stones across my pathway lie, On angels' wings I'm carried. 00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:09.559 When dwelling places are almost high, I present help in danger. 00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:19.079 I rest secure in love's pure light, Beneath my master's favour. 00:32:19.079 --> 00:32:31.399 He freed me from the foulest net, Where sin and shame had bound me. 00:32:31.399 --> 00:32:38.599 Deceived I made my refuge there, Till fearless He came for me. 00:32:38.599 --> 00:33:02.279 Wonderful, powerful, my hope and my defender, Mighty God Emmanuel, my dwelling place forever. 00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:17.160 My dwelling place is God most high, I'll never seek another, For I am His and He is mine. 00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:21.879 My heart He'll keep forever. 00:33:21.879 --> 00:33:31.720 I know the name on whom I call, He promises to answer. 00:33:31.720 --> 00:33:41.960 When life is satisfied by His soul, And grounds me with His pleasure. 00:33:41.960 --> 00:34:01.319 Wonderful, powerful, my hope and my defender, Mighty God Emmanuel, my dwelling place forever. 00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:24.599 Wonderful, powerful, my hope and my defender, Mighty God Emmanuel, my dwelling place forever. 00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:28.920 I felt we needed to go down to the hall to sing some of that one, it was so low. 00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:31.880 But then we come up, we should have gone into the galleries to sing. 00:34:31.880 --> 00:34:34.760 Maybe there's a spiritual thing there about being low and then going high. 00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:35.880 It's amazing. 00:34:35.880 --> 00:34:36.360 Well done. 00:34:37.720 --> 00:34:43.320 Peace be to my brothers and sisters and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:49.240 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. 00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:52.760 And all God's people say, Amen. 00:34:52.760 --> 00:35:00.040 Please be seated, just a couple of things. Can I remind you the engine room on Wednesday evening 00:35:00.040 --> 00:35:05.880 will be on Zoom because of the assembly and we'll not be able to meet here. 00:35:06.440 --> 00:35:10.920 It's normally the assembly week is normally the week of a city group which works out well but 00:35:11.560 --> 00:35:18.200 every five or six or whatever years it's a later week which messes up our diary anyway. 00:35:18.200 --> 00:35:18.840 But that's fine. 00:35:18.840 --> 00:35:19.880 So it's on Zoom. 00:35:19.880 --> 00:35:23.720 So if you can join the details will be on the Wednesday email. 00:35:23.720 --> 00:35:31.000 Tonight can I just ask you to stay behind those who can, those who feel strong enough to stay 00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:33.800 behind and do some heavy lifting. 00:35:33.800 --> 00:35:39.400 So we're going to have to bring all the tables from behind the screen in the moderator's gallery 00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:44.360 down here and set them up for the assembly tomorrow, starting tomorrow evening. 00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:49.880 And also we're going to set out all the tables that we have, the long tables with the legs that flick out. 00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:55.480 They're going to go downstairs in the hall for the cafe which is on during the week, the assembly cafe. 00:35:55.480 --> 00:35:58.039 So if any of you won't come for lunch, you're very welcome. 00:35:58.039 --> 00:35:59.640 The assembly is also a public meeting. 00:35:59.640 --> 00:36:05.000 So if you're interested at all just to wander in, you can sit in the galleries and watch what's 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:07.880 happening at the assembly. 00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:12.599 And then do remember Sparkle Sisters which is happening here on Thursday evening. 00:36:12.599 --> 00:36:18.759 So we hope that the assembly will finish on time, at lunchtime on Thursday, so that we can set up 00:36:18.759 --> 00:36:21.239 Sparkle Sisters for the evening which is great. 00:36:21.239 --> 00:36:27.559 So this evening maybe if you're sitting in the middle you could like the man at Jesus' 00:36:27.559 --> 00:36:29.960 heel do roll up his mat and to go home in the Sabbath. 00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:35.960 You can pick up your chair and put it in the side and so the whole middle bit is cleared 00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:39.639 and we can put the tables there and then put some of the chairs back. 00:36:39.639 --> 00:36:44.920 So but thank you for your help if you're able to help and do go in peace, 00:36:44.920 --> 00:37:10.200 card your heart, love God and love other people well.