WEBVTT

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 Thank you, brothers and sisters, for this opportunity to study God's Word together this morning.

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 Before we begin, let us pray.

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 Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for your Word,

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 and we pray that you give us understandings that we may know you better through your Word.

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 And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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 Okay, so today we will continue our preaching series on the fruitfulness on the front line.

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 And in this series, we are learning about how to live out our Christian faith in every part of our lives,

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 including work and family.

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 And today, as Debbie has already mentioned,

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 we will focus particularly on how we can become the mouthpiece for truth and justice.

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 In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said to his followers,

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 You are the salt of the earth.

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 And by that, he meant for Christians to live a life that can influence their surroundings,

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 like salt that can preserve and season the things that it is in contact with.

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 So Christians can influence their surroundings through their actions and characters,

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 as we've seen in previous weeks.

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 And there's a Chinese proverb that says,

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 It is better to educate by deeds than by words,

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 which points out the importance of what we do over what we say.

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 But important as our actions and our characters are,

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 it is also indispensable to use our words sometimes,

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 especially when we're ministering to others,

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 especially in confrontation with sin and evil.

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 And 2 Samuel 12 gives us a good example of this.

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 2 Samuel 12 is a story about Prophet Nathan confronting David and his sin.

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 I believe most of us are familiar with this passage,

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 as well as the background in 2 Samuel 11.

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 So I won't go into the details here about chapter 11,

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 because the story is very intricate and complex.

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 But the gist of the story is that David had an affair with a married woman called Bathsheba,

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 and then he killed her husband Uriah by the sword of the enemy.

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 David devised scheme after scheme to cover up his crime.

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 He did quite well.

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 Uriah's death on the battlefield seems like nothing but an unfortunate accident.

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 And marrying his widow Bathsheba makes David look like a godly king

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 who looks after orphans and widows.

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 Although David used or misused his power to cover up things,

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 God sold everything and sent his prophet Nathan to deal with this.

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 And I believe today's passage shows us that there are three things we need to know

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 in order to be the mouthpiece for truth and justice.

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 And those three things are first, to know God's holiness, verses 1 to 4.

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 And also, under that heading, we need to beware of the log in our eye, verses 5 to 6.

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 The second thing we need to know is to know God's disciplines, verses 7 to 12.

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 And lastly, we need to know God's mercy, verse 13.

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 So firstly, to know God's holiness, verse 1 to 4.

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 The first verse tells us,

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 And the Lord sent Nathan to David.

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 And this particular action reveals to us that God is a holy and righteous God.

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 He cannot tolerate sin.

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 So when David tries to hide his sin under the carpet, God must do something about it.

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 It is imperative that God's people should live a life that exemplifies God's holiness.

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 As it says in 1 Peter 1,

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 As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

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 God even sets physical boundaries to restrain sin, such as laws and disciplines,

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 that is established in society and in churches.

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 But in cases where these laws and disciplines are unable to reach,

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 or when sins are intentionally covered up, as in David's case,

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 God will sometimes himself intervene.

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 God knows every sin, whether big or small, in the open or in the dark,

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 and God will bring each one of them into account.

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 As it says in Romans 12,

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 He will render to each one according to his works.

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 We never know when God will intervene,

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 but judgment will eventually take place for each and every sin,

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 whether in this life or in the next.

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 According to Revelation 20,

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 there will be a day of judgment when everyone will be judged

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 according to what they have done.

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 This judgment is universal and will happen to each one of us.

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 The only way to survive this judgment

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 is not by money,

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 not by high moral standards,

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 and not even by piety or religiosity.

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 But through Jesus Christ,

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 who has died on the cross for our sin.

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 But before this judgment day comes,

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 Christians have the obligation

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 to be the mouthpiece of God

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 for truth and justice on the earth.

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 As the mouthpiece for truth and justice,

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 it is also important to know

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 that we do not speak

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 of our own values or opinion,

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 but we speak the word of God.

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 Nathan did not tell David of his own opinion.

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 Nathan did not even criticize David's action,

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 although we all know that it was very wrong.

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 He only spoke of what God wanted him to say.

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 The job of a mouthpiece is not to express

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 his or her own opinion.

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 The job of a mouthpiece is to pass on the message

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 that had been entrusted.

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 The message that God has entrusted to us

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 is in the Bible.

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 The Bible provides all that we need

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 to be the mouthpiece for truth and justice.

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 2 Timothy 3, Paul says,

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 So back to the passage.

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 This passage shows Nathan's

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 incredible courage and wisdom.

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 He did not expose David straight away,

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 but he sets a trap for him.

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 He said,

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 There were two men in a certain city,

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 the one rich and the other poor.

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 The rich man had very many flocks and herds,

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 but the poor man had nothing

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 but one little ewe lamp,

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 which he had bought.

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 The expression here creates a huge contrast.

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 The rich man,

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 he had so many flocks and herds,

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 but the poor man only had one little lamp.

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 The passage does not say

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 how the rich man got his flocks and herds,

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 so we can presume that it is an inheritance,

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 which means that he made no effort

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 in getting this.

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 But the poor man had to buy

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 his own little lamp.

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 And this little lamp meant everything to him.

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 He had nothing except this little lamp,

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 and he treats it as if it were his own daughter.

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 Verse 4,

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 Nathan continued to say that,

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 Now there came a traveler to a rich man,

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 and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd

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 to prepare for the guests who had come to him.

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 But he took the poor man's lamp

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 and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

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 Now this story is very telling.

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 Nathan used this story to stir up David's sympathy

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 towards the poor man.

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 And indeed, David became very angry

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 as the story is being told.

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 So in verse 5,

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 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man,

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 and he said to Nathan,

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 As the Lord lives,

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 the man who has done this deserves to die,

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 and he shall restore the land fourfold,

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 because he did this thing,

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 and because he had no pity.

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 Now the literal translation of verse 5

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 is similar to the ESV translation,

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 David's anger greatly burned against the man.

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 He's very, very angry.

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 He's very angry,

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 but he also forgot that, you know,

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 what he did was even more evil than that rich man.

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 The Bible says that Uriah was a Hittite,

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 and Hittite was one of the ethnic groups

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 that originally occupied Canaan.

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 When God gave Canaan to the Israelites,

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 they were meant to drive out all the Hittites

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 and all the Canaanites,

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 but they didn't.

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 So some Hittites and Canaanites remained within Israel.

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 So Hittites are likely a minority group

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 that has little status in the Israelite society.

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 And by the time of Solomon,

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 he subjected entire Hittite and Canaanite population

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 to hard labor,

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 and they set Israelites to rule over them.

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 So Uriah the Hittite probably grew up

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 in this ethnically discriminated

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 and even oppressed condition.

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 And his wife, Beersheba,

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 is probably the only blessing in his life.

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 But David coveted even this little blessing

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 and took it away from him

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 and even killed him.

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 David is just like this rich man

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 of the inner story, but worse.

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 Being selfish and self-serving,

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 he did not consider at all the rights

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 and the life of the marginalized.

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 He can see the speck in other people's eyes,

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 but he cannot see the log in his own eye.

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 So in Matthew 7, Jesus said,

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 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye,

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 but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

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 Or how can you say to your brother,

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 Let me take the speck out of your eye

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 when there is a log in your own eye?

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 You hypocrite.

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 First take the log out of your own eye,

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 and then you will see clearly

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 to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

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 So as a mouthpiece for truth and justice,

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 we have to notice the log in our own eye.

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 And before we speak to others about his or her sin,

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 do we see ourselves in that person?

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 According to Romans 3,

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 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

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 I am no better than the person I am about to speak to.

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 And as we seek to take out the speck in the eyes of others,

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 let us humbly come before God first

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 and ask him to show the log that is in our own eye.

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 It is only when we see the log that is in our own eye

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 and repent for it,

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 can we speak the truth in love

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 rather than criticize in our own self-righteousness.

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 The second thing we can learn from this passage

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 is to know God's discipline.

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 When Nathan saw that David has fallen into his trap

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 and he turned his own words against him,

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 Nathan said to David,

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 You are the man.

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 And in Hebrew, there's only two words in this phrase.

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 It's very direct and very powerful.

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 Nathan is very courageous to speak in this way

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 to a person who has the power to kill him.

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 But as a prophet of God,

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 he does not fear those who kill the body

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 but cannot kill the soul.

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 Rather, he fears him who can destroy both soul and body in hell,

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 namely God.

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 And God not only rebuked David through Nathan,

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 he also gave him some real discipline.

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 Verse 11,

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 Nathan says,

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 Thus says the Lord,

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 Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house.

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 I will take your wives before your eyes

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 and give them to your neighbor.

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 And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son.

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 For you did it secretly,

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 but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the son.

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 There are consequences that comes with every sin.

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 And even these consequences are limited and temporal.

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 God is compassionate and gracious,

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 slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.

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 But that doesn't mean there are no consequences for sin.

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 Christ died for us on the cross

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 and made us righteous before God.

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 It is eternal and spiritual.

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 But in this present world,

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 we still have to bear the pain and brokenness

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 that comes with sin.

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 And for Christians,

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 some of these are considered as God's discipline.

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 God disciplined David very severely

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 and partly because of his high profile.

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 Luke chapter 12,

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 Jesus said,

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 Everyone to whom much is given,

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 of him much will be required.

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 God has higher expectation

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 for those he put in high places.

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 Moses is another example.

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 And that's why in James 3,

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 we see that not many should become teachers

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 knowing that we will receive stricter judgment.

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 So God brought many troubles to David later on.

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 And he saw the death of three of his own sons.

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 And his wives were violated publicly.

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 And he was persecuted by his own son at an old age.

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 So what he did to others in secret,

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 God multiplied unto him in broad daylight.

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 By doing this,

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 God is showing the whole world

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 that his holiness and righteousness

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 cannot be compromised,

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 even for a man after his own heart like David.

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 As Christians,

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 I think we need to take God

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 and his word very seriously.

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 The book of Hebrews says

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 that God is a consuming fire.

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 And as Paul warns us in Galatians,

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 that God is not mocked.

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 But besides all this,

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 we need to remember

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 that every discipline

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 is an act of God's love for us.

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 Hebrews 12,

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 the author says,

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 the Lord disciplines the ones he loves

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 and chastises every son

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 whom he receives.

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 So finally,

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 being a mouthpiece for truth and justice

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 means to uphold God's mercy and love.

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 Verse 13,

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 David said to Nathan,

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 I have sinned against the Lord.

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 And Nathan said to David,

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 the Lord also has put away your sin.

00:15:35.079 --> 00:15:36.059
 You shall not die.

00:15:36.059 --> 00:15:39.059
 When David confessed his sin,

00:15:39.359 --> 00:15:40.939
 God forgave him straight away.

00:15:41.939 --> 00:15:42.199
 Yes,

00:15:42.379 --> 00:15:43.399
 as children of God,

00:15:43.479 --> 00:15:45.579
 we will be disciplined when we sin.

00:15:46.599 --> 00:15:48.179
 But it is called a discipline,

00:15:48.339 --> 00:15:48.919
 after all,

00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:49.719
 and not punishment.

00:15:51.059 --> 00:15:52.659
 The motivation for discipline

00:15:52.659 --> 00:15:53.479
 is love

00:15:53.479 --> 00:15:55.339
 for the purpose of maturity

00:15:55.339 --> 00:15:56.659
 and sanctification.

00:15:58.099 --> 00:15:59.779
 As one Puritan puts it,

00:15:59.859 --> 00:16:01.639
 the worst thing God can do

00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:02.479
 to his children

00:16:02.479 --> 00:16:04.500
 is to whip them into heaven.

00:16:04.500 --> 00:16:08.059
 This is God's mercy

00:16:08.059 --> 00:16:08.860
 in the Old Testament,

00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:11.299
 and it is even more radical

00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:12.279
 in the New Testament.

00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:15.159
 God sent Jesus Christ

00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:16.419
 to die on the cross

00:16:16.419 --> 00:16:18.340
 and declared that his son

00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:19.700
 has borne the sins

00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:20.759
 of the whole world.

00:16:22.139 --> 00:16:24.019
 So for all who believe in Jesus,

00:16:24.299 --> 00:16:25.500
 Nathan's word to David

00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:27.000
 is also to us.

00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:28.440
 Because of Jesus,

00:16:28.980 --> 00:16:31.019
 the Lord has put away your sin.

00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:32.399
 You shall not die.

00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:36.419
 Just as Paul says in Romans 8,

00:16:36.539 --> 00:16:38.259
 there is now no condemnation

00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:40.279
 for those who are in Jesus Christ.

00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:43.860
 In conclusion,

00:16:44.379 --> 00:16:45.379
 the text shows us

00:16:45.379 --> 00:16:46.360
 that there are three things

00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:47.039
 we need to know

00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:48.259
 as we seek to become

00:16:48.259 --> 00:16:48.959
 the mouthpiece

00:16:48.959 --> 00:16:50.240
 for truth and justice.

00:16:50.699 --> 00:16:51.860
 The first is to know

00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:52.559
 God's holiness

00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.840
 and also beware of the log

00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:55.819
 in our own eyes.

00:16:56.539 --> 00:16:57.659
 The second is to know

00:16:57.659 --> 00:16:58.419
 God's discipline,

00:16:58.939 --> 00:17:00.259
 and the third is to know

00:17:00.259 --> 00:17:01.000
 God's mercy.

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:01.059
 God's mercy.

00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:04.079
 Furthermore,

00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:05.000
 today's passage

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:06.660
 also reveals to us

00:17:06.660 --> 00:17:07.940
 human frailty

00:17:07.940 --> 00:17:08.880
 and weakness.

00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:10.940
 David was undoubtedly

00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:12.079
 the greatest king

00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:12.740
 of Israel.

00:17:13.460 --> 00:17:14.839
 He was especially chosen

00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:16.200
 and blessed by God.

00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:18.019
 But even a king

00:17:18.019 --> 00:17:18.940
 such as David

00:17:18.940 --> 00:17:20.460
 can still disappoint us

00:17:20.460 --> 00:17:21.740
 deeply with his behavior.

00:17:22.940 --> 00:17:24.039
 He does not deserve

00:17:24.039 --> 00:17:25.759
 our absolute allegiance.

00:17:27.160 --> 00:17:28.259
 There is only one king

00:17:28.259 --> 00:17:29.440
 who truly deserves

00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:30.660
 and indeed demands

00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:31.820
 our total allegiance.

00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:33.340
 And that king

00:17:33.340 --> 00:17:34.360
 is Jesus Christ,

00:17:34.700 --> 00:17:35.720
 who loved us

00:17:35.720 --> 00:17:36.539
 and redeemed us

00:17:36.539 --> 00:17:37.299
 from the bondage

00:17:37.299 --> 00:17:38.279
 of sin and darkness.

00:17:39.820 --> 00:17:41.600
 Jesus is the promised king

00:17:41.600 --> 00:17:43.080
 in 2 Samuel 7.

00:17:43.320 --> 00:17:43.860
 His kingdom

00:17:43.860 --> 00:17:45.539
 will be established

00:17:45.539 --> 00:17:46.120
 forever,

00:17:46.120 --> 00:17:47.240
 and we have no end.

00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:49.580
 Isaiah prophesied

00:17:49.580 --> 00:17:50.340
 about this Jesus

00:17:50.340 --> 00:17:51.019
 and called him

00:17:51.019 --> 00:17:52.120
 the wonderful counselor,

00:17:52.380 --> 00:17:53.120
 mighty God,

00:17:53.340 --> 00:17:54.299
 everlasting father,

00:17:54.299 --> 00:17:55.799
 and the prince of peace.

00:17:57.079 --> 00:17:58.119
 And Psalm 2 says,

00:17:58.519 --> 00:17:59.299
 blessed are all

00:17:59.299 --> 00:18:00.799
 who take refuge in him.

00:18:02.259 --> 00:18:03.099
 Hebrews says,

00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:04.680
 after making purification

00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:05.500
 for a sin,

00:18:05.619 --> 00:18:06.339
 he sat down

00:18:06.339 --> 00:18:07.039
 on the right hand

00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:08.299
 of the majesty on high.

00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:10.139
 And he will come again

00:18:10.139 --> 00:18:10.799
 from there

00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:11.559
 to judge the living

00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:12.139
 and the dead.

00:18:14.139 --> 00:18:14.879
 Revelation 19

00:18:14.879 --> 00:18:15.639
 calls him that

00:18:15.639 --> 00:18:16.899
 he is the king of kings

00:18:16.899 --> 00:18:17.960
 and the lord of lords.

00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:20.519
 So let us today

00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:21.339
 put our trust

00:18:21.339 --> 00:18:22.299
 in this king of kings

00:18:22.299 --> 00:18:23.159
 and lord of lords,

00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:25.639
 who loves us deeply

00:18:25.639 --> 00:18:27.359
 and will never disappoint us.

00:18:28.139 --> 00:18:28.379
 Amen.