A New Beginning presents a great book to show you how to easily share the gospel by Pastor Greg Laurie. The book is called Tell Someone You Can Share the Good News. And I wrote it with this thought in mind. I acted as though I were sitting down with an individual and sharing truths I've learned about evangelism. And it's something that is really important to me.
And I want to share what I've learned with you in this book, Tell Someone. Yours for a gift of any amount at harvest.org. David said, I've sinned against the Lord. And if you want to be free from sin, you have to admit you're dealing with sin. Take responsibility.
I have sinned, I am wrong, I have done this. But all too often people try to deny their wrongdoing. Today, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how David showed us how to own our failures and ask for the Lord's forgiveness. God gave second chances to David, and God gives second chances to us as well. This is the day when the lost are found.
This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Oh, can you hear how the angels are singing? This is the day, the day will live in. Parents often notice an invisible roommate in the house known as Not Me.
Who dumps cereal all over the floor? Not me. Who left the water running in the bathroom? Not me. This mystery guess never appears, but somehow causes all the mess.
Yeah, kids quickly learn that blame shifting can be a handy trick.
Well today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie explains that while we may fool others, we can't fool God. But if we repent, he forgives. Let's turn in our Bibles to two passages. 2 Samuel 11 and Psalm 32. The title of my message is The God of Second Chances.
2 Samuel chapter 11. I read verses 1 through 5 from the New Living Translation. Read along with me if you would. The following spring, the time of the year when kings go to war, David sent Joab, that would be his general. And the Israelite army to destroy the Ammonites, and in the process, they laid siege to the city of Rabbah.
But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. Late one afternoon, David got out of bed. Late one afternoon. Sleeping in. after taking a nap, and went for a stroll on the roof of the palace, and he looked out over the city, and he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath.
He sent someone to find out who she was and he was told. She's Bathsheba. the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Then David sent for her, and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. Then she returned home.
And when Bathsheba discovered she was pregnant, she sent a message to inform David. And now the repercussions are going to come as a result. But instead of confessing his sin, David tried to hide his sin. He comes up with this idea.
Okay, let's see.
Okay, what's her husband's name again? Uriah. Where is he? He's serving you in your army. He's out fighting for you right now.
Oh, interesting.
Okay.
Well, hey, um. Tell him to come to the palace.
So here's Uriah. He doesn't know David. He's just a soldier in the king's army. And he gets a message: David, the king, wants to see you in the palace immediately. What must he have thought?
What? He wants to see me? The man after God's own heart, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the giant killer, David, wants to see me. Yes, he wants to see you in his palace.
So Uriah appears before the king. King has a little small talk with him. How's it going? What's up?
Okay, now, hey, man, you've been out there fighting for our kingdom. Appreciate that. Why don't you go home and have a nice evening with your wife? Nod, nod, wink, wink.
Well, Uriah thought, I can't do that while all of my fellow soldiers are out there risking their lives.
So he literally slept outside of his house that night. See, David's idea was if Uriah slept with his wife, then he would think that that was his child. And so David hears about this, and this time he gets Uriah drunk, sends him home. Again, Uriah will not sleep with his wife, so David comes up with this idea: I'm going to have Uriah killed. And then I'll marry his wife.
So he sends a letter to Joab and has Uriah deliver it to him. Here's Uriah walking around with this death sentence. And a sealed message from the king. He gives it to Joab: Dear Joab. Uh I need Uriah to die.
He didn't say it that plainly, but in so many words.
So. Get him in the battle there, have the other guys back off. And this is what I need to happen. I need him to be gone. That's exactly what happened.
So a message came back to David from Joab. Oh yeah, we had this military encounter and a number of soldiers died, including Uriah the Hittite. Pull it off. And he married Bathsheba. Awesome.
Covered up his sin. But here's the problem: the Bible says what he did displeased the Lord. And here's the thing: your sin will find you out. then now David's sin is going to be exposed. As well.
And why did the Lord want to confront David? Because God loved David and he could not let this happen as it happened. Psalm 32. is what I want you to look at next. It's something he wrote after he confessed his sin to God.
He also wrote Psalm 51. Psalm 32 describes the futility and misery of sin when it's unconfessed. I mean, this is a man who walked and talked with God from his childhood. He had known the power and blessing of God in his life in an extraordinary way. But for twelve months he had fought the conviction of the Holy Spirit he was not experiencing God's presence as he had before.
So now he writes some 32 After he is confronted by the prophet. Oh, what joy, he writes, for those whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those who record the Lord has cleared them of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty. When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long. For day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me, and my strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.
And then you might have the word sea law. Or the word interlude in your Bible, depending on what translation you have. I'll comment on that in a moment. David continues, Finally, I confess my sins to you, and I stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, I will confess my rebellion to the Lord, and you forgave me.
All my guilt is gone. Stop there.
So David says that his strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Selah or interlude. What that means is. Many of these psalms were songs. And so there would be a a musical break.
They would sing certain lyrics and then there would be a break. And the idea of the interlude or selah. was to pause and think about it. We just said these things.
Now I want you to think about. what we have said. David is basically saying, Amen. When I had not confessed my sin, I was miserable. Think about that.
Think about how hard that is. And God disciplines those that He loves. The reason this discipline came into the life of David was because he was a child of God, a disobedient one for sure. A wayward one, no question about it, but he was still God's child. And as Hebrews 12 says, if God doesn't discipline you as He does all of His children, it means you are illegitimate and you're really not His children after all.
Listen. If you cry. Cross a line, if you sin against God and you feel. Guilt Praise God. Your conscience is working.
You want your conscience to work. We used to have a smoke alarm that was hypersensitive. I mean, Kathy would cook an egg, smoke alarms going off, nothing's happening. Fire engines showing up. Not really, but you know.
It was a hypersensitive smoke alarm. I had to disable it and replace it. And sometimes you can have a hypersensitive conscience. The Bible says, if your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart. One of the problems is that we can have a conscience that works and we confess our sin to God, but after we've confessed it, we still feel guilty.
And that's not right. Once God has forgiven you, you need to accept His forgiveness. David was able to do that. Can you do that? See, when Jesus died on the cross, he paid for all of your sin.
And once you've confessed your sin, as the Bible tells you to, You're forgiven of your sin. 1 John 1:8, if we will confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Not some unrighteousness, all unrighteousness.
So, if God has forgiven your sin, and if God has forgotten your sin, why are you dragging it up still? We should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget. Our God is a big eraser. He's forgiven it. He's forgotten.
No, when the Bible says God forgets a sin, it doesn't mean like he's having a lapse of memory.
Well, where'd that sin go? Where are my car keys? Where did I park the car? No, it's not like that. It's he's saying, I choose to not remember that sin.
I choose to not hold that sin against you any longer. As far as the East is, from the West, is as far as I have put your sin from you.
So accept that forgiveness. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey, everybody, you can watch our Sunday services on a special broadcast that we call Harvest at Home. It's streaming on the Harvest Plus platform.
So download that app right away, Harvest Plus, and you can enjoy being a part of our extended church family every Sunday.
Well, Pastor Gregg continues now with his study called The God of Second Chances. Let's listen.
So David had covered up his sin, or so he thought. But the Bible says in Proverbs 28:13, he that covers his sin will not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
So now pretty much a year has passed. David's sitting on his throne. And the Lord sends Nathan the prophet, 2 Samuel 12, 1. Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. When did the Lord send Nathan the prophet to David?
Right after his sin with Bathsheba? Nope. Right after Bathsheba found out she was pregnant, again, no. Right after David had Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba killed? No.
After a year had effectively passed, and David could hardly live with himself. Nathan comes in. to the palace. of David. Uh King, I have a situation.
I want to run by you. I want to get your input. Yes, David says, sitting on his regal throne.
Okay, so there's this guy. And They're not very wealthy. They have one little lamb. In fact, the lamb is like a family pet. It eats at the table with them.
They push the lamb around in a stroller. Not really, but it's like that idea of, you know, the lamb is like a member of his family. Loves a little land. Anyway, this guy has a neighbor who has many sheep, and the neighbor had a friend come from out of town. for dinner and he decided he wanted to serve him leg of land.
And so instead of killing one of his many sheep, he goes to this neighbor who has one little baby lamb that's a member of his family, and he kills the baby lamb and serves it. To the visitor, what should be done to a man that would do that? David grabbed the arms of his throne, his blood began to boil, he was seen red. And he says, this man should restore four times what he has taken, and then he should be put to death. Wait, put to death?
Restoring fourfold, yeah, it makes sense, but. Put him to death, and then Nathan points his Long bony prophet finger in David's face. He says, you the man. You are the man. Get it?
Oh yeah. I'm like that guy that has all these wives, and I went to Uriah the Hittite. And I took his only wife. That's me. You're the man.
So judgment came upon David because of his sin, and truly he did face the repercussions of it for the rest of his life. But in David's defense, He repented. Second Samuel 12:13, David said to Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord. I've sent.
Now this is in contrast to King Saul. When the prophet Samuel went to King Saul and confronted him over his sin, He made excuses. It's not my fault. You don't understand. He began to shift the blame everywhere he could.
If you want to be free from sin, you have to admit you're dealing with sin. Stop blaming everybody else. Take responsibility. I have sinned. I am wrong.
I have done this. In Psalm 51, which he also wrote in the aftermath of being confronted by the prophet Nathan, David wrote, Against thee and thee only have I committed this sin. That's so important. He owned what he had done and he did repent. And this is why.
This is why. He was a man after God's own heart. Not because he was a perfect man. Not because he was a flawless man, but because he was a man that ultimately knew where to turn. when he was going the wrong direction in life.
And this is a great thing that he did.
Now, Despite his sin, David was given a second chance in life, despite his sin. He was given a second chance. That's why I called this message the God of the second chance. God gives second chances. and third chances and fourth chances.
And David saw that. Did you know that this story actually connects to the Christmas story? Uh Yeah.
Well, where was Jesus born? Death for him. Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Because He was connected to the family of David. His bloodline traced back to David through both Mary and Joseph.
That's when the decree was given by Caesar that everyone should be taxed and go to their hometown. They went to Bethlehem.
So here's the amazing thing: when you look at the bloodline of Jesus or the family tree of Jesus, there's some pretty unsavory characters that made their way in it. including Bathsheba. She is in the messianic line. If that isn't a second chance, I don't know what is. Also, Rehab and Tamar, two other immoral women, made it into the Family tree of Jesus.
Now, you know, people love to go back and trace their family roots because we all hope we're related to some famous historical figure or a royal person or someone significant. Then we find out we have creeps in our family tree, right? Hey, how about the family tree of Jesus? But here's the message of it all: God gave second chances to David and to Bathsheba and to these other women that are mentioned, and God gives second chances to us as well. This was David's secret.
As he always knew where to turn. Do you?
Now, maybe I'm talking to someone in closing. Who has sinned against God? And In fact, you don't even know why you're here at church. You're thinking, I don't think I should be here. I'm such a hypocrite.
Hey, I'm so glad you're here. Because, as I often said, the church is not a museum for saints, it's a hospital for sinners. This is a place to get right with God. Right?
So This is a place to recommit your life to the Lord. I want to just tell you something. If you were a true child of God, you will never be happy living in sin. You're always going to know what's true. You're always going to know what's right.
You may do everything you can to try to fit in with the crowd, but deep down inside, you know where you belong. You belong with God's people as a part of the family of God in the church, worshiping the Lord. This is your home, not this culture outside. And if your conscience is working, thank God for that. God does not convict you of your sin to drive you away in despair or to condemn you.
He convicts you of your sin so you will come to your senses and turn to Him. That's the whole point of it. And that's what David did. And that's what we need to do. Or maybe I'm talking to someone here who has never asked Jesus Christ to come into their life.
Of course. The very mission of Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem. Than to live a perfect life and then to die a perfect death. He came to die for the sin of the world. He came to die for your sin and mine.
And if I'll turn from my sin and put my faith in him, He will forgive me. Do you need a second chance? Or a third chance or a fourth chance. I'm talking to somebody that's been plotting.
Some sinful course Consider this your wake-up call. From the Lord. Today, he's saying don't do that. Because I love you and I don't want you to ruin your life. But let's just say you've done it.
Stop doing that. And repent. As Jesus said, To the woman caught in the act of adultery, repent and sin no more. Reminds me of a guy who got a job to paint a church. And they said, yeah, paint the whole church, we'll pay you this much money.
So the guy sized it up and thought, well, I was going to have to buy this many cans of paint. And I think I could actually make a little more profit if I thinned the paint out. and didn't use all that paint, but actually put some thinner in it. Got his cans of paint and he got some thinner and was really putting a very thin coat of paint on the church and was almost done. He was at the very steeple putting the last strokes on, and a bolt of lightning struck him in a scaffolding.
And he's hanging by one arm, and God spoke to him from heaven and said, Repaint and thin no more. But that's the message. Repent and sin no more. God will forgive you, but you must ask for His forgiveness. We're going to pray now.
Now, I'm going to give you an opportunity to get right with God. Let's all pray. Father, thank you for your love for us. Thank you that you never give up on us. Thank you that even when we go astray like wayward sheep, you use your staff and when necessary, you use your rod to comfort us, to reassure us that we're loved by you.
And I pray for any person here, any person watching and listening, wherever they are, if they need to get right with you now, let them do it. We pray.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying. If you've never asked Jesus to come into your life, Or if you know the Lord, but you're living a double life and doing things you shouldn't be doing, and you need to get right with God. Why don't you get right with them right now and pray this prayer after me, Lord Jesus? I know that I've sinned against you. I'm sorry for that sin.
I repent of that sin. I turn from this sin and I receive your forgiveness. that you purchased for me at the cross of Calvary Where you shed your blood. and died in my place. Lord, thank you for your forgiveness.
Refresh me with your presence. And I choose to follow you. from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer. In answering this prayer, In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie. with an important prayer today here on A New Beginning. And if you're taking advantage of God's second chance and you've just prayed that prayer with Pastor Gregg, we want to offer some great help in beginning to walk each day with the Lord. We'd like to send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible.
It's a special edition of the Bible that has an easy translation to understand, along with scores of helps that new believers find invaluable. It'll answer many of your questions and get you on your way in living for the Lord. We'll send the New Believers Bible free of charge, so call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click Know God.
Yeah. You know, Pastor Greg, we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives.
So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through this teaching. That's right. And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue. Yeah, it's really true, Dave. You know, and even a little bit helps.
You know, people need to hear the gospel so badly. They need to hear the teaching of the word of God. It changes everything because it changes us. And I'm so passionate about it, and I'm called to do it, and I'm thankful for it. But I can't do it alone.
So I'm going to ask folks that are listening, if you think more people need to hear the gospel, if you believe more people need to hear the teaching of the word of God, then... Prayerfully consider investing in harvest ministries and maybe even become a harvest partner, which means you're someone who stands with us every month in your faithful giving. And that opens up a lot of new opportunities for us.
So Thanks for that. Yeah, that's right. And we really are thankful for your partnership. You can reach us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.
Or write a new beginning box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org.
Well, next time we travel to Berlin, Germany, for a compelling challenge Pastor Greg gave to those in ministry as part of a conference presented by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins.
