The God of Second Chances | Lessons From Psalm 32

Pastor Greg Laurie recommends a great film about the 40th President of the United States. We have a movie that's going to tell you the story of this man who changed the world. Ronald Reagan was a man who believed in Jesus Christ. You're going to be inspired by it in this brand-new film starring Dennis Quaid.

It's called Reagan, and it's our gift to you for your gift of any size. Available on DVD and digital download at harvest.org. We may not go out looking for sin, but it sure seems sin is out looking for us.

Coming up today, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how to be prepared. You can't stop being exposed to some things. Sometimes there are images that come into our view that we didn't choose to view.

It could be when you're scrolling on your phone, whoa, there it is. But you choose what you will do in response to that. You decide what happens next. Stop.

Stop now. Some of the most encouraging words in the Bible are found in the Psalms. They're heartfelt. They deal with expressions of joy and of sorrow. No matter what emotions are weighing heavily on you, you'll find words that speak to your heart. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie takes us to Psalm 32, as the psalmist David is in serious need of forgiveness.

We can learn a lot for our times of regret and discover that God welcomes those who come to Him in contrition. Question, how many of you have messed up horribly in life? Raise your hand. Okay, wow, what a bunch of losers.

Who are you people? No, my hand goes up too. We've all messed up in some way, shape, or form horribly in our lives. And there have been times where some of us have sunk so low we thought we couldn't go any lower, but somehow we did. Or you sinned so badly you thought there was just no hope for you.

Well, if so, I have good news for you. Our God gives second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances, and fifth chances, and pretty much as high as you can count. And this is beautifully illustrated in this story before us from the life of David, because here we're looking now at a man who desperately needed forgiveness. When you think of David, usually two other names come to mind. You think of David and Goliath and David and that's it. So one was his greatest victory with Goliath, a nine foot six inch Philistine that he killed in the Elah Valley. And then Bathsheba, and that's the story we're gonna look at now.

One was his greatest triumph, the other was his worst defeat. So we're looking at 2 Samuel chapter 11. I read verses one through five 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 Elahim, 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. We'll stop here. So David was around 50 years old at this point and it all started with a red Ferrari chariot he was riding around in.

No I'm kidding. But David was having what some people might call a midlife crisis which to me is kind of an excuse for just maybe some bad decisions a person could make in life but he had been on a roll up to this point. He had distinguished himself in so many ways as a man of God, a skilled musician, a gifted poet, writing beautiful psalms of praise to God, a seasoned ruler and also a courageous warrior. He was on an absolute roll and he lowered his guard and this is often what can happen to us is we lower our guard because we think we're doing so well spiritually. So I want to give you 10 principles about how we fall into sin and how we can also recover. Here's principle number one if you're taking notes and you should be or do you memorize all this stuff?

If so I'm very impressed by your memory. I find that when I write something down it really helps me to remember it but number one David's fall came after a great spiritual success. David's fall came after a great spiritual success.

A case in point when Jesus was beginning his public ministry he went down to the Jordan River and he was baptized by his cousin John. The Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove and God said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. I am well pleased. Pretty epic moment. We could definitely call that a blessed moment and what happens after that? Immediately the Bible says Jesus went into the wilderness to be tested by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights. So after the dove came the devil.

After the blessing came the attack. That's often what happens in our lives. The devil sizes us up and he looks for our vulnerabilities and everybody has a weakness or weaknesses and so the devil's sizing up David and and David was setting himself up for this.

Bringing me to point number two. The sins we commit today may come back to haunt us tomorrow. Again the sins we commit today may come back to haunt us tomorrow.

Here's the thing. David didn't just fall into this sin. He had been setting the stage for it. Second Samuel 5 tells us that in direct disobedience to God David took concubines after he became king. And in Deuteronomy 17 it says that king should never do this. He should never have multiplied wives or his heart will turn away from God.

And that's exactly what was happening to David. His heart was turning away from God slowly but surely. This is a man who was allowing lust to consume his life. Now he might have justified it and said well I have a strong sexual drive and if I have all these women that will satisfy me. But his drive only increased because it was not a God-given sexual drive. Look God places in you a sexual drive. There's nothing wrong with sex. You wouldn't be here if there wasn't sex. God invented sex. Sex is not merely for reproduction though it does include that.

Sex can be for pleasure, fulfillment, and expressing that sense of oneness when a man and a woman come together. But there's only one place where God will actually bless sex. And yes he can and will do that. And the only place where he will bless it is in a marriage relationship where the husband and wife are loving each other. He'll never bless premarital sex or extramarital sex or homosexual sex or any other variation. And there's many variations these days.

It's a man and a woman in marriage in a monogamous faithful relationship. But David was not doing that. He was way outside of these boundaries. And he was basically setting the scene for this problem that was about to happen.

The Bible says can you take fire in your lap and not get burned? When I was a little kid I used to love to set army men on fire. We used to buy these little packages of army men. They were all green.

Do any of you remember this? And they would be in various positions. There was a guy holding the rifle and there was another guy with binoculars and the binoculars guy. And then you know so the various army men so I would set them on fire. And I like to start with the guy holding the rifle because I would light the edge of his rifle and he'd be there and he'd slowly melt into a little green puddle.

I thought that was cool. So I was burning my army men on newspaper. That was my first problem. And suddenly he melts into a little green puddle that has flames coming off and the whole paper is on fire. Now I have a paper filled with burning plastic and I run over and I throw it into a trash can made out of bamboo and the trash can gets on fire.

Okay so a problem is developing. Thankfully I was able to put the fire out but here's my point. Little fires can turn into big fires really quickly. And the same is true of lust. You know what David was doing is the way he was living he was feeding his lust. It was sort of like pouring gasoline on a fire. It's not going to extinguish it. It's going to multiply it. So it was getting worse and worse.

And there's ways we can do this. Obviously looking at pornography. Looking at things that will stimulate this sort of thing. So he's living really in a moral lifestyle before he even lays his eyes on Bathsheba. So while his army was at war David was taking a nap. David was basically sleeping when he should have been fighting. By the way there's nothing wrong with sleeping. There's nothing wrong with taking a nap. I like to take naps.

But here's the thing. You can go into a spiritual sleep. Romans 13 says it's later than it's ever been. Our salvation is nearer than it's ever been.

The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore wake up from our sleep and cast off the works of darkness and be Christ's men from head to foot and give no chances for the flesh to have its fling.

That's a Phillips translation of Romans 13. And we can be asleep spiritually. And that's exactly what David was doing. He was idle when he should have been leading his troops into battle. It's good to take some time for rest. Even Jesus said to his own disciples, come apart by yourselves to a deserted place and rest for a while.

For many were coming and going and they didn't even have time to eat. He said come apart. If you don't come apart and rest you might come apart spiritually. It's okay to take a day off. It's a good thing even.

It's okay and a good thing to take a vacation and spend time with family and friends and recharge. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever. But that's not what David was doing. He was idle.

His armor was off in more ways than one. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's such a blessing to hear from listeners who take time to express their appreciation. Pastor Greg, when I rededicated my life to Christ two years ago, I knew I needed a Bible. I prayed that God would lead me to the one best for me. And that's when I came across your New Believers Bible.

When I received it, I read it front to back and it was amazing. I really appreciated reading the notes you wrote, Greg, your explanation of the context of certain verses. I then discovered your preaching and I started listening to your podcasts and watching your sermons.

I really love your sense of humor and how genuine you are. Thank you so much for everything, Pastor Greg. Has Pastor Greg heard from you? Why not drop him an email and tell your story? Send it to Greg at harvest.org. Again, that's Greg at harvest.org. Well, today, Pastor Greg is highlighting 10 principles for how we fall into sin and how we can recover.

Let's continue. Point number four, our greatest battles don't necessarily come when we're working hard. He was bored. He had too much time in his hands.

Alan Redpath, a great British preacher and a wonderful guy, said, quote, times of leisure are to be more dreaded than those of the most strenuous toil, end quote. So here he is in his rooftop palace. Now, I've had the opportunity to go to Israel many times and they have what they call the City of David. So they're in Jerusalem. They have the ancient Jerusalem or where David would have ruled from when he was king. And so we went to the area where his palace would have been. And on top of the palace, they would effectively have a rooftop patio, right? And his patio was elevated above the rest of the city so he would have a great view of everything going on. So, you know, he's sleeping in, gets out of bed, plays a couple video games, wandering around on his balcony and he is wiping the sleep from his eyes and he looks out and sees the beautiful Bathsheba bathing herself. That would have been a temptation for any man to see a woman of her exceptional beauty bathing herself.

But for David, man, it was just like fire to dead leaves. He was already going down this path. And look, you can't stop being exposed to some things. Now, you can keep yourself from certain things in life, absolutely. But on the other hand, sometimes there are images that come into our view that we didn't choose to view.

It could be on a billboard, it could be on a television screen, it could be when you're scrolling on your phone, whoa, there it is. But you choose what you will do in response to that. You decide what happens next. So if temptation comes knocking at your door, you don't have to answer the door and you certainly don't have to invite it in for coffee. Leave the temptation outside.

But the problem is we let it in, we take the test drive, so to speak, we try the free sample and we'll say all along, well, I would never do this, but certainly I can find out what it's all about. And David did that and more. And he misuses his office as king and gives an order, go get that woman and bring her up to my palace. Second Samuel 11 three, a servant who I have to really admire for his boldness. He says to the king, she's Bathsheba the daughter of Eliim, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

You know, kudos to this guy. David, she's married, off limits, you should know this. Well, David could care less, bringing me to point number five. When deluded by sin, we don't think clearly because sin makes us stupid. Sin makes us stupid. You understand what I'm saying? We don't think rationally when we're under the influence of sin.

Yeah, whatever David thought, bring her up here, I said. And so now they have this relationship, this sexual encounter and now this whole thing is in process. Now, people justify things like this. They say, well, you know, I'm not happy in my marriage or I work really hard and I deserve this or everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't I? I love this one, I'm human like everyone else and we all make mistakes. Yeah, you know what, nobody falls into adultery. It's a series of steps one must take. And God was putting roadblocks up in the life of David because he loved him, because he's his child.

Roadblock number one, she's married, stop, stop now. You know, maybe you've tried to go down a road that you should not go down and the Lord put a roadblock up, something to stop you, something to arrest your attention. That's what was happening to David and he just keeps going and then they were together that night and now the repercussions are going to come as a result. But instead of confessing his sin, David tried to hide his sin. The Bible says your sin will find you out. Okay, so Bathsheba sends word back to David, I'm pregnant. Okay, so roadblock two, man, oh, stop, stop, repent. But David starts plotting on how to cover up his sin.

Now let me just say this, what David did after this was so awful because it resulted in the death of an innocent man and that would be the husband of Bathsheba, Uriah the Hittite. And you know sometimes women, young women, find themselves pregnant as a result of a relationship or some encounter with the guy and then often what happens tragically is they get an abortion. And let me just say this, if I'm talking to a woman right now that finds herself pregnant, absolutely don't add to your immoral sin the sin of taking the life of an innocent child. That child deserves to live, okay. They're loved by God.

He has a plan for their life. And by the way, I was the result of a one-night stand. I've told you this before. I thought a certain man was my biological father because his name was on my birth certificate. I found out like 35 years later he wasn't my dad. And my mom finally admitted she had a fling with some guy she met in Long Beach and voila, here I am. Now my mom was not a great mother but I thank God she brought me into this world and let me live.

And so this is how I feel. The child is innocent. Well I can't afford to have a child. Well I think you might be able to adapt to it more easily than you might be able to. And I think that's easier than you realize but let me say this. There's many Christian families just looking for a child to adopt right now.

Let the child live for sure. You might say well Greg I know there's different ways we look at it. Well you can look at it any way you want. There's only one way the Bible looks at it. Life begins at conception and there's only one position for the Bible believing Christian and that is the pro-life position. There are no others.

Very important. Well I don't agree. Then you're wrong because you're disagreeing with the Bible. But Bathsheba sends word now to David. Okay so what David should have done was repented. Lord I've sinned. I'm sorry but now he comes up with this idea.

Okay let's see. Okay what's what's your 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 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.

The 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 at 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 I need Uriah to die. To die.

He didn't say 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. Signed David the man after God's own heart is. 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. Ah pulled it off. And he married Bathsheba.

Awesome. Covered up as sin. But here's the problem. The Bible says your sin will find you out. Straightforward truth from God's word today on A New Beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie with a frank message called The God of Second Chances. And there's more to come from this study. Pastor Greg if somebody's listening today and they've committed some sins of their own they know they need God's forgiveness and they want to make things right with the Lord.

What would you say to them? I would say that God is just a prayer away. You know it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. Frankly it doesn't even take hours.

It can happen so quickly. It just starts with you saying to God I know I'm a sinner. I know that you love me. I know that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sins and then to rise again from the dead and I want him to come into my life. So here's my question to you.

Have you done that yet? Because Jesus who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead three days later is alive and standing at the door of your life right now and he's knocking knocking and he's saying if you'll hear my voice and open the door I will come in. Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know that when you die you will go to heaven?

Do you want Christ to come into your life right now? If so why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me. You could pray it out loud. You can pray it in the quietness of your own heart but pray this prayer to God. Say Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I know that you are the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. I ask all of this in Jesus name.

Amen. Listen if you just prayed that prayer the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered that prayer. The Bible says that we will confess our sin. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God bless you. You've made the right decision. The decision to follow Jesus Christ.

Yeah yeah that's right. And Pastor Greg would like to help you start off right living for the Lord. He'd like to send you his New Believers Bible. It features hundreds of helps for new believers and it's written in an easy to understand translation. So contact us for your free copy of the New Believers Bible. Call us at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. And then thank you for partnering with us to help these daily studies continue.

Your investments have eternal benefits. Why not make this a part of your personal ministry to partner in an effort that's making a real difference with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers and for prayerfully considering how God might lead you to help tangibly. Online you'll find us at harvest.org and there you'll see the way we'd like to thank you for your donation right now. That's harvest.org. Or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call. Again at 1-800-821-3300. Well, next time, Pastor Greg talks about Christmas gifts. Actually, one gift specifically, a gift that's too wonderful for words. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Lord.