This is Leading the Way with doctor Michael Youssef. Um I just wanted to let doctor Youssef know that I prayed for his safety, and I so enjoy listening to him because he's so enthused about His message. Because I know He loves the Lord so very much and he is born again and You can hear it in his sermons, and it's just thrilling to listen to his messages from the Lord. It's very inspirational. and I thank the Lord for him.
And I pray that he will be able to continue His messages wherever the Lord calls him. Thank you. Dr. Michael Youssef reflecting on the life of King David. and the fallout from his sin with Bathsheba.
Uh I wondered myself if David was living in our day. He would have probably said, look. Don't blame me. Blame Bathsheba. She was wandering around naked on the rooftop.
Don't blame me! Hello. For the death of Uriah, he was a lousy soldier, got himself killed. He could have survived. But this God's champion not once tried to look for a scapegoat, not once did he try to focus the responsibility elsewhere.
Not once. Welcome to Leading the Way Audio with Atlanta pastor, best-selling author, and international Bible teacher. Dr. Michael Youssef.
Well, the Bible is packed with stories of people who sinned against God, and yet their stories also highlight God's grace and His forgiveness. One of the greatest examples of this is King David. The Bible shows David not only as a champion of God, but also a champion of sin. Today, on Leading the Way, Dr. Youssef takes you to the time that Nathan the prophet confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba.
And I feel like you'll be encouraged by David's response.
So, listen with me to this challenging message from God's Word. I don't think that uh You have to be A real discerning person to know or to realize and see what has happened if you've lived long enough just in the last few decades in this country. Is that somehow in the last Two or three decades we have developed an insatiable desire For Passing the blame. for shifting responsibility. for pointing fingers and for passing the buck.
It feels sometimes that owning up your own responsibility is a thing of the past.
Now I have grown up in a culture that does not have any Christian ethics in it, that does not have Christian work ethic in it, and I know that this kind of mentality can do to a nation, it literally make it fall apart. and I pray that this would not develop here. Because we have a foundation of Protestant work ethic that has made this nation great, of hard work and of accepting responsibility. But somehow of latter days we found that a murderer gets away with his murder and he Says, well, don't blame me. I was just temporary insane.
Blame my insanity. And then gets away with his murder. A criminal gets off scot free And he says Society made me the way I am. Don't blame me. Blame society.
And then we have folks that been on welfare rolls and freeloading and they say, don't blame me, blame the government. But you know what? In their case, I think they're right. It is the government to blame. That's nice.
Somebody said we are perfecting the art of shifting blame. And you know? As we have been looking throughout the life of David, This portrait of a champion. As we have been studying his ups and his downs, have we seen his victories and his defeats? We come today and see David, this God's champion, that never once, never once, he tried to shift the blame for his sin.
Never once tried to find a scapegoat for his sin. Probably between the time he committed the sin and the time Nathan came and confronted him with that sin, probably sometime at that point he began to convince himself that this is a royal prerogative. That probably he said to himself, he said, Really, this has nothing to do with my spirituality, it has nothing to do with my walk. And then he put it out of his mind until the Spirit of God through the prophet Nathan came and brought him under conviction. And at that point, he did not try to pass the buck.
He did not try to point finger. I often thought, with all the kind of the stuff that I hear in our society today, I wondered myself if David was living in our day. He would have probably said, look. Don't blame me. Blame Bathsheba.
She was wandering around naked on the rooftop. Don't blame me! Yeah. Hello. For the death of Uriah, he was a lousy soldier, got himself killed.
He could have survived. But this God's champion not once tried to look for a scapegoat. Not once did he try to focus the responsibility elsewhere. He faces up to his responsibility. A true champion for God accepts the consequences of his sins.
A true champion for God does not look around for a scapegoat. A true champion for God does not point a finger here and there and everywhere. A true champion for God does not pass the buck but takes the responsibility as David did and he said, I have sinned against the Lord. Contrast David's reaction. with a story that John Kellinger tells about a manager of a minor baseball Theme.
As he was watching his team losing, He looked at the center fielder and he became angry and he became mad at him. Because he thought he was just not doing very well.
So he went out and he ordered him in the dugout and he himself, the manager, went to take the position in the center field.
Well what happened? The first ball that came into the center field It took a bad hop. and hit the manager in the mouth.
Well, the next bottle that came into the center field was a high fly, and in the glare of the sun, The ball hit him right in his forehead. Then the third ball came in, it was hard line drive.
So he charged with his outstretched arms, and the ball went through his hands. and smacked him right in the eye.
Well, by that time he was furious. I mean he was angry.
So he ran into the dugout, he pulled the center fielder by his uniform, and he said, You, you, you stupid you. You've got the sin to feel so messed up that even I can't do anything about it.
Well. God's champion. Accept the consequences. For their sins. We've seen in the past several messages, at least on two occasions.
From the life of David. How Choices have consequences. We looked at that very clearly. And the question here today is this. Do we accept the consequences of our choices?
David did. If you and I continue to refuse to accept responsibility, then we will never grow spiritually. We'll be spiritual infants even if we are 70 years of age. But until we begin to accept responsibility for what we have done, The consequences of our sins We will never learn what it is to be restored in the full power and joy of the Lord God. David Had two things going against him.
The consequences of his choice. Coupled with his lack or poor leadership, spiritual leadership in the home. And together They have netted a string of daggers. that began to go in and out of his heart. in and out of his heart for the rest of his life.
I know some of you are saying, well, what type of forgiveness is this? I'm going to come to that in a minute. Don't forget it. But I want you to look at some of the consequences of David's sin. You find, first of all, the baby that was born out of wedlock died.
You say, What was the fault of the baby? There's nothing wrong. unfaulted the baby, the baby went to be in it with an eternal glory at the sinning parent. No. are the ones who are paying the price.
The baby didn't suffer, the sinning parents did. One of David's sons, Amnon, rapes his half-sister. Timer. Another son, Absalom. goes and murders.
His half brother, I am none. to defend the honour of his sister. Absalom then loses total respect for his father. And he goes on to lead the revolt against his father, the king, and takes over the palace, desecrate David's honor. David is on the run.
because David has failed To exercise spiritual leadership in the home. He went from one disaster after another, from one tragedy after another. David may have been a great king, David may have been a great warrior and a great general, David may have been a great psalm writer, but obviously David has failed as a father to exercise godly leadership in the home.
Some of you are asking by now, how come If God has forgiven David, Why did he have to face the consequences of his sins? The same as a parent. Who tell the child? Don't play with matches. Matches will harm you.
Matches will hurt you. And the little one plays with the matches and he feels a little burn, and then he stops it. Then he tries some other time, then he feels the burn, then he stops it. And then finally, one time he plays with the matches because he thinks it's fun. and it burns his hand, It burns his clothes.
And of course the boy is crying out from pain and he says, Mommy, Daddy, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I should have listened to you. I should not have played with matches. Any normal parents will hug the child and said, I love you, I forgive you, of course.
But the pain will be there for a long time. And the scar probably for life. I want you to listen to me very carefully. Because there are some people in the Christian church who have the wrong idea of forgiveness.
Somehow, they think that God is a sugar daddy sitting up there in heaven just grinning, but whatever you do is fine. First of all, I want to tell you something. I want to tell you that forgiveness has nothing to do with the quality of the love of God for us. It doesn't change yet. That our sin and God's forgiveness has nothing to do with the quantity of the love of God.
God's love never changes. But by the same token, I want to tell you this: that forgiveness does not Stop the fact that sin is sin and righteousness is righteousness, and the two can never merge, and the two can never mix, and the two can never meet. Forgiveness does not alter the fact that sin is a transgression of the righteousness of God. Forgiveness does not alter the fact that sin and righteousness are opposed to each other. In a day When even the church and its leadership legislating And accepting sin as a proper way of life.
I know that what I'm saying is not popular in the church nowadays. I know that. Today, so many people have lowered the standard of righteousness. And they laugh at sin. and they attempt to blur the two.
But I want to tell you God is not laughing. This is not a laughing matter. If it were so, I want to tell you, then Jesus must have bled on the cross for nothing. If righteousness can be mixed up with sin, then Jesus would have left the splendor of heaven and died for nothing. But rather on the cross, Jesus built a bridge so that we can go from the state of our sin into the state of his righteousness, that we can go from the state of defeat to the state of victory.
Jesus died on the cross so we can cross that bridge. That makes sense. Not merge them. Not model them. If God Judges us on the basis of lowering the standard of righteousness, and he winks at sin.
Then God's holiness God's righteousness, God's justice, God's mercy will have to come crashing down. Of course God forgives us. That is the very essence of the gospel. When we repent and when we turn to Him, but not at the expense of His justice. Of course, God pardons us when we turn to Him.
We genuinely repent, but he cannot condone the light-heartedness towards sin. Of course he redeems us, but he cannot condone our shifting of the blame. And I know. This is a problem that some of us parents face. That we tend to forgive our children so easily and so quickly, and I don't mean time-wise, I mean by forgiving so quickly is light-heartedly.
That we forgive without proper conviction of the wrong. Parents, you must take time to let your child understand the wrong that he or she committed. Parents, you must take time to make them understand why you are forgiving them. You must take time to explain to them that although you are forgiving them, that appropriate measure of discipline must take place. You must take time to explain to them and open your hearts to them.
Let them see that the very discipline you are exercising is the very heart of love, is not contrary to the love for them. On the other hand, discipline. without explanation. It's as bad. As winking at their sin.
Learning to take responsibility for our actions. I believe with all my heart is the first step. for turning this nation around. To proper Return to God. And I'll blame this and blame that and blame the other one.
In fact, 2 Samuel 12 We see Through the words of Nathan, God forgives David's sin. In 2 Samuel chapter 12, verses 13 and 14, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. I am to blame. I have sinned. against the Ord.
And Nathan said to David, The Lord has forgiven you. You will not die. But because of what you've done You give the enemies of the Lord the opportunity to blaspheme. Therefore, the child that is born must surely die. Please, I want you to hear me right.
I don't want you to misunderstand me today. Whatever you do, Don't ever confuse the absolute biblical truth that simply because God is a forgiving God, and He is. That it means that he is not a just judge. Just because God forgives us our sins, and He forgives us again and again and again. It doesn't mean that he stopped being offended by sin or abhors sin.
Well because God is a forgiving God, He's a heart of forgiveness, it doesn't mean that we will not harvest the bitter fruit of our sin. And the parent who forgave the child Because of the wrong choice of playing with matches. They would do anything. to take it back, but they can't. It's the consequences.
They can't do anything to take it away or to hide the scars. They will always be there as a reminder of the fruit of disobedience. David now must reap what he has sown. David Arranged for Uriah to be slain by the sword. And the word of God came that the sword will not depart from your home.
David committed adultery privately and behind the scene. his wives will be betrayed. publicly. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 7:2. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged.
And with the measure you give, will be the measure you get. No wonder the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:6 said, He who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he who sows bountfully shall reap bountfully. What does he mean? He's saying that the harvest is going to be answerable to the seed. The reward is answerable to the work.
What do I mean by this? If you're going to sow cotton in the ground, you're not going to get. Corn. If you saw wheat, You're not going to get cotton. If you sow love, you will reap love.
If you sow faithfulness with the use of your tongue, you'll receive blessings of time. If you sow money, you'll receive money. The crop is answerable To the seized. But more than that Your crop will be greater or smaller depending on the quantity of your sewing. Your reward will be more or less according.
to the quality of your work. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3.8, he said, every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. I'm ready to conclude. And I want you to listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you right now. Before you turned your life over to Christ.
Before you received the Lord Jesus Christ into your life and became born of the Spirit of God. Everything in your life was a series of rebellion. A chain of disobedience. But after your heart has been regenerated, After your mind has been enlightened by the power of the Spirit of God. And the word of God.
After your relationship with the Lord has been established. Listen carefully. You become accountable to biblical standards. You become accountable to God's standards, not the world's standards. You become accountable for your conduct.
If you see a hobo in the street, Who looks like a hobo? dressed like a hoba, smells like a hoba, You probably don't give him a second glance. But after this particular hobo is adopted into the royal family, He's been bathed and cleaned and washed. and dressed in the royal Close. He must learn to behave like a prince.
He must learn to walk like a prince. And he must smell. Like a prince. You and I must always face up to the consequences of our sin. Because David knew better.
David said beforehand that he delights in the laws of God. With all that knowledge He sinned. But nonetheless, God was willing to forgive him. God is willing to forgive you. God is willing to forgive me, not once, not twice, not a zillion times, but over and over and over again.
He is a forgiving God. But to know how to repent. By first accepting the consequences of your sin, can make For a proper restoration in your relationship with the Lord. Why? Because you see You're no longer a spiritual hobo.
You're a prince, you're a princess. And we must live to the standards of our Royal Daddy. In heaven. We must live up to the standards of our royal palace. In heaven.
We must focus our energy on the energy. on pleasing our adopted father. and the standard of our adopted father king. Adam and Eve?
Well, they weren't really blaming each other per se, they were doing that. Adam said, You know God? This is the use of translation. If you did didn't give me Eve, I wouldn't have been in this mess that I'm in. What did Eve say?
Yes, true. I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that. I wonder often what would have happened had they repented. And Eve blamed God too. She said, hey.
You brought that serpent into the garden. Put the blame back on God. You've seen people who have done that. But I want to tell you, there are things that happen in life that are totally out of our control and not the fruit of our sin. That's a different matter, it's a different subject.
I'm talking specifically about the fruit of our sin. We walk in the age of grace. In the name of Jesus, of the power of His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, which we celebrate today, who's given the person of the Trinity, is given to us in order to empower us, in order to strengthen us, in order to give us victory over sin. and convicts us when we do sin.
For that I'm eternally grateful. Yeah. Thank you for taking time to listen to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.
And we do pray that you have been encouraged by his series. David. Portrait of a champion. And now, if words about forgiveness and God's grace are foreign to you, please let me invite you to consider a conversation with a leading the way pastor or a counselor. You can start by filling out a brief contact form at ltw.org.
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