David Wisniewski - Developing Spiritual Intelligence - Class 5 - Faith

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:40

   All right, we’ll get ready to begin our third session for the David’s ask that we take an introductory reading this morning of Romans chapter 4 verses one through 8.

2. 1:00

   Romans chapter 4, verses one through 8. And this is from the New King James Version. And what shall we say then? That Abraham our father is found according to the flesh. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

3. 1:22

   Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. For it. To him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessed, the blessedness of the man whom God imputes righteousness as apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

4. 1:48

   Blessed is the man to whom the Lord is. Shall not impute righteous, or shall not impute sin. This is Watch and Lake Bible School 2025. Our speaker is our brother David Wisnasky, and his series for the week is Developing Spiritual Intelligence from the Lives of David and Jonathan. This is his fifth class entitled Faith, and we had an introductory reading of Romans chapter 4, verses one through 8. Well, good morning once again, my dear brothers and sisters. OK, we are awake.

5. 2:34

   This is going to be a tough one. Well, if you would put a marker in Romans 4, because we’re going to go back to the Psalm that we ended with yesterday, which was Psalm one O 1, and start there, but we will in due time come back to Romans 4.

6. 3:00

   Our consideration is, you may have guessed from the screen before you is David in his sin and the process of reconciliation. We’ve already witnessed this man. David was an incredible man of faith, a man whose faith overcame a giant. Before that, a lion and a bear and then 10s of thousands of Philistines as the women sang, as he returned back into Israel, into Jerusalem. Or rather Gibby I guess it was at that time. Who had faith to?

7. 3:35

   Overcome Syrians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, Amalekites, Aramites. But our class today is a consideration of a battle of a different type, a battle in which his faith in God is put to an ultimate test. And so in our class yesterday, we considered the inspiration that Jonathan had and a couple of Psalms that David had penned, and one of those was Psalm 133. And the last was Psalm one O one O 1, which I suggested was David’s prayer to God before he ascended to the throne. And he makes a personal commitment to God, and he also makes a commitment concerning the circle of influence that he would create for himself as he ruled from God’s throne over God’s people.

8. 4:32

   That personal commitment is found in verses 2 and 3 of Psalm one. O 1, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. And there was David’s personal commitment when he came to the throne before his God. And then, secondly, we saw that he would discern who would be in that circle of influence in David’s life. And so we read in verse 4A.

9. 5:08

   Froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person who so privileth privily slandereth his neighbor Him will I cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart Will I not suffer? But mine eyes shall be upon the Jonathans of the land, that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me well. First, I want to consider David’s failure in the second commitment to limit his circle of influence to those that were spiritual, like Jonathan.

10. 5:46

    Do you remember David’s criteria that he gave for someone to rise to the position of the captain or the general over his army? This would be a person that would stand beside him and strategize in battle. This is the person that would help him take the Kingdom. This is the person that would help him win over the hearts of Israel.

11. 6:09

    This is the person that would be beside him through thick and thin, through trial and triumph. And what was the contest? Well, it was a contest of strength. Who could take Jabus? And so the man who took J Boost, the man that went underneath the city and came up into the middle of city and heroically defeated that city was Joab.

12. 6:35

    A man who was loyal to himself and his own interests, A man who was proud, a man that had a high look, a man that was willing to kill anyone who got in his way. And that was the first of those closest peoples of influence that David would put beside him as he sat upon the throne later. We know that he learnt because when David lists his Mighty Men of Valor in Second Samuel 23, there’s a very obvious and glaring absence in the list.

13. 7:14

    The person who had been the most mighty, the person who had triumphed over the Jebusites, the person who had won the contest to become his captain was not listed in his Mighty Men of Valor. But another person’s name was found in that list. That was Uriah’s name and many Gentiles were in that list in Second Samuel 23.

14. 7:41

    And of course in the first half of David’s life, in the first half of David’s service of king, he spent most of his time killing Gentiles. And then when he wished to build a temple, which is the topic of consideration, God willing tomorrow, and was rejected from doing so because he was a man of blood, he started to think about his ways and he started to convert Gentiles. And although the process of conversion is not spelled out for us in the scriptural record, we know from Second Samuel 23, we know from Absalom’s rebellion that David’s court started to be filled not just with Jews but also with Gentiles, which was his motivation then for bringing the tart, the Ark of the Covenant, to Jerusalem.

15. 8:27

    Of course, that was where God had said he wanted the ark throughout the law, but his motivation in setting up a separate tent and not bringing down the Tabernacle was so that all of those that were part of his circle of influence could worship God together, united and Jerusalem.

16. 8:48

    But David at this time, at the outset, had failed in upholding this commitment to God, and then he also failed in his personal commitment to behave himself wisely in a perfect way, to walk within his house with a perfect heart, and to set no wicked thing before his eyes. Turn with me back, please, to Second Samuel Chapter 11. We won’t belabor the point.

17. 9:19

    We know David’s sin, but we want to draw a couple of observations that will help us. I believe in similar battles against sin in our own life. We read it Second Samuel 11 and verse one, and it came to pass after the year was expired. At the time when kings go forth to battle, the David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabba.

18. 9:53

    But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And I suggest, brothers and sisters, that this is where David failed in his battle against the flesh. This is where the failure began, as Joab and his servants and all Israel went out of Jerusalem at that time, should not David have reflected upon this action that he was acting more like Saul than he was like Jonathan? And David, of course, would have known his own weakness. This was not the first time, Second Samuel Chapter 11 that he would have met Bathsheba.

19. 10:34

    Uriah was his in his mighty men. Uriah frequented the court of David’s house. Uriah and his wife would have sat at his table as as would the other mighty men and their wife and their children, who were welcomed into the court, the Royal Court, the House of David. And so David makes his first mistake here. He creates his own opportunity for sin in his life. He creates his own opportunity for sin in his life. And so we need to be cognizant, brothers and sisters, of the path that we take to transgression and sin. We need to know ourselves.

20. 11:33

    We need to judge ourselves. Paul says that we be not judged. And in judging ourselves, maybe we need to write it down on a piece of paper. We can burn it when we’re done. But just to acknowledge what was the path that led to the sin that I committed? What was the first step?

21. 11:48

    What was the trigger? See in in in Second Samuel Chapter 11 and verse 1. The lust was not yet inflamed in David at this point in time. He’s made a mistake, but the woman is not in front of him, in his sight. He could have simply gone out to battle, as he had always done before Israel, and given himself no occasion to sin.

22. 12:16

    So may we behave ourselves wisely with a perfect heart, and might we walk in our homes in a perfect way by understanding our weakness, by comprehending our triggers, and by removing or safeguarding ourselves against those triggers in our own homes and in our own lives. There’s an old adage that says if you play with fire, well, you will get burned.

23. 12:54

    And not only that, but then David gives himself a second opportunity when we come to Second Samuel 11 and verse 2. And it came to pass at evening tide that David arose from off his bed. It was past the time of bed. He’d already gone to bed. He should have just stayed in bed. But instead he gets up and he walks on the roof of the King’s house, and he aspires a woman washing herself in the court of her house.

24. 13:23

    And so twice David gives himself occasion to sin. And the consequence not just of that sin, but then of him trying to cover up the sin is that by the time we get to the end of Second Samuel Chapter 11, this man who could overcome Goliath, who could overcome armies, has failed a battle in his own mind not only once but twice, not only having adultery with Bathsheba, but also murder of Uriah.

25. 14:02

    Well, with that background, let us go back to Romans chapter 4. In the book of Romans, Paul is writing to the ecclesia there in Rome, which consisted of both Jew and Gentile, and he’s arguing against the Jewish mindset that salvation is not by works but by faith. His thesis is that salvation is a free gift of God that comes to us by the obedience of faith in Jesus Christ, who is both the Son of God and the Son of David after the flesh, and that salvation does not come by the works of the law. In other words, Paul says in the book of Romans, salvation cannot be earned.

26. 15:00

    And what a wonderful equalizer, brothers and sisters, that salvation is a free gift. Of course, the faith that we have needs to be manifest in the works that we do, in the actions and the words that we speak. And it will be, because when we’re exercising faith in our minds, that faith will manifest itself in our lives. But it’s wonderful that it’s not something that’s earned. Some of us have talents that are less visible than other talents. Maybe we flourish at being a good listener. And so people in the ecclesia find it easy to share their burdens with us.

27. 15:43

    And we’re a good burden bearer. Well, that’s what Christ was. Cast your burden upon me, he said. Maybe we’re good at mowing someone’s lawn who’s sick or too old to take care of it themselves, or bring a meal, or just say a kind word. In due season sums, some people’s works is more visible. But we must apply our talents to our service to God in the ecclesia.

28. 16:14

    Ultimately, it’s not the service that will get us into the Kingdom. It’s faith that God will count our service done in faith for righteousness. It’s not our service that will get us into the Kingdom. It’s our faith in God that he will count our service in faith for righteousness and thus grant us a place in his Kingdom.

29. 16:40

    And as Paul ponders how to convey this message to the Jews and Gentiles that were part of the ecclesia at Rome, he comes up with two individuals that were outside the law and yet were justified, counted righteous by God. And those were in the reading that we had read for us this morning in Romans chapter 4. And so the first example that he gives is that of Abraham. And he says Abraham was justified outside the law. Why?

30. 17:16

    Well, because Abraham lived before the law was in effect. Of course. Parts of the law existed before We know from Judah, we know from the Garden. We know from other parts of the Old Testament of the Pentateuch that parts of the Law had been given by the angels to the believers. But the law of Moses was not in effect in Abraham’s day, and so Abraham here is justified by God before the law existed. So it could not have been the works of the Law that justified Abraham.

31. 17:50

    Now the Rabbis, Paul himself, before he was converted, taught that Abraham actually had a surplus of merit from his good works. He had so many good works that he could have stopped the good works here and still gotten into the Kingdom of God, and he still went on up to here with those good works. Abraham had a surplus of good works. And so Paul points out that, well, actually he was before the law was even in existence.

32. 18:24

    So they weren’t the works of the law. And then he quotes in in Romans chapter 4. What shall we say then at verse one that Abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he where hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what say at the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Well, let’s go back to the place that Paul is quoting from, keeping a marker in Romans 4 and going back to Genesis chapter 15.

33. 19:11

    We’ll pull this thread, as it were, by visiting the place that Paul quotes from. So in Genesis chapter 15, starting at verse one, after these things, that is after the battle against Keeter Leomer and against the kings that were allied with him, after recovering Lot, the family, the natural family of Abraham and bringing them back into the land, and after having fellowship, a fellowship meal with Melchizedek. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, fear not Abram, I am thy shield in thy exceeding great reward.

34. 19:51

    And Abram said, Lord God, what will thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, thou has given me no seed, lo, one born in mine house is mine heir. Another words, a child of Eliezer. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, for he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels, and of Sarah shall be thine heir.

35. 20:24

    And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward the heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, so shall thy seed be. And he believed in Yahweh, and he counted it to him for righteousness. So he believed that the heir of Abraham, his own heir, would be a child that would come forth from his bowels. Now I believe that when Paul points us back to Genesis chapter 15 at verse 6, he doesn’t want us to just consider Genesis 15 verse 6.

36. 21:03

    But also consider when this faith was put to the test over in Genesis chapter 22. Because now the one that God has given him, who would be heir to all things that Abraham had, God tells him to put him to death. And James tells us that when he rose up early on that morning, I think I would have slept in as long as I possibly could have. But Abraham rose up early that morning. And James tells us that he had already sacrificed Isaac in his mind.

37. 21:42

    And why was that a test of this? Well, because God said your heir will be one born to you, Abraham, and the only one born to him of Sarah was Isaac. And now God was asking him to put that son the heir to death. And and an heir cannot go. An inheritance cannot go to someone that precedes you in death. If you’ve ever worked on, if you’ve ever worked on at will, the inheritance goes to those that are alive. And so when God told Abraham to put Isaac to death, we know that Abraham believed God would bring him back to life. He believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.

38. 22:32

    So turning back to Romans chapter 4, we may say to ourselves, well, I understand why Paul has taken us back to Abraham. I understand why Paul has made reference to this account in Abraham’s life, because here we have a man who had such great faith. Not only did he believe God when God said that he would have an error of his own loins that would come forth of his own progeny, but he continued to believe God when God told him to put him to death. And so the first example that Paul gives us, somebody who can be justified by faith, is a man who was willing to sacrifice his own son, his only begotten son, whereby he takes on the name, the friend of God, because he understood what God would go through when he sacrificed his son, which by the way, is the same location that David carried the skull to. It’s how he knew where to take the skull of Goliath was the place where Abraham would offer Isaac. But now Paul gives us a second example of justification by faith.

39. 23:52

    And so we come down to verse 6 of Romans 4 where he says, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And of course he’s quoting from Psalm 32, David’s own prayer. Blessed are the man.

40. 24:29

    Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And if God sees us sinless, well then he sees us as righteous. So here’s the second example, then of someone justified by faith. And So what Paul has done then is he’s created a framework for us within which individuals, all of us, can be justified by faith.

41. 25:01

    And at the top of that framework, he’s given us Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his own son, believing that God would bring him once again from the dead so that he could indeed become heir to the promises that he had made. And on the other end of the spectrum, he gives us David, who had committed murder of Uriah of one of his best friends after stealing his wife and taking her to himself.

42. 25:31

    And what Paul is doing outside of just expositing to the ecclesia in Rome, expositing that outside the law, you can be justified. Why was David outside the law? Well, first of all, he was king who was going to execute the law. We know what the law said about what David had done. Murder, death, adultery, death, sacrifices, none. David was outside the law.

43. 25:59

    There was no sacrifice for the sins that David had committed. And so giving these two examples, as he does in Romans chapter 4, he sets the bounds, as it were, of God’s grace and of God’s mercy. And So what Paul is telling us is that if you’re somewhere between Abraham, whose faith in God was so great that he was willing to sacrifice his own child, probably a little higher than most of us ever achieved in our life. Or if your faith is greater than David, who committed murder and adultery, probably lower than any of us will ever sink. If you fit somewhere in that range, well, God is able to forgive your sin if you believe that God is able to. There is only one sin that cannot be forgiven, and that is any sin that you do not believe God can forgive. I’ll repeat that there is only one sin that cannot be forgiven, and that is any sin that you do not believe God can forgive. So what God asks of us is it no matter how bad we feel after we’ve committed a sin and whether it’s a sin that’s only impacted us because only we know about it, or it’s a sin that has impacted the whole ecclesia or maybe even an ecclesial community, and maybe has us wondering how we’re even able to move on.

44. 27:55

    The only thing God asks of us is to believe that he is able. He is able to forgive that sin and he is able to give us his Kingdom. There’s the scope of justification, as it were, not to say that if somebody’s committed to sin worse than David, that couldn’t be forgiven. Those are just the outer extremities that Paul draws on by way of reference to demonstrate to us how broad is God’s mercy.

45. 28:41

    Well, David recognized that God could forgive sins that the law condemned to death. Let’s turn back now, leaving Romans 4 once again to the Old Testament record, Second Samuel, chapter 12. In Second Samuel chapter 12 we read it verse one, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David. We read it verse 27 of second Samuel Chapter 11.

46. 29:21

    But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, the murder of Uriah and adultery with Bathsheba. And how much time do we think may have transpired? Well, we know at least nine months, because in this chapter the child born of adultery will die. But actually we know, do we not, that this was not the first son?

47. 29:47

    First Chronicles chapter 3 and verse 5 tells us that Solomon was actually the fourth son. So the son that replaced this son that died was Bathsheba’s 4th child. So David, after having committed adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, sits on the throne and continues to govern Israel while the first child starts to grow.

48. 30:15

    And then he has a second child with Bathsheba, and he remains on the throne unrepentant, and has a third child with Bathsheba. And now Nathan is sent by Yahweh unto David, and by this time God is angry with David. That was done this thing in secret, but I will do it before all Israel, says the Lord. He had been given over three years to bring his sin privately to God, to confess and ask, repent and ask for forgiveness, but he persists.

49. 31:03

    David talks about this period of time in his life as it being a roaring because he’s not dealt with this sin in his life. And so Nathan comes to him with an absolutely brilliant method of exposing sin. And I want to think about the process here that Nathan uses, no doubt by divine instruction, but none the less what David does by telling this parable of these two men in a city, one who’s rich and one who’s poor, rich with many flocks, poor with just one little lamb.

50. 31:42

    And the little lamb is is there, it’s in their house. It drinks from his cup, it snuggles into him at night at plays with his children. And the rich man, when a traveler comes, takes that little lamb and he slays the poor man’s little lamb instead of going to one of his own flock. By telling this story, what Nathan accomplishes is helping David realize that what he’s done is sin before he starts with the accusation.

51. 32:16

    Do you see that? It’s as if David has pulled Nathan, has pulled David to his side, and by telling the story has has caused David to look at the sin without getting defensive because he hasn’t identified. It as his. Own sin. Yet what an incredible skill this was to be able to tell a story, to give an account of something parallel to the sin that that brings us to the same conclusion that what had been done was sinful. So that the person beside us can walk with us down the path of recognizing this is sin.

52. 32:55

    And then after having given that recognition, Nathan says to David at verse 7, thou art the man. And so if we’re going to be a Nathan brothers and sisters, then let’s not sit across the table from our brother or our sister. Definitely. Let’s not pick up the phone horrifically. Let’s not send a text message or a social media message or an e-mail or even a letter. But sit beside your brother, your sister, and help them first acknowledge that the activity that has brought the two of you together is indeed sin.

53. 33:51

    And having come to that acknowledgement together, you make room for growth. You make room for acknowledgement, you make room for repentance. And so after issuing this command, he then goes on to give the consequences of David’s sin. Because even if we’re forgiven from our sin, we know that sin has consequences. Even if it’s a private sin, the Proverbs tell us, can someone take fire into their bosom and not get burned?

54. 34:30

    Even the secret sins that we commit still burn. They still make an impact in our life. Even once we’ve been forgiven. But there’s another point that comes out in Second Samuel chapter 12. What was David’s response when Nathan tells him the parable about a man who steals another man’s lamb? What was David’s judgement? What was David’s sentence for theft? He’ll repay him fourfold and then put him to death. Put them to death for theft.

55. 35:14

    Was that the law? Death for theft. And what we’re being told, brothers and sisters, is that when we have unresolved sin in our life, it clouds our judgment. What I’m not saying. Is that if we haven’t figured out how to overcome sin, it clouds our judgement. I am not saying that because either if that were the case, then none of us could help our brother, our sister with sin in their life.

56. 35:52

    What I’m saying is if we have unresolved sin, if we’re David sitting on the throne three years later, four years later, still denying that adultery and murder was sin. It clouds our judgement if we haven’t gone through the process that David does that we’ll walk through together with him in Psalm 5051 in a moment. We’re not in a position to judge

57. 36:25

    because judgement becomes extreme when we have unresolved sin in our own life. Put a man to death. For theft they clouded his own judgement.

58. 36:42

    So once Samuel is done, at the end of verse 12, thou has done this thing secretly, but I will do this. The sword will not depart from thine house. Your wives will be taken to it by a neighbor they’ll be laying with under the sun, which ended up being Absalom, one of his own sons. You did this thing secret secretly. I will do it before all Israel and before the sun. And so in fact, the picture that I put before you, I’m not convinced of myself.

59. 37:14

    I’m not sure I, I selected this or I, I had AI create this picture because Matthew 18 says go and confront your brother in private. But I’m not 100% sure that that would have been the case. He may have been sitting on the throne. Surrounded by the court of the king, we don’t know, but I do believe that after Samuel finishes, David falls to his knees and says a prayer to God before he says to Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh.

60. 37:50

    And that prayer is found in Psalm 51. And so David begins his prayer. The process of reconciliation first began with sin being exposed, which took Nathan to do in this case. But it doesn’t have to involve a Nathan. If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. So it can be our own selves that acknowledges, that exposes our sin before God.

61. 38:40

    So David falls to his knees and he prays. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. To what does David appeal to God’s own character, according to thy loving kindness, and according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies? Blot out my transgression, wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. And so David, clearly understanding God’s character from Exodus 33 and Exodus 34, appeals to God’s loving kindness and to God’s mercy to forgive his sin. And the first thing he does then, in verse 3 and 4 is acknowledge his sin.

62. 39:26

    For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me against thee. Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest I deserve death. You know it says in Lamentations 3, If God were not merciful, we would all perish. If God were not merciful, how would his plan and purpose? Be worked out if God were not merciful, we all deserve death for the sins that we committed.

63. 40:11

    Whether it’s a little sin, a slip up of the tongue and saying something bad about someone else or whether it’s murder and adultery. The wages of sins is Paul is death, doesn’t matter which one it is. So I guess in a sense, David might have been right with theft is death, the wages of sin is death.

64. 40:33

    But if God executed that judgement, well, we would all be dead, and there would be no one to fill the earth with his righteousness, with his character, with his glory, when the Kingdom comes to be established upon the earth. And so God is in name merciful and loving and kind, and he acknowledges that should God judge he was worthy of death.

65. 41:03

    In fact, he says in verse 16, For thou desirest not sacrifice, there is no sacrifice. Under the law. Else would I give it Thee. Thou desire delightest not in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, thou wilt not despise. See, sin in its own way has a way to create a spirit in US unlike any other experience in our walk in the truth. It truly creates humility and a contrite spirit. It creates in us an emptiness, realizing how far we have gone and letting our Father down and having come to that point in our life, then we desire to fill our life back up with godly things because you recognize that in US, outside of God’s work in us, there is no good thing.

66. 42:15

    So David acknowledges this and then he goes on to repent as we come down to verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Do you notice what David does not say? God, I commit to you never to sin again. No, what he does is he asks God to help him fight this battle, to fight these battles. He doesn’t say I’m never going to do that sin again. He says God create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me.

67. 42:59

    Without you God, I can not overcome. And that is a fact in the reality. Without God we cannot overcome. It is only with God helping us to make the right decision to go out with the army of Israel and not create opportunity for sin in our life that we are able to overcome. And finally, as he did at the outset, he does again at verse 7.

68. 43:31

    He does again through verse 9. He does again at verse 14. He prays for forgiveness. Deliver me from blood, blood guiltness. O God, Thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. And indeed, that was the last part of his prayer, wasn’t it? Having experienced the mercy of God before now, David intellectually knew about the mercy of God.

69. 44:04

    He no doubt could quote Exodus 34 and the character of God in verses 6 and seven. He does hear in his prayer as he kneels before Nathan, know before God, and acknowledges his sin. He knew it intellectually, but now, now he will know it experientially. Because when we turn back to Second Samuel chapter 12, David says to Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh.

70. 44:38

    And Nathan says unto David, And Yahweh has put away thy sin, Thou shalt not die. And now David had experienced love. Now David had experienced patience. Now David had experienced forgiveness. Now David had experienced mercy. He didn’t just know about it from what he’d read or what he heard, he now had experienced it.

71. 45:16

    And having experienced it, he said, God, I want to help others experience what I experienced. I want to help others experience your mercy by acknowledging their sin to you, by asking you to work mightily in their lives to help them overcome sin, and then to receive your outpouring of love and mercy and kindness and forgiveness. How do we respond, brothers and sisters, when our sin is exposed, maybe by a spouse, might be by a sibling, maybe a parent, maybe a friend, maybe another brother or sister in the ecclesia?

72. 46:13

    What is our response when somebody comes and exposes to us a sin that we’ve committed? Proverbs says reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee, but rebuke a wise man, a wise woman, and they will love thee. Ecclesiastes says it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise then for a man to hear the song of fools. Of course we love hearing praise, but praise isn’t going to get us into the Kingdom.

73. 46:43

    But if someone has the courage, if someone takes the time, if someone exposes themself by coming to us to rebuke us, to expose a sin in our life that we’re not dealing with well, let’s be a wise man and a wise woman and receive it in the spirit within which it was given.

74. 47:18

    Can you imagine being Nathan? I want you to put yourself for a moment into Nathan’s shoes. This was a man who loved David. We know that’s the case. Second Samuel 7, which is part of the topic of consideration for a class tomorrow when David wants to build a temple. Nathan is so enthusiastic.

75. 47:42

    Yes, go for it, David. Nathan was there in the court, he was in his house, he was with David. He was a confidant of David, he was a counselor of David. And for these three 4-5 years that David sitting on the throne, Nathan has no idea. And then one day God says Nathan, David actually murdered Uriah.

76. 48:03

    That wasn’t an accident when he died in battle. And he actually took Bathsheba before Uriah died, not after. Nathan would have been in tears on the floor. David, the one who has a heart after your own heart, the one who walks in integrity. David has murdered Uriah and committed adultery with Bathsheba.

77. 48:39

    And after Nathan picks himself up off the floor, he realizes what God’s asking him to do, what he’s been compelled to do, to go talk to David. Well, this is the king. The king could have his head cut off, of course. He was, I’m sure, confident that’s not how it would go.

78. 49:00

    But this was his friend and he now needed to go talk to David face to face and exposed to David the sin that he had committed. I can tell you brothers and sisters, it takes courage beyond what we naturally have.

79. 49:27

    We can only have such courage when we ask God for help to go and talk to those that we love, those that we have self sacrificing love for, those that we’re willing to put above ourselves because none of us want to go and have that conversation. And it takes God’s wisdom, wisdom beyond what we have. And you know what?

80. 49:59

    If somebody comes before us and exposes our sin and they say it in an awful way, like a verbal slap across the face, it’s OK because we need to pause, take a deep breath, let the animal part of our brain be suppressed by the logical part of our brain where the Spirit resides, the spirit word of God, and think to ourselves, how much courage, how much time did it take for this person to build up the courage and come and talk to me?

81. 50:37

    And then what do you say? Well, what Nathan said was brilliant. We already went through that, didn’t we? He pulled David alongside of him. He didn’t stand up on the table and point down to David and said, you’re a Sinner. No, he stood alongside him. See, that’s why we shouldn’t try to help other people root sin out of their own lives before we’ve learned the process that David went through in Psalm 51 of making ourselves bare before our God, of asking God to help us overcome in temptation because then we have a right spirit. Now we’re in a position to judge. David was not in a position to judge, but once he prayed, once he was humbled, well then he had the right spirit to be able to judge because he recognized that no matter what that sin is that your brother, your sister has committed, we’re no better. The sentence is the same whether you just lied and they’ve committed adultery, whether you gossiped and they’ve stood up and taught false doctrine and LED people away. Yes, they may be different consequences to the two sins, but ultimately the sin has the same ultimate consequence, death.

82. 52:14

    So we’re together, we’re here, we both deserve death. And if it weren’t for God’s mercy, says Jeremiah and Lamentations, we would all be consumed. Now we’re ready to share that God is able to put away sin and to help someone else walk through the process.

83. 52:38

    And David was justified, says Paul. David was justified. Why? Because our God, our heavenly Father, is faithful. He’s faithful to his own name, to his own character. And not only does he want to forgive our sins, not only is it his very nature, his very being to forgive our sins, He justifies us when we believe that he has forgiven our sins.

84. 53:20

    For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. By our Lord Jesus. Christ, you know what? Some point in time after this, I think a shattering thought came into David’s mind. We’re in First Samuel 12, Second Samuel 12. In Second Samuel 7, what had happened? God had made a covenant with David. God had promised David his Son would sit upon his throne. God had promised David that he would be the father to his son. God had promised David that his son would build a house. And David might have wondered, is all of that undone by my sin? I think he did.

85. 54:11

    Turn over to Second Samuel chapter 23 and consider these words. Second Samuel 23 at verse one. Now these be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of God, the Jacob, the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men must be judge, just ruling in the fear of God.

86. 54:57

    And He shall see the light be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even as morning clouds as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Although my house was not always so with God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.

87. 55:28

    For this is all my desire. For this is all my salvation, and all my desire, though He make it, not to grow so at the end of his life. David’s very last words, he had considered that God might undo his covenant because of that.

88. 55:48

    And that’s why I believe the covenant with David becomes known as the sure mercies of David, which of course speak of the resurrection. They were applied to Christ in Acts 13. Do you know how Isaiah 55, which talks about the sure mercies of David, goes on It says, the let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

89. 56:21

    Sure mercies of God are introduced in the in the context of God’s mercy in forgiving sin. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.

90. 56:41

    Brothers and sisters, how many times have we misquoted that verse? Because I’ve heard that verse many times quoted to indicate, well, God is sinless and we’re sinners. That’s not the context of Isaiah 55 and verse 8. God saying my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways because I’m able to forgive where so often you would not be able to.

91. 57:13

    That’s the context of My thoughts are not your thoughts. God’s thoughts are that He wants every wicked person upon the earth to repent, for He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Those are God’s thoughts. God’s thoughts are is that He wants to have mercy upon us and abundantly pardon. And consider how abundantly he pardoned David. This is how God remembers David to Solomon. If you, Solomon, walk before me as David thy father walked in integrity of heart and in uprightness, well, hold on a minute.

92. 58:01

    Didn’t he murder Uriah? Didn’t he commit adultery, integrity of heart, uprightness? Or later when he chastises Solomon, who turned and says your heart has not been perfect with the Lord your God, as was the heart of David his father. David’s heart was perfect with Yahweh Elohim of Israel. Or later when he talks to Jeroboam and says, You have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, who followed me with all his heart to do only that which was right in mine eyes. And throughout the Scriptures, when God refers to David, he still calls him a man after his own heart, a man who had a perfect heart, a man who walked integrity, a man who did all that he commanded.

93. 58:50

    God knew that he sinned. God knew that he had committed adultery. God knew that he had committed murder. And what God is teaching us is that his way is not our way, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. And although we can’t forget, God can. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.

94. 59:17

    I can wipe it from the record. I can cast your sins behind my back. I can separate you from your sins as far as the East is from the West. And of course they never meet. That’s how God can deal with our sins. We’re not quite the same, and He doesn’t expect us to be the same, because we can’t forget.

95. 59:43

    May we, brothers and sisters, have the greater faith of David. Sure, he had faith to slay lions and bears and giants and armies, but now he had the faith that could slay the thinking that had overtaken his mind. Not that he would overcome every time, but now he knew the process that just as God would help him in the battle against Goliath and guide that stone, so God could help him. If he sought God’s help in closing opportunities for sin instead of creating opportunities of sin. And so may we have faith like David, not creating opportunities for sin, but recognizing that even when moving forward seems impossible, God will forgive. And not just forgive, but count it to us for righteousness, because we believed that God is faithful and God is able. And so there’s our first principle in developing the spiritual quotient of faith, recognizing that God is faithful.

96. 1:01:11

    The second is experiencing God’s mercy, which transforms intellectual knowledge into experiential knowledge that we’re able to share with others. The third is learning to put our trust, our belief, our faith in God who was able able to forgive our sins and able to see us without sin that we might enter into his Kingdom. The 4th is to understand that rebuke well received by us builds our faith.

97. 1:01:47

    And finally, having learned how to receive rebuke and receive God’s mercy, also understand that rebuke, well delivered, builds the faith of others.