Introduction: David – 2 Samuel 11
This is an accurate, historical story of a the most powerful man in the world. He has very very humble beginnings; he comes from a lower class family; he is the youngest child and he went from being a sheep herder to the most powerful king of the world. He had everything any man’s heart could desire; he had wealth, he had fame, he was an artist, he was a warrior, he had beautiful women; he had everything that God could give him so far as a man’s hearts desires. This is a story of a man who was passionate and loves God; a man who never planned to make a mistake in a weak moment destroyed major portions of his like. Read 2 Samuel 11:1. Every other year he would have gone to battle, but things were going great, he has had a lot of success. But then it happened, this was not planned!: 2 Samuel 11:2 – 5. This was God’s man in a weak moment! Read 2 Samuel 11:6 – 11; note the contrast; Uriah’s commitment, loyalty integrity, what’s fair, what’s right
Notice the phrases “it came to pass”, “he saw”, “he inquired”, “he sent”, “he lay”, and “she conceived”. And then begins the cover-up. Plan A – verse 12-13 get Uriah drunk and send him home; plan B – verse 14-15 get Uriah killed in battle.
Much of the Psalms were written by this man under the direction of God’s Holy Spirit, David was a man who was passionate for God. The path of his life changes because one night he could not sleep; he’s not where he is supposed to be, it’s not planned, it’s not malicious, he just can’t sleep!
– do not be deceived, your sin will find you out. Numbers 32:23
Some Observations:
• He was a good man at a weak moment. We tend to look at people that have been found out as being evil, bad, terrible but the reality is not so; David was a very good man. According to the bible, there is not a person in this room that given the right circumstances, and window of time when you are vulnerable that you couldn’t do the same or worse; and until you come to that conviction that it could happen to you, you are even more vulnerable!
Here is the point I’m making: We all make "big mistakes" sometime in our life. Some of them get found out some of them do not, but we know it!
The question is: How do we recover?
Most of us have regrets over our past actions. It is the devils desire that we cover our mistakes, hide them from view resulting in our carrying guilt all of our days. This is one of the devil’s tools to keep us living a defeated life!
Transferable Concept: Teach them to live Grace Filled lives.
A Theology of Grace: What does it mean to receive grace? What is grace?
1. Grace is the unmerited and unconditional Love of God toward us.
· On your notes, underline the words unmerited and unconditional. Unmerited means that you cannot earn it: unconditional means you have it when you’re bad, you have it when you’re good, you have it when you’re up, you have it when you’re down, Grace is what the eternal God wants to give to you what you do not deserve on the basis of His character alone not on your performance!
2. • Grace is free to us, but COSTLY to God.
· It is absolutely free; not connected in any way with our performance, but is very costly to God!
3. • The CROSS is God’s greatest act of grace.
· The cross where He allowed His son, Jesus Christ, wholly God – wholly man, to die in your place to pay for (to atone for, to be the substitute for) all the things you have ever done, will ever do, ever thought, or ever will think that violates a HOLY GOD. You are responsible for every one of those, I am responsible for every one of mine: and God says that since neither you or I can live up to that cost He will allow His son (who is absolutely perfect) to die in your stead to take the judgment for sin that belongs to you – He allows His wrath for your sin to be poured upon His perfect, sinless son’s head to pay for all sin past and future. If you, in faith, asks for this gift of substitution of grace, He will give you the gift on the basis of your believing! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”
4. • SALVATION is a free gift from God.
This is not from your works!
5. • Grace must be received by RECEIVED BY FAITH.
· Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
· This is a concept that is so foreign to most of us; our beliefs are so imbedded in us that it is hard to shake. For most of us we have this concept of God has this huge chalkboard, one side is marked good deeds and the other side is marked bad deeds; every time you something good you get a tic mark, every time you do something bad you get a tic mark: when your life is over the marks are tallied – if the good outweighs the bad you go to heaven, if the bad deeds outweigh the good deeds then you go to hell. Nothing can be further from the truth! To get into heaven you would have to have a perfect score – zero bad deeds. It is by grace that you are saved – nothing else!
6. • Grace produces Gratitude toward God, and love toward others.
· When you experience grace it activates something. Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”” When you get saved God deposits his Holy Spirit in you; you are literally taken out of the kingdom of darkness and put into the kingdom of light; you are put into this supernatural thing called “the body of Christ”, and you receive your spiritual gifts to fulfill your purpose (Ephesians 2:10 ) Your mind begins to be renewed, your sealed with the Spirit so that no one can take you out of his hand. The Christian life is far from trying to be a “good” person but it is abiding with Christ to live out this new life to do His good works.
· The opposite of Grace is not effort (it takes a lot of effort to live the Christian life) but merit which is something earned; the opposite of Grace is a “performance” mentality! The opposite of grace is: when I read my Bible God loves me, when I don’t read my Bible God doesn’t love me; when I really give, when I really do good deeds, when I live morally God loves me when I don’t do these things God does not love me – this is a performance mentality!
· Many of us think this way and live this way that if you do bad that God will not love you. This is not grace but performance.
· Grace produces gratitude for God; for his forgiveness and payment for your sin. This gratitude produces a love towards others.
• Old Testament Roots
Genesis 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
After the sin God covers their sin by the shedding of blood and making a covering for them. Something had to die, blood had to be spilled and two people got covered; this is a good picture of what happens in salvation.
• Biblical Profiles – David the adulterer / murderer and Peter the betrayer
We are so quick to point out the bad in both David and Peter yet each one of us could do worst!
David: found grace with God and went on to be mightily used for God’s purposes. And Peter became the foundation for the church. Failure is never final. The great thing about Grace is that God will give you another chance to do right; he is the God of the second chance, the seven times seventy chances! He is willing to withhold the judgment that each of us deserves; He is willing to forgive, cleanse, restore and renew.
• New Testament Command: –
John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Most of us can quote verse 16 but look at 17 and 18! The unsaved will spend an eternity in hell not because God was unwilling to forgive but because they were unwilling to believe and accept His grace! Jesus’ message was not “everyone is messed up so get with the program already!” but His message was “I didn’t come to condemn you, I came so that you can come to grips with the failure in your life; all the lying cheating, stealing and gossiping; to know that all that has been forgiven; you can have a relationship with the father – He loves you! I’m going to pay the terrible price for your sin to accomplish this! I will be your covering.
The number one reason that people do not get saved is that they are unwilling to humble themselves, admit their need and realize that they cannot do this on their own; it takes huge humility to admit that you have a need – pride gets in the way.
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
1 Peter 1:13 “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”
No one has ever been saved except through grace!
How do you pass this on in a “performance oriented” world?
Application: I, (your First Name Last name), choose to believe that with God, my Failure is never final!
Teaching Your Children That Failure Is Never Final
1. Encourage them to MEDITATE on the lives of David and Peter; a murderer, adulterer, and betrayer who are among God's most beloved and mightily used servants.
Moses – murdered, David – adulterer / murderer, Apostle Paul – murderer, Rahab – prostitute, James and John – anger management issues, The other Judas – he was a terrorist (plotting to overthrow the government), Matthew – a crook, an embezzler, liking people for their money; hey, this is God’s “dream team”! And, we have the audacity to say that “God could never forgive me”
Teach them to consider how through Grace God has restored and used many good people that have done wrong, teach them that God loves them regardless of their sin – I’m not saying here that we give license to sin, or that you don’t have to discipline for disobedience – there are consequences for sin! But God still loves you and died for you and wants to give you grace – you must reach out and take it!
Read to them and discuss the stories where you find a good man who in a weak moment failed and how God through Grace restored that, and used them!
2. Help them remove the power of the SECRET and condemnation by practicing repentance (James 4:7-10) and confession (James 5:16) with some mature believers you can trust.
The way the enemy works is like this: when you sin, when you blow it big time, when you make a mistake, we do exactly what David did – we start to cover it up, we’re embarrassed by it, we don’t want the consequences of it, it becomes a little secret. The enemy uses this against you. Every time you want to move forward he whispers in your ear “you don’t really think God will use you? Look at what you have hidden!” When sinful things are brought into the light they die!
James 4:7-10 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
What is in your past that is hidden - covered up? What load of guilt and defeat are you bearing? Here’s God plan to bring it into the light! I’m not saying that you need to do this publicly but you need to get it out of hiding so that your healing can start!
3. Teach them to REFUSE to continue living with a “performance-orientation” in your relationship with God; it is and always will be a grace-orientation.
Develop a set of "Desire Cards"; keep them in places that you must see every day - review these every day. Below are some examples that I use.
· I desire to please God and to find my worth and security in Him rather that trying to please people to get their affirmation.
· I desire to focus on my faithfulness to God rather than my success in my duties.
· I desire to enjoy my relationship with Jesus Christ each and every day. (Psalm 16:11 "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore").
· I desire to allow my children to have the freedom to fail; to allow home to be pressure free.
· I desire to have some good fun once or twice each and every week.
· I desire to worship God for who He is with praise and adoration.
Life Message: You were created to RECEIVE grace and to give grace!
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