Pleasing God is the Key to Victory

Pleasing God is the Key to Victory
2 Samuel 11:1-15                               
August 28-29, 2021

One of the things we ought to really appreciate about the Bible is that it is very honest and open about the people in the Bible. In other words, it doesn't just highlight the strengths and the victories. No, it also reveals their faults in their defeats. That brings us to the point of David. Up to this part of the story, David has been amazing. He's like a hero, a highlight of the Old Testament in many ways. What faith as he took on the Philistine giant, as he became king of Israel, as he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. On and on, he's been the hero, but that all comes to the edge of the cliff right here in this chapter.

David is going to plunge headlong over that cliff for David's failures in this story are catastrophic. I'm convinced that God is open and honest about the strengths and the weaknesses of the characters of the Bible so that we could, A, learn from their victories, learn from their faith but also we can learn from their failures. The idea is don't do that. Let's understand that God will equip us, but he also shows us that when we see failures of characters in the Bible, it becomes an opportunity not only to learn how not to fail but also to know how to respond if a person does fail because God's heart is to rescue.

We're going to see that God's heart is to rescue people from the failures and from the defeats of life. His heart is also then to redeem and to restore. He loves you and he doesn't quit loving you when a person fails. This is very important because many people think that God does stop loving them when they fail. It's very important to understand that God does not give up. God does not quit. He will not forsake you. He will not leave you. God will stay with you. If there is a failure, he will redeem. It's one of the life lessons of the story. What we understand as we look at these figures, as we look at David, is that there are let's say certain immutable, spiritual loss in scripture.

That's one of the things we like to take hold of. There are certain immutable spiritual laws. These immutable spiritual laws really predict the outcome of life decisions. If a person chooses this road, we can predict the outcome. There are immutable spiritual laws just like there are immutable physics laws, laws of physics. For example, the law of gravity. Defy that lodge your own peril and many have done that. I remember when, a number of years ago, we visited the Grand Canyon and I was amazed at how many risks people were taking as they're getting as close as they can to the edge for the epic picture.

I went home and did some research how many people I see die at the Grand Canyon trying to take these epic pictures. On average, something like 12 people a year that are apparently trying to defy the physics of the whole thing. There are certain immutable laws. Murphy's law is an immutable law. Murphy's law, whatever can go wrong will go wrong. I have another one. I made up another one. That is the law of driving irritations. If there are two lanes and the one I choose is the left one, it's invariably going to be the slow one. If I choose the right one, that's the one that's going to be the slow one, It is the law of driving irritations. I made it up. Anybody experienced what I'm talking about here?

There are certain immutable laws, but spiritually, we can say that there is a law of sowing and reaping. There is the spiritual law of sowing ripping. This comes to us out of Galatians 6. "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. That which a man sows he shall also reap." It's an immutable law. If a man sows to his flesh, he will of his flesh reap corruption. It's also positive. If a person will reap to the spirit, he will from the spirit reap life. You can predict the outcomes in the sowing and the reaping of life. It's very important that we understand that God makes a way for us. God gives us a way for victory. He wants us to live well to be victorious and shows us the insights of how not to shipwreck your life.

A number of years ago, I enjoy reading, and I was reading about the history of the United States' first exploring expedition. First expedition to explore, this was like 1838, they sent a fleet of seven ships down the coast of South America and Arctica surveying and mapping and all this, Australia. Then they came up the coast and they came to the mouth of the Columbia, which I found very fascinating. The boats were anchored waiting for pilots. In those days, the Indian people showed them the way to navigate because you might not know this, but the Columbia River bar is one of the most treacherous bars in the world. Still today. It's number five of treacherous bars in the world today.

Here's this sailing ship fleet at anchor, but one of them comes late. Instead of waiting for the pilot, comes charging into the waves and the outcome is predictable. It dashes the ship on the rocks and everything is lost, et cetera. It's a great tragedy. It's a lesson of epic proportions because the prevailing winds of the flesh will wreck anyone's life but God gives the pilot that we can know the way through the treacherous waters of life. I love the picture of it. Here we go back to 2 Samuel chapter 11, and now we're going to read about David's really greatest failure.

2, Samuel 11:1. "Then it happened in the spring at the time when kings go out to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him." Joab was the commander of his army. David doesn't have to go now to lead his army. He has a commander and servants go with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Amman and seized robber. David stayed In Jerusalem. Now that should give us a hint that there's something amiss. "Now when evening came, David arose from his bed. He had a nice afternoon nap on the roof of his home," which is very common in the Middle East. Most homes are flat in the middle east. People would set up chairs in couches and such and that would be a place for the breezes and such.

David, when the evening arose, he arose from his bed, walked around on the roof of the king's house. "From the roof, he saw a woman washing. The woman was beautiful in appearance. David sent and inquired about the woman. One said, 'Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite?'". I suggest to you that when David inquired and he had this answer given back to him, that ought end the whole thing right there. Anybody agree with me? That should have just ended the whole thing right there on several reasons.

First of all, Eliam was the daughter of Eliam. Eliam was one of his high counselors, his good friend and she's married to Uriah. That should have ended it but David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he lay with her. When she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. An epic failure of catastrophic proportions but now the troubles are only going to get worse. "The woman conceived. She sent and told David, and said, 'I am pregnant.' Then David sent to Joab, the commander, and he said, 'Send me Uriah the Hittite.' Joab sent Uriah to David."

"When Uriah came to David, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war." He doesn't want to let on. "David then said to Uriah, 'Go down to your house, wash your feet.'" You can see that this is an attempt at a cover-up. "Uriah went out of the king's house and then a present from the king was sent out after him, but Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his Lord and did not go down to his house." When they told David, said, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David then said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" Then Uriah says to David and listen to this amazing honorable speech.

Uriah then said to David, "The Ark, and Israel, and Judah are staying in temporary shelters and my lord, Joab, and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do such a thing. Oh, this man's got some honor. Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also and tomorrow I will let you go." Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. David's got to think of another place. David hatches another plan. David calls him, ate and drunk before him, and made him drunk thinking that perhaps if he could get him drunk, then his honor, he might compromise.

In the evening, he went out to lie on his bed with his Lord servants and he did not go down to his own house. This man has got character even when he's drunk. Then it came about in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. David is going to now make another catastrophically failing decision. He wrote in the letter saying, "Place Uriah in the frontline of the fiercest battles and withdraw from him so that he may be struck down and die." He's revealing now a wrongful motive to his commander.

It was that as Joab kept watch on the city that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men and the men of the city went out and fought against Joab and some of the people among David's servants fell and Uriah the Hittite also died. Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war. He charged the messenger saying, "When you have finished telling all of the events of the war to David, and it happens that the king's wrath rises and he says, "Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?"

Then he'll say, "Who struck down a bimbo like the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall that he died at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?" Then you shall say, "Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead," and he'll know what to say. This is just a tragedy. We'll look at the other verses around this on Wednesday, but this is just a tragedy of epic proportions, but there are lessons for us to take hold of. For at the end of the story in verse 27, there's an insight where it says at the end of this same chapter 12 rather, in chapter 12, it says that this thing that David did displeased the Lord.

I.  Make it Your Ambition to Please God

This thing that David did was very displeasing and thereby we gain a tremendous insight into victory. Pleasing God is the key to victory. Therefore, make it your ambition to please God. This is one of the great keys to victory. Make it your ambition, live your life with that desire that your ambition would be to please God. We can understand failure but a person's life gets off track, we can predict that it will end in failure, but how can you prevent it? How can you keep from falling? Is it inevitable that a person falls? I submit to you that it is not inevitable, that God gives the resources and the provisions that we might prevail. That God wants us to be victorious and he makes it very possible that we can be victorious.

God gives tremendous insight in his word for the victory that he desires, the power of God that comes from walking near to him. The key to keep you from falling. The story also by the way is going to give hope to those who have fallen, because it speaks to the heart of God to rescue, to restore, to redeem. This is the key to victory. Make it your ambition to please God, to understand that it is before God that we live and move and have our being because you can be sure that there are many things in this world that God finds displeasing. Would anybody agree with me? There are many things in this world that God finds displeasing.

I love this verse in 2 Corinthians 5:7-9 where Paul writes it this way, "We walk by faith and not by sight." Tremendous chapter. We walk by faith. This is another key. Walk by faith, man. Live the life that you are going to live by walking in faith and by faith. Notice what he says, "We walk by faith and not by sight. Therefore we have as our ambition to be pleasing to the Lord." I just love that phrase. By the way, the word ambition, I find it an interesting word. In the English, it means someone who's ambitious is someone who has an aim, goal. They're diligently pursuing a goal. That's what we mean when we say ambitious. That's actually not what it means in the Greek.

I was very intrigued by this word and I wanted to know what it means in the original language. In the original language, this word means to love honor. I love that right there. We need a good word in English to love honor. Make it your ambition. Love honor. There is something right about living with honor in your life. When you look in the mirror and know that God is doing something of honor in your life, make it your ambition to please him. It's very interesting. David lost sight of that honor. How did he lose sight of it? It was the desire of the flesh. These become life lessons.

A.  Be on the front edge of God’s purpose

Here we go. Great life lessons starting with this, being on the front edge of God's purpose. This is a great life lesson. Stay on the front edge of God's purpose. Notice verse one it gives us insight into what's happening here in David's heart and life. It says, "In the spring at the time when kings go out to war now." First of all, why does it say in the spring when kings go out to war? Because it was a very common thing in those days that they would take the winters off from warning and battles because it was muddy. It was too hard to bring horses and chariots through the mud so all the armies all took the winter off.

They all understood it so they all just stopped fighting. In the spring, everyone started to fight. By the way, interestingly, my son who was in the Marines for nine years, and my son-in-law as well, when they were deployed to Afghanistan reported to me the same thing. In the wintertime, the fighting would stop and wait for the spring. Very interesting. In the spring when kings go out to war. If this is the time when kings go out to war, why isn't David going out to war? It's not rest. That's not the issue. David had taken the whole winter off. David has got to a commander now. He's got someone else who can fight the battles for him now.

Things are looking good for David. He's got an army. Things are good in life now. It's an interesting thing. It's a dangerous place when everything's working out pretty well in a person's life. Bills are being paid, things you're okay. Got some stuff putting away for retirement. Things are good. That's a very dangerous place to be. Sitting back, resting a little bit more. I cannot tell you how many people have gotten into trouble because they were bored. The lesson is this, be on the front edge of what God is asking you to do, be on the front edge. If God fills you with Godly purpose, that is what will satisfy the thirst of the soul.

I remember when our middle daughter after she graduated from high school, she came to us one day and she asked if she could spend two years serving at an orphanage in Mexico. Our first response was, "Yes, we think this is a great idea. Take two years of your life and serve in an orphanage in Mexico." We are Christian of course, and we knew that this would be setting her life on a path of pursuing God's purpose and establishing a foundation of God's purpose in her life. We were so excited that she wanted to do that and she did it. We visited her. It was remarkable what God did in her life. Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for right things for they shall be satisfied."

I got to tell you, I have come to see how important it is to have a mission and a purpose and a calling in your life. Something that you are excited and about. God would have you have a mission, a purpose, a calling, something that you can be excited to pursue. I got to tell you, I've been pastoring this church for 31 years, I was in ministry for 5 years before that. I am more excited today about what God is doing than at any time in my life. There is such purpose, such calling. God is doing such amazing things. I am more excited today for what God is doing. We need purpose.

B.  Don’t stay where you don’t belong

We need mission and that is one of the ways that we will stay in a place of being victorious is when a person sits back and stops because everything's good now. They've reached a place where it's all good, bills are paid, life's good now. Very dangerous. Always pursue, always press forward. Never relent. Always pressed forward with God's purpose. Here's another life lesson, don't stay where you don't belong. First David was in Jerusalem when he should have been out with the war. Secondly, David goes to the edge of the roof and from there, he could see a beautiful woman. That would have been the time to step away from the edge. Instead of stepping away, David pursued.

Can I give you a principle that I think is a really important principle for life? If God didn't give it to you then it's not yours to have. This is a very important principle. Please hear this principle. It is a life principle. If God didn't give it to you, it's not yours to have. This is not David's. This is not his to have. She's not his. This is not something that God gave him. If God didn't give it to you, it's not yours to have. Anything I have, I want God to give it to me. Amen. This is a very important principle. I tell you, you think deeply about this principle, it will tremendously guide you and your life. Let God give it to you because if God gave it to you, it'll bless your life. If God didn't give it to you, it's not yours to have.

The scripture says that there's a time to flee. 2 Timothy 2:22, "Flee, run from youthful lust." Chase after is the word, pursue means to chase after. Pursue what? Pursue righteousness, man. Pursue faith, pursue love, pursue peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. What a great word. Flee from those things that will get you into great trouble and pursue the things that God will use to establish good things in your life for He gives us a warning. He says in James 1:15-16, "When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin." This is an interesting thing, isn't it? He's using conception and birth. Interesting, isn't it? He's using sin as this analogy.

When lust has conceived, it'll give birth to sin and when sin has grown up or accomplished, it will bring forth death. Don't be deceived my beloved brethren. What a great word is this? It's a life lesson. It's a wisdom of life that James is giving there. I think one of the best biblical illustrations in this regard of a person who walks victoriously, that's why it's a great example, it's got to be that of Joseph. Young Joseph, you remember, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. He's been given this amazing vision of God that he's going to arise in stature and be a great leader one day. His brothers, you remember the story, are jealous of him and sell him into slavery in Egypt but God is with him.

He's purchased as a slave by an Egyptian named Potiphar, a very powerful man. He's blessed of God in Potiphar's house. That's when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him. He knew that thing would not please God. Here's the interesting thing. He's away from family, he's away from accountability. His parents aren't there, his brothers aren't there. There's nobody there but God and that's enough. He wants to live his life in such a way that it pleases God. To live his life in such a way that it pleases God. Genesis 39:79. "It came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph and she said, 'Lie with me.' He refused and he said, 'How can I do this great evil and sin against God?'"

I love this Victoria's answer. Later on, she takes hold of him when no one else is there and he flees, he runs from the place. Tremendous example. Can I give you this great lesson? If you're in a place where you don't belong, run as fast as you can because if God is not pleased with where you are, don't stay there. It's a life lesson. God wants you to be victorious. God wants you to fulfill the purpose and mission and calling of your life. God loves you, man. He wants that which is going to be glorious in your life. Therefore, if you're in a place of danger that something is going to inhibit and hinder the work of God in your life, get out of there, run, turn the thing off, go.

There's a great scripture that helps us to understand, that God makes a way of escape. 1 Corinthians 10:13, great scripture dream member. "No temptation has overtaken you but such is common to man." This is important first. "God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation will provide the way of escape that you will be able to endure it." Step away, run. You can endure it, he says, because I made a provision, I made a way. Instead of stepping away, David got closer. He inquired who she was.

C.  Beware the slippery slope

Then when he found out that she was the wife of Uriah, that should have put an end to it but no, he pursued even further. He got closer to the edge. He sent servants to go and get her. Therefore, another life lesson comes to us from the story, beware the slippery slope. I've heard many times people categorize sin as a mistake. A person made a mistake. I suggest to you that a mistake is if you go into the women's restroom thinking it's a men's restroom, that's a mistake. This is not a mistake. I was going to think of a time when funny mistakes.

I remember one time I was at Wendy's with my family ordering a healthy dinner, of course. You know how it works at Wendy's, right? When you're at Wendy's, you order and then you stand there at the counter while they assemble your dinner. They were putting the fries down and we're just standing there waiting and I'm looking at those fries and I'm thinking, "Okay, I'm just going to nibble on a few fries." I'm just standing there and I take one fry and I nibble. We're still waiting so okay, there's still more time. I take another fry and I'm nibbling right in and then more time so take another fry and then nibbling.

Then a guy walks up next to me, takes his order and he looks at me like, "No, those aren't your fries." That's what you call a mistake. I was thinking of another time. One time we were doing some project around the church here, and I needed some small thing at Home Depot. I grabbed the white church van, and I ran to Home Depot. I knew I just needed one thing, so I left the van unlocked so I could just run in and jump right in the van and come right back. I got my one thing, came out, jumped in the van, put the key in ignition, and it wouldn't turn. I thought, "What is this?" Then I started looking around the van. Wait a minute. This is not the church van.

I got out of the van just in time for the real owner of the van to becoming out, "What are you doing to my van?" I said, "The Lord has need of it." No, I didn't say that. I say, "It looks just like mine." I get in the church van. He follows me just to make sure anyway. That's what you call a mistake. This is not a mistake. David didn't just fall into a mistake. There were warning signs along the way. There were warning signs along the way. He inquired, "Who is this?" First of all, when he saw a woman, and then he inquires, and he finds out she's married, that should have put her into it, but he pursues further. There's warnings along the way. I suggest to you that something has been building in his life for some time.

David at this point had more than eight wives and several concubines. Probably had other wives that are not even listed in scripture. I suggest that's a mistake. That can never work well as we will soon discover as we look further into David's life. In fact, God gave a warning to Israel in advance. When you come to the day when you'll have a king, make sure-- This is Deuteronomy 17:14-17. Moses is warning, "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and then you say, 'I will set a king over me like the nations around me,-'" it gives this warning, "-he shall not multiply horses, he shall not multiply wives lest his heart turn away nor shall he greatly increase in silver or gold."

II.  Strengthen the Inner Man

This is an interesting factoid. You would think that having several wives would cause David to not have any problems in the area of sexual desire, but that's not true. It's actually quite the opposite. It only made it worse. That I suggest to you as a life lesson in itself. You look at the story and you realize God gives great keys for victory. God wants us to be victorious, and He gives the provision by His word and by His spirit.

A.  Let the Spirit reign over the flesh

For example, great life lesson is this, to strengthen the inner man is one of the great keys to the thing. To strengthen the inner man, to strengthen the soul within you is one of the greatest keys of life.

Draw near to God, He will draw near to you. You draw near to God and His spirit will empower your life. He will strengthen you in the inner man is one of the great lessons of life. We need to be strengthened with power by the Holy Spirit residing and strengthening the soul within us. It's interesting that when David tried to hide his sin by bringing Uriah up from the war, it failed miserably because Uriah has got character. This is very interesting thing because Uriah has got character. I suggest that God is rebuking David showing Uriah's character. That he's a better man right here than David. Something wrong with the inner man. There's something wrong. Something is very wrong in the soul.

That's where trouble begins and there must be rebuilt the inner man. I'll tell you, I've been in ministry a long-time, and I see many, many people get in trouble in their lives, and I can tell you the answer. The answer is strengthen the soul within you. Begin to strengthen the soul. This is the answer. Strengthen the soul, strengthen the inner man. Let your soul be alive, let your soul be near to God. Let it be filled with the healthiness of a live spirit. Strengthen. In other words, let the spirit reign over the flesh. That's what happens when the inner man is strengthened within. Let's the spirit reign and it will reign over the flesh.

First of all, no one should be surprised at flesh. We're all born with flesh, and we're going to die with flesh, but it does not have to master you. God does not want that to master you. 1 Corinthians 6:12, Paul writes, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." Don't love that verse right there? They're just something bold, "I will not be mastered by anything." There's just a bold declaration, nothing, "I will not be mastered by anything that I might be mastered by Christ." That's his point. He is my captain. He is my commander. He is my master. I will not let anything master me, because Jesus is my captain. Jesus is my master. He is my commander.

May I suggest to you, this is a great key to life. It's a great key to life. 1 Corinthians 9:27, "I discipline my body. I'll make it my slave." This is a great word right here, "I'll discipline my body. I'll make it my slave." This thing is not going to master me. I'm going to make it my slave. I'm going to tell them what to do, so that after I have preached to others, I myself may not be disqualified. What a great warning. This is just such a great word. "I will not be mastered by anything." No, no. Oh, this flesh is going to be my slave. We need to strengthen the man within us that the spirit then can reign over the flesh.

Galatians 5:22 is this declaration that the result of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit means the result of the Holy Spirit in your life, the proof and evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life is love and joy. This is proof. This is evidence that the spirit of the living God is within you. Love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness. Then he says, "Self-control, that is a fruit of the spirit of the living God." Is it possible to have self-control? Yes, because the strengthening of the inner man by the spirit reigns. Paul's got some epic prayers in Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:16 Paul says, "I pray for you that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man." This is a great prayer. Paul says, "I'm praying for you that you would be strengthened with power according to the riches of His glory." I'll tell you, this is a deep word here, according to the riches of His glory that you would be strengthened with power in or through His Spirit in the inner man. The very power of the living God, because where the spirit of the Lord is, there is power. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is transforming power.

B.  Love the Lord with all your mind

Notice this also great life lesson, "Love the Lord with all your mind." Remember the greatest word that God has ever spoken. Jesus was asked, "What is the highest foremost of all that God's ever said?" Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Love the Lord with all your mind. When David is confronted later, the Prophet Nathan is going to confront David over this, what God told David was that he did not esteem the word of God. You despised the word of God. You did not esteem it. You did not hold it in your mind in a place of esteem.

See, this is a really good word. How do you see the word of God? How do you see it? I suggest to you that there's different ways to see the word of God. One of the ways to see the word of God is that it is authority. It has authority in your life. That it is the heart of God and the authority of God, and you see it very high. You esteem it. You see, it has authority. That's one way. Another way is where it's more like a peer, an equal. "I will take an under advisement." I see what the word of God says, "I will take it under advisement. I will consider it perhaps," or someone can even look down on it, "That means nothing to me."

"You say it says that, that means nothing to me." You look down on it. How do you see it? Isn't that the application of the thing? How do you see it? When God confronts David, he says, "You didn't esteem it." That was what happened. When you esteem it, when it's high, when it has authority, you realize that it comes from the very heart of God. God is concerned how you think, how you see it because he knows that how you think determines how you live. How you think will determine how you live because it will determine who you become. Let me give you one of my favorite verses to quote. Luke 6:45. "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart will bring forth what's good."

See, strengthen the inner man within you. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart will bring forth what's good. Let there be that good treasure. Let that be good treasure. Your word have I treasured in my heart, it is more precious to me than silver or gold. It is sweeter to me than more than honey, even than the honeycomb. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart will bring forth what's good. Of course, the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what's evil. You see, how do you get that in your heart? You put it in there. You put that treasure in there. You either put that which is good or you put that which is evil.

There's a lot of stuff that people are putting into their hearts today that are not edifying their soul. Anybody want to agree with me? There's a lot of things that people are putting into their soul that's not edifying them at all. There are others, there are many who put that in their soul. They treasure that in their soul. Your word, oh Lord, have I treasured. Treasure means to value highly. I have treasured your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Your word is sweeter to me than even honey from a honeycomb. It's more precious to me than silver or gold. It's a great word.

I tell you, he's giving us a word that will guide our lives. If I could write a book about every person who followed the way of sin and it worked out great for them, [laughs] that book would be full of blank pages because it doesn't work out. It never works out. It doesn't work out. It never works out. Let me just be honest. The problem with sin is it doesn't think about working out. It doesn't think about the consequences. It doesn't think about tomorrow. It thinks about right now me. Me want, me see, me want now without concern for tomorrow. The one who is wise the soul within him thinks, "What fruit will this bear? What would this bring? What good will this do?"

The one who is wise thinks about tomorrow, about the investment of the life because I tell you, the immutable law of the spirit is unchangeable. When you sow to the spirit, you will reap life. When David did this, we know from the Psalms that his soul was in anguish, His soul within him was in anguish. Psalm 32:3-4, "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained with the fever heat of summer."

C.  God’s grace is still amazing

If you've ever been there and I would not dare ask for a show of hands, but I suggest to you that there are many I think here who understand the anguish that comes when the soul is carrying such a heavy thing. God would rescue that. God will rescue that. That's what God's going to do to David. God's going to send Nathan to rescue him, to rescue him from his grief, to rescue him from his anguish, and to rebuild his life, to restore because that's the same psalm where David writes, "You are my hiding place." Would you listen to this? It's such a good word. Notice he starts out the psalm when I kept silent about my sin, in other words when I was hiding it, I was groaning all day long in my spirit.

Later in that same psalm is where he writes, "You are my hiding place." Oh, this is a good word. "You are my hiding place. I can hide myself in you and you are the one who surrounds me with songs of deliverance." Oh, great word. You surround me with songs of deliverance. We're running over. Lastly, we'll close with this, God's grace is still amazing. That's one of the things about this story. God's grace is still amazing. The story would not be complete until we understood firstly, that David fully repented truly. God forgave him truly. God's grace was so amazing.

Listen how amazing God's grace is. God's grace is so amazing that the son who had come forth from David and rule over Israel would come through Bathsheba. Not this one. She's pregnant, not this one. That one will die. Another one will come and his name is Solomon, a great ruler of Israel through Bathsheba. In fact, God gave another name. David named him Solomon. Shalom Amman, a man of peace. God says, "I want to give him another name. I'm going to give him also a name. I want to name him Jedidiah. Give him that name too. Jedidiah means beloved of the Lord. This is grace. This is nothing short of amazing grace.

This is a good word for us because if anyone has ever failed or faltered, they need to know a God's grace is still amazing and God will not quit, God will not relent. He will pursue that he might rescue and then he will redeem and God will restore because God's grace is still amazing. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much. How beautiful is your grace? How wonderful is your heart? Thank you, God, for revealing to us such amazing lessons for life, lessons for victory, and to have your heart be made so clear to us that you desire greatness of victory in our lives. We want you, we want to fulfill your purpose, and calling, and mission. God, we want to be victorious in this life. We want to walk with you in a way of victory.

Church, how many tonight would say that to the Lord? I want to walk with you and I want to walk with you victoriously in this life? God, that's my prayer. That's my heart. I know it comes from you, it's you in my life so I'm just saying right now, God, I want to walk with you and I want to walk victoriously. Would you just raise your hand to the Lord? See, declare it by raising your hand to him.

I'm just saying it, God, I want to walk with you and I want to walk victoriously. God, thank you for never quitting. Thank you for never relenting. Thank you for never giving up on me. I love you for that. God, thank you that your grace is so amazing. We give you thanks and glory and honor in Jesus's name and everyone say amen and amen. Let's give the Lord praise and glory and honor. Amen.