Bless The Process Part 4
The Couch and the Second Chance
The Restoration Process.
2Sa 11:1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. —ESV
1.
by
.
The pressures of the Cave will drive you to stay alert and dependent upon every word from God for the purpose of survival. The pressures of the Couch are different. The couch is a place where the dis-ease of self grows because of a lack of living on purpose.
2Sa 11:2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. —ESV
2. More
, More
.
David’s temptation was amplified because of the platform he walked upon. To whom much is given, much is required. More influence or power doesn’t reduce the temptation. More platform, more pressure.
Jas 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. —.1Co 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
1Co 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
1Co 6:20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. —.2Sa 11:8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king.
2Sa 11:9 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. —ESV
3. Conviction is a
for
.
It is hard to be around people who are in a place of conviction or repentance while you are trying to live in compromise.
- Uriah’s conviction was a problem for David’s compromise.
2Sa 11:10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
2Sa 11:11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, 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 to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” —ESV2Sa 11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
2Sa 11:15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”
2Sa 11:16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.
2Sa 11:17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. —ESV2Sa 12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
2Sa 12:8 And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.
2Sa 12:9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. —ESV
4. Sin is the
; belief is the
.
What is your belief about God that causes you to act in a way that shows that you can not trust God to satisfy your soul?
2Sa 12:13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
2Sa 12:14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.” —ESV
5. Grace is not
it’s
.
The God of second chances is faithful to forgive the humble and give the power to live with the earthly consequences of sin.
Say it with me: “It’s time for my comeback”!
Blessed Are the Forgiven ESV
Psa 32:1 A Maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psa 32:2 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Psa 32:3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
Psa 32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Psa 32:6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
Psa 32:7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
Psa 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Psa 32:9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
Psa 32:10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
Psa 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! —ESV