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00:00 Good morning. This morning we continue on about looking at the life of David.
00:08 Let me begin by looking and just recapping where we have been so far. And
00:13 I'll read for you from 1 Samuel 18 verse 14. And it says in everything
00:19 David did he had great success because the Lord was with him. And so far, every
00:26 message we had about David shows him as a leader, shows him as being anointed,
00:32 shows him as being the savior of Israel against Goliath, shows him as a man of
00:39 great mercy and compassion. Last week we had Peter sharing with us how he had
00:44 mercy on a crippled man. This is what we call a good man, a righteous man, a good
00:50 Christian, a man who has qualities all of us wish we had. From hero, however,
00:58 he quickly becomes zero. And today we just read and it says in
01:04 the further text in 2 Samuel, it says, "Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?
01:12 You struck down Uriah the Hitittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of
01:19 the Amorites. Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house because you despise me and took the wife
01:26 of Uriah the Hitittite to be your own. From hero,
01:32 a person with the heart of God. What Acts says, a man of great compassion to
01:39 zero, a man who is a murderer, a man who is an adulterer.
01:45 How did this happen? Today we look at a a heavy topic. It's going to be quite heavy. And we look at something which
01:52 all of us struggle with. Everyone in this room about sin.
01:57 And what is interesting in this text is how quickly men who are very godly, men
02:03 and women who are very godly can turn the opposite. This week, this month I I I met two
02:10 friends. One was um well I had encounters one was a one was a pastor
02:17 very involved did a lot of things and I I met him two weeks ago completely changed gave up everything
02:24 totally different from what he used to be and I I couldn't believe this was a pastor now his life has none of that
02:31 reflection another friend of mine missionary lived the life none of us would dare to
02:38 live and then did something so bad you and I don't even do. So today's lesson
02:45 teaches us this and that's why sometimes we have Christian leaders, very upright people who can just fail.
02:53 That's one half of the story. The other half of the story is that God restores
02:59 these people. God will restore David, a murderer, back to being a king. And what
03:06 I want to encourage you is because it's a very heavy topic today is that no matter how broken you are, no matter how
03:13 low your life can sink, no matter what you what decisions you make, wrong
03:18 decisions that just cause you to just have so much shame, God can restore.
03:24 That is the joy of have of what we read today. And the verse, one of the key
03:29 verses we have, verse 12 of Psalm 51. Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
03:37 That that's really the key verse. And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.
03:42 Let's come before God in prayer. God, any message on sin is never easy. It is
03:49 hard and we cannot sugar coat it. So Lord, for the next half an hour or so to
03:55 40 minutes, be with us. teach us to just open our ears and hear what you have to
04:01 say to us, oh Lord. And and you so transform our innermost being, innermost
04:07 self, that we make us joyful at our salvation that no matter how far down we
04:14 go, Lord, how much brokenness there is in our life, you can restore us. And we
04:19 say this in Jesus name. Amen. Now, let me ask you a question. How do you um
04:27 begin to assess a committed Christian? You know, sometime you meet uh you have a conversation, you say, "Oh, that guy
04:33 is a very strong Christian. That guy is a committed Christian. He's very fervent." How do you define ferveny?
04:39 Now, I thrown up some words on the wall. I'd like to suggest to you if you find a person with any of these characters,
04:46 instinctively we think, "Oh, he must be a very strong Christian." I mean, some people mistakenly say, "Oh, Anor, you're
04:52 a very committed Christian." And I say why? Because I preach. Anyone who can talk can preach. Oh, you know the Bible.
04:57 Bible just knows you read the Bible. Active in church. A lot of people active in church. Active in the mosque. Active
05:04 in the temple or you you can be kind-hearted. You don't have to be Christian. Every quality I just put up
05:11 there. You don't have to be Christian to have it. Now, this is there are three
05:16 main points I want to pick up today. And this is a very important starting point. Genuine Christianity begins with this.
05:24 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Psalm 51:17,
05:30 "A broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise."
05:37 Early on, he say this in verse 8, "Let me hear joy and gladness."
05:44 And this is very much a a repetition of that same verse. Let the bones you have
05:50 crushed rejoice. Let the bones you, oh
05:56 God, have crushed rejoice. Very important.
06:01 When was the last time you looked at your sinful nature and you felt crushed?
06:07 John Piper says this. He said there is an important place in our Christian walk
06:13 to be spiritually depressed, remorseful
06:18 and sorrowful over our sins is tremendously important.
06:23 And I really hope you pick this up today. If you look at Psalm 51, the
06:28 first seven verses or so, 7 8 verses
06:35 right down to nine, they are all a lamentation.
06:40 It is a song about a person who is crushed in the sins. It is the person
06:46 who looks back and lament and says, "Look at me." As John Kelvin will put
06:52 it, I'm totally depraved. Now, how often should you be like that? And what does
06:59 that lead you to? Let's look at the first point. If you look at the Lord's prayer, which most of us know, the
07:06 Lord's prayer has a part that says, give us today our daily bread. Now, the next
07:12 verse says this, forgive us our sins. You know why they're tied together? The Lord is telling us this. As much as
07:20 you and I daily pray for our provisions, I pray daily for my work, for success in
07:26 business, for my health, for my needs. As much as I daily pray for my bread, I
07:32 must daily pray for my sins. That is why the verses are lined up. Meaning to ask
07:38 for forgiveness, to ask for cleansing, to lament over your sin is a daily
07:44 affair and is a tremendously important starting point. We're going to look
07:49 today at three things. Sin, cleansing, and renewal. And they all in Psalm 51
07:56 and picked up in the 2 Samuel text. Let's look at sin. And we talk about sin. First thing people like to talk
08:02 about is this word called sex. Ah, that's a word you normally don't mention in church. And there's one baby in
08:08 front. Baby cannot hear. Is okay. No young people. Now you talk about sex in church. People squirm. You know, it's
08:14 not something you talk about. But the Bible is very brutal about it. Let look what the verses says. One evening, David
08:19 got up from his bed, walked around the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing peeping tom. Wow.
08:25 Now our imagination starting to run. Then David sent messages to get him. She came to him and he slept with her. Wow.
08:33 Very graphic. He slept with her. And the worst thing is the psalm. The the
08:39 beginning of the psalm says for the director of music. So imagine going to tell Chu Chang, Chuch Chang, you are the
08:45 director of music. What's the song you going to sing? Oh, is that song about adultery? That's really what it is.
08:52 Washing the linen way in public. Chuchan, we're going to do a song about adultery. Everyone's going to sing it.
08:59 So, let's talk a little bit about this. Now, what's interesting about this particular sin and Psalm 51, we all
09:07 know David's sin starts with him having a sexual
09:12 appetite. Let me use it in simple English. He's just horny. But have you noticed something about Psalm 51? No mention of sex. No mention
09:22 of sexual sin. Why? Because the sexual sin is a symptom. The disease is deeper.
09:30 And let me unravel that for you and unpack it. Now in 2 Samuel 5:12, we read
09:36 this. And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and
09:41 exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. or now he's top dog. He's the man. He is the anointed one. Look at
09:50 what the next verse says. After he had left Hebron, David took more concubines
09:55 and wives in Jerusalem and more sons and daughters were born to him. The moment
10:01 David knew he was anointed, the moment David knew he was king, do you know see
10:08 what's the most subtle sin is actually pride. The moment he knew God was with
10:13 him, what did he do? He started to do things that displeased God. We find this
10:18 in Deuteronomy 14. It says this, "When you enter the land the Lord your God is
10:25 giving you, be sure to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. He must not take many wives or his hearts
10:31 will be led astray." Is a direct violation. God warns David that if you
10:37 take many wives your heart will go astray. Why? Now there's a danger of
10:43 polygamy and Charles Swinders puts it very well. He says this about David. This king David who took another man's
10:51 wife already had a harum full of women. The simple fact is that a passion of sex
10:57 is not satisfied by a full herum of women. It is increased. Having many
11:02 women does not reduce a man's libido. It excites it. It stimulates it. David
11:08 being a man with a strong sexual appetite mistakenly thought to satisfy it, I will have more women. Thus, when
11:14 he became king, he added to the herum. But his drive only increased. One of the
11:19 lies of our secular society is that you just satisfy this dream drive then it be
11:25 abated. Now I want to be really direct in love. I mean men struggle with sexual
11:31 sin. It's a very common thing. They say men have trees sins artillis sex power
11:37 and money with women they remove the word sex they see emotional entanglements but you don't talk about
11:42 it in church it's quite taboo so even in the group here we will have some people
11:47 who struggle say with homosexuality you're not going to tell me you're going to keep it right inside lock it away
11:53 then we have the guys who are heterosexual and they could be struggling with something as common as pornography you're not going to tell
11:58 anyone lock it inside then all the business people who travel overseas to China. They say want to buy ty sanitary
12:05 where is rubbish and at night you and I know what you're doing. You're not going to tell anyone in church. Lock it away.
12:12 Deep inside here you're going to lock it away. And this morning God wants to tell you this. There is a there's a reason
12:19 why we do these things. Let me give you example. If you're as old as me, you know this song. This second service. A
12:25 lot of young people. I want to educate you about good music. Good music began in the 70s. You guys
12:30 don't understand this. Okay. How many educated people not how many people here know this song? How many people feel I
12:37 can get no satisfaction? But I tried and I tried. I can't sing.
12:43 Huh? But the line is interesting. I can't get no satisfaction, but I tried
12:50 and I tried. I can't get no. You know, is a is a great riff. Now, the song is
12:56 prophetic because Mick Jagger practices it. You know how many women he's had in
13:02 his life? You know what one thing common about the women is that they all gorgeous. Bianca
13:08 Jagger, Jerry Hall, Marine Faithful. The only difference is that as he gets
13:14 older, his girlfriend start to get younger. He can't get no satisfaction.
13:21 But he tried and he tried. You see, the moment you fill yourself with things
13:28 because you can, he's never going to satisfy you. David
13:34 had a herum full of women, but he can't get no satisfaction.
13:41 But he tried and he tried and boy did he try with Bashiba.
13:47 This is what the text is saying. Sexual sin is a symptom. So if you're sitting
13:52 there, it says I'm not a horny guy. I don't have a problem. No, you don't have a sexual sin. You have another sin. And
13:58 unless you satisfy that, you are not happy. That is the problem. The disease
14:05 of sin is when we pursue temporal satisfaction over what God has provided.
14:10 Nathan says this to David. You are the man. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, I anointed you king over
14:18 Israel. I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you
14:23 and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and
14:28 Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you more. But
14:36 it was not enough. I ain't got no satisfaction, but I tried. That is what
14:43 the text is saying. Even in there, there's a concession. And you notice God even allowed him to take
14:49 Saul's wives. That's a toleration of polygamy. And God earlier says the dangers of polygamy. Even that God had
14:56 tolerated it. It wasn't enough for David. Why? Because he had a void inside
15:03 which he needed to satisfy. He's a very horny guy, you know, let crude about it. And he thinks the more women he get,
15:10 he's going to be happy. But like McJagger, it's never enough. He's going
15:16 to get older. The girls are going to get younger. You see, whatever sin you and I
15:22 struggling with, some of us men here struggle more with sexual sin. We don't tell anyone in church. It's something
15:28 you don't talk about. Some of us struggle with money. Some of us struggle with power. Some of us struggle with
15:34 envy, insecurity. There could be a whole list of thing.
15:40 The center of it is the word I. You see, sin isn't a list of dos and don'ts. Is
15:47 when I say I want to satisfy my life my way and put God out of the picture.
15:55 Any one of you can recognize this man. First service did a terrible job. I'm praying and hoping second service can
16:01 redeem yourself. Anyone you can recognize this person? Oh, second service just as bad. Come on. Let me
16:08 give you a hint. This person used to stand up here and preach to you all.
16:14 Yes, Pastor Joshua. You young adults will pick this up. It's Pastor Joshua. Now, I want to tell
16:21 you a story which I I thought is quite interesting. I I I'm not close to Pastor Joshua. He's a he's a nice guy. Not for
16:28 any other reason. It's just because this is a big church. We don't get a chance to talk to many people.
16:34 But I met Lilian, the wife, last Sunday upstairs. I just bang to her. I say, "Hey, how's Joshua? How's he doing? Say
16:40 hi to him for me." You want know, you know, one of those usual things of thing. Hi, how are you? Then I say, "Hey, ask him just to drop me an email,
16:46 you know, and uh he got any pictures of him." I put it up in the in the sermon, which I want to keep my word. And then I
16:52 we pray for him. And Joshua drops me a long email, a very long email. And I it
16:58 was very humbling because I I don't know him very well. I'm going to read this email of him to you all. And I got his
17:04 permission for it. Pastor Joshua is in America studying at Fuller University
17:09 and he's alone. And this is what he says. He says, "I spend most of my time
17:14 in silence and solitude. It is both wounding and healing.
17:21 Being alone here is painful." However, in this pain, now hear this. I
17:27 learned to lament as he came even closer. I got this at Friday, November se 2nd 7th at 3 p.m.
17:35 And when I read those lines, something sort of crawled in my skin. I say, "Hey, I mean, sounds like what I'm reading in
17:42 Psalm 51. Did your wife tell you? He absolutely has no idea that my message was on Psalm 51." Then he goes on,
17:50 "There were many nights here filled with tears and uncertainty. I tried to calm it with many things like eating,
17:56 traveling, and meeting new people. Many people tell me, "I have a big void that
18:02 can be only filled by God." We try to fill this void with many things. And just as we're about to achieve it, it
18:09 slips away from our grasp. I want to read you the rest of it. I put it up. We
18:14 pursue many things to fill this void. We often not conscious of this void. This small chamber in FBC, we call it an
18:23 idol. It could be a person or a thing or an idol. Certain kind of marriage
18:28 success, let me add. It could be a pornographic addiction. It could be a desire to have a successful marriage. It
18:37 could be a struggle with homosexuality. It could be anger. It could be something. But it dwells in this very
18:44 small void. And and this very prophetic word, the place where the idol resides is that
18:50 small chamber. The only way to open that chamber is to hold a handle. It seems
18:56 like to hold a handle, one must lament.
19:01 And when I read this, the words of the psalmist comes to me, "The sacrifices of
19:07 God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Let the bones you have
19:15 crushed rejoice." And on that night, I I I I I put his
19:21 email in front of me. I said, "God, should I change my message?" And I I I deleted a lot of things. You see, this
19:27 morning, God is saying something very powerful. The need to lament over our sins. Why?
19:35 Because my sins and your sins are locked away in a very small place with a key
19:42 and no one knows it. But God wants us to open that chamber.
19:49 You cannot open it if you lament. Why? Because when you do not lament, it
19:54 becomes easier to fill that void by sinning. We told in the earlier chapter
19:59 in the spring at a time where kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army.
20:06 They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabba. But David remained in Jerusalem. Why is the author going to
20:13 such details? Verse 11, in the spring at a time when kings go off to war. Meaning
20:20 David, if you had gone to war, if you had been on guard, you had done your
20:26 job, you would not have had this happen. But what happens instead? He lets his
20:32 guards down. His God's anointed. He can do what he want. He can get a herum. And
20:38 then the next verse, one evening, David got up from his bed and walked around the roof of the palace and we all know
20:45 what happened next. I mean, you can blame the architect, right? I mean, what kind of stupid architect is this? Design
20:50 the palace. You can actually go and watch a girl bathing, you know? I mean, you should put some plants, some Bali
20:56 things, put some some nice result so you don't see a girl, you know. Must be the architect's fault, you know. That's not
21:02 the point, isn't it? The point is he was in a time and place where he felt
21:10 powerful. He was on top of the world. He didn't need to go to war. And so he took
21:16 a walk and he saw a girl and she was very beautiful. And like another song
21:22 goes, he can't get her out of his mind. Then he does something that kings only
21:27 can do. He sends for her. You see, you know why people sin? They sin because
21:33 they can. You know why some people don't sin? Because they can't. That day I was in the shopping center. I saw two Nepali
21:40 guys. I mean no offense to any Nepali and there was this what we call hot cheek walking by and they were going like that. After they went like that.
21:48 Now you think he's going to have an affair the girl. No. Why? Because he can't. But try imagine if this Nepali
21:54 boy is back home in his village and he made money and a Nepali girl walk past
21:60 him. Then it's different, right? because he can. That's what happened with David. When you do not lament, it becomes
22:07 easier to fill the void by sinning. You see, in the end, who's doing the walking?
22:12 Who's doing the walking? It's the dog. We try to keep our sin on the lease. You
22:19 know, you know, in my line, no, I meet a lot of contractors to them. You know what? Just fling, you know, do go to the
22:26 club, go to the car, okay? Go the GRO girls. No one would know. I just need to
22:31 contain it. I keep my wife and my kids and then I have this
22:37 I have I have all these struggles I have. I keep it separate. These things I keep here. No one needs to know. You try
22:44 to do a juggling act but it doesn't do that to you. The sin has a life of his
22:49 own and it will lead from one thing to another. You were just a one night fling. He loves to have girls. He just
22:57 wanted to sleep with her. She got pregnant. Oh no. So what does he do? He
23:03 tries to pin it on Uriah. He say, "Hey, come back from war. Spend time with your wife. You're a good soldier." Uriah
23:08 says, "No, he's a noble man. I I can't do that. My men are fighting out there." So he couldn't get Uriah to sleep with
23:15 the wife and pin the pregnancy on Uriah. Then he turns dark. He sends him out on
23:20 a suicide mission. And in that suicide mission, Uriah dies very conveniently. And you know what's
23:27 tragic? If you read the story, not only Uriah dies, but a whole lot of other soldiers, he sacrifices other men. He's
23:34 not just a murderer, he's a mass murderer. And in this line of doing this, you
23:40 think the palace doesn't know. You think his commander doesn't know. You think when he brings Basha back to the palace,
23:46 the maze don't talk about it. He has become a corrupted politician
23:52 from hero to zero. I I want to give you a story and I'm trying to change the
23:57 facts a bit. Many years ago, many many years ago, I knew two
24:02 two architects very close, boy and girl, and they they were doing the internship.
24:08 I'm changing the facts a little bit. And he went off to study in a foreign
24:13 country and then she followed suit and they were like brothers and sisters. Now, she made a bad mistake. He was
24:19 staying in a hostel and she decided to bunk in with him on one night. That's a
24:25 very stupid thing to do. So I had a phone call one night years ago and she says that when he she was sleeping he
24:33 tried to be funny. Now you know what that means. After that the dad calls me
24:38 and simple English was when she was asleep he tried to you know have a look.
24:45 So everyone gets upset asked me to call the boy. I caught a boy. He was in tears. He said he couldn't, you know,
24:51 like Hang Kong beta. I mean, let's be very brutal about it because she was asleep. He's on the bed. And he thought
24:58 if he open up a little bit, no one's going to know. But she woke up. Things went out of hand. And he promised to me,
25:05 "Look, nothing happened. I I know I shouldn't done it. Can she forgive me? I I I would make amends." Blah blah blah.
25:13 I call a few days later after I spoken to the girl's father. He completely changes his story. I bet you he spoke to
25:21 his parents. The parents might say, "You cheat now. You're going to throw away your entire studies because of a girl."
25:28 So from a boy who just wanted to have a peak, he ended up becoming a liar. And
25:34 then from becoming a liar, he started to what? Accuse the girl of being complicit. You notice sin has a habit.
25:40 Why? Because it was self-s survival. That's what David did. his survival instincts kicked in and the rep
25:48 repercussions of sins become bigger and bigger. You see, we like to think of sin
25:55 like there are big sins and small sins. But for example, as business people, you
25:60 become corrupted once, you become corrupted twice. Is now coming to the end of the year, many people are cooking
26:06 the books. When you cook the books, you encourage corruption. There's a snowball
26:11 effect. You talk bad about someone, the guy's character gets affected. He gets
26:16 bitter. It's a snowball effect. Never underplay your sin. Learn to lament. And
26:25 this morning, this is what God is telling us. Whether it's a sexual struggle you have in whatever means, or
26:31 whether it's pride, or whether it's corruption or hypocrisy or materialism,
26:36 that sin we must learn to lament. And in the end, sin deceives the heart. You see
26:42 how self-righteous David becomes, David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the Lord
26:48 lives, the man who does this deserves to die." Then Nathan says to David, "You
26:54 are the man." You see, you you you and I could be sitting here and listening and say, "Oh,
27:00 I wish my wife should listen to this. my
27:06 husband, my in-laws, my daughter, my son,
27:12 my everyone else. You know what's God telling me? No, you are the man. You are
27:19 that woman. It's me. We we often the problem with sin is that we often see it
27:25 when people do it to us, but never when we are doing it to others. We often get
27:31 very offended when how people treat us. But when we sin towards others, we
27:37 become like David. We are blind to it. We bottle it up inside so that no one
27:43 knows. And in the end, our good deeds will never redeem us of our sin. And
27:48 you're not a Christian there. We want to challenge you on this. David, you see, isn't a serial killer. No. He isn't a
27:56 bad guy. A lot of us like to divide ourselves. I'm a good guy. He's a bad guy. There's a lot of non-Christians
28:01 say, "I don't get this Christian thing. Shouldn't God judge me by my good deeds?" You know why people like to
28:06 believe that? Because they think their good deeds are good enough to go to heaven. It doesn't clean it up. Here is
28:14 a man who is both hero and zero. He is a man who is noble, a man who is
28:22 righteous, a man who has grace, a brave man. At the same time, he is a murderer,
28:31 adulterer, and corrupted. Now, the reason why you and I don't go
28:38 into such deep sin is simply because of a lack of opportunity. Do not get that
28:46 mistaken. And because of that, we need to be cleansed. And when we look at Psalm 51, you see the language of the
28:53 cleansing has got to do with this. Wash away my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Verse two. Verse 7. Again,
28:60 repetition. Cleanse me with his soap, I will be clean. Wash me, I'll be whiter with snow. What God is saying is that I
29:07 cannot buy my salvation. I need something external to clean me. You see,
29:13 when God looks at us, he sees sin. He is a pure God.
29:19 And God sends his son to die on the cross to wash away my sins. and your
29:25 sins. So that by grace we are called back to him. But by that is not enough.
29:32 That cleansing we have to recognize my sin and your sin. And here the most
29:38 second important point. The first point is we need to lament on our sin. The second is found in this. The thing David
29:45 done displeased the Lord. That's the end of chapter 11. Chapter 12 begins with
29:51 one word. The Lord sent Nathan to David.
29:56 And this morning we ask, has God sent people to you? You see, how does God
30:03 speak? We like to believe God speaks in in prompting or you want a vision. No.
30:09 You know how God speaks? He sends his friends to you. He sends people to come
30:14 up to you to say things. He sent Joshua to drop me an email.
30:20 You know what happens? How you know when God is speaking to you when people tell you things you feel uncomfortable
30:28 and you don't like to hear it but deep deep down inside you know it's right now
30:35 let's go back to the to the the to the story in 2 Samuel what is interesting in
30:40 second Samuel is this immediately after David says Nathan says to David you are
30:47 the man you know what David says in verse 13 then David says to Nan, I have
30:52 sinned against the Lord. Now let's just say I come up to Kunuan. I say Kuana,
30:58 you did something wrong comes up to me and say, Anna, you did something wrong. You think I will say I have sinned
31:04 against the Lord. No, I will tell you're wrong. Correct. We don't like people to
31:09 tell us. You see, but if this is the second point which is important, the point is this.
31:17 Who has God sent to you? And secondly, who has God sent you to? You see,
31:23 there's a very important point very missing in church nowadays. It's called accountability.
31:29 I give you a few verses up there. They all point to the same thing. It's important to have nens and to be a nan.
31:36 Now, let me just open this up. You and I have secrets locked away in
31:42 that chamber. You're not going to tell me. It's locked in. I'm not going to tell you. It is my struggles. It is my
31:49 sin. It is my bad habits. It is things I've done in the past is locked away inside here. These things satisfy me. I
31:58 know deep down inside is wrong. But I'm not going to tell you. Why? Because the
32:04 moment I open my mouth to you, I'm scared you're going to tell everybody out there. That's one. Number two, if I
32:10 tell it to you, you're going to judge me. But here, scripture tells us the importance of accountability.
32:17 And because we don't tell one another our sins, we come through church and you know what becomes? It becomes just a
32:25 ritual. We sit there, we hear sermons, but deep down inside each one of us here
32:30 has a void. Is filled with something. For men here, some of us is a sexual sin. Or it could be an ambition. It
32:37 could be envy. It could be something we did in the past is locked away inside and we don't want anyone to know.
32:45 How do we get that open? Now, what does nens do? They trigger us so that our sin
32:54 springs from genuine guilt. Psalm 51:6 says this, "Surely you desire truth in
33:01 the inner parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. My conscience is
33:06 clear." Paul says, "But that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me." Now let's just say that in
33:13 my line I do something wrong. I I I cook my books
33:18 something then I feel bad. No, you know this is corruption. I shouldn't cook my books. But after linger a long time you
33:24 know I'll tell myself I have no choice. Actually I have a choice. Then I'll tell myself everyone's doing it. Then I'll
33:31 tell myself am I hurting anybody? The more I tell myself I convince myself I'm
33:37 not doing wrong. You see, this is why it must come from genuine guilt. The reason
33:43 why we do not lament over a sin is we do not want to pull it out to see that it's
33:49 wrong. It's like Frank Sinatra. It is his way. He thinks he's right. It's his
33:56 life, his way. He doesn't care what you think so long he does it his way. Now, I'm going to show you another musician
34:01 who also did it his way. Today, I'm going to educate the young people on 1970s music. See a lot of music today to
34:08 me doesn't have the character of the past. So Frank Sinatra says he did it my
34:13 way. Here's another musician who did it my way. He's called Sid Vicious.
34:18 Sid Vicious. Johnny Rotten were the leaders of a band called the Sex Pistols. He also did it my way.
34:25 Only problem with Sid Vicious, he ended up dead because of it of a heroin overdose. So what's the difference
34:32 between Frank Sinatra's My Way? Frank Sinra decides what is right and wrong in
34:37 his mind in his heart. So does this man and so does this guy. This guy also does
34:43 it my way. So to Ibrahim Ali what he did is not wrong. You know he
34:49 never meant to offend Christians. It's okay to say burn the Bible. So in the end guilt doesn't happen. Now
34:57 is this a big problem in the church today? It is. How do we know that?
35:02 Because the symptom happens when churches fight. You see when churches fight over whatever you know what they
35:08 do? They split. And when they split, they will reinvent history in their own respective churches. They will say the
35:15 other pastors like that, like that, like that, like that. Then the other side will say this side is like that, like that, like that. The truth is what we
35:21 like to hear. And that's why we need neighbors to often tell us which is the
35:26 way, which is God's way. But in the end, why does David say in verse 13, so
35:34 quickly I have sinned against the Lord? I tell you what I suspect. I think deep down inside he was struggling. I think
35:41 deep deep down inside that void, he knew what he did was wrong. And by the moment
35:47 Nathan confronted him and says, "You are the man." It all came out. But here's
35:53 our problem, isn't it? We know the things we do are wrong but we find it
35:60 hard to control it. I mean I I mean for myself I don't need to hear another sermon about I know you shouldn't do
36:07 this and that. I mean thank you very much. I know how I mean we all know for example let's say
36:13 since about sexual let's look pornography everyone a lot of guys struggle with it. The question is not that how do you break out of it? Or
36:21 corruption or envy. How do you break out of it? We all know we shouldn't sin. The
36:27 issue is how. And John Piper gives us a clue. He says what makes a person a
36:33 Christian is the connection he has with Jesus Christ that shapes how he thinks
36:40 and feels about his discouragement and his sin and guilt. You see what we need
36:46 is we need renewal. And how do we go around renewal? You see, if if we stand
36:52 here as preachers and we tell you you shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do that, you shouldn't do that, bad boy,
36:58 bad girl, bad, bad, bad, you're going to leave the door, end of this message and you're going to feel very depressed.
37:04 Then for the next few weeks, you try to be a good boy and a good girl. after one month like the Hawin again say betahan
37:12 you go back and when you go back you become worse than before you see the Bible isn't interested about behavior
37:19 modification he isn't interested God's not interested in behavior modification what is the
37:25 psalmist telling us psalmist is telling us in Psalm 51 create in me what a pure
37:31 heart meaning unless my heart is transformed
37:36 form. Even though I try to be a good Christian,
37:42 it will not work because I feel guilty. I want to but I
37:47 can't. And there a lot of Christians move into this kind of quark mire and they feel depressed. But how do we renew
37:54 ourselves? What does David do? He throws himself back to God's love. Verse one,
38:01 have mercy on me, oh God, according to your unfailing love. This is such a
38:09 great verse. The key to fight sin is not to whack you and I with a big stick.
38:16 That only changes my behavior. The key for you and I to fight sin is to fill
38:23 that void with the love of God that so satisfies
38:28 that everything else diminishes. And that brother and sisters is a process.
38:34 For some of us is a long process, some of us is a short process. For many of us
38:40 is a lifetime process. And the best example we get of this is a woman caught in adultery.
38:46 She's caught in adultery. What does God tell her? Very interesting. Two verses are placed side by side. The first
38:53 neither do I condemn you. But saying that in itself is not enough because if
38:59 I say that it gives me and you a license to sin. Some people believe that Jesus
39:04 washed away my sins. I can do whatever I like. Then Jesus adds the other one on equal balance. Go and sin no more. You
39:13 see the connection is this. For a person to go and sin no more, he must feel the
39:20 love of God, the grace of God that does not condemn. And Pastor Joshua
39:27 put it rightly so prophetically. He says, "Once we open it, this chamber,
39:35 we ask Jesus to come into our heart. This small chamber, we need to lament
39:41 over our sin. We need people to tell us the gravity of our sin because we are blind to it. And
39:49 when God speaks, we don't like to hear. But the moment we confess it, when with
39:55 lamentation, we open that chamber, God fills in. And when God fills in, he
40:02 says, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."
40:09 You see sin cleansing and renewal. David says, "Create in me a pure heart, oh
40:16 God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Paul says this, "I pray that out of
40:23 his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being." That's the same
40:29 thing, a steadfast spirit within me. And then he says, "So that Christ may dwell
40:36 in your hearts." That's the pure heart. And I pray that you being rooted and
40:42 established in love may have power together with all the saints. You know, I was telling you, you can't do it
40:49 alone. You and I need one another to be nens and to receive nens. And once we do
40:57 that, when we grasp how wide, how long, how high, how deep is the love of
41:04 Christ, when we know this love surpasses knowledge. When we filled to the measure
41:10 of the fullness of God that satisfies, we get satisfaction,
41:17 not because we tried, but because God gave. Then fighting sin becomes easier.
41:25 I hope we get that because it's a tremendous lesson. I like to ask the musicians to come up and I want to throw
41:33 that challenge to you. Fighting sin is not a matter of you holding your breath
41:38 and trying to change your behavior. It's not going to work. Fighting sin begins
41:44 with you lamenting and then having the courage to confess it to some people. And when you do that,
41:51 you invite Christ into your hearts. and God ask God to fill you with the
41:58 fullness of his love. Then whether you're struggling with sex or with money
42:04 or with anger or with disappointment or with insecurity,
42:10 these things fade. I really want to challenge you that this morning. This morning we in the first
42:16 service uh we had God break many people down and it was tremendously humbling.
42:23 Here I want to throw a question to you. I want you to think of that small chamber and a lot of us have it is
42:30 locked away. This morning God says open it with lamentation
42:36 and let Jesus come in. I want to close in a prayer without any music. God
42:44 doesn't need music at the moment. And I want to challenge you if you're struggling with sin. All I ask you is to
42:51 put your hand up and put it down. Now, I will be the first guy now to do it. I'm struggling with sin. I have habits which
42:57 I struggle with. I'm not a saint, but I'm asking God to fill me. I'm going to
43:02 throw the challenge to you and then let me pray over you. Shall we do that? And I I cannot ask anyone at the back
43:09 because you can see people. Can you close your eyes? Okay. Because we don't want anyone to see. This is private. Uh
43:16 we don't want anyone to feel embarrassed. The reason why people don't open up because they feel judged. So
43:21 let's come before God in prayer and may the spirit wash over us. Lord, as we
43:26 begin this time of anointing, this time of intercession, we ask for respect
43:33 that nobody opens their eyes. Spirit, just move over us right now
43:38 in this silence. Speak to our hearts.
43:43 And you're sitting there and you feel uncomfortable. You feel you feel you know that you have sin and you need God
43:49 to get into that small chamber. That's the spirit moving. So right now God is asking if you or I
43:58 if you're struggling with a sin or you have sin you did in the past so bad no
44:03 one knows. Or maybe you think you're very righteous and suddenly God tells you actually you're much more sinful
44:09 than you think. If you're like me and you need to confess your sin, would you
44:16 raise your hand? That's all I ask. Just raise your hand. Thank you in front. I see you. Thank you at the back. Thank you at the back. Thank you. Thank you.
44:23 Thank you. Anyone else at the far back? I see you at the right hand side. Anyone else? Anyone else? Yes, I see you at the
44:29 back. Left hand side. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else? Would you just put your hands out then quickly put it down?
44:35 Yes, I see your hands. Thank you, brother. Anyone else at the back? I see you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. We need
44:41 the cross to wash us, clean us from our sins. We are called by grace and grace
44:49 alone. We cannot save ourselves. And we're thankful because of the love you showed us on the cross that so fills us.
44:57 Open that chamber and we pour out every dirty secret only you know God. We do
45:02 not share with anyone else, not even closest people. And we lay it at the cross. We open that chamber trembling
45:09 with lamentation. And we ask, oh Lord, that as we daily try to empty that
45:14 secret chamber, that heart of hearts of all our insecurities and our sinful
45:19 desires and our ambitions and our our hate and anger. Would you fill that with your love? That love that surpasses all
45:27 understanding. Oh Lord, fill us as daily as we walk. That love so excites us and
45:33 satisfies us. Sin does not have a grip on us. And Lord, that may be a lifetime
45:38 journey. But this day, today, we pledge this to you. And we pray for that, oh
45:44 Lord. We pray that the power of your love, that power, oh Lord, that will
45:50 renew our mind, that power of love that will change our hearts, will make us saw
45:57 on eagle's wings, oh Lord, and we will become renewed, and our salvation will
46:03 be restored. We say this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. We're going to sing this song.
