S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: You know, kids will put you on the spot and
S2: ask you questions.
S3: Can't wait for that. I'm excited.
S2: Wait till your little girl starts asking you questions. Yes,
S2: some of them. They start simple, but they get complex
S2: real quick. Yeah.
S3: I'm scared. Do you have an example?
S4: And the whys and the whys and the whys?
S3: Don't stop. You can share.
S2: Why? Oh, I have many examples, but recently I was
S2: just yesterday I was talking with, you know, car rides
S2: are great for conversations with kids. And I'm in that
S2: stage where I spend a lot of time in the
S2: car with my kids. I was shuttling them from one
S2: place to the other, and for some reason, my daughter
S2: had a ton of questions about marriage. Just marriage in general. What?
S2: What kind of thing? Like, what is love? What is
S2: just like.
S3: Good question.
S2: Philosophical questions. And then she started asking about, like, things
S2: that cause a marriage to go wrong. And so she
S2: started asking about, like, adultery and all these questions. And
S2: I'm like, where is this coming from? Where is this going?
S2: But the thing that that that was interesting is because,
S2: you know, she's she's still young. She was like, how
S2: in the world could someone do something like that to
S2: someone who they really love?
S3: Yeah.
S2: How could someone do something like that? And of course,
S2: if you don't have to live a lot more of
S2: life to realize that people do all kinds of things.
S3: Totally.
S2: That you kind of go. How?
S3: Yeah. That doesn't that doesn't compute in my brain, whatever
S3: the action may be. It doesn't make any sense how
S3: you could get yourself there.
S2: But then at the same time, you look at your
S2: own life and maybe you haven't committed adultery, but guaranteed
S2: there's been some point in time in your life where
S2: you did something, where you look back and go, how
S2: did I do that?
S3: Yeah. How did I get down that road and why?
S2: How? How did I miss it that bad?
S3: Yeah.
S2: And you realize the funny thing about life, especially walking
S2: with the Lord, is the closer you get to to God, actually,
S2: the more aware you become of how desperately you need
S2: him to not blow it in some major area. No
S2: doubt your level of sort of self confidence like, I
S2: got this. I could never do that. Look at that
S2: person over there. Wrecking their life, wrecking their marriage, not
S2: being nice to their kid. I could never really.
S3: Be very careful about that.
S2: Be careful. The closer you walk with the Lord, the
S2: more you realize that old statement. But for the grace
S2: of God, there go I.
S3: Absolutely.
S2: So the truth is, how do people do the things
S2: that they do to other people? Sin.
S3: Sin.
S2: Because of sin, this sin sickness that we are all
S2: infected with from the very beginning and absolutely need the
S2: saving power of Jesus Christ. And even then, we're still
S2: going to miss it. Even as we grow in our
S2: sanctification process, there's still going to be ways that we
S2: miss it. Coming up, we cannot have a week about
S2: David and not address the biggest area where he absolutely
S2: blew it. The sin of David that had such far
S2: reaching consequence. Was he absolutely forgiven and restored? Yep. But boy,
S2: the fallout was great. How do you recover from this
S2: kind of sin? Let's talk about it coming up.
S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes follow cast
S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
S2: Spending time looking at the life of David and David
S2: got so much right in his life, so many lessons
S2: that we can glean his courage, his role as a musician,
S2: his role as a leader. But there was this one thing,
S2: and scripture even points to it. Doctor Winfred Nealy joining
S2: us right now. Share this verse. And then we'll talk
S2: about this one time in David's life where he was
S2: not he did not have a heart for God.
S5: Well, this is the spirit of God's commentary on David's life,
S5: where it says, For David's sake, the Lord his God
S5: gave him a lamp. This is another one of his
S5: descendants in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, establishing Jerusalem,
S5: because David did what was right in the eyes of
S5: the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that
S5: he commanded him all the days of his life, except
S5: in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And so, as
S5: we get into this conversation, it seems to me to
S5: use this verse as a framework for it. Otherwise it
S5: could be easily misunderstood. I mean, this is a massive
S5: statement here. Yeah. About what God thought about David's life.
S5: And would you like to have God write that on
S5: your on your headstone at your grave? He did what
S5: was right in the eyes of the Lord, so forth
S5: and so on. And of course, here is an exception.
S5: So but this is the verse that it seems to
S5: me should frame what we're going to talk about next.
S2: So let's talk about this now. Maybe you've heard of
S2: the story of David and Bathsheba, but I'm going to
S2: assume that some of you haven't. Uriah the Hittite is
S2: who's mentioned in that first? Is that first or second kings?
S5: That's first Kings, chapter 15, verse five.
S2: So he's mentioned there. He was the husband of Bathsheba.
S2: Give us the the just the summary narrative of what
S2: happens in this incident so that we can begin to
S2: unpack it.
S5: Well, it's mentioned this story is in second Samuel chapter
S5: 11 and 12, where there is there's a war going
S5: on with Ammon, Amnon. And they're finishing up the job now,
S5: and David stays in Jerusalem. And it really should have
S5: been out there with his soldiers while he's walking on
S5: the palace. He happens to see a woman bathing. Then
S5: she was beautiful. And in Old Testament narratives, physical descriptions
S5: are rare. And so when we have them, that's really,
S5: really important in the narrative, right? So she's beautiful. And
S5: David inquires about her, sends for her, he takes her
S5: and lies with her, and she goes back home and
S5: you think it's all over. Okay? The narrator says. And
S5: the woman conceived.
S2: That David knew that she was the wife of one
S2: of his men out fighting wars.
S5: Oh. Good night. Yeah, sure he did.
S2: This was absolutely known to him. So he did not
S2: think that this was an available woman?
S5: No, he knew that. He knew who she was. He knew.
S5: In fact, the Scripture says, is this not Bathsheba, the
S5: daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And
S5: Eliam was one of David's mighty men, so was Uriah
S5: the Hittite and Eliam. Apparently Ilium's father was Ahithophel, David's counselor.
S5: Meaning then. Not only that, but this was the granddaughter
S5: of one of David's key counselors. I mean, these were
S5: men in his inner circle.
S2: So a betrayal on so many levels.
S5: Betrayal on so many levels because he's been caught up
S5: in capitulating to lust that was in his heart.
S2: And so then it gets worse. The woman conceived. This
S2: is now second Samuel 11 five as she sends word
S2: she and the woman conceived, and she sent and told David,
S2: I'm pregnant. So now David has a problem, because now
S2: this sin will most certainly be discovered because Bathsheba, her husband,
S2: is out fighting the war. So he's nowhere near her.
S2: So pick it up. From there, David comes up with
S2: a pretty diabolical plan to cover up his own sin.
S5: Yeah, yeah. The woman conceived. That itself is startling. This
S5: is one of the more startling conceptions in Scripture. The
S5: woman conceived, and she sends a note to David. And
S5: all she says is two words in Hebrew. I'm pregnant.
S5: This is the only time she speaks in the entire story.
S5: I'm pregnant. And after that, David comes up with a plan. Now,
S5: interestingly enough, the narrator doesn't say that David is trying
S5: to hide his sin. But that's what's very obvious by
S5: what he does, right? You see what I'm saying? Yes. So?
S5: So he. He calls Uriah. Now, keep in mind, one
S5: of the problems we have is we are so familiar
S5: with the story. So he calls Uriah. Why is he
S5: calling him? Is he calling him to say to him. Listen, brother,
S5: I blew it. I did something that was terrible. Here.
S5: He summons him back because he wants him to go
S5: back home, spend some time with his wife and it's gone.
S5: It looks like it's Uriah's baby. And that doesn't work out.
S5: So then David tries to make him drunk. It says
S5: he literally made him drunk. In the narrative, I just
S5: think about this. So Uriah is drunk under pressure from
S5: the king, and he still goes out and sleeps with
S5: the men that are there instead of going home to
S5: be with his wife. So drunk. Intoxicated. Uriah has more
S5: integrity than sober David. See, that didn't work out. So David,
S5: then has Uriah come and said, I have a message
S5: in essence for Joab and the the the sealed document
S5: that he gives to Uriah actually contains Darius death sentence
S5: in it. And he takes this letter back to Joab.
S5: Joab opens it and he says, put Uriah at the
S5: front of the line, and withdraw from him. So forth
S5: and so on. Now General Joab also is a smart guy.
S5: So he's going to go along with this. So think
S5: about this. Now, this is David's nephew. So now he's
S5: got his nephew involved and in some kind of diabolical
S5: scheme to have someone who who has converted to Yahweh murdered.
S5: But job has got to do it in such a
S5: way so that he doesn't look culpable. So there are
S5: several men that Joab has with Uriah. So not only
S5: is Uriah murdered, several of the Israeli soldiers are also
S5: murdered as well. We don't know who they were. Their
S5: names are not mentioned. We just know that some are.
S5: Other David's servants fell as well. Right now, David decides
S5: to marry her. He takes her and they get married.
S5: And it's interesting. Humanly speaking, it looks as if David
S5: has gotten away with this. He pulled it off. But
S5: then the narrator stops the action. Kind of like a
S5: timeout in a basketball game. No, this is what this
S5: is what's happening at the end of the chapter. Kind
S5: of a timeout where it says, But the thing that
S5: David had done displeased the Lord.
S2: We're going to pause right there. Coming up, we're going
S2: to have more with Doctor Winfred Neely looking at the
S2: life of David. Wouldn't a sin like this be disqualifying?
S2: This is a man after God's own heart, even still.
S2: Let's talk more about it coming up.
S1: He was running from God, but God's love brought him home.
S1: Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on
S1: Moody Radio.
S2: It's a story in Scripture that is uncomfortable to read.
S2: You read about David, a man after God's own heart.
S2: He got so much right in his life. But this
S2: one incident with Bathsheba sees a woman on the rooftop.
S2: She's beautiful. He takes her, and then when she gets pregnant,
S2: he has her husband murdered. And that's the short summary
S2: of this horrific incident recorded in second Samuel 11 and 12.
S2: We left it off where David thinks he's gotten away
S2: with it because he has the husband killed. He marries Bathsheba.
S2: And so it's certainly to the onlooker, looks like he well,
S2: maybe he married this widow quickly. And then they conceived
S2: quickly and none were the wiser. But it doesn't quite
S2: play out that way.
S5: No, it doesn't quite play out that way, because God
S5: loves David too much.
S2: To let him get away with.
S5: It, to let him get away with this. He loves
S5: him too much. Same thing for all of us as
S5: followers of Christ. He loves us too much and the Lord.
S5: In the next chapter there's nothing. When you read second
S5: Samuel 11 and 12, we have a tendency to separate
S5: them out, when in fact, second Samuel 11 and 12
S5: should be read together so that if you're reading your Bible,
S5: if you have the time, you should read both of
S5: them together. It's one account, not even though we have
S5: two chapters. Okay, so chapter 12, the Lord, YHWH Yahweh
S5: does all of the sending. Chapter 11 David does the sending.
S5: Chapter 12 Yahweh is doing the sending, the Lord is
S5: sending the sending, and he sends Nathan to David.
S2: Nathan the prophet.
S5: Nathan, Nathan the prophet to David. And he comes in
S5: with a story. And David actually thinks the story is
S5: about somebody else, you see. And this rich guy comes
S5: in there and he takes this one little ewe lamb
S5: from this fella, then slaughters it and gives it to
S5: his friend. And David is all upset, outraged and standard.
S5: I can just see him now standing up. The man
S5: who done this is worthy of death, and the story
S5: has done its work at that point. His defenses are
S5: down and Nathan looks at him and said, you are
S5: the man. And he begins to tell him. Nathan does
S5: in the name of the Lord. He exalted you. He
S5: blessed you. He used you. Why would you despise him
S5: like that? Now this is God actually speaking in the
S5: first person. Why would you despise me through Nathan? He's
S5: asking him these questions and highlighting to him that sin
S5: is a form of insanity. It's folly. It's madness. What
S5: you've done here. And you've had Uriah the Hittite killed
S5: with the sword of the enemies of God, of the
S5: sons of Ammon, and taken his wife to be your wife.
S5: And as a consequence of this, God says to him,
S5: the sword shall never depart from your house. That's going
S5: to be a sword like experience over your house for
S5: the rest of your life. And so you think about
S5: all of the consequences that are going to come out
S5: of this. Number one, that baby is going to die
S5: on the seventh day. It says, I suspect that the
S5: seven days after the baby was born. Didn't make it
S5: to the eighth day. The day of circumcision, right? The
S5: unnamed baby dies in the next chapter. Amnon, the crown prince,
S5: rapes his own sister. His half sister. He rapes her.
S5: Absalom and his own brother is going to have him
S5: murdered because David is passive. Now he's paralyzed. He can't
S5: do anything about this kind of egregious behavior within his
S5: own family. Now what? David says I have sinned against
S5: the Lord. I've sinned against the Lord. And something unexpected happens.
S5: The Lord forgives David.
S2: Yeah. And and that's when you think about the forgiveness
S2: of God. Sometimes when you think about it in your
S2: own life. Yeah. You have tremendous gratitude, of course, but
S2: but sometimes we have a tendency when we look at
S2: stories like this or even other people's lives, we don't
S2: necessarily want the forgiveness of God to be extended so freely.
S2: Sometimes when we think what's been done is too heinous. This?
S5: Yeah, well, that's the scandal of the narrative. Yeah, and
S5: it's scandalized a lot of thinkers who've dealt with this text. One,
S5: the fact that God forgave David, what he did were
S5: capital offenses in ancient Israel. They required the death penalty.
S5: The deliberate taking of a human life required the death penalty.
S5: Adultery in connection with what he's done with another man's
S5: wife required the death penalty. So no doubt David is
S5: expecting that the Lord is going to strike him down
S5: the same way that he struck down Navajo in first
S5: Samuel chapter 25. The Lord is going, it's going to
S5: strike me down. But instead God forgives David because of
S5: his confession. The Bible does say, if we confess our sins,
S5: he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
S5: and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God does
S5: forgive David, but remember, the consequences will follow him for
S5: the rest of his life. You can do something crazy,
S5: be forgiven by God, and even restored, but the consequences
S5: may follow you and your family for the rest of
S5: your life.
S2: So what do you. What's the. I want to give
S2: you the final word here. What's the main takeaway from
S2: from something like this? Because obviously there's the one sin
S2: can have, even though forgiven can have unbelievable consequences. And
S2: I think all of us in our lives have seen
S2: in varying degrees, the impact of, of sin. But then
S2: there's also the scandal, the scandal of grace that we
S2: are so clearly the beneficiaries of.
S5: Well, let me say this Two things here one, you
S5: have the birth of Solomon in the narrative. Now, we
S5: know from the chronicler that Bathsheba and chronicles Bathsheba as
S5: she's named here, had four children. Solomon was not the
S5: first child, he was the fourth one. But in this narrative,
S5: the narrator goes to the future and brings the birth
S5: of Solomon and places it right here. Wow. In the
S5: midst of this text to highlight the grace of God
S5: and some commentators, I think it was Walter Brueggemann who
S5: said that the grace extended to David seems, humanly speaking,
S5: more scandalous than what he had done. But that's the
S5: grace of God. That's the grace of God. But yet
S5: at the same time, he's going to pay a dear
S5: price for that, as I have preached this text, one
S5: of the things that I have said to my listeners
S5: is this it will cost you to walk with God,
S5: but it will cost you and your family much, much
S5: more if you do not. That's the big takeaway. It
S5: will cost you to walk with God, but will cost
S5: you and your family much, much more if you do not.
S5: Especially if you are a leader and have been entrusted
S5: with stewardship and power and authority and to to abuse,
S5: that is absolutely, absolutely devastating with massive consequences. Right. Forgiven? Yeah, sure.
S5: He was restored. He sure was. But the consequences followed
S5: him for the rest of her life, even on up
S5: into the New Testament when we're dealing with the genealogy
S5: of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says Solomon was born
S5: by her of Uriah the Hittite. All of these centuries later,
S5: that's still being brought up to remind us of the
S5: danger of saying yes to sin, and also the scandal
S5: of the grace of God. This is the family that
S5: the Lord Jesus Christ identifies himself with in Matthew. Meaning,
S5: none of us frankly deserve anything from God. All of
S5: us deserve to be in hell today. It's only by
S5: the grace of God that we're on our way to
S5: heaven as followers of Christ, and by the power of
S5: the spirit, he keeps us from our own selves.
S1: Start your day moving closer to Jesus. You're listening to
S1: Carl and crew.
S2: What? Did God love you too much to let you
S2: get away with? I'm fascinated by that statement that Doctor
S2: Neeley made about David, because it was actually the love
S2: of God that caused David to to get caught. Essentially,
S2: it was an act of mercy that his sin was exposed.
S3: No doubt.
S2: Which is the thought of being exposed in your sin
S2: is terrifying, right?
S3: No one wants that. It's not a good feeling.
S2: But it's the love of God that allows us to
S2: not continue on a path that ultimately will lead to destruction.
S3: It's worse. It's worse than having your sin made known.
S2: And for David, you know, Psalm 51 is a famous psalm,
S2: and it was written by David when Nathan goes to
S2: confront him in his sin, and David when he realizes
S2: that he's the guy that's being described in that little,
S2: that little example.
S4: Oh, it's me.
S2: It's.
S4: You.
S2: He owns it quickly.
S3: Very quickly. Once he realizes this is who we're talking about,
S3: everyone sees it. Well, at least the prophet and God did.
S3: Then he gets on his knees.
S2: I'm going to read to you Psalm 51. This was
S2: David's response. He says, have mercy on me, O God,
S2: according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy,
S2: blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
S2: and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions,
S2: and my sin is ever before me. Against you. You
S2: only have I sinned and done what is evil in
S2: your sight, so that you may be justified in your
S2: words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought
S2: forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold,
S2: you delight in truth in the inward being, and you
S2: teach me wisdom in the secret heart. A couple more
S2: verses here. He says, purge me with hyssop, and I
S2: shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
S2: than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the
S2: bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from
S2: my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Created me
S2: a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
S2: within me. I read Psalm 51 one through ten. A
S2: couple more verses, but we'll stop there. But this one,
S2: maybe you've heard there's a song that was written, created
S2: me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right
S2: spirit within me. I remember singing it in church when
S2: I was growing up. I didn't know that it was
S2: linked to this. But when you think about David's desire
S2: to have a clean heart, to be purified, his acknowledgment
S2: that when he says, I'm against you and you only
S2: have I sinned says not to suggest that Bathsheba wasn't
S2: sinned against that Uriah wasn't sinned against. But ultimately the
S2: one that we answer to is God. Our sin is
S2: we deal with God for our sin even more than
S2: we deal with other people.
S3: Absolutely. The essence of sin, no matter what it is,
S3: always is, stands in the presence of God and is
S3: judged there.
S2: Yeah.
S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
S2: You ever been relieved that you got caught? Because carrying
S2: around whatever, whatever you'd lied about or tried to hide
S2: from your parents or your teacher? Sometimes there's relief that
S2: comes from even when you're caught. Like, oh, boy. Now
S2: I don't at least I can stop.
S4: Out there.
S2: Lying.
S4: Yeah. It's done. At least I don't have to.
S2: Carry around this weight of. Ah. Are they going to
S2: find out? Did I get away with it?
S4: Yeah.
S2: You know, and when you're. When you're younger, maybe it's
S2: you cheated on a test or you didn't. Didn't. You
S2: know the classic the kid who hides hides the report
S2: card because they don't want mom and dad to see it.
S2: It's like, are they going to find out? Are they.
S2: Are they not? You know, sometimes it's the mercy of
S2: God that allows us to have our sin exposed in
S2: some way, doesn't have to be necessarily in some public way,
S2: but allows someone to catch us and stop us and
S2: bring us to our senses. That's what happened with David.
S2: Nathan confronted him in his sin. At first, David didn't
S2: get it when he set up this scenario. So what
S2: would you say to a guy who goes and steals this?
S2: What was a the the one lamb a lamb.
S3: Yeah.
S2: And David's sense of justice. Well that's absolutely wrong. And
S2: he doesn't take him a second to realize Nathan says
S2: it's you. You're the man. He had taken the wife
S2: of Uriah. He had raped her, for lack of a
S2: better word. Let's just call it what it is. She
S2: gets pregnant. He has Uriah killed. Covers it up, marries her,
S2: and then tries to go on with life. Yeah, but
S2: the mercy of God. God loved him too much to
S2: let him get away with it. What? Did God love
S2: you too much to let you get away with? Let's
S2: go to John. First time caller from Idaho. Tell me.
S6: So God love me too much to let me get
S6: away with continuing to live as a drug addict and
S6: kill myself. I was a meth head, a deviant, got
S6: busted for manufacturing methamphetamine, went to prison where God got
S6: Ahold of my life. And this has been a couple
S6: decades ago now. And I'm. I'm married to a pastor's daughter.
S6: I have grandkids and a family and my my family
S6: that had disowned me because of my drug use and
S6: theft and craziness is now part of my life again.
S6: And I if God hadn't allowed me to go to prison,
S6: I would have died of an overdose long ago. So
S6: he was gracious enough to use prison to save me.
S2: Wow, John, first time caller from Idaho. Thank you so
S2: much for sharing your story. That's a freedom story. Let's
S2: go to Kathy. First time caller from Michigan. What? Did
S2: God love you too much to let you get away with?
S7: I was a brand new student at Moody Bible Institute
S7: and had only been a Christian for a year, and
S7: a professor asked us to do a stake take home
S7: test that we could do in our dorm room. But
S7: I didn't know the Bible well enough. And so I
S7: opened the Bible to answer the questions, and I thought,
S7: I won't get a very good grade on this, but
S7: I got an A, which made me feel very guilty.
S7: I wouldn't have gotten an A unless I opened that
S7: Bible to take the test. So a month or so later,
S7: I wrote him a note and told him that I
S7: cheated and he wrote me back and said, thank you
S7: so much for telling me. And from then on, he
S7: didn't do any more take home Bible tests for students.
S2: Wow. So, Kathy, the opening the Bible, I'm assuming was
S2: not allowed for this take home test.
S7: Yes. You were not supposed to open the Bible, but
S7: as a brand new Christian, I hardly knew anything about
S7: the Bible. So that's why I opened it. But as
S7: I continued to be a student there, then I learned
S7: more and more what was right and what was wrong.
S7: And then I realized, well, that wasn't a good choice.
S2: Oh, boy. Cathy, first time caller from Michigan. You know,
S2: it's the love of God that sometimes allows us to
S2: to have our sin exposed. God loves us too much
S2: sometimes to leave us. It's the exposure of God. Sometimes
S2: that brings hope because he doesn't leave us where we're at.
S1: Walking closer to Jesus every day. You're listening to Carl
S1: and crew.
S2: You know you can get yourself in trouble if you
S2: start to look at life based on what you think
S2: people deserve or don't deserve, or what you deserve or
S2: don't deserve. Why are you laughing?
S3: Because, uh. Okay, so I fall into this trap a
S3: little too much sometimes. especially when I'm driving, I'm driving
S3: and someone, you know, someone's just speeding or going and
S3: I'm I'm upset with how they're driving. I go, come on, man,
S3: can't you just like, calm down a little bit? And
S3: then I'm driving and sometimes maybe I'm really late for something.
S3: Or maybe I feel like I need to get somewhere
S3: and it's urgent or important or extreme, and I, you know,
S3: sometimes it has been extreme where I've needed to get
S3: somewhere quickly. And it's not a good thing if I don't.
S3: And so I, I'm driving fast and I'm cutting around
S3: people and I go, well, it's justified because I have
S3: something that I need to do. And I'm like, well,
S3: you know, everyone in their car is thinking the exact
S3: same thing. Yeah. What are you doing? Getting upset at
S3: those people. But then sometimes you're doing the same thing
S3: that you're getting upset about.
S2: Or have you ever had, like, there's like a long
S2: line where everybody's supposed to merge and everybody's kind of
S2: weaving in. Then there's that one car that just cuts,
S2: like goes on the shoulder, goes all the way to the.
S3: Front, the shoulder drivers.
S2: And then, you know, there's this, this strong sense of
S2: like justice of like, this person doesn't deserve to be
S2: let in right now.
S3: Absolutely. You're like, man, if I just saw them coming,
S3: I could have got on the shoulder and I could
S3: have blocked them from going any further.
S2: They didn't wait their turn like everybody else. Nope. Right.
S4: Like that construction, you know, it all comes down to
S4: one lane, and people just stay in that other lane
S4: as far as they can, and they cut in. But
S4: you've been sitting there and sitting there and sitting there. Yep.
S4: Get over this.
S2: Trips up my son more than anything else.
S3: He's a high justice.
S2: He is a high justice. And his sense of what's fair,
S2: what's like call balls and strikes, like there's no gray zone.
S2: And so he was in third grade and he was
S2: really struggling in PE class. He's a great student. PE
S2: class was giving him trouble not because he wasn't able
S2: to do the sports because he's a good athlete, but
S2: he couldn't get past his sense of fair. And so
S2: it kind of came to a head where he was
S2: like his PE teacher had to keep like telling him
S2: to calm down because he's freaking out, because the third
S2: grade girl in his class didn't touch the base when
S2: she's rounding the kickball bases. Therefore, how dare she not
S2: be called out? And he is losing his mind.
S3: He's got a point.
S2: Losing his mind. She did not touch the base.
S3: Can't touch second.
S2: If she's a third grade girl, she needs to touch
S2: the base. They shouldn't get the point. My team shouldn't.
S2: And they don't even let people declare winners and losers.
S3: Oh, that's.
S2: Also makes him really frustrated because.
S4: Yeah, because.
S2: He's kind of like, everybody gets to finish.
S4: Right?
S2: Drives him nuts.
S3: I'm sure it does.
S2: And it doesn't even matter if he doesn't win. He
S2: would rather lose than nobody be declared the winner.
S3: I think that's I think that's pretty Honorable. I like
S3: that one. I think on that one, I don't think
S3: he's going too far.
S2: It's it's just this idea of right is right. Wrong
S2: is wrong. Fair is fair, I deserve this. They don't
S2: deserve this. I don't deserve it. And so he will say,
S2: if I don't deserve a medal or a trophy, don't
S2: give it to me.
S3: Yeah.
S2: Don't give me the. Everybody gets it.
S4: The participation.
S2: Doesn't want.
S4: It. Yeah, yeah I don't want it fair.
S2: When we think about our life in Christ, we can
S2: fall off on two different sides of this. Okay. The
S2: high ridge Carl likes to talk about. We can start
S2: to get in our minds what we think we deserve
S2: from God.
S3: Yes.
S2: Right.
S3: Yeah.
S2: I deserve things to go this way. I've done this
S2: for you, God. Therefore you should X, y, or Z.
S2: You should reward me in this way. Or we can
S2: start to get so fixated on how messed up we are.
S3: Yeah, too fixated on how messed up we are.
S2: That we can let our idea of being so undeserving
S2: of the grace of God actually keep us from it.
S3: Yes.
S2: How could God ever want somebody like me? I don't
S2: deserve the grace of God.
S4: Yeah.
S2: True statement. None of us do. Correct. None of us
S2: deserve the grace of God. So when it comes to
S2: our relationship with God, we have to get the idea
S2: of fairness deserving out of our minds on both sides
S2: because we deserve nothing from him. But yet he still
S2: extends to us. Grace. Mercy. Forgiveness. There's no way God
S2: should have saved someone like me. But he did. Tell
S2: me your story. That's your story too. It's all of
S2: our stories. There's no way he should have saved someone
S2: like me. But he did. 805 five. Five. 55, 78, 98.
S2: But it's not fair. I'm glad it's not fair. 805 55. 7898.
S2: Grace isn't fair. Wilfred. First time caller from Florida. You
S2: did not deserve the grace of God. But you got
S2: it anyway. Tell me about it.
S8: Well, ma'am, I was given a life sentence. I wasn't
S8: a good guy. And, uh, God overturned that life sentence, and, uh,
S8: I'm out here. I have an awesome job. I'm an
S8: HVAC technician. I never thought I'd ever be anybody in
S8: my life. And God has restored my family. My daughter,
S8: my granddaughter. I you know, I that is the grace
S8: of God. That's a miracle.
S2: Yeah. Wilfred. First time caller from Florida. Thank you for
S2: your call this morning. Do you have a story, a
S2: freedom story? Uh, I'm being a little tongue in cheek here.
S2: There's there's no way we don't deserve the grace of God.
S2: The grace of God is the free gift extended to
S2: it to us. But you get it. You get where
S2: I'm going, right? We. You look at your life. You
S2: look at your story and go. There's no way God
S2: should have saved someone like me. But he did. 855
S2: five 7898.
S1: A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
S1: in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: The idea that we're sort of good people is one
S2: of the most dangerous lies of the enemy. This idea
S2: that I'm a mostly, I'm a pretty good person. I mean,
S2: I do more good things than I do bad things.
S2: I am, you know, I try to be charitable to people.
S2: I hear people say this when it comes to thinking
S2: about their spiritual state. Most people look at their own
S2: sense of goodness as their way to sort of prop
S2: themselves up and and make themselves okay. And the reality
S2: spiritually is that there is no one good. All of
S2: us are born into sin. We cannot meet God's perfect standard.
S2: The Bible says, for all have sinned and fall short
S2: of the glory of God. It's true of every single
S2: person who's ever lived except for one Jesus. And so
S2: the bad news is that we've all sinned and fall
S2: short of the glory of God, and that we deserve death.
S2: None of us will ever be good enough for God
S2: because perfection is unattainable for us. We are sinners. Here's
S2: the good news that because of Jesus who took our place,
S2: who took the penalty that we deserved because what we
S2: deserved was death. Jesus went to the cross. That's why
S2: he died. That's why he had to die to satisfy
S2: the wrath of God, to take that penalty so that
S2: we had the opportunity in our imperfect state to take
S2: on his perfection. So that when you or I stand
S2: before God, when we are in Christ, we stand in
S2: the righteousness of Christ. We are not going to be
S2: evaluated based on does our good outweigh our bad? That's
S2: not the question that ultimately matters. It's have I put
S2: my faith in Jesus Christ for salvation or not? That,
S2: and that alone is what our entire eternal future hinges upon.
S2: Our answer to that question have I put my faith
S2: in Jesus Christ for salvation? So today, if you're tired
S2: of trying to be a quote unquote good person, give
S2: up that fight because you never will be a good person.
S2: You can be a forgiven person. You can be a
S2: saved person. You can be a person who's perfectly righteous
S2: even because of Jesus Christ. How does this whole thing work?
S2: There's some mystery to it. But by the power of
S2: the Holy Spirit, I believe it's becoming clear to you
S2: that when you confess that you are a sinner, that
S2: you need a Savior, that that is Jesus the only way.
S2: He's the way, the truth and the life. There's no
S2: other way to peace with God except through Jesus Christ.
S2: So today, I want to invite you to put your
S2: trust and faith in him. Just confess that you're a sinner,
S2: that you need a Savior. Cry out to God, and
S2: I believe that he will save you because His word
S2: says so. If that's you, you have that honest conversation.
S2: Text the word new. We want to encourage you with
S2: some practical next steps. Text the word new to 805, 55, 7898.
S2: Just text the word new to 805, 55, 78, 98.
S2: This song I handpicked because I want you to hear
S2: this one right now.