Down, But Not Out Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. King David's tortured journey through moral failure shows us God's desire that we repent and his mercy in restoring our souls. Today, how we, like David, can come back to God.

Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, today you're wrapping up your series on restoring the soul.

Give us a preview of your bottom line for all who need restoration. Well Dave, you know the bottom line is simply this, that God's grace is greater than our sin. And today, in our brokenness, in our sexual brokenness, in our society that has embraced a form of sexuality that which produces so much guilt because it is so unbiblical, there has to be a message of hope and that's found in Jesus Christ. You know, there are many of you who are listening who have been blessed as a result of this series. Perhaps you have missed some of the messages in the series. That's why today we are making available to you the series of messages in a permanent form entitled Restoring the Soul. Here's what you can do.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now I'm going to be giving you this contact info again because I believe that there are so many of you who will find this resource to be a great blessing, encouragement and help in the midst of our broken world. Well, since this is a message on the restoration of the soul, how is David's soul at this point? How would we describe it? We could say well it's defiled, guilt-ridden, no doubt angry, angry at himself, maybe anger towards God, anger towards others because guilt and anger are so often related, deep remorse, unbelievable regret that all this is going to have to fall upon his shoulders. If only he could turn the clock back but he can't turn the clock back and so he is cast down.

He is in despair. How does God revive a soul that is in despair? Is there the possibility of being revived and strengthened and restored even though the circumstances around you remain the same and those uncontrollable circumstances just keep going? Is it possible that the soul can be restored in an inward way when the circumstances around you are such that there's no way for you to be able to be restored even to the people whom you have hurt?

When the circumstances are so pointedly and directly out of your control. Well, all of us know that David repented and the psalm that is most known to us which I frequently have quoted from memory though I shall not do so today is psalm 51, David's great prayer of repentance and what I want us to notice is that first of all David is going to receive hope because God is going to forgive him. You say well yeah of course don't skip over that so lightly. Remember this that all of the tears that David might ever cry and weep will never, never change the circumstances. They will never bring a dead man back to life. They will never restore the purity of Bathsheba.

Nothing will ever change that. Furthermore, God will forgive him even though perhaps there is no forgiveness coming from anyone else. Be gracious to me oh God according to your loving kindness. According to the greatness of your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee and the only I have sinned I've done what is evil in your sight so that you are justified when thou dost speak and blameless when thou dost judge. Oh God, oh God my sins ever before me. When the telephone rings I think to myself I wonder who knows.

When somebody makes an appointment I am saying to myself I wonder if they know. I see in my mind's eye a dead man. I see the face of Uriah. I wake up in the morning and I see his face and remember that I had him deliberately murdered. Oh God, my sin is ever before me. Uriah can't forgive me.

He's dead. Bathsheba may or may not forgive me. Surely David's other wives did not forgive him because they were upset with the fact that he not only did this but he happened to love Bathsheba more than all the rest as the story unfolds and you can imagine how unhappy they were and what they were saying behind David's back. His family never forgave him. Absalom turned against his dad. And so you have David saying I don't know where to go because I can ask for forgiveness but I don't know who will give it to me and I know that some people most assuredly will withhold it.

There is nothing that I can do to rectify this situation. But God this sin was against you primarily and then indirectly to others and therefore I appeal to you and to you alone for the forgiveness and the restoration that I so desperately long for and need. So God says David I'm gonna forgive you. In fact how clean is David going to be? He says in verse 7 purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

I've often marveled at that phrase because those of us who live in Chicago and know what snow is like sometimes maybe 12 inches sometimes 18 inches overnight and you wake up and you see this this snow glistening in the sunlight and you think whiter than snow? Wow that's that's pure for a man who committed adultery and murder. God says David I'm going to forgive you. God says David I am also going to renew you renew you. You'll notice it says in verse 10 create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me and oh God. Verse 12 restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. God don't just forgive me don't just cleanse me but God let the sun shine in my soul again. God let me sing again with joy. David how can you expect that? The mess is coming down upon your head. There's nothing that you can do to alleviate the consequences.

The stone has been thrown into the pond and the ripples are going all the way to the edge. God you do in me and for me what no human being can do restore me give me back my joy. Furthermore God says not only I forgive you and I restore you but I'll use you. David is confident that if he's forgiven in verse 13 he will teach transgressors God's ways and sinners will be converted unto him.

He'll be able to join evangelism explosion and people are going to come to know Christ the Savior as he witnesses. After all that after a mess that cannot be undone David you're expecting all that from God? You say well pastor Luther David was restored his soul was restored but what about the mess? All of its ugliness of course the family turns against him Absalom tries to overthrow his dad tries to kill him.

I mean this is all within the family it's ugly it's it's messy it's terrible but was there any was there any indication of grace in the midst of this mess? Well let's fast forward the story let's fast forward it a thousand years and Jesus is born in Bethlehem and one of the reasons that Jesus was born in Bethlehem is so that he could die on a cross and so that David sin which was temporarily set aside in the Old Testament could now finally and permanently be put away because the Old Testament saints also were saved because of Jesus and we read in the book of Matthew that when Jesus was born the genealogy of Jesus is important and and who's there in the genealogy except Solomon who is the son of Bathsheba born to David at a later date. Wow Solomon Solomon strictly speaking is not supposed to have been born because Bathsheba should have never been David's wife. I mean what's going on here in the text and we read a little more carefully and it says in the Old Testament that God said David I want you to know today that I love Solomon and I'm going to bless Solomon because of you because of David and Solomon is going to build a temple and Solomon is going to have a kingdom David that you could only imagine to have and and I'm going to bless him and furthermore he is going to be in the genealogy of Jesus on a human level through Mary. Through Mary she would have a little bit of the the blood as it were of Solomon and Bathsheba and furthermore Solomon ends up giving us you know the majority of the book of Proverbs he actually is in the scripture giving us his wisdom because the Bible says that there was no man who lived who was as wise as Solomon despite all of his double-mindedness the man did have a lot of wisdom and so what is God what is God saying God's saying yes even in the midst of this mess that that happened there is also redemption and there is also grace and there's also the possibility of restoration as God takes what strictly speaking should never have been and does something very special with it the soul is restored and the circumstances are redeemed. Many people think that Psalm 23 was written when David was a shepherd boy maybe it was I have some friends who think that Psalm 23 was maybe written late in David's life as he was contemplating his past and reminiscing a little bit and one author that I read imagines that we dialogue with David something along these lines. David begins to write Psalm 23 and let us imagine him as an aged man and he writes the words the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters we say oh David come on David you know that is fine that's wonderful to say when the sun is shining and when your bills are paid and when your family's all going to church and all the kids are turning out nice and the people in town talk about what a wonderful father you are that's fine David but what do you do when Saul pursues you for 10 years and you're running from cave to cave until you become so disoriented that you actually become insane as it were and you join the Philistine army and fight with the Philistines against Israel David you realize how stupid that was do you realize how you failed God and failed your own people when you did that now what have you got to say David and we can almost imagine him saying he restoreth my soul he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake oh David David David what do you do when a prophet comes and points his finger in your face and says you are the man and you know that you've committed murder and adultery what do you do when your son Absalom rebels against you commits immorality in the sight of all Israel and then you have to leave and go over the Mount of Olives and run on the other side like a like an animal though you've been a king and and you have to run and you have to hide in dens and caves once again because there's a civil war in your kingdom and it is your family that has brought it about David what do you do when Absalom is about to kill you and David continues to write and says yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me by rod and thy staff they comfort me oh David but now now you do get the kingdom back but it's in disarray you have you have mutiny among your own advisors you have things that are out of control you number the nation Israel and God smites the nation because of what you've done and because of your pride and now the whole nation is being judged because of you David and and thousands of people die because of what you you you you did and David says thou prepares to table before me in the presence of mine enemies my cup runneth over but David now you're dying two of your sons are going to fight over the kingdom there's going to be civil war there's going to be destruction things are falling apart your wives are laughing behind their backs because of what you did history is going to record your adultery and your cover-up preachers are going to preach about it David and when they see you in heaven the first thing they say oh David where's Bethsheba that's what they're going to be thinking David don't you see what you've done and David continues to write and says surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and so the curtain closes on David's life just as it opened all that you have left is David and his God and the man who fell so far would later write how blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered how blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit I will instruct thee and teach thee in a way which thou shalt go I shall guide thee with mine eye upon you the restoration the restoration of a wounded sinful defiled soul let's pray and now father we ask in the name of Jesus that you might do a work in the hearts of all who have listened whether it is the restoration because of immorality or restoration because of broken relationships or a restoration because of the fragmentation of alcoholism despair betrayal whatever it is father come to restore your people we ask that there are those here today with heavy hearts who may someday be able to sing again we pray father that there are those who someday shall yet teach transgressors thy ways that sinners shall be converted onto thee come and restore your people today of God has spoken to you as I conclude this prayer you say pastor luther God has talked to me and I want to be restored would you raise your hand just for a second please route the auditorium up in the balcony those of you to whom God has spoken and you know who you are thank you for those hands that have gone up but father I want to thank you today for the many hands that were not raised but are also within their hearts saying Lord that is me today I want to be restored come and cleanse us forgive us make us new and grant us hope we pray in Jesus' blessed name amen oh my friend today this is pastor luther I can't help but think that there are many who are listening today who needed this message more than that you may know others who need these messages that's why we are making available to you the entire series so that you can have them in permanent form ask for the series restoring the soul and I hope that you have a pen or pencil next to you so that you can write this info down here's how you can get this series go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 I'm going to be giving you that contact info again because within my heart there is a great desire that these messages be yours to listen again and again and share them with others restoring the soul go to rtwoffer.com or call right now call 1-888-218-9337 remember that we here at running to win exist to help you make it all the way to the finish line we want to see God's grace in all of our lives and we pray that also for you call right now 1-888-218-9337 and thanks in advance for helping us because together we are making a difference around the world it's time now for you to ask pastor luther a question about the bible or the christian life the bible teaches that every christian will stand before the judgment seat of christ in ancient greece judges sat on a raised platform called abima and so that word is applied to this future judgment experience for believers one of our listeners has this question after we go through the bima seat with christ we will see things as god does and we'll know why things happened what about all of our missed opportunities will they be wiped away i sure hope so you know the bible says that at the bima i want you to visualize this for a moment that everything that we have done will either be gold silver or precious stones or wood hay and stubble and then there's going to be a great fire and only that which is precious only those precious metals are going to survive it's going to be a moment of great revelation it's going to be a moment i think when we regret the way in which we lived it is at that moment we will see more clearly than ever how our faithfulness or lack of faithfulness had important eternal repercussions but once that is over all of our missed opportunities all of the wood the hay the stubble i believe will be brushed away and throughout all of eternity we're going to give praise and honor to jesus christ and our tears will be wiped away our missed opportunities forgotten and will be in the presence of god forever thank you dr lutzer for telling us a little bit about what we can expect at the bima seat if you'd like to hear your question answered go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on ask pastor lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us at running to win 1635 north la salle boulevard chicago illinois 60614 running to win is all about helping you understand god's roadmap for your race of life america has been called a melting pot the trouble is varying religions don't melt together very well despite our judaeo christian roots the ten commandments are now censored even when they hang over courtroom benches massive immigration has brought to our shores people who will never adopt our way of life and who want to fundamentally change what america is all about next time on running to win a story of ever growing conflict and how to handle it for pastor irwin lutzer this is dave mccallister running to win is sponsored by the moody church