David

Austin White · Tidal Church Moncton · July 16, 2023 · Give Me a Break series

Austin White preaches from 2 Samuel 11, David and Bathsheba, showing how small choices shape character. God's Word does not change with our feelings, so rather than walking the line of sin, he urges us to run to Jesus, who offers grace and redemption.

More from Austin White · The Give Me a Break series

Topics: Grace, Identity, Discipleship

Transcript

[0:00] What's your favorite genre of music? What's your favorite genre of music? It can be a pretty divisive question. Kind of like asking people about the Montreal Canadiens versus other teams. We won't dive into that here this morning, but it can be a divisive question. What's your favorite genre of music? We're all wired differently. We've got different ears, but there's all kinds of genres of music out there, right? We've got Christian rock, we've got contemporary Christian, we've got indie folk, we've got folk. You've got contemporary rock. You've got all kinds of stuff. You've got rap. I'm missing at least a hundred genres of music just by listing six or seven or eight there. And I'm sure that I missed some of your favorite genres.

[0:46] But there's all kinds of great music out there. There's rock, there's rap, there's Christian rock, all kinds of great genres. And then there's country. And this is the time of year that you start to see all the posts about the Christian, or sorry, the country music festivals. Am I right? And here's the truth. I live in the country, right? So it's, it's not that I have any ill will towards the country music genre, but I would tell you that it's definitely not the type of thing that I'm gonna cruise down the highway listening to in my 2009 Toyota Corolla. It's just not, it's just not where your youth and your young adult pastor are at. But can I just get a raise of hands? Where are my country music lovers?

[1:34] Are there any people in the house? Absolutely. Okay. On the other hand, where are my country music haters? Where are y'all at? Absolutely. I see some people right next to one another too. So that's interesting. That's an interesting ride home today. I'm not a huge country fan, but there is one country music artist that in my twenties, in my teens has absolutely fascinated me. His name's Johnny Cash. Not only do I like Johnny Cash, partly because I like that old school style of country and folk, but I'm really fascinated with his life and his journey. What's interesting about Johnny Cash is when they do articles about the different top country artists of all times, a lot of the new people will spring up, but when it comes to people that have inspired the industry, Johnny Cash ranks up there.

[2:29] So I was listening to some different songs a couple months ago as I was thinking about this message, and one of the songs that came up on my playlist was "I Walk the Line," "I Walk the Line." And as I listened to that song, I was like, how popular of a song is this? I listened to it quite a bit, but how popular of a song is this? And with Johnny Cash, him perhaps being the number one country music artist of all time. Interestingly enough, most critics will say, "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash is his number one song of the number one country music artist of all time. It struck a chord with people. I Walk the Line was written in 1956 by Johnny Cash.

[3:15] What's interesting is he was talking afterwards. People were asking him, how did you write that song? And here's what he said. He said, I wrote the song backstage one night in 1956. He had gotten married, I believe, the year before, and he was in Gladewater, Texas. Everybody say Texas, Texas, Texas. That's how they say it down there. Maybe I was newly married at the time, is what Johnny Cash said. And he said, and I suppose I was laying out my pledge of devotion. He said, I suppose I was laying out my pledge of devotion. I seized on that line. And I said, you know, that's a really interesting thing for him to say. Married in 1955, wrote the song in 1956. And he said, I suppose I wrote that song as my pledge of devotion goes, what do the lyrics say?

[4:07] I'm gonna put them up on the screen for any of my country music haters. Okay? If you've never listened to the song, he wrote this. He said, I keep a close watch on this heart of mine. I keep my eyes wide open all the time. I keep the ends out for the tie that binds, because you are mine. I walk the line. He had just gotten married. And he said, because you're mine, I walk the line, I toe the line. I'm going to be true. I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to be honest. I'm going to be a man of principle, is what Johnny Cash declared in Gladewater, Texas, in 1956, for any of my country music fans. You might know that his relationship history was turbulent.

[4:56] His marriages were rocky. But in 1956, he wrote something and he said, because you're mine, I walk the line. That being said, I wanna declare two things here today. Number one is I want to preach from that title, Walking the Line, Walking the Line. The second thing, which will make the title make sense, is I'm gonna be preaching outta the passage of David and Bathsheba, David and Bathsheba. Now, for those of you who have grown up in church, maybe that rings a bell. And for many of you, I know that you're still considering this whole Christianity thing. Maybe you are checking out the church. Maybe somebody drove you here with the promise of lunch or perhaps some afternoon activities on Sunday. For some of you, David and Bathsheba means a lot. For some of you, it doesn't mean a whole lot.

[5:53] But for those of you who have your Bibles, whether it's on your phone or a physical Bible, I'd invite you to go to 2 Samuel 11:1, and we're gonna go through to verse 27. If we've never had the chance to meet, I have been your youth and your young adult pastor for three years this week, and it has been an absolutely incredible journey and continued journey. I'm not saying goodbye. That's, that sounded a little weird how I said that, but the reason I say that is because for many of you, I haven't gotten the chance to introduce myself. But I always, if I'm preaching in a different context, I'll always lead by saying, my name's Austin. I like to hike. I play rugby. I'm married to my beautiful wife, Jess, for over six years now.

[6:44] But the number one thing about me is I'm a Bible guy. I believe the Bible's the same yesterday, today, and to tomorrow. I believe it doesn't change with the sands of time. I believe that it doesn't matter if it's 2023, 1923, or when our Lord and Savior Jesus hung on that cross 2000 years ago. The Bible doesn't change. And there's something beautiful about that. I'm speaking maybe specifically to the young people in the room, that there's something beautiful about having a foundation for your life that is not gonna change. Because when I think about the world we live in today, and the world that I grew up in, what's so fascinating to me is it seems like when we talk about walking the line, the line keeps changing, the line keeps shifting, and it seems like we just live on this shifting sand culturally and in our world. So as we open up God's word, the beauty of it is that this isn't gonna be some Pastor Austin wisdom, but my prayer, my hope is that the Holy Spirit will speak to each and every single one of us.

[7:56] That being said, let me go ahead and pray. Let's bow our heads. Close our eyes. Father God, as we open up Your word, I ask that we wouldn't do it with a reverence, Lord, that we wouldn't do it lightheartedly, but we would realize that this is the word of God, the unchanging truth, the foundation upon which we can build our life. So, God, I ask that You would transform us through Your word. Jesus, help us to be more like You. Help us to be more like You. We pray this in Your name. Amen. Amen. 2 Samuel 11:1, King David has just become king. A couple chapters prior in 2 Samuel, David is the long-anticipated king. Prior to him, the kings were not in good shape.

[8:51] King Saul was not a good king. He was anticipated. We could see in the first couple chapters of 2 Samuel that David was having a lot going for him. I would encourage you, if you haven't read the first couple chapters of 2 Samuel this summer, let's do it in the next couple weeks. I'd tell you that that would be a really, really great endeavor for you. But here in chapter 11, things start to go south. Let's read it together in verse 1. This is the word of the Lord. In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. David sent the army. He is back in Jerusalem. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. Verse 2: One evening, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.

[9:40] Let's pause there. The most Went to the top of the palace from the roof. He saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful. Verse three, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man came back to him and he said, she is Beths Sheba, the daughter of Im, and the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, verse four. Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her. Now, She was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanliness. Then she went back home. Verse 5, the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."

[10:29] Dear Jesus, I pray as we unpack some tough scriptural truths that will remain rooted in You, in Your wisdom and Your Holy Spirit. And Lord, help us to not feel condemned, but help us to feel convicted in what You want us to feel here. Holy Spirit, pray this in Your name. Amen. Amen. I wanna expand on a very basic point here as we talk about the story of David and Bathsheba. It's a very simple question: Do you walk the line? Do you choose God's way or your way? And does the truth of Scripture change according to your feelings? I'm gonna ask some tough questions.

[11:22] I might make some tough points, but I hope that you know that here at the Wesleyan, we really believe this truth, that God has high expectations for His people, and that God's Word doesn't change. And even as God's Word is difficult, we are here to lather God's truth and God's Word in grace, because isn't that what God does to us every single day? Isn't that why Jesus came and died on that cross for our forgiveness and for our redemption? So with that preface in mind, I do want to say that some in this room are seeking, skeptical, or unsure. And some of the things that I'm gonna say here are specifically targeted at Christians, because if you call yourself a Christian, I'd like to talk about the Christian sexual ethic. I'd like to, I'd like to talk about the Christian ethic around marriage, the Christian ethic and theology around dating as it has to do with this story. So let's go ahead and dive in.

[12:32] But before we do that, according to our title, I want to put this right out here. "I Walk the Line" is the name of the sermon, and David and Bathsheba have a lot to do with walking the line when things don't go your way. Do you change the rule book? Matthew 5:18 says, "For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot nor one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all is fulfilled." Jesus said, I'm not here to rewrite Scripture. The Scripture's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It reminds me a little bit of the time when I moved from South Dakota here to New Brunswick. Believe it or not, the speed limit in South Dakota was about 80 miles per hour on the interstate. But the cops would tell you that they were flexible up to about 82 or 83 miles per hour. So I've, I did the actual calculations here, so I don't wanna mess it up, but 130 kilometers an hour is 80 miles per hour.

[13:41] So making the pivot from going on the interstate from Sioux Falls to Omaha, Nebraska, doing 130 kilometers an hour, that's a big change going from Saint John to Moncton last night, where it was 90 kilometers an hour on my way back from the cottage out in Brown's Flat. So it was a big shift, but guess what? The rules of the road don't shift based on my feelings. The rules of the road don't get to shift based on my feelings. The hard word here today is that God will always give grace and consequences, or sorry, God will always give you grace, but He won't exempt you from consequences. It's a hard word, but I believe it's in Scripture. What we see in this passage, number one, is God cares about your character, who you are.

[14:38] God cares about your character, who you are. Say "character" with me in 3, 2, 1: character, character. In verse 6, we continue on with the story. It says, so David sent this word to Joab, one of his men. He said, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going. Give me an update. Verse 8. Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him, but Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house. Growing up, I always was confused at that passage.

[15:25] I said, why is Uriah sleeping on the palace? That was a way for Uriah to not outright shame the king, because that was a death sentence. That was a way for him to privately shame the king and say, I know what you did, King David, I know what you did. I know what you did, King David. I know that you think you're a man of character, but I know what you did with my spouse. So he slept at the entrance of the palace. Verse 10. David was told Uriah did not go home. So he asked Uriah, "Haven't you just come from a military campaign? Why don't you go home?"

[16:14] Just forget about this. Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing." There's a little bit of verbal sparring here between King David and his man. Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day, and the next. Verse 13, at David's invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening, Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants. He did not go home.

[17:00] Verse 14, in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it, he wrote, "Put Uriah out in the front where the fighting is fiercest, then withdraw from him, so he'll be struck down and die." Here we've got a man of God, the golden boy, perhaps in the first part of 2 Samuel, who says, in order to right my wrong, instead of owning up, I'm gonna murder this innocent man. So he gives the instructions, he says, put Uriah out in the front where the fighting is fiercest, then withdraw from him, so he'll be struck down and die. Verse 16.

[17:46] So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell. Moreover, Uriah the Hittite died, period. I wanna say it again. God cares about your character. He cares about your character, because I believe with all of my heart, from my reading of Scripture, that your decisions form your character. Your character forms your destiny. I'll say that again. Your decisions form your character, who you are. If you are reading God's Word daily, that forms who you are. It breeds honesty, faithfulness, joyfulness, peace.

[18:44] But if you do the opposite, if you're caught in the act of lying, just little tiny lies at work all day long, lying about who you are, maybe going on the websites that you know you shouldn't be going on, engaging in the areas that you know you shouldn't be engaging, flirting with the coworker that you know maybe you shouldn't be sharing those words with. That's not just your decisions, but that eventually forms who you are. I can't believe that David woke up one day and said, you know, I'm gonna be unfaithful to my spouse, and maybe I'll be a murderer. No, it was those slow little decisions, compounded, started to roll, got out of control, and here we are.

[19:37] God cares about your character and who you are. One of the things that grieves me about our culture today is the do whatever makes you feel best mentality. You do you, follow your heart, live your truth. Because at the end of the day, I just don't believe that that is good. At the end of the day, they're like, oh, well, as long as it doesn't hurt somebody. But what if I told you that our little tiny decisions, if it's all about pleasure and not about God's purpose, that when we're making those little tiny decisions, if this was the line that you're not gonna cross and you're just constantly saying, me, me, me, follow my heart, I'm just gonna do what makes me feel good. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna sleep with my boyfriend or my girlfriend 'cause I really love them, even though I know God's Word says something different.

[20:28] And all of a sudden you are so far across this line that you keep inching across that you started here and now you're all the way over here. Because again, I want to come off as convicting, not condemning, but God's Word is so crystal clear on the Christian sexual ethic and the theology surrounding that. So let's continue. The word of the world is follow your heart. Do what makes you feel best. Live your truth, pursue your peace. But what does the Word say? Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, "The heart is deceitful, deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart.

[21:14] I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." Let me share a couple of words of Jesus in case Jeremiah isn't compelling enough. He said, "Pick up your cross and follow Me. I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. My peace I give you, a peace that the world can't give." Let me tell you, Jesus is the best decision I ever made. This world wants to tell you that if you party enough, if you club enough, if you spend enough time with your significant others in ways that Christians, I'm speaking to the Christians here. If you spend enough time with your significant other in ways that you know the Bible asks you not to, if you do that, you'll find peace. Can I be the first to tell you that that is just a lie, as sure as it's raining right now? I want you to know, I want you to know that that is an empty promise that the world gives you. For us as Christians, we live by a different way.

[22:16] We have a different playbook. We have a different king, we have a different handbook, we have a different way of doing things. And that way is according to the way, the truth and the life, Jesus. And He gave us a manual for everything that we need to know about our life. And we cannot abandon the firm foundation that is God's truth. That's what the word of the Lord says, my friends. Absolutely. That's what the word of the Lord says. Guys, I'm not, I'm not speaking my own wisdom here. I promise, I promise. The sad truth is that so many people, and not just my age, but I fear for my generation that so many men and women of God have stopped following the word of God and have started following their hearts.

[23:06] And that grieves me and that concerns me. And I worry that the farther you get away from God's word and the closer that you get to your heart, that Jeremiah 17:9-10, the heart is deceitful above all things. But God's way is not deceitful. God's way is a playbook that we can live by. So number one is He cares about your character. Say character with me in 3, 2, 1, character. Number two is God cares about your holiness. So not only does God care about who you are, but God cares about what you do. It says in God's word, over and over and over and over again, "Be holy as I am. Holy."

[23:52] And maybe some of you are thinking, oh, well, He just said that in the Old Testament. Nope, He said it in the New Testament too. He said, "Be holy as I am. Holy." Does that mean that we're gonna be judgmental? No. Does that mean that we're gonna be stuffy? No. Does that mean that we're legalistic? No. But what it does mean is that God wants us to get so close to Him in His holiness. That just by spending time with God in His word, in prayer and fasting and the disciplines that you're spending with God, that you become more like Him because He says, "Be holy as I am. Holy." Say, "Be holy" with me in 3, 2, 1. Be holy, be holy. God cares about our holiness. It reminds me of a Facebook post that I saw a couple weeks ago as I was preparing for this sermon.

[24:40] Sometimes I'm on Facebook and I don't know if anybody can relate to this. I'm on Facebook and I realize I'm on Facebook and I'm like, what am I doing here? I just like, I was thinking about it. I'm like, why? Why am I on Facebook right now? But lately, I'm sure that many of you can relate to this, Facebook just kind of shows things on your feed that it kind of thinks you want to see. Or like, it's been showing me a lot of like Facebook groups that I have zero interest in. Like one of them that keeps popping up is grandma advice. It's just not, it's not relatable to me in this stage of my journey. Okay? So specifically something came up and I couldn't list the name of the group, but this post had literally millions of likes. And I think I actually wrote it down, over 200,000 comments.

[25:28] And this is what the post said. It said, "Don't lose a good man because of one accident when he cheated." I didn't know that you could cheat by accident. What? Okay, so, and all the comments. So I was like, I went straight to the comments cuz I was like, I must be losing it here. Like I must. So I went straight to the comments and all of the comments were making fun of the post, saying, "Really? By accident?" And it's humorous. But isn't there some truth there that people are justifying and getting defensive and saying it's because of X, Y, Z, A, B, C.

[26:18] You don't do that by accident. It's a choice. And you've gotta take ownership of how God has given you free will to make the good decisions, not the bad ones. Let me tell you, man of God, please, please listen. Verse 18, Joab sent David a full account of the battle. He instructed the messenger, "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king's anger may flare up." They're saying, David might get angry that we did what he asked us to do. "The king's anger may flare up, verse 20, and he may ask you, 'Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know that they would shoot arrows from the wall?' Verse 21, Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth?

[27:04] Can you guys forgive me if I mispronounce some things with this story? Thank you. Didn't Jerub-Besheth? Didn't a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died? Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If he asks you this, then say to him, 'Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'" Isn't he trying to cover up the sin of somebody else? Isn't that what so many of us do when we know that our holiness, that our decisions, that the way that we're following the word of God, which isn't a bent line, it's a straight line. It's very clear. Okay, isn't that what is done? Verse 22, the messenger set out, and when he arrived, he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. Verse 23, the messenger said to David this, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back. We've got good news for you.

[27:58] Back to the entrance of the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servant from the wall, and some of the king's men died. Moreover," little side note, "your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead." Just trying to cover this thing up, aren't they? Verse 25. David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: Don't let this upset you. The sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it." Say this to encourage Joab. Verse 26, again, a powerful man took advantage, used his power to abuse, to murder, to assault. Verse 26, when Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had brought her to his house and she became his wife and bore him a son.

[28:47] But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says again, "But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written, 'Be holy because I'm holy.'" David saw a woman, he went to her and he took what he thought was his. Men and women of God, please, please read this story and take heed. Please read the story and pray, "God, by Your grace, by Your power, not me." Could that be your prayer today?

[29:35] Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8 declare that God is the same always, and He never, never changes. He is always good. He is always loving. He was. He is always all powerful. No matter how this world changes around us, we can trust that God is consistent in a world that's starting to normalize pushing the lines, pushing the boundaries, pushing the ethic, pushing what is right and what is wrong. What's wrong is right, and what's right is wrong. Maybe as Christians, we can have a different playbook. Maybe we won't fall into the same trap that David fell into. John 14:15 says, "If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.

[30:21] I'll ask the Father, and He will give you another helper who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive Him because it cannot see Him or know Him." Again, I'm preaching to Christians, asking you guys, are you walking the line or are you getting as close to Jesus as you possibly can? My concern is that people are using the word of God to justify their own hearts and their own itching ears that are opposite of the word of God. I haven't been pastor in too long, but I'm going into my seventh year and I've heard things like this.

[31:09] "The Bible doesn't really talk about sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend. I really love them. How is this wrong?" "The Bible doesn't specifically talk about this highly specific website I go to to perform this specific sin. How can this be wrong?" "The Bible doesn't specifically talk about these white lies that I'm sharing in my business. I need to do it, otherwise I would lose my job." "The Bible doesn't talk specifically about me flirting with a coworker. It does. It doesn't mention emotional affairs, does it?" "The Bible doesn't mention this." And just to be crystal clear, That's things that have been said to me. That is not what we believe.

[31:59] Ladies and gentlemen, what we believe is the Bible gives us not only wisdom, advice that we can pick and choose. It is the Word of God and we live by it. If we call ourselves Christian, we don't pick and choose. We don't say, "Oh, I like that Pauline epistle. I like the Gospel of John. Let's leave out Matthew, Mark and Luke." Now, God's Word is God's Word. God cares about your character. God cares about your holiness. And finally, God cares about redemption. God cares about redemption. Can we move not just from the sin here, but can we start talking about how God wants to redeem these situations?

[32:48] Okay, we're reading a heavy story here, but God cares about redemption. Say redemption with me in 3, 2, 1, redemption. God cares about your redemption. One of the things that I so love about the culture here at Moncton Wesleyan is we call something that we do the messy middle of grace and truth. God gives us truth and God gives us grace. God gives us grace, and God gives us truth, and they have to be in harmony. So if I've still got everybody, I really want to nail in and land the plane on this topic, which is redemption, lest you go to Swiss Chalet and say that this was the most depressing sermon ever. Still with me? Give me a thumbs up if we're all good. Great. So redemption, we're talking about a story here that was about a powerful man who decided that he knew God's Word. He knew what it meant to be holy because "I am holy."

[33:42] But he decided that it was his right. I don't know why I wasn't there, but he decided it was his right to cross the line. What I want you guys to know is the fact that God cares when we cross the line. God cares about our ethic. He cares about our character, He cares about our holiness. But there's a reason why Jesus died on that cross. Jesus died on that cross so that we can so that we can accept Him, admit that we're sinful, believe in Him, confess our sins, and He'll change us for the betterment, not only of ourselves, but so that we can be a part of a local church. And the Holy Spirit can impact our community through you. That's the beauty of the gospel. It's not just about us.

[34:27] The beauty of the gospel is He's going to transform you so that people in your office say, "Man, what happened in summer of 2023 that so-and-so got real serious and principled?" Jesus. One of the things that I think we need to remember as Christians in a world that rightfully so, is full of grace, we can't preach grace so much that we forget that there needs to be life change after the grace. Is that okay for me to say? We can't be so bent on grace that we forget that God actually wants to clean us up here a little bit. We can't be so bent on grace that we forget that there's actually some work that we need to do, don't we?

[35:15] It can't be all about Jesus doing the work on the cross, that we don't realize that it's time for us to dive into God's Word, dive into some prayer, get discipline, start fasting, start praying, join a small group, go to Celebrate Recovery, and see God transform our lives, our marriages, our families, our workplaces, and our city. Because it's gotta start with you. That's what redemption is all about. Romans 10:13 says, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Everybody who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I've said it once and I'll say it again. It's as easy as ABC: Admit that you did something wrong. Believe that Jesus has the power to save and that your sin is in the past.

[36:03] And C is change for good. C is change for good and confess that Jesus is Lord. So I would ask you, has the Holy Spirit been nudging your heart or your head today? Is there a thought in there saying, "You know, Austin touched on something there, and maybe that is in Scripture." Is there something there where he said, "You know, maybe my character is a little flawed, and maybe that's not true, but maybe your holiness has been a little bit edgy." Can I just ask you, how does God want to redeem us today? Because I think that the Holy Spirit, not only is He the Comforter, not only is He the Provider, not only is God the Great Shepherd, but He's also the Convictor and the Transformer.

[36:54] So as the band comes up to the stage, I just wanna ask that simple question of how does God want to redeem you today? Because as we think about, I Walked the Line in 1955, Johnny Cash got married in 1956. He wrote that fateful song, and in 1965, that marriage ended. And when I think about walking the line, sometimes I wonder if as Christians we're not called to walk the line of sin and say, "That's sin. I'm not gonna cross the line." Sometimes I wonder if instead of walking the line, we're supposed to say, "I'm gonna get as far away from the line and as close as I can to Jesus Christ."

[37:42] Because for us, we can say, "Oh, well I'm gonna get this close, and that's not sin." But instead, I would encourage you to not think, "How close can I get to sin without sinning?" But rather say, "Okay, that's the line. That's what Scripture says." And instead of like David, where he was inching the line, inching the line, and then huge hop over and cheated and murdered. Instead, I would prefer you to get so far towards the cross, so far away from the line, so close to Jesus, so close to everything that He has for you. The way, the truth, and the life, the peace that surpasses all understanding, the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that can only come from God's Word. It can only come from Jesus, not the ways of the world.

[38:29] I'd encourage you to be here, not walking the line. And my fear, and I've been there, is that we get so focused on saying, "Oh, but I wanna be right here. It's kind of nice that as soon as something happens, you you're just there." Instead of running to King Jesus and saying, "King Jesus, You've got all of me. I'm not chasing sin. I'm not chasing the way of the world," but you're bending the knee to King Jesus and saying, "Jesus, I want all of You and less of me. I want to pick up my cross instead of picking up the things of this world that bring me pleasure." So church, I'd encourage you to ask yourself, what's the one thing that maybe God has highlighted today that I need to maybe not face condemnation on, but conviction with? Don't walk the line, run to Jesus.

[39:33] Let me pray. Father God, You are so good to us. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your Holy Spirit, and we thank You for the fact that we don't get to go through this life alone. Lord, we don't operate the way the world does. We have one another. We have You. We have Your Word, and we have everything in this life that we need to live for You. So Jesus, please help us to learn from David, help us to not walk that line, but help us to run to You. We pray this in Your name.