Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Exposing the Dark Side Msg 1222 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Exposing the Dark Side Msg 1222 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I like good news, and I prefer to talk about
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Speaker 1: the good, bright, light side of life. But that is
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Speaker 1: only half the message that the Christian has for the world.
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Speaker 1: I suppose we can't really appreciate the bright and beautiful
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Speaker 1: side of life until we know how black the backdrop is.
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Speaker 1: And so, to be true to my calling and to
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Speaker 1: be complete with the subject of biblical doctrine, it falls
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Speaker 1: my lot to talk for a while about the dark side.
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Speaker 1: It was back in 1886, a man named Stevenson, Robert
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Speaker 1: Lewis Stevenson, wrote a work that talked about all our lives.
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Speaker 1: He called it Dr. Jekyll and and Mr. Hyde. You
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Speaker 1: may not know it, but he was a little older,
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Speaker 1: though a contemporary of Mark Twain, the American storyteller. And
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Speaker 1: perhaps it was from that book, Jekyll and Hyde, that
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Speaker 1: Twain came up with the statement so familiar to all
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Speaker 1: of us. Everybody is like the moon. We have a
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Speaker 1: dark side we don't want anybody to see. No one
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Speaker 1: ever said it better than Jesus when speaking to the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees and scribes. And I quote, Woe to you, hypocrites!
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Speaker 1: You are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful,
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Speaker 1: but inside they are full of dead men's bones and
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Speaker 1: all uncleanness. And then he adds, you outwardly appear righteous
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Speaker 1: to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
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Speaker 1: And lest you and I live under the assumption that
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Speaker 1: that stopped in the first century, just be honest enough
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Speaker 1: to think about your life over the past several days inwardly.
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Speaker 1: not externally, more than likely you behaved yourself externally, but inwardly,
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Speaker 1: just think of the impulses and the drives and the
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Speaker 1: secrets and the actions you lived out in your mind,
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Speaker 1: and perhaps some of them did surface in the flesh.
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Speaker 1: One French essayist put it this way, there is no
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Speaker 1: man so good who, were he to submit all his
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Speaker 1: thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging
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Speaker 1: ten times in his life. Now all of these statements
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Speaker 1: and my comments have to do with our most ancient
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Speaker 1: and all-pervasive disease. The most Deadly killer of all isn't cancer.
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Speaker 2: It isn't.
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Speaker 1: It is depravity. Because every one of us has it,
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Speaker 1: and every one of us suffers from the consequences of it.
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Speaker 1: Genesis chapter 6. Take a moment and look, if you will.
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Speaker 1: Genesis 6 says, I think it's one of the most
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Speaker 1: sweeping broad brush statements in all the scriptures on the
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Speaker 1: nature of mankind without God. The nature within all of us.
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Speaker 1: Genesis 6, 5. The Lord saw that the wickedness of
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Speaker 1: man was great on the earth and that every intent
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Speaker 1: of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
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Speaker 1: You know what stands out to me when I read
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Speaker 1: the verse? Three words. Every, only, continually. Every intent, only evil,
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Speaker 1: and it's continually only evil. Describes a spiritual cesspool that
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Speaker 1: produces the decay like life we live. Even from childhood,
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Speaker 1: this is true. A crime commission a number of years
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Speaker 1: ago released this statement. Every baby starts life as a
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Speaker 1: little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants
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Speaker 1: what he wants when he wants it. His bottle, his
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Speaker 1: mother's attention, his playmate's toy, his uncle's watch. Deny these
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Speaker 1: and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be
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Speaker 1: murderous were he not so helpless. He is, in fact, dirty.
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Speaker 1: He has no morals, no knowledge, no skills. This means
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Speaker 1: that all children, not just certain children, are born delinquent.
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Speaker 1: if permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy,
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Speaker 1: given free reign to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants,
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Speaker 1: every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer,
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Speaker 1: a rapist. Now, that's the dark side of life. And
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Speaker 1: if you're tendency is to ignore it, it still won't
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Speaker 1: go away. If your tendency as a parent is to
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Speaker 1: ignore it, you will produce for this world even greater
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Speaker 1: problems because your child will grow without discipline and society
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Speaker 1: has a way of facing those people and being troubled
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Speaker 1: by them. Not even a permissive, positive thinking home can
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Speaker 1: curb the problem of depravity. It is with us, and
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Speaker 1: it seems with us forever. It is indeed. Psalm number
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Speaker 1: 51 is another section I want you to look at
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Speaker 1: before we examine five lives, rather briefly, exposing the dark
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Speaker 1: side of each one of those lives. Psalm 51. Let
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Speaker 1: me take just the first five verses. Be gracious to me,
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Speaker 1: O God, according to thy loving kindness. Earlier in our
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Speaker 1: meeting this evening, I asked you to define grace. Now's
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Speaker 1: the time to see how you did. If someone were
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Speaker 1: to ask me to define it, I could give you
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Speaker 1: a brief definition or a little longer definition. Probably the
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Speaker 1: most popular is unmerited favor. Grace means unmerited favor. A
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Speaker 1: little longer would say this. Grace is what God does
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Speaker 1: for mankind, which we do not deserve, cannot earn. And
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Speaker 1: we'll never be able to repay. We don't deserve it
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Speaker 1: and we cannot earn it. Therefore, we're not able to
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Speaker 1: repay for what he does for us. Nevertheless, it is
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Speaker 1: our only hope. That's why his plea begins. Be gracious. See,
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Speaker 1: he doesn't deserve it. He's been sinful. He's fallen. This psalmist.
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Speaker 1: And he says it must be according to your loving kindness.
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Speaker 1: It can't be according to my merit. Let me continue.
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Speaker 1: According to the greatness of thy compassion. Blot out my transgressions.
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Speaker 1: Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.
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Speaker 1: For I know my transgressions. And my sin is ever
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Speaker 1: before me against thee. The only I have sinned and
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Speaker 1: done wrong. what is evil in thy sight, so that
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Speaker 1: thou art justified when thou dost speak and blameless when
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Speaker 1: thou dost judge. Behold, now he goes back to the root. Behold,
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Speaker 1: I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my
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Speaker 1: mother conceived me. It doesn't mean that the act of
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Speaker 1: conception was sinful. It means what the Amplified Bible says
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Speaker 1: of this verse. I was brought forth in a state
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Speaker 1: of iniquity. My mother was sinful who conceived me, and
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Speaker 1: I too am sinful. I have come from sinful parents
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Speaker 1: and I have caught the same disease. So be gracious
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Speaker 1: to me, O God. In sin, I came into this world. Now,
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Speaker 1: One of the wonderful things about the Bible, and I
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Speaker 1: believe one of the things that makes it so credible,
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Speaker 1: is that it tells us the truth. I often say
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Speaker 1: it doesn't airbrush the word pictures. It doesn't smooth over
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Speaker 1: the rough spots. When it paints its heroes, it paints
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Speaker 1: them warts and all. The scars are not hidden. And
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Speaker 1: about the time you're tempted to elevate certain men and
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Speaker 1: women in Scripture to a pedestal, almost a pedestal of worship,
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Speaker 1: God brings them down to size and says, now you're
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Speaker 1: to worship me and not another. And I have made
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Speaker 1: a study in the scriptures for years of the great
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Speaker 1: men and women, and it is amazing about the time
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Speaker 1: my respect is at such a height, I find myself
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Speaker 1: thinking of them more than my Lord. I come across
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Speaker 1: a scar. a blunder, a failure, an awful act of sin.
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Speaker 1: And I realized that, like Elijah said, they are men
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Speaker 1: just like I am. They are women just like many
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Speaker 1: of you. They're just people. Now, I purposely picked in
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Speaker 1: this Bible three from the Old Testament and two from
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Speaker 1: the New who are perhaps the best known of all
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Speaker 1: and the most respected. I've had to skip some, obviously,
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Speaker 1: but in choosing these five, I've chosen, I'm sure, one
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Speaker 1: or two of your favorites. The first man is over
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Speaker 1: in Genesis chapter 6. And what a wonderful man he was.
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Speaker 1: He was just an unusual kind of fellow because of
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Speaker 1: the times in which he lived. We just read that
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Speaker 1: awful verse, verse 5, as it described the scene In
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Speaker 1: this world. In which verse 6 the Lord says. That
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Speaker 1: he was grieved in his heart. That he even made man.
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Speaker 1: He was grieved. Because of the condition. And so God
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Speaker 1: gave a survey over the earth. And he looked for
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Speaker 1: one who would qualify as a righteous man. And he
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Speaker 1: found one. Think of the decadent times in which they lived.
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Speaker 1: He found one man, verse 8, who found favor in
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Speaker 1: his sight. His name is Noah. Noah. Verse 9 says
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Speaker 1: he was righteous, blameless, and he walked with God. Now
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Speaker 1: I'd say that's quite a resume. Here is a good man.
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Speaker 1: Unlike all the others in his day, so good was
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Speaker 1: he that God appointed Noah as to build the ark
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Speaker 1: and to save his family from death. And that's exactly
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Speaker 1: what Noah did. The earth was corrupt and God picked
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Speaker 1: a good man and Noah built the ark. He worked
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Speaker 1: on it for 120 years. And when he finished the ark,
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Speaker 1: he got his family inside and the flood came and
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Speaker 1: they were saved from destruction. Chapter nine, brings them to
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Speaker 1: the end of the flood, and presents them as a
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Speaker 1: family to a new earth. Now that the earth has
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Speaker 1: been deluged with water, it has now changed. The whole strata,
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Speaker 1: geological strata of the earth has changed. That's why I
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Speaker 1: believe there's no way to date the earth. Everything changed
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Speaker 1: so severely. Plus, the earth was created with the marks
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Speaker 1: of age to begin with. Trees were full size. Adam
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Speaker 1: was full grown. Everything had the mark of age, so
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Speaker 1: how can you know? And then on top of that
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Speaker 1: is a flood that changes everything. But here is a
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Speaker 1: man who has been walking with God for all these years.
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Speaker 1: But there's a dark side to him. Verse 20, he
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Speaker 1: began farming and he planted a vineyard and he drank
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Speaker 1: of the wine and became drunk. On top of that,
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Speaker 1: he uncovered himself inside his tent. I don't know why,
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Speaker 1: and I don't know all that that implies. It's sexually perverse,
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Speaker 1: for sure, because his sons are ashamed to be in
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Speaker 1: his presence in that naked condition. Now it seems amazing,
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Speaker 1: doesn't it, if you're a lover of Noah, that a
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Speaker 1: good man, so good that he's picked above all other men,
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Speaker 1: would find himself drunk in his tent and naked, so
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Speaker 1: much so that his sons are not only shamed by that,
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Speaker 1: but cursed because of it. It's shocking, unless you understand
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Speaker 1: that even in Noah, there is a depraved nature. Every
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Speaker 1: once in a while, a great man or a great
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Speaker 1: woman will fall. So great will be the fall that
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Speaker 1: their lives will make headline attention, at least in Christian periodicals,
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Speaker 1: and on occasion even in the national periodicals. And we
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Speaker 1: find ourselves shocked. In one sense, I can understand the shock.
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Speaker 1: In another sense, we have no reason to be shocked.
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Speaker 1: We wanted to trust that person to clean up his
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Speaker 1: life or her life and to walk faithfully with their God.
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Speaker 1: Sometime there is drunkenness. Sometime there is sexual drunkenness. And
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Speaker 1: the truth comes out and our heroes die a painful
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Speaker 1: death in our minds. Just learn a lesson from this
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Speaker 1: study that no one on earth deserves your worship. You
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Speaker 1: tread on very thin ice when you make more of
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Speaker 1: an individual than yourself. A human being who is being
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Speaker 1: used of God, that is the end of your respect.
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Speaker 1: It is never to come anywhere close to man worship.
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Speaker 1: If it does, you are going to be terribly disillusioned.
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Speaker 1: Not if they fail you, but when they fail. It
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Speaker 1: may not be as scandalous as this with Noah, but
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Speaker 1: they will fail. They will show intemperance or they will
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Speaker 1: show or they will show impatience or they will lack courtesy.
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Speaker 1: In some way, if you get to know them well enough,
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Speaker 1: you'll realize they're just people that have to put their
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Speaker 1: pants on one leg at a time, just like you do.
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Speaker 1: They are just depraved human beings who in this brief
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Speaker 1: period of time are being used by God. Noah is
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Speaker 1: a great man, but Noah's a man who lacked self-control
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Speaker 1: and perhaps had a bent towards sexual perversity. Good man,
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Speaker 1: but not perfect. The second man is in Exodus chapter 2,
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Speaker 1: and his name is Moses. I like Moses. So do you.
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Speaker 1: Who couldn't like Moses? I mean, he comes from this
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Speaker 1: humble origin. He very graciously handles his early life. Hebrews
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Speaker 1: 11 says that he He refused to be called the
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Speaker 1: son of Pharaoh's daughter. And finally, though he was well-educated
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Speaker 1: and was really the Pharaoh elect, even though he had
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Speaker 1: distinguished himself as a student, a man mighty in words
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Speaker 1: and deeds, he was a man who decided to serve
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Speaker 1: the Lord rather than himself. And after a period of preparation,
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Speaker 1: he was used to lead the people through the wilderness.
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Speaker 1: And you know his story. In fact, no other man
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Speaker 1: talked with God face to face. When he came down
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Speaker 1: from the mountain, his face literally glowed with the Shekinah
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Speaker 1: having been in the presence of God. He personally was
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Speaker 1: there when the finger of God drilled the word into stone.
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Speaker 1: He came down from the mountain and presented the first
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Speaker 1: copies of the written word of God. He oversaw the
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Speaker 1: building of the tabernacle. He led the people through the
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Speaker 1: Red Sea. He stayed faithfully by their side, though they
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Speaker 1: came at him with guns blazing. Now you'd think the
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Speaker 1: man virtually could walk on water, but he couldn't. This
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Speaker 1: same man, Moses, verse 11, chapter 2 of Exodus, has
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Speaker 1: a record of murder in his life. It came about
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Speaker 1: in those days when Moses had grown up that he
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Speaker 1: went out to his brethren and he looked on their
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Speaker 1: hard labors and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew,
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Speaker 1: one of his brethren. He looked this way and that.
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Speaker 1: And when he saw there was no one around, he
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Speaker 1: struck down the Egyptian and he hit him in the sand.
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Speaker 1: Is that amazing? Not really, if you believe in the
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Speaker 1: depravity of man. In a moment of rash decision, he
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Speaker 1: acted in the flesh and he killed an Egyptian. He
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Speaker 1: murdered him. and he hid the evidence on top of
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Speaker 1: the murder. Chapter 3, 40 years later. He's out in
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Speaker 1: the wilderness. He thinks he's going to be leading sheep
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Speaker 1: for the rest of his life, and God steps on
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Speaker 1: the scene and says, you're the one that's going to
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Speaker 1: lead my people out of Egypt. Now here is an
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Speaker 1: 80-year-old man with murder on his record, He knows that
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Speaker 1: he has failed the Lord, and yet he hears God
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Speaker 1: graciously coming back saying, now you are going to be
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Speaker 1: my spokesman. You would think he would have learned enough
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Speaker 1: to say right away, wherever you lead me, I will go.
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Speaker 1: Does he do that?
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Speaker 2: No.
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Speaker 1: Don't call the last part of chapter 3 and the
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Speaker 1: early part of chapter 4 humility. It's stubbornness. It's rebellion.
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Speaker 1: He tries every way in the world to get out
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Speaker 1: of it. look at chapter 3, verse 10, God's invitation.
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Speaker 1: Come now and I will send you to Pharaoh that
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Speaker 1: you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out
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Speaker 1: of Egypt. Moses said to God, I'm ready to go. No,
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Speaker 1: he didn't. He said, who am I? Who am I
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Speaker 1: that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should
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Speaker 1: bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? And he
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Speaker 1: In verse 13, he talks about not having all the answers.
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Speaker 1: Verse 14, down to the end, God says, you'll have
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Speaker 1: all of me. Chapter 4, Moses says, I won't have
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Speaker 1: all their respect. And God answers, you'll have all my power.
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Speaker 1: Middle of chapter 4, he says, I don't have all
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Speaker 1: the ability. I'm not eloquent. I can't speak in public.
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Speaker 1: God says, I'll be your mouthpiece. I'll speak for you.
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Speaker 1: Verse 13, chapter 4, he said, please, Lord, now send
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Speaker 1: the message by whomever thou wilt. That sounds nice. What
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Speaker 1: he's really saying is take somebody else and use them.
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Speaker 1: I'm not available. And God says in anger, okay, I'll
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Speaker 1: send Aaron and he'll speak for you. By the way,
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Speaker 1: who built the golden calf? Never, ever forget the story
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Speaker 1: of Moses. When you stubbornly stand against what God is
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Speaker 1: telling you personally to do, and then God compromises to
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Speaker 1: use someone along with you, often that person as a
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Speaker 1: part of that compromise becomes the Achilles heel, the albatross
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Speaker 1: around your neck. Some things have to be done all alone.
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Speaker 1: Some missions have to be accomplished just with you and God.
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Speaker 1: You won't always have a partner. And if you plead
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Speaker 1: for a partner, you won't go unless you get a partner.
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Speaker 1: God's going to get the job done, and he graciously
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Speaker 1: gives you what you wish, but he sends leanness to
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Speaker 1: your souls. Some of the jobs that have to be
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Speaker 1: done have to be done in a lonely place, in
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Speaker 1: a solitary way. That's what God wanted for Moses, and
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Speaker 1: Moses took second best. He took errands. I personally entertain thoughts,
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Speaker 1: chapter 20 of Numbers, that Moses suffered constantly from a temper.
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Speaker 1: I think Moses had a short fuse. I think it
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Speaker 1: got longer the longer he lived, but those of us
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Speaker 1: who are impatient, and I lead the pack, I'm way
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Speaker 1: ahead of whoever's listening right now, okay? But if you're impatient...
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Speaker 1: You know what it is to fight a temper and
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Speaker 1: to keep the fuse wet. It gets dry. It tends
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Speaker 1: to make everything explode. Here's a man who has this
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Speaker 1: kind of nature. Why? Because he's depraved. He's a good man.
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Speaker 1: He's a leader. He's God's spokesman. But he has a
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Speaker 1: depraved nature and you can't trust it. You dare not
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Speaker 1: trust your nature. Were it not for the grace of God,
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Speaker 1: we'd all be wiped off this earth. Moses chapter 20,
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Speaker 1: verse 2. There was no water for the congregation, and
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Speaker 1: they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. Now, I don't
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Speaker 1: know the last time you were really thirsty. Really thirsty.
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Speaker 1: But just for a minute, try to imagine your cotton mouth.
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Speaker 1: You have to have something liquid, and you can't find
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Speaker 1: something to drink. And that's the way these people were.
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Speaker 1: Verse 3, they blamed Moses and they spoke to him saying,
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Speaker 1: if only we had perished when our brothers perished before
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Speaker 1: the Lord. Can't you hear them? How sad. Why have
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Speaker 1: you brought the Lord's assembly into the wilderness for us
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Speaker 1: and our beasts to die? Why have you made us
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Speaker 1: come up from Egypt to bring us into this wretched place?
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Speaker 1: Is it not a place of grain, figs or vines
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Speaker 1: or pomegranates? Nor is there water to drink. Moses and
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Speaker 1: Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to
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Speaker 1: the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on
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Speaker 1: their faces. If you have ever led a group of
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Speaker 1: people who are coming down on you, you know how
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Speaker 1: Moses feels at this moment. Times come before the Lord
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Speaker 1: and fall on your face and say, what in the
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Speaker 1: world do I have to do? Lord, intervene, take charge.
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Speaker 1: And other things. You say other things as well when
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Speaker 1: you're falling on your face before God. Verse 8, the
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Speaker 1: Lord said, take the rod, you and your brother Aaron,
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Speaker 1: assemble the congregation and speak to the rock. before their eyes,
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Speaker 1: that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring
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Speaker 1: forth water for them out of the rock, for them
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Speaker 1: and the beast to drink. Moses took the rod from
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Speaker 1: before the Lord, just as he had commanded him. Moses
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Speaker 1: and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock, and now
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Speaker 1: Moses preaches a little sermon. Now, God didn't tell him
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Speaker 1: to preach a sermon. He just said, go out and
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Speaker 1: speak to the rock. But Moses is led to say
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Speaker 1: something else. Listen now, you rebels. Shall we bring forth
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Speaker 1: water for you out of this rock? And he lifted
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Speaker 1: up his rod and he struck the rock twice. Reminds
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Speaker 1: me of these baseball players when they don't get a hit.
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Speaker 1: They break their bat at the base and we go,
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Speaker 1: what a shame. Moses years ago set the pace, broke
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Speaker 1: the rod, striking it against the rock. You talk about
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Speaker 1: grace and water poured out of the rock. If you
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Speaker 1: had been God, would you have brought water out of
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Speaker 1: the rock? No way. But grace brings water even when
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Speaker 1: there's disobedience. Why would Moses, this good man, strike the
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Speaker 1: rock when God had just said, speak to it? Because
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Speaker 1: he is depraved. He has a dark side. He doesn't
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Speaker 1: want anybody to see. But on occasion, it is on display.
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Speaker 1: Before you get too picky with Moses, just think about
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Speaker 1: rods and rocks. In your life. Think about the times
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Speaker 1: that you knew what was best and you did what
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Speaker 1: was worse. When you realized in your heart that patience
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Speaker 1: pays off and you acted impatiently and you said the
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Speaker 1: worst possible thing you could have said. And you knifed
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Speaker 1: someone right to shreds. You know why you did it?
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Speaker 1: Because you're depraved. You have a dark side and maybe
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Speaker 1: it's a temper. Maybe it's greed. Maybe it's gossip. Maybe
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Speaker 1: it's lust. It could be envy, jealousy, or a hundred
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Speaker 1: other things I could name. We all have them and
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Speaker 1: they are often our besetting sins. From Noah and Moses,
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Speaker 1: we turn to perhaps the most popular of all in
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament, 1 Samuel chapter 13, the man after
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Speaker 1: God's heart, this great hero, David. My favorite piece of
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Speaker 1: sculpture is a work of Michelangelo of David. white marble,
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Speaker 1: stands at the end of a long corridor and some
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Speaker 1: of you have seen it. And you look at the
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Speaker 1: statue and you stand in awe, not only of a
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Speaker 1: man's ability with a chisel, but of God's marvelous plan
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Speaker 1: in taking a fellow from a flock of sheep owned
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Speaker 1: by his daddy, and bringing him to feed Jacob his
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Speaker 1: people and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according
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Speaker 1: to the integrity of his heart, and he guided them
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Speaker 1: by the skillfulness of his hands. The end of Psalm 78,
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Speaker 1: those words appear. That's David. In fact, the earliest reference
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Speaker 1: to David, and this is significant, is in 1 Samuel 13,
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Speaker 1: verses 13 and 14. As Samuel speaks to Saul, who
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Speaker 1: has forfeited the right to rule the people. Samuel said
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Speaker 1: to Saul, you've acted foolishly. You have not kept the
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Speaker 1: commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you.
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Speaker 1: For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over
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Speaker 1: Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure, Saul.
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Speaker 1: The Lord has sought out for himself. Here is the
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Speaker 1: first reference to David, a man of after his own heart.
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Speaker 1: You can put in the margin of your Bible reference
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Speaker 1: to David. That's the earliest description of the man God
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Speaker 1: was looking for when he was looking for David, a
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Speaker 1: man after his own heart. And the Lord has appointed
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Speaker 1: him as a ruler over his people because you've not
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Speaker 1: kept what the Lord commanded you. Now we could spend
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Speaker 1: the rest of our time looking at the life of David.
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Speaker 1: We can't do that. He stays faithful to God for
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Speaker 1: almost 15 years while jealous Saul hunts him down. He
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Speaker 1: takes a nation that's at the bottom in morale and
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Speaker 1: he expands its boundaries from 6,000 to 60,000 square miles.
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Speaker 1: He establishes trade routes with the world. He puts the
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Speaker 1: nation on the map. He gives them a military force
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Speaker 1: that causes other nations to respect them. The flag of
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Speaker 1: Israel flies higher in the days of David than it
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Speaker 1: ever flew in the history of Israel. What a leader.
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Speaker 1: What a hero. What a man of battle. What a courageous,
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Speaker 1: faithful man of God. You want somebody to respect as
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Speaker 1: a leader, you don't have to go much further than David.
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Speaker 1: Until you get to 2 Samuel chapter 11. You knew
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Speaker 1: it was coming. In the height of his career, the
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Speaker 1: only spot I can find on his record is the
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Speaker 1: mystery of many men in the Old Testament. He's a polygamist.
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Speaker 1: I don't know why God let him get away with that,
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Speaker 1: so don't plan to ask me that question, okay? One
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Speaker 1: of the mysteries to me in the Old Testament is
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Speaker 1: why God blessed men so marvelously who had multiple wives.
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Speaker 1: David was one of them. Many wives. My record is correct.
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Speaker 1: I think he had over 12 wives. But aside from that,
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Speaker 1: David is a man who continues to walk with God
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Speaker 1: and lead the nation correctly until one day when he
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Speaker 1: should have been in battle, he walks on his roof.
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Speaker 1: Verse 2, evening came and David arose from his bed
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Speaker 1: and walked around on the roof of the king's house.
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Speaker 1: That wasn't uncommon. That was the place where men of
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Speaker 1: state often relaxed. a place above the humdrum of the street,
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Speaker 1: the noise and the publicity of that area. And from
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Speaker 1: the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was
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Speaker 1: very beautiful in appearance. David sent and inquired about the woman.
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Speaker 1: And one said, is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam,
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Speaker 1: the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Interesting that he mentions
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Speaker 1: to David she's someone's wife. Maybe the servant knew David's mind.
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Speaker 1: David sent messengers and took her, and when she came
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Speaker 1: to him, he lay with her. And when she had
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Speaker 1: purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house,
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Speaker 1: and she conceived, and she sent a message and told David,
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Speaker 1: I am pregnant. And you know the story. Not only
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Speaker 1: has our hero been involved with another woman outside wedlock,
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Speaker 1: he certainly didn't need another woman. He has now found
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Speaker 1: himself in a place of intense compromise and pressure. The
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Speaker 1: thought of abortion was never in their mind, interestingly. Certainly not.
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Speaker 1: She was pregnant with his child, and the result was
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Speaker 1: he had to do something about her husband. He tried
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Speaker 1: to mask the story, brought the man back from battle,
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Speaker 1: hoped that he wouldn't sleep with his wife, and Uriah didn't.
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Speaker 1: He was more faithful to the cause of Israel than
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Speaker 1: David was. And finally, David told Joab to put him
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Speaker 1: in the heat of the battle, and of course, he
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Speaker 1: was killed. Joab sent the message back, knowing the heart
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Speaker 1: of his leader, and he said, you be sure and
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Speaker 1: tell him that Uriah was killed. Chapter 12, you have
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Speaker 1: Nathan coming and saying to him, you are the man,
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Speaker 1: verse 7. Now how could a man as godly as
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Speaker 1: David fall as far as he did with Bathsheba? How
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Speaker 1: could he kill a man on the battlefield? How could
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Speaker 1: he live the life of a hypocrite for almost a year?
35:26
Speaker 1: How could David do that? He's our man. He's that
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Speaker 1: faithful shepherd. He's the giant killer. He's depraved. That's how.
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Speaker 1: He has a nature that will never improve. He has
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Speaker 1: lust just like every man and every woman hearing my
35:46
Speaker 1: words right now. And he yielded to it. It sang
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Speaker 1: its sweet song and he talked himself into it. He
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Speaker 1: was responsible, just as you and I are, every time
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Speaker 1: we yield. And here is an awful story that is very,
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Speaker 1: very familiar. And I want to remind you It'll help
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Speaker 1: you keep your balance. When your respected leaders fall, they,
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Speaker 1: like you, have a nature. And they, like you, yield
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Speaker 1: on occasion against God. Most of you have been down
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Speaker 1: the pike far enough to know. We're turning now to
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Speaker 1: Matthew chapter 16. Most of you have been down the
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Speaker 1: road far enough to know that You cannot trust your nature.
36:45
Speaker 1: Just a little word of counsel. Don't get yourself in
36:48
Speaker 1: a situation where your nature takes charge. If you are
36:53
Speaker 1: weakened by the opposite sex, you have to keep yourself
36:58
Speaker 1: out of those tempting situations where you will yield. If
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Speaker 1: you do not, it is only a matter of time
37:05
Speaker 1: and you will yield and it will be your fault
37:09
Speaker 1: and you will play the fool. The same is true
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Speaker 1: for me. It is terribly important, especially in the area
37:20
Speaker 1: of personal morality, that you keep a distance when there
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Speaker 1: is the temptation to be involved in illicit activity. I'm
37:33
Speaker 1: trying to say all that the nice way, and I
37:35
Speaker 1: hope you take it strongly. Because we're living in a
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Speaker 1: day when it's being rationalized and compromised and everybody just
37:46
Speaker 1: convincing themselves it's okay. If you're sleeping with somebody out
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Speaker 1: of wedlock, you're in sin. You're displeasing God. If you're
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Speaker 1: walking away from God in an area of sexual activity,
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Speaker 1: it is hurting your testimony and hurting the ministry of
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Get back in line. Claim the grace that's
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Speaker 1: coming to you through Christ. And as David did, say,
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Speaker 1: I have sinned. And turn around and face the music.
38:22
Speaker 1: And if you are in ministry in doing that, clean
38:25
Speaker 1: up your life or get out of the ministry. Do
38:28
Speaker 1: us all a favor. Just step out of the ministry
38:32
Speaker 1: and say, I have sinned. I have forfeited the right
38:37
Speaker 1: to lead a flock. I've compromised. I've ruined my testimony
38:43
Speaker 1: and I will not ruin the testimony of a church.
38:47
Speaker 1: Matthew 16 is the story of Peter, perhaps his greatest hour,
38:52
Speaker 1: when the Lord said to Peter, who do men say
38:55
Speaker 1: the son of man is? Verse 13, he says, some
38:59
Speaker 1: say John the Baptist and some say Elijah. Verse 14, Jeremiah,
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Speaker 1: one of the prophets. And he said, but to Peter,
39:05
Speaker 1: who do you say that I am? This is his
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Speaker 1: greatest moment up till now. Peter said to him, thou
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Speaker 1: art the Christ, the son of the living God. What
39:15
Speaker 1: a moment. What a great statement. For once, Peter doesn't
39:20
Speaker 1: put his foot in his mouth. It is terrific. And
39:23
Speaker 1: I think the Lord wanted to applaud him. In fact,
39:26
Speaker 1: he told him that flesh and blood hadn't revealed that
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Speaker 1: to him. It came from the very portals of heaven.
39:31
Speaker 1: God revealed that to you. A little later on, Mark
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Speaker 1: chapter 14, our friend Peter is again with his Lord.
39:41
Speaker 1: And the Lord is telling him about the future. Mark 14, 27.
39:49
Speaker 1: Jesus said to all those disciples, you will all fall
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Speaker 1: away from me. Because it's written, I will strike down
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Speaker 1: the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. And after
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Speaker 1: I've been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.
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Speaker 1: But Peter said, here we are with Peter, verse 29,
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Speaker 1: even though all may fall away, I will not. And
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Speaker 1: he meant, well, I've said things like that, haven't you?
40:16
Speaker 1: Haven't you, in a moment of great emotional gush, given
40:19
Speaker 1: God great promises. I'll be with you every day of
40:23
Speaker 1: this year. January 1. January 4. Lord, I've missed the
40:28
Speaker 1: last two days. But I'm back. No, I will never
40:35
Speaker 1: fall away. And Jesus said, truly, I say to you,
40:38
Speaker 1: this very night before a cock crows twice, three times
40:43
Speaker 1: you'll deny me. And that's exactly what happened. How can
40:47
Speaker 1: it be that this great man who made those wonderful
40:50
Speaker 1: statements and really did stand alone when those disciples were
40:55
Speaker 1: lacking in courage and lacking in answers? You've got to
40:58
Speaker 1: say Peter at least stood alone and said the right
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Speaker 1: thing many times. Now he follows his Lord far away
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Speaker 1: and denies him three times, 66 through 72. Look at
41:11
Speaker 1: the last verse. Immediately a cock crowed. Second time, and
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Speaker 1: Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him,
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Speaker 1: before a cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.
41:24
Speaker 1: And he began to weep. I don't think there is
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Speaker 1: any weeping quite as bitter as the weeping brought on
41:32
Speaker 1: by failure. It's a terrible time. I have a good
41:37
Speaker 1: friend who has failed the Lord, and he has failed
41:40
Speaker 1: the Lord tragically. And he has stepped away from leadership
41:45
Speaker 1: and ministry. And he is right now going through the
41:49
Speaker 1: weeping time. He knows he has forfeited the right to lead.
41:54
Speaker 1: And now that he's come clean, he realizes the heinous
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Speaker 1: condition of his soul during this period of time when
42:04
Speaker 1: he was compromising. And like Peter, he is weeping before God.
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Speaker 1: Why did Peter do that? Why did my friend do that?
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Speaker 1: Why am I prone to wander? Because of the dark side.
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Speaker 1: Paul is the final man, and it doesn't take long
42:28
Speaker 1: to see his statement. Romans chapter 7, I think, is
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Speaker 1: the finest explanation of this old nature anywhere in the scriptures.
42:38
Speaker 1: Romans 7, verses 14 to 24. We've looked at Noah
42:45
Speaker 1: and Moses and David. In the New Testament, we're looking
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Speaker 1: at Peter and Paul. Romans chapter 7, verse 15. This
42:57
Speaker 1: is Paul's testimony. Here is this great man of God,
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Speaker 1: the theologian par excellence, the missionary, the apostle, the founder
43:06
Speaker 1: of churches, the man who hammered out our theology in
43:10
Speaker 1: the New Testament, wrote more of the New Testament than
43:13
Speaker 1: any other writer, says Romans 7, 15. That which I
43:17
Speaker 1: am doing, I do not understand. For I'm practicing, I'm
43:22
Speaker 1: not practicing what I would like to do, but I'm
43:24
Speaker 1: doing the very thing I hate. If I do the
43:27
Speaker 1: very thing I do not wish to do, I agree
43:30
Speaker 1: with the law confessing that it is good. So now
43:33
Speaker 1: no longer am I the one doing it, but sin
43:35
Speaker 1: which indwells me. He doesn't stop there. I know that
43:38
Speaker 1: nothing good dwells in me. That is in my flesh.
43:42
Speaker 1: For the wishing is present in me, but the doing
43:44
Speaker 1: of the good is not. For the good that I wish,
43:46
Speaker 1: I do not. But I practice the very evil that
43:49
Speaker 1: I do not wish. Does that sound like yesterday? Does
43:53
Speaker 1: that sound like last week? Does that sound like a
43:55
Speaker 1: testimony of your life? If I'm doing the very thing
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Speaker 1: I do not wish, I'm no longer the one doing
44:00
Speaker 1: it but sin which dwells in me. I find then
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Speaker 1: the principle that evil is present in me, the one
44:08
Speaker 1: who wishes to do good. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
44:12
Speaker 1: That's how come we fail. That's how come we sin.
44:16
Speaker 1: That's how come we yield to an old nature. Even
44:19
Speaker 1: though we wish to do good, evil is present in us.
44:26
Speaker 1: There's one great exception and you know who he is.
44:29
Speaker 1: His name is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Scripture says three
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Speaker 1: things of Christ. He knew no sin. He had no sin.
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Speaker 1: He did no sin. No sin nature. Born without sin,
44:47
Speaker 1: lived without sinfulness. Knowing no sin, having no sin, doing
44:52
Speaker 1: no sin, he qualifies as the lamb who can hear
44:56
Speaker 1: us in our sin and cleanse us. So we have
45:00
Speaker 1: really two options, very simply. First, we can opt to
45:04
Speaker 1: live as victims of an old nature, for sin is
45:08
Speaker 1: present in us. Or we can live as victors through
45:12
Speaker 1: the power of Jesus Christ. the last thing I want
45:15
Speaker 1: to do is leave in your mind that you're a
45:17
Speaker 1: helpless victim of that old nature. Each one of these
45:20
Speaker 1: people we've studied made a deliberate decision to sin. They
45:24
Speaker 1: weren't duped. It shouldn't have come as a surprise. They
45:29
Speaker 1: played into the hand of the old nature and they
45:32
Speaker 1: carried out exactly what the old nature performs. And that
45:35
Speaker 1: is sin. I encourage you to live as a victor
45:39
Speaker 1: through the power of Jesus Christ and as you face
45:43
Speaker 1: the evil, as you come across it, as it rears
45:46
Speaker 1: its head, claim the power of God that you haven't
45:50
Speaker 1: in yourself. Lord, right now, at this moment, I'm weak.
45:54
Speaker 1: You're strong. I'm stepping away from it, and your power
45:57
Speaker 1: is going to give me the grace to get through this.
46:00
Speaker 1: And walk away. Stand firm. Listen in closing to Peter
46:05
Speaker 1: Marshall's prayer. We acknowledge with bitterness and true repentance that
46:13
Speaker 1: cross and selfish thoughts have entered our minds. We acknowledge
46:18
Speaker 1: that we have permitted our minds to wander through unclean
46:21
Speaker 1: and forbidden ways. We have toyed with that which we
46:25
Speaker 1: knew was not for us. We have desired that which
46:29
Speaker 1: we should not have. We acknowledge that often we have
46:34
Speaker 1: deceived ourselves where our plain duty lay. We confess before thee,
46:41
Speaker 1: our ears are often deaf to the whisper of thy call,
46:44
Speaker 1: our eyes often blind to the signs of thy guidance.
46:50
Speaker 1: Make us willing to be changed, even though it requires
46:56
Speaker 1: surgery of the soul and the therapy of discipline. Make
47:07
Speaker 1: our hearts warm and soft that we may receive the
47:11
Speaker 1: blessing of thy forgiveness. I would like all of us
47:18
Speaker 1: to bow before our father at this moment. Each one
47:23
Speaker 1: as though we were the only person hearing these things
47:26
Speaker 1: alone in our thoughts. For all I know, someone hearing
47:31
Speaker 1: these words is right now on the verge of some
47:37
Speaker 1: act of rebellion or disobedience and you came to hear
47:41
Speaker 1: this message almost inadvertently suddenly you're hearing your life pass
47:48
Speaker 1: in review I challenge you to opt for the life
47:53
Speaker 1: of a victor to refuse to see yourself as a
48:01
Speaker 1: victim unless of course you're without Christ and indeed if
48:06
Speaker 1: you are you cannot stop doing wrong. So I invite
48:12
Speaker 1: you either to come to Christ by faith or to
48:16
Speaker 1: claim the Lord Jesus Christ's power within you, having come
48:22
Speaker 1: to him earlier in your life. Whichever applies, do it.
48:32
Speaker 1: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just.
48:37
Speaker 1: to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
48:42
Speaker 1: all unrighteousness. What the late chaplain of the Senate was
48:46
Speaker 1: saying is that in order for there to be a
48:49
Speaker 1: relationship with God, we must come to God on God's terms,
48:54
Speaker 1: understanding that we are lost. And in order for Him
48:59
Speaker 1: to become our righteousness, our perfection, we must be in
49:05
Speaker 1: Christ His Son. That happens by faith, by believing in
49:10
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. When that occurs, the surgery of
49:15
Speaker 1: the soul that he mentions takes place. God reaches in.
49:20
Speaker 1: and declares us righteous, canceling our debt that has been
49:26
Speaker 1: against us and giving us in turn his righteousness. That
49:30
Speaker 1: comes by our believing in his Son, Jesus. I urge
49:34
Speaker 1: you to do that now. Let me pray. Father, thank
49:38
Speaker 1: you for making the message clear as we have worked
49:40
Speaker 1: our way through this study. Thank you for giving us
49:44
Speaker 1: Christ and with him all things richly to enjoy. Thank
49:48
Speaker 1: you for the debt he paid and paid in full
49:51
Speaker 1: on our behalf. Thank you, Father, that we can know
49:54
Speaker 1: your righteousness in our position and a life of righteousness
50:00
Speaker 1: and holiness far different from what we could have ever
50:03
Speaker 1: lived on our own. Thank you for making us right
50:07
Speaker 1: with yourself through faith in your Son. I pray that
50:10
Speaker 1: those who've never come to know you will do so
50:12
Speaker 1: now by simply believing in him, taking the gift that
50:17
Speaker 1: you offer by faith. In Jesus' name, I ask this.
50:23
Speaker 2: Amen. The preceding message, Exposing the Dark Side, was copyrighted
50:30
Speaker 2: in 1985, 1987, 2005, 2011, and 2022. And the sound
50:38
Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
50:44
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
50:48
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.