The Lost Sons, Part 2

Luke chapter 15, as we continue our study in this parable that gives us three pictures of salvation in what happens in heaven when one sinner repents. There is great joy. In fact, the Bible says in verse number seven, I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

That's in response to the story of the lost sheep. And then it says in verse number 10, in the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. That's the story of the lost silver coin. And then he concludes the parable or the story of the lost sons with these words, but we had to be merry and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to leave, live, excuse me, and was lost and has been found. What the first two stories of Luke 15 tell us is that it is necessary that a sinner repents.

And then the last story tells us about the reality of that repentance. It's demonstrated in the life of one of the lost sons, both are lost, but one of them who truly repents and comes to saving faith. And Jesus is saying that there is joy over abounding joy in heaven. When a sinner repents, he declares that in the first two stories, he demonstrates that in the last story of the lost two sons.

Repentance becomes that foundational element of the gospel that Jesus has preached from the very beginning. Think about it. When the forerunner to the Messiah began to preach, he said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That was John the Baptist. That's what he said. That's when he came out of the wilderness, like a locomotive and began to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was in prison, Jesus came on the scene and he began to preach, I guess basically before he was in prison, Jesus came on the scene and began to preach.

And in Mark chapter one, verse number 15, Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. He said the same thing John the Baptist said. And then in Mark six, when Jesus sent out the 12 apostles, he told them in verse number 12 of Mark six, when you preach, preach that men should repent. And then at the end of his ministry, after his resurrection and right before his ascension in Luke chapter 24, Jesus said, make sure that repentance and remission of sins be preached in the, in my name among the nations.

So again, Jesus concludes his ministry before his ascension, telling his men, you've got to preach the gospel that includes repentance. So Peter, that's what he does in Acts chapter two, verse number 38. He says on the day of Pentecost, repent and be baptized. And Acts three, his second sermon, he said, repent and be converted, be changed, be turned.

And then Paul, when he preached in Acts 20 verse 21, he says to the Ephesian elders that he testified both to Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And then Paul's defense before Agrippa and Acts 26 verse number 21, he said, he told them that he, he showed all men that they should repent and do works appropriate to repentance. And that's why Paul said in Acts 1730, that God is declaring to all men that all everywhere should what? Repent. That is the foundational element of the gospel.

Repentance. It must be preached. It must be explained because that's what happens in the life of a sinner. When God calls him to himself, he turns his life around. Charles Spurgeon in his book, All of Grace said this about repentance. He says, repentance is the inseparable companion of faith. All the while that we walk by faith and not by sight, the tear of repentance glitters in the eye of faith. That is not true repentance, which does not come of faith in Jesus. And that is not true faith in Jesus, which is not tinctured with repentance.

Faith and repentance like Siamese twins are vitally joined together. Faith and repentance are but two spokes in the same wheel, two handles of the same plow. Repentance has been well described as a heart broken for sin and from sin. And it may equally well be spoken of as turning and returning. It is a change of mind of the most thorough and radical sort. And it is attended with sorrow for the past and a resolve of amendment in the future. Repentance of sin and faith in divine pardon are the warp and woof of the fabric of real conversion.

That's what happens in the life of this lost son in Luke chapter 15. He evidences true biblical godly sorrow, which leads to repentance. A repentance that doesn't need to be repented of, but a repentance that truly is brought about by God. It's important to understand that in the book of Acts, the 11th chapter, the 18th verse, it is declared that God has granted the Gentiles repentance. Therefore, we conclude that repentance is as much a gift of God as faith is, and as belief is, and as grace is.

It's all a gift of God. That's why over in 2nd Timothy chapter 2, Paul says these words, verse 24, the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. Paul's concern is that man comes to his senses.

You will note that in Luke chapter 15, the lost son comes to his senses. Why? Because what was brought in him was that spirit of repentance that would cause him to turn from where he was to follow and go home to his father. That's what repentance is. It's that turning from where I am, recognizing that where I'm going is nowhere, and I need to go to God. That's what repentance is. And that's why A. W. Tozer said these words. He said, I think there is little doubt that the teaching of salvation without repentance has lowered the moral standards of the church and produced a multitude of deceived religious professors who erroneously believe themselves to be saved when in fact they are still in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.

He's absolutely correct. Because we don't preach about repentance today and people just believe what they hear. They forget that they're still in the bond of iniquity and the gall of bitterness. And sometimes it doesn't manifest itself right away, but over a long period of time, I've known people who have professed Christianity, been in the church, lived in the church a long time, 10, 15, 20 years, but never recognizing that repentance was never a part of the saving work of God in their lives and realized that after 20, 25 years in church service, they never really truly repented of their sin because the bitterness is so deep and so severe and the sin is still with them and they are still in the bondage of iniquity.

But they never knew it because they were raised in churches where repentance wasn't preached. Just believe a few words about Jesus and you're okay. You're good to go. But repentance is a change of life. It's a change of behavior. It's a change of direction. It's a radical change, not a nominal change. You got to understand that. When someone is saved, they are a new creation. They are no longer the same as they were before. God does a turnaround work in their lives. Folks, this is so critical to the evangelical church today in America because there's a lot of people, most people in the evangelical church in America today who have no idea of what saving faith really truly is and never given their life to Jesus Christ.

Oh, they have a great attitude and they have a good moral character and they sort of love the Lord because they're here all the time, but it doesn't mean that they've been born again, that they've come to the realization that their sin has separated them from God and there needs to be a turning from that sin to serve the true and living God. That's what 1 Thessalonians 1.9 is all about. Paul commended those in Thessalonica that they had turned to God from idols to serve the true and living God. The essential components of repentance are turning from something to something in order to serve that which you turn to.

And that's exactly what those in Thessalonica did. They turned from their idols and they followed after God that they might serve Him with a whole heart and a committed mind. That's what they did. Spurgeon has written a book called Turn or Burn. Good book. You know, you don't turn, what are you going to do? You're going to burn, right? And Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, talks about repentance in these words. He says, when a man repents with that grace of repentance, again, he, he emphasized the fact that repentance is a grace work of God.

You need to understand this because in the story of, of the lost sons, the son says that he has to go home and that he's not worthy to even be a slave in his father's house. And what this son says is that he says that repentance on his part is a work he must do to grant his father's favor. And you will note in the story that that's his mindset because that's the mindset of all the Pharisees and the scribes that are sitting there listening to the sermon, that repentance is a work that I must do, that somehow when I get back, I must earn the favor of my father.

And that's the Jewish mindset. So the son says, I got to get up, I got to go back and I've got to earn the favor of my father. I am no longer worthy to call his son. I will do whatever he says, whatever he does to gain his favor back. You got to understand that about the story. And that's why Jesus or the father, okay, which is really Jesus. Okay. In terms of symbolism, when the father sees them, what does he do? He runs to a son before he gets to the city because in the Jewish mindset, a son, a son who repents, who has been dead because they've already had a funeral for him.

That's why he's called the dead son because he's left. That when the Jewish mindset comes back, he has to sit outside the city gate and be scorned and ridiculed by all the people in the city for a period of time to the father says he can come in. That's why the father runs and meets him outside the city gate. And that's why the father now is scorned and ridiculed. And the son is not because the father takes all the scorn that would be given to the son and takes it upon himself and receives the son without him ever doing any kind of work to earn the merit of the father.

This is a great story, man. This is so good. This is salvation at its best. And when Jesus tells a story, nobody tells it like Jesus does. And boy, I tell you, he puts it right out there for everybody to see. And that's why, you know what I'm saying, the repentance is a gift granted by God. Spurgeon recognizes that as he talks about the grace of repentance. I'm ahead of myself here, so let me go back.

When a man repents with that grace of repentance, which God, the spirit works in him, he repents not, not of the punishment, which is to follow the deed, but of the deed itself. And he feels that if there were no pit digged for the wicked, if there were no ever gnawing worm and no fire unquenchable, he would still hate sin. It is such repentance as this, which every one of you must have or else you will be lost. It must be a hatred of sin. Do not suppose that because when you come to die, you will be afraid of eternal torment.

Therefore, that will be repentance. Every thief is afraid of the prison, but he will steal tomorrow if you set him free. Most men who have committed murder tremble at the seats of the gallows tree, but they would do the deed again could they live. It is not the hatred of the punishment that is repentance. It is the hatred of the deed itself. Do you feel that you have such a repentance as that? If not, these thundering words must be preached to you again. If he turned not, he will wet his sword. But one more hint here, when a man is possessed of true and evangelical repentance, I mean the gospel repentance would save the soul.

He not only hates sin for its own sake, but loathes it so extremely and utterly that he feels no repentance of his own can avail to wash it out. And he acknowledges that it is only by an act of sovereign grace that his sins can be washed away. A man may renounce every outward sin and not yet really repent. True repentance is a turning of the heart as well as of the life. It is a giving up of the whole soul to God to be his forever and ever. It is the renunciation of the sins of the heart as well as the crimes of the life.

He's right. He's spot on. You're not repenting of the punishment. You're repenting of the deed itself. And that is essential to saving grace. Coming to a point in your life where you realize that you have turned so far from God that you must turn toward him and follow him. 180 degree turn. That's what repentance is. And that's what needs to be preached in the church today. So people understand what saving grace really is all about. It's truly a work of God because no natural man will ever turn from a sin, will he not?

He won't. He loves the sin too much. No natural man will ever hate his sin because he loves the sin. But when God's spirit doesn't work in a man, he recognizes that his sin is a violation of God and he turns from that to serve the true and living God. That's what repentance is. With that in mind, let's go back to Luke 15. Look once again at this story. Remember the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost son, which are the two preceding stories in this one parable of lost things. Help us understand God's activity toward the sinner.

That is to rescue and redeem him. And the parable of the lost sons is about man's responsibility to the savior to repent and return to him. It gives us both sides of the coin. It helps us understand the full bore of salvation, what God does and what man's responsibility is based on what God's already done. God, man responds to God's pursuit. Man responds to God's initiative. Man responds to God's choosing and God's calling him. And this is what it looks like when he responds. This is what repentance looks like.

That's why he demonstrates to us in a beautiful way the picture of true biblical repentance so that we can come to grips with whether or not we truly have repented in our own lives or not. And this is where you put your life under the microscope. This is where you examine your life. That's why Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 13 5, prove yourselves, examine yourselves, test yourselves to see if Jesus is really in you. Because in Corinth, Jesus wasn't in a lot of those people in that church. So he says, you look at your life and examine it in light of what scripture says so you can be sure that Jesus is in you.

See, don't think that just because someone's been in church a long, long time that Jesus is in them. Don't think that. That's one of the deceptive ploys of the devil. He is keen at getting people to believe that they're saved when in reality they're not. He is the master deceiver. So a pastor, you're kind of scaring me a little bit. That's good. That's good because you need to examine your life in light of what the Bible says to make sure that Jesus really resides within you.

Luke 15 verse number 11, there was a request by the son rooted in his rebellion, which would ultimately lead to his repentance. And he said, verse 11, a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. That was his request. And we told you last week that in Judaism, you could ask for that, but you didn't necessarily get it until the father died. And so what he is actually saying is that, I wish that you were dead. I wish that you were out of my life.

I wish that you were nowhere around because I don't want any accountability. I don't want to be answerable to you. I want my estate. I want to do whatever I want to do. And I want it now.

He was the second son. He was the younger son. So according to the law of Deuteronomy, he was able to receive one third of his father's estate.

We told you last week that this wasn't the natural inheritance because that would mean he would have to have accountability and responsibility for the family. He didn't want that. The word estate here is a word used only one time in the New Testament. It's here and it deals with the father's belongings. It deals with the things that he can cash out now.

So he could get all the money he could possibly get to do whatever he wanted to do. I mean, that's what he wanted. Now notice the father divided the inheritance or the estate between the two boys, the oldest son and the youngest son.

The oldest son just stayed home but still had the inheritance, the estate. The youngest son cashed his out. How do we know that? The Bible tells us. This is his rebellion. He divided the wealth between them and not many days later, the youngest son gathered everything together and went on a journey. That phrase gathered together is a phrase used to get it all together, to cash it out so that he could have money to do whatever he wanted to do it with. Went on a journey to a distant country and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

It was last week that the distant country was Ephesians 2.12. It's a life of no hope without God. The distant country is getting as far away from God as you possibly can be so that you can live any way you want to live. That's the natural man. That's what man wants. He wants to get as far away from any kind of accountability to a divine source as he possibly can and that's what he did. He went to a distant country and he squandered his life on loose living. He did whatever he wanted to do. The oldest son would later say that he spent all of his money on harlots.

So he lived the life of immorality. He lived the life of idolatry. He lived the life of independence. That's what he wanted. He wanted independence. He wanted to live a life of ease. He wanted to live his life his way. That's the natural man. That's what the sinner wants to do. The Bible says this.

Now he had spent everything. A severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be in need. He began to be in need but he wasn't at the end of his self resources yet. He wasn't at the end of his rope yet. He was moving that direction but he spent it all. He had nothing left and only that there was a severe famine in the land. God would cause the famine. God causes events to take place to draw people toward himself that they might experience the fact that they have nothing and all they need is God.

They need to run to him. But this young man was not at the end of his rope yet. This is his rebellion. His rebellion was so stern. It was so strong. It was so deep. He felt like he could still make it on his own without his father. So what does he say? He says and he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. He was longing to fill his stomach with the pods the swine were eating and no one was giving anything to him. This is where he was.

He attached himself to some gentile in that distant country trying to get what he could off that man. That man had nothing to give him so he sent him into his fields to feed the swine and when he got there he was so hungry the only thing that was available to eat was the food of the swine. He was longing for something to eat and this is when he comes to his senses. His rebellion had run its course. He was done. He had nothing. The Bible says in verse number 17, but when he came to his senses, remember I told you in Second Timothy 2.25 that God is looking for people who will come to their senses.

How do they come to their senses? Because God has done a convicting work in their lives. As Paul said in Second Timothy 2.24,25,26 so now Christ depicts it for us.

This man came to his senses. Came to his senses and what does he say? How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread but I am dying here with hunger. I will get up and go to my father and will say to him father I've sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. Now folks what it does for us is it opens up to us a picture of true biblical repentance. I want to spend the rest of our time this morning and next week talking to you about that because what this voice says, what this boy does depicts for us true biblical repentance.

I'm going to give you seven principles out of this verse or these two verses that explain to you what true biblical repentance is. So that you can ask yourself is this me? Have I truly repented of my sin? Have I come to my senses? Principle number one is this.

When a man has truly repented he reflects upon the destiny of his life. He reflects upon the destiny of his life. Where am I going? What am I doing? That's why the text says and he came to his senses. You see in my father's house men are full. I am famished. In my father's house there is mercy. I'm in misery. In my father's house there is plenty. I'm in poverty. He came to his senses and there was a recognition and a realization that where he was going was leading nowhere. There is a way which seemeth right into a man but the ends thereof are the ways of what?

Death, not life. Proverbs 14 verse number 12. There is a way which seemeth right into a man. What was right to this man? To get all he could to live any way he wanted to live. We think that if we can live any way we want, if we have the money, if we have the resources that we can do whatever we want, we'll be happy, it'll be okay, everything will turn out okay. No it doesn't. The ends thereof are always away from God, not toward God. That's why the Bible says lean not on your own understanding because it's wrong.

And so this young man came to his senses and he realized that his life was going nowhere. He changed his mind about his father. He changed his mind about his sin. He changed his mind about his life. He changed his mind about everything. He realized he needed to go back. You see that's what repentance begins. It begins as I reflect upon the destiny of my life that I'm going absolutely nowhere. I will arise and I will go back. Listen carefully. Christ said, I have come to call the sinner to repentance, not the righteous.

You see this boy had to get to this point. Nobody was giving him anything. Listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you. As long as you aid the rebellion, there will be no repentance. As long as you keep giving to the rebellious and keep supplying their needs and keep helping them out, there is no repentance. Why? Because they still have hope in what they're doing. They can still make it. God wants you in a place where you can no longer make it. There are no self-resources. There is no longer a self-reliance.

There is no longer an independence. I need God. Jesus is all you need, but Jesus is never all you need till Jesus is all you got. And you see we got everything else and as long as we give the rebellious everything else, give them something, they still believe they have hope in their own self-resources. They can still make it. The text says nobody was giving him anything. He had nothing. There was nobody to turn to. There was nobody to pick up the rebellious and say, come live with me. Come stay with me.

I'll help you out. Come on. It's okay. That's why he wanted to attach himself to this Gentile man. The Gentile man says, feed my pigs. Feed my pigs. I don't want anything to do with you. You have someone in your family who's rebellious? Are you helping them out? Are you giving them hope in their sinful lifestyle? You're hindering their repentance. You need to leave them alone. Let God deal with them. Say, but Pastor, this is my son, my daughter. I need... No, you don't. No, you don't. Leave them in God's hands.

Let God deal with them. Let God cause a severe famine around about you. See, because what happens is that when the severe famine comes, you're going down with them. See, you're going to be hurting financially along with them. You not even know that. You're going down right with them because you're still helping out the sinner. This sinner came to a place where there was nothing left and nobody helped him and now he reflects upon the destiny of his life. Where am I going? What am I doing? Who am I?

What's happening to me here? There's not... I have nothing. I have nowhere to turn. Nobody that will take me in. Nobody that cares for me. Nobody that will help me. What do I do now? Ah, he reflects upon the destiny of his life and realizes that everything at home is the way it ought to be. See, there is a thing called the passing pleasures of sin. Sin is very rewarding or you'd never do it, right? Sin is very rewarding, very temporal rewarding. It's not long lasting. That's why the Bible calls it the passing pleasures of sin because they do for a moment of time what you want to have happen forever, but it never suffices, never makes it.

So I have this thirst in my life. I had this drive in my life and I make one or two choices. I'm going to choose this path or I'm going to choose this path. I will choose disobedience and it will bring me immediate joy or I would choose obedience and it brings me immediate pain. But at the end of this path is death. At the end of this path is life everlasting. For example, when Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife, he could choose the path of disobedience and experience great pleasure or he could choose the path of obedience and experience great pain.

He chose obedience. He was thrown into prison. He experienced pain, but he became the ruler of Egypt and a man of great character. David, King David on the other hand, had the same kind of thirst, same kind of ambitions in life. He was tempted. He could choose the path of temporary pleasure or choose the path of temporary pain. He saw Bathsheba. What did he choose? The path of temporary pleasure. Was the time with Bathsheba pleasurable? Sure it was. For 30 minutes, it was pleasurable. But at the end, what did it cost him?

It cost him his testimony. It cost him his family. If he had chosen obedience, it's always painful to obey because there's always something you don't receive immediately. But in the long run, you are able to receive the pleasures of God. At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. This young man chose, I want my estate. I want it now and I'm going to path of disobedience. I'm going to live life to the fullest and boy did he have fun. He had the best time as long as he had that wad in his pocket.

He was having the best of time. He was spending his money any way he wanted to spend it, doing anything he wanted to do, living life to the fullest, having the best of times until it was all gone and a severe famine hit the land. Nowhere to turn, nowhere to go. So he attached himself to some Gentile man and when he found things got worse, not better. There is a way he was seen with the writing to a man, but the ends thereof, that path is always death, always separation from God, always. So he reflects upon the destiny of his life.

He comes to his senses and realizes, man, what am I doing? And a person who truly repents, having reflected upon the destiny of their life, listen carefully, realizes the severity of their sin. That's point number two.

He realizes the severity of his sin. Folks, this is absolutely crucial in repentance. Listen to what he says. He says, I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. It could be translated, I have sinned into the heavens. Taken from the book of Ezra, the ninth chapter, where Ezra said that our sins have risen to the heavens. But notice what he says, I have sinned.

It wasn't, you know what, dad, the economy is so bad. I sinned. Things are so bad at home. I just, this is much, I chose sin. You see, the repentant believer has no excuses, none. You can't blame it on his family. You can't blame it on the economy. You can't blame it on a circumstances. He only has one person to blame and that is him, him and him alone. But unfortunately we live a life centered around the blame game. Learned from our father Adam and our mother Eve. When Adam said, it was the woman, God, you gave me.

If you wouldn't have given me the woman, I wouldn't have sinned. Just think of how grand things were before you gave me her. There was no temptation. There was no problems. You had to give me a woman and now it's her you gave to me that has caused me to sin. What did a woman say? It was, but it was his fault. He deceived me. See, we all, we all want to blame somebody else for our situation and our condition. Either, either it's God's fault or it's Satan's fault or it's somebody else's fault. But boy, to come to that place where we say, you know what?

I have sinned. Oh, notice. I have sinned against you, father. I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. The order is so significant. The order is so significant. When David sinned and was confronted by Nathan, King David, was confronted by Nathan. He has said, I have done this evil in thy sight. I have sinned against thee and thee only have I sinned. What about Bathsheba? Did David sin against Bathsheba? Yes. What about Uriah, her husband who had murdered? Did he sin against Uriah? Yes. But note, all that is insignificant compared to sinning against God.

See, that's why people don't repent because they don't understand that their sin is so severe. It's a violation of God's holy commands. I have sinned against thee and thee only have I sinned. You haven't repented until you realize the severity of your sin. It is against a holy God who has a holy standard and you have fallen short of that standard. You have not met the standard and the standard is always perfection. And against thee I have sinned, thee and thee only. This young man comes back and says, Lord, Father, I have sinned into the heavens.

I have sinned before the throne of God. I have done all my acts as if I had taken them to heaven and put them before the throne of God and lived a life of immorality before a holy God. That's how I've lived my life. I've sinned against heaven. And whether you sin against somebody else or not is really insignificant to God. What's significant to him is that you've sinned against him. And because you've sinned against him, listen carefully, you have sinned against others, right? You have sinned against others and you must make that right.

But first and foremost, you have sinned against a holy God. And folks, this is crucial. It's Martyn Lloyd-Jones who said these words about repentance. Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell bound. It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form. You renounce the world, whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook, as well as its practice.

And you deny yourself, take up your cross and go after Christ, your nearest and dearest. And the whole world may call you a fool or say you have religious mania. You may have to suffer financially, but it makes no difference. That is true repentance. Have you realized the severity of your sin? Paul said, I am the chief of all sinners. Really? The guy who wrote 13 of our New Testament books. I am the chief of all sinners. I am the worst of all sinners. I persecuted the church of God. I was a blasphemer and I am the worst and God saved me.

But he saw himself as the chief of sinners. Isaiah, the great prophet of God, what did he say? Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell amidst of people with unclean lips. Why does he say that? Because your mouth is the gate in which depravity exits. Because depravity is in the soul, it's in the heart, right? And the mouth gate is the exit of that depravity. So he is saying that I am a depraved man for, because what's on the inside is coming out through my mouth. And therefore I am a vile sinner.

Woe is me. Cursed is me. I am a man of unclean lips. It's the prophet of God. But he realized the severity of sin. It was against God. See, you can't come to saving faith saying, you know, I wouldn't have done this if I wasn't raised in this family or live in this community or been born in this economic situation. You just can't play the blame game with God. You can't do that. It's you who sinned. It's you who has violated God's law. It's you have turned your back on the living God. It's you who has done all these things.

And as long as you blame somebody else, that is not true biblical repentance. I have sinned. I have sinned against heaven. I have sinned into the heavens. God, I have done this evil in your sight and in your sight alone, as David said. See, because David did what he did in the secret of his chambers, thinking no one would see, but God saw. And what David did secretly, God declared openly for all to see because he chose the path of temporary pleasure. But he did realize the severity of his sin. Have you done that?

Have you come to a place of true biblical repentance where you reflect upon the destiny of your life? I am going nowhere. I am nothing without God. I have nothing. And my father has everything. And you realize the severity of your sin that you've sinned against heaven and that you have violated the standard of a holy God. If so, well, I'll tell you that next week. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today and the truth of your word. And I pray that all of us would look at our lives in light of what the scriptures say and ask ourselves, have I truly repented of my sin?

Have I turned from my sin to serve a true and living God? I pray for every man, woman, boy, and girl in this room today that you do a mighty work. Cause us all to reflect upon the destiny of our life and to realize the severity of our sin, that we might truly come to a place of biblical repentance and follow thee. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.