Sermon Tone Analysis

The Prayer of Restoration

God answers prayer.

Do you believe that?

You know, sometimes you pray, and it feels like nothing happens, like, like no one is listening.

But there are some prayers based on promises of God from scripture, prayers that when you pray, you can know that God will always answer them.

The first prayer is the prayer of salvation.

When we tell God we realize we’re a sinner and trust in His finished work on the cross for our salvation.

Today, I want to talk to you about what is perhaps the most difficult prayer you will ever pray.

And it's a prayer that can absolutely turn your life around as well.

This is a prayer that you pray when you have really messed up, you pray when you have sinned in a really big way, in a way that everybody sees in a way that hurts you and hurts others in a way that makes it feel like your life is falling apart.

We call this the restoration prayer.

I hope you never have to pray that prayer, but we all know we’re human and we still sin.

You are that man?

You are that man?

Those were the words that rolled off the lips of the prophet Nathan as he confronted perhaps the most powerful man in the history of Israel, King David.

See Nathan had just walked in to David's palace, he walks up to the king and says, King, I have to tell you about a situation.

He said there's this rich man who is so wealthy he has so many sheep and can't even count them.

And he lives next to this really poor man who has nothing.

All he has is this one little sheep and that sheep he loves so much.

It's like family to him.

And then one day the rich man had guests that came over but instead of taking one of His sheep to kill and feed them, he went over to his poor neighbor and took his one sheep by force slaughtered it and fed it to his guest.

Well, King David was so outraged.

He's slammed down his fist and he said, as surely as I live, this man deserves to die.

And that's when the prophet Nathan stood up pointed at David and said these words we find them in Second Samuel 12:7.

Man, what happened?

How did we get to this point?

Well, you have to go back just a few months in David's life.

David was king of Israel during Israel's Golden Age.

God was blessing Israel.

God was blessing.

David.

David was incredibly wealthy.

He had a large family.

Everyone loved him.

David had everything anyone ever could have wanted.

Then one day, David put himself in a dangerous situation is he the army was all fighting and David should have been away with his army fighting.

But instead he stayed home in the palace for some reason.

And he was walking around with nothing to do.

Then he was on the roof of his house when he looked down one day and saw a beautiful woman who was bathing on top of her roof in this woman was married.

But it didn't matter to David because he was the king.

Go on with story.

Now I want you to hear me, there are no small sins.

Every sin, big or small, is significant, and it has consequences.

But I think you would agree with me today, that there are some sins that, when we commit them, they have greater consequences.

They hurt you and others more, and David had to deal with it in his life, their sins like adultery, a sin that, that ruins a reputation, rips a spouse's heart out, and could destroy a family.

Adultery is a sin that has huge, huge consequences, stealing, theft, lying, embezzlement, public dishonesty, you know, when that's found out, it can lead to public humiliation, the loss of a career, it can even lead to prison, substance abuse, you know, it can take over, it can become an addiction, it can hurt you and those around you, you can lose your job, you can lose your health and your future, you can lose the people who mean the most to you.

Now, listen, I could go on and on listing these kinds of big sins.

And when we do them, especially as followers of Jesus, you know, what we're doing is we're we're pushing God to the side, and we're pursuing our desires is number one, in the moment, no matter who gets hurt, no matter the cost.

And the thing is, we don't think that we'll ever get caught.

We don't ever think we'll have to pay a price.

But the truth is, God sees everything.

And that moment comes when you're found out.

I call it the Nathan moment.

What happens when as the famous English Pastor Charles Spurgeon put it, what happens when you've sinned gloriously, not just a little sin, but you've rebelled against God and others in a major way, and it feels impossible to bounce back and it doesn't feel like you can ever come back from it.

What happens when I sin, an egregious thing, I want to look at that.

So if you had your notes, if you look in your notes, I want to look at this what happens when I sin, outrageously?

Well, here's the first thing write this down.

There Are Spiritual Consequences

Now, let me be clear, when you sin, outrageously, it does not take away your salvation.

You know, he did commit murder, he committed adultery.

He did a lot of big ones right there, and he didn't lose his salvation.

See what you pray the eternal prayer, the prayer of salvation, nothing can ever separate you from the love of God, you belong to God forever.

Remember, you didn't do anything to earn your salvation.

So you can't do anything to lose your salvation.

But when you sin, even though you don't lose your salvation, it does affect your fellowship with God.

It does break the plan that God had for your life in Isaiah 59 to look at these strong words.

It says, it's your sins that have cut you off from God.

Because of your sins.

He is turned away and will not listen anymore.

He won't listen when you pray.

In other words, when you sin, that sin stands between you and God, it means that you don't feel God's peace, His presence and His power in your life as you once did it.

means when you go to God and you need direction, you don't hear His voice.

When you pray, it feels like your prayers aren't going any higher than the ceiling.

When you sin, their spiritual consequences, and your relationship with God is broken.

But that's not all.

There Are Physical, Financial, Relational, and Emotional Consequences

Now understand this, and this is big.

God created the world so that there are natural consequences.

When you don't live according to His plan.

When you don't listen to him.

There are natural consequences, not like he's intentionally throwing consequences on you.

They're natural consequences that are going to come into your life when you don't live according to God's will.

In fact, I call it the law of sowing and reaping you reap what you sow, in Galatians 6:7-8, it lays this out.

it's very clear, whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction.

Whoever says to please the spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

So when you sow fraud, you reap bankruptcy and even jail.

When you sow pornography, you reap messed up relationships.

When you sow lying, you reap shame and tattered relationships.

When you sow an affair, you reap having your children hate your guts.

When you sow drugs and alcohol, you reap an addiction, and even bad health.

You get the picture you reap what you sow.

And God cannot be mocked.

You don't get away with it.

There are devastating consequences when you sin, outrageously.

But listen, even though there are consequences.

There are no dead ends with God.

God provides a way for radical forgiveness.

God Provides a Way For Radical Forgiveness

Listen, even when your sins are consequential, even when others won't forgive you, even when you were shamed, or humiliated.

God still loves you more than you could ever imagine.