Scandalous Grace - Bishop T.D. Jakes

we're ready to share the word of the lord with you the flower fades to grass with us what the word of the lord will stand forever i invite your prayerful consideration to second samuel chapter 12 verse 15-20 i want to take just a moment and remind you i have released a new book when women pray you will not want to miss it i'm excited about it i'm delighted about it the information is on the screen and i want to challenge all my sisters and all the brothers who love them and all the brothers who have been blessed by praying women the book is called when women pray you gotta have it it's gonna bless your life don't bless your life don't forget about it now the second samuel chapter 12 verse 15 through 20 when you have it say amen let's stand on our feet for the reading of the word and the bible said and nathan departed unto his house and the lord struck the child that uriah's wife bear unto david and it was very sick david therefore beside god for the child and david fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth and the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the earth but he he would not neither did he bread with them and it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died the servants of david feared to tell him that the child was dead for they said behold while the child was yet alive we spake unto him and he would not hearken unto our voice how will he then vex himself if we tell him that the child is dead but when david saw that his servants whispered david perceived that the child was dead therefore david said unto his servants is the child dead and they said he is dead then david arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into the house of the lord and worshiped then he came to his own house and when he required they set bread before him and he did eat somebody say amen i want to spend a few minutes from the subject's scandalous grace scandalous grace let's pray spirit of the living god falls freshly upon us as we attempt to unveil the passages of scriptures that you have afforded us to the intent that we might be rewarded with the revelations that strengthen our everyday walk with you i thank you in advance for what you've got to do have your way o god in the name of the lord jesus we pray somebody who loves him say amen you may be seated in the presence of the lord i want to begin this message uh because in a bit of an explanation this whole notion of scandal i'm not sure that we fully understand the depths of scandal and i'm not sure that we fully understand the depths of grace and the dichotomy between the two terminologies seems to stand out to us in the most glaring way because generally those who have been through a scandal have no grace and we don't afford them any grace even if god does and and those who walk in grace they only walk in grace until we discover a scandal and so here we sit at the precipice of a union between two terms that we seldom see connected but god intended for them to be connected the kind of grace that walks into a scandal is what grace is all about if we were flawless if we were perfect if we were always who we were supposed to be all the time then grace could take a leave of absence it could take a holiday and escape and there are those amongst us who would perpetuate the myth that somehow we do not need grace but in reality we do and we need it even if we will not afford it to other people we do in fact still need that grace ourselves the problem with the text though is that grace shared amongst the family is familiar but grace shared amongst the leader it's seldom seen and in our text here david is a leader he is a great man of god he is the same david who danced the glory of god back into the presence in the house of god he's the same david who built a temple that god would dwell in he is the same david that killed off the philistines and we shouted about the anointing that was on his life and the anointing was there the glory was there and the promise of being king was all there and how could david who was the anointed one the one that that had the heart of god was beloved of god the one who was after god's heart now being such a scandalous mess mostly generally when we find out that somebody's in a scandal we say see i told you they weren't anything but it's kind of hard to do that with david because there are too many glaring scriptures that prove that david really was anointed and he really was chosen that he really was set apart that he really did belong to god that he really did have an encounter with god except this situation he finds himself in now is simply absolutely totally and completely scandalous it's the kind of story that bloggers would love it's the kind of stories that would end up on tmz is the kind of stories the women whisper about while they're doing their hair it's the kind of stories that men talk about in the barber shops david has been scandalous and we're still murderous and the two extremes are hard to contemplate that david could be so gifted and so anointed and so skillful that he could write poetry and sing songs and play a harp and create instruments and entertain the glory of god and yet be a murderer how could the king of israel be a murderer how could one of the ancestors of christ himself be a murderer how could the one that samuel anointed with oil be a murderer to those of you who do not know the story please indulge me for a moment because david was in charge of the warfare and the the captain of the host and leading men into battle but one day while he was the men were in battle and he was on the top of the rooftop he looked over and saw a woman bathing named bathsheba and bathsheba is the wife of one of the soldiers gone out to battle and david looked at her and his ravenous lustful appetite for attention he brought her to himself and he took her her name is bathsheba but her name is not mentioned too often most of the time the bible almost rubs salt into the womb because it very seldom refers to bathsheba by name most of the time it refers to her as uriah's wife even after uriah is dead because god wants david to know that even though you married her to me she is still uriah's wife when the judgment finally comes down we find that this is not just a case of pure perpetual adultery there is another relationship that has been violated that perhaps may even be worse than the adultery that he performed because uriah you see was one of david's men and he was loyal to him and he loved him and even even after david had slept with his wife he was so shrewd and so cunning he gave uriah furlough to come home so that if bathsheba were pregnant he would think that it was his baby but he refused to sleep with his own wife and slept on the porch because he didn't feel comfortable sleeping with his wife while the rest of the men were on the battlefield and so david's scheme did not work and when david saw that his scheme did not work he decided to send uriah out to the front lines and he gave him a letter that sent went out to the battlefield and put him on the front lines because he knew that if he went on the front lines he would die and in essence he killed uriah and took his wife because bathsheba was pregnant with his baby and want to ask yourself if the righteous would act this way what are the ungodly doing and one would ask yourself if one who prays like david and writes psalms and poetry and sings and has power would do that then then then what what about the rest of us like the kinds of questions you see all over the internet when in truth we do not realize that leaders are made of the same dirt that we are that god did not use some special design or material to create them that they do not come down from heaven or another place that the people in the pews came off the street and the people in the pulpit came out of the pews so ultimately you're dealing with the same stuff some more mature than others some stronger than others but it is the same stuff i do not want to perpetuate the myth that david is in fact the pastor in essence he is a king but he is also a prophet and a priest and a murderer and an adulterer and now bathsheba has had the baby and nathan has just left judging david and said because of the bloodshed on your hands there will be bloodshed in your family and in your lineage and by the way you will not build god a house because of the blood and david is found outside praying because when nathan left the child got sick and the child grew worse and david wraps himself up in sacramento because david had one thing going for him that is absolutely outstanding and exceptional david would repent he would say things like against sea oh lord against see only have i sinned created me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me oh god if david had one thing that was consistent that we could brag about he knew how to get in touch with god you must understand that a scandal in the old testament was not like a scandal today because scandals today tend to be about getting the acceptance and the forgiveness of people but scandals in the bible days was far less about people and far more about god and david is in trouble with god david is in trouble with god david is in trouble with god and everything that he got he got it from god and everything he owned he owned it from god and every power that had been conveyed it was conveyed by god in every dignity that he possessed had been dignified by god himself and nathan was david's prophet and nathan has come to him and judged him and said because of your sin the child will die the child the child will die and the moment nathan decreed this the child got sick and david ran outside and fell on the ground and began to pray and they said why are you praying he said who knows that god will not be gracious unto me and let the child live and so we are standing in the middle of a scandal we were standing in the middle of a miracle and it's the same man and it's the same story but we're at two different stages in his life and it depends on what stage in your life you are caught it depends on what people think about you because the same people that say hosanna in this stage will say crucify him in that stage and it's the same person and it is the ups and downs of the human experience and in this moment the victorious giant killing david has schemed his way into a situation that he cannot get out of and david is in trouble with god this is the conflict of humanity this is the conflict of morality this is the conflict of the self-righteous this is a conflict of all of us in this conflict how can i consistently without without any deflection or or or any discrepancy succeed as being a stabilized victorious christian without error or mistake it becomes a very difficult reality not because i am not sincere but the problem is i have this treasure but i have it in earthen vessels and while the treasure is holy the vessel is trash and when you take the treasure and pour it in the trash depending on what you touch what you get and in this message we touch the trash and david is in a mess and not him alone but the child i keep emphasizing the child the child the child because this child has no name this child has no name this child has not been given the name we don't the child has no name the child has a situation a predicament a crisis it was a crisis that the child didn't even ask for it was a crisis that the child did not participate in it was a crisis that the child had nothing to do with it was a crisis that created a conflict that david is trying to subvert the judgment of god because david knows god and god knows david and david said who knows that maybe god will be gracious unto me and so he wraps himself up in sackcloth and ashes you know the story and he prays and he has god have mercy and he will eat no bread no drink water with his men because he is trying to get god to change his mind the reality is these kinds of conflicts have consequences and we don't get to control the consequences david didn't get to pick the switch when i grew up and i was a little boy my mama would send me out into the yard and she said go pick a switch and i could pick the switch but if i pick wrong if i pick wrong it wasn't good because if i made her have to go pick that switch it was going to be double for my trouble but god doesn't allow us to pick the switch if david had been able to pick the switch he would not have picked the child but we don't get to pick the switch and we don't get to control the consequences and now the child is throwing up an eel and feverish no doubt diarrhea and diseased and afflicted and he is watching the consequences of a bad moment i want to talk to some people today some real people it may not always be the churchiest people that are the real people but if there are any real people listening to me have you ever done anything that created some consequences that brought you to your knees have you ever gotten into trouble and this led to that and that led to the other and all of a sudden you're down on your knees saying oh god and you cannot blame the devil and you cannot blame the witch and you cannot blame your haters but these are the consequences of a conflicted soul and so david prays with all of his might asking god i will eat no bread and i will drink no water and i will not stop until you bless me because i i need you to have mercy i need i need you to fix this i need you to fix this i need you to do this have you ever needed god to fix your mess and you could not blame anybody else it was your mess and you had to own it as your mess i want to talk to some real people who had to own it as your best you brought this on yourself you brought this person into your life you brought the situation on yourself you cheated on those returns you brought this situation into your own life you brought it into your house you trusted him with your daughter you brought this situation onto yourself and now you're saying god he cried till he had no voice he wept till he had no tears he starved until he was withering as a man and still the child grew worse and worse and worse it's not just that the child is dying it is that it is my fault very few people can admit that the problem is your fault and the less you have the ability to own the fact that the problem is your fault you are always blaming other people but late at night at two or three o'clock in the morning you wrestle with the reality that i brought this on myself and now i'm watching other people suffer for the choices i've made and the consequences of a conflicted soul the consequences you cannot be conflicted without consequences the conflict itself creates consequences we desire to be controlled and have no conflict but if you're going to judge me over the space of my life i'm not always gonna be anointed in killing giants there's gonna be a moment in my life that that the giant gets killed but they're gonna be other moments where the giant kills me and the guy who killed the giant is now ravished by giant lust and degradation and scheming and murder and debauchery and treasure treachery and degradation you wouldn't think that the two things could exist in the same person we don't like to think that we like to think that people are either right or wrong they're either good or evil they're either up or down they either black or white because it is so much easier on our mind to conclude that the good people go over here and the bad people go over there but if you live long enough you'll find out there's some good in the worst of us and there's some bad and the best of us and how do you manage the conflict and the contradiction when bad and good live in the same house how do you manage the conflict when the psalmist the sweet psalmist of david the sweet psalmist of israel is set up for murder and took a man's wife and took a man's wife that trusted him and that was so loyal to him he would rather sleep on the porch then sleep with his wife because he was loyal to david's vision and david betrayed somebody who was loyal to him and that's what got god angry because when nathan comes to judge him he doesn't just judge him over the adultery he judges him over the fact that david you had all of these lambs i knew a man who had all of these lambs and i knew a man who had only one and he took the one lamb from the one man what should be done to him david said where is the man that he might be killed and nathan said thou art demand because it is easier to judge other people than to accept our own mistakes as long as nathan couched it as if it were somebody else david was judging him until he found out that he uh he was the man and that's why i don't pay people any attention about what they say because they are wonderful at seeing what's wrong with you but terrible at seeing what's wrong with them and then when you find something about me or you or you or you or you you're ready to kill us but no not you because it's hard to get you to realize thou art the man when david finally had to see himself the david who was ready to judge a man over an animal was a man who had committed matter with a human why is it that we're so much harder on other people about their stuff that we are our own that is the conflict in the text today and we find david the powerful warrior who rode on the backs of horses and ran into wars and slayed thousands of philistines we find david crawling on the floor covered with mud like a child playing in the dirt begging god in mud and tears for mercy and a gasping child who cannot catch his breath dying and fading away wow david was praying the david who prayed down the glory of god the david who had a special anointing on his life david who had walked with god since he was a child while david was praying for god to give life to the child while he was yet praying the child died what do you do god has answered a hundred prayers but not this one and god has opened a hundred doors and not this one and god has made a hundred ways but not this one and god has blessed you a hundred times a hundred but not this time and and while david was praying the child died now the problem has switched from how do i keep the child alive to now his men are trying to figure out if he is acting this upset and the child is yet alive what will he do if we tell him that the child is dead and they're over there whispering because they don't know what the king is going to do and i said if we tell him that the child is dead it's going to be a problem and the bible said that when david saw them over in the corner whispering he perceived that the child was dead and he asked him is the child dead wait a minute you're the father of this child and he still has no name it's the child dead and they answered he is dead and when he answered that he is dead the reaction of david is where the grace of god comes in he immediately he did not frame he did not collapse he did not commit suicide he did not die he did not wither into a hole he got up and washed his face and changed his clothes and went into the house of god and they said what means this as long as the child was living you were crying and having a fit and rolling around in the dirt and screaming and beating up dust everywhere asking god to heal and now you find out he's dead and david said there is nothing i can do about this i'm wondering if there are things in your life that did not turn out the way that they were supposed to turn out and have you come to a point in your life that you have forgiven yourself enough to say there is nothing i can do about that you're right i'm wrong you're up i'm down your hand i'm out there is nothing i can do about that so this message is not just about scandalous grace it's about how do you find the grace to go on when your life has turned into a scandal how do you find the grace to keep on living when you've made mess after mass and bad choice after bad church how do you find the grace to survive a divorce a travesty an accident an incident a moment of bad just how do you find the grace david gets up off of the ground and the lord sent me here to tell somebody you've been on the ground long enough and you have cried long enough and you have walked the floor and you've been depressed and you have blamed yourself long enough and it's time for you to get up off of the ground and all of that dirt and all of that dust and all of that guilt and all of that shame god so it is time to wash your face to wash it out of your spirit and wash it out of your mind and wash it out of your heart and wash it out of your behavior and wash it out of your songs and wash it out of your attitude it's time to wash your face you can't go into the presence of god carrying the dust of yesterday you can't go into the presence of god with your head down feeling ashamed of yourself you can't go into the present it's time to wash your face and the bible said that david washed his face and anointed himself he refreshed himself and he went into the house of god and i came to tell you this sunday morning that there is a way back from a fall that there is a way back from a crash that there is a way back from a disaster that there is a way back from a conflict that there is a way back from a crisis that there is a way back from a divorce that there is a way back from a disgrace that there is a way back from embarrassment but you cannot find your way back if you're gonna measure how close back you are to god by how people talk because this is not about people this is about god and it's about what god has to say and it is not about what they have to say because they have something that if they were honest about they would be laying on their face before god too and stop allowing your destiny to lay in the hands of men who are dirtier than you and you don't see david meeting with people or reading the blog sites and trying to see what they're saying about him because the truth of the matter is is whether they say hosanna or crucify him your destiny is not in the hands of men it is in the hands of god and if god is for you who can be against you and if god says live none of what they said can kill you but if god says die none of them all together can make you live and so david saw a moment and a chance and an opportunity to take god up on a second chance and he washes the dirt off of his face and he anoints himself with all and he changes his garments because david better than anybody else knows that in order to enter into his gates you have to come in with thanksgiving and into his courts you have to come with praise you cannot enter into his gates with guilt and condemnation and some of you are trying to access god but you have not washed your face you have to enter into its gates with thanksgiving and it's courts with praise and it's hard to get your praise back and you're laying in your predicament so david washed his face and he anointed himself with all and he changed his garments and some theologians say it was of this moment that he wrote the text i was glad when they said unto me let us go back into the house of the lord i was glad to hear that i hadn't gotten so far away from god that god would not bring me back home and i am here to tell you that you have not gotten so far away from god that god will not take you back home the question is do you have the courage to wash your face do you have the courage to anoint yourself with oil do you have the courage to change your garments and walk past all the whisperers who think they have the right to whisper about you but actually are no better than you at all do you have the courage to walk past all of them and to enter into his gates with thanksgiving and his course with praise because if you do you will understand scandalous grace and if there's anybody that owes god or praise i don't know about the perfect people and i don't know about the self-righteous people and i don't know about the people who never smoked or chewed or ran around with any of them that do i don't know about them but to all of us who have ever gotten it wrong and ever messed up and ever made mistakes and ever had regrets if there's anybody that has a right to give god the praise it ought to be you that's why the bible said let the redeemed of the lord say so because you don't really have a praise until you got a praise you don't deserve you don't really have a praise until it's a praise that has come from sackcloths and ashes the person sitting next to you might not understand it but there's some people that are watching right now that know that you are eating by his grace you are living by his grace you are moving by his grace you are walking by his grace you are talking by his grace and if nobody else gives god a praise it ought to be you let the redeemed of the lord say so i need somebody who's messed up that will open their mouths and thank god for scandalous grace i need somebody in this room who's been the hell and back and god has given you a second chance to open your mouth and give god a praise i need somebody that don't care what you got on don't care what you look like i don't care what people say about you but you made up in your mind i will bless the lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth i'm gonna give you about 30 seconds to open your mouth and give god a praise i'm gonna give you about 22 seconds to make some noise in this place and give god a praise i'm gonna give you about 10 seconds to come off of your self-righteousness and give god a praise god is about to give you a second chance and a new beginning somebody shout hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank you lord for fresh start thank you lord for starting me over thank you lord for giving me life thank you lord for making the way out of thank you lord i'm so glad about it thank you lord you did it again thank you lord thank you lord for your favor somebody shout hallelujah thank god for favor and the bible says the bible says that when david got through praising god he goes and finds bathsheba and he comforts her he comforts her i'm not sure what he said but nobody can comfort you like somebody who's messed up too nobody can comfort you like somebody who's experienced scandalous grace nobody can comfort you like somebody who's been there and done that nobody can comfort you like somebody who's taken a class in humility and learn how to humble themselves up under the mighty hand of god nobody can comfort you like somebody who's seen god dig them out of a ditch and they're not ashamed to say i owe him the praise and the honor and the glory nobody can comfort you like somebody who's been a patient who's been a client who's been a recipient who's been a prisoner who's been handcuffed and chained in the bondages of sin and seeing god give them a second chance nobody can comfort you like them david came in and comforted bathsheba and somewhere along the way in the process of comforting her he went in and slept with her and out of david's gross dark depraved selfish debaucherous sin and god's amazing scandalous grace bathsheba was with child i want to speak to somebody who's lost something and you think your life is over and god is saying i'm going to do it again and there she is and her ankles are swelling and her belly's getting big and she's got a little mask on her face and she's pregnant and she's gone from birthing a child to having the next king of israel for this time bathsheba who was uriah's wife imagine that god would allow solomon the wisest man in the world the successor to david's throne to be born out of david's failure if there's not a message in that there's not a message in anything at all that god would use david's mistake to birth david's miracle nine months later uriah's wife pushed out of her body the next king of israel and i'm telling you that god can still get some good out of the worst moment in your life that you will if you will allow him to get you out of the dirt and the ashes of the despair of where you've been that there is yet a king and a common woman who got herself in a debaucherous situation at the hands of a weak and selfish man that out of your coupling and coming together would come the next king of israel and today all i want you to know is that there is yet a king inside of you and you are not let nothing take you out in this present moment until you see what's next in your life i don't want to pray for nathan and i don't want to pray for all the naysayers who are going to say whatever they say or say i don't want to pray for all the spectators who are trying to figure out how to couch the conversation as if you don't understand what's going on in this text i want to pray for uriah's wife that you can finally walk away from your guilt and shame and find what david found the place that washes your face and takes away your shame and allows you to push out your king because you're gonna have a king that needs you that needs your counsel that needs your judgment you're going to have a king that you're going to write him a letter that's going to be quoted all over the world that's going to tell him how to select a pride you're going to write a word that teaches him whosoever found that the wife finds a good thing you're gonna establish what the proverbs 31 woman ought to be and you cannot do that if you still think you're a trap you're gonna be the woman that solomon comes to for council when his life is going crazy and you won't be there if you are forever seeing yourself through the lens of what you've been through so when god writes the gospel of saint matthew and includes the lineage of jesus christ i think it's matthew it might be mark and he writes down the lineage of jesus christ when it comes to bathsheba he calls her uriah's wife because god wants us to understand that in the dna of christ is grace for the scandalous now we live in a world where there exists no grace no grace for the scandiness we are more righteous than god self-righteous more judgmental than the righteous judge for christ himself his lineage comes out of a mess and a scandal and they write it down in the lineage that in your bloodline is shariah's wife when the writer says we have not a high priest who cannot be touched by the feeling of our infirmity tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin he does so so that you and i can come boldly to the throne of grace and find grace to help in the time of need and you can find it even if you are uriah's wife i'm so glad that the gospel that i preach it's not selective it's not for the elitist it's not discriminatory when the doors of the church swung open it wasn't when we opened this building or your building or any other building when they pierced jesus in the side and out of his side came blood and water the doors of the church were open and they've never been closed since the building may be closed but the church has never been closed just in case there's a david who wants to wash his face or uriah's wife who wants to come into an opportunity to have scandalous grace how do i get that grace just just come to him and tell him i'm wrong and i'm sorry and i want to walk better and i want to work stronger and if it's not pleasing to you take it out of me i want to be right i know i'm not but i want to be right i want to be saved i want to be whole as i close this message i'm wondering if there's somebody out there who's got some cleansing to do and and some changing of garments to do and and some oil you need to put on your face i'm wondering if there's some bathsheba who's birthed some dead thing that you can't get over and can't get out of that needs the comfort of the holy spirit to take you in his arms and show you that there's still a king left in you that there's still a purpose and a calling on your life that god will use you the misery of your mistakes as the breast milk of your wisdom and that god will cause you to survive to give counsel to the king that came out of your crisis that god has a plan for your life that god has scandalous grace a grace that passes all imaginations and i know for a fact i know without a shadow of a doubt that that grace is real because i've had some of it myself is there anybody else in this room that's had some of that grace in your own life in your own circumstances or anybody in this room then i offer it to you grace for the wounded the hurting the broken the scandalous those who have been treacherous and deceitful and shameful and selfish and carnal i offer you this grace pray this prayer with me right now lord jesus i confess my sins i'm tired of blaming other people for my indulgence and my selfishness i was wrong just plain wrong and i'm sorry and i want to be a better person wash me in your blood set me free clean me up straighten me out give me a second chance i accept you as my savior and lord in my life in jesus name amen if you prayed that prayer with me hit those phones call us and let us pray with you if you prayed that prayer with me and you invited christ into your heart doubt those numbers and pray let us pray with you if you're a backslider and you're coming back to the lord don't let shame stop you don't let this grace stop you because the bible is full of people who failed but they kept getting up again and that's not just amazing grace they're scandalous grace and it's available to you this is the word of the lord from the potter's house to your house may it give you peace and solidarity may give you rest tonight that you haven't gotten in weeks and weeks may it strengthen you and lift you up and may it prepare you so that when your solomon comes knocking on the door seeking wisdom he can find more than guilt and shame and bitterness and degradation and may it so feel your life that you do better by bathsheba than how things started that you become a vessel of honor fit for the massachusetts that you become the man that god wants you to be that's why grace has given you a second chance get up wash your face change your clothes meet me at the potter's house god bless you you

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 520,447

Keywords: td jakes, faith, potters house, bishop jakes, The Potter's House of Dallas, TPH Dallas, td jakes sermons, bishop td jakes, inspiration, td jakes motivation, motivation, sermons, td jakes ministries, motivational speaker, motivational speech, gospel, motivational, td jakes 2020, td jakes sermons 2020, sundayservice, tdjakes, scandalousgrace, god gives second chances, scandalous grace, scandalous grace sermon

Id: cBLF7IUEK30

Length: 51min 4sec (3064 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 25 2020