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Dr. Charles Stanley: If you think you're going to sin against God and get away with it, you couldn't be further from the truth. There is no way.

You say, yeah, but you know, I've done some things that nobody's heard about. You haven't heard the rest of the sermon, because there is absolutely no way to escape disobedience and violation of God's Word. Friend, I want to give you an honest, fair, biblical warning of the consequences of sin.

Guest (Male): Sin always has consequences, always. Now, that may sound like a threat, but in reality, it's a loving warning from God to followers of Christ, reminding us that obedience to him is crucial.

Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we continue our study of Second Samuel to see the dangers of disobedience and the benefits of obeying God. Let's listen in to Dr. Stanley's message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: You recall in chapter 11 that David had reached the pinnacle of his ministry. He had been a king for 20 years in the nation of Israel, been through all kinds of difficulties and heartaches, but triumphed over all of them.

And in a moment of weakness, he saw Bathsheba taking a bath. He called her to himself. He went to bed with her, as the modern day lingo would say. And as a result, that was the beginning of a long period of heartache and consequences.

And I want to say to you this evening, here is the most perfect example of the cost of one violation of God's principles. And no man ever paid such a price for one night's pleasure as David paid. It ought to be a lesson and a challenge and a warning to every single one of us that instant pleasure brings continuing consequences for our sin.

And I want you to listen carefully so, because you're going to have two or three questions that I'm going to answer in these seven statements. So I want you to write them down and then let's discuss them. All right, the first one is this, that the continuing consequences of our sin, and if you want to abbreviate that after the first statement, CCS. The continuing consequences of our sin is a biblical principle.

You cannot avoid it and you cannot escape it. And I want to tell you why I want to say that strongly in a moment. But if you'll recall in Galatians chapter 6 and beginning in verse 7, he says, be not deceived. Now watch that. Be not deceived.

If you think you've gotten away with sin, he says, God is not mocked. You are deceived, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he what? Reep. Now, you and I need to understand that the reason that's true, if you and I can get away with sin, we are mocking God. God says, you cannot.

We say, oh, yes, we did. That is to mock God. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap. So that the continuing consequences of our sin is a biblical principle and it cannot be altered under any circumstance by anybody, regardless of who you are, because it is a decree of God.

Second statement, CCS. The continuing consequences of sin is an act of divine chastisement. It is an act of divine chastisement to correct us. So then listen, the consequences, watch this, the consequences of our sin is an act of love on the part of God to stop us dead in our track and correct us.

Listen, not to punish us. Punishment is what God does to the wicked. To children, he chastens us. Listen, punishment is vindication because of sin, disobedience. Chastisement always has as its ultimate goal, correction. Correction, not anger, correction.

Chastisement is an act of love. The ultimate objective is correction. That's why he allows the consequences, like a whole line of dominos, they just keep on coming until the correction comes. The third thing I want you to notice is this.

The continuing consequences of our sins are sent as a safeguard against future sin. Now if you've been tempted in a given area, whether it's David's area here of adultery or whatever it might be, if you've been tempted in a given area and God has released his consequences in your life, that ought to be a safeguard in your life against committing the same thing in the future.

All right, the next statement, the continuing consequences of sin does not imply incomplete forgiveness on the part of God. Because the consequences keep coming does not mean that God has not forgiven you, because he says in verse 13, and David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Psalm 51 is a beautiful example of David's contrite, broken, repentant heart.

So his attitude was right, and he confessed and repented of his sin. And as a result of that, Nathan told him right then on the spot. He says, God has, listen, the Lord also has past tense, put away your sin, and you shall not die. David, you're forgiven.

Now, watch this. Somebody says, well, that's what I've been waiting for, because the Bible says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And you mean to tell me that if I commit sin against God and I ask God to forgive me, that I'm going to have to suffer for it? Absolutely right.

If you think you can sin against God and simply say, Lord, I want you to forgive me for it, and that cancels out all the consequences, you are indeed deceived. Now, I didn't say that every little sin you commit is going to have this long host of consequences, but there are some sins you can get on your face and confess them before God right then and there. And there will be no future consequence outwardly.

But let me tell you one inwardly that is always there. Listen, when you step over here and disobey God, you know what you're doing? You are setting yourself up for it to be easier to do the same thing the next time. So that is a consequence of the smallest sin.

The thing that you do once makes it easier for you to do the second time. So when you say, well, I don't see any consequences. You may not see them, brother, but they're there. So now watch this carefully because some people get all hung up here. They say, wait a minute, now. The Bible says, if I confess it, that he's forgiven me. And when he's forgiven me, he puts my sin as far as the East is from the West, puts him in the deepest sea. Therefore, I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now, wait a minute. But what does he put in the deepest sea? The consequences or the guilt?

He puts the guilt in the sea. You have to face the consequences. Even though God forgives you and you're forgiven. The penalty is no longer there as far as God is concerned. And he says, in the deepest part of the sea, separate as far as the East is from the West, but that does not eliminate all consequences.

Because we said his chastising hand reaches out to us to do what? To correct us. And you see, if there is no consequence for my sin, then there's no chastisement. But he says, he chastens those whom he loves. The reason God allows the consequences is to do what? Is to get that sin out of our heart.

That's his chastising hand to correct. Listen, not simply to pat you on the hand, but to do what? To make you so miserable, you want to give up the sin. And when parents let their children get by with rebellion against them and with God, and when we weasel out of God's chastising hand and we think we've really pulled one over on him, we wouldn't dare say it, but we think it.

We're just asking for trouble. Now watch this. Forgiveness means that he no longer holds me guilty. I'm right in my right relationship before God, but that does not mean that the consequences have been totally removed. All right, the next statement, and that is, the continuing consequences of our conduct is a painful truth for those who want sin without the consequence.

CCS, the continuing consequences of our sin is a painful truth for those who want sin without the consequences. We have a humanistic religion today because that eliminates the consequences of sin. Get rid of God, get rid of the Bible, get rid of sin, get rid of the whole bit. And what can you do? You can live in sin and enjoy it and not worry about the consequence.

The only problem is, the Bible says those people are deceived, whatsoever a man sows, he's going to reap. And when somebody tells me, well, I don't believe there are any consequences for sin after somebody's been forgiven, I'll tell you, all you've got to do is read the Bible. The consequences are there and sometime they are tragic consequences.

Listen, Nathan said to David, David, he said, the sword shall never leave your family. Never will it leave your family. And all of his life, he suffered all kinds of results from all kinds of problems of murder, rape, immorality. You go right down the line of the 10 Commandments. And his household was filled with misery. Let me ask you a question.

Do you suppose that has anything to do with the condition of the American family? Do you suppose what we're talking about has anything to do with the heartache and the suffering that some of you yourselves may have been through in your life? All right, the sixth statement I want you to get here is this.

The continuing consequences of our sin may be known only to the one who is guilty. The continuing consequences of our sin may be known only to the one who is guilty. You say, well, wait a minute. I thought you said a while ago that you couldn't keep it a secret. You can't keep it a secret to God. There's some things you can keep a secret. You say, well, but if it's known only to me, then there are no consequences. Wait a minute.

What about the fear of being afraid of being caught? What about how that works on a person's mind? On their emotions, dividing their mind, draining their energy. How does that work in a person's relationship with other people? What does it do to that person's relationship with others?

You could take most any sin. The idea that there are no consequences because no one else knows is totally irrelevant. Because you see, all consequence for sin begins where? In a man's spirit, in his relationship to God, in his own emotions, in his attitude toward himself, your own sense of self-esteem.

You see, because the world doesn't know about it, doesn't mean there are no consequences. The consequence of sin always begins internally, works itself externally. You never get away with it. Be sure, your sin will find you out. All right, the next thing I want you to notice is this, number seven.

The continuing consequences of our sin may be for the benefit of others, listen, may be for the benefit of others, even more than for ourselves. The continuing consequences of our sin may be for the benefit of others, even more than ourselves. Now that depends upon the nature of the sin and who you are.

Let me explain that. In the life of David, with his position as king of Israel, I believe that God was more concerned about what other people saw as the consequence of David's sin than for David, though he was very, very interested in David's life. Because he was God's own servant, a man after God's own heart.

But Nathan said, the enemies will blaspheme the God of Israel because of what you've done. God could not afford to let David get by with his sin because of those who were around him, because of his own household, because of the people who followed him, because of the whole nation of Israel.

And you see, God doesn't let us get by with our sin. We either must deal with it and deal with it quickly and correctly with a penitent heart. And even then, if God knows the consequences of it will profit others, multitudes of others, he may expose the whole thing.

When you and I sin against God, we ought to keep short accounts. How soon should you confess any and every sin? Immediately. You say, well, I'm going to do it when I get home. Wait a minute. You may have committed five more before you get home.

You keep short accounts. In other words, God's people shouldn't have any bookkeeping to do about sin. If you've got something that you carry around in your spiritual pocket to keep up with the things you've done wrong, you've got the wrong idea.

You keep short accounts immediately. You confess it, get rid of it. God says, he throws the deepest sea, separates it as far as the East is from the West, immediately. And if we will deal with sin because we love God, because he's holy, and we want to be what God wants us to be.

Our motivation is not because we don't want to get caught. Our motivation is love and admiration and devotion to God. We keep short accounts. You won't have many long-going consequences. There will be short consequences compared to the big ones, if you'll keep short accounts.

So listen, before you deliberately disobey God, you remember this. You could hit a domino that could ricochet some things in your life that you don't know is even set up to get knocked down. We're not to walk around, oh, I don't want to sin against God. That's not the motivation. The motivation is, God, I love you.

I want to be everything you want me to be. I want your spirit living within me, free to be everything you want to be in me. Now if I disobey God, I want to keep a short account so that there'll be no ongoing consequences of that sin. That is, it'll be so minor, it'll be something internally.

Or if I were to say something to hurt your feelings, I need to go to you immediately and correct that as soon as I found out about it, ask you to forgive me with a contrite spirit and settle it, that'll stop it. You see, David's sin was not just a little sin. David was the king of Israel. So that puts him in a whole different category from you and me.

But the more responsibility you and I have, the more far-reaching the consequences of our sin. I'm saying all of that to say this. You can't sin isolated. You can't sin secretly. Sooner or later it's going to catch up with you. Nobody but God himself and the devil may know about it.

But he says, be sure your sin will find you out. The best way to handle sin is immediate confession before Almighty God, dealing with it. If somebody else is involved, deal with them and settle it right then and there. And you see, when you and I look back in our life and we see other people suffering because of what we've done, we need to deal with that and go back and retrace it and clean up the mess in our past.

The real truth is that there are so many consequences to our sin, we'd never put them all together if God didn't clean them all up. Now remember what I said. Once you ask God to forgive you, you're forgiven. The consequences have primarily in mind a correcting motive.

And if you're not saved tonight, my friend, the ultimate consequence of your disobedience is eternal separation from God, and you'll never be able to blame God if you go to hell because you'll have to trample over the cross of Jesus Christ to get to hell. You'll have to trample over sermons, Bibles, tracts, witnesses, people who have given to you. You'll have to trample over every bit of that.

And listen, when you stand before God and God says, depart from me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you. You say, well, hold it. I believe I deserve to get in. All God's going to have to say is turn around and look. And you look back down through your lifetime, and every sermon you've ever heard echoes in your heart. Every time you ever turn on the radio, watched the television, every time somebody ever witnessed you, every Bible you've ever had, all that comes flashing back into your mind. You will say, God, you're right. I deserve eternal hell.

The ultimate consequence of sin is eternal separation from God. You can break that out right tonight. If you want to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin, my friend, listen, he'll forgive you. He'll clean up your life. He'll show you what you need to clean up in the past. And what you can't clean up, and there may be some consequences, but I'll tell you one thing.

I'd rather walk through the valley of the consequences with Jesus Christ by my side than by myself. And tonight, without him, that's where you are, by yourself. And not only that, if you're not saved, and you're living in sin, you know what you're doing? You're multiplying the consequences in the future. You don't only just look behind, you've got to look at the future and see what's going to happen. If you keep living the way you're living, you're going to destroy your family and multitudes of other people if you keep living in sin.

Whatever you need to do, friend, look at it, evaluate it and settle it. Stop the domino effect in your life of the consequences as they keep coming. You're the only one who can stop them in your life. You have to assume responsibility and clean up your life with God. Let's pray together.

Our Father, we thank you for loving us. Thank you for the grace, the love, the mercy, the blood of Jesus Christ. And we ask you tonight in Jesus' name to save somebody in this place before it is absolutely and eternally too late. Then all the rest of us, Father, who could look in our lives and see the effects of the past, or maybe that's not a problem, but forgetting the fact that in our everyday life, little consequences that begin to build up as a result of our sin. That we need to keep short accounts. Let there be a commitment tonight. Lord, I will keep short accounts, momentary accounts in my life. And we'll praise you and thank you for it in Jesus' name.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. The worst consequence of sin is eternal separation from God, and it's reserved for those who never trust in Jesus Christ to forgive the penalty of their sin. You can avoid that destination once you put your faith in Christ. Learn more at intouch.org and listen to this message again by clicking today on radio on our homepage.

To order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, "The Continuing Consequences of Our Conduct," find the bookstore page. It's also included in his teaching set, "Pursuing God's Heart." Our web address again is intouch.org, or you can call or text us at the number 1-800-IN-TOUCH. You can also write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. Or call or text 1-800-IN-TOUCH.

Guest (Male): An innocent choice could cost a lot. Here's a story about that coming up in today's moment with Charles Stanley.

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Guest (Male): If you're not following God's direction, you're just floating and heading for trouble. With a reminder for believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: When I was 14 years of age, my best friend and I were walking along the Dan River in my hometown. And we saw this little abandoned boat, and so we decided, well, nobody was around, and the paddles were broken, but we decided we'd take a little ride.

So we shoved out, and we just began to drift down the river, paying no attention to anything hardly, and just began to talk and joke and carry on. After we'd been drifting a little while, how long I don't know, but all of a sudden we heard this roar. And we knew what that roar was. It was water going over the dam.

And he looked at me and he said, Charles, I can't swim. We grabbed those paddles and started paddling, and we paddled and paddled as hard as we could until finally we got over close enough to the shore where it was shallow, and we jumped out and let the boat go and watched it go over the dam.

And what started out that day as just pure fun almost ended up in disaster. And that is exactly what is happening to a lot of people. What starts out is fun, pure pleasure, no problem. And the next thing you know, you're on the rocks. Your life is shipwrecked because you see, you just drifted.

You didn't pay any attention to how fast you were moving. You gave little thought to what was ahead. You were just enjoying your life, just doing what you would like to do. But all of a sudden, everything changed. And so what we have to ask is this, am I going to float, or am I going to have a sense of direction and purpose in my life?

Is there something I want to accomplish in life? Something I want to achieve? Or am I just going to take the easy way out and just float? My friend, to go with the current today is going to bring you disappointment and ultimately disaster. You need a rudder. You need a sense of direction. You need God in your life.

He's the creator. He's the one who made you. He knows what he made you for. He knows where he wants you to go, what he wants you to accomplish. He knows that he wants to live his life in you and through you, and that your life will make an absolute change in the lives of other people. God has a sense of direction for you, and I can tell you this.

It isn't easy. And it's not a matter of floating. You're not just going to get there by floating. You're going to get there sometimes by paddling very hard because the current can sweep you right out to sea.

Guest (Male): You can learn more about anchoring your life to Jesus Christ at intouch.org. Is there someone who needs the truth that you just heard today? Share it with them, and then tell us what happened. Next week on In Touch, we'll take a short break from our study of the books of Samuel to hear about some things that cannot be shaken. I hope you'll join us again for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.