The Principles of Forgiveness: Pt. 2- The Danger of Bitterness

0:40 Hebrews 12, verses 14, started verse 14. It says, pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled. lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau who for one morsel of meat, for one morsel of food, sold his birthright.

1:31 The danger of bitterness. Look at your neighbor and say, it's dangerous to mess with bitterness. The writer of Hebrews is unnamed. He does not tell us who he is, but we know who he's writing to. He's writing to some Jews who have converted to Christianity and they have faced challenges in their Christian walk and they are contemplating leaving Christianity and going back to Judaism. don't look so hard. Some of y'all become Christian. Y'all think about going to your way of living.

2:16 Amen. Thank all both of y'all for that rousing. Amen. And in his dialogue, he raises this issue. He says, pursue peace with all people. Try to walk with peace and live holy because without holiness, no man can see God. That's what he says in verse 14. Then he says, be careful unless you fall short of the grace of God and cause bitterness to spring up and cause trouble. Some of you have got trouble in your life because you are harboring bitterness against somebody.

2:56 Oh, boy, that was, oh, I felt something right there. I felt kickback. lest any root of bitterness spring up cause trouble. Bitterness is a dangerous thing. As a matter of fact, it leads to a person becoming defiled. Bitterness will lead to you being impure.

3:19 Defiled means being corrupted, being stained. It'll mess up your spirit, bitterness. I don't know if you've ever met anybody who's been bitter, Somebody who's always certain people they're angry with all the time. They hate that person. They avoid that person. They talk about that person. You know when you're bitter, when you're hoping that something bad happens to that person. If y'all all say amen together, nobody will know I'm talking about you.

3:51 Bitterness is a dangerous thing. And what I want to spend the bulk of this message today is warning you about bitterness, try to get you to leave bitterness alone. Your unwillingness to forgive somebody, your unwillingness to forgive something that somebody has done to you is dangerous.

4:12 As a matter of fact, the scripture says right here, Esau became a profane person because of his bitterness. For one morsel of meat, he sold his birthright. So I want to tell you a story about the joke, the gist of this message is to tell you a story about somebody who became bitter. Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed who walked out near the campus family. Then one day he was shooting at some food. Up come the ground, come bubbling crew. I want to tell y'all a story today.

4:53 How many of y'all know that? See, these are old farts right here. These are all the old people. I want to tell you a story about a fellow in the Bible. Let me ask you to open your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 16. 2 Samuel chapter 16. I got several verses I'm going to give you today, but try to hang with me, okay? What did I say? I did the same thing at 8 o'clock. I'm confused. 2 Samuel. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to see if y'all paying attention. That's all.

5:44 See if y'all are listening to me. 2 Samuel chapter 16. It talks, verse 23. Let me read verse 23. It says this. Now, the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracles of God. So it was all the advice of Ahithophel, both with David and with Absalom. I'm going to come back to that latter part. But this is what it says. When somebody came to Ahithophel, and I'm probably going to jack up his name because I'm just going to call him Phil.

6:20 Can y'all be okay if I just call him Phil? Phil, when people came to get advice from Phil, it was as if they were talking to God. His insight was so profound, so powerful, so insightful that the scripture says it was as if one had acquired at the oracles of God. It is as if they had talked to God himself. Now, I don't know where y'all are and y'all walk with God, but I want people to think when they talk to me they talking to God I do.

7:00 Not because I'm giving my opinions, but I know the word and I know the heart of God and the ways of God that I'm able to communicate to you in ways that will be as if you were talking to God himself. I'm not God. I didn't say that. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I'm God, but I want to be a spokesman for God. now some of y'all treat me like I'm God because I see y'all when I walk into 7-Eleven and you in the lotto line and you turning around like you don't see me I see you I see y'all I see you that's okay it don't matter if I see you does God see you But something happened to Ahithophel. Something happened to Phil. If you go one chapter, go from chapter 16 to chapter 17.

7:57 And if you read verse 23. of chapter 17. It says, now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, verse 23, 2 Samuel 17, he saddled his donkey and arose and went to his house, to his city. Then he put his house in order and hanged himself and died. He was buried in his father's tomb. This man went from being a spokesman for God to one chapter later committing suicide.

8:32 Some of you have been exposed to the ways of God, the principles of God, the truth of God, the word of God, but something has happened and I suggest it's like Phil, you have become bitter. Somebody did something to you, somebody hurt you, somebody talked about you, somebody caused pain, somebody took some money from you and now you are bitter. And it led Ahithophel, Phil, to the place of killing himself. I love y'all, but I don't love y'all that much. What happened? What happened for this man to take his life?

9:17 I'm going to tell you. I want you to open your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 11. Are y'all with me still? Chapter 11. I'll wait till you get there Say amen when you get there it says this starting at verse 2 verse 2 then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house and from the roof he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David sent messages and took her. And she came to him and he lay with her for she was cleansed from her impurity and she returned to her house and the woman conceived so she sent and told David and said I am with child then David sent to Joab saying send me Uriah the Hittite, and Joab sent Uriah to David.

11:10 Can I pause right there for a second? Let me make sure. Let me explain. David then slept with another man's wife and got her pregnant. So he knew she was married, and so her husband was out at war where David should have been. I wish y'all knew the Bible. I wouldn't have to tell y'all, walk y'all through this. David should have been at war but he was at home verse 1 tells you when kings normally go to war that's where they normally go but David didn't go he's strolling on the roof he's up on the roof and he sleeps with this woman, and she sends word back that she's pregnant, and so David beckons for the captain of the army to send Uriah home.

12:07 Let me, I didn't get to that part yet. I guess I should read it. Verse 6, then David said to Joab, saying, send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, David said to Uriah, this is Bathsheba's husband, go down to your house and wash your feet. So Uriah departed from the king's house and a gift of food from the king followed him. So he not only sent him home, he gave him some food.

12:51 That tricky rascal. Verse 9. But Uriah slept up the door of the king's house with all of the servants of the Lord and did not go down to his house. He didn't go home. Must not have been a black man. Verse 10. So when they told David saying Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? and Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields.

13:53 Shall I then go to my house and eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. Can you imagine? He's been away. Look at the brothers. They're shaking their head, no, no. But this is a good man. He says, I can't go to battle while my brothers are out in the battle. I can't do that. And so he even slept at the door of the king's palace. It wasn't me.

14:33 I'm at least going home for one night. Come on, somebody. The only boy. Verse 12. then David said to Uriah, wait here today also and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his Lord, but he did not go down to his house. Even in a drunk mode, he didn't go down to his house. In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter saying, set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retreat from him that he may be struck down and die.

15:36 Can you imagine that this man would do that? He wrote a letter and he gave it to Uriah to take back to the captain. and said put him in the hottest spot of the battle and then retreat. so it was verse 16 while joab besieged the city that he assigned uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men then the men of the city came out and fought with joab and some of the people of the servant of david fell and uriah the hittite died also have y'all got that picture are y'all still following are y'all with me he the king who by the way had plenty of other wives I don't know how he could handle, I don't know how anybody could handle multiple.

16:43 I'm just trying to imagine that as I can't I can't envision it I can't I can't handle it so he he sleeps with Uriah's wife She gets pregnant. He beckons him back from war, thinking he's gonna sleep with his wife. He doesn't. He doesn't even go home. and when he doesn't go home tries to get him drunk then maybe he'll go home he still didn't go home so then the tragedy is he sends him back to war with a letter to the captain put him in the hottest battle retreat from him and let me know when he's dead and in fact that's what happens verse 27 of chapter 11 and when her mourning was over she's grieving over the fact that her husband is dead David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife and bore him a son but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord Now that's an important verse, y'all.

18:09 I need y'all to understand that's an important verse because it says this, that what David had done, God saw it. Ooh. Y'all missed a great spot to say amen. Let me tell y'all this. God saw what David did. Go ahead, lean over to your neighbor and say, God saw what you did.

18:36 I know you don't want to hear it, but everything you did, everything you said, everything you thought, everything you wanted, everything you desired, everything you planned, God saw. I know you think that God doesn't see and he closes his eyes and he ignores you, but God saw you with your nasty self. and David thought he got away. He thought that nobody knew about what he did. He thought it was over. It was a done deal. He thought he got away, but God saw it, and not only did God see it. Phil saw it. Ahithophil. What happened with Ahithophil? He knew what David had done and he became bitter.

19:31 Why did he become bitter? Because the scripture tells us that Bathsheba was Phil's granddaughter. Y'all think y'all watch these soap operas. the Bible got every soap opera you can imagine on you. Just read the story in the Bible. There's enough green leaf in the Bible to last. Is that what it's called, green leaf?

20:03 General Hospital, young and the restless, the days of our lives. That's what I want to call this sermon, the days of our lives. That was Phil's granddaughter. And he got bitter. He got bitter what he did to his granddaughter. He got bitter that he had her husband killed. He got bitter. And I need to talk about this for a few moments because I don't say this to say that David is excused from his behavior. No, God saw it and God punished him. there's consequences to it. But I say this to you because some of you have picked up bitterness and anger and unforgiveness towards something that somebody has done to you. And my job is to tell you it's not worth you losing out what God has for you.

20:57 Look at your neighbor and say, it ain't worth it. Tell them on the other side, it's not worth it. It's not worth it losing your life. It's not worth it losing the joy that God would give you. It's not worth it because of something somebody did to you. It's not worth it. It hit the field. But Brother Phil became so bitter that he joined Absalom, who, by the way, Absalom is David's son, who later decides to try to overtake his father's kingdom. And so he joins some soldiers to his army to overtake his father's kingdom. I'm telling y'all, the Bible got the soap opera of a lifetime. and Absalom joins with Phil to try to overtake David's kingdom.

22:06 I thought I ought to try to intercept you before you make plans to do harm to somebody who's hurt you. I thought I would try to arrest your plans. because ultimately, I got three points, and then I'm going to let it go.

22:39 My first point, I'm trying to intercept you, is that when you seek to hurt those who hurt you, you really only hurt yourself. Here, write that down. You ain't hurting them, you hurting yourself. And that's what happened to Phil. Phil, he got bitter. He got upset. He joined with David's son Absalom to try to overtake his kingdom. And really, it cost him his life. It cost him his anointing. It cost him the future that God had for him. And I'm just trying to save you from the headache of losing what God has for your future.

23:26 God has a plan for you. God has a future for you. And it's not worth it. That's number one. Number two, I'm almost finished. Phil ended up taking his own life. But what he didn't realize is something that David learned. Now, I want you all to turn to Psalm 51. This is an important verse too.

23:52 Psalm 51, verses 3 and 4. David, when David realized God sent Nathan to David, God sent a prophet to David to expose what he did. And David realized he did wrong, and he wrote the 51st Psalm. When you read Psalm 51, that's David's writing. That's what he wrote when God spoke to him that what he did was wrong. He said, verse 3, Psalm 51, verse 3, For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Verse 4, Against you, you only, have I sinned. and done this evil in your sight that you may be just when you speak and blameless when you judge. Ooh, y'all missed a great spot. Here's what that says. When David sinned, the person he sinned against is really God.

24:49 I know that went over y'all head. Here's why it went over your head. Because you think you have a heaven or hell to put people into. But you don't have a heaven nor hell to put anybody into. Amen. And when you think you do, you are putting yourself in the place of God. And God doesn't handle it too nicely when you think you God. Because by the way, if you haven't heard, you ain't God. I'm preaching and teaching this morning. That devil is trying to put y'all to sleep because he don't want you to hear what I got to say. But I'm telling you here today with everything that's in me, it's that when you sin, you have sinned only against God. I used to struggle with this passage only against God when people done treated me wrong and done me wrong and treated me this way and said this about me and done this to me. But God said, you don't have a heaven or hell.

25:43 You ain't God. They don't have to live up to your standard. They don't have to obey your rules. and yet some of you think people do but David got it he said all of my sin is against God and God alone oh that's good brother y'all know that finally my final point I thought somebody would say, take my time, but nobody said nothing.

26:16 Y'all can't handle this truth. Don't tell me it's good now after y'all been quiet all of this time. I'm preaching, working like a slave up here trying to get it to y'all. Romans 12 verse 19 says this. Here's my third and final point. Beloved, verse 19 of Romans 12. Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. I believe when you take up offense against a person and you try to pay them back and you wish harm on them and you praying for God to pay them back and you try to repay them what they did to you, God says, oh, I see you got this.

27:15 so since you got it, I ain't going to do nothing about it. Since you, since you putting yourself in my role as God, I'm going to let you handle it. Can I tell you a secret? God can pay them back a whole lot better than you. I've seen God treat me wrong. I've seen people treat me wrong, but I've seen God pay them back even more than I could have ever paid them back. What am I trying to tell you? I'm simply trying to tell you, stop trying to pay people back. Stop trying to hurt them. Stop trying to see them have pain inflicted upon them. Leave it in the hands of God. God says, vengeance is mine. I know what I'm doing. God says, I got the right, the power. I can fix it for you.

28:09 I can make it right. Don't you try to do it. God say, I will do it. And I don't know where you fit today, but the truth of the matter is, here's what I'm thankful for.