You Need a Prophet Preacher | October 5, 2025 PM

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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Would you open your Bibles, please, to Second Samuel Chapter

2 Samuel 11 · chapter mention

11? We'll be doing a treatment of

Second Samuel chapter 12 tonight.

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

But I kind of want us to have a jumping off place in Second

2 Samuel 11 · chapter mention

Samuel Chapter 11. And I want to ask you this

question as you're getting your Bible ready and figuring out

where we need to be tonight. How many of you grew up in a

tradition that was high church, that means a Catholic Church?

Or there's a lot of homilies and robes and those kind of anybody

grow up like that? We probably have a good amount

of people. You grew up in the Roman

Catholic Church. Or the Lutheran.

Church, as I did, you were used to that.

Then I would tell you, I would say to you that this evening, if

you grew up in that kind of tradition, when it came to Bible

preaching, it probably looked a lot different than you would see

an independent Baptist Church, wouldn't it?

I know that for me, get grew up, went 18 years to a Lutheran

Church. I got saved when I was 16 and my

parents then allowed me to go to a Baptist Church and get

baptized scripturally when I was 18 years old.

But for those 18 years they're about, I went to Lutheran Church

and my pastor would get up and give about a 10 minute sermon,

if you will, and somebody saying 10.

Minutes. All right.

We're going to find this place. But it was more of a speech than

a sermon. There was some Bible type talk,

but there really wasn't a lot that was going on that really

dealt with the real biblical issues of life, Certainly not

anything to do with what salvation truly was, which was

salvation by grace through faith.

Of course they used those terms, but it didn't mean them because

we had to take the sacraments to be able to be ensured that we

were saved. And so I would say that when it

came to a sermon there at Messiah Lutheran Church there in

Tampa, FL on Hutchinson Road where I grew up every Sunday for

18 years, there was a lot of talk, but there wasn't a lot of

preaching and there certainly wasn't a lot of what I would

call Bible preaching. Now contrast that with the very

first time I went to Westgate Baptist Church in Tampa, FL.

Now at that time I was in 6th grade and we had a project at

our school that we were doing about.

Various countries of the world and they want us to come to the

missions conference now. I know now that that was their

way of getting us as students to go to missions.

Conference to be able to hear a evangelist come and preach the

word of God. But this was the requirement,

and I remember myself and my parents going to Westgate and

being able to here the preacher. Now, some of you probably don't

know this name, most of you may not, but the evangelist name was

Dave McCracken. And Kraken was probably the word

that probably counts there because he was cracked up.

Let me tell you, I've never seen a pastor or an evangelist like

this before. He opened his Bible, he raised

his voice. I don't even think my Lutheran

pastor could raise his voice. He didn't seem to be emphatic,

to be honest with you, much, much anything.

We used to play basketball against him.

He raised his voice playing basketball.

And so Dave McCracken is raising his voice.

He walked down off the platform. He's talking to people.

He's talking to people in the row.

He would have been talking to Lisa and probably Lisa and say,

stop talking to me. But he would go walking around

and he would go and he would do all these things.

And that kind of what I said a little bit earlier, it's like I

didn't know what was going on. But I thought this, I sure do

like what it is. But, you know, in the midst of

all the theatrics and all of those different things, do you

know what I found that it wasn't just this man.

Was trying to put on a show. It wasn't that this is just a

traveling comedian who came by and he was performing a set.

This man was passionate. I mean, he was passionate.

He had some fire in his belly. Why?

Because he was preaching the word of God.

You know, what resonated with me was that my Lutheran pastor

often would say what the Bible wasn't saying, but this man was

telling me what the Bible said. And he believed it.

And it seemed like he lived it. And by the way, I've now known

and am thankful to call Dave McCracken a friend.

Who would have thought that all these years later and that he's

still preaching and still living the same gospel message that I

heard him preach when I was in 6th grade all those years ago.

What I'm saying is this Bible preaching has changed my life.

Having someone stand up in front of me and say thus sayeth the

Lord has absolutely and indelibly changed my life

forever. I love Bible preaching and I'm

not just saying that because I'm a preacher.

That seems kind of self-serving, doesn't it?

I love Bible preaching, by the way.

It's what I do three times a week, so you ought to love it

too. That seems a little bit icky,

but that's not what I'm saying. I love getting preached to.

I love being preached at. If someone is a man of God, is

preaching from the word of God and is saying thus saith the

Lord. I'm thankful for those men who

are willing to stand up in a pulpit straight and true,

without apology and say, Thus sayeth the Lord.

Here tonight, David needs a preacher.

Remember what happened? He met his greatest nemesis and

he found out that his greatest nemesis was himself.

He realized he well, he hasn't realized yet that he is the one

that's caused great problems with his own life.

In fact, we're going to see in just a minute from where we jump

off in second Samuel Chapter 11. He thought he pulled one over on

2 Samuel 11 · chapter mention

God. He he thought there was no

consequences for his actions. But the Bible preacher comes in

medals in his life. And I want you to know this

evening, you know, people say you ought to have a good

mechanic. You know, you ought to have a

good doctor. You ought to have a good lawyer.

I'm not saying why I know that but I'm just saying y'all have.

A good lawyer, you know, these are things that people say you

ought to have. Can I tell you don't be a place

in your Christian life where where you are without a Bible

preacher in your life? That might sound very

self-serving again, because I'm the one who's preaching to you

tonight, but I'm talking about far beyond just here tonight.

Don't ever be in a place, whether you live in Easton or

you live somewhere else, you'll ever be at a time, whether we're

looking at this time or at a time somewhere in the future.

Don't ever be at a place in a time in your life where you

don't have a man of God who's willing to look you in the eye

and tell you exactly what the Bible says with passion and

compassion at the same time. And that's who Nathan was

tonight. The title of my message is this.

You should want a prophet preacher.

You should want a prophet preacher.

So would you stand please, in Second Samuel chapter #11 and

we'll look at verse #26 and it says this.

And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead,

she mourned for her husband. And when the mourning was

passed, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became

his wife and bear him a son. And then this next sentence is

the foreshadowing, isn't it? But the thing that David had

done displeased. The Lord.

Picking up now in our new text, our new chapter, Chapter 12, it

says, And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto

him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city, one

rich and rather poor. The rich man had exceeding many

flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little

ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up

together with him and with his children.

It did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in

his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveler under the rich man man, and he spared

to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the

wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's

lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come unto him.

And you understand what says dressed it?

It's talking about killing that lamb and preparing it for a

meal. Instead of taking of his own, so

he took the poor man's one only lamb, when he had many of his

own that he could have fed this weary traveler.

And. David's anger was greatly

kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, as the Lord

liveth, the man that had done this thing shall surely die, and

he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this

thing and because he had no pity.

And Nathan said the David, for the most powerful words you'll

find in the word of God, thou art the man.

Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.

I anointed the king over Israel, and I delivered the out of the

hand of Saul. I gave thee thy masters house,

thy masters wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the House

of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little,

I would moreover have given unto these such and such things.

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do

evil in his sight? Thou has killed your eye, the

Hittite with the sword, has taken his wife to be thy wife,

has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house,

because thou has despised me, has taken the wife of your eye,

the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I

will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house.

I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto

thy neighbor. He shall lie with thy wives in

the sight of the sun, for thou didst it secretly.

But I would do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.

And Nathan said unto David, The Lord hath put away thy sin.

Thou shall not die. Howbeit, because this deed thou

has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord, The

blasphemy, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely

die. You may be seated in.

We're a look at this issue tonight of prophet preaching and

why it's so important for each of every one of us to make sure

we avail ourselves to prophet preaching.

Heavenly Father, do pray to be with me this evening.

And in some ways, a message like this is an uncomfortable one

because I am the preacher. But at the same time, I

understand this issue is much greater than me, that every one

of us, no matter where we are or when we are, should be the place

where we have a Bible preacher in our life.

And I know that in my own life that it's necessary as well.

It's not something that I need to give to others without being

receptive of it of my own self. And so I pray that you'd help us

this evening to understand that need and for me to understand it

and articulate. It as well thank you for this

time and for all these who are here.

Bless those who are ill, bless those who are traveling and have

some other engagements that have meant that they are not able to

be here tonight, things out of their control.

I pray that you would just bless us here as we get into your word

and we ask it all in Jesus name, Amen.

What kind of preaching should a person be looking for?

I would submit to you it is prophet preaching.

Now I use that term because we look at the prophets of the Old

Testament and the prophets of the Old Testament were real

preachers, weren't they? The prophets of the Old

Testament said, thus sayeth the Lord.

No one ever looked at Elijah and said hey.

What is that guy saying, you know?

No one ever looked at someone like Elijah and said, what is

that guy trying to convey to us? No, everybody understood.

When the prophet opened his mouth and said thus saith the

Lord, not only was he going to speak with passion, but he would

also speak with compassion at the same time.

Even when those words would sting, even when those words

were difficult. I think all the way back to

Noah. Noah was a preacher of

righteousness for 120 years. He preached the judgment of God.

While no one listened, while no. One paid him any heed.

They had to have mocked him. They had to have left after

them. Here's this guy building a boat.

I don't think he could even conceive what a boat was because

they hadn't really seen rain up to that point.

But yet he preached because he knew what the Lord had said.

And 120 years later his words came true and the world

literally came knocking at his door too late because they

heeded not his words that he preached Elijah.

And 1st Kings chapter 18, he preached at Mount Carmel.

Don't you remember that contest that took place between Elijah

and all the prophets of Baal? And Elijah finally stood up

after the prophets of Baal made fools of themselves, I mean

absolute fools, cutting themselves and shouting and

screaming, O Baal hear us, O Baal, hear us.

And Elijah finally stands up. And he says this in verse 21.

How long halt ye between two opinions?

If the Lord be God, follow him. If Baal, then follow him.

The Bible says the people answered him not a word.

I think of Makaya. I like the prophet Makaya, who

also happened to be a prophet during the time of Ahab.

Ahab called him because Jehoshaphat finally wanted

someone who would speak for the Lord.

And Jehoshaphat says, Ahab, before I go with you in battle,

I don't want to hear your false prophets.

Send me one true prophet of the Lord.

And Makaya a prophet preacher, said this.

And 1st Kings 2214 As the Lord liveth, whatever the Lord saith

unto me, that will I speak Isaiah Isaiah 58 verse one cry

aloud, spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show

my people their transgression and the House of Jacob their

sins. Hosea was a prophet preacher.

In chapter 4 verse six, he says, my people are destroyed for lack

of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected

knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no

priest to me. Seeing thou hast forgotten the

law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Amos was a prophet preacher Chapter 7, verses 16 and 17.

Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord, thou sayest

prophecy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the

House of Isaac. Therefore thus say at the Lord,

thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, thy sons and thy

daughters shall fall by the sword, thy land shall be divided

by line, and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall

surely go captivity forth into this land.

How you like that for the power of positive thinking?

That wasn't the power positive thinking, but that was prophet

preaching. Even though it was difficult, it

was thus saith the Lord Zephaniah.

Zephaniah chapter 3 verse one. Woe to her that is filthy and

Zephaniah 3 · chapter mention

polluted the oppressing city. Malachi chapter 3, verse 8.

Malachi 3:8

Will a man rob God? But yet you've robbed me,

wherein you say we've robbed thee.

And the answers in ties and in offerings, prophet preachers

always get to the heart of the matter.

Prophet preaching always gets to the matters of the heart and the

Old Testament. Those are just a few examples

that you could point to dozens of men of God who preach thus

saith the Lord. But prophet preaching wasn't

just relegated to the Old Testament, we also find it in

the New Testament as well. We just mentioned this morning

John the Baptist, that John the Baptist was very clear in his

preaching that he said that he would lay the axe to the root of

the tree again, meaning that he was going to get to the very

heart of the matter, not just pruning the branches and leaving

the trunk. But then he was going to get

right down to the real issues of life.

By the way, he died because he's a prophet preacher.

He looked at Herod. He says you ought not to have

your brother's wife. And it was that very message

that got him killed. By the way, his he could have

been alive a whole lot longer if he just toned down his message.

But he realized this. I'd rather die in my integrity

and say the word than just to water things down and to tell

Herod, well, you know, morality is relative.

And then you have for all. You are the King, so you know

you just do whatever you want to do.

No, He had a word. Thus, saith the Lord, He paid

the price for it. But at the.

Same time he got a commendation from Jesus Christ.

So I think that made it worth it.

I don't know about you, Peter. You know what I love about

reading Peter right now? And you read the the messages of

Peter in the book of Acts and the man who was so bold and so

brash in the Gospels, he's now bold with the right kind of

boldness, the gospel boldness that he has in the book of Acts

because he's fortified by the Holy Spirit.

And did you see just this morning when he said to the to

the Jews, he says you are the ones who slew Jesus Christ on

the tree. He was just in prison a few

hours ago. He could have put a blunt edge

to the message, but he said, I got to preach thus say it.

The Lord Paul had a lot to say about prophet preaching.

Paul was a man who always said exactly what needed to be said.

Paul's final words to Timothy, his young preacher apprentice in

Second Timothy chapter 4 verse 2.

2 Timothy 4:2

Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove,

rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.

Meaning this have the right spirit, be long-suffering and

the right doctrine. Make sure you're preaching the

word of God. He says in Colossians chapter

one verse 28 about Jesus Christ in whom we preach, warning every

man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we may present

every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Paul saying this that his ministry in teaching those about

Jesus Christ who were already saved was to make sure that they

would become more like Christ and to be able to have people

become more like Christ, he had to keep presenting Christ to

them and presenting the doctrines of Christ to them.

You know, we see in the Old Testament there was prophet

preaching, while the office of prophet is no longer found in

the New Testament era of which we live in.

But yet at the same time, I would say prophet preaching is

still very much alive. The spirit of the prophet in the

preaching that it's thus saith the Lord seen in John the

Baptist and Peter and Paul and others as well is prophet

preaching is not soft, shallow or smooth say smooth.

What's smooth preaching? Well Isaiah chapter 30 verse 10

Isaiah 30:10

talks about that which say to the seers see not and to the

prophets prophecy not unto us right things.

Speak unto us smooth things. Prophecy deceits.

Smooth preaching is this. You're going to be OK when

you're not going to be OK. Smooth preaching is.

That's not sin when it is sin says there's smooth preaching

out there today. It's everywhere.

Smooth preaching will tell you that alcohol won't hurt you,

that sexual immorality is not a big deal, that homosexuality is

not found as a sinful sense in the Word of God.

That that that that sin really isn't even a real thing, that

it's more just a construct made-up by religion to just keep

people in line. These are the things that smooth

preaching will tell you. And smooth preaching is a smooth

Rd. paved straight to hell. It's wide and it's long, but you

can be sure of its destination. Smooth preaching, Shallow

preaching, Soft preaching. Listen, when the I mentioned

this just a few moments ago when the preacher's done, you

shouldn't have to wonder what was the preacher trying to say

to us? How do you remember those old

radios? Not the I mean, most of us grew

up with them. Not the digital radios of today.

But you know you wanted to get the.

Again, tune it in, right? To find that Channel, you had to

go back this way and that way, and then you move your car about

20 feet and then you messed it up.

You had to move it again this way and then move it that way.

And sometimes trying to get a smooth talking preacher to

understand what he's saying is like, can you move a little bit

that way? Can you move a little bit that

way? I can't quite figure out what

you're saying. Can I just dial it in?

And by the time you're done, you're more confused and more

tired than anything else because you don't even know what he

said. That's what I loved about.

Preaching in independent Baptist churches, that was the first

thing I loved that when I left the church that I knew what the

preacher was saying. It seemed that he meant what he

was saying and that everything that he was saying, he was

showing me in the Word of God why he was saying it.

When I was a Lutheran, we never even took our Bibles to church.

Didn't need to. There was no need.

They read the text for the day. The preacher would barely talk

about the text of the day, didn't tell us why the text of

the day was important to our life.

And that was it. It was a homily.

It was a speech. It wasn't a sermon, but it's my

desire that when we have preaching from the word of God

that you see, thus sayeth the Lord.

Why do we say what we say? Where does it say it?

That's that's why sometimes I'll give you the address of where

I'm preaching from. If I mentioned a verse in First

Kings or Hosea or Second Timothy, I'll let you know.

And sometimes we'll turn our Bible so you can look there for

yourself. Why?

Because Bible preaching ought to be verified by the Bible

prophet. Preaching isn't smooth or

shallow or soft. But I'll also say this.

Oh, actually, Titus giving a verse, Titus 215.

It says these things. Speak and exhort and rebuke with

all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Another young preacher, Titus, he says this, When you speak,

you speak with authority. And by the way, why am I able to

speak with authority? Because I stand behind a nice

pulpit? No, it's not because that

because I have a nice suit. No, because, you know, I don't

know how nice it is, but I like it because of who I am or, or

anything within me. No, no, I can stand and speak

with all authority as long as I speak with the authority which

this book allows. When I stand preaching this, I

have all authority. When I stand preaching my own

thoughts, my authority goes out the window.

That's why Bible preaching has to be based in the Bible.

But also say this. Prophet preaching may not be

soft and smooth and shallow, but I'd also say this.

It's either petty or personal. Either prophet preaching doesn't

have to be tough preaching for the sake of being tough.

A wooden box like this pulpit isn't meant to be a whipping

post where God's people are brought to it and are beaten,

metaphorically speaking, by the pastor and the Word of God.

I've watched pastors in the years say things from the pulpit

to a crowd that they would never say to someone's face

one-on-one. And they feel real tough because

they are behind a pulpit and they can talk for 30 and 40

minutes and nobody can say anything back.

But if they were sitting one-on-one across the table from

somebody, they would never say the things that they're going to

say. Why?

Because that's not profit preaching.

That's, to be honest with you, prideful, arrogant preaching.

That's not profit preaching. I'll tell you, if those guys

were as tough as they said they were, they would sit down

one-on-one with someone who is in sin.

They would sit down one-on-one with someone who is struggling

and get down deep into the the murky issues of their life and

be able to help them page by page through the word of God,

Discipling them, helping them, counseling them, loving them,

crying with them. No, that's what a tough preacher

would do, not just stand up from the pulpit and try to talk to

one man while he's insulting 80 people who are sitting there

listening because he's got a message for one person that he's

not willing to tell that person himself.

He said, pastor, are you mad at anybody?

I'm not mad at anybody. But I will tell you this, I do

hate the fact that there are those pastors, even an

independent Baptist circles, who would give the the idea of

prophet preaching a bad name. That you should be willing to

have a pastor who talks tough to you.

You should be willing to have a pastor who will talk to you

about the issues of life, but all without being petty or

personal or insulting. That's not profit preaching.

That's that's arrogance and fleshliness.

I'm thankful for the. Preachers I've had in my life

over the years, I mean real preachers, the gentleman who

just passed away a few weeks ago, Steve Baker.

Through his preaching, he taught me how to connect with people I

think of. Bruce.

Turner, who some of you have met before and his preaching taught

me how to be alive. He was the first preacher I ever

listened to on a regular basis that I said this man is excited

about what he's preaching and it's OK to be excited in the

pulpit. It's OK to raise your voice.

Once in a while even the sound team kind of gets annoyed at you

because you raise your voice at awkward.

Times. They hate it when I do that, by

the way, Like, why do you speak so low and then so high and then

blows everything out? All right, so.

But he taught me to be alive. I think of Sam Davison

expository preaching, letting the text speak for itself and

not trying to force something out of the text that's not

there, but just what does the text say?

And allow the text to dictate what is preached, to preach

through the Bible, to dig deep. I think of friends like Robert

Lewis and Jeff Copes. They've been men who have been

able to and one-on-one preaching, if you will,

counseling. They'd look at me and say, I

don't know if this is what you wanted to hear, but this is what

the Bible said. And it's not always what I want

to hear, but I'm glad they're willing to tell me what the

Bible said. You know, you need a prophet

preacher, not just today, but wherever and whenever you are.

Don't ever be away from a place that avails yourself of a Bible

preacher. And I would say even in my own

life that I've made sure that I've had men that I can trust

that could be Bible preachers for me, that I can listen to

their messages during the week. Because I can't just preach to

you without listening to other men's messages during the week

to make sure that I'm doing right.

To make sure that someone sticks their finger in my face and says

thou art the man. Oh, by the way, do you think I

forgot about the text here? Speak a Bible.

Bible. Preach, you say?

Well, how about you get to the Bible?

Well, I think we've talked biblically the last few minutes,

but I want to bring it back to our text here for the next few

moments. David is smug.

David got one over on God. He's got his woman.

He's got a another child on the way.

Uriah is gone and no one's the wiser.

But that last sentence is haunting, isn't it?

That last sentence of Chapter 11, No one knew, but God knew.

And So what did God do? God sent a preacher.

God sent a prophet. Now you might remember Nathan.

We met Nathan back in chapter #7 in chapter #7 Nathan came and

gave counsel to David on the issue of whether he should build

a temple or not. And we'll consider that again in

just a few moments. But he.

Comes and he gives a parable. Now I want to be clear about

this. Nathan did not give this parable

because he was afraid to talk directly to the king.

I see nothing in Nathan's countenance that seems to show

that he was afraid to talk in a direct way to King David.

But he did understand this, that a lot of times when it comes to

the issue of preaching, you have to kind of bring people along to

a place where they will understand what is being said.

And so he gives this parable, the rich man, the poor man, the

rich man with all the lambs, the the one man that only had the 1

lamb who he nourished. And it would not have been

unusual in those times and seasons for someone to have

taken in a lamb as a pet. Now we don't think of it that

way today, but in those times it would not have been unusual for

someone to take a lamb, not necessarily for food, but as a

cherished family pet. So when you think about this

indignation, think. Not even necessarily about a

lamb, but think about how some we, we feel about our pets

today, maybe a, a cherished family dog or something like

that. And that, that, that there was a

man who had many dogs, but but you just had this one dog and

you've loved that dog since he's a puppy.

And you've taken him everywhere and you've done everything and

you've watched him grow and you've helped him, you've nursed

him. You've loved you.

He, he sat in your bed and laid at your feet every night.

And a man who had plenty of dogs came by and says, I want your

dog. Now in this case he wanted the

lamb, the rich man, because he did not want to prepare mutton

from his own flock. And so he says, well I'll take

that other little you lamb, he says, and I'll take that, and

I'll kill it, and then I won't have to spare for my flock.

And David was mad. Did you see what again what it

said in verse 5? And David's anger was greatly

kindled against the man. By the way, who was the man?

He was the man, but David wasn't at the place yet where he could

accept that fact. In fact, what's so beautiful

about this text is that Nathan, in using this, first gives an

indirect application. Why?

So that David would understand this type of activity is wrong.

So that then when the direct application was made, that there

would be no question, no profit. Preaching is preaching that gets

to the heart of the matter. Prophet preaching doesn't just

talk in the abstract, but it also talks in the very personal

and it talks about where we live and with what we're doing.

And and Nathan points his finger at David and again, in some of

the most amazing words in the Bible and most some of the most

courageous words in the Bible, he says, thou art the man, it's

you. And then the hammer comes down.

He says, who do you think you are, David?

How do you think you became king?

God gave you everything. Absolutely everything you had

came from the hand of God. And in verse 9 he says,

wherefore has thou despised the commandment of the Lord?

Which I think is interesting when you consider Dave wrote

David so many Dave's all right when David wrote Psalm 19 verse

#8 particularly. Where it talks about the

testimonies of the Lord are sure.

Making wise the simple more to be desired Are they than gold?

They than much fine gold, and sweeter also than honey and the

honeycomb. David talked about his great

reverence in Psalm 19 for the word of God.

And Nathan says you say you love the word of God, you show you

despise it. No, you say you love it, but you

despise it. He says there's going to be some

consequences for your actions. The sword's never going to leave

your house. He says you're verse #11 your

wives will be taken before your eyes.

He says you thought you thought you could take someone else's

woman. Well, your women are going to

take it from you. And we get to that in chapter

#16 you're going to find out. It will happen in a very graphic

and very alarming way. He says your.

House will be in perpetual turmoil forever.

Do you know what I love about this though?

Every time Saul was corrected, what did he do?

No, no, no. What's their fault?

It was because of them. Well, Samuel I.

Tried, but nobody wouldn't listen to me.

And as powerful as those 4 words were, thou art the man.

I would also submit to you that the six words that David utters

in verse 13, they would be more powerful.

I have sinned against the Lord. He didn't say that it was

someone else's fault. He didn't blame Bathsheba.

He didn't blame his upbringing. He didn't blame the nation.

He didn't blame the fact that he just, you know, his flesh really

wanted it bad. He didn't blame the fact that he

was king and that he could take anything he wanted.

You know what he said? I've sinned.

Do you know, by the way, what real repentance looks like?

I have sinned. Real repentance does not say I

have sinned. But if you need to put a caveat

in, that's not repentance. Well, I've sinned.

But you know, if my wife cared for me the way she would, you

know, I wouldn't have done what I did.

Well, that would classify under excuse, not repentance.

Well, you know. I mean, I knew I blew my top,

but you should have seen what they did to me.

Well, that sounds more like an excuse than repentance.

We can go right down the line, but what does David say here?

He says I have sinned and Nathan basically says yes you did, but

God's forgiven you. And does that mean consequences

go away? Not only did they not go away,

but they would not go away for the rest of his life, but he was

forgiven. Look again in that verse, Nathan

said unto David, The Lord has also put away thy sin.

Thou shalt not die. What does that suggest to me?

If David had not repented, God would have taken his life.

That's how serious it was that if David had not repented, God

was willing to extinguish his life in a moment.

But he said this, I put away your sin.

You have been forgiven. It's as far as the East is from

the West. David's life was never the same,

but David was still alive. And why was that?

Because a prophet preacher was willing to tell him like it was.

Prophet preaching has a few marks.

I want to just go through these very quickly tonight.

But I want you to mark these down in your mind, if not all

were you to mark these down as well in in writing, because I

want you to know what prophet preaching ought to look like.

And I see this from our text. This isn't just my opinion on

the matter, but we literally see Nathan exhibit these in the text

this evening. First of all, profit preaching

is confrontational without being condescending.

Profit preaching is confrontational without being

condescending. I've heard it said before the

good preaching on a step on your toes without messing up the

shine on your shoes. And I like that good preaching

on a meddle with you a little bit.

It ought to be confrontational in the sense, not that it's

brash in its confrontation. Confrontationality.

I don't know if that's a word, but we're going with it.

I like it. Not that it's brash, but it's

confronting you with the sins of your own life that it's putting

it right in front of you and saying, look at this, look at

this, you, you can't get around it.

That's what prophet preaching is that literally the pastor is not

being confrontational and saying, well, you're losers or

you're, you're morons or what's the matter with you?

But he's literally taking the word of God and he's holding it

right in front of you and saying, you've got to look at

this. You cannot look away from it.

And it's my job, by the grace of God, when I preach the Word of

God, to be able to get you to the place that you have.

To see what the word of God says, because I'm not just here

because I don't have anything to do on a Sunday night, because I

don't have anything to do on a Sunday night, but but I'm here.

I'm here because the calling that God has laid upon my life

is to be. You need to hear the word of

God. It's changed my life.

It'll change your life too. And you know it's changed your

life because, well, you're here on a Sunday night.

What? We get away from it, don't we?

We wander away from it. We're not the people that we

need to be. Just like David was a man who

was after God's own heart, but he wandered away and he need to

be confronted. David, look at this.

Thou art the man. And he was confrontational

without being condescending. The.

Sermon that we just read is one of the most direct takedowns

you'll ever find in the word of God.

If this is a boxing match, it was Ako in the first round and

David was told stay on the mat, don't get up, stay down.

And David did. How do I know?

Because he said I've sinned against the Lord.

But I will say this, it was Ako not because he was pummeled with

personal insults, but if he was pummeled, if you will, it was

with an avalanche of truth that came from God.

Prophet preaching must be confrontational without being

condescending. We're confronting you with the

truth of the word of God without belittling who you are #1

Prophet preaching is confrontational without being

condescending #2 Prophet preaching is personal without

taking things personally. It's personal without taking

things personally. You know, oftentimes you'll hear

pastors say we all ought to. We all should.

When I preach, I try to say more of something along these

pronouns. You should, you should.

Why? I'm not preaching to you all.

I'm not even preaching to y'all. If we were in the South and

we're not Amen. But I'm preaching to you.

It says if you and I are having a conversation.

With each other. I'm not looking to preach the

group. I'm not looking for group think,

I'm just looking for you to be able to have the application for

yourself. By the way, that's why preaching

requires application. Maybe you'd say pastor, it seems

like. You take a lot of time just

saying how the word of God applies to your to to our lives.

Wouldn't it be a whole lot better if you just, you know, I

don't know, if you just preach the Bible and you didn't worry

about that application part, but just go through and just tell us

what the Bible says and leave it there, I would say.

I can do that, but in and of itself, that's not Bible

preaching. Bible preaching is this.

Here's what the Word of God says, and here's what it means

to you in your life. Here's what the Word of God says

and here's what it means to you in your life.

It's application, and it has to be made personal.

By the way, when impersonal application was made, David

liked it. David didn't repent with the

impersonal application, did he? In fact, he was a little bit

haughty about it, wasn't it? He was like, hey, kill that guy

and then take from what he's left and fourfold restored to

the man who had it taken away. But when it was.

Personal. All of a sudden, he realized he

was the man. You know, it's amazing that I've

preached and I'm not trying to be unkind when I say this.

But I've I've preached on on issues that people are

struggling with. But when I talk about it in a

generic way, they Amen in agreement with me while they're

living the very life that they're Amen about.

Nope. Bible talks clearly that

Christians should not participate in sexual

immorality. Amen.

I'm thinking that's a indirect application.

You've known that. It's been many years since I've

counted the offerings here at Liberty Baptist Church, but I

remember the first couple years when I did with other people

because we were just starting the church and there would be

times I'd preach on tithing. There'd be people who wouldn't

give, but they would still Amen in the service.

And they were robbing God, as Malachi would have said.

Why? Because indirect application.

So, pastor, you're supposed to go around and talk to each and

every one of us after the service.

No, that's not what I'm saying. But our application should be as

personal as they possibly can be without taking things

personally. That I don't go through a list

of who's tithing and then that's well, I need to preach a message

on tithing because look at how many people aren't tithing.

You think the Lord's in that? Well, let.

Me, let me see what people are struggling with in the church

and then I'm going to find messages.

I'm going to I'm going to preach it out of them all.

You think the Lord's in that. You know what's amazing to me?

Often times you just go chapter by chapter, section by section,

verse by verse. And it's amazing to the needs of

the church just get taken care of.

And I'm not saying that there's occasions where we go to

different passages. The next week might be one of

those times where we do so. But I try to do so by the

spirits leading. And I do so not because I'm

trying to smoke out a problem or smoke out a person, but just

trying to follow the leadership of the Lord.

Prophet preaching is confrontational out being

condescending. Prophet preaching is personal

that taking these personally. Prophet preaching brings

condemnation. While also offering hope, it

brings condemnation without with also offering hope.

Did Nathan spare one word in his message to David?

There is not one word spared. But when David said he had

sinned, what did he say? He brought him comfort.

The Lord put away your sin. There are times you got to talk

about sin, and we got to be tough about talking about sin.

Why? Because we got to breakthrough

some of our hard heartedness, breakthrough some of our

lethargy, breakthrough some of our willful ignorance.

But I want you to know by the time that you leave that even if

we preach hard about sin, you need to know there's hope in

Jesus Christ. If you're willing to get right,

He can make things right in your life.

Could you imagine me leaving that part out?

God hates sin. God condemns sin.

People who are sinners and aren't saved go directly to

hell. Bow your heads and close your

eyes. I imagine none of us would be

here very long if that was the case.

There's a line of preaching that's like that, though.

I would tell you this. Hope is real, forgiveness is

real, victory is offered. For those who are in sin,

David's life would be forever changed, but it wasn't over.

Some of David's greatest spiritual victories would take

place after this. Even though his life wasn't what

it should have been, even though his life was a shell in some

ways of what it was before, but God still used him and God still

loved him and God still cared for.

And prophet preaching must always put out to the to you the

fact that yes, sinfulness is wicked, and no child of God

should participate. In it, but if we confess our

sins. He is faithful.

Meaning when we are unfaithful, He is faithful, but if we

confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and

to cleanse all unrighteousness. I'm out of time.

I'm going to give you the 4th though, real quick, and that's

this prophet preaching must be willing to be corrected.

You say, who's this one for, pastor?

For me, You say, why are you telling us this?

It would seem like that's something you wouldn't want us

to know. Well, my allegiance, remember,

is not to you, it's to the Word of God.

But if I deviate from the word of God, I have to be willing to

be corrected. I don't have time to go there,

but you can go there later. Second Samuel, Chapter 7.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

Do you remember we saw this a few weeks ago.

David tells Nathan, Nathan, I want to build, I want to build a

house for the Lord. And Nathan says, whatever's in

your heart, do it. There's one problem.

Nathan didn't get that from God. And the Lord appeared to Nathan

and he said this. Go back to David and you tell

him what I tell you, not whatever you think I thought I

was going to say. And Nathan had to go back and

give him the correct answer from what was said before.

Prophet preaching is not the thought process that the pastor

is king. Thought prophet preaching is he

is king. And I'm just as ambassador.

Listen, I have to be willing to be in the Word of God and

understand that the Lord can reveal to me that I'm wrong.

And sometimes the Lord can use one of you to come to me and to

show me Bible verses to show me where I'm not right.

I preached something several years ago here about grace, and

I preached without going into detail of it.

I, I, I preached something that was I, I ignored the

construction of the words. I looked at the words but not

how they would work together. And what I preached was

factually incorrect. And a dear godly church member

who just moved away about four or five months ago came to me,

says, pastor, I just want you to know, I, I, I think you said

something that was wrong on Wednesday night.

And I said, who do you think you are?

Now you know why he moved away. No, I'm just kidding.

I said, I said, really? We got our Bibles out.

He took me through. He was right.

I was sloppy. I was sloppy and putting

together the message. The words were all there, but

they weren't constructed to mean together what I thought they

were. It was embarrassing.

You got to do the next night, the next Wednesday night, and go

back and preach a message about how I was wrong and go back and

untangle what I had done the week before.

Was it embarrassing? Yes, that.

I hope it taught some people something that week.

Yes. Not necessarily that taught them

something about grace, but it taught them this.

If the pastor is not king, he is king and prophet preaching those

thus saith the Lord means he is the Lord.

And I'm not that I'm not here to preach my opinions.

I'm not here to preach politics. I'm not here to preach what I

think about things that there are times I talk about politics

when it intersects with the word of God because anything that

intersects with the word of God is fair game.

But this is a not talk radio. This is not Adam's soapbox.

This is not any of those entities.

It is God's temple. He is here with us.

And we got to preach right now. I appreciate you giving me time

tonight. I'm going a little bit long, but

it's, I feel like as a pastor, this is something so near and

dear to my heart that I need to share it with you.

And I want to be clear about it. If you believe something from

the word of God is being portrayed incorrectly, I'd ask

you this. I'll, I will receive what you

say in humility. I just ask you this.

Will you come to me in humility that you come to me and I

receive and I talk to you and you receive as brothers and

sisters in Christ? Nathan was willing to say,

David, I got to come back and tell you, the Lord said I was

wrong. And so I got, I know you're the

king, but I got a different word for you now because I got ahead

of the Lord. So what do we need to do?

I need to make sure that I'm willing to be corrected just as

much as you're willing to be corrected.

And I'll say this and I'll be done.

I, I, this is just, this is a good place for us to, to leave

off. There's a lot more I can say,

but I think we just need to leave off here tonight.

You want to have a prophet preacher in your life.

I think that's the way that it should be.

But I also say this, every prophet, preacher wants an

earnest listener in their life. You know what the greatest gift

you can give me as a pastor is? It's not a bonus, a stipend,

some kind of fancy gadget as a way to say thanks.

The best thing you can offer me is that when the Word of God is

open, be an earnest listener, be a Berean.

What did they do? They searched the Scriptures to

see if the things that were said were so and the Bible called

them this word noble. You want a prophet preacher, but

I want earnest listeners. But that also means I need to be

an earnest listener to him. And if we all honor Him through

this time that we call preaching, then God can do great

things with us as He constantly puts us back on the path and

gets us where we need to go through the gift of prophet

preaching. Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.