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In II Samuel 12, one of the most dramatic moments in the life of David is revealed to us.  David is confronted by the prophet, Nathan, regarding his sin with Bathsheba.  David comes face to face with himself, with God’s judgment, with God’s grace and with God’s glory.
Face to Face With Yourself
Facing the truth about yourself is most troubling.  Many avoid it entirely.  The lies we tell ourselves are attempts to conceal the truth about ourselves.  Some questions we must consider are: “Who do you think you are?”  and “Who do you think God is?”  David was the champion of Israel, her greatest warrior, Israel’s most illustrious king, and author of many of the Psalms.  Yet, he was a sinner.  David’s fall began with an indecent thought about another man’s wife.  It grew with site of her unclothed (II Sam. 12:2-4) and it blossomed into lust that concluded in sexual sin.  It developed further in lies and murder.  His sin was accomplished “secretly” as far as men were concerned, but “openly” as far as God was concerned. Nathan was sent by God to confront David about his sin.  God knows all things including the secret things of man. Nathan tells a short story about a man who took another man’s only lamb.  David immediately perceives the injustice of the act and condemned it.  Then, Nathan tells David, “Thou art the man.”  This stunning revelation to David pierced through the lies David had told himself and exposed the truth about him.  This is strong medicine.  But, its design is to save the soul.  David confesses his sin (II Sam. 12:13, Psa. 51:4).  He comes face to face with the truth about himself.  Sin is a great leveler.  David now occupies common ground.  His need for redemption is shared with all others who have succombed to temptation’s power.
Face To Face With God’s Judgment
When Nathan delivers God’s message to David, it contains God’s judgment.  God, through Nathan, rehearses all of the blessings he had given to David.  God gave David everything he needed and more.  He said that, if that were not enough, He would have given him even more.  David’s sin involved ingratitude for all that God had given him.  David was not content.  He desired what God had forbidden. God’s justice rains down hard on David.  God said that the sword would never depart from David’s house.  He told David that He would raise  up adversity against him from his own house.  God would take his wives and give them to his neighbor before all Israel.  Finally, God told David that the child conceived with Bathsheba would die (II Sam. 12:14).
Face To Face With God’s Grace
David confessed his sin (II Sam. 12:13).  Honesty with self shatters pride.  He pleads for mercy, cleansing and grace (Psa. 51).  God answers his plea and pardons his sin (II Sam. 12:14).  God told David, “I have put away thy sin.  You will not die, but the child conceived between you and Bathsheba will die.”  All of the consequences of sin are not erased by God’s forgiveness.
Face to Face With God’s Glory
The Lord struck the child so that it became very ill (II Sam. 12:15).  David pleads for the child’s life.  He prays and fasts.  He lays prostrate on the ground all night.  On the seventh day, the child dies.  David arose, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes and went to the house of the LORD and worshiped.  This moment deserves a long pause for thought.  While many curse God or attack God and turn away from Him after facing similar dilemmas, David in a moment of deep humility and profound reverence, enters into God’s presence and worships.  He enters into the presence of God and contemplates His glory.  There are times in the human experience, when we must let God be God!  David’s loss is great.  His heart is heavy.  His humility before God stays any anger and he quietly draws near to God.  In this act of deep devotion, he reveals his utter dependence upon God (II Sam. 12:16-23).  Here is the man later described as “a man after God’s own heart.”
Before the child died, David hoped in God’s providential will.  He states, “Who can tell whether the child may live?”  David knew God’s revealed will.  But, he hopes in God’s provdential will.  Once the child dies, David knows that God’s revealed will and His providential will are one.  There was no going back.  He must go forward.  Yet, he continues to hope in God’s revealed will–the resurrection of the dead.  David says, “he will not come to me, but I will go to him.”  All is resolved by absolute trust in God.
David’s Journey and Ours
Every person must come face to face with the truth about himself/herself.  Every person must come face to face with God and know His judgment, His grace and His glory.  This is the pathway of redemption.  Everyone who desires to see God and be with Him in eternity must walk it.

In Matthew 24, Jesus instructs us concerning two major events: the destruction of Jerusalem and His Second Coming.  The destruction of Jerusalem is detailed in 24:1-35.  The Second Coming is discussed in 24:36-51.  With regard to the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus gave many signs.  However, with regard to His Second Coming, He gave no signs (vv. 36-37).
Jesus makes an interesting statement in the context of Matthew 24 that deals with the signs concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.  He states, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12).  This statement indicates an inverse relationship between iniquity and love.  As iniquity increases, love decreases.  As love increases, iniquity decreases.  Jesus predicted greater iniquity because men would love God and each other less.
Iniquity is lawlessness.  It is sin or evil.  Lawlessness produces an undesireable effect: lovelessness.   To “wax cold” is the process of dying love.  When lawlessness abounds, love dies.  Love produces a warmth of the soul.  Coldheartedness is the result of iniquity.
Love God Less.
Love for God is manifested in the following ways:  adoration (praise, worship); attachment (covenant relationship with God); affection (desire of the human heart for the sacred indicated by priorities); attitude (reverence and godly fear); and activity (obedience and righteous conduct).  When men love God less, God is not praised or worshipped.  Often something else takes God’s place, idolatry develops.  Idolatry destroys the identity and nature of God by changing human concepts of godness.  When men love God less, they do not seek to live in harmony with God’s law.  They become rebellious and disobedient to God.  They do not make God a priority nor do they fear God and respect His word.  Iniquity abounds and love for God diminishes and dies.
Love Neighbor Less.
Lawlessness produces many sins against one’s neighbor.  Adultery is a sin against one’s neighbor when someone steals his wife.  Fornication is a sin against one’s own body and God.  But, it is also a sin against one’s neighbor when we use him/her to fulfill the lusts of our flesh.  In the absence of true, committed, love, sex becomes gratuitous and recreational.  It becomes pleasure oriented.  However, it also becomes the means of disease and unwanted children.  Sometimes unwanted children are sacrificed to convenience and aborted.  Abortion is a sin against another human being.  Yes, when iniquity abounds, love for others diminishes and dies.  When we lie, we destroy trust.  No relationship can survive in the absence of trust. Lying is a sin against our neighbor.  Murder is also a sin against one’s neighbor.  When lawlessness abounds, violence increases.  Sometimes we do not show any respect for the reputation of our neighbor.  Slander, gossip and back-biting are all sins that abound when we love less.  In Matt. 24:10, hatred and persecution are mentioned.  Hatred is enmity for another.  Christians will be persecuted when iniquity abounds.  The list could continue, but these sins surely prove that in the absence of love, numerous types of evil will befall our neighbor.
The Power of Love
Love for God and for neighbor are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 22:36-39).  Love for God and for neighbor contain religous and moral elements that act as good leaven in the world in which we live.  Love for God comes first!  We cannot have true love for our neighbor and have a distorted view of God.  God is love (I John 4:8, 16).  We learn love from God (Eph. 5:1-2).  Love preserves relationship with God.  Love preserves purity while lawlessness destroys it.  Love protects my neighbor.  Where love abounds, iniquity diminishes and dies.  James tell us to “resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:8).  One of the most powerful ways to resist Satan is to love.
You Choose.
Now that you are fully aware of the outcomes of both iniquity and love, you must choose.  Where iniquity abounds, love dies.  Where love abounds, iniquity dies.  You must decide.  You choose.

God’s Word declares, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter:  because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forwarned you and testified, For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness” (I Thess. 4:3-7).  Consider some of the main ideas Paul presents in this passage.
1.  Sanctified means to be set apart for a holy purpose.  Christians are bought with the blood of Christ (I Cor. 6:19,20).  They must fulfill their redemptive purpose by living consecrated lives.  No man can be sanctified or consecrated to God who does not restrain all lusts and direct his desires in lawful ways.  Love for God demands consecration to God.
2.  Sexual integrity is part of our sanctification and consecration to God.  Flee fornication!  Yet, we live in a sex-crazed society.  Pornography is abundant and available.  70% of people involved in this sin are secretly participating in it.  Pornography promotes fornication, adultery, and homosexuality.  Therefore, it undermines God’s will for marriage and the home.  The only proper means of sexual expression is between a man and woman in the marriage relationship (Heb. 13:4).  Pornography defiles the mind of man by polluting it with impure and unholy thoughts and images.  When lusts are aroused and individuals start “acting out” these desires the body is defiled.
3.  Every Christian must gain mastery over his/her own body.  Paul states, “…every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour…”  Even Paul exercised self-control and self-discipline.  “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (I Cor. 9:27).
4.  Adultery is a sin against God and another person.  God will judge such matters.
5.  Through the Gospel, God has called us to holiness.  Sexual purity is a part of true godliness and holiness before God.  Holiness is purity of mind and heart.  The pure in heart shall see God (Matt. 5:8).
6.  Sexual addiction is a form of defilement of the mind and heart before God.  It is a sin that needs to be conquered through reconciliation to God.  The glory of grace and the honor of holiness bring both salvation and sanctification to the Christian.  Both grace and holiness are transforming.  Both are essential aspects of the Christian life which manifests the image of God to the world.

In I Kings 18:16-18, there is an interesting exchange beteween king Ahab and Elijah the prophet.  The prophet Obadiah arranged a meeting between the king and the prophet of God.  The Biblical record gives the details of the meeting.  “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?  And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.”
Ahab’s Misperception.
Ahab blammed Elijah for the drought and famine that Israel was suffering.  It had not rained for three plus years (I Kings 18:1).  The drought was the result of Elijah’s prayer for it not to rain and God’s power which, in answer to the prayer, shut up the heavens.  The lack of rain was punitive.  God chastened His people to bring them to repentance for idolatry.  Israel had sinned.
Elijah’s Accurate Perception.
Elijah was not the troubler of Israel.  He said, “I have not troubled Israel.”  The word “troubled” refers to alientation from God which results from a heinious crime or sin.  Sin always produces trouble!  Elijah states that “ye have forsaken…”  The “ye” is plural and refers to the people of Israel who were involved in idolatry (they worshipped Baal).  Their sin was collective (committed as a group).  Elijah also said, “…and thou hast followed Baal.”  The “thou” is singular and indicts the king personally.  Elijah demonstrates great courage to speak so boldly before the king.   Idolatry was a serious sin against God and broke the first two of the ten commandments.  The result was God’s punitive act in causing a drought and famine.
Nobel Tester stated, “It’s easier to get mad at the preacher than it is to get right with God.”  Ahab was angry with Elijah and instead of humbling his heart and turning to the LORD, he hardened his heart (I Kings 19:1).
Truth Prevails.
Elijah challenges Ahab to produce the false prophets of Baal in order to have a challenge.  The challenge involved the demonstration of immediate power to consume a sacrifice.  The odds in this challenge were 450 prophets of Baal to 1 prophet of God–Elijah.  The false prophets of Baal attempted to excite Baal to act, but to no avail.  Baal did not respond to their cries of desperation.  Elijah prayed to God and God immediately sent fire down and consumed the sacrifice (I Kings 18:37-38).  This dramatic demonstration persuaded many of the people of Israel to repent.  But, Ahab did not repent.  Elijah proved that there is only one, true, and living God.  Ahab continued to deny this fact.
Ahab’s Legacy.
In I Kings 21:25-26, the Bible records the legacy of Ahab.  “But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.  And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.”  Ahab left a legacy of wickedness.  The true “troubler” of Israel is now apparent before all.  Sin always produces trouble!

Complicity is a doctrine that operates to hold persons criminally responsible for the acts of others.  Complicity encompasses assessorial and conspiratorial liability.  Assessorial liability is frequently referred to as accomplice liability.  An accomplice is a person who helps another person commit a crime.  Accomplice liability involves primary actors who actually participate in the commission of the crime and secondary actors who aid or encourage the primary actors.  The aid can be either physical or psychological.  The secondary actors are called accomplices (Wikipedia-8-13-13).
For example, the driver of a get-away car in a bank robbery is an accomplice.  A co-conspirator in a bank robbery is an accomplice.  In regards to crime, we understand what “complicity” means.
Is it possible to be complicit in sinful conduct?  The answer from God’s Word is, “yes.”  Consider the following biblical examples.
1.  Saul consented unto the death of Stephen (Acts 7:58, 8:1).  Saul held the clothing of those who stoned Stephen, a Christian, to death.  Saul may not have thrown a stone, but he was an accomplice to the sin.  The word “consenting” means “to take pleasure with others in anything” (Vine, I, 229).  Saul agreed with the act of stoning Stephen and consequently, he was guilty of sin.  Later, after becoming a Christian himself, Saul (or Paul) confessed this fact (I Tim. 1:13-14).
2.  In II John 9-10, we are warned about helping false teachers.  John writes, “Neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”  To bid someone God speed is to endorse that person.  To be a partaker of his evil deeds means that we have a share with, take part in his evil.  We may not be the one who teaches error, but we can aid and abet someone who does.  There are different ways that we might do this.  We might financially support a false teacher.  Or, we may speak well of him.  In Matt. 7:15, Jesus warned about false teachers who come to us in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves.  If we speak well of a false teacher or a false religionist, we help the wolf with his disquise!  We make him look like a sheep whenever he really is a wolf.  When we recharacterize evil men, we sin.  We become a party to a deception.
3.  In Acts 3:12-19, Peter states that the Jews killed the Prince of life (Jesus Christ).  “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.”  We know that the Jews did not have the power of capital punishment and could not execute a person without the Roman governments’ consent.  The Jews went to Pilate, the Roman governor, in order to have Jesus crucified.  They called for Jesus to be crucified.  They leveled false charges against Him.  While the Jews did not actually drive the nails into Jesus’ hands nor pierce His side with a spear, they were accomplices in killing Jesus as Peter said.  They were complicit in the sin of murdering Jesus, an innocent man.  Later, Peter commands these same individuals to repent and turn to God that their sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19).
Christians do not want to aid, help, fellowship, endorse, recharacterize evil men, or in any way promote sin.  It is a sin to do so.

Most people act in their own best interests.  Paul mentons this aspect of human nature in Eph. 5:29 where he writes, “For no man yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.”  However, there are occasions in which we make choices that are not in our own best interest.  Every time we sin, we create a self-inflicted wound.
In Acts 9:1-6, we find a man by the name of Saul.  Saul was persecuting the Lord’s church and consequently, the Lord Himself (Acts 9:2, 4).  Saul (later known as Paul) describes his own conduct prior to conversion to Christ in I Tim. 1:13 where he states that he was a blasphemer, injurious, and a persecutor.  In Acts 9:5, Jesus uses a figure of speech to reveal an important truth to Saul.  He said, “…it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (KJV).  Another word for “pricks” is “goads.”  This figure originates in agriculture.  A farmer could drive an ox forward by using a long, sharp stick to prod the ox.  When the ox resisted the goad, he inflicted a wound and caused pain.  The wound was self-inflicted because of the stubbornness of the ox.  Saul’s persecution of the Lord and His church had an unintended consequence.  It resulted in a self-inflicted wound.  Saul was resisting the work of God.  His unbelief resulted in sin that put his own soul in jeopardy.
All sin is “kicking against the goads.”  In I Cor. 15:56, God’s Word declares, “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”  The word “sting” is from the same Greek word as “goad.”  The word refers to a sharp point.  All sin is self-inflicted (James 1:13-15).  James teaches that when we sin, we are drawn away of our own lusts.  When we yield to those lusts of the flesh, we sin and sin brings forth death (spiritual separation from God).  The more we sin against God, the more pain we inflict on ourselves.  The suffering that results from the consequences of sin cannot be blammed on anyone but ourselves.  The penalty for sin against God is severe.  It is everlasting punishment.
The remedy for this situation is to follow the same pathway as Saul of Tarsus.  In Acts 9 we are told that once Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, that Saul was told to go into the city and it would be told him what he must do.  A man by the name of Ananias came to Saul and told him to be baptized (Acts 22:16).  Saul was baptized into Christ (Acts 9:15).  Saul turned to the Lord.  He sought forgiveness from Jesus Christ for his sins.  He stopped resisting God.  He accepted God’s grace (I Tim. 1:14).  He fully obeyed the Gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16).  Saul stopped inflicting pain on himself and began seeking the wonderful blessings of grace.  Immediately, he began to teach in the city of Damascus that Jesus was the Son of God. He proclaimed the gospel which he had formerly denied and persecuted.  The remedy for sin is reconcilation to God through Jesus Christ (II Cor. 5:17-21).

Jesus asked two questions in Matthew 16:26 worthy consideration.  “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Jesus Affirms That We Have a Soul.
Jesus is the creator of all things (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16).  Adam, the first man, was created from the dust of the ground (physical aspect of his being) and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7–the spiritual aspect of his being).  Adam was created in the image of God and exhibits will, intellect, emotion, morality–spiritual aspects of his being.  The soul is the inward man and the body is the outward man (II Cor. 4:16).  The body is subject to death, but the soul will never die.  We receive a soul or spirit at the time of our conception.  Zecharaiah writes, “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.”  God is creator of all things and He is creator of man’s spirit.  Solomon in Ecclesiastes writes, “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all” (Eccl. 11:5).  And, in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”  Further evidence that we have a soul can be found in James 2:26.  James defines death as the separation of the spirit from the body.  Obviously, life must be defined as the union of the spirit and the body. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Whenever Jesus died, His body was placed in a tomb, but His spirit went into paradise (Luke 23:43, 46, 53).  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead involved the reuniting of His body and spirit.  The conclusion of this Biblical evidence is that each human being possesses a soul or spirit.
The Soul Can Be Lost.
Jesus affirms that we can lose our soul.  To be lost means that we will be eternally separated from God.  There are various ways that the Bible indicates this eternal state.  In John 3:16, Jesus said that individuals who do not believe on Him would “perish.”  In Mark 16:16, Jesus said that those who do not believe on Him and are not baptized into Him will be “damned.”  In II Thess. 1:7-9, Paul describes the fate of those who know not God and obey not the Gospel as being punished with “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.”  Everlasting destruction does not refer to annihilation, but to eternal ruination.  Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
The pursuits of the human heart will determine our eternal destiny.  Some attempt to “gain the whole world” as they pursue material things and riches.  They pursue the pleasures of sin and worldly delights.  We are warned about loving the world and the things that are in the world (I John 2:15-17).  Love of the world is enmity against God.  God desires that we love Him supremely (Matt. 22:36-39).
The Soul Can Be Exchanged.
The value of the human soul can be seen in the price paid to redeem it.  Jesus gave His life and shed His blood in order to redeem mankind from sin.  Peter states, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” I Peter 1:18-19).  The word “precious” means costly.  The value of the blood of Christ is priceless.  Consequently, the value of the human soul is priceless.
The value of the soul can only be preserved through discipleship to Jesus Christ.  If we are not a disciple of Jesus Christ (a Christian), then we have sold out our soul for something else.  The only alternative to serving Jesus is to be a servant of sin (Satan) (Rom. 6:16-17).  If we exchange our soul for some sin, we have traded down and proven ourselves to be fools.  Sin is worthless and has no value whatever.  To take something priceless and exchange it for something worthless is foolish.  More importantly, it means that we will lose our own soul!
Preserve The Value of Your Soul.
In Matthew 16:24-25, Jesus says, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”  Jesus asks three things of us.  First, we must deny ourselves.  This means that we must renounce the pursuit of the lust of the flesh through submission of our will to God’s Will.  Second, we must be willing to suffer persecution for the name of Jesus Christ.  Third, we must follow Jesus, i.e. actively pursue Christ-likeness.  We must put to death the old self and allow Christ to form a new life in us.  Only by undergoing this spiritual transformation can we save our soul. (see Rom. 6:3-4).