May 31, 2026 - Paradox
2 Samuel 11 – Paradox of Following Jesus
Pastor Logan – May 31, 2026
paradox (n.): a statement/situation that seems self-contradictory yet may be true.
The Paradox of Strength in Weakness Paul writes that God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9), and that when he is weak, then he is strong. The path to true power runs through surrender and dependency, not self-sufficiency.
The First Shall Be Last Jesus repeatedly inverts the world's hierarchy — the greatest must become servant of all (Mark 10:43-44), the exalted will be humbled, and the humble exalted (Luke 14:11). The kingdom operates on upside-down logic.
Losing Your Life to Find It "Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it" (Matt. 16:25). Self-preservation destroys what you're trying to protect; self-surrender is the only real preservation.
The Wisdom of God as Foolishness The cross is "foolishness to those who are perishing" but "the power of God" to those being saved (1 Cor. 1:18). Divine wisdom looks like failure and shame by human standards.
Freedom Through Slavery Paul calls himself a "slave of Christ" (Rom. 1:1) and argues that true freedom — liberation from sin — comes through being bound to God. Augustine captured it: "Our heart is restless until it rests in Thee."
The Eternal Word Becoming Flesh The Incarnation itself is paradoxical — the infinite taking on finitude, the immortal becoming mortal, the omnipresent confined to a body. John 1 holds this tension without resolving it.
Forgiveness and Justice How can God be both perfectly just (requiring that sin be accounted for) and perfectly merciful (forgiving freely)? The cross is the answer — but it remains a paradox that justice and mercy meet at the same point.
The Already / Not Yet Kingdom The Kingdom of God "has come" (Luke 11:20) and yet we still pray "thy Kingdom come." Believers are simultaneously already saved and still being saved (Phil. 2:12-13, Eph. 2:8).
Fact: God is absolutely sovereign.
sovereign (adj.): having supreme power; answerable to no higher authority.
Fact: God chooses who will be saved.
Fact: The sinner is blind and dead, unwilling and unable to repent without God’s intervention.
Fact: The sinner is responsible and that if he parishes he parishes because of his own hard hearted rebellious unbelief.
Bible teaches the sovereignty of God at every point and the responsibility of man at every point.
Philippians 1:21 (NET)
1:21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
Galatians 2:20 (NET)
2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Anything wrong it’s me, anything right it’s Him.
Paradox of Salvation
Sustain your salvation – persevere
Kept by His power till the end.
Why are you a Christian? Because of the Holy Spirit and because of your decision.
Believer is responsible to obey and submit and to love and honor God and when we do that the Holy Spirit moves in us and through us, all for the glory of God.
2 Samuel 11:1–5 (NET) David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba
11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army. They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. 11:3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) Then she returned to her home. 11:5 The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”
What did David do wrong?
Our responsibility as believers is to discipline ourselves, beat our bodies into submission to Christ, be obedient, honor God, love God, to serve Him, obey Him, to war against the flesh, to walk in the Spirit, and give all the glory to God for every good thing that happens in our lives.
Philippians 1:21 (NET), Galatians 2:20 (NET)
Gospel is to die to yourself to gain eternal life.
How do we crucify our flesh?
Prayer and fasting: fixate on the source of life.
Practice Watchfulness: Guarding our minds…
Surrender to Jesus: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Pastor Logan – May 31, 2026
paradox (n.): a statement/situation that seems self-contradictory yet may be true.
The Paradox of Strength in Weakness Paul writes that God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9), and that when he is weak, then he is strong. The path to true power runs through surrender and dependency, not self-sufficiency.
The First Shall Be Last Jesus repeatedly inverts the world's hierarchy — the greatest must become servant of all (Mark 10:43-44), the exalted will be humbled, and the humble exalted (Luke 14:11). The kingdom operates on upside-down logic.
Losing Your Life to Find It "Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it" (Matt. 16:25). Self-preservation destroys what you're trying to protect; self-surrender is the only real preservation.
The Wisdom of God as Foolishness The cross is "foolishness to those who are perishing" but "the power of God" to those being saved (1 Cor. 1:18). Divine wisdom looks like failure and shame by human standards.
Freedom Through Slavery Paul calls himself a "slave of Christ" (Rom. 1:1) and argues that true freedom — liberation from sin — comes through being bound to God. Augustine captured it: "Our heart is restless until it rests in Thee."
The Eternal Word Becoming Flesh The Incarnation itself is paradoxical — the infinite taking on finitude, the immortal becoming mortal, the omnipresent confined to a body. John 1 holds this tension without resolving it.
Forgiveness and Justice How can God be both perfectly just (requiring that sin be accounted for) and perfectly merciful (forgiving freely)? The cross is the answer — but it remains a paradox that justice and mercy meet at the same point.
The Already / Not Yet Kingdom The Kingdom of God "has come" (Luke 11:20) and yet we still pray "thy Kingdom come." Believers are simultaneously already saved and still being saved (Phil. 2:12-13, Eph. 2:8).
Fact: God is absolutely sovereign.
sovereign (adj.): having supreme power; answerable to no higher authority.
Fact: God chooses who will be saved.
Fact: The sinner is blind and dead, unwilling and unable to repent without God’s intervention.
Fact: The sinner is responsible and that if he parishes he parishes because of his own hard hearted rebellious unbelief.
Bible teaches the sovereignty of God at every point and the responsibility of man at every point.
Philippians 1:21 (NET)
1:21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
Galatians 2:20 (NET)
2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Anything wrong it’s me, anything right it’s Him.
Paradox of Salvation
Sustain your salvation – persevere
Kept by His power till the end.
Why are you a Christian? Because of the Holy Spirit and because of your decision.
Believer is responsible to obey and submit and to love and honor God and when we do that the Holy Spirit moves in us and through us, all for the glory of God.
2 Samuel 11:1–5 (NET) David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba
11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army. They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. 11:3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) Then she returned to her home. 11:5 The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”
What did David do wrong?
Our responsibility as believers is to discipline ourselves, beat our bodies into submission to Christ, be obedient, honor God, love God, to serve Him, obey Him, to war against the flesh, to walk in the Spirit, and give all the glory to God for every good thing that happens in our lives.
Philippians 1:21 (NET), Galatians 2:20 (NET)
Gospel is to die to yourself to gain eternal life.
How do we crucify our flesh?
Prayer and fasting: fixate on the source of life.
Practice Watchfulness: Guarding our minds…
Surrender to Jesus: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Posted in David Sermon Series
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