Open your Bibles please to 2
Samuel chapter 12. This passage will be somewhat
familiar to most of you here. And I'm going to begin reading
chapter 12 and verse 1. I want you to read it with me.
Let us pay close attention. And may it become in us the engrafted
word, the living word in our hearts. You are familiar with
the sin of David. where he wanted Bathsheba for
his own. He sent her husband out to the
front lines of the battle and had the rest of the troops withdraw
in the heat of the battle and left him out there on his own
to be slaughtered. And he took his wife to be his
wife. Now, here is what happened sometime
later. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David, And it came unto him, and said unto him, There were
two men in one city, the one was rich and the other was 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. They grew up together with him
and with his children. It did eat of his own meat and
drank of his own cup, lay in his bosom, and was unto him as
a daughter. And there came a traveler, there
came a traveler unto the rich man. And he spared
to take of his own flock, of his own herd, to dress for the
traveler or the wayfarer that was coming to him. But he took
the poor man's lamb and he dressed it For the man that was come
to him, he took of another man's flock, the only lamb that he
had, and spared all of his own. David's anger was greatly kindled. Boy, he heard this story, it
upset him grievously. His anger was greatly kindled
against the man. He said to Nathan, as the Lord
liveth, The man that hath done this shall surely die. He shall restore the lamb fourfold,
because he did this thing and because he had no pity." And
Nathan, the prophet of God, pointed his finger to David, no doubt. And he said, David, you're that
man. Thou art the man. Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, I appointed thee king over Israel. I delivered
thee out of the hand of Saul. I gave thee thy master's house,
thy master's wives into thy bosom. Gave thee the house of Israel
and of Judah. And if that had been too little,
I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Just
kept on giving and giving and giving. Wherefore, I did all
this for you. I took you from a little shepherd
boy, made you king of Israel, gave you victory after victory,
set you on the throne of Israel and of Judah. Over all Israel
he reigned. Wherefore, since I did all this
for you, wherefore, how in the world, why in the world have
you despised the commandment of the Lord to do this evil in
his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, slain
him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now listen to this carefully.
Some people want to talk about heaven and live like hell. God's people, when they sin,
all that he loves he chastens. If God had let him go, done nothing
about it, said nothing about it, sent no prophet, then I would
assume, and rightly so, that he never belonged to the Lord.
If you belong to God, He's going to talk to you. When you mess
up, He's going to talk to you. He's going to visit you. He's
going to send His prophet. He's going to send His Word.
And you can mark that down. I've seen it over and over again.
Have you seen it in the days of Noah? You've seen it in the
days of David. Look what God did to this man.
Lived with it the rest of his life in grievous pain. Tore his
family all to pieces. Tore his country all to pieces. Now therefore the sword shall... What does it say? What's that
next word? It says never. Never! The sword shall never depart
from your house, because you despise me, taken to wife of
the Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I will raise up evil against thee out of your own house, and
I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto
thy neighbor. He shall lie with thy wives, right out in the open, not try
to hide it, not try to cover it up. He said, you did this
thing in secret, what you did, but I'll do this thing before
all Israel and before the Son. And it happened. And he suffered
the rest of his days. I've heard men, actually heard
men talk, use David as an excuse for sin. But you look what happened
to David. And it happened to David because
he belonged to God. If he hadn't have belonged to God, God just
let him go. I remember my little daughter,
sweet thing, my favorite daughter, the only one. And one day she
came to me and she wanted to go with somebody someplace, and
I'd kindly checked it out because I wanted to know where they went
and who they went with, always. And I said, I don't think you
ought to go there. Don't want you to go there. And
she said, well, Dad, all my friends are going. I said, I can't help
what your friends do. But you're the one I love. I
don't want you to be in trouble. I want you to go where you ought
not to go. And it's my responsibility. If I didn't love you, I wouldn't
care where you went, who you went with, or whether you ever
came back or not. But I do love you. You're not going. God take
everyone He loveth, He chasteneth. Every son. Every single one. And if they be without chastisement,
the Bible said you're just a bastard. You're not really a son at all.
Just hanging on to the name of God and you don't know Him. Those
who live like hell, that's where they're going. God lets them
get by with it, lets them go, that's where they're going. That's
where they're going. He'll even send them strong delusions
to help them along the way. Need to take heed to the Word
of God. Take heed to the Word of God.
Now, there's some good news here. David said in another place,
Lord, you told me everything that I should do. You told me
what I should be, a light, never cloudy, a light to Israel. And
he said, boy, I feel miserably. But thou hast made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, ensured. That's
all my desire and my salvation." Look what happens here. He sinned
against the Lord. He deserved to die according
to the law of God. And this is what happened. This
thing thou did secretly, I'll do it. I'll do this thing before
all Israel, before the Son. In verse 13, David said unto
Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord.
Comparatively speaking, very few people in religion understand
what David said here. They talk about sin. They don't
know what it is. David was guilty before God. Guilty! David said to Nathan,
I've sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, when
we understand what it is to stand before God and realize our sins
before God, we'll hear a message like this. God will send us a
preacher. David, the Lord hath put away
thy sin. You're not going to die. The
Lord put away your sin. Now, the only man who can understand
this is David, who stood before God in all that guilt. And you
and I, if we know our sins before God. guilty, self-condemned,
and to hear those words, the Lord hath put away your sin. You're not going to die. There
was a time in my life when I would have valued that more than anything
in this world. To hear those words, I would
have loved to hear those words, the Lord hath put away your sin.
And it's still the most, I hope, the most precious thing to my
soul, that message, the Lord hath put away your sins. The
Lord hath put away your sins. Now, and have that applied to our
hearts by the Holy Ghost. What a wonderful thing. Look
at it once more. Standing before God, God's prophet,
the word has come. You're guilty. You ought to die. You dead dog sinner, you ought
to die. And that's what the law says.
But David, the Lord has put away your sin.
You aren't going to die. David could have said, well,
I'll repent, and I'll do penance, and I'll do this, and I'll do
that. That won't put away your sin. That won't put away your
guilt. The Lord, that's who you sinned
against, the Lord that put away your sin. And you're not going
to die. What a wonderful message to David. What a wonderful message to David. God killed Bathsheba, David and
Bathsheba's child. But David didn't die. David continued
to rule Israel. All in the mercies and the grace
of our great God. Now this old sinner standing
before you, I don't have much interest in healing explosions
and tongues and all that stuff. I just don't care about it. I
mean to be frank and truthful and sincere. I don't care about
it. Not interested in it. What I'm interested in, you know
a man can be healed of cancer. If such a thing happened, God
miraculously healed him by the laying on of hands and shoving
him down in the floor or whatever. If he was healed of cancer, he's
still going to die. If he doesn't hear, God put away
your sins. What good is it if he is healed
from cancer and still dies in his sins? Or palsy or any other
disease? I want to hear this one time.
And by the grace of God, I've heard it. I've taken it to heart. I live on it. God hath put away
your sins. That's the greatest thing that
anybody could ever hear. To stand before God in guilt,
self-condemned, know you ought to be in hell, and to hear the
message come, the Lord has put away your sin. You're not going
to die. You're not going to die. You're not going to die. I've heard the news. I've taken
it to heart. I believe it. I believe God put
away my sin. Now listen to this and think
about it in light of modern day religion. What did it say? Did it say, God put away your
sin or tried to put away your sin? God put away your sins. And if God put away my sin, I'm
not going to die. If God put away your sin, you
aren't going to die. We die because of sin. But if
our sin is put away, we're not going to die. That's the glorious
gospel of God. We're not going to die. God put
away our sin. The best news that any sinner
ever heard, the Lord Jesus Christ has put away my sin. Oh, what
good news to a self-condemned, guilty sinner to hear that news
and be able to take it to heart, live on it, rest in it, the Lord. Put away your sins. The Lord
put away your sins. Now, I want you to turn with
me. How did God put away our sins? He didn't just arbitrarily
say this. He had a reason that He could
say it. He had a reason that He could
be a just God and still a Savior. A Savior and still a just God. He had a way. He means whereby
He could put away our sin. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9, and
we'll finish our message in this little book. Hebrews chapter
9. Look what it says. God can by no means clear the
guilty. How in the world can we live?
Is there no hope? If a man's guilty, God cannot
clear him. God cannot forgive him. God will
not forgive him. His sin must be met. His sin
must be paid for. His sin must be put away, or
God cannot by any means clear the guilty. Now, that's in Exodus
34, verse 7, I believe. God can by no means clear the
guilty. Now, how does God put away our
sins? Hebrews chapter 9, look with
that verse 23. Hebrews 9, 23. Let's begin right
here. This is a book of contrasts and
comparisons, contrasting and comparing the old economy with
the new. And all the way through this
book, one of the most interesting, one of the most beneficial books
in all the Word of God. You see what the Old Testament
worship was all about. All the Old Testament law, what
it was all about. It was a shadow of good things
to come. Now, look at verse 23. It was
therefore necessary that the patterns of things in
the heavens, that's what the Old Testament form of worship
was. Tabernacle, temple, priesthood, sacrifice, they were patterns,
patterns, types, shadows of good things to come. That these things
should be purified with these, with the blood of animals, so
forth. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. All those animal sacrifices never
put away a single sin, not a one. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, no sir, which are the figures
of the true, but he entered into heaven itself now to appear in
the presence of God for us. And he sits there today, the
right hand of the Father, sitting on the throne of all power and
authority, dominion, all glory and all grace for us. He's ruling this world for us. Now listen to me. Listen to it
now. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as a high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others. But listen, heavenly things had
to be purified with a better sacrifice, better blood. For
men, for then must he often have suffered since the foundation
of the world. But now, once in the end of the world, hath he
appeared put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. I heard David say it this morning,
Matthew 1.21. She's going to have a son. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people. From there it says, He never
comes to try to do anything. He came to accomplish something.
And you can bet He accomplished. His Father said in Isaiah 42,
He shall not fail. He'll not even be discouraged
along the way. He shall accomplish that whereunto
He was sent. Just like the Word of God always
accomplishes that whereunto it is sent by the Holy Father. Now, And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and he died. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He's come, He's
visited this planet, He's put away our sins, the sins of His
people, and He's coming again to get those people and take
them home. And in the presence between the
first and the second, He sits at the right hand of God for
us. What's Christ doing today ruling
this world? What's it all about? For us,
salvation of His people. He is bringing many sons unto
glory. Every new day means that he's
going to save someone else. Going to save someone else. Now,
I want to make a few points this morning, and I hope God will
write it on your heart. This sacrifice of Christ, priesthood
of Christ, contrary to the Levitical order, it was sufficient. It was effectual, and it is forever. This man, by one offering, hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. And their sins and
iniquities never be remembered against them, because they're
put away. They're purged. They're gone.
They're gone. This man, verse 26, this man,
once in the end of the world, hath he appeared in the consummation
of the ages, the ages which prepared the way and made ready for His
glorious appearance. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem us from the curse of the law. When the fullness
of time was come, He came, separating the time past from these last
days in which you and I live." Separating those two periods
of time. Turning the types. This is so
important. This is what Hebrews is all about.
Turning the types and shadows into substance and reality in
Christ. They're all fulfilled in Christ.
There's no more need for them. They've served their purpose.
They're fading away. They're gone! The writer of the
Hebrews said. Verse 26, it said, Now, once
in the end of the world, consummation of the ages, He appeared. He
appeared. Who appeared? Almighty God in
human flesh. God put away our sin, Almighty
God in human flesh. Listen, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, back to glory. God visited this planet in human
flesh. Never took on Him the seed of
angels, but of Abraham. Became one of them. The Bible
says in Hebrews, to it behooved Him. It became Him in all things
to be made like us, except He had no sin, or He couldn't have
been a sin offering. But turning the types and shadows
into substance and reality in the Lord Jesus Christ, He appeared. Who appeared? God Almighty. in
human flesh, God Almighty in human flesh, the Creator of this
world in human flesh. There stands One among you and
you don't know Him, but He made this world. I'm not fit to tie
His shoes. He made this world. He was before me, before me. He is from eternity. He inhabits
eternity. Verse 26 again. Once in the consummation of the
ages hath He appeared, God appeared in human flesh to put away our
sins by the sacrifice of Himself. Better blood than those bulls
and goats and lambs and rams and all that. But this priest
took our sins upon Himself when He was made to be sin for us.
when he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And there
died the just for the unjust under the wrath of God." The
just wrath of God, because he had our sins on him. Made to
be seen. This is what Daniel said that
he did. He finished the transgression. He made an end of sins. He made reconciliation for iniquity. And He brought in everlasting
righteousness. That's what He did. And He knew
that. And when He cried it out in one
little word there on the cross, Tellio! Tellio! It's finished! The work the Father sent me to
do. I redeem your people unto you
by my own blood." It's finished. God put away our sins. The Lord
Jesus Christ, in the fullness of time, He put away our sins. For those for whom He died, now
listen to me, those for whom He died, He put away their sins.
He purged their sins. He utterly destroyed and annihilated
their sins. They're gone. Put away. No more. They're gone. The believer... Now listen to
me, believers. If you're a true believer, you
know your sin, somewhat. Not as God knows it, but you
know it. Because God turned on the light. You know your guilt. You know what you deserve. But
listen to this. You have to live with it every
day. David said, my sin's always before me. Always before me. Can't forget what I did. And
he was always under the chastisement of God to the very end of his
days. But to those for whom He died,
He put away their sins, and they're gone. They're purged. Never to
be remembered against us anymore. You can't forget them. That's
good. But God can't remember them.
If you could forget your sin, you could forget Christ, but
you can't. In your sins, in your sinfulness,
you continue to look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. The believer is legally and judicially,
from the highest court of heaven, from the mouth of God, justified,
just as if he had never seen it. In the eyes of God, satisfying the law of God, satisfying
the justice of God. Justified. Don't you hear what
God said? Who shall I anything to the charge
of my lot? Christ died for them. They're justified. God that justified
them. I justified them. God said, who
are you to condemn them? Who can lay anything to their
charge? Christ appeared once in the consummation
of the ages and put away their sins. They don't have any sins. Nothing to be charged against
them. Nothing to be remembered against them. That's the salvation
the Gospel provides. That's the salvation the Gospel
declares. He put away our sins. He put
away our sins. They're gone. Never to be remembered
against us again. You know what's so sad? That
so many people in this world There's less than 40 here this
morning came to hear the good news. So many people in this
world, they don't care about it. Or they like religion and
they'll go when they get an opportunity and when they don't have too
many other pressing needs and so forth and so on. But preaching the gospel nowadays
is like announcing that you have a cure for cancer. We found a
cure for cancer! And most of the world said, well,
I'm glad, but so what? I don't have it. I don't have
it. Boy, if you had it, you'd be
glad to hear those words. If you had it, you'd be glad
to hear those words. If you knew the sin and the guilt
that David did, you'd be glad to hear, the Lord has put away
your sin. You're not gonna die. But only
those, only those who bear the guilt, who know the guilt, who
know something about sin, they'll be happy, they'll be glad. Oh,
aren't you glad to hear those words? Two statements, two statements. David, now let me say this first. David, you're as guilty as hell. But David, God put away your sins. Your
guilt is gone. You're not gonna die. What a
wonderful message. What a wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful message. Some have cancer, but they don't
know it yet. Some are so sinful, and all of
us are, but some don't know it yet. The ones that God saves,
they'll find it out. They'll be taught of God. They'll
learn of Him. They'll be drawn to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why the Word of God is
so important. You can't get to God apart from
this Word. The truth of God. The truth of God. The truth of
God. The Holy Spirit convinces the
world of sin, His people. On Pentecost, about 3,000 souls
were convinced of their awful sin of crucifying the Lord of
Glory. And when they learned that God
had put away their sins, they were so happy. A few days later,
4,000 more found out their guilt, learned that God had put away
their sins. And they didn't want to ever
leave Jerusalem. They wanted to just stay there forever and
talk about it until the Lord came back. And they sold all
that they had and put it in the common pool, and we're just off
to hell. We had such guilt, but the Lord
put away our sins. Don't talk about this name in
Jerusalem anymore! And they filled Jerusalem with
His name. He put away our sins. What a message to declare. What
a message to believe. You know, you think about it.
Think about old Belshazzar. The prophet came to him and said,
you saw all that God did to your father Nebuchadnezzar. How God
brought him down with the animals and he lived out in the fields
with the animals. His fingernails grew like claws
and he ate grass like a wild ass. You saw all that. And you know why God did it.
And yet you have done this thing. Sinned against a God in whose
hand your breath is. Never gave God the glory. And his knees shook together. And his knees shook together
when he saw the handwriting on the wall before he knew the seriousness
of it all. His knees shook together. Suppose
Daniel had told him that night, the Lord has put away your sins.
You're not going to die. But Daniel didn't tell him that.
Daniel said, this night, you're going to die, boy. You're going
to die. No good news for him. You're
going to die. Christ the God-man lived and
died for sinners as their representative, as their
substitute, as their surety. Every charge that God had against
them, He bore it. Everything that God required
of them, He performed it for them. Substitute. Servitude. Representing us before
God. Representing us before God. He lived to make us righteous.
That's the righteousness that I have before God, His life. And He died to set us free. The
freedom I have is in Christ because He died for my sin. That's the
gospel. Christ the God-man lived and
died for sinners. He died to set them free. And I ask you this morning, you're
a sinner. I mean in the biblical sense, are you a sinner? Do you
know your guilt and your condemnation? Do you condemn yourself? Do you
see yourself as God sees you? God describes us in this book.
Some of those statements about us are not very pleasant. Do
you see it? Do you believe it? Do you take
God's side against yourself? Do you see your sin? Do you understand what I've said
to you this morning? That God came in human flesh
to put away our sin. Mainly, when you heard it, did
you believe it? Did you believe it? Oh, that's
the only hope I have, that He put away my sin. When He died
on that cross, He came to save His people from their sins when
He came into this world. And He shall do it. He saves
them from the penalty of sin. And He saves His people from
the dominion of sin. And He'll one day save them from
the very presence of sin. They'll be in glory with Christ
without sin in a body fashion like unto His glorious body,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. He shall thoroughly
save His people from their sins. Do you need salvation? I've showed
you where it is to the best of my ability. It's in Christ. He
put away our sins. He purged our sins. If you cannot believe. Verse 26, in the consummation
of the ages, He appeared to put away our sins. 24, He now appears right now, right
now, in the presence of God for us. He was dead, but He's alive
forevermore and ever lives to make intercession for His people. He put away our sin. And then
in verse 28, He's coming again. Three appearances here. He appeared
to put away our sins. He appears in the presence of
God to make intercession for us, to represent us before God,
our advocate with the Father. And verse 28, He's going to appear
again. One day He shall appear again. The apostles saw Him as His feet. He blessed them. And his feet
lifted from the earth and he ascended up through the clouds
out of their sight. And they stood there gazing in
wonder and amazement. And I would have too. The angels
appeared to him and said, you men of Galilee, why stand you
here gazing up into the heavens? This same Jesus shall come again. As you saw Him go away, He'll
so come again. Come with the clouds. Come with
the clouds. Appear to all the world. The consummation of the ages,
when He comes again, the mystery of God, the gospel, shall be
finished. And when He comes again, time
shall be no more. Eternity. Eternity. Eternity. And you know, I'm kind of like
that nobleman's son. He went to Christ and said, my
son's sick. He's sick unto death. and you
need to come and heal him." Christ said, you wouldn't believe me
unless I did a miracle or some kind of sign or wonders. He said,
he's dying. My boy is dying. And Christ granted
his request. He believed God. Christ said,
go home. Your son's alive. He's all right.
This old nobleman, this nobleman, I've thought about this, and
that's where we're supposed to live." He turned around and walked
toward home, knowing that when he got there, his son would be
alive, everything would be all right. He believed God. What assurance did he have that
his son would be all right? He believed God. That's all he
had. That's all I've got. I can't find any assurance by
looking in here, I'll tell you that. But I do have some looking at
him who appears this moment in the presence of God for me, Betty,
and all of you. God bless these words to our
hearts. God give us grace and pretty soon glory. Okay, Dick.