Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter
11. And as I look at these scriptures
through the 11th chapter and then through the first 25 verses
of 2 Samuel chapter 12, I pray the Lord's blessing Before we
begin, let's ask. Father, again this morning, we
come before you and we realize that, Lord, it is by your grace,
mercy, compassion that we're here. I pray that you bless the
services, bless the Word, to the comfort of your people, the
salvation of your people. I pray your kingdom come, the
church, the bride that you've everlastingly loved. Lord, honor
yourself today. I pray that what is preached
and heard might be for the blessing, the comfort of your saints, and
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen. In this morning's message, this
first message, I would like to deal with David's rebellion against God. And as
we read these blessed scriptures, 2 Samuel 11, 2 Samuel 12. I want us to be mindful of the
fact that David is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
a man after God's own heart. This is a believer. And as we set forth in the reading
of these scriptures, let us be mindful But for the grace of
God, there go we. May the Lord bless these words
of Holy Scripture to the honor of our precious Savior and for
our comfort. 2 Samuel 11, verses 1 to 5, And
it came to pass, after the year was expired, Joab and his servants with him,
and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged
Rabbah. But David perished still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eventide
that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof
of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing
herself. The woman was very beautiful
to look upon. And David sent and inquired after
the woman, and one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter
of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? David sent messengers
and took her. She came in unto him, and he
laid with her, and she was purified from her uncleanness, and she
returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and
sent unto David, and said, I am with child." The Holy Spirit sets forth in
this scripture concerning this man, a man after God's own heart,
something that is painfully We can but feel the distress
of his actions. And we do ask ourselves, but for the grace of God, would
I do that? We can't soften what God the
Holy Spirit has written. And we dare not justify David's
actions. The woman that David lusted after
was the wife of a trusted friend, a soldier. And David, in sinning
against God, injured his friend in the tenderest
point. As we see the transgression of
men, even the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, we bow to
our Lord and we agree with Job under the inspiration of God's
Spirit in Job 7, 17. What is man that thou shouldest
magnify, and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon Psalm 84, what is man that thou
art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? 2 Samuel 11, verses 6-9, David
sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. Joab sent Uriah to David, and
when Uriah was coming to him, David demanded of him how Joab
did. how the people did, how the war
prospered. And David said to Uriah, go down
to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the
king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of
the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went
not down to his house. I want you to notice the progress
of rebellion. David called Uriah home. He wasn't interested in how the
battle was going. How's Joab doing? How are the
people doing? How's it going? That wasn't what
he was interested in. He thought by Uriah coming home,
going home to be with his wife, everybody would think he knows
that Bathsheba is the child. If Uriah comes home, stays with
his wife, all of this will be swept under the carpet. Nobody
will know. But Uriah didn't go. And therefore, Almighty God was
going to expose David. 2 Samuel 10-13. And when they had told David,
saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said to Uriah,
Camest thou not from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down
unto thine house, and Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel,
and Judah abide in tents, and my lord Joab, and the servants
of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go
into mine house, and eat, and drink, and to lie with my wife? As thou littest, and as thy soul
lit, I will not do this thing. And David said to Uriah, tarry
here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah
abode in Jerusalem that day and the morning. In the very midst
of David's continued attempts to cover himself, God overrode him. I said, well, I just It appears as though to me that
Uriah was so honorable. He was. He was. Here he is, David saying, go,
you be with your wife. And he said, Mark. History. They're out there in the mud,
battling and fighting. And I'm telling you, you've got
to say that. What respect. There were his
men out there dying. I'm not going to do this. The
Holy Spirit allows nothing to be kept back to interfere with
David's exposure. You think, you know, if a man had written
this, he would say, you know, we're going to have to clean
this up. We can't put everything in here. Here the Spirit of God sets forth
in absolute clarity exactly what is within every believer. An old man. When David, I mean
when Paul, says there is in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells
no good thing. Boy, there's a sense in which
we can kind of just read over that, you know, kind of against
the air. And then when we read it and see exactly, but for the
sustaining grace of God. This is every one of us. This
is every believer, but for God's grace. But for the hand of restraint
of Almighty God, Everything that could give the most obvious representation
of man's depravity and shame is set forth. Preachers are standing up and
they're saying, there's a little good in every man. That's a lie. That's a lie. In Psalm 14 2, the Lord looked
down to see if there were any. that did seek, there was none. None. Man is a desperately evil creature. Verses 14-17, it came to pass
on the morrow that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it
by the hand of Uriah. I read that again this morning
and I thought, here's Uriah carrying the letter. from David, going
to give it to Joab. Joab, I would say, would probably
be like the general. Here, this is from the king,
do you have it? And he wrote in the letter saying, Set ye
Uriah in the forefront of the haunted family, and retire ye
from him, that he may be smitten and die. And it came to pass,
when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a
place where he knew that valiant men were. The men of the city
went out and fought with Joab, and there fell some of the people
of the service of David and Uriah. The Hittite died also. Dr. Sletter, Uriah is to be put where
the valiant men are. Those that don't back down, those
that will take the fight all the way to the end if necessary.
Put them in the forefront of it. Where is the depth of man's depravity
except the Lord restraining? David was trying to conceal the
sin of adultery. And when he couldn't get Uriah
the Hittite to come in and go and be with his wife, he said, I'll just have him killed. Now that's what I'll do. David did not care how many men
were affected. Man by nature, it doesn't matter
who gets hurt, it's all about me. I'm going to cover this thing. I'm going to hide this thing.
Here we see, except for the grace of God, here we see the absolute
wickedness of man. Oh, it is only by the backdrop
of what we are by nature that the grace of God is made to be gloriously precious. In regeneration, a new nature
is imparted that sinneth not. There's a new nature in a believer.
But I want you to know one thing afresh. Know it again. Nothing
is changed in that old nature. Nothing is changed in that old
man. which is spirit is spirit, and
the flesh and spirit strives against each other. That, in
regeneration, is a new nature imparted. Man, woman is given
something that they did not have before. This, and by the good
pleasure and the wisdom of God's Spirit, God's Spirit to cause
these words to be written, to set forth to God's people what
we are by nature. This is what we are. And as I
stand here and read these words, I can't look at this man right
here and say, I can't believe this man would do this. No, I
tell you what I see. But for the grace of God, that's
exactly what I do. But for God's grace, I absolutely
will. Verses 18-21, Then Joab sent
and told David all the things concerning the war, and charged
the messenger, saying, Will thou hast made an end of telling the
matters of the war unto the king? And if so be that the king's
wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approachest thou
so nigh unto the city, when thou didst bind it? Knew you not that
they would shoot from the wall? Who smote Abimelech, the son
of Jerubbosheth? Did not a woman cast a piece
of millstone upon him from the wall that he died in the teabags? Why wait ye now the wall? Then
say thou, thy servant, Uriah the Hittite is dead." Joab told
the messenger, he said, and tell the king what's happened. There's
no record that Joab knew what was going on. Joab's a soldier. He takes orders. The king told
him, put your rifle here today and heed of the battle, where
the valiant men are, and he died. I read that and I thought, Joab
wasn't going I'd write the king back and say, now you need to
explain to me why. He did exactly what he was told.
He knew from the letter obviously that the king was displeased
or something, something was wrong. He did exactly what the king
told him to do. Uriah died and that man came
back. David told him, he said, go and
you tell the king what happened. And if the king gets mad, if
he starts to be angry, if he starts to say, why? Why did you
go so close? Why were you so close to the
wall? Don't you know they shoot? How
about the woman that threw that piece of a millstone over him
and killed him? Why? He said, if the king's wrath
rises, he's angry, then you say, you're right, but he'll touch
dead. It's bad enough that men rebel
against God, but how horrible the effects of his depravity
upon others. Verses 22 to 25. So the messenger
went and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for. And the messenger said unto David,
Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into
the field. upon them even unto the entering
of the gate, and the shooters shot from off the wall upon the
servants, and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant
Uriah the Hittite is dead also.' Then David said unto the messenger,
Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease
thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another. more
strong against the city and overthrow it, and encourage thou him. How, someone might ask, how can
somebody be so cold, so insensitive? Came back and told David what
had happened, and he hears of the death of his soldiers and
friends, The only thing that he thinks, now when he heard
that Uriah the Hittite was dead, it's like he's so glad. Basically what he said right
here, he said, well you know, war is war. I mean, things happen. Give Joab my best. You read,
that's exactly what he said. When he heard that Uriah was
dead, no remorse, no feeling, insensitive. Fourth, is this
the nature of nature? Yes, sir. Verse 26 and 27, when the wife
of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned
for her husband. And when the morning was past,
David sent Esther to his house. She became his wife and married
his son. But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord. How sad. Uriah had come home. She never said anything
about it. She was already with child. Didn't
ask him for pardon. Now the official time is over.
Speedy marriage, obviously. She being the child, people know
it, that Uriah didn't go down with her. This is going to be
a scandalous thing in the eyes of the people. The heart of the
matter was summed up by the last words of the chapter. But the
thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Every man was born
in Adam. This is man by nature. I want you to look at Isaiah 1. Isaiah chapter 1, I just want
to read it. Two verses. Verse 5 and 6, I'm
sorry. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart is faint. From the sole of the foot, even
into the head, there's no sound ascending but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They've not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with all men. This first chapter,
chapter 11, this exposes what men are by nature. We talk about
the depravity of man. This is the way that man, born
in Adam, is. Having seen, therefore, David's
sin in chapter 11, Let's just look at the mercy, 25 verses,
and I'll just do them just like I did chapter 11. And consider
God's exposure of that sin. But when I say God's exposure
of that sin, my friend, we will behold in this chapter the indescribable
mercy of God. Mercy. Mercy is for those that
are helplessly enabled. 2 Samuel 12 verses 1-4, 2 Samuel
12 verses 1-4, And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And I read those words a few
minutes ago just for this, and in my heart I wanted to just
shout, Oh the grace of God. And God was in the bridge. that
God Almighty would have mercy and send unto a depraved, helpless,
evil sinner, that God would send His Word. And the Lord sent Nathan
unto David, and he came unto him. He said unto him, There
were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.
And the rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the
poor man had nothing. save one little ewe lamb, which
he had bought, nourished up, grew up together with him. With
his children he did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own
cup, and lay in his bosom, was unto him as a daughter. And there
came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of
his own flock, and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring
man, but that was come unto him but took the poor man's land
and dressed it for the man that was come to him." At least nine months has passed
since David sinned with Bashar. Because in just a few minutes
we're going to find out this baby's already been born. Nine
months. And God sends a prophet, God
sends a preacher, and with there being no mention whatsoever between
the last chapter and this chapter, there's no mention whatsoever
of David's remorse, his hurt, of his rebellion. Almost a year,
nine months for sure. It's gone. And God sends this
preacher. Man is utterly incapable of recovering
himself first from the death of being an unregenerate. He is incapable of calling himself
out of spiritual darkness. We'll all agree with that. But I'll tell you this, but for
the grace of God, man is incapable of recovering himself from rebellion,
even in a state of being regenerated. The Lord said, without me, you
can do nothing! Nothing. Absolutely. You remember, David is not an
unbeliever. This is a believer. Grace must
penetrate and give a sense of man's sin. Man will not do it
himself. And we think, we think, I tell
you, if I did something like that, I mean, I couldn't sleep,
I couldn't do this. You couldn't sleep or you wouldn't
do that by the grace of God. But for the grace of God, there
is no death to our rebellion. And there is no death to the
lack of calling upon the Lord and asking for forgiveness. If
God removes His hand of restraint from His people, there is no
end to what they would do. No end. After Nathan read that, verse
5 and 6, David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and
he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done
this thing shall surely die, and shall restore the land, the
land forefore, because he did this thing, and because he had
no pity I want you to look in your margin. If you've got a margin, if not,
I'll just read you what I said. When David said in verse 5, the
man that hath done this thing shall surely die, my margin says,
is worthy to die or is a son of death. David said a man that would do
that. That man is an unbeliever. He's
a son of death. Only an unbeliever would do something
like that. Only a rebel against God that
had never beheld anything of the grace of God, only an unbeliever
would do that. Verse 7, Nathan said to David,
boy how these words Can you only imagine what these words did? And Nathan said to David, Thou
art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I anointed thee king over Israel. I delivered thee out of the hand
of Saul. I gave thee thy master's house
and thy master's wives unto thy bosom, and gave thee the house
of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little,
I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore
hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his
sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with a sword, and taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain
him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword
shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised
me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against
thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before
thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor. He shall lie with
thy wives in the sight of this Son, for thou didst it secretly. But I will do this thing before
all Israel, and before the Son. And David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said unto David, The
Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Oh, the sting of God's conviction. When God's Word comes in power
to the objects of His mercy, my friend, no sinner. And as I said before, where the
Spirit of God was blatantly honest with what we are by nature. God's
preachers must set forth blatantly honest, and be honest with men
and women. This is what we are by nature. And the mercy of Almighty God,
this is where a believer, reading those words, You say, how did
He go? Nine months with no remorse,
no power. My friend, if we only do what
He redeemed us from being made sin. When He was on that cross,
He had made Him sin, and God Almighty The Father had given Christ. Christ was made to be what they
are. And David said, only an unbeliever
could act like that. And Nathan said, you're the man. Oh! I've sinned against God. And as soon as David said, I
have sinned against God. Nathan the prophet said, the
Lord has put away your sin. You shall not die eternally. I'm physically dying. No sooner
did David confess what he was before God, and God Almighty
pardoned him. Oh, the efficacy! of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, I'll pass over you. Lord, you mean even somebody
like this? My friend, that's all of us.
What do you mean somebody like this? That is us. We're the problem. We're the
rebels. The Scripture says, How be it? Because by this deed thou hast
given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The
child also that was born unto thee shall surely die." Oh, how thankful we are for pardoning
grace, merciful grace. But in the midst how thankful we are of all that
the blood covers. But you mark this down. A believer in the very rejoicing
of his heart, lifts his heart in praise unto God and thankfulness
unto God for God's grace. He grieves over what he is. Nathan
the prophet told him, he said, you caused the enemies of the
Lord, outside and inside, the tares within the body and those
that did not, you caused them to blaspheme. The adversaries
of Christ, to speak reproachfully concerning him, or by the conviction
and grace of God's Spirit, a believer would rather die than dishonor
the Lord. I think about that, Brother Scott,
that thing when he would say, there's no more tears, no more.
One of the things I remember that he wrote on there is he
said there would be no more disrespect of God, no more dishonoring Him. This is a believer right here.
Here's a believer. In myself, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. But to hear the precious words,
God has forgiven your sin. Oh, the preciousness of hearing
that word forgiven. Lord, is it that you have forgiven
me? Lord, is it that you have looked
upon me in your precious Son, Lord have mercy on this sinner. Verse 15 to verse 23, and Nathan
departed unto his house, and the Lord struck the child, that
Uriah's wife, barren to death, and it was very sick. And I've heard people say, sickness
is never of the Lord. Sickness is always of the devil. And the Lord struck the child,
that Uriah's wife, barren to death, and he was very sick.
And David therefore besought God for the child. And David
fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth. And the
elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from
the earth. But he would not, neither did
he eat bread with him. And it came to pass on the seventh
day that the child died. And the servants of David feared
to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, Behold,
while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would
not hearken to our voice. How would he then vex himself
if we tell him that the child was dead? But David saw his servants
whispered. And David perceived that the
child was dead. Therefore David said unto his
servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He's dead. And
David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself,
and changed his appearance, and came into the house of the Lord,
and worshipped. Then he came to his own house,
and when he required them, they set bread before him, and he
did eat, and said his servants unto him, What thing is this
that thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep for
the child while it was alive, but when the child was dead,
thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, While the child
was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who can tell whether
God will be gracious to man that the child may live? But now he's
dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can
I bring him back? I shall go to him, but he shall
not return unto me. The prophet did the very thing
that he could, that he was commanded. He delivered God's message, and
he left David with the Lord. What else can a preacher do? I hear this message, and I preach,
and I declare. When we preach the gospel, the
good news, the thing that the Spirit of God has been pleased
to manifest is good news, is good news. when the Spirit of
God has revealed the bad news. What we are by nature. And then
cause a man or a woman to see what they are. And to rejoice
in the indescribable grace of Almighty God. That preacher did
what God sent him to do. I'm a voice. A voice. If I failed to preach the scriptures,
exactly the way God sets them forth. Is that faithfulness? No. These are the words of God,
precious words of God. That baby's going to die. And
the scripture sets forth that David prayed and fasted because this child will be here?
No. How long before God takes this baby? The baby is going
to die. I know this. But how long? How
long? Who can tell whether God will
be gracious to me that the child may live? I know this. We're going to die. I know that. But who can tell
whether God might be merciful to your children, my children,
my grandchildren, as I've said before, to your wife, to your
husband, your mama, your daddy, who can tell? Who can tell? David,
by God's grace and mercy, was made to see what he is by nature.
God sent a prophet. God told him this is what's going
to happen. And David believed it. And David sought the Lord. And asked God to have mercy.
Who could tell? My friends, and Marvin, listen. Ask. Ask. Who can tell? Maybe God will
save yours. Maybe God will have mercy. God
might be pleased to call yours out of darkness. Maybe the Lord will save one
of mine. Who can tell? Verse 24-25, David comforted
Bathsheba, his wife, and went into her and lay with her, and
she bare a son. And he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him. And he
sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name
Jedidiah because of the Lord. How mysterious and unsearchable
are the ways of God. Through this vile instance of
rebellion, God was pleased to show mercy. David and Bathsheba were wrong. No amount of justification would
be found for their sin. But God, who is rich in mercy. God shows mercy and compassion
to whomsoever he will. They had a boy, David and Bathsheba
did. God had mercifully taken that
first child. God took that child in mercy
and grace. David Bathsheba would not have
to go through their life seeing that child, remembering God took
that baby. David's truth of truth set forth
by David, he can't come back to me, I go to him. I believe according to scriptures
that in the eternal covenant of God's grace, somebody say
explain that to me, I can't explain the eternal covenant of God's
grace, but based upon that word right there, I believe that God
Almighty has mercy on these infants. Take David and Bathsheba, another
son of Solomon. I think about Solomon, one of
the wisest men, God bless that man. You think, how, how, how
can these things be? He said, I don't know. Lord, is it so that you might
show mercy to me? Lord, can you show mercy to this
sinner? The prophet came and called his
name Jedidiah. Jedidiah was not a name that
was contrary of the name Solomon. But it was a name that says,
from love to the Lord. May God bless these words. And
behold, with the backdrop of man's sin and profession, and
the death somewhat, as we look, that in spite of what we are
by nature, God so loved the order of man. that he purposed. He was not going to let this
order be obliterated. God's sin is only begotten sin.
The man in him, through him, by him, might have lied. David's rebellion, and God's
mercy to show rebellion. And Lord willing, in the next
message, I'm going to preach out of Psalm 51, David's confession. in the heart of a regenerated,
revived, renewed sinner against God, saved by the grace of God. May God bless these words to
our heart and to Christ's.