May the Lord bless us now as
we turn to his word together and we'll turn to the chapter
that we read in the second book of Samuel and we'll turn to chapter
12 and read verse 13 the second book of Samuel chapter
12 and reading verse 13 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. It is a wonderful and glorious
truth to know that the Lord saves from the depths of sin. The sinners who are so far off
the sinners who have fallen so far, the Lord saves from those
deaths. And we have that really illustrated
to us in the well-known parable of the prodigal son, where we
read of one who went far, far off from his father's house,
far off into the ways of sin, into the world, and enjoyed himself
with righteous living. spent all that he had in his
enjoyment of sin. He was far away from the blessings,
far away from his father. And yet when he came to himself,
began to be in want and went back, up that long road, back
to the father, back to his home, He was received with love, with
compassion, as his father ran out to him and his father put
his arms around him, fell on his neck and kissed him, welcomed
him back into his house, welcomed him as a son who had been lost
and now was found. In that parable we read and consider
the greatness of God's mercy and forgiveness. that he could
save, that he could forgive, that he could receive sinners
who are so far off, so far in the world, so far in their sin,
and spend all that they have in enjoyment of the flesh. This
shows the mercy of God in converting, in saving, in forgiving the sinner. But it is a sad and yet very
true fact Though the Lord's people have received such mercy and
blessing, they can and are at times left to backslide into
serious sin. The Lord's people are not always
in a place of spiritual health. They are not always walking closely
or as closely to the Lord as they should and as they were.
God's people are not always walking in peace, in love and in blessing
as they have been and as they would be. The Lord's people can
be left to themselves to backslide to great depths. We only need
to look at the scriptures to see this to be absolutely true. You may say, could a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, could a disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ be left to openly deny with oaths and curses that they
ever have experienced his blessing, that they ever even knew him?
Could a believer forgiven and loved by God himself be left
to deny that they had anything to do with the Lord Jesus? Well,
look at Peter. There's an example of how far
a Lord's people can fall. How far they can go to be left
to deny the Saviour who they love. and be left to swear with
oaths and curses that they never even knew the Saviour who has
forgiven and saved them. How far a child of God can backslide? So can a believer, is it possible
that a Christian could be left to run away from God's word,
to run away from his command, and to go in an utterly opposite
direction in a way that he wants to go? Could a believer who knows
and says he believes and loves the word of God and wants to
walk in fellowship with the Lord, could he be left to ignore it
and run away? Well, look at Jonah, called to
be a prophet, called to preach, told where to go, a believer
in the word, one who has experienced the Lord's blessing and yet he
was left to run. He was left to go in the opposite
direction. He was left to, as it were, shut his ears to the
word, the command of the Lord and want to go his own way. Can
a believer fall that far? Yes they can. And here we have,
can a believer, is it possible that a Christian who has enjoyed
God's blessing, His mercy and forgiveness, is it possible that
a believer who wrote such beautiful poetry about the Lord as his
God and his shepherd could be left to fall into temptation,
adultery and murder. Is that possible? Yes, it is. Because here we read of one.
Here we read of one close to the Lord's heart. One who had
enjoyed His presence and blessing in ways that many, many believers
in their lives have never had. Here is one who knew the Lord
from an early age and had experienced His help and providing throughout
the years. Here is one who had received
the kingdom and everything that he had from the gracious hand
of God. Here is one who knew a God who answers prayer, a God
who blesses the soul, a God who forgives sin. Here is a true
godly believer and yet David, even David can fall into adultery
and murder. Never take backsliding lightly. As we look at the events of these
chapters, we see the step-by-step descent into the worst of sins. It truly is, as we read it, backsliding. If you think of the word, backsliding.
When you read it, it is a step-by-step, one sin. into a greater sin,
into a greater sin. Almost as if he is sliding back
in a way that he seems to have almost lost control of his own
reason, lost control of the situation, lost control of understanding
where he was or where he was going. He was sliding back and
didn't seem to realise where he was or where he was going.
He was back sliding. You look at what happened. We
have in the beginning of chapter 11 the time when the kings go
out to battle and David tarried still at Jerusalem. We don't
know exactly, it seems strange doesn't it that these times when
the kings went forth to battle it was clearly a time that he
was expected to go or a time where he would have gone in times
past out to fight with Israel and yet he stays in Jerusalem.
There seems to be an element of laziness here. David wants
it to be comfortable for him. David wants to stay at home and
enjoy his palace, enjoy his kingdom. He stays where it's safe and
sends the others out to fight against the children of Ammon.
He stays at Jerusalem and while he's there with not much to do,
he goes out on the rooftop and sees this woman Bathsheba washing
herself and she is very beautiful to look upon and David is tempted
after that look. And David doesn't then shut off
that temptation, turn his eyes and go back inside. David indulges
it. David considers it. David takes
another look and David then makes the next step into sin because
he inquires after who she is. He could have left it. He could
have put it from his mind. He could have kept silent but
he takes the step. He inquires who she is and of
course he's told. She is Bathsheba, the daughter
of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Now those words should
have rung alarm bells in David's mind. You have been looking on
the wife of Uriah the Hittite. You have been lusting after another
man's wife. There should have been alarm
bells instantly ringing in his head. But after receiving that
message, knowing exactly who she was, and knowing exactly
who her husband was, that he was fighting in his battles,
he was fighting for King David, knowing all that information,
instead of turning away, he sends messengers to take her and bring
her to him, that he might lie with her and commit adultery.
This is David's backsliding. Another step, a great step. a
serious step into serious sin. And then sin adds to sin and
adds to sin. Because it's not long afterwards
that he hears that she is with child. It's not now just a secret
sin as it were, there's going to be an obvious fruit, an obvious
sign of what they have done. The child was going to be born,
so what does he do? He has to organise an elaborate cover-up.
He has to try and force Uriah to come home and to go and lie
with his wife, that it might appear it was Uriah's child. He has to even go to the steps
of making him drunk, of plying him with alcohol that he might
become drunk and therefore would do what David wants him to do.
See how far David has got to. And finally, he has to arrange
for the murder of Uriah, that he might be able to legally take
Bathsheba as his own wife. Can a child of God, a true believer,
one who has enjoyed God's blessing, can they fall into organised
murder? Here is a warning for us all,
and the warning is and what seems so serious and so sad is that
David didn't realise didn't seem to realise what he had done and
where he had got to because when Joab sends the message of what
has happened and that they were attacked and that Uriah has been
killed David's response is this, let not this thing displease
thee for the sword devoureth one as well as another Make thy
battle more strong against the city and overthrow it, and encourage
thou him. He says, oh well, doesn't matter. It's a battle, people die in
battle, don't worry about it Joab. Don't worry, it doesn't
matter, encourage yourself, carry on. David doesn't seem to have
any realisation of what he's done. His conscience seems to
have been seared. It's not feeling, it's not reacting
any longer. David has sinned so grievously
and doesn't realise it. Doesn't realise what he's done.
when Nathan comes, directed by the Lord to speak to him and
he expounds that parable to him about the poor man's lamb and
David hears of what the rich man did in taking the lamb and
giving it to his traveling friend and we read that David's anger
is greatly kindled against the man He said to Nathan, as the
Lord liveth that man that hath done this thing shall surely
die. What we have here, when you think
of the circumstances, is David living and speaking what may
seem to Nathan, on the outward sign, a good and righteous life.
Oh, how righteously indignant David is of the actions of this
rich man. How he appears to have right
and good and godly judgement as he wants this punishment meted
out on this rich man. How he seems to show the mind
of a gracious and merciful king in trying to defend this poor
man and yet he has no realisation that he is the man, that he has
done it. His conscience seems to be seared. Here we have serious backsliding. Can a believer backslide? Yes
they can. And you know the warning here
is for all of us that we can be left to fall as well. We may
not be left, we may be, but we may not be left to fall into
such sin as David was. We may not commit adultery and
commit murder, but in our heart in our thoughts, in our attitude
our conscience can be seared so that we hardly realise what
we're doing and we hardly realise where we are we can backslide
in our attitude and hearts if not in our actions just as bad
as David did just as seriously as he did it may not be an obvious
sin It may not be something that someone could come and say, you
have done this. No one else may know about it
at all. It may not be obvious in the
sense that it was for David, an outward sin. But have we gone
after idols? Has our heart been hardened after
the sins of the world? Have we wandered off from the
love to the Lord? Have we seen or thought we've
seen attraction again in the world and in its temptations
and its idols? Have we gone again from our first
love? Have we wandered off? Our reading
life, our prayer life, our zeal for the Lord, our zeal for His
Kingdom, our concern for the lost, our love for worship, our
fellowship with His people, our fellowship with Him, the things
of the Gospel, the cross of Jesus Christ, Have they lost their
appeal? Have they become distant, unattractive? And the glittering, wealthy,
enjoyable world around you is attractive. It's what satisfies
you. It's what you enjoy. And the
idols have taken over your life. You can fall as badly as David
did. We can sin, if left, as far as he did. Well, be sure our sin will find
us out. Our sin will find us out because
God knew where David was. She became his wife and bear
him a son but the thing that David had done displeased the
Lord. This is the first mention of
God in this chapter. God has been absent from David's
life. He's been absent from his thoughts. He's been absent from
anything that he has done and all that he's decided to do.
But God is not absent. Because at the end of the chapter
we're reminded that God knew. That the Lord had seen and it
had displeased him. His sin would find him out and
Nathan would be sent to highlight it, to show it to him. You know
David's true state was known to God. David's actions, David's
life was known to God. God knew David as well here as
he knew him on the hillsides of Bethlehem when he wrote Psalm
23. God knew where he was and what he was doing as well in
these events as he did as he stood in front of Goliath and
fought on behalf of Israel. God knew exactly where he was. And exactly what he is doing.
And God knows our state. God knows where we are. And if
we look at our lives today, do we fear that perhaps the thing
that we have done has displeased the Lord? That he has looked
down and he knows what our state is. He knows where we are. He
knows what we've done and he knows where our heart is. Perhaps
better than you do. A seared conscience. Happy in
the world, unconcerned about your sin, and yet the thing you
have done has displeased the Lord. He knows where you are. And God will not allow his people,
this is a wonderful truth, although a solemn one, God will not allow
his people forever to fall into backsliding. He will not allow
his people to disappear off as it were forever and forever,
and to leave their love. He will not allow their faith
to disappear. He will deal with his people.
He will not cut them off. But that means that the Lord
will deal with us and he will challenge us and he will convict
us to bring us back. The Lord knows where we are.
The Lord was displeased with David. Unconfessed sin. We think of David here. Unconfessed
sin in his seared conscience. for us unconfessed sin and a
hardened heart against all its consequences and against all
the things that we are doing. What does that do? What is that
doing perhaps if there's one of you here this evening with
unconfessed sin, with a hardened heart? What does that do to you?
What does that do to your life with the Lord? Well, it deadens
your soul, doesn't it? It deadens your soul. It separates
between you and God. Unconfessed sin. Guilty. It separates from your God. It deadens your spiritual life. It takes away your healthiness.
It stifles worship. It stifles your zeal, doesn't
it? and it makes you comfortable in the world. This unconfessed
sin makes you comfortable where you are. Unconcerned, deadening
the life in your soul. You know, unconfessed sin will
bring you great sadness and it will bring sorrow before the
Lord, eventually. The thing displeased the Lord. Your sin will find you out. Well, David came to a point of
repentance. David though had gone a long
time and sinned so greatly, by the message of Nathan and of
course the application of the Spirit, David came to this point
where he quite simply said, I have sinned. Now David had sinned
against Bathsheba. David had obviously quite clearly
sinned against Uriah. But here he says the real truth,
I have sinned against the Lord. And he comes to that realisation
that though his sin was against others and had hurt others greatly,
ultimately the sin he had committed was against his God. The God
who told him what to do, the God who had blessed him, the
God who had been gracious to him throughout his life. It was
his God, the Lord, whom he has sinned against and he acknowledges
it. before the Lord at this time. And the wonder is that Nathan
says to David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt
not die. These are amazing and wonderful
words, aren't they? To think that the Lord would
put away, would forgive that sin that David had committed
at that time, to think that the Lord would wash that sin away
and not punish him as he deserved, is marvellous grace. It's wonderful,
amazing grace to a backsliding sinner, to one who had gone so
far, so far away from his God, who had sinned against his Lord,
and yet he put away his sin. Here we see a God who still loves
his people. A God who forgives his people
and welcomes repentant sinners back to himself. However far
they have gone, however distant they are, however far they've
wandered, he welcomes repentant sinners back to himself. In a
sense, as we said, an opening, the parable of the prodigal son
is a picture, a wonderful picture of conversion and welcoming a
sinner who is at first coming to the Lord in repentance, but
it's equally a wonderful picture of a returning sinner, a backsliding
sinner who has gone again, sadly, into sin and yet comes back up
the road and the Father welcomes him. and loves him and forgives
him, a repentance sin. Remember that, a repentance sin.
The Lord works to make his people repentant and then receives them. The Lord hath put away thy sin. And this is, for David, must
have been a wonderful response. It is an immediate response,
isn't it? An immediate response. How welcome to David's ears it
must have been. Now of course we read that there would be consequences
for his sin. That the child would die. That
the sword would not depart from his hands. There would be serious
consequences and there were serious consequences in David's life,
in his family, in his kingdom because of what he had done.
But the Lord had put away his sin. Now remember that. If we have fallen back smiling,
it's wonderful to know that the Lord has restored us and forgiven
us. Wonderful to rejoice again in his grace and in his salvation.
But there are consequences for sin. And there may be sins that
we have indulged ourselves in and we have a wonderful hope
in God's mercy and that that sin is forgiven. We are right
again with God, but we may have to live with consequences all
our life. Remind us of what we've done. difficulties in our life
because of our backsliding. Oh, it's a wonderful gospel.
It's wonderful grace. It's wonderful to know that there's
a merciful God, but that does not give us license to sin. And
say, well, the Lord will forgive. The Lord will be merciful. The
Lord does forgive. But there are consequences, serious,
and there were for David, serious consequences for his sin. The Lord hath put away thy sin.
Thou shalt not die. So the Lord still loves, the
Lord still receives, the Lord still welcomes back his people.
He will not let them be cast off. He will not let them, those
whom he has eternally loved, those whom he has died for, he
cannot allow them to fall into hell. He will not cut them off.
He brings them back as we turn to our Father. As we look to
Christ again and sit humbly, repentantly, weeping at the foot
of that cross again, we can believe that this is true for us. The
Lord hath put away thy sin. How far we have fallen, how far
we have wandered off, and yet here's the encouragement that
even David received God's mercy. Well, you may ask the question
this evening, Why is it that a sovereign God who has all events
and all hearts and all his people in his hand, why is it that a
sovereign God would allow his people to fall? Why would God
allow his people to backslide? Why did God allow David? Why
did God allow Peter? Why did God allow Jonah and many
other examples? Why would God allow you and I
to backslide into sin and to wander from him? Firstly, do not allow yourself
to blame God for your backsliding. Do not blame God that you have
fallen. It is not His fault. It is not
God who has, as it were, made you sin. It is not God who has
made you backslide. Yes, He is sovereign. Yes, He
has all events in His control. But He is not the author of sin.
He is not the author of your backsliding. We do not backslide
because God makes us sin. We backslide because we are sinners.
Because that is what we are, and because we go after sin,
and because we are attracted by it. We must never blame God
for our backsliding. In a sense, I believe, if we
blame God for allowing us to backslide, then we don't really
have an appreciation of what sin and backsliding really is.
We do not point the finger, we do not blame God. That would
be a terrible, terrible thing to do. Our backs sliding. It's our sin. We have sinned. We are guilty. We are judged
because of what we have done. We stand guilty before the Lord
for our willful sin. Because we have a nature that
goes after sin. We must never blame God. The Apostle tells us that we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That everyone
may receive the things done in his body according to that he
hath done. Whether it be good or bad, we
stand guilty before the Lord If we are unwashed, if we are
unforgiven, we stand before the Lord and judge according to what
we have done. We stand, as it were, bearing
our own guilt. We stand because we have sinned. We must never blame another.
We certainly must never blame God. Why does a sovereign God
allow us to fall? Well, there are reasons. We hope
to look at them for a few minutes. But we must never take that as
a reason to blame God for our sin. We are guilty if we have
backstabbed. We must come in repentance. Well,
why does God allow us to fall? Well, he allows us to fall, one
reason is that he desires to bring us to our knees. To bring
us to our knees. To remind us what we are. to
remind us what we are capable of, to bring us to prayer, to
bring us to repentance and to humble us again. We may have
come to a time when we have become self-righteous or we've become
self-confident and we've become self-reliant and almost proud
in our outwardly holy life or our outwardly religious life. We've thought that we were strong
We thought that we would always stand. We thought that we knew
so much. We become proud, almost to the
point we thought we could carry on in our Christian life without
him. Oh, what a good Christian we are. How well we are doing.
We've almost forgotten that we need the Lord. We've almost forgotten
the need to pray. Because we're getting on quite
nicely by ourselves. And the Lord may allow us to
backslide, to show us what we are. To show us what we are capable
of. to bring us to our knees. Show
us we should never be proud because we are, but by his grace, great
and terrible sinners. David comes to this experience
and was helped to write Psalm 51. We have a glimpse there of
what the Lord did in this experience to David and what he brought
him to. He brings him to a place where
he acknowledges his sin. He says, I acknowledge my transgression
and my sin is ever before me. He acknowledges his sin to God,
what he had done. And he comes to realize that
that sin is against God, not just against people, against
thee. Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
he says. He acknowledges his sin is against
God. He acknowledges that he is a
sinner. Not that he has committed sin, but that he is by very nature,
in his old man, a sinner. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me, he says. He comes on his
knees, realizing that by his very nature in himself, he is
a sinner. And he has fallen into sin. He
comes and acknowledges the holiness of God. Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. The God who desires truth from
the heart, the God who desires holiness, for he is holy himself,
and in such contrast to David, who is shaken in iniquity. He
realizes wondrously God's power to cleanse. Purge me with his
lips, I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. That God is able to forgive sins. That God is able
to wash even the greatest of sins. For if God washes me, I
shall be whiter than snow, he says. Oh, he realises that he
is a forgiving and a cleansing God. He realises the need for
a clean heart. For a renewed spirit. Create
in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me,
he says. He needs something radically
done within. He needs life, cleansing, a new
spirit, a new heart within himself. For he feels and realises what
a sinner he is. And then he realises, as he goes
on, that though he has been broken down, and though he has been
humbled, and though he's brought on his knees in the spirit of
confession, that those tears and that brokenness is what God
loves to see. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, that will not despise. So you see, David, in Psalm 51,
he acknowledges his sin, he acknowledges what he is, he realises God's
holiness, and yet he has this hope that God is able to wash,
and that God has brought him down to a broken spirit. Because actually, that's what
God loves to see. God loves to see a broken spirit.
and a contrite heart. Isn't that strange? But isn't
that wonderful? That God would so allow David
to fall, as much as David was guilty, David was responsible,
but God would allow him to fall, to bring him to have a broken
heart, because that's what God wanted to see in him. That's
what he did not despise. And God worked in his love to
bring him down. And God works to bring us there.
God works to bring us down, to bring us on our knees, to show
us what we're capable of, to show us what sinners we are.
And he may allow us to sin for that reason. Does that mean the
sin is good? Of course not. Does that mean
it's right for us to backslide so that we can experience this
blessing? Of course not. Should any man sin so that we
may experience God's grace? Of course not. We do not backslide
so that we will have a contrite heart. That's an awful, blasphemous
way of thinking. But it's wonderful when we come,
as it were, out of it and be brought to our knees to realise
that that is a good place to be. God would humble us. God
would have us in repentance at his feet. So he works to bring
us to our knees. Why else might the Lord allow
us to fall into backsliding? Well, to magnify his grace and
to magnify his forgiveness. And then we realise again, and
afresh, perhaps something we haven't realised for many years, that God is a God of mercy. that
He does not give us what we deserve, that He does not treat us in
a way that we deserve, and we experience afresh His love and
His restoration. Perhaps we've forgotten how much
we owe. Perhaps we've forgotten how much
we need His cleansing power. Perhaps we've forgotten how much
we need the suffering Saviour. Perhaps he's forgotten how much
he loves even the worst of sinners. And yet the Lord now has brought
us to a place and he showed us our sin. He showed us what we've
done. He showed us how far we have fallen. And he's done it
to magnify his grace again in our minds and in our hearts.
To show himself and realise again just a little how much Jesus
has suffered. How much he has done for us. David, of course, was in the
Old Testament dispensation. He didn't have a full realisation
of Christ and what he would do and all of these things. But
if we put ourselves into David's shoes with the knowledge that
we have today, if we were convicted, if we were as guilty as David
of murder and adultery and so on, oh, how it magnifies God's
grace when we realise such mercy in cleansing even those sins,
that the Lord even carried those sins, the guilt of that sin on
his back. as he went to Calvary. If the
Lord is showing us tonight a sin that you've fallen into, an idol
that you've taken up, a backsliding state you've fallen into, if
the Lord will come again and the Lord will show you something
of his love in forgiving even that sin, how we appreciate afresh
how much he suffered, how much he bore, how much he has done. It magnifies his grace. It magnifies
his mercy. Think of those times when we've
been ill. If you've been ill, you've been weak, you've been
sick perhaps, and you feel terrible, and we wonder, will we ever be
well again? We wonder, what does it even feel like to be well?
What does it feel like to be healthy? What does it feel like
to have an appetite, to have energy and so on? And yet when
we're restored, when we're healthy, in those early days at least,
we are so thankful. We appreciate our health like
we haven't done before because we've known what it is to be
sick. Oh how much greater when we've known what it is to be
in the depths of despair almost. In the depths of sin. In the
depths of confession. And then for the Lord to bring
us into health again. To bring us up. To bring us to
his cross. and to show us what He has done,
then we appreciate even more His love and His mercy towards
us. We read that weeping may endure
for a night, and it may be sore weeping, it may be great weeping,
it may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. What
joy it is when the Lord reveals Himself again. As He said, the
Lord hath put away thy sin, or rejoicing for the backsliding
sinner. Oh well, What a wonderful truth
this is. That the Lord forgives him. The Lord forgives a backslider
who returns up that long road. And is there anyone here, anyone
of us who is falling back, feels to be sliding back, feels to
have been sliding back and we're ashamed of ourselves. We're ashamed
of where we've got to. We may certainly be ashamed to
tell anyone else the things we've done or the things we've thought
or the things we've indulged in. But the Lord knows. And we're even ashamed to confess
it. We don't want to acknowledge to God what we've done. We've
come so far. May we be given grace to, as
it were, stop. May we have a Nathan that comes to us and shows where
we are and brings us to stop and recognise the situation.
Recognize where we are, where we've got to, and then be brought
to return. To come again. To come again
to our Lord, to come again to a merciful, to a gracious God,
to a forgiving God, to one who has said, and the Lord has put
away thy sin, for he will receive and he will bless. Isaiah tells
us, remember these, O Jacob and Israel, For thou art my servant. O child of God, tonight we can
believe these words are true for us. Thou art my servant.
I have formed thee. Thou art my servant. O Israel,
thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins. return unto
me, for I have redeemed thee. Oh, how wonderful to be brought
back to those early days when the Lord first revealed Himself
to our Saviour, when we first trusted and put all our hope
in Him. And we can say, yes, the Lord,
we believe, did blot out our transgressions and as a thick
cloud all of our sins. And now, black-sliding sinner,
He says this, return unto me, for I have redeemed thee." David
said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan said unto David, the Lord
also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Amen.