Let's turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12. The last time we were here in the last chapter, it told of David's sin. And that sin is described as a thing, a thing which displeased the Lord, a thing meaning all that David did, everything that he did from his lust for Bathsheba to taking her and laying with her, then to his cunning way of trying to cover that sin with Uriah by bringing him in. And when that trick didn't work, he, by his own pen, wrote Uriah's death sentence and send it by the hand of Uriah to be slain, to be killed in war. And then that involved Joab. I brought Joab into it now. He had to do this. Well, he was compelled to do it. And then not only did Uriah die in battle, but all the other men with him. It wasn't just Uriah that died, but all those other men that were in battle for David. And they were slain by the sword of Ammon. the enemy of God's people. And that thing, the Lord says, displeased the Lord. The scriptures say it displeased the Lord. Now, with Nathan's coming to David, we see something of the far-reaching corruption of sin. It didn't just end with David's sin. It went on, right? He committed adultery with another man's wife, and it didn't end there. Then it went on to death, and covering his sin, and we're going to see how it continues on. That corruption, that vile nature continues to spread, and it gives us a sense of what the Scriptures say concerning Adam's sin, that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Because that's all a sin, and we see it that when one man sins, it leads to a whole network of other sins. And so that's going to come out tonight in the verses that we look at here. And so there's consequences for sin. Even for believers, though legally in Christ, our sin is put away. And we shall not suffer the wrath of God, we that are Christ's. But there are consequences for sin in this world. There are consequences that continue on. If you get into an accident because you're doing something foolish, for example, and you lose your car, you could lose your job and things like that. You could take a life. There's all kinds of things that spread out like that, that sin just has consequences in this life. But in addition, we see the magnificent grace of God. to cover the sin of his dear chosen child. And what we see here is the Lord restoring David. Last chapter was the sin of David. This chapter begins, we see the restoration of David to the grace and mercy by the grace of God to the fellowship and love of God. He's restored to that. He's reconciled to God again. So, verse 1 starts, here we see it, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David. This is a very gracious thing that the Lord does. The Lord sent Nathan to David. The Lord was displeased with the thing that David did. The whole thing that David did, he's displeased, but the Lord send Nathan to David. And so, in sending the prophet to David here, we see God initiating David's reconciliation to him. God is reaching out to David. David's not reaching out to God. God is reaching out to his lost, hurting, sinful, rebellious child. He's reaching out to him to do him good, because David isn't going to repent. It's been about nine months now. It's believed to be about nine months that the child was just born, is what men think. So that would have been nine months that this has been going on. And David has not repented of his sin. David's not a broken man. He's not contrite. He's not sorrowful about this at all. We don't even know what he's thinking if he thinks at all about it anymore. He thinks he's all right. Whatever happened, it's in the clear. God must be okay with it.

And I would think that David probably went through motions of sins we saw there at the end of Psalm 51, where he speaks of, then will I sacrifice that. Then you'll receive the sacrifice. But whatever David's doing now, God isn't pleased with David's works or what he's doing.

And he may have made sacrifices. He may have thought, well, I'm king. And God said, whatsoever's in your heart, you can do. I'm king. Maybe it was a thing of pride that he thought he could just do this and get away with it, and there would be no repercussions, because it's his kingdom, and they're all his subjects to do with as he pleases. So it could be a pride thing. I don't know. It's not really clear.

But whatever he was doing, he was guilty before God. He was still under sin and guilt. Even if he was doing religious things, the letter of the law can't clear the guilty. The letter of the law, because of our sinful nature and the infirmity of this flesh, we can't clear ourselves. We can't make ourselves right.

And David's heart, we see, remained hard and callous and cold and indifferent to what he had done. And pride doesn't deliver us. And so what we see is that we can't create a clean heart in ourselves. God must do it. God must do it. And if God doesn't do it for us, we're dead. We'll lie in darkness and in death.

But God loved David. And so The Lord suffered David to do the sin. He suffered it to be so for him to fall greatly in sin, but now he will not suffer him to lay asleep in death, to just continue slumbering in death. He's not going to leave him there. He's going to bring him out of this.

Turn over to Isaiah 57. Go to Isaiah 57. Towards the end of the chapter, we see here the heart of our God for his elect, those he's chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. Here we see God's grace. Here we see a picture of what the Lord is doing for David by sending Nathan to him here in Isaiah 57. that even though David's gone astray, the Lord's going to recover him.

So verse 15, if we start there, for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart the contrite ones.

Now, that isn't where David was at all, is it? He wasn't contrite, he wasn't broken, he wasn't sorrowful or sad for his sin at this time. What does it say there? In Psalm 51, 17, he does say the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

But David wasn't there at this time. David wasn't contrite. David wasn't broken for his sin. And that's where God, that's the ones with whom God dwells with. And so the Lord's gonna reconcile that. He's gonna make that right for his child. And it's the Lord who does it. If the Lord doesn't do it, we don't do it.

As the Apostle John said, we love him because he first loved us. That's why we love him. If we repent, it's because he's wrought repentance in our hearts. He's wrought godly repentance in us. He's drawn us to himself. Otherwise, we might do things, but we'll be very cold and calculated and hard and indifferent. And it won't change the heart. It won't change the heart. Verse 16 says, for I will not contend forever, neither will I always be wroth, for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made. All right, that's a picture here of where David is. The Lord was displeased with David and left David there for months, many months there. But if the Lord continued that, he'd die in his sins. He'd die in unbelief and in his sin.

For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him. I hid me and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. Even the anger of the Lord isn't what turns us. That's what's so astounding about the wicked nature of man, even God's anger. And his threatenings of punishment doesn't stop man. I mean, look at the world. It's filthy. It's vile. It just goes on because that doesn't turn man. And it's the goodness of God. It's through his grace, through his spirit, through his spiritual gifts, blessings given to us in Christ Jesus that turn sinners to the Lord. It's his goodness toward us that we're turned. But even God's anger doesn't turn, man. We just get harder and hardened under it and more rebellious.

I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. And not that this is specifically speaking of David here, necessarily, but I would imagine those who had an idea, either knew what David did or had an idea or suspicion and heard whispers, mourned for David. Because he was a wonderful king, other than this. He was a wonderful, faithful man. And it broke their hearts, I'm sure.

I create the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. And so the Lord's showing us that grace makes the difference. Grace is what makes the difference, and it begins when the Lord sent Nathan to David. He reached out to David in his sin.

And just while we're here in this chapter, Those last two verses there of Isaiah 57 show us that if man's left to himself, this is what he looks, this is what man, the wicked man is left to himself. Verse 20 and 21, but the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. And so it's, we need God's grace always. We always need God's grace. And always remember that, that we can't just, do some religious things and clean it up and then God's okay with it. beg God, we need his grace. When we've sinned, when we're troubled, only his grace and mercy will restore us. And he burdens the heart to cry out to him, Lord, have mercy on me. And so concerning that, we always need grace and pray for your brethren. When you think of them, pray for your brethren because we need his grace.

All right, let's go back to 2 Samuel 12 verses one through four now. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other 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, and it grew up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his own bosom. and 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 the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him."

And so Nathan comes there and he begins with a parable. And that parable was to make it very plain to David what he had done, because he's going around, as it were, in such a manner so that David would hear this and condemn this. It would be very plain, what an awful thing this rich man has done to this poor man. He had so many other options, and yet he took the poor man's one one lamb there and it sounds like David believed that this really occurred and maybe Nathan would bring him things like this in the past but whatever it was David's defenses were down and he's listening and he's hearing it so that way he can hear it just very plainly without thinking uh-oh is he coming at me for something you know David's defenses were were down in verse five and six when he heard this says, 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 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."

Now, here's the thing, right? The poor man is Uriah. We know the poor man is Uriah, and that little ewe lamb, that was dear to him and precious to him and who he loved and nourished and cherished, that little ewe lamb, that's Bathsheba. That's his wife, his beloved wife, his one wife. This is the woman that he loves, and he loved her as his own soul, but a traveler, David's the rich man, and this traveler comes to David, this wicked, evil spirit, this lustful spirit. It's a picture of lust coming upon us. In comes this traveling man, even that word traveler is used one other time in the scriptures to describe the honey that had fallen, that trail of fallen honey on the ground in the scriptures there. It's a traveler that came to David, a fallen traveler, and instead of going to, when his lust peaked up, instead of going to the many wives that he had, or the concubines, to satisfy himself, he went and took that poor man's one ewe lamb, his wife. and to satisfy his lusts.

And so, David being drawn away with his own lusts, what was the end result? Death. Literal death and even the slumber of death in David. James chapter one says this about this lust and being drawn away with lusts. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And what James is saying there is God doesn't tempt you. He's not putting anything there that is going to turn you from righteousness. We don't need that. We are lustful by nature of any sin, whether it be lusting for power, riches, or any other sins. We're just fallen creatures. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren."

In other words, understand this. Don't put this on God. Don't blame God. This is what we are, and this is what sin is. understand it. It's a corrupting, corrosive thing. And so not only did Uriah die and other men with Uriah die because of David's sin, but even David now is troubled. David's in a bad spot. David is not broken. David is not contrite. David is not in fellowship with the Lord. He's unfeeling, cold, and ignorant of what he's done.

But God, in wisdom, God in wisdom, who knows us and who loves his people and will have his people delivered from darkness, he in wisdom sends his prophet with a word that David could hear, that David would understand and see the wickedness of it, the wickedness of it basically. What David did was he accurately, he knew the law. He quoted the law. That's from Exodus 22, 1, that if a man takes another man's sheep and kills it and eats it or sells it or whatever he does with it, he is responsible to restore it fourfold. David knew that. David said he's going to restore that fourfold. He knew the law. It wasn't hard. He ruled the kingdom righteously. He tried to do what was right.

And it also appears that because it was a rich man doing it to a poor man, it just aggravated it and made it all the more worse. And it's one thing if a poor man is taking something from a rich man, but when it's a poor man who has no need to take it from the poor, does it, it's really, it's evil. You just see it for how much greater the sin is. But in David's case, The rich man put the poor man to death, and so it's a vile injustice, a vile injustice.

Now, when David heard it, his anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said that the man that did this, he will surely die because he did this thing and because he had no pity, just like David did in taking Bathsheba and then putting Uriah to death for it to cover his sin. And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. You're the man I'm talking about, David. It's you. You're the man. And the fact is that every believer, we feel the weight of those words, because we've all heard them. You that believe Christ. being needy sinners, have heard these words at some point, if not many times, spoken to you. I'm the man. I'm the one who's the sinful wretch. And it's the spirit that makes us to know thou art the man, to know the truth of those words, to feel the weight of those words, that I'm the sinner rebelling against the true and living God. I'm the man.

God made Job to know his sin. And the way it's written in Job, Job 42, 5 and 6, is Job was broken to say, I've heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. He saw the Lord. He understood now. He felt the weight of the truth of God. And he said, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. And then when Isaiah, when he saw the glory of the Lord seated on the throne, high and lifted up, with his train filling the room, he cried, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. I don't know what I'm going to do. We're undone. We can't even fix this. And when we get a sight of sin in ourselves and a sight of sin in the world, it is undoing. when we understand it, when we see it for what it is. And he cried, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Or when Peter had been arguing with the Lord, Lord, I'll never forsake Thee. I'm ready to die with Thee. I won't forsake Thee. And the Lord said, Peter, before the night is over, before the cock crows thrice, you're going to deny me three times. And on the third time, didn't even enter Peter's mind, and then the Lord, Luke says, he looked on him. And when the Lord looked on Peter, and I don't even think that Peter was there in the same sight of him, but when the Lord looks on us, on my heart, when he looks on the heart, that's when we know, Lord, I'm the sinner. You're just, you're right, you're holy, and I'm a vile sinner. And Peter went out and wept bitterly, bitterly. And he felt the weight. You're the man. You're the man, Peter.

In Acts, when the people gathered there heard Peter preaching, when the people heard Peter preaching Christ, exalting Christ, it says that they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? We're the man. We're the ones guilty of crucifying the Lord. What shall we do here, Lord? Peter, what should we do? And the Apostle Paul was made to cry out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And he thanked God for Jesus Christ, because we are the man. We're the sinner. We're the ones who are guilty and have sinned against the true and living God, against holy God.

But he does that to bring us to see our need of his mercy and grace. He does that because he dwells with the contrite. He dwells with those who are lowly, not proud, not arrogant, not boasting of what they've done, but who are made to know what the Lord has done for them in grace and in mercy. And Nathan, he recounts to David all the mercies that the Lord had shown David. on top of it, right? You're the man, David, and consider what you've done, David, how that the Lord was very merciful to you, and you despised that mercy. You despised all those things that he did to you, saying in verses 7 through 9, Nathan said to David, thou art the man, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel. and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and 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. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and has taken his wife to be thy wife, and has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon."

So everything, David, that you've done to try and make good or to fix this or to cover your sin, it's actually worse what you've done. You've done very evil, David. It wasn't right and it was more vile. And so the Lord sent Nathan to David to tell him who had been, and this is Nathan, who had been the one that told him, the Lord has established thee. The last time we see Nathan there, he's saying, go and do all that the Lord has given to your heart to do. He's made you king. He's established you, go and do everything. I don't know if David just took that to think he could just do these things, but whatever it was, David was very careless, and with the great liberty the Lord gave him, he went and spent it foolishly. He rebelled against the Lord. He did very wickedly against the Lord.

And then follows the judgments, which, as we'll see, is not the legal judgment. The Lord could have slain David. He could have put David to death for his sin. But he didn't. However, there are consequences as a result of David's sin. But as we'll see here, well, these will, I mean, well, let's just look at the consequences here first. Verse 10, now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou hast despised me and has taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Rather than being a builder in Israel, David's now going to be a warrior. He's going to have constant warfare in that kingdom, constantly be at war. 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, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this son. So rather than having peace in his house, even in his own house there's gonna be trouble and separation and revolt against David.

For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son." And so, all these stripes would be laid on David. The Lord told him, all these things are going to come to pass. But don't miss the fact that, as we'll see there, the Lord still uses that for good in David's life.

The Lord is still very gracious, though there's consequences that come, David's going to see how the Lord provides. And it's going to humble David. Those things do humble David, and they bring him low before the hand of the Lord, and he knows it.

So even when he's being cursed by that wicked man, whose name escapes me, Shimei, I think, even though he's cursed by that man, he just bears it. Because he's humbled. He's humbled. He knows, yeah, whatever is coming, I've brought it on myself. I've done this.

We do see a picture of that, how the Lord does, when we've fallen grievously, when the Lord permits us to sin grievously, He could have destroyed us, but those that He brings back to Himself in repentance and breaks us of our own sin to give us that contrite heart, that humble heart that He dwells with, It's for our good.

And even through all those trials, we'll see how the Lord delivers David, how David is made to be broken and humbled by it, but he depends on the Lord, he looks to the Lord, and how the Lord still uses it for good for David. So it is, there are consequences, but we see how the Lord's grace still did a lot of good for David. a lot of good, very gracious to David.

And that's what he does for us. Yeah, we've all fallen, we've all sinned and done foolish things before the Lord, despite the Lord's grace and mercy to us that have hurt us in some way with consequences. And yet, even in that being broken, it still humbles us and makes us to cry out to the Lord. Because we remember, Lord, I've done this to myself, right? I've brought this on me.

And that's good to be brought to the feet of the Lord and to his throne and to cry and weep before him. That's not a bad place to be. That's still his grace in doing that for his child. Otherwise, we'd be cold, hard, proud, You know mean to others and indifferent about our sins and whatnot, but the Lord knows how to how to pierce The heart he knows how to pierce us and bring us low in ourselves and so verse 13 David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and I've sinned against the Lord.

And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. When I read that, when I read that, when I hear David and how he said it, it's very genuine, right? It's not like he's saying this to get himself out of jail free card. I've sinned against the Lord. No, I think it's hitting him and he's saying, I've sinned against the Lord. I really did, wow, this is worse than I really was feeling or thinking about in that sense.

And you know how like when Abigail told Nabal how close he was to death, and Nabal went into this catatonic state? Before David could go into that catatonic state where he just froze and thinks, what am I, I'm done. The Lord is going to crush me and destroy me. Before that happens, Nathan, And I'm sure he gladly said it, Nathan, you shall not die. Or David, you shall not die. You shall not die. The Lord has put away your sin. You deserve to die. Your sins deserve death, David. You deserve to die. But God has found a ransom for your soul, David. And you'll go free. You're not going to die here, though you deserve it. you're being delivered from the pit.

And that comes from Job 33, where the Lord says, when the Lord finds your righteousness, and what righteousness does he find? For the believer, the righteousness he finds is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, let that one go free. I found a ransom for his soul. It ain't my righteousness, it's, well, he is my righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you that hope in him, he is our righteousness that sets us free.

And so David then acknowledges in his sin, his sin in spirit and in truth, and that's the fruit that the Lord was seeking in David. That's what the Lord was bringing forth. That's exactly what the Lord was going for, was to bring that broken and contrite spirit in David. And what he said in Psalm 51.6, he said, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. That's what our Lord is after, them that worship him in spirit and in truth. And he's the one that affects it, that makes it, that brings it to pass. He's the one that gives that life. And in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

And David, I'm sure the Lord blessed David in that, to be that much more understanding of what the Lord does. So every child of God will be made to feel the infirmity of their sin. of their great sin against the Lord and ask, how awful is my sin? How awful am I that the Son of God had to take upon Him flesh and come here into the world to fulfill all righteousness perfectly, to satisfy the debt that I owe to God in perfect righteousness that I failed to give and just build up this debt that He should come as my surety and satisfy that debt by laying down his life as my substitute, sacrificing him to put away my sins and to obtain eternal redemption for me, that I should go free. How sinful must I be that he suffered and died in my room instead, for me?

And so that's the reason we go free, brethren, in Christ. That's the reason why we're given faith and love and hope and joy in the Holy Ghost, it's because of Christ's sake. We could never work off that debt. David could never have paid off that debt that he had done with Bathsheba and taking Uriah's life, but for Christ's sake, He was set free. His sin was put away. And it wasn't just for him to go on in that hardness, but he was a broken man. He saw a greater amount of the depths of God's love, grace, and mercy for him. For Christ paid that sin. He put away that debt. He paid it all.

So believe him, brethren. It's to show you how merciful the Lord is. And it's to show you that when you sin, we have an advocate with the Father. And to show you that when you sin and you feel the weight of those words, thou art the man, that you listen, that you hear Him, because He means it for your good. He means it for our good, for our health, our life, our salvation in Him.

So I pray the Lord bless that word to our hearts.