beginning in chapter 12, 2 Samuel,
verse 1, reading 14 verses for our text of the morning. You'll
find our text for our subject in verse 13, but we'll read the
first 14 verses. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David. And he came unto him, and he
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 had nothing,
save one little ewe lamb, which he had brought up and nourished
up. And it grew up together with
him and with his children. And it did eat of his own meat,
drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom and was as unto
him 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 that was come unto
him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man
that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly
kindled against the man. Not against the man Nathan, but
against the man in the parable. And he said to Nathan, as the
Lord liveth, the man that has done this shall surely die. And he shall restore the Lamb
fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no
pity. 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, And I gave thee thy master's house, thy master's
wives under thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and
of Judah. And if that had been too little,
I would more often 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, hast 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 has 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, give them unto thy
neighbor. He shall lie with thy wives in
the sight of his son. for thou didst it secretly, that
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. Because by this deed thou hast
given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the
child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. Now, verse 13 contains our text
today. 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. Now, David's sin is one of the
most well-known in all of the Scripture. and seems to stand
head and shoulders above some of the sins of the other saints
in the Scripture. So famous is this sin that we
need not speak of it again at any length. For David committed
adultery with another man's wife, causing her to be with child,
tried to cover up his sin by his wiles. And when that plot
failed, he purposely ordered Uriah to be placed in battle
where he would be surely killed by the enemy. And he takes Bathsheba
to be another of the wives of David after her mourning. Now, time passes. Time goes by. David is evidently
unrepentant during that time in his life. Bathsheba has become
his wife and over the course of time has given birth to the
son that was conceived in their adulterous tryst. Several months
did pass by between chapter 11 and chapter 12 of this book,
perhaps so much as a year of time went by. And as John Gill
wrote about David, it did not appear to have any remorse in
his conscience, nor to be humble before God for his sin, nor to
be repentant for it, unquote. And add to that the fact that
God had not, at least not yet, intervened in David's life in
a manner of judgment. So the king went on about his
life with his new wife, a new son, ruling his kingdom, overseeing
his army as if nothing had happened. Now, we have seen this played
out many times in the course of our own life. Horrible affairs. that wreck a marriage, destroy
a home, sometimes two families in the process, and then the
two adulterers settle down in a life together and go on their
unfettered way. But let us look, if we might,
at the last words of chapter 11. There we read, the thing that
David had done displeased the Lord. That is, it was displeasing
in the sight of the Lord. The margin actually has it, was
evil in the sight or eyes of the Lord. It was not something
that God took no notice of. It was not something that God
overlooked. or let pass by as if it never
had happened. And so surely David knew in his
heart of heart that he had sinned. Actually, being a child of God,
he had to have a consciousness of that, that he had sinned against
God. Surely his conscience was not
at settled peace during all of this time, surely he thought
about what he had done and how it had come about. But alas,
the longer that one is unrepentant, the harder the heart of that
individual becomes. Initial conviction that might
have been there at the first may wax and wane and become weaker
and weaker. It may fade with time. and the
heart may then rationalize so as to justify the behavior. And since a sentence or judgment
is not brought against it speedily, sometimes the heart runs to more
and to more evil. in Ecclesiastes 8, verse 11. Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, the hearts of men is fully set
in them to do evil. It is folly, however, for anyone
to say, since God has not brought judgment yet, He will let it
pass and nothing will come of it. But in His own time, And
in his own way, God dealt with the unrepentant king. And so
we ask ourselves the question, what was the manner of that dealing? How did God bring David to conviction
and unto repentance? What method did the all-wise
God choose that was effectual in the life of David? Or as Jonathan
Edwards said in a very famous sermon, the Lord has many quiver,
many arrows in his quiver that he may shoot at men. So what
did God do with David? Well, we have the record, 2 Samuel
chapter 12 and verse 1. God sent the prophet Nathan unto
him. He sent a prophet. He sent a
prophet of God. not a false prophet or a man-pleasing
prophet, but he sent a prophet of God unto David. And while God might have sent
pestilence and famine upon the land, God might have let the
enemies of David overrun his kingdom and destroy his throne. He might have let a traitor assassin
kill him, or he might have smitten David with some disease that
brought death unto him. Yet the all-wise, sovereign God
sends unto David a prophet and a word from God Himself. Notice how he deals with David. He does not immediately lay David's
sin before him and bring it to his charge. Instead, in verses
1 through 6, Nathan paints a very vivid and a very clear parabolic
picture designed to produce a certain reaction and impression upon
King David. Nathan tells this parable unto
David. He says there were two men. They
were neighbors. They lived in the same vicinity. One of the men was rich and the
other man was poor. And of course, as we might expect,
the rich man owned large herds and flocks grazing in his pasture. He had an abundance of animals
at his disposal to do with as he wished and to make merry with
his friends. Many were the livestock that
were in his pasture and before him. The poor man, however, on
the other hand, owned only one little female lamb. And he had raised it up from
a youth and treasured it as a possession of him and his family. It was
like one of the family. It was a pet unto his children. It would eat and drink of the
marshals of the food from the family table. And it provided
a lot of joy and comfort unto the family. It was loved by them. It would fall asleep in their
arm. In fact, it said there, she was
like a daughter unto them. But verse 4, notice in the parable,
when a guest arrived that was to be entertained by the rich
man, instead of going to his own flop and taking one of his
own mini-beasts that he might serve under his guest, The rich
man went and took the poor man's only lamb, he killed it, he dressed
it, he had his servants to cook it, and he served it to his guests
at his table, leaving the poor man's family at a loss and grief
stricken. They're one and only lamb stolen
away, killed, and eaten by a stranger. Now, before we move along, we
can't help but admire here, I think, the wisdom of the prophet Nathan
as he laid here a snare, as it were, for King David. And David is taken or caught
up in that snare. And his anger is kindled against
the rich man in Nathan's parable. But as yet, he does not recognize
himself in the parable. For he had a plurality of wives,
and yet he stole the only wife of Uriah. Now, David assumes
that the prophet is speaking of one of his citizens or one
of his subjects. And we noticed in verse 5 and
verse 6, he declares such a man worthy of nothing short of death. and that the poor man be recompensed
fourfold for the taking away of his only lamb. And so let's
note, this shows our bias. It shows the bias of men regarding
sin. How much more harshly we judge
the sins of others than we would judge our very own sins in ourselves. His verdict is quickly delivered,
death. The man that has done this shall
surely die. The margin, has it, is worthy
of death or is a son of death. that David even invokes the name
of the Lord God. In verse 5, as the Lord lives
and reigns in heaven, the man that has done this thing shall
surely die, calling him, in verse 6, a man who has acted without
any pity whatsoever toward the family of the poor man. Let's
notice in verse 5, when David had heard about the injustice
of the rich man, David's anger was greatly kindled against the
man. Some versions have it burned
with anger against the man, a fire of anger burned on the heart
of David. And immediately he counted and
produced such a man worthy of nothing short of death. This is all that Nathan needs
to hear in order that he might shoot the arrow into the soul
and the heart of David, saying unto him in verse 7, those famous,
poetic, piercing words, Thou art the man. You are the one. You, David,
are that man. You, with many wives, have taken
the only wife of another man in order to pleasure yourself. Put me in the mind of the way
the Lord dealt with that woman of Samaria that he met at Jacob's
well, in order that he might bring her to a conscious conviction
of her sin. Go call thy husband. Go get your
husband and bring him. Answered the woman, I don't have
any husband. And the Lord responds, you have
well said you have no husband, for you have had five husbands
and the one you have now is not your husband. So when Nathan's
words had pricked David's heart, He addresses David in the name
of the Lord God of Israel in verse 8 and verse 9. as it is
a common thing for God to aggravate our sin by reminding us of past
mercies and blessings that He has bestowed upon us. And as
Matthew Henry put it, how liberal God had been with His blessings
toward the life of David. As an example of that, God constantly
reminded Israel, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee up
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. On so
many occasions did God remind them of that great mercy and
deliverance. This being, as it were, a leading
favor to the nation of Israel to bring them out of bondage
and carry them to a land of promise. Even so, as Nathan deals with
David, who made David king? Who had given him his throne
and his kingship? Who had saved him from the hand
of Saul when Saul sought his life? when he was a bitter enemy
of King David. Then in verse 8, look, God gave
him all that he had, would have given him more, making a young
shepherd boy to sit upon the throne of Israel. He already
had a plurality of wives and children. Verse 9, David, however,
had acted in contempt of the commandment of the Almighty God,
especially in adultery and murder, in taking Bathsheba and in killing
Uriah by the sword of the Amorites. Verse 10 through verse 12, the
heavy price is listed that David would pay for his act and for
his sin. Such as in the 10th verse, the
judgment of God would be forever upon the house of David. Verse
11, Evil would come against him out of his very own house, and
strangers would take his wives and lie openly with them in the
sight of the sun. In verse 12, David secretly sinned
with Bathsheba, but David's wives would be ravaged by neighbors,
and it would be common knowledge throughout all of the land of
Israel. What an embarrassment, what a
shame, what a disgrace upon the name and the house of David because
of his act with Bathsheba and Uriah. Then, in verse 13, we
see the reaction and the response of David. We wonder how will
the king react to the rebuke, yea, the very strong rebuke of
the prophet of God named Nathan. Will Nathan suffer at the hands
of the king the same punishment as Micaiah, who for daring, daring
to tell King Ahab the truth and refusing to tickle the king's
ear with what he wanted to hear, 1 Kings chapter 22. For that he was cast down into
the prison and put on a ration of bread and of water, simply
for telling the king the truth. Or would he suffer the fate,
perhaps, of John the Baptist, who was killed for rebuking Herod
for his fornication with his brother's wife? Mark 6 and verse
18, Whereupon Herod put John the Baptist to death. Or would
he in anger, drive the prophet out of his chamber, turn a deaf
ear unto the prophet, and harden his heart for the things he had
heard and for what he had done. But in verse 13, David's heart
is smitten with deep conviction, a good sign at the word of the
prophet. He does not challenge the prophet
like Moses' brethren challenged him. They said to Moses, who
made you a judge over or between us? Nor does he use that time-worn
excuse. What have I done but that others
have done the same and exceedingly worse? What kind of a defense
would that have been in David's life at that time? So instead,
David is granted repentance. The grace of God works in his
heart. Rather than flame out anger at
the messenger, he is smitten with conviction for what he had
done, and he makes a confession. I have sinned against the Lord. A like confession of that of
the prodigal. found in Luke 15, 18 through
21, when he said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before
Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son, etc., etc. Now, the following few thoughts
I gleaned from a book a compilation of 1 and 2 Samuel by Matthew
Henry, John Gill, and the AWP. By the words of the prophet,
David's slumbering conscience was awakened, and he was brought
face to face with the greatness of his sin. and granting him
repentance from God, he said, I have sinned against the Lord,
giving evidence that he was not a reprobate soul, abandoned by
God to be swallowed up in sin or a life of sin. I found a commentator
named Thomas Scott, who once wrote, and I'm quoting, The seeming
dormant grace in David's heart was rekindled. His evasions vanished,
and his sin appeared before him in all of its magnitude." His
confession is short, but it strikes the mark exactly. I have sinned. I have sinned against the Lord. David acknowledges all sin is
first and foremost against the Lord God of heaven. He might have added, as did the
prodigal, I have sinned against heaven and before his earthly
father, I have sinned against Bathsheba. I have sinned against
Uriah. I have sinned against the people
of my kingdom. I have sinned against my wife. I have sinned against myself
and against common decency. Yea, I have sinned against my
soldiers even. But he rightly acknowledges,
my sin is against Jehovah. My sin is against the Lord, the
great sovereign lawgiver. And by the way, if you would
like a much fuller account of the emotion, the conviction,
the confession, the feeling, the inward turmoil of David in
connection with this, then study his life in Psalm 51 and Psalm
chapter 32. In both of them, David deals
with this matter and his great sinfulness with Bathsheba. In Psalm 51, David even confesses
his original sin. Yea, I was born in sin. In sin did my mother conceive
me. I was shapen in iniquity. David carries his confession
of sinfulness as far as it can be carried, original sin even
confessing that. But now let us notice the next
words of the prophet unto the king. They're in the end of verse
13. The Lord has put away your sin. You will not die. Now, this we must treat with
very careful attention as there comes into play. Hear the fact
that it is God's sovereign prerogative to put away sin, that is, to
forgive whose sins He will and in what way He will. And the last half of verse 13
begs a couple of points, such as the question If God did freely
forgive David's sin, then why the thing said in verse 10, the
sword shall never depart from thy house. Verse 11, raise up
evil. I will take thy wife. He shall
lie with thy wife in the sun. Verse 14, the sun. born unto thee shall surely die. Now, if the sin is forgiven,
why then the trailing consequences? Why so harsh consequences upon
others because of David's sin? Why is he forgiven? and allowed
to live while others suffer the consequences named in this text
of the scripture. The words of the prophet in the
end of verse 13 must not be misconstrued. Thou shalt not die. Does not mean that David would
never die as to his fleshly body and as to this life, for David
did die. He was buried and he saw corruption,
as we learn in Acts 2, verse 29. And his grave was still known
in the time of the New Testament. Acts 13 and verse 36. The meaning is clear. He would
not die then as an adulterer's death. He would not be stoned
to death by the congregation or smitten to death at that time
by a direct stroke of God's own hand. David's reign lasted 40
years. 1 Kings 2 verse 11, 1 Chronicles
29 and verse 28. David died in a good old age
and full of days, the Scripture said. And again, it is the sovereign
prerogative of God. David who sinned is forgiven
as God remitted the penalty that David had pronounced upon himself. And he lives a long life. while
that little child who knew nothing of all of this is smitten by
God with a deadly sickness and died. II Samuel chapter 12 verse
15 and verse 18. Now consider, how many others
in Israel had died the death of an adulterer? They were stoned
to death, whether for adultery or murder or blasphemy or Sabbath
desecration or something of that sort. While the king, guilty
of a death offense, is forgiven by God and is allowed to live
until he died, what we might call, quote unquote, a natural
death. The text seems to make it clear
that by the words, the Lord hath put away thy sin. The reference is first and foremost
to the sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Of course God put away David's
sins. in totality as he does all of
the elect, but the reference here is first and foremost to
the sin of adultery with Bathsheba. What 1 Kings chapter 15 and verse
5 calls the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And in that passage
of Scripture, it seems that this is intended to show this as the
great blemish upon the life and reign of David. Now, this sin
of David comes before us repeatedly in this chapter. I mean, the
sin of adultery and the murder of Uriah. First of all, it is
pictured very clearly in Nathan's parable. The thing that David
had done displeased the Lord. Last verse, chapter 11. Chapter
12 and verse 9, you kill Uriah the Hittite with a sword and
took his wife to be your wife. And in verse 14, it mentions
a specific deed. This deed, a particular sin which
carried the death penalty. However, the sentence would not
be enforced against David as it had been enforced against
so many. The sovereign God suspended His
own law in the case of David in this incident. It was not
the prophet granting the king absolution, but verse 13, the
Lord also has put away your sin, you will not die. By the way,
see the connection between sin and death here? Sin brought death,
Sin reigned under death. The soul that sinned, it shall
die. The wages of sin is death. Where you find one, you find
the other. And in David's case, to save
him from the penalty of sin, which was death, he must first
put away or remit the sin that called for the death against
him. Let us repeat the premise of
this study that may prove extremely offensive unto many, which is
this, it is God's sovereign prerogative to forgive or not forgive sin. It is God's sovereign prerogative
to either forgive or not forgive sin. As well as, it is God's
sovereign prerogative as to what sins He will forgive and what
sins He will not forgive. And also, it is God's sovereign
prerogative whose sins He will forgive and whose sins He will
not forgive. It lay only and wholly in God's
sovereign prerogative. As to the grounds upon which
He will pardon sin, again it is God's sovereign prerogative. What will God require as a proper
satisfaction for sin, that He might forgive it and put it away. Now let's expand upon that thought,
that it is God's sovereign prerogative to forgive or not forgive sin,
etc. When the race fell in Adam, let's
go back to Adam and Eve in the garden. When the race fell in
Adam and Eve in the garden, and death passed upon all men, for
that all had sinned. Romans 5 and verse 12. Well,
the question then is what obligation had God to save the sons of men
from their sins? Is God obligated to rescue these
foolish ones from their fall into sin. Now, strictly speaking,
when the race fell, it lay again in God's sovereign prerogative
to take one of three courses of action. It was God's sovereign
prerogative. The race is now fallen. Number
one, whether God will save all, whether God will save the whole
race. Well, they will save every son
and every daughter of Adam to the last person. Number two,
it was God's sovereign prerogative to save none. He might have left
all to perish in their sin. It would be no stain against
God's justice or righteousness to let all perish in their sin. Or thirdly, it was God's sovereign
prerogative to save some of the fallen race Some, even many,
but not all, that is, he was free to save or to damn whosoever
he would, and be glorified in both of them in their final end. Let me say this to that matter,
that nothing determined this but the sovereign good pleasure
of the Almighty God. Consider two more examples if
you will. Number one, God will not forgive. and will not put away the sin
of the devil. He will not suspend the sentence
against the devil for his sin. He is cast under an irreversible
sentence. Number two, God has made no provision
to recover the angels that sin. Hebrews 2 and verse 16, He took
not hold of angels, the author said, that is, He did not assume
their nature. He did not bear their sin. He did neither toward the angels
that sin. So those multitude of angels
that sin and fell from heaven have no remedy. None who took
their nature, none who bear their sin to save them. And so I ask
you, is this unrighteousness with God that He's made no provision
at all for their recovery. And here in our text, though
many had been put to death for the same sin as David, yet the
sentence is suspended in his case. His sin is put away, the
death is lifted, not because he is king and the most important
man in the kingdom, though being king did aggravate his sin, it
did not gain him a special exemption from the acts of his sin. But yet the Lord has put away
thy sin, the prophet said. This relates to David's confession. I have sinned and the Lord's
work, I have put away thy sin. John Gill calls this, quote,
a discovery of pardoning grace and mercy unto David." Oh my,
how welcome the sound and how beautiful the feet of them that
bring glad tidings of peace to the children of God. None but
God can forgive sin The preacher, the priest, the rabbi cannot
forgive the sin of any individual. But God has done the same thing
for every elect. That is, He has put away their
sin by laying them upon Christ and punishing them in the cross,
and He has lifted them up out of their spiritual debt. They
will not die the spiritual or eternal death because God has
put away their sin in and by Jesus Christ. Only God can put
away sin. Only God can say, Thy sins are
forgiven. One reason being, sin is first
and foremost against Him. Another reason, only He can prescribe
the proper remedy for sin. Only God can determine what is
a proper remedy, what is a proper punishment and a proper ground
for putting away the sin of His people. Only God can say what
He will accept as a sacrifice for the sins of sinners. So let's make some closing applications. Number one, do any ask again
that question? If David's sin be put away, why
the lingering tokens of God's displeasure with the sin of David
against the family and the house of David? His infant son dead,
his wives plundered, his children assaulting one another, and so
forth. I think the answer, in part at
least, is God would maintain the honor of his name and of
his glory, that it be not sullied among the heathen. That they
point not and say, yes, this is what your religion produces,
what the king had done. And for the upholding of the
righteousness and the holiness of God, that though sin is heinous
in the eyes of the Almighty God, yet has He a saving intention
and a saving grace, that God is just to forgive the sin of
whom He would. I would close with this warning.
Let none deceive themselves. to freely commit adultery by
saying or using the excuse, well, God forgave David his adultery,
but I would remind you that David was contrite and was penitent. and confessed his sin and threw
his soul before God as a guilty one, most undeserving. David
was convicted, confessed it, forsook it, and was repentant
before God. So don't take up that lame excuse,
well, God will forgive me because He forgave David. I have put
away thy sin. You will not die. The sovereign
prerogative of God. Amen.