As I said, it is a part of the
history of David, God dealing with him and recovering him after
his great sin. But we're looking this evening
at when God announces that the little child that is born to
them shall die. Verse 15 through 23, Nathan departed
unto his house. And the Lord struck the child
that Uriah's wife bare, unto David, and it was very sick. David therefore besought God
for the child. 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 them. And it came to pass
on the seventh day that the child died. The servants of David feared
to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, or they
reasoned, or they remembered, Behold, while the child was yet
alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our
voice. How will he then vex himself
if we tell him that the child is dead? When David saw that
his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was
dead. Therefore David said unto his
servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. Then David arose from the earth,
and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and
came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped. Then he came
to his own house, and when he required, they set bread before
him, and he did eat. Then 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 dost rise up and eat bread. And he said, that is,
David said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept,
for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that
the child may live? Now he is dead. Wherefore should
I fast? Can I bring him back again? I
shall go to him, but he shall not return unto me." Now I want
us to look at the 22nd verse. While the child was yet alive,
I fasted and wept, for I said, Who can tell whether God will
be gracious unto me that the child may live." Now, the thought
that I have attached this evening for the name or title of our
sermon might seem very strange, and yet I bring it not before
you as a novelty in any sense of the word, nor do I come with
any probability, taking this title, who can tell. nor too
much of man's ability do I attach unto this, nor seek to dissolve
any part or truth of the Holy Scripture that speaks unto us. And I do not mean to suspend
the infinite omniscience of God nor weaken the purpose of God,
or make His works and His will seem as if they were uncertain
and perhaps guided by the action or the prayers of men. Nor would
we leave with any the impression that sinners are saints in great
distress when trouble overrides their soul like a flood, that
they might by any means of prayer or intercession, or tears, or
crying, overturn the sovereign and secret will of God. I do
not mean to say at all that one might out-pray the threats of
God Almighty, or change God's mind, or bend God's providence
in another way altogether. So to sort of get the feel for
where we want to go with this study, Let's first of all lay
two passages that are in the Scripture side by side. For even though the subjects
in each are different, yet we might find that the essence or
the truth that is set forth in both of the passages are alike. Now, the two passages that we
want to remember are 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 22 that
we read here. He, David, said, while the child
was yet alive, I fasted, I prayed, I wept, for I said, Who can tell
whether or not God will be gracious that the child may live? The
other passage would be Jonah chapter 3 and verse 9. Who can tell if God will turn
and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish
not, because the threat of God was upon the city of Nineveh
and announced by the prophet." Now, both texts are the question
that makes up our title this evening. Who can tell? Who knows? In other words, who is there
that can say? Who is there that can know what
God will do or the path that He might take? So whether He
will be gracious, whether He will be sparing, whether He will
let His Word stand and the child be taken away. Now beyond that,
both texts that we just looked at set forth the fact of the
desperate situation of those who live in days of meager expectation
of finding any mercy and goodness at the hand of God, who can expect
a heavenly visitation in a dark and a trying and a troubling
hour. Each had little ground, that
is, David or the people of Nineveh. Each of them had little ground
or hope of realizing the blessing and mercy of God to spare what
seemed to be inevitable. It was but a flickering ray of
hope. The child is yet clinging to
life. Nineveh is not yet destroyed. But upon each one it is said,
who can tell, who can know what the Lord will do? For consider,
if you might, the Ninevites had been told. The prophet of God
had been sent to announce unto them that their great city would
be destroyed. A great city it was, a great
city they thought it to be, and yet it is under the destruction
of God. Jonah 3 and verse 4, Jonah entered
into the city and cried, yet forty days and Nineveh shall
be overthrown. Now Nineveh, a great city both
for size and also for sin. And those things usually are
found together. It was very populous. It had
towers about it. It had walls about it by which
its residents might protect it. But it was wholly given over
to idolatry. And there at Nineveh lived practically
every Gentile abomination that one could mention. And yet the
threat of God to it is, the city, even Nineveh, shall be overthrown,
destroyed, broken down, and that in a span of forty days to come. In the case of David, in our
text, he had been told by the prophet, the child conceived
of him by Bathsheba would certainly die, and that it would be smitten
with death, because the thing that he had done displeased God,
and it caused the enemies of God to blaspheme. So we read
in 2 Samuel 12 and 14, the child also that is born unto thee shall
surely die. Unlike Nineveh, no time frame
or time span is given at all when this death would occur. It's not indicated the time that
death might come and snatch away that little one, leaving David
in constant, perpetual anxiety as to the time of the execution
of the sentence that had been passed. Now, he is told only,
the child born unto thee shall die. So every hour or day is
possibly the hour or the time of death in that situation. Now
the difference between the two cases is this, that the words
of Jonah in 3 and 9 were spoken before the city was destroyed,
before there came against him an enemy. The words to David
in 2 Samuel 12 and verse 22 were spoken after David's son was
taken away in death on the seventh day, either from birth or from
the passing of the sentence by the mouth of the prophet of God. But the circumstances of David
speaking these words that form our text this evening, the words
of our text are these, when the child was sick, the Lord having
smitten him with a grievous sickness, David fasted, David prayed, he
besought God for the child, even though it had been said that
the child would die. Verse 16, we see that. And he
lay the whole night prostrate upon the earth as he prayed and
fasted for his child. No one could comfort the great
king He refused to take the comfort of any. He refused to hearken
unto his servant. Sir, come and eat and receive
strength thereby. He was in the pangs of misery. For, listen, to be told that
his sin is the cause of the smiting to death of his little small
son. In verse 15 through verse 19.
But when told, that the child was dead. While he was alive and David
had heard no word of his passing, he prayed, he fasted, he besought
the Lord, he humbled himself. But when he was told that the
child was dead, he did do a strange thing in the eyes of his servant. He got up off of the ground. He went in and bathed himself. He went in and put on clean clothes. and went to the house of the
Lord, and there went in and humbled and worshiped. Then he returned
home as the text has told us. Now his servants wondered at
that kind of behavior. They wondered at the change in
him. And so finally they ventured
to ask him in verse 21, while the child was sick. Then you
prayed, you fasted, And so on. Now that he is dead, you are
of a new countenance and you have eaten and washed and dressed
yourself. Why? Why have come? Why is that? David's answer provides us our
text in the 22nd verse. Indeed, I fasted. Indeed, I prayed
while the child was alive. Alive, but very sick. Very sick,
but alive. And my reasoning being, my thinking
being, my reason being this, I said in my heart, or I thought
in my heart and in my mind, who knows? Who can tell? Who knows for sure whether God
will be gracious to me? Who knows even yet whether God
will be so gracious that the child will be spared? Did David
think of that time when the prophet came unto him under the sentence
of death and said to him, Thou art the man that has done this
thing? And yet the prophet of God says
to him, You shall not die, you shall live. The Lord has put
away thy sin. Perhaps this kindled a hope in
David concerning the little child, that if I am humble and I pray
and I seek his faith, Maybe even yet he will let the child live
in spite of the sentence being passed. Maybe he will spare the
child even yet. Nathan had said unto him, The
child shall surely die. But David held out this hope,
at least he thought it could be, that God might in his repentance
and humiliation reverse or suspend the sentence that he had pronounced
against his little one. Who can tell? Who knows the mind
of God? Who knows what he will do? He
said to the little boy, go feed this lunch. And one of his disciples
said, Lord, how little is this among so many? But John writes
and said, the Lord Himself knew what He would do, and so He tried
them. David explains his behavior to those in these words. While
the child was alive, I said, perhaps God will be gracious
to me that the child may live. You know, what a load upon the
conscience of David that because of his sin, conceiving this child
out of wedlock and inadultery, that perhaps God would be gracious
unto him. David does not expect God to
extend any such mercy were he to go on in his sin? Had David
not turned? Had he not repented? How could
he expect the mercy of God to be broken upon his unworthy head? So he said, I fasted, and I wept,
and I said, I wept because perhaps God will be gracious. David,
like many, was in such a strait. are inclined at that time to
hope to look unto God for mercy, that He will be gracious unto
us in our times of trouble and trial, and that God will be gracious
once again. He has done so so many times
before. His mercy and His grace has ever
been with us. Thomas Manton called this, as
he looked upon this passage of the Scripture, that it was Indeed,
a venture that encourages them to wait in hope. A venture that
encourages one to wait in hope. I remember Dorothy and I being
in the hospital years ago, a family's little girl just out of the blue,
took sick, deadly sick, and in the hospital and not expected
to live, just out of the blue. A little girl about eight or
ten years old. Remember us being there and praying
with that family that night, and the little girl did pass
away. And I remember the father pretty
bad in his Arminian saying, well, perhaps if we had asked or prayed,
the Lord would have let us keep her. But it was not to be. At
such time, both saints and sinners are tossed back and forth between
the sense of what we deserve and how unworthy we are and that
desire for the mercy of God in our situation. In a case like
that of David, there is the possibility, but not a certainty, that God
will be merciful, that He will be gracious, even though He hath
neither promise nor ground to stand upon, just if the Lord
will be gracious. That hope arises from the fact,
number one, that God has been so gracious in time past. He has not dealt with us strictly
and absolutely according to our sin. He has shown His favor to
us in days gone by in spite of the fact that we have sinned
against Him. Secondly, God is able to do exceeding
and abundant above all that we ask or think. Certainly, David
knows God is able to preserve the life of the child. He is
able to restore our health when it looks like it has been smitten.
So who can tell whether God will be gracious in another hour? He is able to recover our loved
ones, but will He? Is it His goodwill and pleasure? He is able to remove some great
obstacle that greatly hinders us in our way. And the question
is, will He be pleased to do so? He's able to save our loved
ones. The question is, will it please
Him to do so? Let's consider the case of another
man, Hezekiah, in Isaiah chapter 38, also recorded in 2 Kings
chapter 20, of God being gracious after the sentence is passed.
Of God suspending the sentence in the case of Hezekiah. in the
case of this man. God passed the sentence, then
suspended the sentence. In those days was Hezekiah sick
unto death, and Isaiah said unto him, Set thine house in order,
for thou shalt die and not live. Now there are some resemblances
between the case of Hezekiah and the case of David's situation. Number one, the great sickness. A life threatening illness. Listen. Hezekiah was sick unto
death. Isaiah 38, verse 1. David's child
was very sick. 2 Samuel 12, verse 15. Secondly, we notice God passed
sentence against both. 2 Samuel 12, verse 14. The child shall surely die. Isaiah 38, verse 1. Thou shalt
die and not live. Hezekiah is told. Thirdly, we
notice that both earnestly besought God for His graciousness. Isaiah 38 and verse 2, Hezekiah
turned his face toward the wall. There he made diligent prayer
unto the God of heaven is God. In 2 Samuel 12, 16, David besought
God for the sake of the child and fasted, lay upon the earth
all of the night. But we notice one great difference
between David and Hezekiah. David's child died. God was not
gracious in the way that David had desired or had hoped. received from God the promise
of 15 more years of life. God was gracious unto the pious
king Hezekiah, which says to us that such supplication for
God to be gracious must be made in the context of God's absolute
sovereignty. We must cast it upon the sovereignty
of God. God will be gracious to whom
He will be gracious. With a due consideration and
submission to the secret and decreeing will of God is reflected
in the prayer of that leper. In Matthew 18 and verse 2, Mark
1 and verse 40, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. Such thing must be asked with
an eye to the will of God. And for God resolves every case
as it seems good and right in His sight. Thus He permits Hezekiah
to live. He allows David's child to die
in His infinite wisdom. He allows Joshua to enter into
the promised land, but not Moses, though Moses desired greatly
to lead the children in. A good example with practical
experiences might be this. prays for the salvation of their
child. What Christian parent would not
pray for the salvation of their child? Ask the conversion of
the fruit of their loin and of their womb. A couple bring a
child into the world, who can tell if God will be gracious
and give saving grace unto that offspring? Or one is married
to one not a Christian, And they pray, and their friends pray,
and the church prays. But who can tell if God will
be gracious to call that unconverted one into the salvation of our
Christ? We may notice that David said,
who can tell if the Lord will be gracious to me? Me, he expresses
it of himself. Might we not expect him to have
said that God will be gracious unto the child? Why me and not
the child? And when we see the connection,
as he ties the two together, that God may be gracious to me
that the child may live. It will require God being gracious
to David's sin, first of all, and to him as a person. Let us
go back to the aspect of the sovereignty of God, for this
regulates all things after this matter. First, it is David who
has sinned and displeased the Lord. He, in this case, is the
sinner. 2 Samuel 11 and verse 27, and
brought a sword over the house of his family. Chapter 12, verse
10 through 12, given an occasion for the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme." Chapter 12 and verse 14. But it is the child who is
smitten with death in this situation. Secondly, the Lord forgave David's
sin. Chapter 12 and verse 13. But he carries out the sentence,
the chastisement comes in the form and person of his child. Now, if God is gracious to forgive
his sin, if God is gracious to put away his sin and say to him,
you shall not die, who can tell whether God will be gracious
that the child also might not die? God did not kill David,
chapter 12 and verse 13. Who knows while the child is
yet alive, yet has breath, whether God in His infinite mercy will
be gracious unto him. But let's go back to the question,
why David said, whether God will be gracious unto me, to himself
personally. God forbid that we read something
into this Scripture or into any Scripture which is not there,
but we did mention earlier David's sin was the direct occasion of
the death of another. That is a wounding thought to
any person. That is a hot arrow flaming into
the conscience of any individual. What a convicting way. But the
prophet is clear, your sin is put away, how be it by the deed
you've given enemies of the Lord an occasion to blaspheme. The
child also born unto you shall die. But David supposes where
there is life, there is hope. And he hopes peradventure that
God will be gracious to him on this occasion. That text that
we mentioned in Jonah 3 and 9 is much like that one in 2 Samuel,
for sentence is passed against them also in verse 4. And the people believed God.
They proclaimed a fast. They put on sackcloth, including
the king, who called the people to repent. And they cry out to
God as He reasons with David as He did with them. And so they,
Jonah 3, 9, who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn
away from His fierce anger, that we perish not. We are threatened
with destruction. We are not yet destroyed. We
deserve to be. Our sins are great, and the judgment
of God has been announced again. Who can tell if God will spare
us? There are other Scriptures of
like sentiment. Amos 3 and verse 15, hate evil,
love good, establish judgment. It may be that the Lord God of
hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Joel 2.13
and 14, rend your heart. Turn unto the Lord, who knows
if He will return and repent and leave a blessing behind Him. This is one evident truth in
each such text, that there is no ground of expectation that
God will be gracious while sin is induced in the life. Not even the sinners of Nineveh
expected such fasting in sackcloth, repenting, public contrition,
Cry unto God. Hate evil. Love good. Establish
judgment. Rend your heart. Turn to the
Lord. It may be, who can tell, if the
Lord will be gracious. He may not, even if these things
are done, even if prayer and fasting is made. He may not,
but it is almost certain that He will not if sin is openly
and flagrantly indulged in. Now, we wonder, who knows? Who
can tell? Will God spare the world in its
present? Will God spare America? Will He be gracious to people
who mock the Bible, who approve and tolerate homosexuality, who
worship materialism, legalize the killing of millions and millions
of little babies every year? The wicked, you remember, shall
be turned into hell, all of the nations that forget God. Who
can tell if God will return and leave a blessing behind Him to
people who are undeserving of it? Who can tell if He will be
gracious to our land, to our families, to our friends and
such like? Now let's close with a short
consideration of 2 Timothy 2 and 25. Paul exhorts Timothy to faithful
presentation of the gospel. He said, be faithful, proclaim
it, the truth of God to those even who oppose themselves. Even
be faithful with the gospel to those who are opposing themselves,
quote, if peradventure God to those who oppose will grant them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, unquote. If peradventure,
perhaps less If peradventure, it will occur that God will grant
them repentance. Now, the conversion of all wicked
sinners is not a certain thing. We preach, we entreat, we pray,
and yet it is with God to grant repentance unto those that hear. If there is a faint prospect
of seeing them turn away from their sins and peradventure,
God will grant them The gift of repentance that they might
stop opposing themselves and that they might turn to the Lord.
Who can tell but God to whom He will be gracious? He will
be gracious to whom He will. Who can tell if God will be gracious
to us in a certain situation? Every sickness could be the occasion
of death. Who can tell? if God will raise
us up again off of our beds. God knoweth, and His mercy is
what we have need of in times of trial and seasons of despair. Who can tell if God will turn
and will be gracious? All right, may we bow our heads
together, please, for a word of dismissal prayer?