Beautiful, beautiful hymn. Turn
with me back now to 2 Samuel chapter 11 and chapter 12. And I want to talk about some
things we can learn from David's fall with Bathsheba. And when you speak of David in the
scriptures, there's always two things that's mentioned of him.
First of all, he's mentioned as the man after God's own heart.
That's the first thing you hear about him. The man after God's
own heart. The second thing that you know
about him is of his sin with Bathsheba, and then having her
husband murdered. Those two things. And these two
chapters, chapter 11 and chapter 12 here in 2 Samuel, talk about
the great sin of David. David did. It's in any sense
a great sin. But it ended up saying, Nathan
told him, you gave great occasion to the enemies of the Lord by
what you've done. And that's one thing we'd never
want to do, give occasion to the enemies of the Lord to say,
look what they did. Look what they did. Now you could
quit. and go back to the world. But
if I quit and go back to the world, my testimony would be
awful and how devastating it would be to the testimony of
Christ. And that's the way it was with David. And David's sin
is referred to by preachers and rightfully condemn it and should
condemn it. All sin should be condemned.
But have you ever thought about the reasons why God permitted
David to fall when he could have easily prevented it. You remember
when Abraham went down and told him that Sarah was his wife and
Abimelech the king took her. God woke him up in a dream that
night and said, He said, I kept you back from sinning against
me, and that I let you not touch her. Now, if God kept Abimelech
back from sinning against him, why didn't he keep David back
from sinning against him? Why does he not keep us back
from sinning? Well, he could have done that.
He could have prevented David's fall. But I really acknowledge,
and we all have to admit that God has hedged us in. Hedged
us in. And I pray God heads me in and
keep me edged in and has kept us up to this point in our lives
from Satan's deceit and from some great sin that would cause
us to bring reproach upon our Lord Jesus. I'm thankful for
that. But the first thing I think we
can learn from David's sin is this. is the sovereign hand of
God. We have to admit, the sovereign
hand of God. Whether David in his rise, he
was a shepherd boy, raised up to be a king, anointed to be
a king. Slew Goliath, great victories
he had, great victories. He rose to great heights, but
he fell to great depths. He had great victories. Great
victories. Defeated the Philistines, the
Ammonites. But he also had some defeats.
And he had to go live in caves. Received spiritual success when
he had seeked the Lord and praised the Lord and danced before the
Lord. But you also see his failures when he took the ark and tried
to go back into Jerusalem without the priest. But in all of these
things, we have to acknowledge the sovereign hand of God in
his life and in our lives. You see, God's hand, God's hand
is never ever removed from his child. never removed from his
child. It's been upon us and been upon
David and been upon all of his children from the womb. You know,
he told Jeremiah, before I formed you in the belly, I knew you
and I called you and I ordained you. Jeremiah said, I'm just
a child. He said, don't say I'm a child. I was the one that done
this for you. And Paul said, when it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace. You think we're any different
than either one of those men? You think God didn't separate
us from our mother's wombs? And now we know this, that God
is the first cause of all things. We have to know that. Whether
He directs it, permits it, whatever He does, He works all things
after the counsel of His own will. He said, have I not purposed
it, and shall it not come to pass? He said, for we know, and
listen to me, we know, there are some things the scripture
says we know. We know that all things, now
what is all things you reckon mean? All things work. They don't just happen. They're
just not bad luck. They're not a bad run of the
car. It's not some accident. All things work. together to
everything that happens work together for the good to them that are
called according to God's purpose Now you say, well, I'm, well,
I, you know, people accuse us, you know, well, I'll tell you
what, I'm glad that banana peels. I missed that banana peel that
time. But I'm telling you, that's the way we make fun of things.
People make fun of us like that, but I do know this. I'd rather
be in God's hand, Him go over every second of my day as being
at the hand of fate or luck or chance. When you? Because I'll tell you why. God's
got all wisdom. God's got all power. God knows
what the end is from the beginning. And I know what my end is. I
didn't know what my beginning was, but I know what my end is.
Why? Because God said it. Everything that works in my life
and yours is going to end up to our ultimate glory and good.
His glory and our good. And I'll tell you why I love
that. And I tell you, when you go through the scriptures, Satan
couldn't attack Job unless God let him. He said, you know, Satan
come up and God said to him, Satan, what are you doing here?
He said, well, I'm running to and fro, seeking whom I may divide.
He said, if you consider my servant Job a perfect, Perfect an upright
man. Oh Listen, he's only serving
you because you've got a hedge about him and he's up. He's a
mercenary at his heart He serves you for just what you give it.
He said you take that hedge down. Let me aim. He'll cut you to
your face Didn't Joe do that No Oh my! Joseph's brethren, look over
here in Genesis with me. Keep this 2 Samuel, look in Genesis
45. Look over here in Genesis 45. Look what happens over here.
You know David's, I mean Joseph's brethren could not have sold
him into slavery without God's hand being in it. Look what he
said here in Genesis 45 verses 5. All his brothers stand before
him. Joseph says, come near. They
came near. And he says, now therefore be
not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you saw me here. For God
did send me. God sent me before you to preserve
life. You did. You saw me. But God
sent me here. The only reason to save your
life. And that's the way it was with Christ. God sent Christ,
sold for 30 pieces of silver to save us. Now watch what else
happened. For in these two years hath been
the famine in the land, and there are yet five years in which there
shall be neither earing nor harvest. And listen to this now. And God
sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth
and to save your lives by great deliverance. So now it was not
you that sent me here, but God has sent me here. He wouldn't
have been there if God hadn't sent him. He sent him there to
save his brother. Christ sent to save his brother. And I'll tell you what Paul had
stored in the flesh. He was a messenger of Satan.
Sent to buffet him. He said, Lord, let this thing,
take it away from me. Take it away from me. You know
what God said to him? I ain't going to do it. It won't do you
no good for me to take that away from you. You know what? It's
going to do you better leaving that thorn in your flesh because
my strength is made perfect in your witness. And I'll tell you
what, I'll do what I'm going to do for you. No matter what
happens to you, I'm going to give you grace sufficient to
get you through it. Alright, here's the second thing.
We acknowledge God's hand. And all the experiences of God's
people, when you look at them in the scripture, whether you
call them good or bad, are for our instruction and for our example.
And let me show you what I mean by that. Look over in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10. You know God, all scriptures
are written for our learning, for our instruction. But oh my,
look what Paul says over here in 1 Corinthians 10. You know,
All of our experiences with those people in the scriptures, whether
we call them bad or good, are for our instruction. They're
there for our example, just like what happened to David. That
was David said, keep me back, keep thy servant back from presumptuous
sins. You know why he prayed like that?
Because he presumed on God. He presumed on his office. He
presumed on his authority. He presumed on his power. He
presumed being the king. And he took another man's wife.
He presumed on God. He said, Lord, keep thy servant
back from presumptuous sins. And oh, look what he said here
now. This is what I'm talking about. These things are written for
our learning and our admonition. Paul said here in verse 1 of
1 Corinthians 10. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant, how that all of our fathers were
under the cloud, that cloud in the wilderness, and all passed
through the sea, that red sea, and all were baptized into Moses
in the cloud, and did all eat the same spiritual drink, but
did eat the same, did drink the spiritual meat, did all drink
the same spiritual drink. And that spiritual drink was
Christ the rock and that rock was Christ. But with many of
them God was not well pleased. What happened to them? Well they
were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples. to the intent, the reason being
that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted after
them. Don't be like them. That's what
God's saying. Don't be like them people in
the wilderness. Don't be an idolater like they were. As it is written,
the people sat down to eat and drink and got up and played.
And all don't let us commit fornication. As some of them committed and
fell in one day three and twenty thousand. You know the fornication
they're talking about? Going after strange gods. That's
what he said. And that's what he's talking
about. And then he said, neither let us tempt Christ, as some
of them also tempted, and were destroyed as serpents, when Christ
Moses lifted up that serpent in the world. Don't even murmur.
Now listen, don't murmur. As some of them also murmured,
and I destroyed them. Now listen to it. Now all these
things happened unto them for ensembles, and they are written
to admonish us. upon whom the ends of the worlds
are come. Wherefore, now listen to it,
all those people thought they were standing, God's special
people, wherefore let him that thinks he standeth take heed,
lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. That's what I love. God is faithful. And He will not suffer you to
be tempted. Above that you're able. But will
with the temptation make a way of escape. So you see God's word. When we read God's Word, you
know it's not like reading the biographies of men. I quit reading
men's biographies. When you read, I read Spurge's
biography, I read Whitfield's biography, I read John Newton's
biography, I read all these biographies. And when I read them, I get to
thinking, man, I'm the sorriest fella that ever lived. These
guys didn't do nothing wrong. And you read their diaries? They
got up and said, oh, I prayed till 3 o'clock this morning.
Laid my gloves out in case the Lord called me. I had everything
ready to go. And I mean, these fellas didn't do nothing wrong.
Perfect. I mean, that's spiritual giants. But God's Word is not like men's
biographies. God reveals His people as they
really are. He reveals them just like they
really are. You know, He reveals the good of His saints and also
the bad of His saints, the ugliness in their saints. And I tell you
what, He does this, and when these people are portrayed in
the Scriptures, they're portrayed as they are, sinners saved by
grace and grace alone. looking to Christ and Christ
alone. In God's Word, we're taken into the most intimate and personal
lives of men like Noah. You think Noah, look at him.
He moved with fear and prepared an ark to the saving of his house.
And then he got out and put an altar up and started worshiping
God. Then he had a vineyard. Next
thing you read about him, he's drunk and naked in his tent. But when you read about him in
the New Testament, all you hear about is faith. Huh? And Abraham, Abraham lied three
times about his wife. He did. He said, oh my goodness,
oh my. Glock waited and waited and waited
and waited and waited and waited and waited and God kept telling
him, I'm going to destroy this place. I'm going to destroy this
place. He wouldn't leave. And finally they went in there,
the angels did, and got him by the hand and drug him out of
sorrow. But in the New Testament, he's
called righteous law. How can he be like he was in
the Old Testament and be referred to like he is in the New? The
same way we are. By the blood and righteousness
of Christ. And then you take Aaron. Oh my. Moses up on the mountain getting
the Ten Commandments. Everybody says, listen, we don't
know where Moses is at. Aaron, what are we going to worship?
Give him your gold. Throw it in the fire and out
comes a calf. And then he was the first high
priest. Oh, and then Simon Peter. Oh
my, what a man. He denied the Lord three times.
But you know what Christ said? Feed my sheep and feed my lambs. Some of God's choice people are
seen in a very, very poor light and very, very poor character.
Some are permitted to greatly sin before meeting Christ. Saul
of Tarsus was when God smote him down on the Damascus road.
Some are permitted to sin greatly after meeting Christ. David was
and Simon Peter was. But I'll tell you one thing,
none of them, not one of them was allowed to continue in their
sin. God stopped them in their mad
careers. The consequences, oh listen,
over here, back over here in 1 Corinthians, I mean, excuse
me, 2 Samuel 12, look back over here with me. You know, God,
He will not let His people continue in sin. I mean, he'll put the
whip to him. He'll put the chastisement to
him. He'll get their attention. And I'm grateful that he does.
Oh, my goodness. Lord, draw back that era. John
Newton said one time, he said, he said, a teacup, the breaking
of a teacup or the loss of a child is how you react to them. Let
you know where you stand with God. And I know this, that if
God, if He don't save us, we won't be saved. And I mean every
day. Every day. Every day. But look what He said over here
in 2 Samuel 12. Look what He, back up there in
verse 9, look what He said here. Chapter 12. Wherefore thou hast
despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight. Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword, taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain
him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now listen to what's
going to happen today then. Now therefore the sword will
never depart from your house. You're going to have to fight
till the day you die. Because you despise me and have taken
the wife of Uriah the Hittite to wife. Thus saith the Lord
behold and listen what he said that's I'm gonna do to you I'm
gonna raise up evil against you out of your own house and he
had two sons that absolutely wreaked havoc in his home and
I'm gonna take your wives before your very eyes and I'm gonna
give them to your neighbor and They're gonna lie you a wise
in the sight of this son and then look what else God said
and said you did this secretly But I'm gonna do this thing before
all Israel and before the son So I tell you what, sin has consequences,
don't it? And I tell you what, the greater
the sin, the greater the consequences, and the greater your position.
Now you don't think other people committed adultery in those days?
They took that woman taking in adultery in John 8. Other people
committed adultery. But you don't hear about them,
you don't read about what happened to them. But you're talking about
the King of Israel. You're talking about the man
that God anointed and raised up. For somebody else to do it,
people will pay attention. But when the King does it, that man sitting on his throne,
that man in that power, that man in that position, he's going to have to pay. He
did it secretly, but God said, I'm going to make you pay publicly. And I tell you, the higher you
go, Let me give you another thing,
let me hurry on here. David's sin sets before us, listen
to me now. David's sin sets before us the
deceitfulness of the human heart. And secondly, it teaches us to
put no confidence whatsoever in the flesh. You know, Jeremiah
said this, he said, the heart is deceitful. above all things
and desperately weak. Oh my, it teaches us the deceitfulness
of the human heart, what David did, and teaches us absolutely
put no confidence in the flesh. He that trusted his own heart
is a fool. David's fall came after he was
called a father in Israel. He had walked with God for many,
many, many years. Endured lots and lots of trials,
won lots and lots of battles. They said, David slew his 10,000,
saw his thousands. Written lots of Psalms up to
this time. He is a man after God's own heart. But yet when he fell, what a
fall, what a fall. Why? Because the heart is deceitful
above all things. And after this happened, I guarantee
you, David never put any more confidence in his flesh. And
I tell you what, when God teaches you your heart, you don't put
any confidence in his flesh. That was born of the flesh is
going to remain flesh until God calls us home. Paul said, Oh,
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For when I would do good, evil
is present with me. What I hate, I do. And what I
love, I don't do. I have the will to perform. I have the will to do. But how to perform, I don't know
how. We got the will, we want to,
but how in the world do we perform perfect submission to Christ?
How do we perform conformity completely to the Word of God?
We got it in our hearts to do it, but how do we do it? We got
it in our hearts to hate this flesh and not never, never give
it any weight, but how in the world to perform keeping this
flesh beat down? I don't know. I know it's in
us to do it. Oh my! And that's why, you know,
Paul said, we put no confidence. We are those that rejoice in
Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Christ is our only
confidence. Look in Psalm 118 with me. Look
in Psalm 118. It's been so long since I've
been here. I may preach a little wrong tonight. I don't know. Look here in verse 8 and 9 of
Psalm 118. Look in verse 8 and 9. It's better
to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Amen? And it's better to put
trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes or presidents
or anybody else. Yeah, yeah. And we're quick. Oh, how fast we are to notice
the flaw in somebody else's character. And so, so slow to recognize
the sin in ourselves. And we'd all, by God's grace,
be wise to recognize and acknowledge that every one of us partake
and stand, and continue to stand, and will only continue to stand
by the grace of God and by the power of Christ. That's the only
way we're still standing. That's the way we did stand,
that's the way we do stand, and that's the way we will continue
standing. By the grace of God and His power. That's the only
way. Paul said, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. Tell you, here's the fourth thing.
I hope I'm not taking too long, but here's the fourth thing.
When we see David's sin, it reveals the grace of God in Christ to the chief of sinners.
What would David been if it hadn't been for Christ and the grace
of God? What would have happened to him? And David's sin reveals
the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ to the chiefest
of sinners. Now you look back over here in
2 Samuel 12 and look what happens to David. You know David told him the story
about the lamb. Look here in verse 1. The Lord
sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him and said unto him,
There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had many flocks and herds, but the poor man had
nothing, just one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and
nourished up. And he grew up together with
him and with his children, and did eat of his own meat, and
drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosoms once unto him as
a daughter. And there came a traveler unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock 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
to come. Now watch what happens. 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, because he had no pity. Watch it. Nathan said to
David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I anointed thee the king over Israel, and delivered thee out
of the hand of Saul, gave thee thy master's wife, gave you everything
that you could have possibly wanted. But you know what David
said about himself? Look down in verse 3 now. We
read all this other before. And this is what David said in
verse 13. Excuse me. What David did, he judged himself. He judged himself. And David
said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan
said unto David, the Lord hath also put away thy sin. Thou shalt
not die. You see, David's sin reveals
the grace of God in Christ to the chief of sinners. David judged
himself when Nathan told him he was a man. And I believe that the 51st Psalm
was written after this experience here. I believe it's written
after this experience. And you know, the Lord hath put
away thy sin. You know what good news that
was to David's heart? That's good news to my heart,
ain't you? When I find out Christ put away
my sin, all my sin. Blessed is the man whose sins
are covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputes not iniquity. But now listen to me now. Yet
sin is not put away or forgiven because we confess it, we acknowledge
it, or even grieve over it. Sin can only be put away by perfect
sacrifice that satisfies God. Oh my, that's the only way it
can be. He by Himself put away our sin
once in the end of the world by the sacrifice of Himself. David judged himself and confessed
his sin and justified God in what he did. You're clear when
you judge me, he told God in Psalm 51. But God cannot overlook
sin. God cannot pass over sin. And
God can't forgive sin unless there's a shedding of blood.
Unless there's a sacrifice that honors God and upholds His justice
and upholds His righteousness and upholds His honor. Huh? That's why He said, look unto
Me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved. Why? I'm a just
God. But I'm also a Savior. It was a just God who sent the
flood. But it was a Savior that had
an ark. It was a just God that put Christ
on the cross. But it was a Savior who put Him
up there too. And God now can look at us And
since Christ died, since Christ satisfied God, since Christ put
away sin, God can now justly forgive all for whom Christ died. And that's why David's sin was
put away. Not because he confessed it, not because he grieved over
it. Oh my! God saves and forgives by Christ,
by His sacrifice, and by everything that He did. and bless His holy
name. And David's sin teaches us this,
last of all, that salvation is by grace and by covenant and
none for whom Christ died shall ever perish. Look over here in
chapter 23 and verse 5 and I'll close with this. David said,
there's plenty of mercy with thee thou will give grace and
hope. Look in verse 5, 2 Samuel 23,
5. Salvation, it teaches us salvation
is by grace and by covenant. Although my house be not so with
God, Absalom and Amnon and others, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered it all. That is sure. This is all my
salvation and all my desire. Though He make it not to grow
in my house." Oh my. You see Christ? Gotta have Him,
don't we? That's what James said after
every service. You know, he said, we gotta have Him, don't we?
We do. We have to have Him. We have to have Him. Our Father, blessed be Your name
for letting us meet here tonight. for letting us to rejoice in
your blessed son, learn lessons from your precious word. Bring
us again to where we're utterly and absolutely dependent on Christ
and lean all our weight on him, put all our help on him, and
he's all our strength. Oh God, to cast ourselves on
him and him alone. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for your saints. Keep them and preserve them.
Keep them as they go in, keep them as they come out. Keep them
in their getting up and keep them in their going down. We
ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.