Now every believer is constantly
learning about two opposites. We're constantly learning more
of our sin, and we're learning more of God's grace and mercy
to us. Those two opposites. We're always
learning more of the darkness of my sin. I'm not talking about
sin in general this morning. I'm talking about my sin. I'm
learning more about the darkness of my sin. the filth and the
guilt of my nature, the punishment that I deserve. At the same time,
I'm learning more of the fullness and the sweetness and the sufficiency
of God's grace. We're constantly learning more
of how undeserving I am of God's grace, how dependent we are upon
God's grace. And how full and rich his grace
really is. That's what David's going to
learn in our text this morning in 2 Samuel 12. But now these
things were written for our learning. This just didn't happen for David's
learning. These things are written for
our learning. So let's look at it, see if we can't learn a little
something here. And the lesson actually begins
with the last sentence in chapter 11. But the thing that David
had done displeased the Lord. 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
nursed up, and they grew up together with him and with his children.
They did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and
lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. Then 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 he 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. 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. And 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. 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 hast taken
his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword
of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the swords shall
never depart from thine house. because thou hast despised me,
and hast 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,
and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives
in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly, but
I will do this thing before Israel and before the sun. 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. How be it? 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 Nathan comes to David with a personal message. Thou
art the man. He's not talking about sin in
general. You are the man. And every week, I want to preach
a personal message to your hearts. I pray that God would give us
a receptive heart and make the message personal. Earlene and
I were talking before the service about, you know, there's times
the Lord just sends a message to you. That's what this is. The Lord sent Nathan with a message,
a personal message. And our attitude should be, when
we come to the worship service, not, well, you know, so and so,
I hope they heard this message, you know, I hope Mike heard that
message, or, you know, Adam, he sure didn't hear that message.
That ought not be our attitude. Our attitude should be, this
is the message that the Lord has sent for me this morning.
What does the Lord have for me this morning? Not just somebody
else, what does he have for me this morning? And when we talk
about sin, We should not be caught saying, well, they are sinners.
And there is them and us. There's no doubt about that.
But we shouldn't be talking about them out there. They're sinners.
Really, we shouldn't even be talking, we are sinners. The problem is me. What I ought
to be talking about is, I'm the sinner. I am sin. I'm the one
who sinned against the Lord. I can't apply the good news of
the gospel to myself. until I apply the truth of sin
to myself. This is a personal message. And
I want each of us to understand, you're the man. You are the woman. You're the young man. You're
the young woman. Just put your name in here, Frank. You're the
man. Now, I'm the man. What I am and
what I have done deserves God's punishment. And I say to believers,
Don't get too comfortable with sin. Now, just because we know
sin has been put away under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't get too comfortable with sin. In our text, months had
passed since Uriah had been buried. Months had passed since David
married Bathsheba. Nothing happened to her. She
had a relatively normal pregnancy. The baby's born. But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord. God's people fall into sin. Believers, God will allow his
children to fall into sin, but he won't allow them to remain
there. Look over Psalm chapter 50. Psalm 50. We'll fall into
sin, but God won't allow us to stay there. And like David's experience,
that can be a painful experience. In verse 21 of Psalm 50, these
things hast thou done. And I kept silence. You know,
it might have appeared to you right at first you got away with
it, because I kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one as thyself, but I will reprove thee and set them in
order before thine eyes. You may fall into sin, but God
won't allow you to stay there. And during this period, eight
or nine months probably, David's heart was out of tune. Things,
it just wasn't right. And he may not have known why
until God sent him a messenger. I bet he didn't know why until
God sent him a messenger. You'll notice David didn't send
for Nathan, did he? God sent Nathan to David. And
God does the same thing today. He sends his servants to his
people with a personal message of the gospel. And I have five
points about this personal message of the gospel that we see in
this text. And the first was this, the message of the gospel
reveals the true nature of sin. You know, the problem started
when David was not doing what he's supposed to be doing. He
should have been out there with the army and he wasn't. He stayed
at home and that's when he saw Bathsheba bathing. But, you know,
Bathsheba's not just out there taking a leisurely bath. You
know, Jan likes to take a hot bath at the end of the day, you
know, loosen up her muscles and stuff. That's not what Bathsheba
was doing. This is a ritual cleansing that's required by the law after
her monthly cycle. David took something that was
holy. David took something that was required by the law and perverted
it into something sinful. That's the nature of sin. We
take something that's even holy and turn it into sin. We're so
consumed with self that we just do what makes us feel good for
the moment. Or we just do whatever will improve
my situation for right now regardless of who it hurts or regardless
of whether it's right or wrong. We just do it because it's just
our nature. You just can't even help yourself.
It's my nature to sin and not even realize I did it. Just like
you can't stop a simple thought from flying through your mind,
you think, where did that come from? From the nature of sin
that we're born with. That's our nature. And the gospel
reveals that nature of sin that's in us. Second, the gospel message
reveals the effect of my sin. The effect of my sin. First of
all, sin hardens the heart. You know, David didn't seem to
have any hesitation to commit adultery with Bathsheba. He doesn't
seem to have any hesitation. He doesn't seem to have any remorse
for killing Uriah because his heart was so hardened. David's
heart is hardened. He's so set in his sin and he's
set in his rebellion. But I bet you this, during these
months that passed, I bet David didn't miss one service. Not
one. He's on the front row. But his
heart's hardened by sin. Just the heart is set on self.
Secondly, sin blinds us to our sin, but not the sins of others. David sure could see the sin
of that man in that parable, couldn't he? But he never saw
the resemblance to himself. He didn't see his own sin. And
we're the same way. We see the sin in everybody else. It's easy to see the sin in everybody
else. We're not so quick to recognize
the sin. and this old boy. Third, sin makes us a harsh legalist. Now death was not the sentence
for this crime, for stealing this man's lamb and killing it
and offering it, you know, as a meal to this traveler. Death
is not the sentence for that crime. Restoring the lamb fourfold
is, but death is not the sentence for that. But David is willing,
he's so full of self-righteousness, he's willing to go further in
his punishment than God's law does. Sin makes us a self-righteous
legalist. It's a bad sign when someone
is so harsh on others all the time. That's a bad sign. Sin
makes us a legalist. Fourth, sin does not make us
thankful. Here the Lord told David. He
said, David, I made you king. I gave you your master's house.
I gave you all these wives. And if that wasn't enough, I
would have given you more. But David's not thankful. God has blessed David with some
temporal blessings, some spiritual blessings, but David's not thankful.
He still wants more, and he doesn't care who he hurts to get it.
He'll do anything to get it. Except ask God for it. Except
ask God for it. Sin makes us not thankful. Fifth,
sin makes us the enemy of God. And it gives cause to the enemies
of God to blaspheme His holy name. David, King David, the
lion of the tribe of Judah, helped the Ammonites in battle against
Israel. I mean, can you imagine? That's
what sin does to us. Makes us the enemy of God. We
act so selfishly. We just think, I'm going to get
my way. This is what I want to do. And
I'm going to do it come hell or high water. Well, people are
watching you. You just don't do things in the
closet. And people watch. And they say,
well, he must not have very powerful God. All this doctrine. He claims
to believe all this. He's spouting all the time. He's
going to church every Sunday and every Wednesday and every
special service. Didn't do him any good. Causes
people, enemies of God, to blaspheme his holy name. And sixth, sin
brings Somebody has to die. There's
been sin. Somebody must die. The law requires
death for sin. And this baby is going to die
because of David's sin. And that's the reason, the very
reason we die, because of the sin of our father Adam. Every
time we go to a funeral and we see a loved one laying there
in the casket, we see the result of sin. That's the result of
sin. Sin, when it's finished, bringeth
forth death. And that's what my sin deserves.
Not just physical death, but eternal death. Sin brings forth
death. And the Gospel message reveals
the effect of my sin. It doesn't gloss over the effect
of sin. Third, only the Gospel will produce
true conviction of sin. If you give me long enough, I
can make you feel a little sorry for what you've done. Only the
gospel. Only the gospel and the power
of the Holy Spirit can produce real conviction of sin. And listen,
a hint won't get the job done. It just won't get the job done.
You know, what I do at work and deal with people that have bad
debt, I've learned this. A hint won't get the job done.
And they get real offended. I'm thinking, Who should the
offended person be here? You know, you wrote us a $25,000
bad check. Why do I got to beat around the
bush? You're supposed to pay that back. And that's just human
nature. A hint won't get the job done.
I tell you, when a person gets mad when they hear the gospel,
when that preacher is crystal clear, thou art the man, that's
when he gets mad. Oh, we have to be clear. I'm
a sinner. You are a sinner. And nothing,
we're not preaching the gospel if we're not clear on that point. Now, as long as I can remember,
I've told you this before, as long as I can remember, I believed
in total depravity. But what that meant in my unregenerate
mind was you all were sinners. Everybody else is a sinner. And
you know, it's easy to believe that every son of Adam is a sinner.
Just turn on the six o'clock news tonight. I mean, just read
the paper. Just a cursory glance at it will
tell you this world is full of people who are sinners. But now
it's another matter altogether. First of all, to realize my loved
ones are sinners. My loved ones. When Jan was teaching
her class, three, four and five year olds, she always wanted
to drive this point home. Now, we're sinners. All of us
are sinners. You know, without scaring them,
she wants to teach them. It's very important to teach
them, you're a sinner. So she'd tell them, we're all
sinners. And then she'd ask them a question. She'd say, is your
mom and dad a sinner? And she'd start shaking her head,
and they're going, well, is Miss Janet a sinner? And she's shaking
her head. Well, then she'd get to the,
you know, is Henry a sinner? Well, they're pretty sure about
this one. And eventually, Miss Janet could
teach them, Miss Janet's a sinner. You know, it's one thing to believe
everybody's a sinner out there. It's something else to believe
those people that we love are sinners. One thing Miss Janet
could never teach them, thou art the man. Only the Holy Spirit
can teach a person that. Thou art the man. The Holy Spirit
took Nathan's message and convicted David of sin. struck him in his
heart to where he said, I've sinned against the Lord. It was
so obvious to him, he convicted him of sin. And what David's
saying here is he deserved to die. Earlier, he pronounced his
own death sentence. When he said, surely that man
in that parable is going to die, David was pronouncing his own
death sentence. He just didn't realize it until now. Now that
he's convicted of sin, he realizes, I deserve to die. This is my
sentence and now David can cry with the public and God be merciful
to me the sinner. Now conviction of sin is bitter. It's a bitter experience. But it's constant bitterness
that the believer eats after conversion. Before the Lord saved
you never had a problem with that. But now you do. It's constant
bitter herbs. Conviction of sin is bitter.
But it's good for us. Now it's good for us before God
saves anyone. That person must see themselves
in the light of who God is. And that's not a pleasant experience.
It's an ugly, awful picture. It's an awful, very disturbing
way to see yourself. But it's a true reflection of
who we are. Before there's forgiveness of
sin. There must be conviction of sin, and that's revealed in
the gospel. Fourth, only the gospel will
produce true confession of sin. David said, I've sinned against
the Lord. Look over Psalm 51. This is one
of the Psalms that David wrote immediately following this experience. True confession of sin in Psalm
51. Verse 3, he says, For I acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me, against thee. Thee only have I sinned, and
done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now, David's not saying that
as an excuse for his sin. What he's doing is he's taking
sides with God against himself. He's confessing sin. He's confessing
original sin. That's the way I was born. That's
what the nature I received from my father's Adam. And he's confessing
all his other sins that flow from that root. He's confessing
his sin, but he's also confessing original sin. And this confession
of sin is before God. He's the one we've sinned against.
Both in Adam and our nature. He's the one we've sinned against.
Now our sin has harmed others, hasn't it? David's sin did. It
harmed Uriah. It harmed Bathsheba. It harmed
Joab. It harmed those other soldiers
that were killed, you know, when they had to go out there and
get Uriah put in the hottest part of the battle. Those men
that died and their families, they suffered. All Israel suffered.
But our sin is against the Lord. It's harmed others, but our sin
is against the Lord. And the new man does not say,
well now I'm not that bad. The flesh says that, but not
the new man. Because the new man is born with
eyes that see. And he sees at least some of
the evil sin nature that we have. And true confession of sin can
only happen by the Holy Ghost moving in mercy and grace. And
he does it through the preaching of the gospel. So the gospel
reveals the nature of sin. It reveals the effect of sin.
And the power of the Holy Spirit, it will produce conviction of
sin and confession of sin. And fifth, and I wanted to rush
to get to this point, the gospel reveals the forgiveness of sins.
Oh, the forgiveness of sins. Nathan says, David, it's true.
You've sinned against the Lord. You'll notice Nathan didn't tell
David, well, now it's all right. No, it's not all right. It's
true. You sinned against the Lord, but you shall not die,
because that same Lord has put away your sin." Now, all of God's
Word is precious, but this has to be one of the sweetest statements
in all the Holy Scriptures. Thou shalt not die. The Lord
has put away your sin. Well, now, how is sin put away?
Well, I know this. It must be done in justice. Whatever
God does must be done in righteousness and justice. God can't overlook
sin. He's not going to put away your
sin just by throwing it out like you take the trash out, you know,
and you put it out. No. Sin must be paid for. And sin is paid for. Sin is put
away by God taking sin away from the sinner and imputing it to
his son. And his son took it away. put it away to the sacrifice
of himself. That's the only way that sin
can be put away. That's the only way a sinner
shall not die, is if the Lord Jesus Christ died in your place.
If he died in your place, you shall not die. Your sin has been
put away. Now, John pointed this out last
week. He always, he frequently does
this. He says something right up here
while we're getting done. I think, oh, I wish I'd have
said that. So now I'm going to say it. Uriah was innocent. David was guilty. The innocent
died. The guilty lived. That gives
hope to a guilty sinner. The guilty lived. God Almighty
made the innocent. Made His precious Son. He's holy. Righteous. He's undefiled. He
was obedient in every point. And He made Him guilty of the
sins of His people and He punished Him with death. He fully took
out all of his wrath for those sins upon his son and put him
to death so that the guilty could be made innocent and live eternally. He had made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He died just for the unjust that
he might bring us to God. He had put away your sins Now
I looked up this phrase, put away, and it had many meanings.
I'm going to give you three of them. First, put away. It means taken away. The sin of God's elect is taken
away, is put away, just like the scapegoat took away the sins
of Israel, he bore them out into the wilderness, and he was never
seen again. The Father took the sins of his
people, took those sins off his people, And he laid those sins
on his son at Calvary. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our
substitute, bore those sins away. He took them away. And we'll
never see them again. He separated our sins from us
as far as the east is from the west. They'll never be seen again.
And the only way that's possible is through the death of a substitute. He must die. And that brings
me to the second meaning of put away. It means Passover. Passover. Well, it's only possible
for a holy God to pass over our sins through the blood of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. I'll pass over you because the
blood of God's Son blotted out the sins of His people. So God
can pass over them in judgment. But now, how completely? Has
Christ taken away the sins of his people? How completely? Are
they gone? Are they really gone? Is the stain completely removed?
Completely. Totally gone. The third meaning
of this word, this phrase, put away, is banished. Banished. The old writers talk about it
in these terms, unsinned. God has unsinned his people. Not made like you don't have
any sin. Made without sin. Not made without sin someday.
Made without sin. Unsinned right now. Those sins
have vanished under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if not, God wouldn't have anything to do with us. God will not have
anything to do with a sinner. except send them to hell. That's
an injustice. That's the only way he'll deal with them. God
can deal with us, accept us into his very throne room because
his Son has unsinned his people. Those sins are banished. The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. All sin. Both the guilt of it,
the punishment of it, and the stain of it is gone. Now, King
David And King Saul, both failed, didn't they? They both rebelled
and failed. One was rejected, the other forgiven. They both should have been rejected.
They both should have been killed. One was killed. One lived. What's the difference? God's
distinguishing grace. That's the only difference. There
is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Sin doesn't
make you thankful. Grace makes a person thankful. Mike prayed for a thankful heart.
Oh, we should have a thankful heart. God's grace makes a person
thankful. But now, believers still sin.
We still sin, just like David. And many times, I know, I think
this, and we even say this, I feel so guilty, I'm so ashamed, I'm
so wretched. I'm so ashamed of myself. I feel
so awful. I understand. That's the way you feel. But
in Christ, you are not guilty. Not guilty. Now this is a personal
message again. The Lord has put away your sin,
Bob. Your sin. And you shall not die. That's the personal message that
we have of God's grace for His people. The believer's sin is
forgiven. And this is where we're going
to jump off into our lesson next week. Our sin is forgiven. But now, there's still ramifications
for our sin. Now, the Lord will never punish
His people for their sins because He punished His Son as a substitute
for us. So he won't punish us for our
sins, but now he'll chase them. He'll correct his people for
their sins. And if you don't believe me, I got a little scientific
experiment for you. This afternoon, drive down Winchester
Avenue about 100 miles an hour and just see if the Lord gets
you out of that ticket. And nothing will happen. It just won't. There's
ramifications for our sins, for our actions. But here's comfort
for the believer. The Lord overrules. Even the
sin of men. David sinned. There's no excuse
for it. There's no making it good. There's
no making it right. David sinned. But God's still
sovereign. In this matter, David's sin did
not throw off God's purpose. God used it to accomplish his
eternal purpose. Not only will Solomon come out
of this union of David and Bathsheba, So will the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Savior himself is going to descend from this union between
David and Bathsheba. And he came through that union,
identifying with the people that he came to save. Adulterers,
murderers, those who lust in their heart. He came to save
sinners who shall not die because their sin has been put away.
under the blood of this sacrifice. Well, I hope the Lord blessed
that word to your heart.