We are so thankful, so very thankful
God brought you into our lives, and he's given us such a blessed
relationship with one another these past 35, 36 years. So very, very thankful. Thank
you for your kindness, love, every expression of it to us,
your generosity, not only to me, but to the cause of Christ
in general. I thank you for it. I believe
God's given me a message for you. Turn with me to the book
of 2 Samuel. God's servant, David, was a remarkable
man. A man of remarkable character.
Grace had made him a man of integrity, principle, and remarkable courage
in the calls of God's honor. He was a humble man. a believing
man, a faithful man. David was a holy man, a righteous
man who lived in godliness. He stood head and shoulders above
his peers in the day in which he lived. The Lord God himself
tells us that David was such a man as I have described. He
was no better than any other man by nature. He was a sinful,
wretched, vile man just like you and I by nature. But grace
had made him a new creature. God, by his grace, had given
him a new nature, a new heart, a new will. Grace had made David
a man who walked with God, such a man that God himself says,
I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart,
which shall fulfill all my will. David, a man after my own heart,
who shall fulfill all my will. This man David was chosen of
God, redeemed by Christ, born again and called by God the Holy
Spirit. A righteous man, greatly, mightily
used of God in his generation. Oh, how David was used of God. When David left this world and
God gives record of David's life, he mentions only three things
about David's entire life that were disappointments. That's
a remarkable man. That's a remarkable man. David
was the man through whom Christ came into this world. Our Lord
Jesus is called after the flesh, the son of David. He's the son
of David. He came into this world, God
ordained and fixed it so that when our Lord Jesus came into
this world, he came through David's loins as a man. Yes, he was a
remarkable, truly remarkable man. But how is David remembered? What do you think of when you
hear the name of David, king of Israel? For most people, for
most of you, I suspect the first thought that comes to mind when
David's name is mentioned is adultery and murder. This man, David, took another
man's wife. And in order to cover his sin,
he had that man murdered. And then he took his wife Bathsheba
to be his own wife. And this is written in the scriptures.
Plainly written in the scriptures without any excuse given. Without any extenuating circumstances
listed that might somehow mitigate David's evil deeds. It's written
in the scriptures, as we're told in Romans 15 in verse 4, for
our learning and our admonition that we, through patience and
comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. So I want this morning
to talk to you in very plain terms about David, his sin and
his righteousness. 2nd Samuel chapter 11 verse 26 2nd Samuel 11 verse 26 Just hold your Bibles open right
here. We'll stay right here in this passage When the wife of Uriah heard
that Uriah her husband was dead She mourned for her husband And
when the morning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house,
and she became his wife and bare him a son. But the thing that
David had done displeased the Lord." The thing that David had
done displeased the Lord. Note exactly what God the Holy
Spirit says here. He does not say, David displeased
the Lord. Well, Brother John, that's to
be taken for granted. If the thing David did displeased
the Lord, surely David displeased the Lord. David's act displeased
the Lord. David's conduct displeased the
Lord. David's behavior displeased the
Lord. The thing that David did displeased
the Lord. But David was accepted in Christ
the Lord, the beloved, before ever David came into this world.
And David is always accepted in Christ the beloved. That acceptance,
God's smile, God's approval, God's acceptance of his elect
does not vary by what we do or how we behave or how we think
or how we feel. Our acceptance with the Lord,
our acceptance with the Holy God was done from eternity in
the person and work of Christ our surety, the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world so that in Him we were justified
and sanctified and glorified, accepted in the beloved once
and for all with finality so that God is always pleased with
His people in His Son. My soul if you can get that if
you can get that I've said enough God is always pleased with his
people in his son Though we often do things that displease God
and he shows it when we do He shows it when we do. All right,
keep your Bibles open here and we'll look at 2nd Samuel chapter
12. I This chapter was not written to sully the name of God's servant
David. It wasn't written to teach us
what a bad man David was, but rather to teach us both to be
aware of our own sinfulness and to adore God's marvelous, immutable
grace. Once David had committed his
horrible crimes, adultery and murder, God left him alone. Do you know what that's like?
God left him alone. God left him alone for at least
nine long months. For at least that, a little longer,
God left him alone. God didn't speak to David, and
God wouldn't let David speak to him. He appeared to frown upon him.
He appeared to turn his back on him. He appeared to have nothing
to do with it. He wouldn't speak to David, and
he wouldn't let David speak to him. For nine long months or
more, God left David to seethe in his sin. His heart was out
of tune. His heart was empty. His soul
was as a dead man. He wrote no psalms, penned no
psalms. The sweet singer of Israel who
wrote a psalm just all the time, just takes his pen down to write
a psalm. He wrote no psalms for over nine long months. For nine months, his conscience
tormented him. He put it this way. He said,
when I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring
all the day long, for day and night thy hand was heavy upon
me. God's hand was heavy on him.
I can imagine the things that David experienced. How many nights
he must have gone to bed and tried to sleep. And all he could
see was the face of his faithful friend and servant, Uriah, staring
at him. He shut his eyes and tried to
push Uriah out of his mind, but he couldn't do it. For nine months,
God left him alone. Like a tree in winter time, the
root of the matter, the life was in the root of the tree.
But the sap was just there in the root. The tree appeared to
be dead. You look at David, walk with
David, listen to David. You'd hear David speak and you'd
think he was surely a man without the knowledge of God. A heart
cold and empty. And David would himself tell
you that he was a man who was forsaken of God. And then after
nine long months of barrenness, desolation, isolation from the
Lord his God, after nine months without hearing from God or being
heard by God, God stepped into David's life in mercy. Look at
verse one, chapter 12. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David. What mercy? The thing David did displeased
the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David. As we look at this man David,
this man after God's own heart, this righteous, sanctified, holy
man, I want us to learn seven things Seven things very clearly
set before us in this 12th chapter of 2 Samuel. And I pray God the
Holy Spirit will inscribe them on our hearts with the finger
of his grace as only he can. Number one, as I said to you
in the opening statement last night, This book is without question
the word of God. I make no effort to try to prove
that to unbelieving people. That's like trying to prove creation
to a fellow who doesn't believe God. You can argue all the scientific
data you want to, he's not going to change his mind. If you could
convince him creation is so and evolution is a joke, he still
wouldn't believe God. That's not going to help anything.
And it's not going to help anything to argue with folks about whether
or not the Bible is inspired. That doesn't help anybody at
all. You're not going to help them in it. The only thing that
helps folks is to preach the gospel to them. If God doesn't
save them, you're not going to change them by getting them to
change their minds. But for you who believe, Look for those sweet
things God gives us by which he confirms his testimony in
our own souls and experience. Without question, this book is
God's word. Let me give you a clear example
from our text this morning. One of the greatest evidences
that this book is inspired of God, it's of divine origin, is
the fact that this book Speaks of God's most eminent saints
in this world with honesty With absolute honesty now My friend
by the way, Chris, been a friend for a long time. If he were to
write a biography of me, and he did just a little bit of research,
he doesn't know anything. He doesn't know anything at all
about these things, but if he did just a little bit of research,
he could find a few things that weren't so admirable about Dodd-Fortner. But he wouldn't say anything
about it. If he did, he'd find an excuse for it. Because he's
my friend. He's my friend. That's the way
we deal with friends. Love covers sin. So the book
of Proverbs said. Love covers it. Love doesn't
expose it. But here we have the description
God gives of the life of a man, David, who's a man after God's
own heart. And he deals with that which
is David's most abhorrent behavior in greater length than he does
anything else about David. And gives no excuse for it. No
extenuating circumstance. I have read a good many commentaries,
and heard a good many sermons, and read what folks say about
it. And they say, well, David's to be blamed, but Bathsheba's
got to bear her fault. God didn't say so. All God talked
about is David's fault, David's evil, David's crime, David's
plotting, David's sin. You have the book of God speak
about a man named Noah, God's servant Noah. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. One man on the earth who walked
and feared God in a day when nobody else did. And that wasn't
a day when the world just had, oh, two or 300 people in it.
There's pretty good evidence that the world was as heavily
populated in Noah's day as it is today. And there was just
one man who walked in the world who found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Just one man. Just one man whom God Almighty
used as his witness in that generation and preached condemnation in
that generation. Noah and Noah alone is ordered of God to build
the ark. And Noah building the ark by faith saved his family. Eight souls preserved from the
flood. And Noah comes out of the ark.
And the first thing you find Noah is in a drunken stupor. Fine shape for a man who found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Defiled by one of his sons, Abraham,
the friend of God. Only man in this book described
that way. Abraham, the friend of God. Abraham, in a time of
weakness, told his wife Sarah, you tell Abimelech you're my
sister. He lied to Abimelech and subjected
Sarah to adultery to protect himself. Abraham, friend of God. Moses, oh, I'd like to be a man
like Moses. The meekest man who ever lived
and that made him the strongest. the meekest man who had ever
lived on the earth until his day. That made him the strongest,
boldest, most courageous man who had ever lived up to his
day. And one day, God told Noah to
speak to the rock, Jesus Christ, our crucified Redeemer, out of
whom comes the water of life. And Noah, in a fit of anger,
takes his rod and smites the rock. angry at God and smote
his son. So Noah didn't know what he was
doing. Oh, Noah knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly
what he was doing. Because he smote that rock that
typified the Lord Jesus, when God said, speak to it, God said,
no, you can't take my people into the land. Aaron, Aaron was
the first high priest in Israel. Noah's spokesman, the man God
appointed by whom Israel was led in the worship of God, the
man who offered the Passover lamb on the altar and offered
the blood on the mercy seat. Aaron, Aaron, oh, that man. that
man who wore that gorgeous apparel of the priesthood that man who
made intercession for Israel and on the basis of the intercession
he made and the blood on the mercy seat typifying the sacrifice
and intercession of Christ Aaron came out and like the Lord Jesus
himself lifted his hands over the Israel and blessed the people
in the name of God because he was a type of the Redeemer on
one occasion Aaron gave way to the will of the people and made
a golden calf, and called for the children of Israel to come
make a feast to the Lord, and said, behold, here's your God. David. Peter. Let folks say what they want
to about Peter. I'd like to be half the man he was. A chosen
apostle, a faithful man, a faithful man. But three times in one night,
he denied and denied and then cussed and denied the Lord Jesus
in one dark, dark night. The Apostle Paul, oh, that mightily
used apostle, that man who wrote so much of the New Testament,
that man used of God to clearly identify the things of God for
us in the epistles of the New Testament. After he had written
to the Galatians Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made you free after he had written to the Galatians Don't
be entangled with the yoke of bondage After he had confronted
Peter over Peter leading folks back to the law in his act of
dissimulation at Antioch After he had written Colossians and
said don't you pay any attention folks who tell you to observe
holy days? Don't you be be brought back under the rudiments of this
world in obedience to law service. Don't don't do it But he went
back to Jerusalem and James said, now Paul, we've got some brethren
here who they still think we ought to be keeping the law.
And you know, you ought to be nice to them. You ought to at
least be conciliatory to them. And they'd like it a whole lot
if you'd shave your head and act like you were a Jew and put
yourself under a vow as a Jew. And I can just picture Paul. I've been there a few times.
Well, shoot. What's the use? Nobody paid any
attention to anything I said. He shaved his head and takes
a Jewish vow. All of those horribly evil acts
are recorded in the book of God about the most imminent, faithful,
useful servants of God mentioned in the book. Why? to teach us that God's saints
in this world are sinners still. Don't you forget it. Not for a moment. I never thought,
I never thought before God saved me that if a man's saved, he'd
have sin eradicated from him. I never dreamed such a thing,
never dreamed such a thing. But I really did think, I really
did think that once a person's saved, he doesn't have too much
trouble with sin anymore. Until I woke up one day and found
that raging monster in my heart burning with all the lust ever
I had known. And the lust have never ceased
to burn. The corruptions have never ceased
to swell. The vileness has never waned in the least. Not in the
least. God's people in this world are
sinners still. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. These things are
written to teach us that salvation is by the grace of God alone. In his planning, in his purchase,
in his performance, in his preservation, in his perfection, in his praise,
salvation is God's work. There's no place, Joe, where
you stick your finger in the pie. If you do, you spoil the
whole pie. And no place where man's works
get any credit or any praise. Grace chose us. Grace called
us. Grace keeps us. And when we fall,
grace restores us. If you want to, you can look
at it with me. Look in Proverbs chapter 24. Proverbs 24. The psalmist said, the steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord, all of them. All of them. And he delighteth
in his way. The good man delights in God's
way, and God delights in the way of that man who walks before
him in faith. Though he fall, though he fall,
fall he will. It doesn't say if he fall, it
says though he fall, though he fall. He shall not be utterly
cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand. And look at Proverbs 24 verse
16. A just man falleth seven times. Reckon why he said that? Why
not 70 or 700 or 70,000 or 70 million? Why seven times? Why seven times? I've fallen more than seven times
today. Why seven times? Why seven times? Because seven
is used throughout the book to speak of completion, totality,
entirety. And this is what it's saying,
Larry Chris. You fall all the time in everything with every
breath while you walk in this world. The whole of our existence
in this world is a continual falling. So that everything we
think, everything we say, everything we do is corrupt because of our
corrupt heart. You know that's so, and I know
that's so. Why we would attempt to deny
it, I can't comprehend. The just man falls in the entirety
of his life. Now watch this, and riseth up
again. But the wicked shall fall into
mischief. These things are written to teach
us that the whole of our acceptance with God is the person and work
of his Son. Christ alone is our atonement. Christ alone is our righteousness. Christ alone is our sanctification. Christ alone is our redemption. Christ alone is our holiness. Follow peace and holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. I know people say, well, you've
got to You've got to work hard, and you've got to live a holy
life, because you've got to have holiness. Without which no man
shall see the Lord. So if you pray enough, and read
your Bible enough, and sacrifice enough, and eat the right stuff,
and don't eat the other stuff, and you dress right, and you
don't cuss too often, then you'll be holy. No. That ain't it. Holiness is perfection. You've got to have holiness to
meet the Lord. And that holiness is not something
you do. That holiness is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's
the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. All right,
back at our text. The second thing we must learn
from David's sin. First, this book is God's word. Second, you and I must never
cease to be aware of our personal weakness arising from the depths
of our depravity. How often have you thought to
yourself, or said to others, I don't see how a man could do
that. I don't see how she could do that. I don't understand that. Now let me tell you what you're
really saying. Don is true of you, and of this Don too. You
see something on television, you say, I don't see how a man
could do that. What you're saying is, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. You see, we are doctrinally orthodox
and we give good lip service to what we call total depravity.
We say, oh yeah, man was ruined in the fall, he's depraved, his
heart's corrupt, he's vile, he's wretched, he drinks iniquity
like water, he only does evil continually. Everybody except
me. Everybody except me. What you
really say, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. The fact
is, There's nothing you won't do at the drop of a hat and justify
yourself in doing it if God just leaves you to yourself. Nothing. There's nothing, no evil, no
wickedness, no violence, no horrible act you would not do at the drop
of a hat and justify yourself in doing it if God just leaves
you alone. It's our pride, only our pride
that makes us think otherwise. You remember what the Lord said
to Peter and his disciples, his apostles? He said, he said, all
of you are going to forsake me. And Peter said, oh, no, we won't.
That's not what Peter said. He said, I won't. I won't. Maybe James and John,
I've always been suspicious of them, but not me. Not me. But
how do you know that's what he's talking about? Our Lord said,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Do you really love me more than
they do? And the Lord said to Peter, he
said, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both to prison and death. And he truly was. He truly was. But the Lord said to him, Peter,
before the cock crows twice, this night you're going to deny
me three times. And lest I forget to tell you
before I get done, do you remember what the Lord's next word was
to him? Do you remember what it was? Do you remember what
his next word was? John 13 verse 37, he said, for
the rooster crows in the morning are going to die three times.
Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Let us never forget the weakness,
the corruption, the depravity of our own hearts. You see, the
secret to steadfast commitment and consecration to Christ is
a genuine awareness of our personal depravity. Listen to this. I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, one living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Present
your lives, one living sacrifice, in Christ the Lord, that's holy,
acceptable to God, that's your reasonable service. And be not
conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace given
unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think. There's no consecration to Christ
if you do. No devotion, no commitment. But
rather it is our constantly recognized need of Christ that inspires
consecration and devotion to him. Think soberly, according as God
hath dealt to every man in measure of faith. That person is in grave
danger who imagines that he or she is above committing some
sin that would bring reproach upon Christ, the gospel of God's
grace, and shame to the church of God. Peter sees the Lord walking
on water, and he says, his Lord bid me to come to you. And the
Lord said, well, come on. And Peter stepped out on the
water and is walking across water. This is a man. This is not the
Lord walking to his disciples. This is a man walking to the
Lord. He's walking across water, just like I'm walking across
this platform right here. He's walking. Just walking. And suddenly, he
began to think, how come? Because he took his eyes off
the Redeemer. Oh God, let me not take my eyes
off my Redeemer, not for a moment. My only hope with God My only
acceptance with God, my only righteousness with God, my only
peace with God is Jesus Christ, my Redeemer. All right, number
three. Learn this. We are all naturally
blind to our own thoughts and far too quick to see the
thoughts of others. Look at verse one again, 2 Samuel
12. Nathan illustrated David's sin
by telling him this parable. And when he did, David was enraged.
Watch it. The Lord sent Nathan to David.
And he came to him and said to him, there were two men in one
city. One was rich, 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 brought
up and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with
his children. It did eat of his own meat and drank of his own
cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. And
there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared the take
of his own flock and his own herd to dress for the wayfaring
man that was coming to him. But it 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,
I'll kill him. I'll kill it. I'll kill it. Watch
it. He says, 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. Imagine this now. Here's David.
Here's David. Bathsheba is about to have his
baby. And Bathsheba is now living in
his house because he murdered her husband because he had taken
her in adultery. And he says, you mean somebody
took a fellow's lamb and slaughtered it and that's the only lamb he
had? Because he wouldn't give up one of his lambs? I'll kill
him. What pride, what haughtiness, what arrogance, what hardness,
what coldness must have possessed him? How quick we are to judge
others, and how slow we are to judge ourselves. How quick we
are to see faults in others, and how slow to see our own faults. How quick we are to condemn the
actions of others, and how slow we are to condemn our own. Nathan
said to David, thou art the man. There's an old Indian proverb
you've all seen. We'd be wise to pay attention
to it. Don't judge another man until you've walked a mile in
his moccasins. That's pretty good advice. That's
pretty good advice. I don't see how he can do that.
Have you ever been there? You ever lived where he lived?
You ever been through what he's been through? You ever had to
experience what he's experienced? I don't see how I could have
done that. Don't ever judge another man until you've walked a mile
in his moccasins. This is a continual prayer I
have before God. Lord, teach me. Oh God, I need this. Oh God,
teach me to be merciful, forbearing, and lenient toward my brethren.
If I have any severity, let it be directed against myself. Teach
me to forgive, overlook, cover, and excuse the weaknesses, failings,
and sins of my brethren. And teach me to be severe with
me. I'm not that way by nature. Neither are you. Only grace teaches
us such. Number four, this sad event in
David's life teaches us that we're all in need of a faithful
preacher. And the Lord sent Nathan to David. What a blessing. Blessed
is that man to whom God sends his Nathans. David was a prophet,
but he still needed a prophet. He was a king, but he still needed
a prophet. David wrote much of the book of inspiration. He wrote
most of our Psalms, but he still needed a prophet. You see, when
God has grace to convey to his elect, he sends a messenger to
speak to him on God's behalf. Him he sends. And God says, how shall they
hear without a preacher? God always sends one of his preachers
to the lost one he will save, and fixes it so at the appointed
time of love, that one he's chosen to save. Here's the voice of
his preacher. We figure out how we're going
to get folks to church. And do that. Do that. By all
means, do that. Do everything you can to get
folks to hear the gospel. But I'm going to tell you something.
It may be, it just may be that God will use you, say, I'll take
you to dinner if you come to church with me today. He just
may do that to call out one of his elect. Or he may break their
neck and cause them to hear the word. Brother Rupert Reichenbach,
most of you know, been in a hospital, and the physical therapist kept
asking him what he'd like to do. He said, I want to preach
the gospel in my pulpit one more time. And she came to him on
Monday before he checked out of the hospital. She said, if
you could preach, what would you preach? Write it out for
me. And so Rupert wrote down the outline. Later that evening,
she came back in and took it. I don't know who she had a meeting
with. And she came in Monday evening. She said, I've arranged
for you to preach in chapel here in the morning. And you can invite
anybody you want to here in the hospital or anywhere else. And
Rupert laid up in the hospital with a heart attack, about to
die, and God arranges for him to preach the gospel to folks
who would never hear it any other way. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful?
Nothing surprising about that. When God has mercy to convey,
he will cause the sinner he's chosen to cross paths with a
faithful man who will tell him the truth about God. When God
has a languishing one, he'll revive. He'll send a preacher
to him. A fallen one, he'll restore.
He sends a preacher to him. For wise, holy reasons known
only to himself. God allows, permits, ordains,
decrees, and orders the fall of his saints. I chose my words
deliberately. It doesn't happen by accident. Sometimes, He leaves us to ourselves
for a long time. But blessed be his name, he won't
leave us forever. He says to Nathan, you go to
David. And what a prophet Nathan was.
Oh, I read about these prophets and I said, God, I pray for grace
to be such a preacher. How would you like to have had
Nathan's job? Nathan? You go tell David. David, who all he has to do is
just write your name on a piece of paper and you're gone. You
go tell David. All he's got to do is look at
the right way and somebody will come take you out of here. You
go tell David. All David's got to do is just
pray and somebody will kill you. You go tell David. You tell David
what David's done. And you tell David what a shame
how he's behaved. You tell David what horrible
crime he's committed. Stick your finger right on his
heart and say, David, thou art the man. Now, I'll tell you what
Don would say. Lord, are you sure you want me
to go sit and talk to David? Now, what was it you want me
to say to David? And how am I supposed to say this? David went to David,
or Nathan went to David and spoke God's word to him faithfully.
He reminded him of all the great good things God had done for
him in verses seven and eight. He said, he said, 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. He said, I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's
wives into thy bosom. I gave thee the house of Israel
and of Judah. And if that had been too little
for thee, if that had been enough all you had to do was ask me.
I would moreover have given to thee such and such things. David,
I've done everything for you. And this is how you repay me?
He said, Nathan, you tell David this. You tell David. You tell
David his sin is not just the sin of any man. He has sinned
against the greatest mercy. He plainly exposed David's sin
for what it was, contempt and authority for God. Verse 9, wherefore
hast thou despised the commandment of God to do evil in his sight? And he frankly told David the
consequences of his sin. Verse 10. Now, therefore, the
sword shall not depart, 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.
The next chapter, we read about it. And I will take thy wives
from before thine eyes and give them to thy neighbor, and he
shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this son. Your neighbor,
your beloved son Absalom, he's going to parade your wife before
Israel and say look how I shamed my daddy For thou didst it secretly,
but I'll do this thing before Israel and before the Son The
thing David did displeased the Lord And while God would never
impute the sin to David, and God would never punish David
for the sin because David's sins punished in his substitute, God's
going to show his displeasure for it. He's going to show it
to David and to Israel and to us. And David bowed and received
the word of God. Look at this. David said to Nathan,
I've sinned against the Lord. Oh, what grace, what grace. I've sinned against the Lord.
David heard God's word. He didn't say, well, I don't
like that, I'll get me another prophet. I'm gonna go join church
somewhere else. No, no, he said, I've sinned
against the Lord. What a mark of grace, mark of
a true believer. When confronted with his sin,
he confessed it and repented of it. and bowed to God's word. People have the idea of confessing
sin. You go to a priest and you whisper
in his ear what you've done. Or you come to a priest in a
Baptist church in front of the church and whisper in his ear
what you've done. Or you tell the church what you've
done. I don't need to hear about what you've done. I'm pretty
well aware of it. I'm pretty well aware of it.
So is everybody else. What is it to confess your sin?
David said, I have sinned. Nathan, what you've been talking about,
that's me. To confess your sin is to rip
your heart open before God and hide nothing and acknowledge
what you are. No excuse. No excuse. No extenuating circumstances.
No justification. God, this is what I am. Just
sin, just sin. If we confess our sin, if we
confess our sin, he's faithful and just, faithful to his word,
faithful to his son, just because justice is satisfied in his son,
to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
David confessed his sin. Now what's the next word? What's
the next word? David said, I have sinned against
the Lord. And Nathan said, well, David,
the Lord's merciful, you know, and if you'll start acting right,
behave like you ought to, he'll forgive your sin. Is that what
it said? Is that what it said? Look at
the next word. The very next word, Nathan said
to David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin. Not he's going to, he's already
done it. He took care of it before it
ever happened. You see, God's grace is finished before the
world began. And God's grace is finished in Calvary. And God
put away our sins before ever we committed any. Thou shalt
not die. David went home. Went back to
his private chamber and wrote Psalm 32. Blessed. Oh, blessed. Oh, blessed is the man whose
sins forgiven. Wrote Psalm 51 to the praise
of our God. Here's the fifth thing. David's
fall shows us that our lives affect a lot of people and a
lot of things. None of us lives to himself. I know we live in this day, we've
been, I was raised in the me generation and now the me's have
all turned into monsters. And I do what I want to. Doesn't affect anybody, I'm a
grown man. If you do it, it affects somebody. Everybody under your
influence. I have a very dear friend, Had
a daughter and she got shackled up like a wild animal with some
man. And I said nothing about it until he came to me. She's
in church. And I took her by the hand one
day, went outside, talked to her. I've known the little girl
since she came into this world. Loved her as my own. And I said,
you're taking your daughter by the hand and showing her how
to be a whore. She deserves better. God deserves
better. Christ deserves better. This
church deserves better. Make a decision now. Make a decision
now. You can't take fire to your bosom
and not be burned. And you can't behave without
affecting everybody you influence. And the greater your position
of responsibility, the greater your influence. There's nothing
I can do as a pastor and a preacher, no evil committed that doesn't
affect hundreds of people, hundreds of people, starting with my wife,
my family, and our congregation. Everything out of character. God, forgive me, and God, keep
me. Parents, I tell my child what he ought
to do. Tell my boy what he ought to do. Show him. Show him. Folks under our influence are put under our influence by
God's providence, and they're our responsibility. Though God
didn't punish David for his sin personally, His sin, as I said,
was punished in Christ. He chastened him publicly and
to vindicate his honor and to show his displeasure with David's
sin, look at the consequences of it. This is what happened.
Verse 14, the name of God was blasphemed because of David's
sin. Verse 18, the child of David's
lust was killed because of David's sin. Verse 10, the sword never departed
from David's house. All because of this one thing.
Because of this, because of giving in to this one lust this one
time. Because of that, God's name was blasphemed. His child
was killed. And the sword never departed
from his house. All the rest of his life, David had to put
up with eminence and absolutes. All the rest of his life. So
that when he came to his deathbed, he said, my house be not so with
God. It's not like I wanted it. David
reaped the consequences of his sin and his children. Abner learned
to live by his lust. Well, she's my sister. That don't
matter. If David can take Bathsheba,
I can take her. Absalom learned to despise his father. by his father despising his God.
A hip that fell learned to betray his trusted friend by his trusted
friend betraying his trusted friend. Number six, let me hurry
to say this. Learn from this sad story in
David's life, the fact that our God is merciful and gracious
to forgive sin. The Lord also hath put away thy
sin. The Lord forgave David of his
sin. Now watch what he said. The Lord
hath put away thy sin, and thou shalt not die. This was an immediate
forgiveness. As soon as David confessed his
sin, God spoke peace to him. It was complete forgiveness.
God forgave his sin. In fact, when David spoke of
God's forgiveness, he spoke of iniquity, transgression, and
sin. And he said, thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin. He used every word he possibly
could to describe how full the forgiveness is. God's forgiveness
is complete. It's instantaneous. Blessed is the man. whom the
Lord will not impute sin. This is the strongest motive
I know of under heaven to promote devotion, godliness, consecration
to Christ. John writes in 1 John 2, My little
children, these things have I written unto you that you sin not. I
don't want you to behave like David. I don't want you to behave
like Abraham, or Moses, or Peter, or Paul, or Don, or Larry, or
anybody else in all their shameful weakness. No, don't do it. I
don't want you to behave like I have. I write these things
to you that you sin not. And if any man sin, We have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's propitiation
for our sins. If you do sin, I don't want you
to despair. When you do sin, I don't want you to take God's
change. When you do sin, I don't want
you to forget Christ. But we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. This forgiveness was
forgiveness accompanied with a promise. Nathan said to David,
thou shalt not die. You see, wherever God grants
pardon, he promises life, eternal life. But watch this. God forgave
David freely, but an innocent victim had to die. Verse 14,
how be it because this deed, by this deed thou hast given
a great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme The
child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. And it
came to pass in verse 18. Now learn this, God's grace is
free. God's grace is free. Hosea 14,
God says, I love them freely. We're justified freely by his
grace, Romans three. But it's not cheap. Grace comes
to us by the price of the blood of the innocent Holy Lamb of
God. A child of David's must die. David's son must die. If God
forgives our sin, he can only forgive our sin when justice
is satisfied. If God forgives our sin, he can
only forgive our sin by the sacrifice of one who is holy and righteous. When Christ, the Holy One, who
knew no sin, was made sin for us, God drew out his sword and
smote the shepherd to the full satisfying of justice. And now,
God forgives our sin through Christ the Lord. And this one
who died in David's stead because of David's sin. David had great
comfort in his heart at the hope of being reunited one day soon
with this child that died in his place. Look at verse 23. And now he's dead. Wherefore
should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I'll
go to him, but he shall not return to me. There's more here that I can
talk about now. But while that child was sick,
David wept and fasted and wouldn't eat. He wouldn't go to worship.
He wouldn't come out of his house. He was praying. He was in mourning,
terrible, terrible mourning. But when the child died, David's
comforted. And he washes his face. He says,
give me some brown beans and cornbread. I'm ready to eat.
And his servants couldn't understand that. How can this be? He said,
I can't bring that child back. But I'm going to him. And that
was his comfort. Hear me, hear me. The Lord Jesus
said, yet a little while, and you shall not see me. And a little
while, you shall see me. He who died in my stead, I will
soon go to be with him forever in heaven's glory because of
his death in my stead. One last thing, learn from this.
God is faithful, even, no, especially to his fallen saints. Isn't that
wonderful? He's faithful, especially to
his fallen children. Look at verse 24. David comforted
Bathsheba, his wife, and went into her and lay with her, and
she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon, and the Lord
loved it. And he sat by the hand of Nathan
the prophet, and he called his name Jedediah, because of the
Lord, beloved of the Lord. David and Bathsheba believed
God, and they had a son, and they said, They said, let's call
him Solomon. Peace. Oh, how good it is to
have peace with God. God's forgiven our sin. And Nathan
was sent by the Lord and said, you go call that boy Jedediah.
Not just peace, call him beloved of the Lord. Solomon was a type
of Christ. through whom we have peace. And
we are beloved of the Lord, but more, Solomon is the man through
whom Christ came into this world. No mistake made. No mistake made. Had it not been, now listen to
me, listen to me, read the first chapter of Matthew. Had it not been for David's crime,
Joe, the Christ of God, would never have come. Read the book. He came into this world through
Bathsheba and David, through Solomon. Here is the marvelous
grace of our God. He overrules, oh my God, how I thank you for
this. He overrules our evil. to do us good. He overrules our
evil to do us good for the glory of his name. He's gracious, especially to his fallen ones. One of my favorite texts of scripture
I've told you many times is Mark chapter 16, verse 7. The women are at the tomb, tempted.
And the angel said to the women, you go tell the Lord's disciples,
he'll beat them like he said he would in Galilee. And they
start off, and he said, wait, wait. Be sure to tell Peter. Be sure to tell Peter. Nothing's
changed. Nothing's changed. God is full
of grace. Children of God, as you fall,
as you fall, now, tomorrow, greatly, publicly,
privately, remember, if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just
to forgive our sin. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. You who are yet without grace,
come to Christ. Confess your sin. And I promise you, he's faithful
and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen.