In 2 Samuel and chapter 12, David,
having sinned greatly against his Lord, having taken another
man's wife Bathsheba and put Uriah to death by sending him
into battle on certain death, encounters the prophet Nathan,
whom the Lord sends unto him. And we read this moving account
of how Nathan tells David a story about a poor man who has a lamb
and a rich man who has many and how the rich man takes of the
poor man's lamb to offer up to present to a guest and how David
is greatly moved and angered against that man and the injustice
of what he's done. and how Nathan turns this around
to point unto David what he has done unto Uriah. And in verse 7, 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. and 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 sword 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 neighbour, 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
all Israel and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The
Lord also shall 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. 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. Few people in history have had
the gospel presented to them. Not only in type and figure,
not only in terms of what they are taught and what they hear
from the Word of God, but also in terms of their own experience
through which they're brought to pass. Few people have had
the Gospel presented unto them as David had. David knew this
Gospel, not just because he heard it. not just because he had it
applied to him but because he knew by bitter experience what
it was to fall, to fall greatly into sin and what it was to feel
the wrath of God against his sin and what it was to see a
sacrifice offered up for his own sin. He knew what it was
to fall and to be delivered, to be lost and to be saved, to
be abased and to be exalted. He knew what it was to feel the
wrath of God burning down from heaven against his own sins,
to feel the accusation of the law against them, to know the
inward conviction of them. And he knew what it was to feel
the pardoning grace of God given to him through the death of a
sacrifice offered up. Few people knew God in terms
of that vital inward experimental walk which David had. A walk
which led David to pen his countless Psalms. Psalms which plumbed
the depths of a child of God's experience. and climb the greatest
heights of praise. Few people have trodden where
David trod. And his account, his experiences,
his life, his trials and troubles, and his salvation, and what was
recorded of it and what he wrote down from his own experience
in the Psalms have been made a tremendous blessing. to the
children of God ever since. God allowed these things to happen
in David's life. God brought these things to pass
because through them God would bless countless generations. When you fall into sin, when
you rebel against God as David rebelled against God, when you
feel the heavens closing up above your head, When you feel like
your communion with God is shut out and you wonder if there's
ever a way back. When you feel like you've fallen
more than you've ever fallen and you wonder whether there
can be forgiveness for one such as you. When you fall, the experience
and the account of David and the salvation and redemption
which he enjoyed by grace come unto you as a great hope, as
a great comfort. For if he could be saved, having
done what he did, then there's hope for any, any sinner, even
those who've plumbed a similar depths to him. This David is presented to us
as a tremendous comfort and encouragement in the gospel and he's also presented
in the scriptures as a wonderful type and figure of Christ himself. This king, this prophet, this
anointed of the Lord, this one that brought deliverance to a
people surrounded by enemies. What a picture of Christ David
is. And how often is Christ himself
referred to as the son of David. So often in the Gospels we read
of those who saw Christ pass in their way, we read of the
blind men sat by the wayside and how they cried out unto Jesus,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. How David's son,
David's greatest son, It seemed to be Christ the Saviour. But consider David's pathway. Consider how he experienced the
Gospel. Plucked out of obscurity. A mere boy. Overshadowed by his
brothers. Looking after the sheep. plucked
out of obscurity and yet exalted, chosen and favoured. How he went
at that time of battle when Israel was troubled by Goliath and the
Philistines. And how the Lord by David, this
young lad, slew Goliath and brought this young boy to the note of
all Israel and to the king. And how in time God exalted David
to the very height of being made king over all Israel. But how
also David knew what it was to be hated and hounded to death
by his enemies. Oh the jealousy and the rage
of King Saul against this lad. How Saul sought to put him to
death. How he hounded him from place
to place. How David knew what it was to
feel alone and hated and to have no true hope but his God and
Saviour. It's out of these experiences
that David could pen his Psalms. He knew what it was to have God
alone as his refuge, as his strong tower, as the only one to whom
he could run when all men around him were seeking his very life. What a walk David had, what an
experience, how he walked as the Lord Jesus his Son, his greater
Son walked. How he walked with that communion
with God. walking every day, looking unto
his God, listening for the speech of his God, looking unto his
God for guidance, looking unto his God for strength, looking
unto his God for wisdom. How he was a man of prayer, a
man devoted unto the Lord. What a life he had. But despite
this walk, Despite this knowledge of God, despite this knowledge
of God's grace and of God's salvation and of God's mercy and of God's
everlasting covenant, despite his knowledge of the gospel,
despite what God had done for him, despite all his religion
and his experience, there came a day when this man A man who
knew God, a man who walked with God, fell from a great height
to a great depth. He took Uriah's wife, he had
Uriah put to death, and he sought to hide it from both man and
from God. This man David, who knew that
God was the all-seeing, all-knowing God, he knew the character of
his God, thought that he could do this deed and get away with
it. Oh what a fall! What a fall to
take the Hittite's wife, the wife of a Hittite, strange woman,
even though the law forbid the marriage of the Jews to women
from other nations, even though the law forbid adultery, even
though the law forbid murder, even though the law forbid deceit, David fell in these acts in a rebellion and a fall that
broke just about every command of the commandments of the law.
He was covetous. He was deceitful. He harmed his
neighbor. He was adulterous. He was murderous. He made an idol out of earthly
things. He, as it were, put up another
God before the one true and living God. He turned his gaze away
from his God. And he thought that he could
get away with it. How deceived he was! How pride! To the end working
of sin in the flesh. this man, this man you'd think
would stand, of all men, of all men of his generation, you'd
think he would be the one to stand, he'd be the one to flee
temptation, he'd be the one to resist and yet he fell, he fell. What a fall into sin this was
and how much it shows us We are in God's hands, every one of
us. We do not stand in our own strength
no matter what God has taught us, no matter what God has shown
us, no matter what state we're in. Whether you're a professing
believer or not, whether you have professed Christ for 20,
30, 40 years, you do not stand in your own strength. You may
have attended a place of worship all your life, you may have heard
the gospel, you may be happily married, you may be upright and
honourable in all respects and you could come crashing down
in a moment. And the cause comes from within. Your own heart could slay you. your own heart in one moment
presented with the right circumstances as David was could bring you
down to nothing, could bring you to shame before all men. Take heed ye that think you standeth. Don't be so foolish as to say
I could not do what David did. How could he have done that?
You could. You could have, you could do. You could fall like this today,
you could fall like it tomorrow. There is no sin that you are
not capable of because that sin that dwells in your flesh is
that sin which dwelt in David's flesh, is that sin that brought
about this fall. That sin that dwells in your
flesh is that sin that dwelt in Paul's flesh, Saul's flesh,
which caused him to persecute the church. That sin that dwells
in your flesh is the same sin that dwelt in the Pharisees flesh,
which caused them to put Christ to death. That sin that dwells
in your flesh is the same sin that dwelt in Hitler's flesh,
that caused him to put countless numbers of the Jews to death.
That sin that dwells in your flesh is the same sin that dwells
in so many others flesh in this world that causes them to rage
at one another, that causes them to rise up in violence one to
another, that causes them to put one another to death and
rejoice in their death and shout and proclaim how mighty and wonderful
they are and think that God cannot see and God cannot stop them.
It's the same sin that entered man at the beginning by Adam
that passed upon all men by natural generation by which death entered
this world. It's that sin which entered you. It's that sin with which you
were born. It's that sin which slays you
and brings you in guilty before Almighty God. You are as guilty
by nature because of the sin within you and the crimes which
it brings you to commit as David was. and whatever your fall,
whatever the outward outworking of your sin, it's the same source
and it can bring you to fall outwardly just as David did. He could not stand when the circumstances
brought him to that place and when God purposed to remove his
restraining hand from off David and to say, right David, I'm
going to teach you something. I'm going to teach you what it
is to fall. I'm going to teach you from your
own experience the depravity which lies within you. And how
weak you are. And how wicked you are. And how
when you sin, you sin against me. I'm going to teach you the
death that lies within. and I'm going to teach you my
grace that can take a wicked sinner like you who even despite
knowing me and walking before me and having heard my gospel
and having received so many blessings from my hand you could do such
a thing as this and despite doing it I will still pour out my grace
upon you. I will still take away your sin,
I will still save you. Yes, the Lord took away his hand
off from David and David plunged instantly into the greatest of
depths and so can you and I. It's God's hand that keeps us. How mindful we should be that
without God we are nothing. If David could fall like this,
like this, then so can you or I. Murder, deceit, adultery,
lies, treachery, darkness and coldness within the heart within,
communion with God shattered. What a fall. And this fall of
David had great consequences. Great consequences. God spared
David. But he was shamed before Israel. He was shamed before God's people
through all time for these things are recorded in the scriptures.
His sin is laid bare before us. He had evil brought in upon him
through those in his own household. And the child, his first child,
his only begotten, born unto him by this woman, Bathsheba,
whom he loved, would die. David sinned, but the Lord said
unto David, Thou shalt not die, but your son will. That son will
die because of your sin, David. What a consequence. But when
David plunged into sin, there was no quick repentance. There was no quick turning. He
did it secretly. But Uriah was slain. He took
Bathsheba as his wife. And nine months later she bore
him a child. And all the time David hid the
sin. All the time he hoped that no
one would notice. No one would condemn him for
being married to Bathsheba because she was a poor widow woman, her
husband slain in battle. What mercy the king had shown
her to take her as his wife. No one would discover his treachery
and evil. All would be well. He'd hid it
from all men. But he couldn't hide it from
God. and God saw and God knew and God sent unto David a preacher
to preach unto David the gospel and to declare first unto David
what David had done in sinning against God, to convict him of
his sin and having brought that conviction to teach him of a sacrifice and
of how God would forgive him by putting away his sin and bringing
him life. God sent him a preacher. Such
a long time. A long time after the event,
David went, months on end. And what was David's walk with
God during those months? It was shattered. It was shattered. That fall brought
death into David's walk. That union he had with his God,
that life, that life of prayer, it was gone. He went prayerless
for months on end. How could one in such sin speak
unto God truly? Perhaps he put on a show of prayer. Perhaps he pretended to worship. Perhaps he put on the appearance
before a man. But he'd have known in his heart
that God was removed from him. He knew what death he brought
into that relationship. He knew the long shadow that
this corruption had brought in. He knew. that he'd not only murdered
Uriah but that he'd murdered his own relationship with his
own God and Saviour. How cold and how dark and how
desperate his life within had become. And it took a preacher a preacher
of the gospel to come into the darkness of David's soul, to
come into the death in which he walked, to come into that
valley of death. It took a preacher to come in
under him, to bring him to his senses, to bring him back to
the truth, to bring him back to God. Such a long time after
the event, his sin had taken him away into barrenness. And
this preacher Nathan comes unto him. God sends him unto him,
and he gives him this tale. David, 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 nourished
up. And he grew up together with him and with his children. He
did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his
bosom and was under him as a daughter. And there came a traveller 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 under
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. Oh, David's indignation was stirred
up. His sense of justice was awakened. His fury at the lack of pity
of this rich man who had everything and of how he took from the poor. Oh, he said, this man shall die. And Nathan turns around to David
and shows him who the man of whom he speaks is. God preaches
here the gospel unto this fallen sinner, David. And Nathan said
to David, thou art the man. Thou art the man. You are. You're the one David
that's done this crime. You're the one that showed no
pity. You're the one that deserves
to die. Thou art the man. Has the Lord
come unto you in the gospel? and show you your sin and your
lack of pity and your deceit and how you love to sin in secret
and put on a show before others to appear good when you are evil
within and has he come unto you and said thou art the man you
are well he did to David David's
reaction is so notable here, a signal reaction, a unique reaction,
not the reaction of the of the majority. If you go to the majority
and say you have sinned against Almighty God you will have all
manner of abuse and justification poured forth against you. Not
I, I did it because of this, I did it because of that, I'm
not a sinner. There's reasons why. They blame
everybody else but themselves. But when God said unto David,
thou art the man, David owned it and said, I have sinned against
the Lord. Nathan here. shows David what
he was. God had exalted him, given him
all manner of things, made him king, given him wives, given
him riches. And he took Uriah's wife and
he put Uriah to death. And God says unto him, thou didst
it secretly, David. But I will judge you and I will
show it before all Israel and before the Son. and David cut
to the heart, convicted, brought low. The Holy Spirit coming upon
him and convicting him of all his unrighteousness, showing
him his guilt, breaking him down, shattering his pride, cutting
down his arrogance, bringing him to a sense before God of
what he is and what he done. David said unto Nathan, I have
sinned against the Lord. I've sinned. Not just against
man, not just against Uriah, not just against all those whom
he lied to and put up a front of deceit before. not just against
Bathsheba, not against man but against the Lord. He sought to
hide it from God, he sinned against God. When you sin, when you wrong
your brother, when you wrong your neighbour, when you disobey
your parent, when you steal, when you lie, when you cheat,
when you argue, when you lose your temper, When you murder,
it's not just against others. It's against the Lord. David
said, I have sinned against the Lord. Against the Lord. Few get there. Few reach this
point of confessing in this way. Yet David heard. He didn't just
hear with the outward ear what Nathan had to say to him, but
he heard inwardly. He heard the gospel and it melted
him. He knew Nathan was right. He knew God was right. He knew
what he'd done. He knew what he deserved. He
heard and he confessed. Yes, David heard. But David didn't just hear. He didn't just hear the gospel. He didn't just hear the voice
of the Lord against him. He didn't just hear what the
Lord had to say about him. He didn't just hear the Lord's
promises that he should not die. But he experienced what he heard. He walked the pathway. Because
the Lord, by Nathan, said unto him, The Lord also hath put away
thy sin, and thou shalt not die. Yes, David, thou didst this. Yes, David, you are guilty. But the Lord hath put away thy
sin. The Lord will forgive thee. and
you shall not die you shall live David even despite this but the
child that is born in thy house your son David because of what
you have done he shall die you won't David but the son shall
Your son shall die because of your sin. The son shall die because
of your sin. His firstborn son was, as it were, offered up as
a sacrifice for David's sin. The son was slain. for the sin
of another. That innocent child was slain
because of the guilt and the crimes of David. David's son died as his greatest
son, of whom this son was but a figure. David's son died as
Christ would later die the innocent for the guilty, a substitute,
a sacrifice for sinners. David's only begotten, David's
first begotten, David's firstborn would be offered up for his sins and David would be forgiven and
would live. And that innocent child was a
picture of Christ, David's greatest son, the seed of David, the one
that God promised would be sent. That child who would be born
into this world, the son of God, innocent, without sin, guiltless,
who would come and would be slain upon a cross. and bear the sins
of many. That child of David's was innocent,
yet God slew it because David sinned. And that son that God
sent later on, God's own son, was sent into this world, innocent
of all crimes, innocent of all sin, and yet he would be slain
because of David's sin and because of all his people's sins. Have
you sinned against God? When Christ was slain, the innocent
for the guilty, was he slain for your sin, as this child was
slain for David's sin? Did God take your sin and lay
them upon his own son? And did he say unto you, the
Lord hath put away thy sin? Thou shalt not die, because I've
laid your sin upon my son who died for sinners such as you.
Has he? What a wonderful thing for David
to hear. What a wonderful thing for him
to hear that the Lord had put away his sin and that he should
not die. What wonderful mercy and love
his Lord showed unto him, despite his rebellion, despite his fault,
how utterly undeserving he was, yet God said, I've put away your
sin, David. Oh, what a thing to be told. But it came because the child
that was born under him would die in his place. Oh, how David
was made to feel the sorrow of the loss of that child he loved,
his own son. Oh, he would feel the sorrow.
He loved that child, he knew that child was innocent, he knew
that child didn't deserve to die, and he prayed, he went,
he didn't sleep, he fasted, he prayed that the Lord would spare
him. Yet the Lord took him as he said
he would. And when David knew that he was
dead, he rose up and dressed and ate. And said, while the
child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, who can tell
whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?
But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him
back again? I cannot. But I shall go to him,
but he shall not return to me. One day I will see this child
again. He was slain because of my crime
but I have a hope that I shall go to him and I shall see him
again one day. Oh what a sorrow he was brought
through. like those disciples of Christ,
who saw Christ taken away from them, who saw Christ apprehended
by the authorities and taken unto a mock court and accused
and sentenced unto death. And this one whom they loved,
this one whom they loved, who they thought would be their king,
and the one who would deliver the nation of Israel, this one
that they loved was taken away and nailed to a cross and crucified. Oh the sorrow, the pains of death,
oh the loss they felt as they looked upon him. They'd have
seen this One, this Righteous One, this One they believed was
the Son of God, the Saviour. They'd have seen Him nailed to
a tree and known that He had no guilt, known that He had done
no wrong. And they'd have known their own
sin and their own corruption and their own unbelief and thought
that should be me upon that tree. And yet He's the One taken away. Oh, the sorrow! And that's the
sorrow that David here was made to feel. He saw in type and figure,
down through the ages, the coming of a Saviour, of a Son, born
unto him, who would be his redemption, who would be his ransom, who
would be his Saviour. He saw through these things unto
Christ, who would come, who would suffer and die in his stead. But he felt the anguish brought
home so closely in experience, that his own Son, that innocent
Child, died and he knew that it died because of his own sin
because of his own sin because Nathan said unto David the Lord
also have put away thy sin thou shalt not die. What a remarkable
thing to be told, so immediately he confesses I've sinned against
the Lord, he feels that the knife should come down upon his head,
he feels that he deserves God's wrath and execution, he knows
he's been exposed as guilty, he knows he's the guilty sinner
and the Lord says immediately to him, immediately, The Lord
hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. He'd have expected judgment. He knew he deserved judgment.
Perhaps you, my friend, are a great sinner. Perhaps you know what
you've done. Perhaps you know what you've
done before God. You know what you've done in
secret. You know what you've fought in secret. And you feel
like God's wrath should burn against you. And yet in the Gospel,
these words come unto sinners like David. The Lord has put
away thy sin. thou shalt not die. Has God said
that unto you in his gospel as he said it unto David? Has he? Oh what remarkable words for
David to hear. What sin was put away The Lord
has put away thy sin, David. What sin? Murder, adultery, deceit,
treachery. He did it all secretly. That's
the sin that God put away. What sin? And yet God put it
away. Well, what of your sin? What sins have you committed?
Are you a murderer, an adulterer, a liar, a deceiver? Have you
done any greater than David did here? Then if God could forgive
David, he can forgive you. If God put away David's sin,
he could put away your sin, but has he? Are you like David, a
great sinner? Have you fallen greatly? Perhaps
after professing faith in Christ, perhaps you are a believer, perhaps
you have come to faith in Christ, perhaps you have walked in the
church, walked before other men, professing Christ's grace unto
you. Perhaps you know the sovereign
grace of God. And now you've fallen. You've
done something that you are full of shame of. Oh the shame of
it. How could anyone, how could you
stand before anyone? How could you stand before anyone
having done such a thing? Having said so much of Christ
and his gospel and now you've done this? Perhaps you've hid
it from others but you know it's true. Oh perhaps you've fallen. like David fell, that man of
God. Perhaps you've walked these steps.
Well, there's real hope in the gospel. There's real hope and
grace in the gospel for the worst of sinners. If God comes unto
you in the gospel and says unto you, thou art the man, whether
you are a believer or not if he comes in the gospel and convicts
you of that sin and brings you to the foot of the cross and
brings you to a sight of a saviour, a son crucified for sinners If
he brings you to that place and you own up and confess I have
sinned against thee O Lord, I have sinned against thee, against
thee only have I done this great sin. If you can speak with David
as he wrote in Psalm 51, I've sinned against thee O Lord. I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before thee. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. If you can say that,
then God comes in his gospel to those who know their sinners,
to those who confess it before them, and says unto them, I have
put away thy sin. I've put it away, thou shalt
not die. thou shalt not die. Has he said
it to you? Well he said it to David. And
after David's son died, and after David was restored to communion
with his God, knowing the forgiveness of his sins, we read in verse
24 that David comforted Bathsheba his wife, went in unto her and
lay with her, and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon,
and the Lord loved him. God gave David another son. that one son was taken he died
but God sent life down from above again he gave him another Solomon
life came down from heaven as a consequence from heaven new
life was sent again Solomon that man of wisdom by whom the temple
was built For God would not have David build the temple but his
Son, a figure of Christ. Here we see David the sinner. Here we see David's sins laid
upon the Son. Here we see the Son taken up
to glory. And here we see the life sent
down from glory above, as it were the Spirit coming down to
indwell the temple of God, the spirit sent down from on high
to dwell in his people by faith. Solomon, Solomon, the wisdom of God, out
of death he springs life. And your sin, my friend, might
have brought great death. It might have brought you to
death before God. It might have brought death in
your spiritual walk. It might have shut God afar from
you. But when there's forgiveness
in the gospel, that poverty, that coldness, that death is
taken away and life pours in. Out of death springs new life. God sent Solemn. Wisdom. Wisdom. A picture of Christ,
who as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth
Let him glory in the Lord. Yes, David sinned. Yes, he fell. But God laid his sin upon the
Son and took the Son. and took away David's sin, that
he should not die but that he should live. And in his place
he sent life down again from above in the figure of Solomon,
in the figure of the temple, in the figure of the life poured
into the temple as the Spirit comes into the temple of man,
into the temple of God in his church. As Christ, the wisdom
of God, fills his people, the one who is their righteousness,
their sanctification and their redemption, as Christ indwells
them by faith, life enters in. Because God said
that he have put away their sin. Has he put away your sin? Has
he laid your sin upon his Son? Has he sent new life and wisdom
into your heart and soul, by which you will live and reign
in Christ forevermore? If he has, praise God as David
praised him. Rejoice before him. And know
that all will be well with your soul, for He hath made with you
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. Amen.