The passage Brother Vance read
just a little bit ago, Psalm 51, our King James translators
at the title of that psalm inform us that the psalm was written
by David when Nathan, the prophet of God, had gone into him after
he had gone into Bathsheba. I suspect that you, like myself,
Struggle more than anything else before God with your own sin,
the evil that's in you. And sometimes God leaves us to
ourselves for a little while and lets the evil within break
out. And then we have to struggle
not only because of the evil that's in us, but the shame and
reproach we bring upon our Redeemer. That's where David is in 2 Samuel
11. This man David, God calls him
a man after my own heart. He was a remarkable man. He was
just like you and me by nature, a depraved, vile, fallen son
of Adam. But he was chosen and loved of
God redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, born again and
called by the Spirit of God, a man who served God according
to the record of Scripture more consistently, more faithfully,
more dependably than any man in Old Testament history. Folks
sometimes point an accusing finger at God's servants and fail to
recognize what God says about them. When David got done, God
just charged him with three things. I'm talking about charged him
historically. In his biography of him, he says,
everywhere else, David honored me. David honored me. And yet
this man, so mightily used of God, this man who had been made
by God's grace, an instrument of so much good, this man by
whom God built His kingdom, this man by whom God gathered all
the materials for the building of the temple, this man in whom
God typified His Son, this man, David, who wrote so many of the
Psalms that we sing. We don't sing them much in our
churches anymore. We're not given to do so, but
the Psalms, oh, how sweet they are to God's people in this world. You find any age believer who
reads this book, I'll guarantee you the thickest pages in his
Bible are the Psalms. Because there with David, this
man after God's own heart, you and I are allowed to go with
a man who truly believed and worshiped and loved God. We're
allowed to go with him into his closet. and hear him say things
we want to say and don't dare say. Hear him cry before God
with just the groanings that are in our hearts that we dare
not put on our lips because David dealt honestly with God and with
himself before God. Yet the one thing for which David
is known, the one thing for which he is remembered, when you think
of the name David, It's almost impossible not to think of Uriah. When you think of David, what's
the first thing that comes to your mind? He stole the wife of his
friend, his faithful servant. And then to cover his tracks,
he had the man who faithfully served him murdered. Had him
murdered. 2 Samuel chapter 11, verse 26. 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. Now keep your Bibles open at
2 Samuel 12, and I want to talk to you as plainly as I can. I
hope by the power of God's Spirit speak to your hearts about David's
sin, David's great sin. Now the things that are written
here in 2 Samuel about God's servant David are not written
to sully the name of that man whom God greatly honored. They're
not written to be an excuse for ungodliness and sin, but rather
these things, like all things written in the book of God, are
written for our learning and our admonition upon whom the
ends of the world have come. This chapter was written to teach
us both to be aware of our sinfulness and to adore the marvelous grace
of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Once David had committed this
horrible crime, the crime of adultery and murder, God left
him alone for month after month after month after month. The guilt of David's sin lay
upon his heart for at least nine long months. I'm sure that during
those months of darkness, his soul was heavy. I don't have
any question. His heart smote him. He lamented
the evil he had done. I don't doubt that he went to
bed night after night after night after night. When he shut his
eyes, all he could see is the face of his faithful friend.
whom he had senselessly murdered. How many sleepless nights he
must have spent trying to deal with his guilt. Trying to deal
with his guilt. Trying to silence his conscience.
During those nine months, David received no word from God. No
comfort for his soul. He penned no songs. His harp
was out of tune. His soul was like a tree in the
wintertime. The sap of life was there in
the roots, but it looked like nothing but deadness. This is
what David said about it in another psalm he wrote on the same occasion.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring
all the day long. He said, for day and night, Day
and night, no let up, no abatement. Day and night, thy hand was heavy
upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. And then, after nine long months
of barrenness and emptiness and heaviness, Nine long months what
he must have thought he was utterly forsaken of God. He hadn't heard
a word from God and it appeared in his experience that God hadn't
heard any cry of his soul. And then God intervened. God stepped into his life as
miraculously and wondrously as he had when he was just a boy
tending the flocks of his father. Scripture tells us here in verse
1, and. What a way to connect this verse
with what we just read. The last line of chapter 11,
but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and. Isn't it marvelous he didn't
say yet? Isn't it marvelous he didn't say but? He said and. The Lord sent Nathan to David. Why are these things written?
Number one, to confirm to us that this book is God's word. One of the clearest unmistakable,
irrefutable evidences for the absolute inspiration for the
divine origin of Holy Scripture is the fact that in this book,
the most imminent servants of God, those whose names are ranked
at the very highest in the history of God's church in this world,
The most imminent servants of God are men whose weaknesses,
transgressions, iniquities, and sins are plainly spoken of with
never one time an attempt to excuse them or to give justification
for them or to give any extenuating circumstance by which our thoughts
concerning them might be lessened. Had this book been merely written
by men, who were seeking to teach religious moralisms, written
by men who were seeking to persuade folks to follow a religious course. The sins of men might have been
mentioned, much like my friend might mention my weaknesses and
my sins, but when friends talk about those things, friends always
justify them one way or the other, don't they? And we should. We
should. That's how we ought to deal with
one another. We ought to do everything we can to put things in the best
light possible with regard to one another. But these men wrote
the words of Holy Scripture as they were carried along by God,
the Holy Spirit. And when he speaks of Noah's
drunkenness, he just talks about Noah's drunkenness. Doesn't justify
it in any way. Now, I could possibly look at
some historic things and find some justification, at least
some things that might give an extenuating circumstance and
say, well, that wasn't so bad after all. But not when God speaks.
He speaks about Abraham saying to Abimelech, Concerning his wife. She's my
sister and Telling his wife to tell that King. She's my sister
There are many things I might say about that that would that
would seem to justify Abraham's action not God not God when he
speaks about God's servant Moses Striking the rock That rock we're
told in first Corinthians 10 is Christ who followed them through
the wilderness God said to Moses, strike it. And then God said,
speak to it. Moses was mad at God and struck the rock again
and did not sanctify him before the people. And for that reason,
Moses couldn't enter into the land with them. No extenuating
circumstances. No, none at all. He speaks about
Peter cussing and denying the Lord. Not one attempt. Anywhere in the book to justify
the actions why? Because the Holy Spirit would
have us to understand that God's Saints in this world all of them
you and me and all our brethren are Nothing on this earth except
wretched vile depraved corrupt wicked sinners by nature And
that doesn't change when God saves us. That doesn't change
when God saves us. You might as well, I had a lady
tell me one time, she said, when the Lord saved me, he took the
tip out of my toe, because she didn't like folks to dance. And
I said, well, he saved me. He didn't take any tip out of
my toe. Every time I hear good music, wait a minute, the only
best thing you do, didn't change it. And he didn't take any lust
out of my heart. And I've been, blessedly experiencing
his grace, blessedly experiencing his grace for nearly 40 years. And the lust is only worse. Not
one thing any better. Not one thing. What happens when
God saves a person? He puts somebody else in you.
That somebody else is called Christ Jesus, a new man created
in righteousness and in true holiness. John said he can't
say it, he's born of God. So the believer is, as the church
describes herself in the song of Solomon, as two warring armies
in his soul, constantly flesh, lusting against the spirit, and
the spirit fighting against the flesh. So these two are contrary
one to the other, and you cannot do the things you would. Neither
the flesh nor the spirit. God's people in this world are
nothing but sinners, saved by free grace. through the blood
and righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God records these
things as he records them to make us constantly aware of the
fact that salvation is of the Lord. Altogether, God's work. Altogether, that which we have,
we have in Jesus Christ because of Jesus Christ. He alone is
our wisdom. He alone is our righteousness.
He alone is our sanctification. He alone is our redemption. We
are accepted of God, but only and always in the Beloved. The thing that David did displeased
the Lord, but he was still in the Beloved. and still accept
it. And his, listen carefully now,
listen carefully, his relationship with God had not in any way been
altered. What happens when a believer
says, a lot here, nothing there. Can you get hold of that? A lot
here. David speaks in Psalm 32, speaks
in Psalm 51, and tells us something that will go on in here. Oh,
his hand was heavy on me. My moisture turned to the drought
as some of my bones waxed old, roaring before God, who seemed
not to hear me. And yet, God Almighty looked
upon David exactly as He looked on him before the world began
in his sight. and was pleased with him in his
son. The fact is, the steps of a good man are ordered. Which ones? Which ones? The steps of a good
man, everyone of them, are ordered by the Lord. And he delighteth
not in his steps, but in his way. He delights in Christ who
is the way, and we are in him who is the way. For a just man
falleth seven times and riseth up again. All right, here's the
second thing. You and I must never cease to
be conscious of and aware all the time of our personal weaknesses
arising from the depravity of our own hearts. How often have
I thought to myself and said, usually to my wife, because she's
the one there when I've seen it, you see something on the
news. You hear a report of some horrible,
horrible deed. He said, I don't understand how
anybody could do that. Next time you think about saying
that, this is what you really say. I just don't believe I could
do that. And Brother Roland, there ain't
nothing you can't do except good. Nothing. Well, I just don't believe
a believer could do that. Would you tell me what that is?
Tell me what that is. I'll show you in this book where
a believer did it. Tell me what it is. Tell me what it is. Nothing. Nothing. I know doctrinally we
all believe in total depravity. We can state it pretty good.
But by some proud, foolish imagination, we all are convinced that that
doctrine is true with regard to everybody with one exception. Me. Me. We naturally think more
highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Let me give you an
example. The Lord told his disciples,
every one of you tonight are going to forsake me. And Peter
said, Lord, I've always been a little suspicious of James,
John, and Matthew, but I won't. Now, that's not exactly what
he said. That's exactly what he said. And when the Lord Jesus
came to him, first thing he said to him, Now Peter tell me, do
you really love me more than these fellas? That's the first
thing he said to him. Do you really? And the object
was not that he could convince Peter that he really was just
like them. The object was to convince Peter
that his only hope before God is standing in front of him.
And to convince Peter that in spite of his proud arrogance
and his horrible fall. Deep inside him, that man born
of God really does love the Savior. Peter learned the lesson painfully. Children of God, listen to me.
The secret of steadfast commitment and consecration to Christ is
a genuine awareness of our personal depravity and our utter, utter,
complete acceptance with God through Jesus Christ the Lord.
And that only God the Holy Spirit can give. Listen to this. Paul
says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies. Turn and look at this for a minute.
Romans chapter 12. You familiar with it? Why don't you look at it?
It says, I beseech you, therefore, on the basis of everything I've
told you about God's eternal purpose, about God's absolute
grace, about absolute redemption and salvation and righteousness
in Jesus Christ, about God's wise, orderly arrangement and
disposal of all things in providence, I beseech you, therefore, on
the basis of this, That you present your bodies, by the mercies of
God, that you present your bodies, plural. A living sacrifice, singular. Now how are you going to do that?
Here we are. What, 25, 30 of us? Maybe a few
more? How are we all going to present
our bodies, each of us do so, and yet present our bodies a
living sacrifice to God. Ain't but one way, Brother Tony,
and that's if you and I, Brother Charles and Brother Tom, come
to God trusting that one living sacrifice by which we are accepted
of Him. That's our point of unity. That's
our point of oneness. That's our point of acceptance.
A living sacrifice. What's this? Holy, acceptable
under God, which is your reasonable service. It's just the only thing
that makes any sense. and be not conformed to this
world but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. Now watch what he's talking about.
For I say through the grace given to me to every man that is among
you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think
but to think soberly. Sober thinking is just the opposite of the thinking
of a drunk. A fellow who's intoxicated by
whatever means, he lives in another world for a little while. He lives in an imaginary world.
Even an imaginary world of bliss and joy or an imaginary world
of torment and misery, but it's an imaginary world. It ain't
real. God the Holy Spirit says, children
of God, while you live in this world, Think real. Think soberly. Soberly. According as God hath dealt to
every man the measure of faith. That person is in grave danger
who imagines that he or she is above any sin or anything that
would bring reproach to Christ and dishonor His name, the gospel
of His grace. Peter is a pretty good picture
of how we ought to live. He sees the Lord Jesus, and he
said, Lord, if it's you, bid me come to you on the water.
And the Lord said, come on. Come on. And he took off walking
on the water. And that's not a joking matter.
That's real. That's real. He's walking across water like
he's walking across asphalt. He's walking across water, looking
at just one thing, looking at his Redeemer. He walked on that
water like it's asphalt. And then, man, look at me, I'm
walking on water. Or he looked at those waves,
those billows. And as soon as he ceased to look
somewhere other than to Christ alone, Down he went. That's what scripture teaches.
Look to him. All right, back in 2 Samuel 12. Here's the third thing. We won't try to read all these
verses, but in verses 1 through 4, Nathan is sent by God to David,
and it gives him a parable. A parable about a rich man who
had a visitor come visit him, and the rich man refused to take
anything that belonged to him, but he went to his neighbor who
had just one little ewe lamb. He had bought it and raised it
up. He slept with it in his bed, treated it like one of his children.
And this rich man, more powerful than he went, took that man's
one ewe lamb, and he killed the lamb and gave it to his neighbor.
And David said, somebody does that? Somebody does that? As
God lives, he'll be put to death, and he'll restore fourfold. Here's
the third lesson. We are all, you and me, naturally
blind to our own faults, and so terribly quick to see the
faults of our brethren. Remember what our Lord said? Judge not that you be not judged.
For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. Look here
in 2 Samuel 12 verse 5. David's anger was greatly kindled
against the man. And he said to Nathan, as the
Lord liveth, that man that hath done this shall surely die. And
he shall restore the Lamb fourfold because he did this thing and
because he had no pity. And Nathan said, Thou art the
man. Here's a believer. Here's a believer. Quickly, quickly ready to consign
his neighbor to death and to judgment for doing what he knew
full well he had done. And he said, you're going to
restore fourfold. Our Lord said, what was that judgment? What
did you say you were going to restore? All right, David. I'll
take Amnon and Absalom and Michael and this baby. fixing to be born
to you. And I'll show you why in just
a little bit. But for now, learn this. As the old Indian used
to say, don't judge another man until you've walked a mile in
his moccasins. I'm fully convinced there's nothing on this earth
that any of us and all of us would not do in a hair's breadth
and justify ourselves in doing it if God didn't prevent it. I'm fully convinced. God, this
I pray, teach me to be lenient and merciful and forbearing toward
my brethren. And if there is severity in my
judgment, let it be directed at me. I earnestly pray, Pastor,
God teach me that. Teach me that. Fourth, all of God's people need a faithful
preacher. The Lord sent Nathan to David. This man wrote most of the Psalms. This man David, but he needed
a preacher. This man David, man after God's
own heart, but he needed a preacher. This man, David, was one of God's
prophets, but he needed a preacher. This man, David, was king over
Israel. As far as the outward eye is
concerned, among that weighed me and measured me, that put
David way up here, and everybody else way down here, and he still
needed a prophet. You see, when God has grace to
convey to his elect, he sends a messenger to speak for him.
How shall they hear without a preacher? And I promise you, no man, no
woman ever heard God speak in this gospel age but by a preacher. Not at all. Well, I read the
Bible at home, God speaks to me. He speaks to you through
his word in your private chamber in the middle of the night by
what you have heard your pastor declare in the open ministry
of the word. God reveals himself by the preaching
of the gospel. He sends a preacher to the lost
one he will save. If he has to turn the world upside
down, that's all right. I say has to, has to because
he purposed to. A couple of years ago, I was down in North Carolina
preaching, and I met a man and his wife, who were converted
back in 1993, listening to me on radio. He was living in Colorado,
she in New York. And I, of course, parted with
them, but I never met them. And now they've got a couple of sons.
The boys were, oh, I guess, eight to 10 years old. And I pulled
them aside. This man was born in Siberia.
His wife, born in Poland, both raised in communism, both raised
in a communist regime, both came to this country shortly after
the fall of the Soviet Union. And I pulled those boys aside,
and I said, boys, you probably can't have any appreciation of
what I'm about to tell you, but I hope you can remember it when you're
grown. Our God turned the world upside down. So you could be
right here listening to the gospel of his grace. Does God do that? He said, I
gave nations for you, didn't He? And He still does. He still
does. God always sends a preacher,
one way or another, to the languishing one He will revive. And God always
sends a preacher, one way or another, to the fallen one He
will restore. Turn to Isaiah 57. Hold your
hands here a second, Samuel. For wise and holy reasons, known
only to Himself. God who orders all the steps
of the righteous, allows His saints to fall into sin, and
sometimes leaves us to ourselves, sometimes even for a long time. But He will never leave one forever,
and will never leave one altogether. Isaiah 57, 17. For the iniquity
of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him. I hid me and was
wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have
seen his ways. Are you reading it? and will
heal him. I will lead him also and restore
comforts unto him and to his mourners. Nathan was the prophet
by whom God had promised many good things to David. And now
he must speak a word of stern reproof to this man who's king
in Israel. What a faithful prophet he must
have been. Now, I have on occasion, as I'm
sure these other preachers here have, I've been in circumstances
where I knew, I knew the folks I was preaching to. Unless God
Almighty did something between the time I got there and the
time I left there, we were going to lock horns. I just knew we
were going to have trouble. I knew it. I had a preacher call
me one time, Brother Ralph Dale, asked me to come help him in
a meeting. I asked him, where are you pastoring now? I hadn't seen
him in a long time. He told me, he said, could you come down
and help me out in a meeting? I said, if I come down there, I'll help
you plumb out. Next week he was out. But you just know that's
going to happen. Unless God intervenes, you just
know it's going to happen. But I have never been called on to
preach a message like this. I can imagine what Don would
say. Don, go to David the king, who all he has to do to get rid
of you is this. And he doesn't have to answer
to anybody. He doesn't have to do that. All he's got to do is
kind of wink and nod, and you're gone. That's it. You go to that
king. and tell him to his face the
evil of his deeds." Lord, exactly what was it you wanted me to
say to David? Are you sure you don't want me to just write this
out and send it to him in a note while I'm on a cruise somewhere? No. David didn't say, I won't go
to David because he's done this evil thing. He didn't say, I
won't go to David because he's the king. But rather, this man,
David, went to David, pointedly declared the great things God
had done for him. Oh, what great things God had
done for him. He chose you. He set you on the
throne. He made you king in Israel. Look
what He's done for you. He gave you this one and that
one. He gave nations for you. Nations. Gave His Son for you. And then,
He stuck his finger right in David's heart and told him the
evil he had done. Oh, what a true friend who will
declare to you all that God's done for you and constantly declare
to you the evil you are and the evil you do. And then he frankly told David
the consequences. In verses 10 and 12, he said,
all right, David, you despised the commandment of the Lord,
verse 9, and here's the consequence. Here's the consequence. God's
never going to let a sword depart from your house. I'm going to destroy everything
of your making, and the sword is still. over yonder in that
physical house of David. Never depart from your house.
Your sons, your sons going to take your wives and rape them
before all Israel. You did this thing privately.
I'm going to do this thing publicly because the thing you've done
displeases me. And the honor of my name and
the honor of my word demands that I show my displeasure with
this thing." And what was David's response? Verse 13. I love this. David said to Nathan, I have
sinned against the Lord. He wasn't angry with Nathan for
delivering God's message. He didn't say, well, I'll go
get me another prophet and I'll go find another church. He received God's
word. He wasn't angry with God who
sent the message, but rather he frankly confessed his sin. Now look at the next word God
gave David. David said, I've sinned. I can
picture that prodigal. I'm going back to my father.
What a fool I've been. And the father, while he was
yet a great way off, ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
And the prodigal said, Father, I... He said, that's enough.
Don't need to hear any more. David said, I've sinned. There's
that little conjunction again. And. Not yet. Not but. And. Nathan said to David, The
Lord also shall put away thy sin. Is that what he said? And I see you shaking your head
rolling. And what he said is, the Lord also, H-A-T-H hath,
before it was ever done, put away thy sin. And the consequence
is, thou hast not died. That's not what he said, is it?
The consequence is, thou shalt not die. He spoke one in the
past and one in the future talking about the same thing. Because
his sin was put away from eternity, accepted in the beloved through
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And now Nathan,
God's prophet, comes by his spirit and declares in David's conscience,
that sin is gone! Always has been. You just need
to know it. And you shall not die. And David
sat down and wrote Psalm 32. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. You see, he's talking about the
same man. That man who is born of God is
that man created in righteousness and in true holiness. In his
spirit, like Nathanael, there is no guile. An Israelite indeed. And yet he is a man who by nature
is nothing but sin, whose sin must be forgiven. And a man to
whom God Almighty imputeth not, never has, and never will any
sin. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Here's a myth. Learn this and
learn it well. In the light of all those things, our lives affect a lot of people
and a lot of things. None of us are an island. The
scandalous lives of people who profess faith in Christ and the
scandalous actions of people who possess faith in Christ are
matters of grave concern because, as Nathan told David, they give
the enemies of God occasion to blaspheme. The more prominent
and influential you are or I am, the more severe the consequences
of our evil behavior is. You say, well, preachers ought
not be put up on a pedestal. They ought not be, but they are.
That's just all there is to it. A lot, a righteous man, by his
unrighteous behavior, led his family to destruction. Pastors,
parents, employers, oh, what a weight of responsibility we
have. God did not punish David personally for his sin. Please understand this. God never
punishes his people for their sins. He did that once when he
punished our Savior as our substitute. Gary Vance, God Almighty, often
frowns on us. But behind the frown, he's always
smiling. Well, that can't be consistent.
Let's see if it's not. I just have one daughter. Just one daughter.
When my daughter was growing up, some of you knew her. I made up my mind early on. If
I tell her to do something, if I tell her the second time, it's
going to be with pain. And if I told her the second
time, she hurt for it. And sometimes I appeared very,
very upset with her. And she would see nothing but
a frown on my face. I never one time took the paddle,
bent her across my knee, and busted her behind with a smile
on my face. I never did. Wouldn't do much
good. Wouldn't do much good. I did
so with a stern firmness. to make her know that the thing
she had done displeased me. And when I got done, I sat her
on my lap, laid the paddle down, kissed her, and hugged her, and
made certain she knew I loved her and I would gladly suffer
anything for her, and made certain she wasn't angry with me. Never
once did I hit her when I was angry with her. Sadly, I was. That's the way God chastens His
people. Not because He's angry with us,
Lionel. He's not. He just appears angry because
the thing we do displeases Him. Because the actions we do are
contrary to Him. Do so much injury to so many.
The name of the Lord was blasphemed because of David's sin. The child
of David's lust was killed. The sword never departed from
his house. His whole family. He got the end of his days and
he's saying, although my house be not so with God. Oh, I had
such great plans for this house of mine. And nothing, nothing
turned out the way I planned it. Nothing did. I mean, nothing turned out the
way he planned it. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and this is all my
salvation and all my desire. What's he talking about? God
said to his son, I will give thee a covenant to the people. We talk about the covenant in
terms and promises and stipulations and fulfillments because that's
the only way we can get a handle on this thing. But the covenant
and all that's involved in it is a person who reigned in David's
heart, who held the affection of David's heart. And he said,
this is all my salvation and all my desire, no matter what
happens in my house. Learn this, the Lord our God,
is merciful, gracious, infinitely merciful,
infinitely gracious in the forgiving of our sins. He hath not dealt
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. David, so overwhelmed At God's
goodness, he heard Nathan say, the Lord has put away your sin. He's not going to deal with you
because of that. He's going to deal with everything around you,
but not you because of that. He's not going to deal with you
on the basis of your sin. You shall not die. David sat
down that night, and with weeping joy, he wrote two of the most
blessed, most instructive psalms we have in all the book of God,
Psalm 32, Psalm 51. Just imagine, just imagine how
David must have penned those words. The Lord forgave David's
sin immediately and completely. He said, Thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. He prayed in Psalm 51, Brother
Gary read a little while ago, He asked God to forgive his iniquity,
his transgression, and his sin. Forgive me for what I am. Forgive
me for failing to measure up to your law. And forgive me for
kicking down the barriers of your law. Forgive all! And he said, Thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin. And the forgiveness was accompanied
with a promise. God said, thou shalt not die. And when God speaks peace to
the hearts of his fallen people, this is his word of promise.
Life everlasting. You shall not die. God forgave David's sin, but
somebody had to die. Somebody had to die. Not David. Somebody had to die. An innocent
one had to die. Justice must display itself. And so David's son, born to Bathsheba,
is slain of God in David's stead. What a picture. God says to you, You shall not
die. Somebody had to. An innocent
one of infinite merit, in whom is no sin, by whose blood alone
justice can be satisfied, so that God can clearly and justly
forgive iniquity and transgression and sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ
died for us. And you know what David did?
After that boy died, he took his handkerchief, dried his eyes,
and said, boys, where's the meat and gravy? Time to eat. And they said, David, have you
lost your mind? While that child was alive, you
were weeping and fasting, and now you want to sit down and
eat and go to the house of God and worship? He said, oh yeah, because I'm
comforted concerning my son. He and I will be together forever. And soon, He who died for me
and I shall dwell together forever in the house of the Lord as one. Oh, and look at verse 24, 25.
The Lord our God is faithful. Now listen carefully. Listen carefully now. Especially
to his fallen saints. You mean, pastor, you meant to
say he's especially faithful to his fallen saints? Especially
faithful to his fallen saints. Look at verse 24. David comforted Bathsheba, his
wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her, and she bare a
son. And he called his name Solomon,
which means beloved of the Lord. And the Lord loved him. And he
sent by the hand of Nathan, the prophet. He said, Nathan, Nathan,
I want you to know you were right. God has forgiven my sin. And
look at what he gave me. He gave me another boy. I've
called him Solomon. And Nathan said, change his name.
He called his name Jedediah. Beloved of the Lord. Because of the Lord. David called
his name Peace Solomon. He said, oh, I have peace with
God. Nathan said, that ain't all you
got. Beloved of the Lord. David, everything's alright. Nothing's changed. Nothing's
changed. Oh, how marvelous a display we
have here of the overruling hand of our God, ruling evil for good. All things work together for
good to God's elect. Everything. everything. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath
wilt thou restrain. So how did this work for good? How? Did you ever read the genealogy
of the incarnate Son of God? Did you ever read it? Do you
know who the great, great, great granddaddy of Jesus of Nazareth
His name is Solomon. Well, brother Don, if that's
the case, surely this too must have been in accordance with
God's absolute purpose. I think that's a reasonable assumption,
don't you? I think that's a reasonable assumption. You mean God calls
David to do that? I didn't say it, God didn't say
it, and we dare not think it. You mean God ordered it? Absolutely! Either He orders everything or
He orders nothing. And He ordered it for David's
good and ours. Had David not taken Bathsheba,
you would have had no Redeemer. And you would have never read
Psalm 32. And you'd have never read Psalm 51. And you'd have
never heard those words. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Let me give you one word. I'll
let you go home. Mark 16. Mark 16. You remember when Peter had cussed
and denied the Lord a third time in the cock crew? Oh, how corrupt
our hearts are. The Lord Jesus had told Peter,
he said, now, Peter, before the cock crows twice tomorrow, you're
going to deny me three times. Peter denied the Lord Jesus and
that rooster crowed. Can you imagine what must have
gone through his mind? How he must have shuddered, but he could
not and would not stop himself in his downward spiral of corruption. Because it's not in the ability
of any man, not even Peter, to prevent his sin. Only God keeps us from the evil
that's in us. Did you hear me? Only our God
keeps us from the evil that's in us. He went right on, denied
the Master again, and a third time. Cussed and swore he didn't
know the man. And that rooster crowed again.
And Peter remembered the Lord's words, and he went out and wept
bitterly. I had mistakenly thought, oh,
Peter was terribly repentant. No. Peter was absolutely distraught. Peter was convinced. I'm gone. I'm gone. This has all been a
farce. There ain't been nothing real to me all this time. I'm
as fake as Judas. Oh my God! Hell is my portion! Finally he told his brethren,
he said, fellas, if you want me, you can find me back down
there by the Sea of Galilee, right where I started. I'm going
back to my business station. I'm going right back to where
I was. Mark 16, verse 7. You remember the Lord's words
to Peter, just as he told in John 13? Last words of John 13,
he said, you're going to deny me. His next word is, let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. He said, Peter, I'll come to
you. I'll come to you. Now look here,
Mark 16, verse 7. The angel says to these women,
go your way and tell his disciples that he goeth before you into
Galilee and there you shall see him as he said unto you. That
ain't what this is, is it? Y'all go tell James, and
John, Matthew, Martin, Luke. Y'all go tell his disciples.
Tell them everyone! And be sure, oh, be sure you
tell Peter, I'll meet you just like I said I would. Everything's
all right. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Well, John, why on earth would
you tell people that? These things write unto you that
you sin not. And if any man sin, he didn't
say burnt. Somebody said, well, when a believer
says, would you tell me when he doesn't? When you say it. When you say
it. Not when you're good. Not when you're obedient. When
any man says, any man who confesses his sin, calling on the name
of the Lord, when you say it, we have. What a word! We have! And everything's all right, because
His name is Jesus, who is the Christ, the righteous one. And
He doesn't pay the price. He's the propitiation for our
sins. Amen.