What a remarkable man God's servant
David was, a man of the highest character. God made him a man of integrity,
principle, and courage. In the cause of God's honor,
no mere mortal ever excelled David, none. He was a man humbled
by the experience of grace who believed God and was faithful. He stood head and shoulders above
his peers, a remarkable man. Now, David was no better than
any other man by nature, but grace had made him a remarkable
man. The Lord God himself declares,
I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart,
who shall fulfill all my will." That's a remarkable man. David
was chosen of God, redeemed by Christ's precious blood, born
of his spirit, and called by his grace. He was a man greatly
and mightily used of God as no other in his generation. This
man, David, is the man through whose loins the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world. He is called the son of David,
who is the son of God. As a man, The Lord Jesus came
into this world through David's line. But more than that, David
was an imminent type and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ as the
great king of Israel, as the great songwriter, the psalmist
of Israel, the sweet singer of Israel, as a man of covenant
faithfulness, David is held before us frequently throughout the
Old Testament, perhaps more so than any other man, as a type
of Christ. His name is used interchangeably
in the prophets as the type of our Lord Jesus Christ. But when
you think of David, when David's name is mentioned, when you think
of David, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? more than likely adultery, deceit,
murder, because David took the wife of his faithful, trusting
friend, Uriah, committed adultery with her, and then tried to trick
Uriah into thinking that the child with which Bathsheba was
found was his, and Uriah being too faithful to go sleep with
his wife, David tried to get him drunk, got him drunk, and
the faithful man still wouldn't sleep with his wife because the
servants of David were in the field in battle. And finally,
David sends a messenger, sent Uriah really as the messenger
of his own destruction, sends a message by him to Joab that
put him up in the hottest spot of the battle and then withdraw
from him so that Uriah will be killed. Let's pick up in 2 Samuel chapter
12. We read earlier verses 26 and 27
when Uriah 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 we'll see what happened following
this. This 12th chapter of 2 Samuel
is not written to sully the name of God's faithful servant David,
but rather it is written to teach us both to be aware of our own
sinfulness and to adore God's marvelous grace. When David had committed his
horrible crimes, God left him alone. God didn't speak to him and wouldn't
allow David to speak to God. For at least nine months, at
least that long, the guilt of sin lay heavy on his heart without
repentance. Oh, I don't doubt at all he felt
sorry for what he had done. I don't doubt at all that he
was grieved by what he had done. But he had no repentance. I'm sure during those long months
of darkness, David's soul was heavy. His heart was pierced. He lamented the evil he had done.
I just suspect many, many, many
nights he'd go to bed And he'd see the face of his friend Uriah glaring at him. How many sleepless nights he
must have spent trying to figure out a way to shut Uriah up, to silence his tormenting, screaming
conscience. God, you see, had left him to
seethe in his sin. And seethe he did. He found no
comfort for his soul during those long months. He penned no psalms. His harp was out of tune. His
soul was like a tree in the wintertime. There was still sap in the roots. But everything looked as dead
as dead could be. Indeed, this is what David said
himself. When I kept silence, my bones
waxed old through my roaring all the day long. What's that
talking about? I kept silence, but my bones
were roaring and waxed old. When I refused to confess my
sin before God Almighty, my bones within me roared and waxed old. For day and night, thy hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture, the sap of life,
is turned into the drought of summer. Then, after nine long,
torturous, barren, empty months of deadness and coldness and
abandonment from God, God stepped in again. Look at verse 1. And
the Lord sent Nathan unto David. The Lord sent Nathan unto David. Let me show you why these things
are written in this book. Number one, learn this fact. This book, this book you hold in your hand,
is the Word of God indeed. I'll tell you what you do. You
go find the Book of Mormon, pick it up and read it cover to cover
and find me something bad about Joseph Smith. It ain't there. Because it's
a fake. It's a fake. It is not a word
from God. Find any book of religion written
by men to be a pretentious word from God that exposes the evil
of the men of whom it speaks. It's not there, because it's
a fake. It's a put on. It's a show. But
one of the clearest, greatest evidences of the inspiration
of Holy Scripture is the fact that God, in his word, makes
no attempt to conceal in any way the sins of the most imminent
examples of his grace and mercy, or even the most imminent examples
of faith and faithfulness toward him. But rather, the word of
God plainly exposes the sins of his most imminent faithful
people. Noah alone found grace in his
day, in the eyes of the Lord. Noah alone. Noah alone. And we walked off the ark. First
thing we find out Noah did was he's found in a drunken stupor.
No excuse given. No extenuating circumstances
given? Oh, we try to find some. I do myself try to find some
extenuating circumstances to make this look a little less
evil than it was. But Noah was dead, flat, drunk. That's all. Abraham, he's the
father of the faithful. David Burrage, Abraham is the
example of faith you and I are to follow, held up in the Old
Testament and the New. And Abraham on one occasion was
scared to death, so scared of a pagan king, this man who followed
God, that he persuaded his wife Sarah to be willing to be a man's
harlot for a while to save his hide. He said, tell him you're
my sister. And he lied to the king. Surely there's some excuse. God doesn't give one, not one. Moses, the meekest man who ever
lived on this earth, the meekest mere man who ever lived, on one
occasion, in a fit of temper, in a fit of temper, he took his
rod and smote the Lord Jesus Christ in his anger. So it was just a rock. Noah knew
who that rock was. Or Moses did. He knew who that
rock was. He knew that rock that followed
them was Christ. And he knew that Christ would only be smitten
one time by God's wrath. But he and his anger smote the
Son of God again. He said, I'll kill him again.
And there's no excuse for it. Aaron, that man who went about
his business faithfully serving Christ so that when God killed
his two sons and had somebody drag them, drag their carcasses
out of the temple, and God said, don't you show any emotion to
my people. Don't you show that there's any
resentment in you at all. Aaron didn't shed a tear. He
didn't sniffle. He didn't whimper. He went about
his business. And yet that same man Aaron is
the one who made some golden calves and kept the feast to
the Lord and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, and led the whole
camp of Israel in a naked party of idolatry, dancing around golden
calves. Peter, Rex, I'd like to be a
tithe the man Peter was. He was a man, a remarkable man. Oh, what a man. Oh, I'd like
to be that kind of man. But Peter, that bold, lion heart,
trembled before a maid and cussed and denied his Savior three times.
Paul, probably more greatly used, more influential than any man
in the New Testament, perhaps more than any prophet, apostle,
or preacher in the history of the world. That man who valiantly
set forth free grace. That man who defended and declared and explained
and defended and declared and explained over and over and over
again the believer's freedom from the law because Christ is
the end of the law. When he finally got to Jerusalem
and James told him, said, now some of our brethren over here
who are still legalists, they've taken a vow. And they're not
going to listen to you unless you join them. I'll tell you
what it'd do. It'd make it a little easier
for you to preach among these folks down here at Jerusalem
if you would put yourself under the law again and take a vow. And Paul went and shaved his
head and took a legal vow and did exactly the same thing Peter
did in Galatia, only more openly. The very thing for which he confronted
Peter. It's the same thing Peter did at Antioch. Paul deals with
it in Galatians. Pastor, why has the Holy Spirit
written these things out? Why are we told these things
about God's saints? Not so that there's a ground
for gossip, obviously. Not at all. But rather, these
things are written to teach us that God's saints in this world are sinners still and nothing
else. Some years ago, I had a preacher
wrote to me. He said, don't call me a sinner.
I'm not a sinner. I'm a saint. I used to be a sinner. Paul said, I am the chief of
sinners. And he said that after he'd been
preaching the gospel for a long time. When he was a young believer,
he said, I'm less than the least of all the saints. And he grew
in grace a little bit. And he said, I'm not worthy to
be called an apostle. And he grew in grace a little
bit more. And he said, I am the chief of sinners. These things
are written to teach us that salvation is indeed all of grace. Oh God, teach me again and again
and again and again that my only hope before God is the grace
of God in Christ. By grace are you saying. What does that mean? That means
grace called you because grace chose you, because grace redeemed
you with the blood of Christ. That means you live by grace
and that means when you fall, Grace restores you, and that's
all. That's all. That's all. I have no question
that David, as I said, grieved and was pained by what he had
done. No question. I don't have any
question at all about it. His conscience tormented him.
I don't have any question at all that David's bones roared
within him. He said so. And he said so by
divine inspiration. But David could not and would
not recover himself until God stepped in again in grace. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. And he delighteth in his way,
though he fall, He shall not be utterly cast down. How come? How come? Other men fall and are utterly
cast down forever. Other men fall, they try to get
up, they contend to getting up, they fall and fall and fall,
and they can't get up because they've fallen into mischief
forever. But the man who is made good
by grace, called of God, saved by His grace, that man falls. And he shall never be utterly
cast down, because the Lord upholdeth him with His hand. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Huh? Huh? Who is it? Who is it that keeps your heart
from totally abandoning Christ? Who is it that holds you when
you fall and lifts you when you fall? Who is it that will not
let you depart from Him? It's my God, that's all. That's
all. The just men fall seven times
in a day and riseth up, but the wicked shall fall into hell. These things are written confirming the Word of God is
indeed the Word of God to teach us blatantly that the whole of
our salvation is Jesus Christ alone. If you have any righteousness,
Bob Duff, it's his. If you're made holy, he made
you holy. If you're washed in his blood,
he has washed you. If your sins are put away, he
put them away. If you stand before God, he's
the one who makes you stand. That's all. That's all. A preacher
that looks to me like The only hope a man like Abraham, or Noah,
or Paul, or Peter, or Moses, or David, or you have before
God is Christ. That's why it's written. That's
why it's written. All right, here's the second
thing. Let's learn something about ourselves. You and I must never cease to
be aware of our personal weaknesses arising from the depravity of
our own hearts. How often, how often, I came in here put the virus
scan on my computer. I run it usually on Sunday mornings
early. Ran it this morning, got a letter. When I read it, I had just, I mean, I had just
read the letter and I thought, how could he do that? And I was right at this point
looking over my notes. This is the next thing I read.
How often have you thought to yourself or said to others, I
don't understand how a true believer could do such a thing? That's exactly what I just said. What I was really saying is this.
I would never do that. That's what I really say. God forgive my pride and my self-righteousness. It's worse than the sin I would
condemn another. God forgive it. I know that doctrinally
we believe in total depravity. But by some proud, foolish imagination,
we all think we are the exception. We'd never say so. No, we're
better hypocrites than that. But we all naturally think more
highly of ourselves than we ought to think. The great cause of Peter's fall,
you remember what it was? You remember what it was? The
Lord said to his disciples, said, every one of you are going to
forsake me. Every one of you are going to deny me. And Peter
said, not me. He didn't just say, not me. That's
not all he said. He said, they might all do it.
What he was saying was, I've always been a little suspicious
of these fellows anyhow. I always, you've confirmed it,
I always thought something was wrong with him. I knew John wasn't
as good as he looked to be. I knew it. I knew my brother
Andrew, he wasn't what everybody cracked him up to be. I lived
with that boy. That's what he really said. He said, they might
sure enough all do it, but not me. Because I really do love
you. And I'll go with you to death.
And he was telling the truth. He really loved him. And he really
would go with him to death. But he needed to learn something.
He wasn't one smidgen better than James, John, and the others. Not one smidgen. And the Lord
said, Peter, Satan's desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat. And I'm going to let him run you through his sieve.
But I pray for you that your faith fail not. You see, the
secret of steadfastness The secret of faithfulness, of commitment,
of consecration to Christ is a genuine awareness of our personal
depravity. That person's in grave danger
who imagines that he or she is above committing some sin that
would bring reproach upon the gospel of the grace of God. give
men occasion to blaspheme the name of God, dishonor the Son
of God, or bring reproach on the Church of God. The Apostle
Paul says, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service. Now turn
to Romans 12 for just a minute. Hold your hands here in 2 Samuel.
Turn to Romans 12. Let me show you his argument.
I'm calling on Mark Henson. I'm calling on Mark Henson and
Don Fortner. Present your bodies, a living
sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto the Lord, which is your
reasonable service. Why, that's the only thing that
makes sense. So that you can prove what's
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now look
at the next word, verse 3. Romans 12, verse 3. For I say, Now, this is the basis
of my argument. This is the basis of my appeal.
I'm calling on you to consecrate yourselves to God. 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. Don't walk around with your head
full of air. But to think soberly, according
as God hath dealt to every man, the measure of faith. Don't forget
who you are. Meryl Hartley, for one reason,
why you continue to believe in God, because God gave you faith
and he keeps on giving it. That's the only reason. Here's the third thing. We are all naturally blind to
our own thoughts. And Lindsey, we have a keen eye
for one another's faults. I mean a keen eye. I mean a keen
eye. It don't take long to see what
somebody else does or thinks that's wrong. And if you can't
see them do something, you can't hear them say something, you
just look in their eyes, I know what you're thinking. We have a keen eye for one another's
faults. Samuel tells us here in 2 Samuel 12, the Lord sent
Nathan to David, and Nathan gave him a parable. He said, He said
there was a rich man, and right next door to him was a poor man.
This rich man had everything his eyes could wish for. He had
lots of flocks and herds, and his poor neighbor had one little
ewe lamb. And he cherished that little
ewe lamb. He called that little ewe lamb to eat at his own table
with his children. And this rich man had a friend
who came, and rather than taking from his flocks and herds, of
which he had plenty, would never miss anything, he set and stole
that one little ewe lamb and killed it. And David said, I'll
kill that man before the sun sets. He said, that man that's
done this thing shall surely die. He is worthy of death. I'll see to it. He never imagined. Nathan was
talking about him. He'd go to bed at night and dream
about Uriah. He'd go to bed at night and couldn't
sleep pacing the floor because of guilt. But he never imagined
Nathan was talking about him. Never crossed his mind. And then Nathan said to David,
verse 7, art the man. Oh, how I pray that God will enable me to preach
to you every time I stand here to preach in such a way by the
power of His Spirit that every word I have to say God says to
Skip Gladfelter, you're the one I'm talking to. You're the one
I'm talking to, Larry. You're the one I'm talking to,
buddy. This message is just for James
Jordan, that's all. You're the man. You're the one
I'm talking to. I've often had folks say to me,
say, well, you're talking to me? I said, I'm trying my best.
I'm doing everything I could to talk to you. My intention
is to talk to you. Oh, God, make this message to
you. You've all seen these little
plaques. See them all the time down in Cherokee when I go down
there? Indians say, don't judge another man until you've walked
a mile in his moccasins. Be careful how you quickly judge
and condemn somebody else. You don't know what's going on.
You don't even know what's going on inside you, much less inside
me. You just don't know. This is my prayer. Lord God, teach me to be lenient,
merciful, and forbearing toward my brethren. If I have any severity,
let it be directed against myself. Teach me to forgive. overlook,
excuse, and cover the weaknesses and failings of my brethren. God, teach me that. Man, if that won't button our
lips, Ronnie, nothing in the world button our lips. Be lenient with yourself. Generous
and gracious with us. I'm sorry, be severe with yourself
and lenient with others. Be hard on yourself and generous
and gracious with others. Set a hard line by yourself and
make it as broad as you can for others. Learn this too. And learn it well. We every one Need to hear from
God by His servants. Need to. We all need a faithful
pastor to speak to us the Word of God. The Lord sent Nathan to David.
What a blessing. Blessed is that man to whom God
sends his Nathans. But David was a prophet. Prophets
still need a prophet. But David was the king in Israel.
The king still needs to hear from God. But David was an important
man. Important folks still need to
hear from God. They're not too important for God. But David
was a man who wrote the Psalms and wrote inspiration by the
moving of God's spirit. Inspired prophets still need
to hear from God. They still need a preacher. When
God has grace to convey to your soul, he'll send a preacher to
you. One way or another, one way or
another, he'll send a preacher to you. He may break both your
arms and both your legs to sit you in his house. He can't do
anything else. He may lay you flat on your back so you have
to listen to him. But if God's got something for you, he'll
send a preacher to you. And he'll make you hear it. How
shall they hear without a preacher? God has a lost one for whom the
time of mercy has come. He sends a preacher. God has a languishing soul that
He will revive. Tell me, children of God, tell
me. When your soul is empty and dead
and barren and languishing. And your heart is as hard as
stone. And the heavens are brass over
you. And you know it. And you know
it. And you read your Bible. You
pray or you try to. You pull down the writings of
One of the good writers, you read good sermons, or good articles,
or good expositions, you're trying to do something to muster a little
life, to muster a little warmth, to muster a little reviving in
your soul, and nothing comes! And it goes on, it goes on. And
you walk into the doors of God's house, Sunday morning, Sunday
night, Tuesday night, Brother Goofer's coming, we have to meet
on a Wednesday or Thursday or Saturday night. That's when the
prophet's here. That's when the preacher's here.
And you walk in. And God speaks. And He sends life again to your
soul. And He causes the sweet wind
of the Spirit to blow over your soul. And again, your soul is
drawn out to Him. It never happens apart from the
preaching of the gospel. It never happens. It never happens. For wise and holy reasons, known
only to himself, God allows his saints to fall into sin. And sometimes he leaves them
to themselves for a long time. But He won't leave you. He won't leave you. Not if He
is. It ain't gonna happen. He won't leave you. Turn to Isaiah
57. Verse 17. For the iniquity of His covetousness
was I wroth and smote Him. I hid Me and was wroth. And he
went on forwardly in the way of his heart. He went on forwardly
in the way of his heart. I smote him, but he still went
on forwardly in the way of his heart. I hid myself, but he still
went on forwardly in the way of his heart. Verse 18, I've seen his ways, and I'll heal him. I'll heal
him. One of the sweetest words I ever
heard in my life was Bobby's Tim James standing here preaching
one time. When he hath healed, with his stripes we are healed,
he said, God looks on the sins of his people because he washed
them away in the blood of his son, not as crimes to be punished,
but as sicknesses to be healed. I'll heal it. I'll heal it. I will lead him also and restore
comforts to him and to his mourners. Oh, what a faithful prophet Nathan
was. He was David's truest friend. He didn't say, I'm not going
to David. I've washed my hands with him. He's sinned, and I'll
just leave him alone. He counted him not an enemy,
but admonished him a friend. He didn't say, but David's the
king. I don't dare reprove the king. Look what the king might
do to me. Look what the king might do to my family. Look what
might happen if I go to the king. He doesn't take this thing right.
Oh, no. No, David was a man to whom God
sent a faithful prophet who was true to his soul no matter the
cost. He reminded David in verses 7
and 8 of all the great things God had done for him. He said,
the Lord said, I anointed you when you were nobody, made you
king when nobody wanted you to be king. I delivered you out
of Saul's hand when all of Israel was against you. I gave you your
master's house and your master's wives into your bosom. He said,
I gave you all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah. And
man, if that hadn't been enough, all you had to do was ask me,
I'd have given you anything you wanted. I'd have given you anything you wanted.
Anything. And then he plainly exposed David's
sin for what it was. He said, you despised the commandment
of God, done evil in His sight. You killed Uriah. Well, David
didn't really do it. Yes, David really did it. You
took his wife to be your wife. And when you get right down to
it in verse 10, He said, what you did, David, is you despised
Me. You hated Me. You hated That's the reason when David
wrote in Psalm 51, "...against Thee, and Thee only have I sinned
and done this evil in Thy sight." It arose from hatred of God. Hypnothy of the heart to God.
You despised my commandment. You despised your friend. You
despised your servant. You despised my child. You despised
Bathsheba. You despised Israel. You despised
everybody but you. You really despised me. And then he frankly told David
what the consequences of his sin would be. In verses 10 through 12, he said,
you despise me, and I'll raise up evil against you out of your
own house. I'll take your wives and give
them to your neighbor. He'll lie with your wives in
the sight of this son. Thou didst it secretly, but I'll
do this thing openly. He said in verse 10, the sword
will never depart from your house. You're going to live to see misery
all your days amongst those things that are dearest to you. Now, David heard the Word from
God. Reckon how he's going to respond. Verse 13, David said, I have
sinned against the Lord. Buddy, that's what God had been
driving at hearing the whole time. David kept seeing Uriah's face.
He ought to have been seeing the Redeemer's face. David's
soul was crushed because of what he'd done to Uriah. It ought
to have been crushed what he'd done to God. David said, I've
sinned against my God. Now, what does God say? If we
confess our sins, what does He say? What does He say? Somebody!
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Look at the next
word. Nathan said, the Lord also not shall Hath. Isn't that good? The Lord hath
put away thy sins. Thou shalt not die. Oh, who is a God like unto thee? Most fellows, they get angry
with Nathan for telling what God said. I'll get me another
prophet. I can go down the road. He won't
talk to me that way. I'll change churches. They make me feel good,
doesn't they?" But David confessed his sin. He said, Psalm 32. Turn over
there for just a second. I'll try to wrap this up quickly.
Psalm 32. These two Psalms, at least, David
went in and wrote. I doubt not he went in and wrote
them the very night when Nathan had gone home. Psalm 32 and Psalm
51. 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. When I kept silence, when I refused to acknowledge
and confess my sin against God to my God, My bones waxed old
through my roaring all the day long. For day and night, thy
hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned to the
drought of summer. David, he says, stop my soul
and consider this. I acknowledge my sin unto thee.
Mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I'll confess my transgressions
to the Lord. And thou forgavest. The iniquity
of my sin. Stop and think a long time about
that. Now learn this, fifthly. Our lives affect a lot of people. None of us, none of us, have
any idea how much we affect other people. None of us. None of us. The more prominent, the more
influential a person is, the more severe the consequences
of his disobedience are. I preached one night last week
on Brother Lott. Oh, how Lott has reason to thank
God and how I thank God for Lott. But, Lindsay, I'll tell you what
Brother Lott did. He led his whole family to hell by his behavior.