When you turn to 2 Samuel chapter
12, while you're turning there, Susan Sly may have had a mild
heart attack yesterday, and she's in the hospital right now, and
she's going to have a catheterization this afternoon to see if she
needs a stent, but she's resting comfortably. But let's remember
her prayer. 2 Samuel chapter 12. I've got glasses here somewhere,
I think. Let's read the last verse of
chapter 11, and then read down through verse 14. And when the morning was passed,
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. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David, and he came unto him and said unto him, There were two
men in one city, 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 brought and nourished up and
grew up together with him and with his children. And it did
eat of his own meat and drink of his own cup and lay in his
bosom. And he was unto him as a daughter. And there came a
traveler unto the rich man and he spared to take of his own
flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that
was coming to him, but 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 has done this thing shall surely die. And he shall
restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because
he had no pity. And Nathan said unto 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 thy master's house and thy master's
wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and
of Judah. And if it 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 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 neighbor. And he shall lie
with thy wives in the sight of the sun. For thou did it secretly,
but I'll do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.
And David said unto Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the
Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die, how be it
because by this deed thou hast given great occasions to the
enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The child also that's born unto
thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his
house. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. And Lord, we ask that you would
enable us to be like thy servant David. And see that our sin is
against thee. And cause us to cry out from
our hearts, I've sinned against the Lord. And Lord, may we hear
these precious words that you have put away our sin. Lord,
how we thank you for the gospel of thy grace. How we thank you
for the putting away of sin and the forgiveness of sin. Lord,
meet with us, speak in power to our hearts from your word. Enable us to worship. And Lord,
what we're asking for ourselves, we ask for all your people, wherever
they gather together. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
Lord, we would remember Susan at this time. We pray for your
healing hand to be upon her and that you bless this to her good. Lord, we love her and we bring
her before thee, knowing that you're the great physician. In
Christ's blessed name, we pray. Amen. The last Phrase of verse 27. The thing that David had done
displeased the Lord. The thing that David had done
displeased the Lord. And what was the thing David
did? Well, he committed adultery with another man's wife. He was
guilty of a horrible abuse of power in the way he handled this
thing. He had her husband murdered in
an attempt to cover it. And he implicated Joab in this
and had Joab participate in this murder. And the scripture says,
the thing that David did displeased the Lord. Now this is very important.
I hope I can say this the way it ought to be said. But notice
in the language, it does not say David displeased the Lord. It says, the thing that David
did displeased the Lord. Now, why am I making that distinction?
Or why does the scripture make that distinction? Because if
I'm in Christ, I never displease the Lord. I'm accepted in the
beloved, and the Lord is always pleased with every believer at
all times, under all circumstances. God was as pleased with David
when he was committing these horrible crimes as he was when
he was writing the Psalms. It's hard to say that. But it's
true because our acceptance is in the Beloved. It's not in our
works. It's in what Christ has done
on our behalf. And God is never displeased with
the believer in that sense. Listen to this scripture for
the children. being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil. Now, did you hear that? It has
nothing to do with any good you do or with any evil you do. The children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, what's it say next? Not
of works. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. So it doesn't say that David
displeased the Lord. It doesn't say that. Now that's
the way I would say it. I'd say David displeased the
Lord because how do you separate the sinner from his sin? But
it says the thing David did displeased the Lord. Now here's the point.
Sin is never okay in a believer under any circumstance. It's
not okay. The thing David did displeased
the Lord. The Lord was not indifferent
to what David did. And you say, how can you say
that with what you said just a minute ago? I don't know, but
I'm saying it. It's the thing David did. displeased the Lord and it had
ramifications on the rest of his life. He said, because of
what you've done, the sword is never going to depart from your
house. That child is going to die. I've been thinking about
this, the ramifications of sin. And you know the scripture says
he visits the iniquity unto the children and the children's children
and the third and fourth generation. Our sin, well you know what that
means? That means our sin has devastating
effects on others as well. all the way down maybe for generations. It doesn't mean God punishes
somebody for our sin, but it does mean that our... because
he says he doesn't do that. You're only punished for your
own sin. But it means that our sin can have devastating implications
on others. all the way down. Now that's
scary, isn't it? The Lord preserved me. Because when I look at David,
like I said, I don't look at David and say, how could David
do that? I know how David could do it. Because he's like me and
because he's like you. He's a sinful man. And the thing
that David did displeased the Lord. Turn with me for a moment
to Psalm 89. Verse 28. My mercy will I keep for him
forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His
seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the
days of heaven. Now, if his children forsake
my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments, then I'll visit their transgressions
with a rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my
loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that's gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn
by my holiness that I will not lie to David. His seed shall
endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me." David,
the son of David, and we see God's eternal mercy in that. Now, Another thing that I would
notice about David at this time, his one sin led to more sin,
didn't it? That's a scary thought. His one
sin led to more sin. That's sin doing its thing. One
sin leads to another and leads to another and leads to another.
That's sin doing its thing, sin working death. And so David is
in a mess and David's heart has become hardened in self-righteousness.
It began with him lying to himself. Look in verse 25 of chapter 11.
This is when they bring back the news of Uriah's death. Then
David said unto the messenger, thus shalt thou say unto Joab,
let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth
one as well as another. This is just chance, pretty much.
I mean, this is what happens in battle. He'd given a commandment
for this man to be killed, and now he just covers it up, acts
like it never happened. And one of the things that I
think is amazing about this is David could lie to himself and
get himself to believe the lie he told himself. You know anybody
else like that? That's amazing, isn't it? That
we can lie to ourselves and make ourselves believe the lie we
told ourselves. David does that. And I see in
David this hardness, this hardness of heart, particularly in the
story of Nathan that he brings to him.
Look at the end of it, verse five of chapter 12. And David's
anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan,
as the Lord liveth, the man that done this thing shall surely
die. He shall restore the lamb fourfold
because he did this thing and because he had no pity. Now,
what is very obvious about David at this time, and this is the
sure mark of self-righteousness. He could clearly see the sin
in others, and he couldn't see the sin in himself. Now that's
a dead sure mark of self-righteousness. You can clearly see where everybody
else is going wrong. He saw this man, he said he deserves
to die. He had no pity, he had no compassion,
and he didn't realize all along that Nathan was talking about
him. That's all he was talking about. And yet, David's response
was, such a man ought to die. And he could not see this in
himself. Now let's read the story. Verse
one, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David. What a blessing. The Lord sent
Nathan unto David. Now if David didn't belong to
the Lord, you know what the Lord would do? He'd leave him alone.
He'd leave him alone. He wouldn't chasten him. He wouldn't
speak to him. He would just leave him to himself. And if you're a believer, you
really believe that the absolute worst thing that could ever happen
to you is to be left to yourself. To be left to your own way. to
your own will, to your own works. But thank God the Lord sent Nathan
to David. And you know what, Lord, send
somebody to me from you. I want to hear from you. and
the Lord in his mercy with David. I mean, David's not showing any
remorse at this time. He's not showing any sorrow over
sin. He's been in this hardened state for a long time. I mean,
the baby had already been born and perhaps it lived several
months. It's at least a year. He stays in this hardened state,
no remorse, no sorrow, just the way he was acting. And he was
so self-righteous and hard-hearted toward this man, kill him. And
he didn't realize that he himself was the man. Now let's go on
reading. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David. And he came unto him and said
unto him, there were two men in one city, the one rich, the
other poor. The rich man had exceeding flocks
and herds, and the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb. Now, the rich man's David, the
poor man's Uriah. The little ewe lamb is Bathsheba.
That's how this story goes. This is exactly what he's saying.
You're the rich man. Uriah's the poor man. Bathsheba,
his wife, that's the one little ewe lamb that he loved dearly. That's the story. Now let's go
on reading. Verse three. But the poor man had nothing
save one little ewe lamb, which he bought and nourished up, and
it grew up together with him and with his children. It did
eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his
bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. He loved this ewe lamb. And there came a traveler in
God's providence. There came a traveler unto the
rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock, of his own
herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him. He
wouldn't use his own, but he took the poor man's lamb and
dressed it for the man that was coming to him. He killed it and
cooked it and said, here's supper. Now David is furious that such
a wicked man would get by with something like this. He doesn't
realize at this time that he himself is the man that Nathan's
talking about. I mean, it's all about him and
about nothing but him. But he hears of this, verse five,
and David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And
he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that has done
this thing shall surely die. I'm gonna make sure he's put
to death. He's going out of business. We will not tolerate this kind
of stuff in Israel. We're putting him to death. And
he shall restore the lamb fourfold, which is what the law required
because he did this thing and because he had no pity. Now,
remember with regard to David, you know what the Old Testament
said to do with the adulterer? Stone him. Stone him. He was guilty of capital offense,
death by stoning. What's the Bible say to do about
a murderer? I mean, even in Genesis 9, it says, he that sheds man's
blood, by man's blood, his blood's gonna be shed. I mean, he was
guilty of two, more than that, but we know two crimes, where
he should have been put to death according to the law. And here's
what this man has done, and he says, put him to death. He ain't
saying this about himself, is he? He's still in this hardened
state, right up to this point. Verse 7, And Nathan said to David,
You are the man. I've just given a description
of you. All of a sudden, David's heart
breaks. He'd been in such a hardened
condition. All of a sudden, David's heart breaks, and he makes this
confession after he hears this. But first, let's go on and see
what he said. And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel.
And I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. You were just a
little shepherd boy and I made you king. And I gave thee thy
master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom and gave
the house of Israel and Judah. And if it had been too little,
I would moreover have given thee such and such things. I would
give you anything you ask for and I've given you so much. Wherefore
hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord? to do evil in his
sight. Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword. You've taken his wife to be thy
wife, and thou 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." Now, when you despise his commandment,
you despise him. And that's what David, the man
after God's own heart, was guilty of. He was guilty of despising
God's commandment, and thus despising God. Thus saith the Lord, verse 11,
Behold, I raise up evil against thee out of thine own house,
and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto
thy neighbor. And he shall lie with thy wives in the side of
the sun, for thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before
all Israel and before the Son." And you go into the next chapter.
One of his sons rapes his daughter. One of his other sons kills his
son for doing that. I mean, just the horrible things
that happened to David for the rest of his life. And you remember
when he died right before his death. He said, although my house
be not so with God. And his house was not so with
God. His children, his house, his body, his old man, although
my house be not so with God and all he, what sorrow he brought
into his own life because of his sin. Now, understand this.
David is accepted. David is saved. David's sin has
been blotted out. Yet the thing that David did
displeased the Lord and it had consequences. Not eternal consequences,
thank God. But our sin always brings us
trouble and vexing. It always does. That's just the
way it is. That's sin doing its thing. Sin
is a horrible evil. Verse 13, and David said unto
Nathan, after hearing all this, he wasn't thinking about all
the trouble that was being brought into his life. Here's what he
said. And David said unto Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord. Now, somebody says, my sin doesn't
hurt anybody. I mean, it doesn't hurt anybody. Well, that's debatable. That's
debatable. Yeah, it does. But the point
behind sin is, it's against the Lord. All sin is against the
Lord. Now, one could argue, David sinned
against Bathsheba. David sure enough sinned against
Uriah. Would anybody argue that? He murdered him. David sinned
against Joab when he implicated him in this horrible deed. But
David knows now that his sin is against the Lord. And that
is what brought him all this grief. He says, I've sinned against
the Lord. And look at the next thing he
heard. And this is what we're going to consider more next week.
And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath. It's already been done. The Lord
also hath. Put away thy sin, thou shalt
not die. Now the law required him to die,
but he's told, you'll not die because that sin has been put
away. This is the same word used with
reference to the Passover. It's passed over, it's put away,
thou shalt not die. Now, David responds as a true
child of God. I love his response. I've sinned,
no justification, no vindication of himself. I've sinned against
the Lord. That's all I can say about myself. I've sinned against the Lord.
Only a child of God will have that response to their sin. Thank
God He sent Nathan to Him. Thank God He granted David repentance. David was in this hardened state
that he couldn't change. He was as hard-hearted for a
long time, at least a year. And then the Lord sends Nathan
with the purpose of speaking to his heart and granting him
repentance. You know, the Scripture says,
it's the goodness of God that leads thee to repentance. That
doesn't mean you respond to God's goodness. It means He's so good
that He'll take somebody like me or you who are so hard-hearted
and cause them to repent. And that's precisely what took
place with David. He said, I've sinned against
the Lord. And then he hears the Lord hath also put away thy sin. Now, you know what came out of
this? My favorite psalm. One of the things I love about
the terrible stuff that happens to David, and a lot of terrible
stuff happens to him, but you know, everything bad that happens
to him, we get some really good Psalms out of them. I mean, what
a blessing that is. And through this horrible event,
this tragic event, we're given my favorite Psalm, Psalm 51. Let's close by just reading that.
And this was David's... David penned this after Nathan
came unto him. Now remember, these titles in
the Psalms, they're in the original. These are inspired, these titles. And look at the title of this
Psalm, Psalm 51, to the chief musician, a Psalm of David, when
Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone to Bathsheba. Now that's inspired, that's inspired. This psalm is about this event. Now let's read this psalm together.
David says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness,
according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out
my transgressions, make them to whither no longer. That's what a believer prays
about his sin. Lord, make it to where it's not. Blot it out
to where it's not. Not simply forgiven, but blot
it out. I can't have any of it on me. Blot it out. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when you speak and you're clear when you judge.
Any judgment you bring against me, I say amen to it. And confession,
you take sides with God against yourself. You agree with God,
whatever he says is right. David, he understood original
sin and total depravity, didn't he? Look what he says. He said,
behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. I was born bad. I was born evil. I came out of
the womb evil, shapen in iniquity. Behold, thou desires truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Purge me. with hyssop. Now you remember what hyssop
is, don't you? Hyssop, you're to dip the hyssop branch into
the blood and put it over the door. It represents the blood
of the Passover lamb. And he says, purge me. Purge,
but when something's purged, that means it's put away. Not
whitewashed and just covered up. You know, you can cover something
on the wall with paint and it might look good, but it's still
there. When Christ purges, it means it's no longer there. Hebrews
1.3, when he had by himself purged our sins, that covering that
he gives makes it to where there's nothing there, nothing covered
over, it's gone. He says, purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. I haven't been able to hear that.
Make me to hear. I can't hear unless you make
me to hear. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which
thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and
blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me A clean heart, oh
God, mine's filthy and I can't make it any different. I'm dependent
on a creation for you to create in me a clean heart, oh God,
and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy
presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. He's got to be free or he won't
have anything to do with me. Then will I teach transgressors
my ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver
me from blood guiltiness, sins that deserve death. And really,
that's a reference to the death of Christ, I think. Deliver me
from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open
thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou
desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest
not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. A broken. And to contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
and desire. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then shalt thou
offer bullocks upon thine altar. What a psalm. And we get that
from this event in David's life.