The consequences of sin.

2 Samuel 12:1–14 KJV 1900

1 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, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had 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. 4 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 unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5 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: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 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; 8 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. 9 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. 10 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. 11 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. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And 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. 14 Howbeit, 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.

Introduction

Nathan confronts David.

Nathan’s confrontation starts with a disarming tactic.

David and Nathan were regular counselors for each other.

Nathan would have regularly sought David’s counsel on tough judicial matters.

David would have routinely trusted Nathan’s closeness to the Lord for spiritual advice.

Nathan had previously delivered good news to David about God establishing his kingdom forever.

Nathan coming to talk to David raised no red flags in David’s mind.

Over the last year as David wrestled internally and privately with his sin, Nathan had probably come to him many times.

He had never mentioned David’s sin, so as far as David knew, Nathan was unaware of what had transpired.

We must understand and acknowledge that things were not going well for David since his sin.

Though there had been no public repercussions, David is suffering greatly.

When you get a chance, read Ps 32 or Ps 51 for a glimpse into the inner torment that sin brings.

As Nathan starts to share a story, David probably thinks that this is an actual case that Nathan is bringing to him.

David had acted with lust, adultery, and murder.

Nathan tells a story of greed, selfishness, and meanness.

The story Nathan tells, goes like this.

There were two men in the same city.

One was rich, the other was poor.

The rich man had many flocks and herds.

The poor man had nothing, except one ewe lamb.

This lamb had been like a member of the man’s family.

He had brought it up from a baby.

It lived among him and his children.

It ate from his plate, it drank from his cup, and it slept on his lap.

Nathan says that it was like a daughter to the man.

Do you get the picture of how precious this lamb was?

David, the former shepherd, certainly understood how a little lamb could endear itself to its human master.

One day, the rich man received a visitor.

He felt compelled to entertain this traveller.

Though the rich man had abundant means of satisfying this desire, he ignored the abundance of what he owned.

Instead, he looked to what the poor man had.

The rich man took and killed the lone, precious lamb of the poor man.

He served it up to his guest.

He fulfilled his desire by stealing from someone else, when he had plenty of his own.

Upon hearing this story, David’s anger is greatly kindled.

David flies into a rage and demands that the rich man be put to death.

This is an extreme punishment for the crime detailed in the story.

David is not in a good state physically.

He is no position to be giving counsel or passing judgment on others.

I imagine Nathan waiting a beat, for David to calm down a bit.

David corrects himself and goes with a more reasonable judgment.

The rich man shall make restitution to the poor man by paying him back 4-fold.

With that David sits back, disgusted by the greed of some people.

Nathan waits another moment.

Do not mistake the reality that Nathan is risking his life in confronting David.

He says to the king without a shred of satisfaction, “thou art the man.”

David says nothing.

Was he in shock?

Did Nathan not give him a chance to respond?

Nathan proceeds to lay out God’s message in response to David’s sin.

God had given him a whole year to repent.

He had not, now God would pass judgment.

Nathan delivers God’s message to David.

He first highlights God’s goodness to David.

You cannot frighten a man to repentance.

God had blessed David with exceeding abundance.

Nathan reminds David how he had been chosen by God out of all Israel to be king.

He reminds David of how God had protected him from Saul.

God had given David victory over Saul.

He had been made the king of all Israel and Judah.

God even tells David, if all this had not been enough for him, God would have given him more.

David had forgotten God’s goodness.

He had taken God’s blessings for granted.

When we cease to be grateful, discontentment naturally follows.

David had everything, and yet he let his eyes and mind latch onto something that was not his.

One author wrote that the visitor of the rich man is a picture of temptation.

Temptation visits and if we entertain it, we will find ourselves making sinful decisions.

David had forgotten God’s love for him.

Nathan continues by exposing the sinfulness of David’s sin.

Uriah’s death was not an accident.

He was not a casualty of war.

Nathan implicates David in Uriah’s murder.

David had broken the commandment of God.

We read it last week, “thou shalt not kill.”

David had killed Uriah with the sword of Ammon just the same as if he had wielded the sword himself.

He had taken Uriah’s wife to satisfy his lust when he already had 7 other wives.

Oftentimes we are unwilling to reckon with the true nature of our sin.

Too many people are complete strangers with their own character.

We dabble in little sins, so called, and justify them in our brains.

David’s sin grew and grew until it was consuming him.

One author reminds us that ants will clean a carcass faster than a lion.

All sin, “big or little” is an affront, an offense to our God.

The God that has been so good to us.

The God that gives us breath.

We are like David in that we have been shown God’s love and we are susceptible to blindness to our own sin.

Finally, Nathan reveals the consequences of David’s sin.

The sword will never depart from David’s house.

David would lose 4 of his own sons.

The baby, Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah.

Evil will arise from within David’s house.

Tamar, his daughter was raped by her half brother.

Absalom rebelled against David and drove him out of the kingdom.

David’s wives will be taken.

Another man will know David’s wives publicly.

2 Samuel 16:22 “22 So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.”

David had sinned in secret, but god will reward him openly.

That sounds familiar.

It goes both ways.

Secret actions, good or bad are rewarded publicly by God.

God cares about how we live.

David responds to God’s message.

There are no excuses, or explanations, or protests.

David was like a man standing on the edge of a cliff.

Repentance and restoration below.

God had already been working on David’s spirit.

Nathan’s words were the final straw.

David bursts out with confession of sin.

I have sinned against the Lord.

If you don’t see relief and release in this verse, you need to.

David had longed for the ability to say this for over a year.

God used the reminder of His love, the sinfulness of sin, and the certainty of consequences to bring David all the way to point of repentance.

Watch how fast forgiveness comes after repentance.

It is immediate.

We see here the consequence if David had not repented.

He would have died.

God, though has removed David’s sin.

However, sin still carries temporal consequences.

This is true for us today.

The law of sowing and reaping is still in effect.

As a result of his sin and the occasion he has given God’s enemies to blaspheme, there is one final consequence.

David said the rich man would repay 4-fold.

This would be tru for him as well.

He had taken Uriah’s life, so David would lose 4 lives of those close to him.

Adonijah would die after David did.

Absalom would die by the hand of his cousin Joab.

Amnon would die by the hand of Absalom.

The baby that had been conceived in adultery would also die as a result of David’s sin.

Sin never just affects us, it always affects those around us as well.

David learned this, and we need to learn this as well.

Application

All of us have sin that we need to deal with.

You may be here tonight struggling like David was with something in your life that you know shouldn’t be there.

You want to confess it and get it out of your life but you are afraid.

The first thing you need to remind yourself of is the Love of God.

Not only what He’s done for you in the past.

Also, his promise to love you in the future.

There is nothing you can do to disqualify yourself from his love.

Next, you need to admit the sinfulness of your sin.

Big or small or in between.

Sin is an offense to God.

Realize there are consequences for sin whether you confess it or not.

Your hiding of your sin won’t make it go away.