Repentence and Restoration
David: After God's Heart • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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A Stark Contrast
A Stark Contrast
I glanced over a real important point last week that I wanted to start today with.
In 2 Samuel 12:13 David makes what seems to be a quite short and simple confession of his sin, 5 words in the English translation.
And Nathan’s response seems almost immediate
13 David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Then Nathan replied to David, “And the Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die.
As I highlighted last week, there were still consequences to David’s sin, immediate and enduring, but it seems that one simple confession was enough to free David from the eternal consequences of his sin.
Like I said last week, it is just that simple. The bible tells us that those who confess their sins and trust in Jesus will be saved, and David is an example of that being true.
We are going to dig deeper into David’s confession, repentance, and restoration today, but before we do I want to spend a bit of time comparing David and Saul in their responses when confronted with sin.
If you remember, Saul was the first king of Israel, the one the people asked for back in the early chapters of 1 Samuel.
Saul was a big, strong, and handsome man who had all the qualities someone would want in a king, but he had the tendency to make some bad decisions and do some pretty dumb things.
In 1 Samuel 13, Saul is told to wait on Samuel the prophet to offer sacrifices to the Lord as they prepared for battle.
As Saul’s soldiers, and Saul himself, grew impatient, Saul decided to offer the sacrifices himself.
Shortly after, Samuel arrives and confronts Saul.
11 and Samuel asked, “What have you done?” Saul answered, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me and you didn’t come within the appointed days and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash, 12 I thought, ‘The Philistines will now descend on me at Gilgal, and I haven’t sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering.”
Samuel didn’t sleep with a woman who wasn’t his wife, or kill anyone, but he did ignore the directions of God and go his own way, and there was no acknowledgment of his sin or even a seeking of forgiveness.
In 1 Samuel 15, Saul is told by God to totally destroy the Amalekites, leaving no one alive and destroy everything in the city.
After Saul’s army overpowers the Amalekites, Saul decides to disobey the Lord’s command and spares some of them and allows his soldiers to plunder the land.
Shortly after, Samuel goes to Saul and confronts him, reminding him of God’s command and calling him out for disobeying. And Saul responded with this:
20 “But I did obey the Lord!” Saul answered. “I went on the mission the Lord gave me: I brought back King Agag of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites. 21 The troops took sheep, goats, and cattle from the plunder—the best of what was set apart for destruction—to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”
Saul does confess he has sinned and asks for forgiveness, but only after Samuel has again had to push against his justification.
Here’s what I want us to see as we start today.
There was a stark difference in the way Saul and David respond to being confronted with their sin.
Saul justified his sin, excused his sin, and dismissed his sin.
But in David we get an example of genuine repentance.
And that is where I want to camp the next few minutes.
We are going to look at 2 sections of scripture today.
First, 2 Samuel 12:15-25, were we left off last week with David’s son from Bathsheba struck with a terminal illness.
In this next section, we see David’s reaction to his son’s sickness and ultimately to his son’s death.
Secondly, Psalm 51 which is David’s Psalm of confession he wrote after Nathan’s confrontation.
It is the longer version of 2 Sam 12:13.
First, 2 Samuel:
15 Then Nathan went home. The Lord struck the baby that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became deathly ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went home, and spent the night lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his house stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them. 18 On the seventh day the baby died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him the baby was dead. They said, “Look, while the baby was alive, we spoke to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we tell him the baby is dead? He may do something desperate.” 19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to each other, he guessed that the baby was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the baby dead?” “He is dead,” they replied. 20 Then David got up from the ground. He washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went to the Lord’s house, and worshiped. Then he went home and requested something to eat. So they served him food, and he ate. 21 His servants asked him, “Why have you done this? While the baby was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate food.” 22 He answered, “While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me.” 24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba; he went to her and slept with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. The Lord loved him, 25 and he sent a message through the prophet Nathan, who named him Jedidiah, because of the Lord.
This passage is dripping with emotion.
David falls down before the Lord and on the ground next to his son and he prays for God to heal him.
The elders try to comfort him, to help him to eat, but David stay prostrate on the ground pleading with God for his son.
And on the 7th day, the boy dies and his servants are too afraid to break the news to him
His emotion was so intense, his prayer so fervent, what would he do if he knew the boy was dead?
To their surprise, as well as ours, David rose from the ground, took a shower, anointed himself with oil, and changed his clothes.
He went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. And then he ate.
How did he go from desperate prayer to sincere praise?
22 He answered, “While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’
David was a different man that we saw in chapter 11.
Something had changed in him and in his heart toward God.
This was the same man who had ignored God’s Word, who had rebelled against God’s ways, and who seemed to have forgotten God’s promises.
And now David’s faith was deep and his hope was fixed.
1) SEE our sin like God SEES.
1) SEE our sin like God SEES.
4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.
Our sin is ultimately against God, not other people.
David isn’t denying that he sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, and others, he is heightening the scope and seriousness of his sin.
His deeds hurt people, but there are ways for him to restore those relationships and make right what was broken in them.
But when we see that ultimately our sin is against God, rebelling and rejecting Him and how He has called and created us to live, then there isn’t a way for us to fix that with 3 easy steps.
16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; you are not pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.
Repentance is more than asking for forgiveness or making a promise that we could never really keep.
It is recognizing our sin is a rejection of God and a rebellion against His Lordship in our lives. (rebelling against him as King).
And it is coming to the recognition that He is entirely just, right, and even GOOD to punish us for our sins.
Genuine repentance requires that we be humble and honest as we understand the seriousness of our sin.
And once we do, we are able to own our sin as our own.
2) Take OWNERSHIP of our SIN.
2) Take OWNERSHIP of our SIN.
3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge. 5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
We use the word “confess” to describe what David does here and it is that, but it is more than admitting that we have sinned.
To take ownership means that we avoid the temptation to blame dodge or come of with excuses.
David owns his sin and names it as rebellion and evil.
He understands that God’s judgement is fair, right, and just. So there is no reason to argue his case.
But David does pray in 2 Samuel 12 that God would spare his son, not because he believes God to be wrong or evil, but because he knows God is gracious and kind.
22 He answered, “While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me.”
That might sound callous, but it shows David’s deep faith and trust in God.
He isn’t evil, angry, and vindictive. He is patient, gracious, kind, and good.
But He is also just, righteous, and fair.
David understood that sin lives deeper than his, or anyone’s, words, deeps or thoughts.
Sin is a disease that infect the heart of every person ever born.
So we have no excuse, no right to shift the blame, no justification that would free us from the guilt of our sin.
David understood, in God’s justice and righteousness, along side His goodness and mercy, that he was the reason his son was sick and dying.
So when he dies, David doesn’t turn his back on God out of anger, but trust in God’s character.
“I will go to him...” He is confident God brought his son to heaven.
Repentance happens when we admit that we have sinned, and that our sin isn’t the results of someone else’s influence, or our personality, or the circumstance of our lives.
Romans 7:24–25 (CSB)
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
3) SEEK FORGIVENESS from God.
3) SEEK FORGIVENESS from God.
1 Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. 2 Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.
Notice the basis of David’s plea for forgiveness.
“Be gracious to me.” “According to you faithful love.” According to your abundant compassion”
“Blot out/Erase from my record my rebellion.” “COMPLETELY wash away my guilt”. “cleanse/purify me from my sin.”
David isn’t hoping God will forgive him because he has really been trying hard to do things better.
He isn’t hoping God will forgive him and cleanse him because he isn’t nearly as bad as other people are.
He isn’t asking God to look over his sins as if they really aren’t that big of a deal.
No he is pleading for God to erase his rebellion, knowing how awful it was.
He is asking God to wash away the deep and abiding guilt that he has tried everything to ignore.
He is asking God to cleanse him from his sin because He is the only one who can.
And He is asking all these things with a confidence in the character of God.
He is gracious, faithful, loving, and compassionate.
We don’t have to come to God “HOPING” for forgiveness, rather we come TRUSTING Him for it because of who we KNOW Him to be.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
13 The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
24 Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
The Gospel of is GOOD NEWS because in spite of how sinful we are, Jesus saves, cleanses, blots out, and COMPLETELY washes.
But it doesn’t stop there.
4) TURN and PURSUE a BETTER way.
4) TURN and PURSUE a BETTER way.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Turn your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt. 10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.
Repentance is just “getting saved” or asking for forgiveness.
It isn’t making a promise to God you are unable to keep.
It is a turning away from sin and pursuing something better.
Something shifted in David in the middle of chapter 12.
A rebellious, callous heart became aware of the ugliness of his sin.
His efforts to cover up and hide his sin turned to a willingness to confess, to be honest to God and others.
And his turning his back on God and doing his own thing turned to a trusting, pursuing obedience and devotion.
David still isn’t perfect and has moments he is crippled by fear of man, draw to doubt God, tempted into sin, and fails to obey.
This is the reality of the life of faith, the process of repentance doesn’t end until we get to heaven.
But it continually transforms us.
And that is the gospel by design.
The Gospel doesn’t just get us out of hell; it also makes us new.
God’s grace doesn’t just help us shed the weight of sin and shame, it empowers us to feel and live differently.
1 How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! 2 How joyful is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit!
12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
