David's Sin and Repentance
Notes
Transcript
1 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4 And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”
13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house.
And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill.
Now some of us can try and ignore sin in our life… we can try to sweep it under the rug if you will… we can try to put on a mask like we don’t sin...
But beloved it is hard to ignore that isn’t it? Its hard to ignore when confronted by someone with it… we can try to ignore our conscious convicting us from within and you better believe David’s conscious was convicting him. He tried to play the noble card… after uriah was murdered David gave him a full honorable burial, married his pregnant widdow and you better believe he tried to play the heroic and noble king… He tried to ignore his sin, He could no longer ignore it when confronted though.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Upon being confronted with his sin David realized his need for repentance and his need for forgiveness. He had the desire for these things as well. Notice in verse 1 he says “Have mercy”. He is saying Oh God do not give me what I deserve!
David says, Have mercy on me… the mercy that matches your lovingkindness. The ESV says, Steadfast love and the CSB says faithful love. Notice David also says have mercy on me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. These are abundant mercies… this is tender compassion.
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
David was seeking God’s forgiveness. Forgiveness that only God can provide.
He is also asking God to blot out his trangressions.. now you could argue that David was looking forward to Christ here because this was not a time of Grace… this was a different covenant… Covenant of the Law. This would of required sacrifice.
Now David knew that God could wash him clean… Not only that but he exercised the faith that God would be faithful to do it.
1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
David speaks here in vs 2 of a cleaner… The word for cleanse here would of been a cleaner for dirty laundry and the word for sin here the most common word for sin… a word that would be used to describe ALL sin. David is asking for God to deep clean every form of evil from his soul.
What about David’s forgiveness of Saul?? Saul had went to every extreme to try and murder David. David could of easily killed Saul but he did not do it.
David had a heart of forgiveness
7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.
David exercised forgiveness over revenge…
If you want a further glimpse of David’s faithful forgiveness read 2 Samuel chapter 19 sometime. All of David’s friends said to slay the men!
A person who does not exercise forgiveness is someone who does not understand the forgiveness of God to him,
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
So we see in vs 3 that David’s prerequisite for asking for God’s mercy and God’s cleansing is that the transgressions be acknowledge and confessing that sin is always before him. He is acknowledging that he can’t help but sin. He is not using that as an excuse though he is doing the opposite of that. He is taking ownership of it… taking responsibility.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
Notice David is exalting the Lord by saying that God is just and God is blameless and that every sin is a sin against God.
Every sin we have ever commited and will ever commit will be a sin against God and we are left relying on His forgiveness!
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Here we have David acknowledging the doctrine of depravity… David isn’t saying here that he was conceived out of wedlock as others have suggested. David is saying that he had been a sinner since he was conceived. He is saying sin comes out of his very being… it comes right out of the flesh. He has been committing iniquity since he was born and so have me and you. David is really saying that this sin is really just who he is. This is just another way that David exalts the Lord and humbles himself.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
David is exalting the Lord in vs 7 by saying: Lord you have the power… You can do it. Purge me, purify me, wash me and I will be clean.. I will be white as snow… I will be forgiven.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
David knew that true joy comes from the Lord and he knew that the Lord could heal his iniquities and he knew the Lord would do such. David Had unlimited faith in the Lord, faith that the Lord alone could forgive him because he had sinned against the Lord
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Notice David ask the Lord to “Create” in me a clean heart. He already ask the Lord to cleanse him… he was not asking for cleansing, He was asking that the Lord make a new heart in him and to renew his spirit with correctness, a right spirit or a constant spirit. To prepare or to make ready his spirit for the Lord.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand,
Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
David was asking God here for that restoration of his spirit… asking the Lord to restore the joy to his spirit
David would of known that the Lord could restore him and we had faith that the Lord would impart on him God’s generous spirit.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
David had the heart that we as followers of Christ should have… we should be constant in our confession before God. Always asking God for His forgiveness.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
David says use me and my sin for your good God! Pardon me and I will humbly teach transgressors your way… sinners will see my example and repent is what David is saying. David is acknowledging that everything is for the Lords glory and that God will use all situations to convert sinners. God is honored when repentance is made.
Now I want to point out that while David may of been seeking forgiveness we as believers today come to God in repentance right?? If you are a child of God you are forgiven before you even sin!!
We do not have to beg God for forgiveness… we are already forgiven…
12 I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
Jesus bore the weight of ALL sin when he died on the cross!
David was sorry… He experienced Godly sorrow that brought him to repentance
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
David was seeking relief and refuge in the Lord. He needed relief from his guilt… David’s guilt served as a reminder of the Lord’s righteousness. Nothing humbles me beloved more than the guilt of my sin. If and when I start to feel proud all I have to do is wait and I’ll sin and feel conviction and be reminded that I’m just a sinner at the mercy of God! But God loves us so much He provided The Way for us to be forgiven of our sin and that way is Jesus Christ. Because of Christ we can sing praises to the Lord. We can sing praises of His righteousness.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
David is acknowledging here that sacrifice couldn’t take away his sin. He acknowledges that the Lord wants repentance, God wants us to turn from our sin… turn to Him in these times. No work can take the place of repenting and having faith that God has faithfully forgiven our sins.
If anyone could of provided a sacrifice that would suffice for repentance or could of been substituted for repentance it would of been David. David was the richest of the rich!
David gives contrast to this kind of sacrifice in vs 17
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
Some of your translations will say “the sacrifices pleasing to God” or “the sacrifices acceptable to God”
A broken heart… a contrite heart… a broken and crushed heart. A shattered heart. These sacrifices to God are much like the way we come to salvation is it not? I don’t know about you but I came to salvation as a broken hearted sinner… a sinner that was crushed by the weight of my sin.. covered in shame and guilt and overwhelmed by the conviction that I was lost and undone before a Holy Righteous God and needing reconciliation or I was going to perish in my sin. When we come to God this way He will not despise… He will not turn away… He will not judge… He is faithful to forgive!
19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
Now this is interesting… once we have come to God with that broken and contrite heart we seen in vs 17, then we are seen as righteous.. once we have been washed clean we can be seen as righteous! David is saying then we can come to God with our offerings… then we can honor the Lord with our Godly decisions and Godly repentance when we sin. What we see here in this psalm is David going from utter desolation to the realization that God is righteous and that he is nothing but a lowly sinner… He then remebers that God is a forgiving God, A God of Love!
18 Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
So he cries out to that Loving God and humbles himself. He confesses his sins and repents!!! He has faith that God can and will deliver him!
We are very much like God when we forgive.... we all want to be Godly right? Then let us forgive. When forgiveness is hard let us pray… Pray to the Lord for forgiveness and pray for the strength to forgive. It helps to think about all that we have been forgiven for!
Maybe you are here today and you need forgiveness from the Lord… Maybe you have yet to experience the Lord’s forgiveness… Today is a great day to embrace it.If you're struggling with wondering if you can be forgiven by the Lord, remember the Lord is faithful to forgive all who confess to Him. Ask the Lord for His forgiveness, Thank Him for sending His son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to bear our sins on the cross so that we may experience forgiveness. Maybe you’re here today and you are thinking about all the forgiveness you have recieved from the Lord and you’re reminded of forgiveness that you have not granted towards another… Pray on that. Take that opportunity to be Godly, give that forgiveness in love. Who are we to withhold forgiveness when we have been forgiven so much! Lets rejoice together, as we sing. Alter is open!