The Heart of Repentance

Prayer

Nathan’s Rebuke, David’s Repentance

So, last week we started back into the story of 2 Samuel and we saw how David, the King of Israel, went astray - seriously astray. This man, who’d been so faithful, so committed to the Lord, kept moving deeper and deeper into sin, into truly wicked behavior. It began with adultery, then moved into deceit, multiple attempts to cover up, manipulation, abuse of his royal power, and to top it all off, murder.

And at the end of 2 Samuel 11, David seems to have gotten away with it. Uriah, the husband, has been killed in battle (as per David’s instructions to Joab, his military commander). Bathsheba has now become David’s wife and borne him a son. And chapter 11 ends with this - “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.” The Lord is not going to just let this go.

So in our chapter today, 2 Samuel 12, the Lord sends Nathan his prophet to rebuke David (this is the same prophet who had brought the word of the Lord to David in 2 Samuel 7, the promise that the Lord will establish a descendant of David’s on the throne forever). However, instead of simply confronting David on his sin, Nathan comes to David with a story, story that requires judgment (which kings would often be called on to decide).

The story involves two men in a certain town - a rich man, who had lots of sheep and cattle, and a poor man, who only had one little ewe lamb, one that he cared for deeply - he raised it, fed it, the lamb shared his cup and slept in his arms. As we read in the text, “It was like a daughter to him.”

Nathan goes on with his story - a traveler comes to the rich man, and as the rules of hospitality would dictate, he prepared a meal for his guest. But instead of taking one of the many sheep he owned, he stole the ewe lamb from the poor man. David responds as expected - 2 Samuel 12:5-6, David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

David sees the injustice in this story. David recognizes that the rich man was pitiless - he had so much and yet he still choose to take the precious possession of the poor man. He’s got to pay!

And it’s at this point that Nathan lowers the boom, “You are the man!” You are just like the rich man in this story. You’ve acted in the same pitiless manner. And in the same way that this rich man deserves punishment, so do you.

Nathan shares what the punishment is, 2 Samuel 12:7-12, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

The Lord begins by reminding David how much he’s given to him, how richly he’s blessed him. And he would have given him more - this wasn’t an issue of the Lord being stingy. It was about David taking what wasn’t his - God had given Bathsheba to someone else. And it’s the question the Lord asks that really strikes at the heart of this, “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?” You despised what I taught you, the commands I gave you to live by.

The Lord tells David that his sin is going to come back to haunt him (we’re going to see this play out) - in the same way that he used violence, the sword, it will come on him, it will not leave his very own household. And in the same way he was sexually immoral, that sexually immorality will come back on him.

The question now sits - how will David respond to the Lord’s rebuke? We get the answer immediately: 2 Samuel 12:13, Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” David owns up to his sin. No excuses, no justifications. I have sinned. Then Nathan speaks a word of mercy from the Lord, this also from vs. 13, Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.

However, death will come - not to David, but to his newborn son. The Lord strikes the child with an illness. David goes into a state of mourning, pleading with God for the life of the child, fasting, dressing in sackcloth and lying on the floor. David comes before the Lord fully chastised. His elders try to get him up and get him to eat but he refuses.

On the seventh day the child dies. When word reaches David that his son is dead, he ends his period of mourning. And that brings us to the final part of the story, 2 Samuel 12:24-25, Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 25 and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.

A couple of notes about this, because here we see another example of the Lord’s grace, his forgiveness, here. First, it names Bathsheba as David’s wife - in spite of his sin, she is recognized as his wife - she’s not described as Uriah’s wife here.

And the Lord blesses Bathsheba with another son, and as Bathsheba gives birth to their son, they name him Solomon (you might recognize the name, more on him in a few weeks). But then this, “The Lord loved him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.” This is the only place that we see this name for Solomon, and it reveals to David what God wants him to know - the Lord has forgiven him. He’s blessed him with a child through Bathsheba, the Lord loves this child (which is what Jedidiah means). The Lord is not holding David’s sin against him. He is forgiven.

The Beauty and Power of Repentance - I want to take this story in order to look at repentance, what it teaches us about what repentance looks like, the heart of repentance.

One of the things this story teaches us is about is how blind we can be to our own sin. It’s so telling how Nathan confronts David with his sin. He doesn’t come in and immediately rebuke David - he tells a story. David, in hearing the story, can be objective, he’s not involved in it, so he is free to immediately see the evil the rich man does, he recognizes the injustice of it - and responds appropriately. He burns with anger.

But notice he didn’t burn with anger - or remorse over his own sin, at least not until he’s confronted with it. Until Nathan comes to him, he’s okay with all the sin he engaged in. That says a lot about the blindness to our own sin, how difficult it is for us to see our sin objectively. Now, at times we may make too much of our sin, live too much in guilt and shame and regret. But far more often, we are like David, we cover it over. We’re blind to it.

And for good reason - it’s hard for us to face our sin. It’s hard because of what it says about us. We like to see ourselves as good people. We want to be good. We know we should be good. And facing our sin head on shatters that. It means that we are people who are not just capable, but who actually do, terrible things. We look at others with contempt. We judge them. We demean them. We wound them - including the people closest to us. We take advantage of others.

And even worse, we despise God. That may seem like overly strong language, but remember what the Lord says to David through Nathan - Why do you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? When we sin we are, in a very real way, despising the Lord, his word. We’re dismissing him as the Lord God. We’re saying to him, your word, what you teach us, what you command - I don’t need to heed that. I can ignore it. Remember that to love the Lord is to obey him - John 15:10, If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. If to love the Lord means being obedient to him, then being disobedient means to despise the Lord - I don’t have to listen to you, that’s the attitude whether we recognize it as such or not.

This is why we’d rather not acknowledge the fullness of our sin, why we so often stay blinded to it - why we justify it, blame it on the other person involved - if we’re in a conflict with someone - focus on their wrongdoing. We minimize our role. And yet, just like David, the Lord says to us, “you are the man!” Or the woman, as the case may be.

David - thankfully, beautifully - repents. He says simply, “I have sinned against the Lord.” I did it. I was wrong. I turned away from the Lord. By the way, in saying this, this doesn’t mean that David didn’t sin against Bathsheba and Uriah and the people of Israel - he absolutely did. It means that our sin is always, first and foremost - against the Lord.

We get a much better insight into David’s heart here, his repentance from Psalm 51. If you go to Psalm 51 you’ll find this note at the very beginning: It says, “A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” So this is David’s prayer of repentance, what he prays in response to being confronted.

Psalm 51:1-6, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

David doesn’t hold back here, he lays it all out. Lord, I need your mercy, I need your unfailing love. I need your compassion - because I have sinned. I’ve done evil. You’re right in your judgment of me. And in spite of the fact that you’ve always desired faithfulness from me, I have been sinful. Wash me, cleanse me.

And I hope this is our heart when we pray. When we engage, as we do every Sunday, in the discipline of confession. Genuine heart of repentance that begins with being as honest as we can about our sinfulness. Sorrow would be spurred in as God intended. These next verses come from Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, after he had confronted them on several significant sins, 2 Corinthians 7:9-11,

For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.

This is what repentance is all about - genuine sorrow, it produces in us - an earnestness (sober and sincere), alarm - this sin is in me, a longing for the good, I want righteousness to reign. We move away from trying to appear good - to actually being good. Desiring it, even if - perhaps especially if - it means confronting our own sin.

There’s only one thing that enables us to repent this way - it’s who the Lord is - his goodness, his mercy, his compassion. We get this little detail that’s so telling about David in 2 Samuel 12:20, Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Now this is right after he finds out his son has died and he realizes that the Lord is not going to change his mind about that punishment. Notice what he does at the end - he worships. He goes into the tabernacle, the house of the Lord, and worships.

Nature of worship is recognizing that the Lord is Lord. He is worthy of bowing down to, offering ourselves in obedience and love and reverence. Worship, genuine worship (not just going to church, those things are not always one in the same) is in polar opposition to sin. Because sin is a fundamental rejection of the Lord as Lord (we despise his word). When David was right with the Lord, he worshiped with all his might (remember David bringing the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem, dancing with only his undergarments on, no royal robes). When his wife, Michal, sneered at him - I’ll be even more undignified than this, I’ll humble myself completely before the Lord - because he is the Lord.

Even here, even on the death of his son, David recognizes why the Lord is worthy of his worship, why he - and we - should never hesitate to come to him in repentance. As soon as David acknowledges his sin, the word of the Lord comes to him - the Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. This is exactly what David professes another of his prayers, in Psalm 103:8-10, The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

I remember reading an article years ago, about John Newton, he wrote the classic hymn, Amazing Grace. The writer of the article made the point that Newton actively engaged in the African slave trade (he was a ship captain) after he became a Christian - in fact, he wrote that the time at sea was spiritually beneficial, lots of time to prayer and reflect when you’re on the ocean for months at a time. Over the course of time as he grew as a follower of Jesus, he realized that he was involved in grievous sinful behavior by being involved in the slave trade and he repented. I once was blind but now I see.

Author of the article made a very insightful point - that when we are faced with our sin, the utter ugliness of it, we have three options. First (and the most common) is that we gloss over it, we minimize it, rationalize it. We are blind to it, as David was before being confronted by Nathan. Because we want to hold on to the sense that we’re good. I like to think of myself as a good person. Second option is that we genuinely acknowledge our sin, then are buried in guilt, shame - because we recognize we are sinful people, but with no recourse. The illusion of goodness is shattered, but what then?

The third option is only possible because of who Jesus Christ is - and what he offers. Grace. Amazing grace. Because the Lord is compassionate and gracious. Because he is slow to anger. Because he is abounding in love. Because he does not treat us as our sins deserve. It’s because of Jesus that we can repent and know ourselves to be fully forgiven. Washed clean. So we are not defined by our sin (we don’t have to be buried in guilt and shame), but by who we are in Jesus Christ (redeemed, forgiven). It’s the beauty of the gospel. And it comes about when we have a heart of repentance

Spiritual Direction - So, how do we put into practice what Jesus is teaching us this morning?

Keep your eyes focused on the Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. If Jesus, his grace, is what enables us to be honest about our sin (and not be mired in guilt and shame), we have to keep looking to him. Trust the good news of the gospel. Trust the character of Jesus, keep remembering what he did for us.

Repentance - genuine heart of sorrow. Worldly sorrow is just regretting your actions because you have to suffer the consequences (you got caught). But godly sorrow leads to repentance, desire to change, I don’t want this in me. I want to be like Jesus! May that be our heart as we engage in discipline of confession.