Sin, Sorrow and a Second Chance
God of the Second Chance • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 11 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Intro
Intro
David's Sin. Chapter 11 of 1 Samuel tells us of King David's adultery with Bathsheba, and the lying and premeditated murder of Uriah.
In chapter 11, David becomes an adulterer, a liar, betrays the trust of his soldiers, abuses his power, and turns into a ruthless killer. At the end of chapter 11, there is a verse that expresses God's disapproval:
After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
David may have Bathsheba’s flesh and Uriah’s blood, but he will have to face Yahweh’s eyes.
Dale Ralph Davis
2 Samuel 12. In chapter 11, David is in control: he takes the initiative, he dominates the scene.
In chapter 12, the Lord dominates the scene. God does not turn a blind eye to David's sins, but exposes them through His prophet Nathan.
David will have to face the consequences of his wicked actions.
Despite the judgment, chapter 12 speaks to us of grace, love, a new beginning, a second chance that God will give to the fallen king.
The Leaders in Samuel’s books. The books of First and Second Samuel introduce us to several leaders of Israel:
Eli, the priest, along with his sons Hophni and Phinehas;
Samuel, the prophet;
Saul, the first king of Israel;
Valiant men like Jonathan, Elhiab, and Habner;
David, God's chosen king.
All these men are all imperfect and lacking in something. So what makes David different, special? What makes David special is not the absence of sin, but how he reacted when God exposed his sin.
Heath Thomas said: "The question is not, Do you sin? The question is, What do you do after you sin? The answer to that question is a matter of life and death."
Sermon outline. God is ready to grant new opportunities, second chances, on one condition: the sin must be confessed.
Through David's experience, we will see how the Lord will grant the king of Israel a second chance. In this regard, I would like to consider:
David's confession;
David's forgiveness;
David's substitute;
David's new beginning.
N.1 - David’s Confession
N.1 - David’s Confession
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
David confesses. David admits to having sinned and confesses his evil deeds to the prophet Nathan. Regarding David's confession, I would like to highlight:
A. The brevity of the confession. In the original language, Hebrew, David's confession consists of only two words.
Application. God does not need poems, but simple and sincere confessions of sin:
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
B. A confession without excuses. David does not defend himself, nor does he try to make excuses.
The Berleburg Bible says: "The words are very few... There is no excuse, no cloaking, no palliation of the sin. There is no searching for a loophole,... no pretext put forward, no human weakness pleaded. David acknowledges his guilt openly, candidly, and without prevarication."
The Bible reminds us of many individuals who confessed their sin but placed the blame on others:
Adam placed the blame on Eve;
Abraham, when he lied, blamed the pagan peoples (Genesis 20:11);
Aaron blamed the people of Israel (Exodus 32:23);
Saul blamed the people of Israel (1 Samuel 13:11).
Wounds cannot be healed until they are revealed and sins cannot be forgiven until they are confessed.
Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)
Like David, we confess our sins without excuses.
C. Identification in confession. The English version translates David's confession as "I have sinned," while in the Hebrew text, the confession is stronger: "I am the sinner."
Application. A genuine confession is based on a deep awareness of the sin committed.
Therefore, one does not distance oneself, but accepts the consequences. David does not distance himself from his sin: Psalm 51:1-3
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
N.2 - David's Forgiveness
N.2 - David's Forgiveness
Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you.
The Lord forgives David. God forgives His servant, and in this regard, I would like to highlight some aspects:
A. Readiness to forgive. God immediately forgave David. David didn't have to wait in line, nor was he tested for a time, but he was immediately granted forgiveness.
Application. David always reminds us of God's willingness to forgive us:
For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
It is certainly not because of the magnitude of the sin that God does not forgive, but rather because of the lack of confession of the sin.
B. The Author of Forgiveness. The prophet Nathan makes it clear to David that it is God who has forgiven him.
Application. We certainly need the forgiveness of others, but human forgiveness is limited and temporal, while divine forgiveness is complete and eternal. Make peace with God by confessing everything to Him.
C. The Effectiveness of Forgiveness. The prophet Nathan states that David will not die. God's forgiveness works.
The most marvelous ingredient in the forgiveness of God is that he also forgets, the one thing a human being can never do. Forgetting with God is a divine attribute; God’s forgiveness forgets.
Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)
300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon Making an End of Sins (Hebrews 9:26)
When Pompey was killed, Julius Caesar obtained possession of a large box that contained a vast amount of correspondence that had been carried on with Pompey. There is no doubt that in that box there were many letters from certain of Caesar’s followers making overtures to Pompey, and if Caesar had read those letters it is probable that he would have been so angry with many of his friends that he would have put them to death for playing him false. Fearing this, he magnanimously took the box and destroyed it without reading a single line. What a splendid way of putting away and annihilating all their offenses against him! Why, he did not even know them; he could not be angry, for he did not know that they had offended. He consumed all their offenses and destroyed their iniquities so that he could treat them all as if they were innocent and faithful.
The Lord Jesus Christ has made just such an end of your sins and mine.
David affirms that God forgives and forgets:
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
N.3 - David's Substitute
N.3 - David's Substitute
But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
The death of David's son. God's forgiveness reached David, but at a cost: "your son will die."
David was the guilty one (2 Samuel 12:5), and the prophet Nathan exposed the king's sin:
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! 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.
David the killer, David the adulterer, David the liar, David the sinner was spared, and the king's son, the son of David, took his place, dying for the sins of another.
The son of David, the son of the king, the innocent son as a substitute for the sinner.
Application. Forgiveness has been granted, but our sins bear the consequences with a heavy sentence: death and torment, forever!
For us too, there was a Substitute; for us too, the innocent Son of David, the Son of the King, paid, took our place, enduring the torment and death of the Cross:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We can claim forgiveness, we can claim a new opportunity because Jesus paid for us, He took my place!
1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Substitution, Example Of
During the Civil War, a company of irregulars known as “bushwhackers” was arrested by the Union soldiers. Because they were guerrilla fighters and not in uniform, they were sentenced to be shot.
A courageous young boy in the Union Army touched his commanding officer on the arm and pleaded, “Won’t you allow me to take the place of one of the men you have just condemned? I know him well—he has a large family who needs him badly. My parents are dead and I have few friends. No one will miss me. Please let me take his punishment!” The officer hesitated, but finally gave his consent. Pulling the husband and father to one side, the young man filled his position in the death line. On the stone that marks his grave in a little southern town are these words: “Sacred to the memory of Willy Lear.
N.4 - David’s New Beginning
N.4 - David’s New Beginning
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; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
Second chance. These two verses compress at least nine months, nine months in which God manifests His grace toward David. Regarding this new beginning, I would like to consider two elements:
A. A new relationship. For the first time, in v. 24, Bathsheba is called "David's wife" and not "Uriah's wife." True repentance can heal relationships and restore dignity.
Application. God can heal relationships and restore dignity and honor!
B. New priorities. V. 24 tells us that David approaches his wife Bathsheba again, but this time he does so with the intention of consoling and comforting his wife's grieving heart, not to satisfy his own carnal passions.
Now David's priority is to console others, whereas before, his priority was to satisfy himself.
Application. God is ready to give us a second chance, with new, holy, and pure priorities.
While previously the goal of all our actions was to satisfy our ego, God has changed our priorities: now we want to comfort others, bless others! A new beginning, new relationships, new priorities.
Conclusion
Conclusion
An abandoned harp. It was likely about a year between David's sin and the prophet Nathan's denunciation.
Months spent in suffering, fear, and guilt, a time when David's harp stopped playing for the Lord.
Like David, perhaps you too are living in the torment of your mistakes, a slave to your past.
Know that God is ready to give you a second chance, so that your harp, your heart, can play again, and you can count God's kindness.
