Sermon Tone Analysis

Quick story…My dad kept a coin jar on his dresser.

Every night when he got home from work, the first thing he did was head upstairs to change his clothes.

You could hear the familiar jangling of coins as they spilled from his pocket and he set them in the jar.

When I was about nine years old, I decided his coins should be mine.

Over time I pilfered a few nickels here, a handful of pennies there.

Before I knew it, I had successfully swindled my dad out of his loose change, and he never even noticed.

Sometime later, guilt gripped me.

I knew that what I'd been doing could only be considered stealing.

I had no way to explain away my behavior.

With a pounding heart, I penned an apology to him, confessing my sin and asking him to forgive me.

I tucked it under his coin jar along with a pile of pennies as restitution.

I waited anxiously for my dad to confront me.

Day One went by, and he didn't say anything.

Another day passed; still nothing.

And then another, and another.

Eventually, I forgot about the note.

Then one day out of the blue, my dad stepped into my bedroom and said, "Marian, I got your note and the pennies."

My heart raced; my throat felt like a marble was lodged in it ….

I was expecting punishment, but … he seemed on the verge of tears.

But that didn't make any sense.

I had wronged him.

He had every right to be mad and punish me.

Instead he said, "Thank you."

And then he gave me a hug.

And then he left.

We never spoke of it again.

I stood there dumbfounded.

Why, when I fully deserved my father's wrath, did he instead show me mercy?

I didn't deserve it; I hadn't earned it.

I felt like a criminal let off scot free!

This was my first powerful lesson on judgment and grace.

It's experiencing utter relief and humility in the face of guilt because you know how bad you can be, but God chooses to love and forgive you anyway.

It is truly God's riches at Christ's expense.

What a powerful lesson on judgement and grace.

It is the reality and sting of judgement that we all feel and experience in many ways.

Oh but the grace of God... the amazing and immeasurable grace of God.

It just cannot be measured.

When grace comes it just does not seem right.

It does not seem to follow.

It seems so impossible and incredible.

But it is because nothing will be impossible for God.

Nothing.

But because it seems so good, almost too good to be true, we struggle.

But maybe another example of how gracious our Lord is could help us today.

Nathan had just confronted David on his sin with a parable and judgement was pronounced upon him for his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah.

The sword will never depart from his house.

The Lord is going to raise up evil against him.

Your wives will be defiled before you.

Finally, the child that is growing in Bathsheba’s womb will die.

We saw a truly heartfelt repentance by David in and David is reaching out to the Lord for continued grace for the life of the child.

However, today we will witness the death of a child and the birth of a child.

The Lord brought an illness upon the child that Uriah’s wife bore with David.

David begged the Lord to let the child live.

He lay on the floor, fasted and prayed.

Many pleaded with David to eat with them but David refused.

On the 7th day the child died and David’ s advisers were afraid to tell him thinking that he did not listen to reason while the child was still alive, how much worse will it be now that the child is dead.

David saw that they were whispering and figured that the child was dead.

He got cleaned up, put on some old spice, worshipped at the Tabernacle and ate.

His advisers could not understand why he didn’t eat when the child was alive, but now he’s eating after the child died.

He hoped that the Lord would be gracious and let him live, but now that the child is dead, why should he not eat, he can’t do anything about it now.

One day I will go to him, but he won’t come to me.

David comforted Bathsheba and she gave birth to a son that David named Solomon.

Solomon was loved by the Lord.

It was war time again for David as he fought against the Ammonites.

He captured Rabbah and took the kings crown and put it on his head… it weighed 75 pounds?

75 pounds?

He took some plunder from the Ammonites and turned them into slaves.

David was once again victorious.

2 Samuel

The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.

The Child Dies

A Child is Born

The Child is Born

The first thing we will explore today is this fascinating story of David who mourned while the child was alive and resume normal behavior when the child dies?

The second point concerns the birth of a child with the blessing of the Lord.

Solomon would display the victory that God’s grace will have over murder and adultery.

Finally, we will see how THE child that was born in the manger, the word made flesh, the ultimate immeasurable display of God’s grace sets us free and who this child sets free is free indeed.

- Though the deceptions of the enemy and the world coupled with our sin nature cause us to despair when we sin and wrestle through the consequences of all sin, it is the abounding and abundant Grace of the Lord Jesus in his birth, death, and resurrection that will truly bring us victory over all our enemies once and for all.

I.

The Child Dies

- Merciful and Gracious is not something the Lord does, but essentially who he is.

A. One of the first things we catch here is the calling of Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife.

It was the Lord that sent the illness to fulfill what He had pronounced upon David.

Why Uriah’s wife?

This I believe is to remind us that the child is the product of the sinful union in adultery.

And to ultimately remind us of the corruption of sin and what it is before a Holy God.

It is the reality of Judgement.

B. This is also a reminder of what it is to be a sinner before a Holy God and that we should be silent as the Lord pronounces judgement upon us.

For think about it, we are in no position to judge God as to whether what he does is right and fair, right?

But punishing a child for the father’s sin?

Ahh… but there is no worse judgement to a father than to have to bury his child.

Right?

It is said that there are worse things than death… living and burying your child.

C. In verse 16, we see that David pleads with the Lord for the life of the Child.

Of course it would be an intense pleading in anguish of a father and king who laid on the floor and fasted.

He did not eat.

And no matter how many times David’s advisers advised him to get up and eat, David did not.

Here we witness the beginnings of something extraordinary.

D. Now here we go, verse 18, on the 7th day, the child died.

And because of how David was acting, the servants we too afraid to tell him what happened.