02-20-08 - Davids Sin - 2 Samuel 12 - NSB
Handfuls on Purpose, vol. 5, p. 91, David’s fall and forgiveness – TBKC - Bible Readers Companion – K&D – JFB -
2 Samuel 12:1-14
1 Corinthians 10:12 (KJV)
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. [1]
During the time between David’s sin and the confrontation by Nathan it seems that almost a year transpires.
In Psalm 32 and 51 we get an idea of what was going on in the life of David during that time.
“When I silent, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah” (Ps. 32:3-4)
“Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities…cast me not away from thy presence…” (Ps. 51)
When brother Ted preached this in 2000, the title of his meaasge was, “The Thrill Is Gone.”
And indeed for David and for the backslider, the thrill is gone.
The 11th chapter of 2 Samuel is the story of the sin of one of the greatest men in the Bible.
What we are reminded of here is that even godly men have a human side.
This is the account of the backsliding of the only man in the Bible who is referred to as a man after God’s own heart.
The eleventh chapter tells us about a time when David should have led his men into battle but instead, he SENT them into battle.
That was the first part of the carelessness of this sin.
David stayed home when he should have been going somewhere.
And then one evening David walked out onto the roof of his palace and looked around.
At GE one of the things that they teach in their Safe Driving Course is to keep your eye moving.
David would have done well if he had kept his eyes moving but he did not. His eyes fell upon a beautiful lady named Bathseba and that is where his eyes stopped moving.
The second part of the carelessness of this sin was that David’s look went roaming when it should have stayed home.
So, David took Bathsheba and she became pregnant with his child.
Even while her husband was off fighting in the battle for David.
After David’s carelessness we get a look at the callousness of this sin.
When Bathsheba’s husband could not be tricked by David into believing that he was the father of the unborn child then David sought to have Bathseba’s husband killed.
And indeed he did have him killed.
And then David took Bathsheba for his wife and the Bible says that the thing that David had done displeased the Lord
We begin our study right after these events have transpired.
Look at 2 Samuel 12.l
What happened to David? I mean what went wrong?
You know what a wonderful past he had in the service of God.
We could ask the same question of many spiritual leaders that we have seen fall in our own lifetime.
What happened?
Why do we sin when you consider all that God has done for us?
What caused David to all of a sudden commit this overt act of sinning of backsliding against the God that he had fought for when he faced Goliath?
The first thing that we need to know about overt acts of sin or backsliding is that they are not all of a sudden.
Backsliding begins with the secret thought of the heart.
The time to be on guard is long before there is an overt act of sin.
In a sin such as the one that David had with Bathsheba, the time to be on guard was not when he called her to the palace so that he could be alone with her.
The time to be on guard was well before that.
Nevertheless, David fell. And that is what we want to look at this tonight.
First of all, let’s look at –
THE NATURE OF IT
The nature of David’s sin is a blueprint for many of the sins that we commit today.
They compound themselves.
David was guilty of a longing look (And that is what generally gets us into trouble, isn’t it?
But that look turned into adultery
David was guilty of adultery
But that turned into murder.
His response to his sin was to try and cover it with a lie and when that alone did not work he tried to cover the lie with murder.
See how sin grows?
The CARELESSNESS of sin is often followed by the CALOUSNESS of sin.
How many people have fallen because they followed through on a harmless look?
Eve looked at the fruit and then she ate it.
Lot’s backsliding began when he looked toward Sodom
In the book of Revelation we read that the church at Ephesus had fallen because they had lost their first love.
Would you agree with me that David committed a great sin?
Yes, David committed a great and grievous sin .
But let me ask you this: Who here among us could cast the first stone?
Then after the nature of it we see –
THE FRUIT OF IT
Christian sins bear fruit – undesirable fruit
There were consequences for Bathseba – she was raped.
There were consequences for Uriah – he was killed
There were consequences for David – His son would die.
But is seems that the main thing that Nathan the prophet was concerned about was how all of this mess reflected on God.
What may have been the most important thing to the prophet is the thing that we probably think the least about.
2 Samuel 12:14 (KJV)
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
[2]
David had given the enemies of God a reason to blaspheme His holy name.
Too many times we have seen people who professed to be followers of Jesus Christ do something – commit some sin – backslide
And the devil just has a heyday with it because he uses that to drag the name of God through the mud.
One of the fastest ways to turn people away from God is to have some professing Christian be found to be living a lie
THE CONVICTION OF IT
I do not know how David viewed his sin up to this point. But, Nathan told David a parable to make him see his sin in the correct light.
Maybe he knew in his mind that he had sinned but by the time that Nathan was finished with his parable, there was a knowing in David’s heart.
Notice how upset David was over the parable. How much greater was his offense than the one that Nathan had presented to him.
It seems that the judgment that David passed on the man in the parable was greater than the Law required (ex. 22:1).
However, David was touched deeply by what Nathan had told him.
How sensitive he was to this hypothetical case while as yet his heart was still hardened to his own sin.
By the convicting Word of God, David was brought to the point where he could not deny the sin in his life.
There was a good deal of time that went by before God sent the prophet to David.
You can read about how David felt during that time in Psalms 32.
Nathan brought David to the point where he could not be blind to his situation. That is why the reproof of the prophet was so effective.
God has a way of making us sensitive to the sin in our life.
In this case, he used a prophet and a parable.
In verse nine we read that David killed Uriah the Hittite when we know that he was killed in battle.
Look at verse 7 –
“Thou art the man.”
This followed what really amounted to David pronouncing a sentence of death upon himself.
The ewe lamb in the parable was a pet.
Really this was a parable about coveting which is why it was so applicable for David’s sin.
When he came to understand what Nathan was saying, these words must have cut through David like a knife.
He was truly sorrowful
Psalm 32, Psalm 51, Psalm 103
God had elevated David to such a height that his fall was tremendous.
And even though his life was spared there was great irreparable damage done to others.
Here is what backsliding does for a person –
David took a hit on his character.
Whenever we think of David, we think of his fall.
His sin weakened himself and everyone around him.
Then in the rest of vv. 7-8 we see that God had given David everything.
It is hard to imagine how anyone could sin against God when He has given them everything and yet here we all are, unable to cast a stone at David.
Nathan delivers the word of God to David that pierces his heart.
It is amazing how much convicting power there is in God’s Word for the backslider.
The conviction of sin for a child of God does not come like an arrow shot at random.
When Nathan spoke, it was like an arrow being shot at the heart of David.
God is not going to hint around with us that we have sin in our lives. Instead there is going to be Holy Ghost conviction.
We have seen more than one example in the Bible where men have tried to cover or to hide their sin and it never works.
It did not work for Cain when he slew Abel.
It did not work for Achan when he took spoils that he was not supposed to take.
Not only would there be conviction but oh the consequences to sin are rugged.
David had brought evil upon his house.
And now he would lose his own wives.
And death would come to David’s house.
Uriah had been killed by the sword of the Ammonites and now the sword would not depart from David’s house.
Nathan had an appropriate boldness as he delivered this message from God to the king.
The CONFESSION OF IT
2 Samuel 12:13 (KJV)
Here we find the answer to why David was not killed –
According to the Law, even as king he had committed capitol acts
13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. [3]
David was genuine and contrite in his repentance –
And even though he was restored to fellowship with God, I want you to see how the sin in his life took a toll in his family.
We do not find David searching for a way to get out of this sin.
He is not shifting the blame – and I believe that is why he did not die.
There was genuine contrition and repentance.
The Lord remitted the punishment of death, not so much because of his heartfelt repentance, as from His own fatherly grace and compassion, and because of the promise that He had given to David (2 Sam. 7:11, 12),—a promise which rested upon the assumption that David would not altogether fall away from a state of grace, or commit a mortal sin, but that even in the worst cases he would turn to the Lord again and seek forgiveness. [4]
Our sins are against heaven – our sins are against God.
We see here that David understood this and we see in Psalm 51 also.
We can see that even though David has done a terrible thing, his conscience is not dead.
Spiritually he is not dead. He still responds to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
When we find ourselves in a similar situation, what do we have to say to God?
We are to be like the publican in Luke 18:13
Luke 18:13 (KJV)
13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
THE FORGIVENESS OF IT
“The Lord hath put away thy sin.”
David, the sinner heard from the mercy of God.
He sings of this mercy in the 32nd Psalm.
But we see a couple of other things in that Psalm.
We see how David felt before he confessed his sin
Psalm 32:3-4 (KJV)
3When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
When David confessed his sin, his forgiveness was:
Immediate, complete, and accompanied with promise.
IMMEDIATE
God is ready to forgive you.
COMPLETE
“The Lord hath put away thy sin.”
Who shall ever find what God hath put away?
ACCOMPANIED WITH PROMISE
“Thou shalt not die/”
I urge you today to confess your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
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[1] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995.
[2] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995.
[3] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995.
[4]Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002), 2:630.