When You've Blown It

Sometimes smart people do dumb things. Sometimes wise people do foolish things. Sometimes godly people do sinful things. And when we blow it big time, we need God’s help, more than perhaps at any other time.

In the days surrounding the Super Bowl in 1999, a player named Eugene Robinson made national news. This guy was smart. He made a career in the NFL by anticipating quarterback passes. When quarterbacks threw the ball, he figured out where it would go and then intercepted it. In football he was a team leader, and because of his spotless Christian testimony, he was an inspirational leader. He had a great track record as a competitor and as a godly role model.

On the Saturday before the Super Bowl, Athletes in Action, a Christian ministry, gave Eugene their Outstanding Citizen Award for demonstrating the godliest character in the NFL that year. He was viewed as one of the most consistent Christians in professional sports. Frequently making public witness of his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Later that night Eugene Robinson did a dumb, foolish, and sinful thing. This all-star, Christian leader and role model had a confrontation with a pair of handcuffs. An undercover female police officer arrested Eugene for soliciting prostitution. He landed in jail. His wife’s phone rang in the middle of the night.

We hear this, shake our heads, and say, “How? Why? What was behind that?”

But Eugene Robinson was left wondering something more profound. Would God help him now that he had blown it big time? Would God turn his back on Eugene after this moral fumble?

Before you shake your head at him, wait up. He’s not the first godly person to do a sinful thing, and he won’t be the last. People who love God with all their hearts—including the person speaking right now—have done foolish and utterly sinful things. I am going to take a wild guess that every person hearing my voice book has done a few dumb, unwise, and sinful things too. Our private sins may not make the headlines, but that doesn’t make them okay.[i]

The Story in the Superscription (2 Sam 11-12)

David was where he should not have been

1. He should have been leading his soldiers in battle, but he was wasting time on his roof.

2. He saw someone and lingered when he should have turned away.

3. He sent for her and she agreed.

a. A lot of ink has been spilled about consent and coercion.

b. Some believe that David’s authority intimidated Bathsheba to the extent that she couldn’t refuse, and they label this a rape.

c. Some believe that she should have known she was in eyesight of the palace and was foolish to bath there.

d. The perspective of this Psalm is not on Bathsheba’s participation, but on David’s sin.

4. She gets pregnant

5. David tried to cover-up the incident. The cover-up doesn’t work.

6. David sends Bathsheba’s husband into a battle with almost guaranteed death.

David thinks he has managed the sin when he is confronted by Nathan

1. “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’” David added no excuses, didn’t shift the blame to others; he simply acknowledged his sin. “Nathan replied, ‘The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die’” (2 Sam. 12:13)[ii]Text

2. Nathan pronounces forgiveness, but there are still consequences to be dealt.

Samuel tells the story of what happened in the Kingdom, Psalm 51 tells the story of what happened in the King.

Transition: Psalm 51 is a rare piece of literature. David wrote out his personal, private prayer after Nathan, the prophet, confronted him with his sin. It’s the prayer of a wise and godly king who lost his way but was found by a loving, righteous God. It’s the prayer of an adulterer, liar, schemer, and murderer caught in the act.

Deal with Sin Seriously

As I have watched notable pastors and those in the public eye respond to their moral failings, I have noticed 2 tendencies: 1) is to make too light of the sin and act as if forgiveness is impossible. 2) is to make too light of God’s forgiveness and act as if restoration is impossible.

Join me as we find the place between denial and derailm

1. Come Clean (vv.1-4)

· Stop trying to rationalize, minimize, excuse, and spin.

2. Ask Forgiveness (v.2)

· Mercy, washing & cleansing were all possible.

3. Accept Responsibility (vv.3-5)

1. How many “I” and “my” do you count in vv.2-5?

2. David does not use his humanity as an excuse (“I’m only human”) but to describe the extent of his problem.

Some like to debate (similar to the chicken and the egg) if we sin because we are sinners or if we are sinners because we sin. I think David leans toward sin because we are sinners.

3. Notice v.4 – David admits his sinfulness so that God is justified in viewing him as evil.

4. Accept Forgiveness on God’s Terms (vv.6-9)

1. V.6 serves as a transition from David’s current condition to God’s desired relationship. This is an admission that “you know it” and “I know it” so let’s stop pretending.

2. Vv.7-9 speaks of ceremonial cleansing, not literal scrubbing or scouring. Hyssop was used (like a brush) to sprinkle blood in ancient ceremonies.

3. A common explanation in counseling sessions is, “I know God forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself.”

This reminds me of the philosophy professor who administered a final exam to his students by placing a chair on the table and assigning the essay title “Use all the concepts from this class to convince me that this chair does not exist.”

The only “A” in the class went to a student who only wrote 2 words—"what chair?”

4. When we continue to experience shame for sin that God has forgiven, we need to think of God writing the essay, “what sin?”

5. Chip Ingram writes,

I don’t mean to sound harsh, but you and I are not that important. You may not feel good about yourself for a long time. You may never—and perhaps should never—feel good when you think about what you did wrong and how that impacted others. But your forgiveness is not based on your emotions. Your emotions can and will lie to you. It doesn’t matter how deeply you sinned or how bad you feel about it. What it was, when it was, or how it was done, does nothing to change this truth: if you ask for forgiveness from God on the basis of his unfailing covenant love, you are forgiven. Accept it.[iii]

5. Allow Grace to have its perfect work (vv.10-12)

1. Create and Renew speak of God’s ability to speak something into existence as He did in Genesis.

2. It is quite likely that v.11 flows out of David’s knowledge of what happened to King Saul. When God’s anointing moved from Saul to David, David was able to witness the utter collapse of Saul’s family and dynasty.

3. Restoration can bring a sense of absolute joy! (v.12)

This makes me think of cars. They come out of the showroom shiny and possessing that new car smell. Then over time they get dings and scratches and little things start to go wrong.

Then imagine a limb falls on your car during a storm and it goes into the body shop.

When it gets returned to you with all the dents taken out, a fresh paint job and several coats of wax have that baby looking as good as the first time you drove it.

4. If you ever doubt the joy that comes from restoration, just visit a car show and ask some of the owners to describe how their car started and what they did to it.

6. Use it! (vv.13-15)

1. David’s pain is turned to praise.

2. Survivor stories have immense impact to persuade and give hope.

3. Here and now we are experiencing the fulfillment of v.13. We are the transgressors who are being taught the ways of God because of David’s restoration.

4. If David’s guilt could be turned into hope, what can God do with your pain?

5. David’s experience of forgiveness has an impact on others, but it also serves as a prompt for praise to God Himself. (14-15)

Transition: These 6 individuals behaviors have power to change communities.

A Forgiven Community (vv.16-19)

Little forgiveness causes little Love (vv.16-17)

1. V.16 plays out how important it is for religious deeds to be motivated by restored hearts.

2. I read v. 16 and I see a faith community that holds services, sings the songs, collects the offering, but people have no heart.

3. V.17 challenges sinners to do the right things, with a right heart that deals honestly with our sin – asking and receiving forgiveness from God and others.

I think of the woman who once made her living in the sex trade and would use fragrant oil to attempt to mask the stench of the men she had just serviced. But when Jesus changed her and forgave her, she was moved with such gratitude that she poured out the entire bottle on Jesus’ head. Her act of devotion was motivated by the same heart that David in v.17.

Luke 7:47 ESV:2016

47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Much Forgiveness creates Delight (vv.18-19)

1. In verse 18 I see a community that God delights in and blesses.

2. V.19 says that he delights because they offer right sacrifices and offering.

3. These right offerings are the result of v.17

Psalm 51:17 ESV:2016

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Transition: The brokenness of this verse positions us to become the blessed people of Jesus’ sermon on the mount.

Conclusion:

Jesus starts by saying that we are blessed when we are poor in spirit. When we can empty our hands of our futile attempts at righteousness, admit our poverty and brokenness, we then have room to receive the riches of His mercy.

I don’t want to be part of a perfect church made up of perfect people who do things perfectly.

I want to be part of a forgiving church made up of forgiven people who do things covered in the oil of forgiveness. Broken people are the opposite of arrogant people. Broken people realize their need for grace and share forgiveness with others freely.

[i] Chip Ingram, Finding God When You Need Him Most (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007).

[ii] Chip Ingram, Finding God When You Need Him Most (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007).

[iii] Chip Ingram, Finding God When You Need Him Most (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007).Syrian hyssop