Get back on track (2 Samuel 12.1-15)
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and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had very many flocks and herds;
but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.
Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.”
Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die;
he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul;
I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more.
Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun.
For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.”
Then Nathan went to his house.
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became very ill.
Intro:
Today’s scripture expresses what I believe to be the “FULL WEIGHT” of what it means to “mess up” extremely bad.
And the truth is that there are really no Large sins, and Miniature sins...
But sometimes it can get real messy can’t it......
(pause and optional expound)
And one of the immediate discoveries I had is how easy it is to visualize when somebody else has messed up royally........
......and how extremely difficult it is to notice our own sins when we’re standing in our own mess.
(pause and expound)
Look at it now....
and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.
The biblical writer opens by sharing with us Nathan’s parable.....
…and at the very beginning of verse 1 it opens by saying,
“Then the Lord sent Nathan to David”
And I believe it is significant for us to understand that David has sinned, and God is concerned...
......and the level of God’s concern is so elevated that God sends the prophet to give David this message.
(pause)
The reason God is so concerned is due to the fact that at least one year has gone by since David has committed this sin of sleeping with Bathsheba the wife of Urriah.......
.....and then killing Urriah to take Bathsheba as his own wife in chapter 11.
And in Psalms 31.12 it records some of David’s self reflections during this year of “Sin Covering”by saying.......
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
David has lost his power, witness,and his joy.......
he has become physically sick...
And during this time he has identified the results of his sin, but instead of fully coming to God to repent of his wrong......
.......God still has to send the prophet to speak to David concerning his actions that have proven him to be off track.
(pause)
And if we would be honest........
......it is so easy to fall into a season of “Sin Covering!”
(slight pause)
........a season where we are identifying the results of our sins but still have no intentions of going to God with a heart of repentance.
(pause)
And so Pastor what does true repentance mean?
Here it is....
Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of action.
(pause)
Repentance is NOT a realization of wrong and a continuation of acting out that wrong.
(pause)
And......
......this is why Nathan is now talking to David.
He takes 6 verses to share a story to David about a rich man who abuses his power to take advantage of a poor man who has less power.....
......and he paints this picture so graphically that David completely understands how wrong the actions are of the rich man in Nathan’s story.
(pause)
David gets so upset and angry with the outcomes of Nathan’s story that he is ready to go and kill this rich man, and restore what the poor man lost back to him.....
(pause)
Because........
......it’s so easy to see the wrong of someone else!
(slight pause)
But David has not yet made the necessary connection of why Nathan is telling him this story.....
(slight pause)
.......he does not quite understand that his attitude towards this rich man
.......is exactly how God feels when God watched David act the way he did.
(pause)
And......
God says through Nathan in verse 7.....
Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul;
David you know good and well......
........that you slept with Urriah’s wife Bathsheba
.....and then manipulated the loyalty of Urriah to send him into a battle that would get him killed so you could keep what you stole!
(pause)
But instead of coming to me like you should have.........
.....I had to send for you!
(pause)
I am the God who anointed you King....
........and then delivered you when Saul was trying to kill you!
(pause)
And.....
David you know what it feels like first hand........
........to have somebody trying to kill you
........and you still did it to Uriah!
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination the first thing that I see that angers God so much about David’s actions in the text is.....
Because David is putting Urriah through an experience that God has delivered him from......
(pause)
Freedom.....
Be careful not to make somebody go through what God delivered you from!
And all I’m really saying is....
Don’t help trouble get into people’s lives with your sins!
We should be the reason folk get saved......
Not the reason people get stricken......
(pause and expound)
The second thing that I see is in verse 8 where God say’s through the prophet Nathan.....
I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more.
The text says....
David,
I gave you so much!
I gave you The Kingdom
I gave you Power
I gave you Victory
and.....
I gave you plenty of wives
I gave you plenty of possesions
(pause)
And David......
....if you would have come to me and said God this is insufficient what you have given to me.
God says......
I would not have even argued with you....
I would have just went ahead and added more to your life!
God says to David......
All you had to do was ask me for what you wanted!
(pause)
Barrel:
I remember one time I was with my grandfather and we were getting ready to get out of the truck and walk into WalMart......
.....but before we got out of the truck my Grandaddy reached into his pocket and pulled out some money and then handed me some.
And then when he handed me the money he said,
I’m giving you this because I don’t ever want you to feel like you got to take something that aint yours......
(pause)
And while I had no intentions of doing anything wrong.....
In my grandfather’s wisdom he understood that you don’t have to look for wrong......
Wrong will come looking for you....
(pause)
And so......
......he wanted to remind me
....his hand was open to give to me!
(pause)
And that’s what I hear God telling David........
I hear God saying,
David I’m angry with you because all you had to do was come to me and ask me for what you wanted!
(pause)
And Freedom,
I wonder how much trouble we have gotten ourselves into.......
.........because we went chasing after something we wanted without first chasing after our God!
(pause and expound)
Now Freedom.....
....the punishment of David is detailed in verses 10-12
.....because God needs David to understand the consequences of his sins....
(slight pause)
But that’s not what I came to preach this morning.....
......I’ll come back around and preach that another time.
(pause)
But what I really want you to see is found in verse 13......
.....directly behind the punishment that has just been announced to David by the prophet Nathan....
(pause)
Because......
David has just found out what God is going to do to him based on what his sinful actions.......
But watch this......
......because David didn’t get mad at Nathan for bringing him the message
......and David didn’t try to deny any of his wrong actions
But verse 13 says David confessed his sins......
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Barrel:
When I was a little boy we used to have these race car tracks that you had to connect by clicking into place.......
........and when you put your cars on the track you could squeeze a trigger remote control and the car would “ZOOM” around the track!
But.......
........every now and then the car would go so fast that it would jump off the track and stop running
And.......
.........the only way to get the car “ZOOMING” around the track again was if you picked it up and put it back on track!
(pause)
And God sent a Word through your bald head Pastor this morning to tell you......
That’s what REPENTANCE does for you.........
It gets your life back in ORDER!
When we TURN away from our wrong action......
.....and then TURN more towards GOD
.....just like that RACE CAR
......your life gets BACK on TRACK!
And I wonder........
.......if there’s anybody ready to “ZOOM” around your life track!!
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
And so........
I don’t care what you did to get OFF TRACK.....
That aint really what concerns me.....
(pause)
But I wish I had some DAVID’s in here that after hearing the prophet now have a made up mind that says.......
“I’m Getting back on Track!”
(slight pause)
Now somebody holla and hash tag
.......Get back on Track!
..............................COMPLETION.................................