← Back to sermon library

Our Father, we come to a passage 
of Scripture I hope that is well known to all of us, and I hope 
will be another example of Your great grace and Your amazing 
mercy. Father, we just pray for Your 
Spirit to guide us and instruct us and lead us as we study the 
Scriptures today. We pray for the forgiveness of 
all of our sin. We confess, Lord God, that sin 
casts a darkening influence over our minds and our hearts. We 
are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love. 
We are prone to follow those doctrines which are not under 
righteousness. We are prone, Father in Heaven, 
to neglect the truths of Holy Scripture. We confess that all 
as sin and pray for cleansing in the blood of Jesus Christ. 
We pray now, Father in Heaven, that You would just bless Your 
people and strengthen Your people, grant Your people an appreciation 
for the grace of God and that peace of Christ which surpasses 
all understanding. Father, for any who have come 
here that do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, We pray that 
they would see in a passage like this an amazing God, a God full 
of mercy, a God full of grace, a God who truly does deal with 
the sins of people. And we ask through Jesus Christ 
our Lord, Amen. This week I came across a quote 
from R.C. Sproul and I thought it was quite 
perceptive. He says, The complaint that church 
is boring is never made by people in awe. The complaint that church 
is boring is never made by people in awe. The idea being is that 
when we esteem God, when we reverence God, when we stand in awe of 
God, it cannot be boring to come into His house. And as we search 
the Scriptures, there are many things that should put us in 
awe before God. We see in the opening chapters 
of Genesis that this sovereign God spoke this world into being. We see throughout the entirety 
of Scripture that this sovereign God upholds all things by the 
Word of His power. When the nations are constructing 
their idols, and the nations are looking to those things which 
are not God, the psalmist says, our God is in the heavens. He 
does whatever He pleases. He is not a reactionary, but 
rather He is sovereign in His administration over all things. 
We also see the character of God that should put us in awe. 
The fact that He is holy, holy, holy. The fact that He is righteous. The fact that He is just. The 
expressions of His wrath that sprinkle the pages of Holy Scripture. All these things should promote 
in the people of God awe. But I want to submit this morning 
that the grace of God ought to promote awe. The grace of God 
in His dealings with David as displayed in 2 Samuel chapter 
12, ought to promote in each one of us an awe before our thrice 
holy God. He is gracious. He is merciful. He does not deal with us according 
to our sins. He does not reward us according 
to our transgression. Now, when we consider God's grace, 
there are a couple of ways we could do this. We could turn 
to one of those Pauline passages, where He is setting forth grace 
in the Gospel. And that is a worthy and a most 
excellent endeavor, to expound God's Word in that fashion. Or 
we could focus on a particular recipient of that grace, as we 
will do this morning. 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12, 
the fallen king and the grace of God. Now to understand 2 Samuel 
12, 1 to 15, we need to understand something about what has preceded. The overall context is a focus 
or a spotlight upon King David of Israel. According to chapter 
2 and 2 Samuel, he is anointed as King of Judah. There is the 
consolidation of power indicated in chapter 5. Jerusalem is made 
the political capital. And then in chapter 6 of 2 Samuel, 
Jerusalem is also made the religious capital. The Ark of the Covenant 
is brought there. 2 Samuel chapter 7, God makes 
a promise. Remember, David wanted to build 
a house. for the Lord. But God in 2 Samuel 
7 says, no, I'm going to build a dynasty of you, David. I am 
from your seed going to bring one who is going to be King of 
kings and Lord of lords. We call 2 Samuel 7 the Davidic 
covenant. The promise of a reigning Savior 
over Zion. And then there's some practical 
application of David's mindset toward various peoples in chapters 
9 and 10. You look at 2 Samuel 9. We see 
David is kind to a man by the name of Mephibosheth. He shows 
hesed. That means grace or kindness 
or mercy in Hebrew. That hesed is what he demonstrates 
to Mephibosheth. Covenant loyalty to Jonathan. And this mercy to the royal former 
family. or form a royal family. And then 
in chapter 10, David shows this grace or kindness or mercy in 
his foreign policy. But when we come to 2 Samuel 
11, kindness is no longer there. Grace is no longer present. David 
is now pursuing loss. David now has his own ends in 
view. And as we come to consider specifically 
chapters 11 and 12, we'll notice first his sin with Bathsheba. Secondly, we'll notice the cover-up. Thirdly, the divine commentary. And then fourthly, as we've already 
read in 2 Samuel 12, the divine response to David's sin. So, the sin with Bathsheba, the 
cover-up, the divine comment, and the divine response. Look 
with me at chapter 11, verse 1. This is the setting. It happened in the spring of 
the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David 
sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they 
destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David 
remained at Jerusalem. We're probably all Monday morning 
quarterbacks at this particular point. We're yelling at our text 
here. David, go out to battle. David, 
do not remain behind. There's only bad things in your 
future unless you man up and go out to battle the way you're 
supposed to do. This is very conspicuous. It 
says that David remained at Jerusalem. And then notice in verse 2, Then 
it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and 
walked on the roof of the king's house. Again, he's not where 
he's supposed to be. We don't want to moralize and 
we don't want to get sidetracked into the point of the passage. 
There is a great illustration and application here. We ought 
to be busy with what the Lord has given us. We ought to do 
whatever our hand finds to do with all our might. If we are 
called to go out to military battle, it does not do well for 
us to stay behind and to walk about on our royal roof. David 
should have been with his troops. Notice the sin spoken of very 
specifically in verses 3-2. Then it happened one evening 
that David rose from his bed and walked on the roof of the 
king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman 
bathing. And the woman was very beautiful 
to behold. So David sent and inquired about 
the woman. And someone said, is this not 
Bathsheba, the daughter of Elyon, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 
Then David sent messengers and took her. And she came to him, 
and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity, 
and she returned to her house." The irony is huge here. She was 
cleansed from her impurity. She was ceremonially and ritually 
pure to engage in adultery, to break the very commandment of 
God. Our author wants us to see something 
here of just how bad sin is. We'll take care of the details. 
We won't violate this woman while she's ritually impure. But once 
that's all done, who cares about the seventh commandment? Who 
cares about, you shall not commit adultery? The author here is 
bringing a very hero, a hero of Israel, right before our eyes 
to display that the best of men are men at best. And that we 
ought to always look to the grace, the mercy, the majesty, the excellency, 
and the blessedness of our God. So he lies with her. He engages 
in adultery. Notice verse 5, And the woman 
conceived. So she sent and told David and 
said, I am with child. He could no longer cover this 
up. He could no longer just set this aside. But he had to take 
action. He had to deal with this now. 
Instead of coming to the Lord God Most High and confessing 
his sins. Instead of confessing his sins 
to Bathsheba. Instead of sending a letter with 
Joab to Uriah, calling him out of the field of battle so that 
he could humble himself before that man. No, David wants to 
compound sin. Isn't this the way it happens? 
We engage in a particular sin, and then we engage in more sin 
to cover it up. We have to lie to cover lies. We have to, in this instance, 
commit murder in order to cover adultery. Again, David at this 
particular time is a hero. This is the king. This is a man 
after God's own heart. I tell you, when you read this 
passage, brother, it ought to break your heart. But it ought 
to set up what we find in chapter 12 as that great display of God's 
amazing grace. Again, when you read, don't you 
find yourself saying, No, David. Don't do it, David. I mean, I 
probably read this passage, I don't know how many times. You've read 
it, I don't know how many times. But you're in your mind going, 
Stop, please. You can foresee that only bad 
things are in the future. It's like a parent who has a 
child, and that child's on a particular course, and you say no. They 
say, what, do you know the future? Yes, in this instance I do. If 
you continue to reject authority, if you continue to rebel against 
godly rule, and you continue to pursue your own lust, only 
bad things will come about. I don't have to be a fortune 
teller to understand that. And that's precisely what we 
find when we come to this narrative. Notice, secondly, the cover-up. 
We see David and Uriah and David and Joab. Notice in verse 6, 
Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And 
Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David 
asked how Joab was doing. How the people were doing and 
how the war prospered. A little bit of small talk. Got 
to grease the wheels here. Got to establish rapport. You've 
got to make everything look on the up and up. You've got to 
make everything look right. You've got to make everything 
look status quo. David is engaging in cover-up. 
This is political and religious in nature. It is an affront to 
the High King of Heaven. And the author is guiding us 
here in this anatomy of transgression. Notice verse 8, David said to 
Uriah, go down to your house and wash your feet. So Uriah 
departed from the king's house, and a gift of food from the king 
followed him. But Uriah slept at the door of 
the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did 
not go down to his house. So when they told David, saying, 
Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, did 
you not come down from a journey? Why did you not go down to your 
house? What's David thinking? He goes down, he sees his wife 
Bathsheba, he lies with her when it turns out she's pregnant, 
then everybody will buy the lie that Uriah is the father. No 
DNA testing at that particular juncture. He didn't have to worry 
about the Jerry Springer show. He didn't have to worry about 
being brought up and drummed up and shown forth for what he 
was. Seemed to him a very good plan. Let's cover this up. But you 
see, there was a bump in the road. Uriah was a man of integrity. Uriah wouldn't go on while his 
armies were in battle. That's what he said in verse 
11. Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and Judah are 
dwelling in tents, and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord 
are encamped in open fields. Shall I then go to my house to 
eat and drink and to lie with my wife? As you live and as your 
soul lives, I want to do this thing. He's got more integrity 
here than the king. When these kings go out to battle, 
what does David do? He remains back. When these kings 
go out to battle, what does David do? He sends for Bathsheba. He 
lies with a woman who is not his wife. And when Uriah is presented 
with this opportunity, he says, no way! Joab and the armies are 
on the front lines. And then he says, as your soul 
lives, king, I'm in your service. Later on in the former prophets, 
we learn that this Uriah the Hittite was one of David's mighty 
men. He was a man of integrity. So 
this simple plan now hit a bump, a snag. And so what does David 
do? Verse 12, Then David said to 
Uriah, Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. 
So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when 
David called him, he ate and drank before him, and he made 
him drunk. And that evening he went out 
to lie on his bed with the servants of his Lord. But he did not go 
down to his house. The king is pumping alcohol into 
him. The king is glutting him. The 
king is giving him that natural desire to go back to his wife. 
He's a man of integrity. He says no. Not while Joab and 
the ark aren't in Jerusalem. So what's David do? Next best 
thing. Verse 14, David and Joab. Verse 
14, in the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to 
Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. Now, I understand most 
of you are familiar with his narrative. I understand that 
for most of you this is repetitious. But I don't think we can fully 
appreciate 2 Samuel 12, 1 to 15 until we see the heinousness 
of his sin. And we sing amazing grace, how 
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. But I wonder if we really 
value amazing grace. The longer I live, brethren, 
and this isn't autobiography, but as pastor, as a Christian, 
I am coming to the realization that the church does not understand 
grace. Oh yeah, we have a vague understanding. 
We have a bit of an understanding. But this account sets it there 
in stark reality. What would you have done if you 
were Jehovah? To this king who was representative 
of your people. I would have killed him. I would 
have stopped him way before he got to this point. In fact, if 
we're reading this saying, no David, no David, no David, God 
who is watching this thing, as we'll see in just a moment, could 
have stopped him. Could have restrained him. Could 
have killed him. Could have removed him from the scene. God had bigger 
plans for this man. Notice, death warrant carried 
by Uriah. Notice in verse 15. And he wrote 
in the letter saying, set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest 
battle and retreat from him that he may be struck down and die. 
I'm glad I never had a commander-in-chief 
like that. I'm glad our bosses don't function 
like that. Could you imagine being Uriah? 
He's carrying the letter himself. If he had the curiosity and the 
carnality, say, of a Jim Butler, he would open the letter. What's 
so important that David is communicating to Joab? And he would open it 
up and say, you are going to be left for dead. Uriah doesn't 
do that. King David's issued an order. 
The king has spoken. I'm going back to my commander 
Joab. I'm going to take this letter and I'm going to present 
it to him. Uriah is conspicuously a man of integrity in this passage. It's what I think also highlights 
God's grace. I mean, if you sin against somebody 
that's rotten, you're still bad. You shouldn't sin. but it's somewhat 
understandable to the carnal mind. Would you sin against grace 
and integrity? Would you sin against innocence? It's like child molestation and 
pedophilia and those things are so repulsive because the victims 
are innocent. Not to suggest that adult victims 
aren't, but the idea there is that there is this gradation. 
There is this seriousness. And then notice the specifics. 
Verse 16, So it was while Joab besieged the city that he assigned 
Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then 
the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some 
of the people of the servants of David fell, and Uriah the 
Hittite died also. It's the end of this godly man, 
this man of integrity. And Uriah the Hittite died also. And notice, verses 18-24, the 
report. Then Joab sent and told David 
all the things concerning the war and charged the messenger 
saying, when you have finished telling the matters of the war 
to the king, if it happens that the king's wrath rises and he 
says to you, why did you approach so near to the city when you 
fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 
Who struck Abimelech, the son of Jerubisheth? Was it not a 
woman who cast a piece of millstone on him from the wall so that 
he died in Thebes? Why did you go near the wall? 
Then you shall say, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. 
Cain, you got what you wanted. Sure, there was some collateral 
damage to be sure, but that primary target is now dead, Cain. Don't 
get upset. Everything's cool. Joab, your 
servant, has taken care of it. The cover-up is completed. Notice in verse 22, So the messenger 
went and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him. 
And the messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against 
us and came out to us in the field. Then we drove them back 
as far as the entrance of the gate. The archers shot from the 
wall at your servants, and some of the king's servants are dead. 
And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. What's David do 
with this? Successful cover. Everything's 
cool. There were no wiretaps. There 
were no e-mails. There were no recordings published 
on Fox News about what he said. For as anyone was concerned, 
the perfect crime had been accomplished. David says, verse 25, to the 
messenger, Thus you shall say to Joab, Do not let this thing 
displease you. For the sword devours one as 
well as another. Strengthen your attack against 
the city and overthrow it. So encourage him. When the wife 
of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned 
for her husband." So then we see success, at least temporally 
speaking, at least carnally and sinfully speaking, when we move 
thirdly to consider the divine comment. Notice verse 27, And when her 
mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, 
and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that 
David had done displeased the Lord. God had not been mentioned 
up to this point. The only time God makes it into 
the narrative in 2 Samuel 11 is this commentary. What was 
naked to the eyes of men was visible to the eye of God. Ralph 
Davis comments on this. Yahweh may be silent, but He 
is not sightless. The thing David had done was 
evil in Yahweh's eyes. David may have Bathsheba's flesh 
and Uriah's blood, but he will have to face Yahweh's eyes. That's terrifying. It's terrifying 
that we can go through such sin. Not conscious whatsoever that 
anybody knows. But God is watching. The things 
that we do displease Jehovah. And it's interesting, the same 
word that David used in verse 25. Notice in verse 25. Do not let this thing displease 
you. Oh really, David? Do you realize that the Lord 
is displeased with you? Do you realize, David, that what 
you have done, while not displeasing at all, while covering up your 
own tracks, covering up your own sins, all the while Yahweh 
is watching you, and He is displeased with the man after His own heart, 
the man He raised up, the man He preserved in the wilderness, 
the man that He has been with on countless military campaigns, 
The man who is now head and shoulders above all others in Israel. Consolidation 
of power, political, religious, everything locally centralized 
in Jerusalem. A vantage point from which to 
rule the entirety of the kingdom. It wasn't north and south at 
that time. It was a united monarchy. David was the king of Israel. 
God is displeased with him though. It doesn't matter what a politician 
does as long as he doesn't get caught. God sees. God is displeased with the machinations 
of men. God is displeased with our sin. God does count us in the balances. God does see. The eyes of Jehovah 
are in every place, beholding the good and the evil. While 
he thought this simple plan had been perfected, the Lord God 
comments differently. But the thing that David had 
done Displeased the Lord. We must never conclude that God 
is absent from the events in this world. We must never conclude 
that the absence of immediate judgment means the absence of 
God's consciousness. Sometimes we think like that. 
Sometimes we think that because we haven't been cut off in our 
sin, because we haven't been judged, because we haven't fallen, 
because we haven't had calamity, that somehow God has suspended 
His judgment from us. That God is somehow not conscious 
of our reality. Well, learn from this passage, 
brethren. I'm sure at this particular time, David was just happy and 
complacent and the kingdom would carry on, all things being equal. Now let's look at God's grace, 
the divine response. Verses 1-15 in chapter 12. Notice 
first the pursuit of grace. Do you realize that in Psalm 23, 
it says that God's mercy and grace will follow me all the 
days of my life? It's literally pursue me all 
the days of my life. The picture in the Scripture 
is not us pursuing God's grace, as if sinners would ever think 
to do that, but God's grace pursuing us. That's the beauty of the 
God of holy writ. He doesn't wait on sinful man 
to seek Him out. He, in His grace and mercy, seeks 
us out. Notice the pursuit of grace. 
Verse 1, chapter 12, Then Jehovah sent Nathan to David. God sends 
Nathan. God initiates reconciliation. God is about fixing this problem. David would have just carried 
on. David would have added another wife to his entourage. David 
would have chalked up another sin in his belt. He would have 
thought, well, you know, it was an unfortunate thing, but at 
least I didn't get found out. The greater good is being served 
now. Praise God for the pursuit of 
grace. Praise God that even though it 
might hurt at times, I mean, as we follow through the narrative 
and Nathan says, thou art the man, I'm sure David didn't feel 
really good at that time. Praise God that He cares enough 
to pursue us, that He does confound our ways, that He does cause 
us to be caught, that He does confront us. This is precisely 
what he is doing here. Then the Lord sent Nathan to 
David. John Calvin said, let us note 
that there is nothing better than when God sends us messengers 
of His wrath. There is nothing better. You 
see, if God didn't do this, we might conclude that David is 
going the way of Saul. We might conclude that God has 
finished with David, that there is no more redemption for him, 
there is no reconciliation, there is no peace, there is no further 
usefulness. But God won't let us think that. 
Immediately when He reports that this thing displeases Him, He 
then sends Nathan to solve the problem. He sends Nathan as a 
messenger of wrath. Notice the wisdom of grace. Nathan could have came to Him 
and said, you know, God saw everything you did. Right? Couldn't Nathan have done 
that? I'm a prophet of the living God. 
He saw you lie with Bathsheba. He saw you entice Uriah. He saw you write the letter to 
Joab. He saw Uriah take the letter 
to Joab. And He saw Uriah die in battle. He saw your condescending concern. Let this not displease you in 
verse 25. Nathan could have done all that. But what does the prophet do? 
He's wise. He tells him a story. One man has said that this is 
like preachers, the Nathan principle. You get people to think along 
with you. Isn't that what he does? He tells 
the story. He's a rich man and a poor man. The poor man has only one little 
ewe lamb. He's become like a daughter in 
his family. I just can't entertain that idea. I like my dog, but it's not like 
a daughter in my family, even though I may joke about that 
with my children sometimes. to this little ewe lamb. He really 
paints the story. This poor man loved this little 
lamb. Then there's a rich man who has 
plenty. And the rich man is being visited. 
But instead of going to his flock and killing a lamb for his visitor, 
he comes to the poor man. And he takes that poor man's 
little ewe lamb and he kills it and he feeds it to his visitor. What's David do? David gets mad. Wouldn't you? You get upset. You heard this story. You were 
being drawn in. David doesn't realize, but Nathan's 
reeling him in at this point. He's about to land him. Look 
at what it says in verse 5, So David's anger was greatly aroused 
against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, 
the man who has done this shall surely die. And He shall restore 
fourfold for the Lamb, because He did this thing and because 
He had no pity." David, you're talking about yourself. Again, 
we're sitting on the sidelines watching David be reeled in. 
It's easy for us to say, oh come on, David, what's the deal? He 
didn't know this. What does sin do? Sin exercises 
a hardening influence in your lives. Sin makes you unconscious. to those things that you are 
engaged in. Sin is a harsh taskmaster, brethren. Sin never pays well. Sin always 
brings death. Sin always brings pain. Sin always 
brings misery. And David is about to find this 
out. So, he is outraged. He is angered. He is aroused, as the text says. And then Nathan says to David, 
you are the man. We're all right there. We're 
all just, ah. That little ewe lamb, Uriah, 
went to the battle. That little ewe lamb, Uriah, 
the owner of the ewe lamb, was slayed. All to cover transgression. This wasn't military strategy. 
This wasn't Uriah should die for the greater good. No, it 
was to cover sin. It was to cover evil. It was 
to cover transgression and wickedness. When Nathan said, you are the 
man, that was the law of God most high falling upon this man's 
shoulders. And notice the fury of grace. Oh, grace comes. How sweet that 
sound that saved a wretch like me. But sometimes that sweetness 
can be surrounded by some fury. And that's precisely what the 
text tells us. There's accusation. Let's just pick up in verse 7. 
So then Nathan said to David, You are the man, thus says the 
Lord God of Israel. I anointed you king over Israel 
and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your 
master's house and your master's wives into your keeping and gave 
you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, 
I also would have given you much more. Not the typical response, 
is it? What is God doing? God is showing 
him the gravity of his sin. I called you. I delivered you. I watched over you. I gave you 
those houses. I gave you those wives. I gave 
you all this stuff. And the thing that should have 
probably just melted David or probably did, and if that would 
have been too little, I would have given you much more. It's amazing. What are we supposed 
to take from 2 Samuel 11 and 12? Yeah, David had a fall. God is gracious. God is merciful. God is kind. Notice in verse 
9, why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do 
evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite 
with the sword. You have taken his wife to be 
your wife and have killed him with the sword of the people 
of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from 
your house because you have despised Me. Compare this with Psalm 51. Psalm 
51 was written after Nathan had confronted David. This gives 
us an indication of why David in Psalm 51 says, against you 
and you only have I sinned. If you were of the family of 
Bathsheba or Uriah, you might have said, wait a minute David, 
you did some pretty nasty things to Bathsheba and Uriah. You see, 
God cuts through all the commandment breaking. God cuts through the 
murder and the adultery. And He sees the root of all sin. It is to despise God. See, we think of sin as this 
breach, or that breach, or this infraction, or that transgression. Sin, in the language of one man, 
is to belittle God. It is to reduce God. It is to 
treat at naught God. It is to assert ourselves and 
our supremacy and our independence. It isn't a word to be autonomous, 
to throw God off. God says, no, because you have 
despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to 
be your wife. Through all of the murder, through 
all of the adultery, the primary target in David's sin was God 
the Lord. He despised Him. And this from a God who said, 
if you didn't have enough, I would have given you much more. If 
you didn't have enough, I would have poured out more. If you 
were wanting, I would have bettered it. If you were hurting, I would 
have supplied it. You see, this is the God of Holy 
Writ. And that brings us to the miracle of grace. Let's just 
read the rest beginning in verse 11. Thus says the Lord, Behold, 
I will raise up adversity against you from 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 
Son, for you did it secretly. All this behind-the-scenes stuff. 
All these covert operations. All of this under the cover of 
the eyes of man. God says, you've done it secretly, 
but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the Son. In 
other words, though God forgives his sin, sin has its consequences. You make foolish decisions, brethren, 
and God is gracious and He will forgive you, but sometimes there's 
consequences. In this particular instance, 
God promises the sword would never depart from David's house. 
And as soon as we move on from chapter 12, we find that reality 
in place. David had a humbling experience. 
David was humbled before the Lord God Most High. David understood 
forgiveness. Pastor Cam read at the beginning 
of worship, Psalm 32, how blessed is the man whose transgression 
is forgiven. But you know as well as I do, 
brethren, how blessed we are that our transgressions are forgiven. 
But when we engage in transgression, sometimes in this world, we've 
still got to deal with the consequences. Vertically, our God has forgiven 
us in Jesus Christ. Vertically, our God has said 
positionally, you are safe, you are justified, you are ready 
and accepted in the Beloved. But sin brings its consequences. Notice the miracle, verses 13 
and 14. So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. What's he going to say? What 
could he say at this point? Well, no, you got it all wrong, 
Nathan. It wasn't really me. I listened to my advisors. I 
listened to my counselors. He doesn't blame you. He doesn't 
try to hide at this point. He confesses. He says, I have 
sinned against the Lord. Let's learn from King David here. 
When we are caught, or even before we are caught, let us confess 
our sins to God. Do you think you surprise God 
when you come to Him to confess? Remember when Peter came to Jesus 
and he said, Lord, if my brother sins against me seven times a 
day, do I need to forgive him? I'm betting Peter thought he 
was quite liberal. I'm betting that Peter thought that was quite 
an accomplishment, what Jesus said to him. If he sins seven 
times seventy, you are to forgive him. Now, when we read that passage, 
we take the message, I need to be a forgiving Christian. It's 
a good message. We ought also to look at the 
theology of the message. If you and I, wretches that we 
are, forgive each other seven times seventy, how much more 
God? Do you think coming into His 
presence saying, Lord, please forgive me, I did this. He's 
going to say, oh man, I can't believe you did that. Confess it. Forsake it and find 
mercy. Proverbs 28, 13. 1 John 1.9, 
if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive 
us. We are not pleasing anyone. We are not impressing anyone 
with how holy and how pure we are. We're sinners, saved by 
grace. A lot of misconceptions about 
Christians out there. Last hour, Pastor Cam mentioned 
something about if a neighbor saw you and said, oh man, you're 
supposed to adorn the doctrine of the Gospel. How dare you, 
you wretched guy. That's legit. You see, that's 
one of the problems in this particular narrative. For by this deed, 
you've given cause to the Gentiles to blaspheme. But you know, it 
quite well could be the case that the Christian under indictment 
could say, you know, I hate it. I loathe it. I confess it. I'm 
seeking to forsake it. It's like this ball and chain 
on my heart I want to get rid of. Oh, wretched man that I am, 
Paul says in Romans 7. We are not Christians based on 
our performance. We are Christians based on Christ's 
performance. We are Christians because of 
His doing, His dying, and His rising. That's what Christianity 
is all about. That's why it's not Jimnianity, 
or Johnianity, or Rogerianity, or Kellianity. It is Christianity 
because it's founded solely on Christ.