to 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11. Our focus tonight is on chapter 12, verses 1 to 15, but I did want to set that section in the larger context because it's crucial that we see the sin of David in chapter 11. as Nathan confronts him in chapter 12. So beginning in chapter 11 at verse 1, 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. Then it happened one evening that David arose 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 went and inquired about the woman.
And someone said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, 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.
And the woman conceived. So she sent and told David and said, I am with child. 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 and how the people were doing and how the war prospered. And 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 from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? And 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 the 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 will not do this thing. 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. In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 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. So it was while Joab besieged the city that he assigned Uriah to a place where 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. 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 Jerubasheth?
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. 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. Then David said 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. 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.
Then the Lord sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said to him, there were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one little lamb, which he had bought and nourished, and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him.
But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. 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.
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.
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 and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
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 sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun. So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin.
You shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die. Then Nathan departed to his house. Amen.
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the written word of the living and true God. And God, even passages like these, they shock us, they scare us. And as Calvin says, they cause the hair on our heads and necks to rise up.
God, they demonstrate to us the graciousness that you manifest, the forgiveness of sin, not to produce or instigate or invite us to go out and do likewise in order that we may receive that grace, but certainly to demonstrate the glory of Jesus Christ and the power of atoning blood. God, help us now as we navigate through this passage, help us to know the presence and the aid of the Holy Spirit, and may these things speak peace to our hearts. And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Introduction
Well, it's obvious what is happening here in chapter 11. David engages in gross sin, in great sin, against the living and the true God. We see that he goes and he engages in adultery with Bathsheba, and then he attempts to cover it up. Now, unfortunately for David, Uriah is actually a man of integrity.
David sets it up in such a way that Uriah will no doubt lie with his wife, so that when it's found out she's pregnant, everybody will assume that it's Uriah's baby. But Uriah, as a man of integrity, will not go into his wife while Joab, while the servants of Yahweh, are on the battlefield. And so David then enacts another plan. He concocts a plan to have Uriah killed on the battlefield.
And he sends that letter with Uriah himself to give to Joab. Again, this Uriah the Hittite is a man of great integrity, as he is displayed here in this particular passage. He goes out to battle. Of course, Joab follows instructions from his king, and Uriah is set forth in the hottest part of the battle, and he dies on the battlefield.
You'll notice that God is absent from chapter 11, except for the last statement. There's no reference to God whatsoever, ever, except at the very end when it says, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Last, we forget God, even though He is silent in terms of this particular chapter, He is not blind. He observes what happens, He sees what's going on, and now He acts in His initiative to correct David, to rebuke David, and to bring David back on a path to forgiveness.
Calvin does say concerning this story, he says, here is a story which should make our hair stand straight up on end whenever we think of it, that a servant of God as excellent as David should fall into such a serious and enormous sin that he could be judged as the most morally lax and promiscuous person in the world.
Sermon Outline Announced
I want to look at, first of all, the instruction by God's servant in verses 1 to 6. Secondly, the indictment of Israel's king in verses 7 to 12. And then finally, the demonstration of God's grace in verses 13 and 14.
God's Initiative in Sending Nathan
Notice how the passage begins at verse 1. Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. In chapter 11, David is in control. David sees Bathsheba and he sends his men to go and fetch her.
David then sends for Uriah the Hittite so that Uriah will lie with his wife. David then sends a letter to Joab instructing him on how to dispose of Uriah the Hittite. Well, now it's the Lord's initiative. God is in control and the Lord sent Nathan to David.
And this is a great mercy, it's a great blessing, and it's a great encouragement. God does not leave David in his sin. God finds him out, God exposes him in order that God may indeed forgive him. David says, they show, these words that the Lord sent, they show us that grace pursues and exposes the sinner in his sin.
They teach us that Yahweh will not allow His servant to remain comfortable in sin, but will ruthlessly expose his sin, lest he settle down in it. You may succeed in unfaithfulness, but God will come after you. John Calvin says, let us note that there is nothing better than when God sends us messengers of His wrath. For then he can make us feel his mercy and cease to enjoy our sins, so that we may apprehend his vengeance and our conscience may torment us to the extent of humbling us to seek pardon and remission in him until he has accepted us." So this is the initiative of God's grace in that he sent Nathan to David the prophet.
Now consider David's condition here. He had been at least nine months in unrepentant sin. He engages in this particular activity, Uriah the Hittite dies, Bathsheba then mourns for her husband, and then David sends for her, takes her, she bears a child. Now that child is ultimately going to die as a consequence, a temporal consequence, of David's sin.
But he kept silent about his sin. It makes us or helps us to understand that statement there in Psalm 32. It helps us to understand in Psalm 38, when he talks about his iniquities overwhelming him, he was silent as a murderer and as an adulterer before the living and true God. He was not seeking repentance.
He was not in his own ingenuity or integrity of heart saying, well, I need to fix things. I need to get things right. No, he's in a settled course at this particular time. And God sends the prophet to him in this initiative.
Nathan's Parable and David's Outrage
Now notice the parable that the prophet tells. It's very easy to follow. It's very easy to understand. The rich man in the story is King David and the poor man is Uriah the Hittite.
We notice that the long description of this Uriah the Hittite poor man in chapter 12. It tells us about how he loves this ewe lab. You know, you think about people today that put little sweaters on their dogs and they take pictures of them. that sort of thing. We think that's outlandish.
Well, look at what's happening here. This man treats this ewe lamb like it's his daughter. He has a great affinity for this lamb. He loves it.
And it highlights for us the relationship that obtained between Uriah and Bathsheba. This was the wife of his youth. This was the woman that he loved. This was the woman that meant everything to him.
And it's the same sort of analogous relationship with reference to this ewe lamb. Notice that the rich man has a visitor. And so the rich man, instead of going into his own flock and fetching out a lamb to kill for his visitor, he takes, just like we read in chapter 11, verse 4, David took Bathsheba, the same way this rich man takes this poor man's ewe lamb. It is a perfect analogy to the situation.
And after the parable, we see the response of King David in verses 5 and 6. He is outraged. He is livid. He is upset.
He calls for the death penalty when this particular crime does not necessitate the death penalty. Exodus 21.1 does not stipulate, or 22.1, does not stipulate the death penalty for property theft. But David is so outraged because this man did not have any pity. In fact, look at what David says.
In verse 5, 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. Or literally, he deserves to die, and he shall restore fourfold for the Lamb because he did this thing and because he had no pity. Robert Alter says, Nathan's rhetorical trap has now snapped shut. I mean, from a homiletic vantage point, what Nathan is doing here is marvelous.
I mean, this is spectacular preaching. This is phenomenal preaching. He has David hook, line, and sinker, and David has no clue whatsoever that it's him. There is no consciousness in David's mind that this story about the rich man and the poor man is about King David and Uriah.
So, Alter says, Nathan's rhetorical trap has now snapped shut. David, by his access of anger, condemns himself, and he becomes the helpless target of the denunciation that Nathan will unleash. He doesn't know what's happening in this particular situation. Notice the reason, again, verse 6, at the very end, because he had no pity.
Now
Indictment of Israel's King
notice the indictment of Israel's king in verses 7 to 12. Again, this is one of those homiletically ingenious situations. Then Nathan said to David, you are the man. Imagine being David in that particular instance when the very wrath and fury and judgment of God falls right upon you.
You're outraged, rightly so, at the rich man in the parable. You're outraged, rightly so, at this rich man who showed no pity and deserved to die. And then you find out from the prophet of God that that rich man is you. That is precisely what happens in this instance.
Alexander White says, Nathan's sword was within an inch of David's conscience before David even knew that Nathan had a sword. He totally has him in this instance. Now, notice the explanation given by the prophet of God to David. In the first place, he highlights God's grace.
It wasn't God's stinginess that instigated or invited David's sin. It was not that at all. And the graciousness and the kindness of God that is herein explained by the prophet only serves to exacerbate the enormity of the crime. When a man goes out and commits adultery and his wife is generous, benevolent, and loving, it exacerbates all the more the heinousness involved in that particular man's sin.
Again, this is no stingy God. This is no miserly God. This isn't a God who has given you a few things, David, and you should just knuckle under. But rather, God has lavished grace upon him.
Notice, the Lord anointed David king over Israel. Verse 7, you are the man, thus says the Lord God of Israel. I anointed you king over Israel. The Lord as well delivered David from Saul's hand.
Remember that Saul hated David. Saul wanted to destroy David. There were instances where Saul could have done that damage to David, and yet every time, in every instance, such that David can say at least twice in his life, at the beginning of his life and at the end of his life, he says that the Lord has delivered me from all adversities. David knew this reality in his own heart.
Notice that David doesn't say to to Nathan. Oh, hold on there for just a moment You know, it was it was my grit. It was my determination. It was my ingenuity No, God made him king over Israel and God delivered him him from the hand of Saul But then as well notice that the Lord gave David Saul David's Saul's house and Saul's wives Notice I anointed you king over Israel.
I delivered you from the hand of Saul I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping In other words, you weren't hurting, David. It wasn't for a lack that you needed to go out and seek out and take Bathsheba. There was nothing wanting on your part other than your lust, your unbridled desire, and your wicked heart. And then he goes on to say, as well, I gave you the house of Israel and Judah.
What happens at the time of David? There's this consolidated kingdom. It obtains under Solomon as well, but it will ultimately be divided. But David has this blessed position of occupying the kingdom or the throne with reference to both kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
So the Lord highlights these for him through the prophet Nathan. But then notice what God goes on to say. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more. It's like God says, I just gave and I gave and I gave.
And if that was lacking, David, all you would have had to do is ask. You didn't have to go up on your palace or the roof of your palace. You didn't have to look upon Bathsheba. You didn't have to deceptively go and take her.
You didn't have to violate the seventh commandment going into her. And you certainly shouldn't have violated the sixth commandment in covering up that misdeed by murdering her husband. If that would have been too little, I would have given you more. See brethren, that is our God.
He doesn't miserly or grudgingly dispense grace to his people. The Apostle Paul tells us that he begraced us. The Apostle Paul heaps up prepositions on words to make them even more powerful and strong to indicate the graciousness and the mercifulness of our God. So again, we don't take passages like these and say, well, you know, David was forgiven of gross sin.
Therefore, I'm going to go out and commit gross sin so that I can be forgiven too. No, that's not the way we take these passages. But when we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. It seems to me or occurs to me that that's one of the more difficult passages in the Bible to appropriate practically.
My little children, I write these things so that you may not sin. We all get that. We all track with that. We all resonate with that.
As the people of God, we're supposed to be holy. As the people of God, we're supposed to be obedient. As the people of God, we're supposed to follow our Lord. As the people of God, we're supposed to pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
We get that part of John's statement there. My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. It's a blessed reality, isn't it?
The idea isn't, well, you need to whip yourself for six months, you need to put ashes in your soup, you need to wear hair shirts, you need to really show your penance before you can ever go to the Savior. No, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. All of us should be very familiar with the Apostles' Creed. When we confess with the church as a whole, I believe in the forgiveness of sins.
That's where our peace with God is. The Lord is full of grace to David. In this context, however, it exacerbates the enormity of David's sin. Davis, Ralph Davis says, Yahweh begins with grace.
For sin to appear as lurid as it should, it must stand in the blaze of grace. Treachery may only appear hideous when viewed against the fidelity it has despised. So Yahweh itemizes His grace to David in verses 7 and 8. In this way, Yahweh stresses the senselessness of David's sin.
And isn't all sin ultimately senseless? Why in the world would we defile ourselves pursuing that which is contrary to God? It really is senselessness when we engage in violation of God's law. And I think that that's the backdrop we need to understand with reference to this situation.
The Lawlessness and Treachery of David's Sin
Now, note specifically the accusation leveled in verse 9. He speaks of the lawlessness of David's act. He says, why have you despised the commandment of the Lord? Why have you despised?
Whenever we don't obey God's law, it is a betrayal. It is a revelation rather of what we think of God himself. In fact, compare verse 10. Notice in verse 10, because you have despised me, a despising of God's holy commandment is a despising of God himself.
He highlights the gravity of David's act. Notice in verse 9, why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight? This wasn't a walk in the park. This wasn't your sort of normal everyday sin.
This is evil in the sight of God Almighty. And then notice the treachery of David's act. He details it. He describes it.
The rich man took the ewe lamb, barbecued it, and served it to his friend. That's not a great detailed sort of explanation. But when it comes to David's treachery, the prophet details specifically what it meant for David to despise the commandment of God. And again, I think this is very helpful.
We need to load our consciences with the guilt of sin. That will hopefully provoke in us repentance. But notice, he killed Uriah. Nathan says that.
You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. See, a conspiracy to commit murder, all the conspirators are murderers. If you engage in a conspiracy, but you don't actually pull the trigger, you are as guilty as the one who pulled the trigger. And in some instances, your guilt may be more so and graver than the man who pulled the trigger.
I'm not suggesting any of you engage in this whatsoever, but the point is, it wasn't David that actually took a sword and cut Uriah's head off, but it was David that took a sword and cut Uriah's head off. You killed Uriah, and then you took his wife as your own wife. You violated the seventh word with her initially, you have him rubbed out, and then to add insult to injury, you actually add her to your own harem. David, this is wrong and you shouldn't do that.
And then notice, he brought shame upon Uriah. Remember, Uriah the Hittite was a man of integrity. Uriah the Hittite wouldn't go home to lay with his wife. Why?
Because the Ark of the Covenant was on the battlefield. Joab, his commander, was out on the battlefield. His fellow troops were out on the battlefield. Uriah was a man of integrity.
He's one of David's mighty men that we learn of later in the form of prophets. But with reference to David's killing of Uriah, notice what happens here at the very end of verse 9, "...and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon." That was shameful to be killed by your enemy. It was shameful to be bested on the battlefield. It wasn't Uriah's fault that he ended up dead on that battlefield, but history following would say, well, did you hear about Uriah the Hittite?
He died at the hands of the Ammonites. No, he died at the hands of Israel's king. He died at the hands of a man that had betrayed his God and had betrayed his calling. He died at the hands of King David of Israel.
That's the sin in view.
Temporal Consequences of David's Sin
Now, notice the consequences described in verses 10 to 12. This is the major emphasis in chapters 13 to 20 of 2 Samuel. See, God forgives his sin. I'm going to cut to the chase and tell you that.
God does forgive his sin. But the forgiveness of our sins in the spiritual realm does not always mitigate against temporal consequences for our sin. In other words, if somebody is sexually profligate, and they contract AIDS, and then they get converted, that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be cured from their AIDS. Those temporal consequences are still associated with our sin, and David would know consequences.
David would know suffering and shame and hardship in a way that he already hadn't. I mean, running from Saul, having to deal with the Philistines, having all these different people in his life that were out to kill him probably looked like a walk in the park compared to what he's going to face in chapters 13 to 20 in 2 Samuel. Notice what God says through the prophet. He says, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house.
Go back to 11.25 when David is especially philosophical with the servant in terms of how he should instruct Joab. Verse 25 of chapter 11. Then David said 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. Excuse me.
Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it. So encourage him. So David gets the news of Uriah the Hittite. He says, we'll go back to Joab and just tell him, you know, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
The sword devours one, sometimes devours the others, musing philosophically, probably happy and content that Uriah the Hittite is dead. Here he sees that the sword will never depart from his own house. What's going to happen here soon? In chapter 13, his son Amnon is going to be murdered, executed by his son Absalom.
Because of incestual rape, Amnon takes Tamar and he rapes her. Absalom doesn't like this, so Absalom dispatches Amnon. Absalom himself meets his end in chapter 18. And then Adonijah tries to take the throne when it rightly goes to Solomon, so Solomon dispatches Adonijah.
So the sword didn't depart from David's house. But notice what else he says. The sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord.
Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. This would happen through his son Absalom. Remember Absalom usurped David. Absalom hung out at the city gates and he wooed and romanticized the hearts of the children of Israel.
And they came over to his side. Absalom stole the kingdom from David. David had to physically leave from Jerusalem. David had to depart because his son rose up and took his throne.
But notice what else the text specifies that occurs in 2 Samuel 16. 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 But I will do this thing before all Israel before the Sun now this actually occurs in chapter 16 Remember Absalom has raised up Absalom has wooed the hearts of many in Israel Absalom is the usurper of the crown of the crown and throne and so a hit the fell gives Absalom counsel He says take David's wives and concubines take him up on the roof of the palace Ironically, the same roof from whence David spied on Bathsheba. Take them up there and have relations with them.
And you might ask, why was that counsel of Ahithophel good? Because those following Absalom, if he, Absalom, reconciled with David, the followers of Absalom would be executed for treason. And so, Ahithophel's counsel is most excellent. You need to distance yourself and show there is a breach between you and David, and a breach that's not going to repair.
And by doing so, you will strengthen the hands of your followers. That is specifically what the text highlights happens. So Ahithophel's counsel, take them up there, have relations with them in the sight of all Israel so that all Israel knows that there's no way that David and Absalom are going to reconcile. That actually happened.
That actually occurred. His own son does this to drive a wedge further in their relationship and to strengthen the hands of his followers. It's a pretty severe indictment of Israel's king, isn't it? It's pretty heavy duty, but it's pretty heavy duty sin in chapter 11.
He committed adultery and murder. A man after God's own heart. We can't ever forget that. And at this point, brethren, I don't think it's the right response.
Well, he wasn't a believer here. Yes, he was a believer. How does he pray in Psalm 51? Take not thine Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Give me something back that was lacking. Or Psalm 23, he talks about going astray and God bringing him back. Psalm 32, we've already seen it.
I kept silent about my sin. Psalm 38, my iniquities have gone over my head. He did gross sin in the sight of God. And so the prophet comes and he indicts him.
Demonstration of God's Grace
And that leads us finally to the demonstration of God's grace in verses 13 and 14.
David's Confession
Notice David's confession in 13. So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. That's it? That's all?
You're not going to grovel. You're not going to put ashes in your soup. You're not going to put a hair shirt on. You're not going to whip yourself.
You're not going to show that you mean business. Brethren, I think at times we think this kind of stuff is too little. He deserves to grovel. He deserves to cry out more and more and more until God brings grace to him.
Davis comments, some may consider this confession too brief. After all, David only says two Hebrew words and Nathan gives him an assurance of pardon. Does David get off too easily? Is he only expected to say the right formula?
We would prefer him to wallow in his guilt and plead, beg, and agonize over the possibility of pardon. If only he would writhe in obvious misery. We should know better, but we still assume that intensity of repentance contributes to atonement. That's the problem.
We think that somehow our groveling, or our whipping of ourselves, or our hair shirts, or our addition of ashes to our soup, or our monastic life somehow contributes to the transaction of atonement. No, atonement is wrought through the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the basis of our acceptance with God. Yes, it's a simple confession, but it's a legit confession.
The Berlberg Bible, which, as I understand, is a German study Bible, 1726 to 1729. The comment is here, the words are very few, just as in the case of the publican in the Gospel of Luke. Remember the publican? God be merciful to me, the sinner.
He doesn't even look up into heaven. The Pharisee has this long prayer, thanking God that he's not like other men, especially like these sort of publicans here. And the publican can't even look up into heaven. He beats his breast and says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.
Brethren, atonement is not conditioned upon our prayer. Now, certainly there is a repentant spirit. Certainly there is that change of mind. Certainly there is that faith. response to the offered mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ.
But the length of our prayer, the extent of our prayer, the response of our prayer is not what makes atonement. That's why in the past we have exhorted in this pulpit that if you have sin in your heart or life, confess it before taking the supper. You don't need five weeks to do that. You can do what David does, I have sinned against the Lord.
Now, for those who say, well, if we do that, it'll foster this easy believism, this cheap grace sort of thing. I guarantee you, David is not a specimen of easy believism or of cheap grace. David is thoroughly ruined. David understands that, and the only thing David can say is, I have sinned against the Lord.
Back to the Burlberg. They say, that is a good sign of a thoroughly broken spirit. There is no excuse, no cloaking, no palliation of the sin. There is no searching for a loophole, no pretext put forward, no human weakness pleaded.
He acknowledges guilt openly, candidly, and without prevarication. That's great. Imagine if one of our political leaders saved the country millions and millions of dollars by actually manning up and standing before Congress or the Senate and saying, I have sinned against the Lord. Great.
Thank you. We can deal with that. It's all this prevarication. It's all this, well, it wasn't really me.
It's all this arguing and trying to shift the blame. Notice that David doesn't do that. David doesn't say, well, you know, if Bathsheba hadn't been bathing naked, I wouldn't be in this mess. David doesn't blame the prophet Nathan, saying, well, you know, you're stepping out of line.
I'm the king of Israel, and you shouldn't talk this way. David doesn't proffer his so-called good works before God. Well, you know, this is the only occasion thus far in my kingship when I've done something so dastard. He doesn't do that.
He owns his sin. The simplicity of it highlights and demonstrates that he owns his sin. And one other thing before we move on. I suspect at times we as God's people are suspicious of repentance on the part of those who get caught.
Right? Sometimes people get caught and then they repent. We go, wait a minute. He only repented because he got caught.
Praise God he got caught so that he would repent. What's wrong with us? Why do we do that? Why are we holier than God?
Why are we more what? Well, it would have been good for him to be musing over Romans 7 and get affected in his heart and come forth. Yeah, it would have been good if he'd done that. But praise God, he sends Nathan to show David his wickedness so that he'll repent.
Repentance is repentance, whether it's before you get caught or after you get caught. So put that to bed, brother. Well, you know, he only confessed his sin because he got caught by his elders, or he only confessed his sin because he got caught by his, or she got caught by her husband. He only confessed his sin because, you know, he had chocolate all over his face and his mother knew that he stole the cookies.
Yeah, but repentance is repentance. And praise God that He oftentimes catches us so that we will actually repent.
God's Pardon Declared
Now, note God's affirmation concerning His sin. Verse 13b, and Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. So the prophet Nathan who highlights the gravity of David's sin is now highlighting the gravity of God's grace, God's mercy, God's kindness.
Again, none of us who are blood bought, none of us who are legit are gonna say, wow, this is my ticket. to go out and sin with all kinds of abandon because God will always forgive me. No, that's not what we do. But when we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. The Lord also has put away your sin.
You shall not die. Now, in terms of this statement, John Gill says, though he should die a corporeal death, In other words, physically, David does die, and he's going to die, yet not by the immediate hand of God or by the sword of justice as a malefactor, a murderer, and adulterer, as he, according to the law, deserved to die. He did deserve that. Nor should he die a spiritual death, though his grace had been so low and his corruptions had risen so high.
So the Lord God promises through the prophet that he has put away the sin, he's atoned for that sin, he has covered that sin. That's one of the fundamental meanings of atonement. It is to cover. Now, man tries to cover sin by deception, man tries to cover sin by hiding, man tries to cover sin by lying, but God actually does cover sin, and He covers it in the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.
And this is what he appeals to. The Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. But again, there'd be temporal consequences associated with David's rebellion.
And in verse 14, however, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. See, when we sin, we give great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Oh, they're no better than us. Their God must not be any more holy than Baal.
They conduct themselves in the same sort of way. I mean, in Baal-worshipping countries, the kings do that sort of thing. They go and they pursue other women, and then they kill people that get in their way. David's just like the rest of them.
By this sin, you've given occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme. And here, specifically, he speaks concerning the death of the child. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the child, also who is born to you shall surely die.' Then Nathan departed to his house."
Application
Well, brethren, in conclusion, I think there's a few things we ought to capitalize on and then move into the supper. In the first place, we ought to appreciate the initiative of God. That first clause in chapter 12, verse 1, is glorious. Then the Lord sent Nathan.
Then the Lord sent Nathan. Kids, praise God if your parents catch you doing bad things. Praise God if you don't get away with stuff. Praise God Almighty, because that means there's a purpose.
There's remedy. There's redemption, hopefully. Not always, obviously, but we need to appreciate the initiative of God that He doesn't leave us in our sin. If we are genuinely blood-bought, if we are genuinely those for whom Jesus died, if we are believers in Christ Jesus our Lord, and we fall into a pattern of sin, God has His ways to find us out, God has His ways to recover us, and God has His ways to bring us back into the fold.
And in this case, he used the faithful preaching of the prophet Nathan and this amazing parable to highlight David's culpability for his sin. Secondly, we ought to appreciate the grace of God. The grace of God to David prior to this occasion. David was always dependent upon the grace of God.
David was always considered a man after God's own heart. And in order for that to be true, he must have been a recipient of God's grace. And you see that with David from the call or the identification of David in 1 Samuel 16. You know there's this special relationship between God and David, and it's a relationship founded upon grounded in the very grace of God Almighty.
Secondly, the grace of God toward David after his fall into sin. So David says, I have sinned against the Lord. And the prophet says, the Lord also has put away your sin. Grace. mercy, loving kindness, as well the grace of God toward David as a result of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
Make no mistake, brethren, in Psalm 32, David is preaching Jesus. In Psalm 32, David is rejoicing in Jesus. In Psalm 32, David is highlighting Jesus. Paul does the same thing in Romans chapter four, citing David's words from Psalm 32.
You say, well, he didn't know Jesus. He did know Jesus by type, by shadow, by prefigurement. The old covenant system pointed those people forward, pointed them to that seed of the woman revealed to us in Genesis 3.15, that seed of the woman that would crush the serpent, that victor, that champion, that Messiah. And in fact, as persons read this in the original setting, they would long for the heir of David in 2 Samuel 7.
And they would see that even David's sin here does not invalidate or does not make shipwreck the promise of God to bring forth Messiah. Luther makes this observation. It's actually from his commentary on Galatians. If I haven't said this recently, I'll say it now.
Read Luther on Galatians, for the good and happiness of your soul. It's like sitting with a pastor who knows the doctrine of justification by faith very well and just keeps hammering you with it. Actually, not hammering. Luther doesn't hammer in the Galatians commentary.
He probably does the heretics along the way. But in terms of the people of God, he's very gracious, very Christocentric, very gospel-y, very justification by faith-ish, and very much an encouragement to the weary soul to find its rest in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. But in Galatians 3, he says, we must learn by all means that forgiveness of sins, Christ and the Holy Spirit are granted and granted freely only when we hear with faith. Even our huge sins and demerits do not stand in the way.
Praise God Almighty that even our huge sins and demerits do not stand in the way. And then finally, with reference to the repentance of David, he doesn't argue with the prophet. There's always suspect, you know, when somebody is found out. Well, you know, it wasn't me.
What do you mean it wasn't you? I saw you in the act. David doesn't do that. David acknowledges that he is, in fact, the man.
He did not blame others for his sin. Again, he didn't say, well, Bathsheba was a little bit more discreet. Bathsheba was a little bit more modest. Bathsheba hadn't been where she was.
People do that with their sin, don't they? They blame everybody else. We have a whole society built on that. We have a whole society that caters to this victim mentality.
It's never your fault. It's always somebody else's. It's always your parents. It's your church.
It's your education. It's never you. And don't make any mistake about it. People are seizing upon this.
They are capitalizing upon this. They are the victims eternally and infinitely so. Not so the genuinely repentant. Not so those humbled by God's grace.
Those humbled by God's grace don't argue with God and they don't play the victim. They don't try to say, well, you know, it wasn't me or if only she had this. He doesn't offer his good works as a bartering chip. He confessed and he forsook his sin.
It would cost him in terms of his temporal life. There would be hardships from chapters 13 to 20. As I mentioned, his life would never be the same in terms of his comfortable, peaceful existence with God. Well, not that it was very comfortable and peaceful before when he's running from Saul and running from the Philistines.
But this, in fact, would be a difficult time in his life. Davis again says, to be the man after God's own heart is not to be sinlessly perfect, but to be, among other things, utterly submissive to the accusing word of God. Great way to sort of summarize that. To be the man after God's own heart is not to be sinlessly perfect.
I think that's what we think. We read that David was a man after God's own heart, and we conclude that he must have been sinlessly perfect. There's only one sinlessly perfect in the Bible, and it's David's son. It's not David.
David was obviously not sinlessly perfect. How do we reconcile the comment that he is the man after God's own heart with the commentary in 2 Samuel 11 that he engaged in adultery and murder? It's right here. To be the man after God's own heart is not to be sinlessly perfect, but to be, among other things, utterly submissive to the accusing word of God.
He receives it, he repents, and he finds mercy from God. Now, if we had more time, we'd re-read Psalm 32, but I think you get the point. He is rejoicing over the reality that God has, in fact, cleansed him from his sin. Well, let us close in a word of prayer here.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for this account, and thank you that as it demonstrates great sin, it demonstrates even greater grace. And how we praise you for that, and how we ask, Lord God, that we would be kept by the power of the Holy Spirit, from engaging in great sin, from engaging in sin. As John says, I write so that you may not sin. God, when we do sin, help us to fly to the advocate.
Help us to go to Christ. Help us to maintain short accounts with you, to confess and forsake our sins, and to find mercy from you. Father, we thank you for your grace displayed to us from Genesis to Revelation. We thank you for your grace displayed to us on the personal level that you've brought us together here, that you've redeemed us through the precious blood of Jesus, and you've called us to this feast tonight, this celebration, this time to rejoice in the Savior and what he did for us men and for our salvation.
And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.