← Back to sermon library

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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. And that leads us finally to the demonstration 
of God's grace in verses 13 and 14. 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. 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." 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. 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.