Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11. I'll be off the next two Sundays. We're taking a bit of vacation. I'll be back in the office on September 3rd, so Pastor Cam will be preaching next Sunday and the following Sunday, and then when I return, I hope to return back to the psalms.

So Psalm 19 is the next psalm that we'll be looking at, God willing, on September 6th. But this morning, I wanted to consider the sin of David. I've mentioned it many times through our studies in the Psalms to show that David is, in fact, not the fellow he's writing about, say, for instance, in Psalm 18, 20 to 24. He's writing about his greater son.

He's writing about the anointed of God, the Messiah of Israel, our Lord Jesus Christ. So I have alluded to the fact that David is not a perfect man, and I have alluded to the fact many times of the particular instance here recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 12, which will be the focus of the sermon, verses 1 to 15, but I think it's necessary to set it in its larger context, so I want to read beginning in 2 Samuel 11 in 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 sent 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 conceded. 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 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." 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. 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 ewe 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 pray now for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds and our hearts, not only with reference to the wretchedness of David's sin, but to the glory of your free grace. May we see that forgiveness that David celebrates throughout this altar, that abundant mercy that David often points us to in the Psalms. And God, everywhere, that New Testament celebrates it as well, that in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of Your grace. We give all glory and praise unto You for so great a salvation.

Again, forgive us for all of our sin and unrighteousness. Cleanse us in that precious blood, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Introduction: Setting the Context

Well as we come to chapter 12, again we need to see it in light of the events in chapter 11. And basically in chapter 11 you have David commit adultery with Bathsheba in verses 2 to 5. David then tries to cover up that adultery with reference to his dealings with Uriah. First, by having Uriah lay with his wife in verses 6 to 13.

Presumably, when it's found out that Bathsheba is pregnant, everybody will conclude that Uriah is, in fact, the father. Well, Uriah's too noble for that. Uriah's got too much integrity. Uriah's not going to abandon his post, and he's not going to abandon his comrades so that he can enjoy a night of pleasure with his wife.

He's got integrity. Then David attempts to cover it up by having Uriah murdered on the field of battle, according to verses 14 to 25. In fact, he writes the letter to Joab, gives it to Uriah, and Uriah must deliver his own death sentence to Joab to put him in the hottest part of the battle. And then, of course, we have the divine commentary.

The only time that God is mentioned in chapter 11 is at the end in verse 27. Notice, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Literally, it was evil in Yahweh's eyes. So the backdrop is great sin.

The sin of adultery, a breach of the seventh commandment. The sin of murder, a breach of the sixth commandment. David is not the man of Psalm 18, 20 to 24. David is not the man of Psalm 15.

David is not the holy, harmless, and undefiled man of Psalm 1. David is not the only begotten Son of God that is the universal King of Psalm 2. David is writing about the coming Christ, and passages like this evidence that, and passages like this confirm the interpretation of a Christological or a Christ-centered approach to the Psalter. Now, David is in the Psalms, to be sure, but David isn't the sum and substance, he isn't the focus, he isn't the yea and amen of the Psalms in the way that our Lord Jesus Christ is.

So as we come to chapter 12,

Sermon Outline Announced

I want to look at three things. First, the confrontation by God's servant in verses 1 to 6. Secondly, the indictment of God's king in verses 7 to 12. And then finally, the declaration of God's grace in verses 13 and 14.

But first,

Confrontation by God's Servant

note the confrontation by God's servant in verses 1 to 6.

God's Initiative in Sending Nathan

God's initiative. I think there's a world of grace, kindness, mercy, and love in the first few words in verse 1, then the Lord sent Nathan to David. Now what happens is that David gets rebuked. What happens is that David gets confronted.

What happens is that David gets humbled. What happens is that ultimately David gets forgiveness. It is a mark of God's grace to send people into your lives that are faithfully going to rebuke you for your sins. And this is particularly the instance here with reference to David.

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. So the Lord only appears in verse 27 in chapter 11 to the effect that the thing that David did was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh. But here the Lord immediately appears, and the Lord is the one who initiates this gracious plan to restore David, to forgive David, and it's that which causes David to write many Psalms to that effect. Calvin says, let us note that there is nothing better than when God sends us messengers of His wrath.

I've always thought that, and I always used to try to bring that to bear upon our children. When our children got caught in sin, I mean, that's never a comfortable thing. Kids, when you're caught in sin, you probably don't say, yippee, I've been caught in sin, but it's a blessing and it's a mercy. What if you weren't caught in sin?

What if you were further hardened in sin? What if you were further emboldened to sin? Bless God most high that He sends Nathans, whether it be your father, whether it be your mother, whether it be a faithful sibling, whether it be a faithful friend, whether it be a faithful pulpit ministry. Bless God that He sends Nathans to rebuke us and to reprove us when we're in the midst of a settled complacency about our sin.

The way that the narrative reads is that there were several months between the actual act of adultery and the murder of Uriah and the time when David comes to repentance. He was settled in this. I don't think he was comfortable in this. I think some of the Psalms indicate his position at this time.

When I kept silent about my sin, my bones ached. But nevertheless, there was a settled complacency and an unwillingness to repent and own his sin. And yet God, in his mercy, sends an aphant. So Calvin again, 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.

It's a blessing, those first several words, then the Lord sent Nathan to David. Or listen to Davis, the words and the Lord sent, they show us that grace pursues and exposes the sinner and 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 Yahweh will come after you.

David writes this in Psalm 23, surely goodness and mercy shall what? We translate it, follow me. Could be better translated, pursue me. If we're not pursued by God's grace and mercy, we're going to end up in hell.

Bless God that He sends Nathan. Bless God that He's faithful. Bless God that He does not allow us to stay in a sinful state. And here, specifically,

Nathan's Parable of the Ewe Lamb

the message of the prophet is calculated to show David, by David's own admission, that David is messed up. Note the parable of the prophet in verses 2 and 2 to 4. Verse 2, He said, 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 ewe 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. This poor man, if he had Instagram back then, would have had, you know, son, wife, or son, daughter, and this little ewe lamb in his selfie as he posted it upon his Instagram. He loved this member of the family. He loved this pet.

You see who's here? David is the rich man. Uriah is the poor man. Uriah doesn't have an empire.

Uriah isn't king. Uriah doesn't have a plethora of wives. Uriah has one new lamp, one that's very special to him, one that he loves, one that he has great affinity for, and one that is his own. And you'll notice the language in chapter 11 at verse 25, David, I'm sorry, chapter 11 at verse five, David took her.

David took her. Now note verse 4. 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. The rich man should have.

The king should have gone to his own wife. The king should have had repaired to his own bride. But no, that's not what he does. What does the rich man do?

The rich man takes from the poor man. The rich man takes the ewe lamb from the poor man, and the rich man gets his servants to cut up that lamb, to barbecue it, and then to offer it to his visitor. This is David. And it's just beautiful preaching on the part of Nathan.

Beautiful. This should be homiletics 101 for every preacher that ever preaches. Do what Nathan does here. Gain sympathy for your cause.

Load it up in such a way that the hearer cannot but see he's the guilty one. Notice verse 4. But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. Just the way David, according to verse four, sorry, I said five, took Bathsheba for himself.

So the parable's obvious. That's why it's important to read chapter 11. You might jump into chapter 12, not conscious of chapter 11, and say, I kind of get what's going on. But when you see the strict parallels, and when you see the strict connections, and when you see the very specific things that our author is pointing out, you can't help but side with Nathan.

David's Indignant Response

Note the response of the king specifically in verses 5 to 6. He's outraged and well he should be. Our confession is not wrong. Our confession is absolutely right on the role of the civil government.

They are not to be involved in every aspect of your life. They are not to engage in a surveillance state mentality. Their primary function is the maintenance of justice and peace. What's the King's primary emphasis in Old Covenant Israel?

The maintenance of justice and peace. When he hears a story that breaches justice in the way that he just heard it, of course there's outrage, of course there's anger, of course he's going to respond with this kind of a response. He is a just king and a good king. Again, this isn't the only instance in David's life.

David is a hero. David was a wonderful fellow. But David is not the righteous man he describes in this altar. David, however, in this instance, is evidencing the right response of an indignant king to a horrible situation.

So that outrage is appropriate. The prophet's method here is brilliant. He wants David to indict David. So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, verse 5, 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." He invokes the law of Moses, Exodus 22, verse 1, in terms of restoration.

He invokes the principle of God's justice, execution, for such a wretch as this. And why? Well, David sums it up greatly at the end of verse 6, because he had no pity. He's a man without mercy, a man without grace, a man without kindness, a man without hesed, a man that is operating based on his own passions, based on his own desires, a man that is hypocritical.

He's rich, he's wealthy, a visitor comes to him and instead of dipping into his own flock, he goes to his poor neighbor and he says, give me your land, that land that is as a part of your family. There's no pity in this man. This man's a monster. If we could hear David's machinations at the time, probably think this guy's horrible.

Such a one is not fit to live. Now

Indictment of God's King

notice then the indictment of God's king in verses seven to 12. Verse 7a is one of those statements that are, yeah, you just wonder how did David look?

"You Are the Man"

You are the man. by your own admission, by your own statement. You deserve to die. You deserve to restore. The way that you operated was like a thug.

Old covenant Israel has become thugdom. You're the man, David. You've done this, David. You're the guy who has operated with no pity.

You're the guy who took Bathsheba. You're the guy who then tried to corrupt Uriah, who proved uncorruptible, and so you had him killed on the field of battle. You're the man, David. I love what Alexander White says, Nathan's sword was within an inch of David's conscience before David knew that Nathan had a sword.

Listen to that again. Listen to that again. Nathan's sword was within an inch of David's conscience before David knew that Nathan had a sword. David didn't even know what was going on at this point.

He didn't expect 7a. He didn't expect thou art the man. Nathan understood all too well the parable that he told, the calculated trajectory of the parable to bring David to that place of outrage and that place of demanding justice. And the prophet says, thou art the man.

Then he goes on to explain.

Grace as Foil for Treachery

Notice in verses 7B to 12, God, through the prophet, You are the man, thus says the Lord God of Israel. 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 and gave you the house of Israel and Judah.

And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more. In other words, he highlights the grace that David had already been given, the blessings, the privileges, the prestige, the position, It's that which exacerbates and shows how odious and foul David's sin is. And specifically, God anointed David king over Israel. God delivered David from the hand of Saul many times.

It wasn't a one-off. God was with David in the wilderness. God was with David in the cleft of the rock. God was with David to spare him.

God used Philistines to spare David from Saul. As well, the Lord gave David Saul's house and Saul's wives. There's no record of this indicated, but a common practice in the ancient Near Eastern world. I gave you a plethora.

Do you see what the tactic of the prophet is or God is with reference to David? I want you to see how bad it really is. In other words, you have some concept because you've already said that this rich man deserves to die, this rich man should restore fourfold, and this rich man operated with no pity whatsoever. But you know, David, you haven't begun to scratch the surface as to how bad your sin really is.

It's one of my thoughts. We don't always or never ever know how bad our sins really are. That God doesn't just destroy us and cast us off forever is proof positive of patience, grace, mercy, and loving kindness. If you ever doubt for a moment the hesed or the mercy of God, just think about it the next time you take a breath.

What does every sin deserve? Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come. That we're not all reaping that, that we all get good things, that we all had water this morning, coffee this morning, perhaps eggs and bacon. All of that testifies that God is good.

Our sin is far worse than we can even imagine. And so the grace given to David is the foil or the backdrop to amplify exactly what it was that David had done. The Lord gave David both houses of Israel and Judah. He had a consolidated kingdom.

You see that, the movement in 2 Samuel. Up to this point, it's great. This was golden era ethics for the life of David up to, well, about chapter, well, no, chapter nine. David shows hesed when it comes to foreign relations.

David shows his glory and his power and his majesty in the midst of the realm. We get to chapter 11, kings go out to battle and David says, you know, I'm gonna take a break on this one. Many have moralized that and it's probably not the worst lesson. David should have been on the field of battle and not up on his roof.

Basic principle. Do what you're supposed to do. And I'm not going to say you won't sin, because we can sin even when we're doing what we're supposed to do. We are that bad.

But boy, oh boy, David, go to battle. Join the troops. Lead the troops. Don't hang back.

Don't enjoy your comfort, don't wander up to your roof, and don't look over there at Bathsheba. Again, moralistic, that's not the emphasis of the author in chapters 11 and 12, but there's a good practical lesson there for all of us, do what we're supposed to, and do it the way God commands. So David enjoys great prestige, great luxury at this point, and great blessing. And I love that last bit at the end of verse eight.

I gave you this, I gave you this, I gave you this, I gave you this, I gave you this, and at the end of verse eight, and if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more. You see what God is doing through the prophet? David, you've rightly put your finger on the problem. There's a no pity operation going on with this rich man versus the poor man.

But think about what the rich man has, how the rich man got it. And if the rich man would have ever felt a lack, his God would have given him much more. This indicts David. This lays David low.

This humbles David. This shows David, you are in fact a man. Yahweh begins with grace, according to Ralph Davis. 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 God itemizes His grace to David. In this way, God stresses the senselessness of David's sin. There was no need for it.

What does Solomon say in the book of Proverbs? People don't despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger. If he's caught, he has to pay it back. But he then goes on to say, but everybody hates an adulterer.

Everybody despises those who break their marital vows. Everybody despises somebody who isn't faithful to the life of their youth. The thief, we don't condone it. You got to pay it back, but we get it.

You're starving. You stole a ham. The adulterer, though, no wounds and dishonor he will get. You see, what God is showing David is that there was no reason whatsoever, in whatever world you were operating in, for you to think it was somehow okay to take Bathsheba, to lie with her and impregnate her, and then to try to cover up that sin by multiplying sin, culminating in murder.

There was never justification for that. In fact, there was everything opposite to justification there.

Despising God's Commandment

Note the accusation leveled in verse nine, the accusation, the lawlessness of David's act. Notice in verse nine, why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Despising the commandment of the Lord is to despise the Lord of the commandment. This is Jesus' logic with the Jews in John 5.

You hate the one sent, that means you hate the one who sent him. You despise the law, then you necessarily despise the lawgiver. You hate the one who gave, or you hate the seventh and the sixth commandments, By extension, you hate the giver of the seventh and the six commandments. You've despised the law, the gravity of David's act to do evil in his sight.

David probably, you know, you think about this, how many times, and you know, again, we're not picking on David, but how many times have we sinned without thinking about consequences? Do we all take out a notepad where we're about to sin? I'm gonna put the pros and I'm gonna put the cons. You know, the pro is gonna feel good, it's gonna be nice, whatever.

The cons, I could ruin everything, I could be a public pariah, I could go to prison, I could be executed. We don't do that, we don't think about consequences, we just jump out into sin. I would imagine David didn't think that the prophet was gonna come to him and let him have it like this. He probably thought, this is the way kings function.

You want a woman? You take the woman. You got a problem? You neutralize the problem.

He's functioning like probably every other ancient Near Eastern king would have functioned. You see, he's not every other ancient Near Eastern king. He is the Lord's Messiah in Old Covenant Israel, which was supposed to be set apart and seen for the beauty of its laws and the virtue of its kings. David didn't think through these things whatsoever.

The treachery of David's act. You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. He killed him. He didn't wield the sword, but he killed him.

Conspiracy to commit murder is murder. I mean, if I hand a monkey a gun and the monkey shoots you in the head, you don't send the monkey to the electric chair. You send me to the electric chair because I handed the monkey the gun. David was guilty, and not only of just having him liquidated, he then takes Uriah's wife as his own, the way that rich man took the ewe lamb and had it killed and cut up and burned up and made into food for his traveler.

Then he brought shame upon Uriah, that last bit, with the sword of the people of Ammon. Uriah didn't get to die or wasn't victorious. And elsewhere we learn that Uriah was one of the mighty men of David. This Hittite wasn't a man of great integrity.

Here he loses on the field of battle, not because of his ineptitude, not because he was a bad soldier, not because he didn't take orders, not because he didn't know how to wield a sword, but because his king had put it in the hand of the commander to make sure that Uriah died? That is shame and dishonor. That's a bad thing. David, you did that.

With the backdrop of my grace and all the provisions that I have given to you, this is the way that you have conducted yourself? Notice that then God goes on through the prophet to indicate there's going to be consequences for this, David.

Temporal Consequences of David's Sin

God does forgive him. David celebrates that forgiveness throughout the Psalter. But were there temporal consequences that would obtain for David and his household? Oh, you betcha.

You absolutely bet. This is paradigmatic or rather programmatic for the rest of 2 Samuel. Look at verse 10. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house.

Go back to chapter 11 in verse 25 and look at how David responds to the messenger of Joab. Then David said to the messenger, thus you shall say to Joab, do not let this thing displease you. Same language applied to Yahweh in verse 28, be evil in your eyes for the sword devours one as well as another. David the king, David the military commander invokes a famous proverb.

Yeah, you know, it is the way it goes. Sometimes the sword gets you and sometimes it gets your enemies. Verse 10, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me. Again, to despise the commandment of God is to despise the God of the commandment because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

The sword shall never depart from your house. Again, just read from this point on in 2 Samuel, you'll see that. Ammon in chapter 13 verses 28 to 29, Absalom chapter 18 verse 14, and Adonijah in 1 Kings chapter 2 at verse 25. Because you were reckless with the sword, David, the sword's going to find its way into your own house.

One of your sons is going to kill the other son. One of your sons is going to rise up and try to take your throne. And the other son, he's going to do the same thing. He's going to try to jockey for position upon the death of David at Onijah and take the throne when it's rightfully Solomon's.

So God tells him, because you've done this, because you've despised the commandment of God, verse 9, which is to despise the God of the commandment, verse 10, the sword's not going to depart from your house. Brethren, I think this illustrates an important lesson as well. God's grace is great. The fact that he atones for David's sin, the fact that he forgives David of his sin, the fact that the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin, doesn't necessarily remove all the temporal consequences for the messes that we've made.

I'm sure all of us have known that at one point or another. I thought I was forgiven. Why am I still having to deal with this mess? Well, because in those messes, there's a reminder of our own messed up mess and the graciousness and the goodness and the glory of God who has forgiven us.

You see, consequences that we do, or that are consequences, rather, for the things that we have done. You can't say, well, David wasn't forgiven because of this sword. No, no, he was. But that doesn't mean that his life is gonna be, you know, the yellow brick road onto Oz.

It's gonna be a difficulty. David, you messed up. It's a lesson that we don't like to hear today, you know, there's consequences. Everybody, you know, invokes victimhood.

Bless God, David doesn't. Notice that David doesn't say, well, you know, if Bathsheba hadn't been on that roof, bathing naked, I wouldn't have done this. Well, God, you know, you made a beautiful woman and you planted her right in my sphere of sight. He doesn't do that.

But God says the sword's not gonna depart. Notice as well what God says, and something that the rest of 2 Samuel fleshes out. The insurrection that would ultimately erupt in his family, verse 11, thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. That's Absalom.

Absalom sits at the city gates. Absalom's, I almost said, a beautiful man. That sounds pretty effeminate. He was a very handsome man. the long flowing hair, he was dreamy, whatever you want to say, and he knew how to work a crowd.

What does he do? He works the crowd in such a way that all Israel now is coming to Absalom, such that David has to flee Jerusalem. When you get to that passage, you know, crafty Absalom, boy, what a guy. Yeah, crafty Absalom, tough for David. but a consequence for David for acting like a thug in the kingdom of God.

You're not supposed to act like a thug in the kingdom of God. You're not supposed to reign like the heathen or the pagan. You're supposed to let hesed or loving kindness shower people. You are supposed to defend them and protect them.

You're not supposed to put crack troops out into the field of battle only to be executed to cover up for your sin of having lain with their wives. That's just not legit practice for the king of Israel. So this adversity would rise up from within David's house. And then the public defilement of his wives and his own family. 11b and verse 12.

Again, brethren, the judgment of God and the consequences that God imposes, you don't think for a moment that the eye for the eye ethic isn't a reality. The punishment must fit the crime. And God holds to that, specifically in verses 11, B and 12. 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 the sun.

For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel before the sun. Basically, this was done by Absalom at the behest of Ahithophel. So Absalom launches this usurpation. Absalom's trying to get all Israel to follow him and call him king.

Well, his advisors are savvy enough to know that if Absalom changes his mind and goes back to David, it's going to be a problem for his would-be followers, right? They've sworn fidelity to Absalom. Well, Absalom comes to his senses and says, you know what, David, I've been wrong. Let me back.

Well, David's gonna know who all the traitors are. He's gonna know who all the rebels are. So Ahithophel says to Absalom, take the wives that David left at his house, take them up on the roof and have relations with them. That will tell all of your would-be followers that the rupture is sure between you and your father.

There's not going to be any reconciliation. There's not going to be, oh, David, dad, I'm sorry. No, if you do that, that will secure the deal and all these people will in fact follow you knowing that you're not going back to David. So exactly what God says here happens in chapter 16 again under the advisement of Ahithophel, one of his counselors.

So everything that God threatens, God promises, the consequences for David's sin are all specified here and basically sets the stage for all that follows or most that follows in 2 Samuel from 13 on.

Declaration of God's Grace

But then we get to this declaration of God's grace, verses 13 and 14. So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. That's it. I have sinned against the Lord.

Do you know what sometimes, that's probably not the best literary construction of that, sometimes what we might suspect is that if persons get caught in sin and then they repent, maybe it's not legit. I don't want a show of hands, but has anybody ever thought that? Well, they got caught in their sin and that's why they repented. Hey, repentance is repentance.

Whether you're caught in your sin or you're not. I mean, to be great, somebody goes to their Bible on a Thursday morning and says, man, I've been a wretch. I've embezzled millions of dollars from my employer. I'm going to go to my employer and I'm going to confess it to him.

Do you see that repentance? The same guy who's sitting at his desk and the cops come in and put handcuffs on him and he gets it and he confesses it and he forsakes it and he's genuinely repentant. Okay. And isn't David's statement pretty simple?

I have sinned against the Lord. He doesn't get all flowery. He doesn't get all wordy. He doesn't recite a chapter out of the Confession.

He doesn't recite a chapter out of Birkhoff on his sin and his rebellion. He just says, I have sinned against the Lord. I think the point is, what could he say? What else is there to say?

There's no blame. Bathsheba, you, the kings, the pressures of a heavy duty job. You know what it's like to try and manage a kingdom. I need to let off a little.

He doesn't do any of that. He just confesses his sin. The Berlberg Bible, which is a German study Bible, dated 1726 to 1729, on the simplicity of his confession, I think is beautiful. The words are very few, just as in the case of the publican in the Gospel of Luke.

Remember? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The Burlberg continues, but that is a good sign of a thoroughly broken spirit. There is no excuse.

There is no cloaking. There is no palliation of the sin. There is no searching for a loophole, no pretext put forward, no human weakness pleaded. He acknowledges guilt, acknowledges his guilt openly, candidly, and without prevarication, which is basically to speak or act in an evasive way.

That's right. Well, you know, God, I struggle and it's tough and I do have these pressures, but you know, forgive me. Again, I don't want to pick on anybody here, brethren, but at times I think we kind of sound like this, or maybe I shouldn't speak for you, but you know, it is tough and he doesn't do any of that. I've sinned against the Lord.

What else can he say? What else could he possibly offer up at this point in the exchange with the prophet than this? And then

God Puts Away David's Sin

note the remedy of God, the affirmation of God. Verse 13, Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. The Lord has put it away.

The Lord has atoned for it. The Lord has covered it. The Lord has dealt with it. Is there any reason or any sort of surprised rather that David celebrates forgiveness in the Psalter as much as he celebrates it?

Is there any surprise as to why he celebrates God's mercy? David writes the Psalms as a man who needed the Psalms. David writes the Psalms as a man who had experienced the Psalms. not just in the outward temporal challenges of life that he went through, but at the very fundamental level of his place before a holy God. That's what the Psalms are about for us.

Gil says, with reference to this statement, you shall not die. Though he should die a corporeal death, 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. Nor should he die a spiritual death, though his grace had been so low and his corruptions had risen so high. One of the arguments against the death penalty is this instance, why didn't David die?

I don't know. No, no, God didn't immediately kill him. That I do know, but that doesn't argue against Genesis 9, 6, Romans 13. Did David deserve to die for his crimes against Bathsheba and Uriah?

Yes, he absolutely positively did deserve it. Why did God suspend that immediate death penalty? I don't know that. I think the point, though, is not to get into the weeds about the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the death penalty, but to marvel at the grace of God.

I have covered your sin. I have atoned for your sin. I have dealt with your sin. You're not going to die.

And then note the consequence in verse 14. Horrible thing. Consequences even to the effect of this little baby in the womb. David's sin was wretched.

David's sin was horrible. The backdrop is God's grace. The present application of it in David's life is the death of David's son. Now, I don't want to go too far on the typology here, but there's at least something of a hint of a pattern.

David's son instead of David. Again, we don't want to load it up too much. It's just the horrible consequence of a terrible act on the part of King David of Israel. But this is kind of a pattern going forward, that it's David's son that dies for guilty Davids.

It's David's son that goes in our stead. It's David's son that ultimately suffers the wrath and judgment and fury of God Almighty for the sake of his people.

Conclusion and Application

In conclusion, I hope that we appreciate the initiative of God. Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. It's a mercy when God sends Nathan's kids. If you've got faithful parents, which I have no reason to doubt that you don't, Notice I didn't say perfect, and we'll never say that.

None of us have perfect anything. If you've got faithful parents that get in your face about sin, bless God for it. You're always trying to ruin my life. No, I'm trying to keep you from hell.

But all the other kids, hey, if their parents want to let them march off into hell, then that's for them. But if you're Nathan, to your children, that is a blessing, children, for you. Don't ever dismiss that. Don't ever undervalue that.

Don't ever underestimate that. It is a blessing to be caught in your sin. Again, as one who's been caught in sin before, it's not a blessing at the time, but the good that comes from it, praise the Lord for. The initiative of God in the salvation of David or the forgiveness of David here is great.

The wretchedness of sin, the sin committed in chapter 11, the sin condemned in chapter 12, and the sin exacerbated by what David had. Calvin says, now 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. 2 Samuel 12, as Calvin says, should make our hair stand on end. that this man, a man after God's own heart, 1 Samuel 13, a man distinguished by God, 1 Samuel 16, a man put on the throne by God, given a kingdom that was consolidated, that man operated as if he was a rogue pagan. And that brings us then to the grace of God, the grace of God toward David. In his life prior to this, he wasn't without sin.

He had forgiveness through our Lord Jesus Christ. But obviously, this event, which many would see as disqualified, that's it, David, you're done, you're in hell. There's no unringing that bell. You ever think about that when, you know, if you've ever done any witnessing, you've ever gone out evangelizing, or you've gone out passing out tracts, and you talk to people and you say, you know, you're a sinner.

What do they say? Yes, you're right, I'm a terrible, depraved human being. I'm a wretch. Only Calvinists use the word wretch.

Let me just tell you right now. What do they usually say? No, I've never killed anyone. I've never committed adultery.

Those are the benchmark sins. Ask a papist. Ask a humanist, ask anybody out there, what are the worst things anybody could ever do? Well, go into another man's wife and then kill her husband to cover it up.

I think we'd all agree. In the realm of men, things that disgust us the most, things that evoke the kind of response that David had when he thought about that rich man exploiting the poor man, it's murder and adultery. Especially when the murder is to cover up the adultery and the man you're murdering is the husband of the woman you committed adultery, it's bad. Isn't that interesting that the benchmark sins gets its own chapter and shows that the blood of Jesus Christ as Son cleanses us from all sin?

There's hope in 2 Samuel 12 for wretches. There's hope in 2 Samuel 12 for sinners. There's hope in 2 Samuel 12 for those who have transgressed the law of God. who've gone contrary to all that God has given them in their lives. It may not be kings or a kingdom, it may not be wives of former kings, it may not be the consolidation of Israel and Judah, it may not be all that, but you've ate His food, you've drank His water, you've lived in His world, you've ate His ribeyes, you've ate His lobster, you've ate His avocados, you've enjoyed His air.

And yet you've sinned and sinned and sinned and sinned and sinned and sinned. You've rebelled and transgressed. To despise the commandment is to despise the God of the commandment. And yet...

Yet there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. This is why David writes Psalm 130, verses 3 and 4. This is why David writes Psalm 25. Oh Lord, pardon my iniquities, for it is great.

Pardon my iniquities, or iniquity for it is great. or consider a passage my brother reminded me of yesterday in Psalm 86 5 for you Lord are good and ready to forgive and abundant and mercy to all those who call upon you if you're not a believer here this morning learn from King David of Israel that there is forgiveness with this God, there is mercy to be had in this God, there is grace abundant, there is the Lord Jesus Christ who lived, who died, and who was raised again, such that everyone who looks to him in faith will have everlasting life. And may we as the people of God celebrate that grace, may we rejoice in that grace, and may we never forget that grace, and may it always prompt from us that gratitude and that desire to live in a manner that is consistent with God's grace to us. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the clarity of this passage of Holy Scripture and what it shows us, not only of the wretchedness of sin, but the glory of Your grace, the glory of Your forgiveness and of Your mercy. Thank You again for our Lord Jesus Christ and what He has effected for all those whom the Father had given unto Him. We ask that you would bless, strengthen, and encourage us, and we pray that you would save sinners by your grace and for your glory.

And we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 9:6
• Exodus 22:1
• 1 Samuel 13; 16
• 2 Samuel 11; 11:1; 11:5; 11:25; 11:27; 12:1-15; 13:28-29; 18:14
• 1 Kings 2:25
• Psalm 1; 2; 15; 18; 19; 20-24; 23; 25; 86:5; 130:3-4
• John 5
• Romans 13