Title: Sin, Forgiveness & Chastening
Text: 2 Samuel 12: 13-14
Date: October 3, 2103
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
My subject tonight is: Sin,
Forgiveness & Chastening.
God said of King David, he
is “a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” (Acts 13: 22) Before the foundation of the world God
blessed David with all spiritual blessings by choosing him unto salvation in
Christ Jesus—like he did all whom he saves.
God sent Samuel and called David out of his father’s house and anointed
him king—as God does all his true sons and daughters. David served God
faithfully by the effectual work of God within him—as do all those God creates
in Christ foreordaining us to walk in good works prepared for us by God. God
used David to typify his only begotten Son. He used to David to pen Psalms
which express the very words Christ Jesus our Savior.
But David was also a
sinner. There were two natures in David
like there are in every believer. David was made a partaker of the divine
nature in the new man, born of God the Holy Spirit. Also, in David was his
original sin-nature born of Adam by natural generation in which dwelt no good
thing—so it is with every believer. So sin was mixed with everything that David
did.
Yet, one day David fell into
an horrible series of willful sins. David committed adultery with Bathsheba—he
saw her, he called her, he committed the act. When David heard Bathsheba was
with child, he called her husband, Uriah the Hittite, from war, got him drunk
and tried to get Uriah to go home to his wife so David’s sin would not be
discovered. Instead, Uriah—faithful and loyal to David and his army, refused to
go down to his wife’s house but slept outside David’s door all night long. Finally,
David sent Uriah into the forefront of the battle so that Uriah would be
killed, which Uriah was. Then David
married Bathsheba.
Almost 9 months, passed
without a word from God. Then God sent Nathan the prophet to David and brought
David to confess his sins.
2 Samuel 12: 13: And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against
the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou
shalt not die. 14: Howbeit,…
It is sinful flesh that
looks at this account of David (or at our own sin), beholding how freely God
forgives then thinks lightly of sin. I have heard men used David to justify
their own sins against God. I have even
heard men point to Christ on the cross and say, “Because Christ paid for all my
sins, God no longer disapproves if I commit sin.” We do not sin that grace may
abound. God forbid! Such a notion is not of God but of the flesh.
Ephesians
4: 19: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20: But ye have not so learned Christ;
21: If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth
is in Jesus: 22: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old
man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23: And be renewed in
the spirit of your mind; 24: And that ye put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness.
Proposition: I want to show you that when God brings
us to confess our sins and reveals our sins are forgiven, there are things God
does to prevent his true child from thinking lightly of our sins.
I. FIRST, GOD MAKES HIS CHILD SEE OURSELVES AS THE TRANSGRESSOR—as I
said, almost nine months had passed and David’s conscience does not seem to
have bothered him at all—2 Samuel 12: 1:
And the LORD sent Nathan unto David…
God sent his prophet to
David to awaken him from his fleshly stupor and convict him of his sins. Perhaps
the Lord has sent his prophet to someone here for the same cause. May God make you hear him.
One of the worst things that
can happen to a believer is for our hearts and our minds to become hardened in
our sins. David was utterly incapable of
recovering himself. The LORD sent Nathan unto David; it was not David who
called on the LORD. David said, “THOU restorest my soul,” (Ps 23:3)
But God did not tell David
right away that he was forgiven. First, God moved Nathan to give a parable to
make David see that David himself was the transgressor—2 Samuel 12: 1: There were
two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2: The rich man had
exceeding many flocks and herds, 3: But the poor man had nothing save one
little ewe lamb…it was unto him as a daughter. [The rich man represents
David. The poor man represents Uriah] 4:
And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own
flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto
him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to
him 5: And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to
Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
6: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and
because he had no pity. 7: And Nathan said to David, THOU ART THE MAN.
Before forgiving his child, God first makes his child to see,
“Thou art the man.” Grace must first
enter the heart to give a sense of sin in our minds. We must first be made to
see our hearts of flesh are base, mean, and evil. Without this awakening, by grace, neither David, nor any other
sinner, could ever awaken himself. This
is how God keeps his child from dismissing our sins as a light thing. He makes
us see, God has issue with you--“thou art the man.”
II. SECONDLY, GOD MAKES US TO TAKE SIDES WITH GOD AGAINST
OURSELVES.
God made David to know that
what David had just said in his anger against the rich man in the parable is
what David himself deserved from God.
2 Samuel 12: 5: And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the
man. For my sin I deserve
God’s anger! But why doesn’t God
pour out his fierce anger on his child when we willfully rebel in sin? It is because
Christ bore the fierce anger of offended justice in the room and stead of his
people. So now, though God is never
pleased with our willful rebellion, yet God deals with us as his justified
child, washed in the precious blood of his dear Son and righteous in him.
2 Samuel 12: 5:…and he said…As the LORD liveth, the man that hath
done this thing shall surely die: For my sin I deserve death.
But why doesn’t God strike down his elect immediately when we sin? It is because Christ became obedient even
unto the death of the cross. Christ was struck with the fierce chastening blow
his people deserved—Isaiah 53: 5:…the CHASTISEMENT of our PEACE was upon HIM;
and with his stripes we are healed. Therefore,
God chastens his child in love because in Christ God is at peace with his
child.
2 Samuel 12: 6: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold,--For
my sin I should have to make restitution. But thank God, he sent his only
begotten Son, who said, “then I restored that which I took not away.” (Ps 69:
4)
Christ made restitution to offended justice: honoring, fulfilling
and magnifying the law for his people; Christ made restitution to God and even
restores in his fallen people the image of God in the new birth.
2 Samuel 12: 6: [David said] he had no pity. For my sin, I deserve
no pity from God. But of God our Father
toward you his child we read, Ps 103:13: Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Why? It is because Christ tread
the winepress of the fury of God alone, saying, Ps 69:20: Reproach hath broken
my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there
was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
David was brought to see, he
was the man deserving of all these things.
Brethren, do you remember when God first did this in your hearts and
made you willing to condemn yourself? I
saw there was no reason why God should not destroy me and justly so; I could
not restore what I owed to God or to men; I began to see myself as a pitiless,
ruthless sinner deserving of nothing but divine justice. A sinner must be made
to see he is the sinner and be made to takes sides with God in condemning
himself.
And catch this: David had
been a believer a long time. God did this to him again. Even so God must
continue to awaken us and bring us to condemn ourselves. This always comes
before God’s forgiveness to prevent us from looking at our sins lightly.
III. TO PREVENT US MAKING LIGHT OF OUR SINFUL REBELLION, GOD ALSO
MAKES US SEE OUR SINS IN LIGHT OF HIS GOODNESS AND HIS GRACE TOWARDS US—2
Samuel 12: 7: Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over
Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
Believer, God by his
sovereign and free grace, apart from any merit in you and me, delivered us out
of the hand of every enemy who pursued us. We were the lawful captives of Satan. Sin struck us dead and held us captive. The law demanded the ransom of eternal death
be paid. Death was ready to take us away forever.
But by taking our flesh, by
taking our sins, by taking our place, Christ
bore the law’s stroke and paid the ransom in full. Christ condemned death. Christ crushed the serpents head, bound him
and gave us life and faith in Christ through his gospel and God anointed us
kings and priests unto God. Christ is worthy of our fullest devotion to him,
Revelation
5: 9:…for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10: And hast made us unto
our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
God makes our sin even
greater, showing us that by Christ Jesus God he has given us all things —2 Samuel 12: 8: And I gave thee thy
master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house
of Israel and of Judah. Believer, we’ve been made joint-heirs with our the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What God gives to our Master, his Son,
Christ gives to us, his brethren. His
house is our house; his bride is our
bride; his brethren our brethren. It is because we have been made the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
Romans
8: 16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God: 17: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together.
God magnifies our sin in
light of the fact that because he spared not his own Son, he promises us that
with Christ he shall continue to give us all things—2 Samuel 12: 8:…and if that had been too little, I would moreover have
given unto thee such and such things. Freely you have received and freely
we continue to receive.
Romans
8: 32: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
God has been so good to his
people: robing us in priceless righteousness, by the precious blood of his Son.
How could we yet be so calloused as to sin against one who loved us so?
God makes us to see what our
sin is to him. We make a lot of excuses
and we call sin a lot of things. But God says our sin is a despising of his command—2 Samuel 12: 9: Wherefore hast thou despised
the commandment of the LORD. We have been given the Spirit, not of bondage
to fear, but the Spirit of sonship whereby we cry Abba, Father. Believers are not under the law but under
grace. We are constrained by the love of Christ for us. Therefore, believers have an earnest desire
to obey the Voice of our heavenly Father?
Romans
7: 22: For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:…
Brethren, God says any
deliberate trespass against any known command of his is to “despise the
commandment of the LORD.”
1
John 3:23 And this is his commandment,
That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one
another, as he gave us commandment….5: 3: For this is the love of God, that we
keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
God says our sin is “evil in
his sight.”—2 Samuel 12: 9:…to do evil
in his sight? Judicially every sinner for whom Christ died has had our sins
put away so that God remembers them no more.
But you and I are yet in this sinful flesh. God keeps his constant eye upon us,
intervening to save us from ourselves, or we would surely perish. And willful
rebellion is “evil in his sight.”
Every word that proceeds
from the mouth of our Father is for our good.
Through his gospel—spoken effectual into our hearts in power—God makes
believers to hate what God hates and to love what God loves.
Psalm
119: 103: How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth! 104: Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every
false way.
God makes his child know in
our hearts what our particular crimes are—2
Samuel 12: 9: thou hast killed…[thou]
hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the
children of Ammon. No man can be accepted of holy God by our obedience to
the law. We have none--“none righteous, no not one.”
James
2:10: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point,
he is guilty of all.
God makes his child know
this, by making us to know what our individual sins are.
In verse 10, in the middle
part, God says this is what our sin is—2
Samuel 12: 10:…thou hast despised
ME. Believer, the very God who loved
you freely without a cause in you, the very God who loved you, his elect child,
with an everlasting love, therefore drew you to himself in lovingkindness, believer,
the very God who sent his only begotten Son to accomplish your salvation by
bearing the agonies of Calvary, the very God who created in you a new heart:
who gave you eyes to see, ears to hear, an understanding mind and a willing
heart. Every willful act of rebellion is
to say to that very God, “I despise thee!”
God make us to see that our
sin gives our enemies reason to blaspheme God—2 Samuel 12: 14:…by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the
enemies of the LORD to blaspheme,…How this strikes to the very heart of a
child of God! Our greatest desire is for
God to be glorified. Yet, our sins give
the enemies occasion to blaspheme the name of our Lord.
Brethren, sin never appears
so black to us as it does in the light of God’s goodness and grace toward
us. He makes us see we are the sinner,
he makes us condemn ourselves, he makes us see our sin light of his goodness,
he makes us to see what sin is to God.
IV. FOURTHLY, GOD PREVENTS HIS CHILD FROM THINKING LIGHTLY OF OUR
SINS BY FREELY AND JUSTLY FORGIVING US OUR SINS—V13: And David said unto
Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD.
God shall bring his child to
confess our sins before God.
1
John 1: 8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us….10: If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his
word is not in us.
This is not that silly
charade where the preacher says, “If you have any unconfessed sin in your life
now’s the time to confess it to God.” So the sinner starts thinking, “have I
done anything I need to confess. I ran a
traffic light, I sorry about that. I hid
my bartab from my wife, I’m sorry about that.”
We are talking here about a
God-wrought confession brought about by God putting Truth in us, his Word in
us, breaking the bones within and bringing us to the feet of our Savior.
Psalm
51: 1: «To the chief Musician, A Psalm
of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to
Bathsheba.» Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2: Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3: For I
acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4: Against
thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou
judgest. 5: Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive
me. 6: Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part
thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 7: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8: Make me to hear joy and
gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Illustration: The shepherd puts the lambs leg out of
socket till he learns to follow the shepherd. David was straying in his sin—now
he pleading with the shepherd to restore the bones he’s broken.
Psalm
51: 9: Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10: Create
in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11: Cast me not
away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12: Restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13: Then
will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14: Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15: O Lord, open thou my lips;
and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16: For thou desirest not sacrifice;
else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17: The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O
God, thou wilt not despise.
2 Samuel 12: 13:…And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath
put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
1 John 1: 9: If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness….
God’s free forgiveness, for
Christ’s sake, produces a fear in our hearts, a desire to sin not, and a
willingness follow closely to Christ who alone makes us righteous.
Psalm
103: 3: If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? 4:
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
V. THERE IS ONE MORE POINT WE NEED TO SEE--V14: Howbeit,…
David
was forgiven, but from that day forward, the sword never departed from his
house—2 Samuel 12: 10: Now therefore the
sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and
hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11: Thus saith the
LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I
will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he
shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12: For thou didst it
secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun…14:
Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of
the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
The guilt of David’s sin was
remembered no more by God, “The Lord hath put away thy sin;” But David himself
must be dealt with by his heavenly Father’s loving, chastening rod.
Proverbs 3:12: For whom the
LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
God
teaches several things here.
One,
God will not wink at our sin. David was
too highly favored of God, too highly loved of God his Father for God not to
correct the child of his love. The same is true of every child of God.
Hebrews 12: 7: If ye endure
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the
father chasteneth not? 8: But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Though he visit the offences
of his child with a rod, and our iniquities with stripes, yet thy
loving-kindness wilt thou not take from him, nor suffer thy faithfulness to
fail.
Two, God chastens us “for
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.” (Heb 12: 10) For example: David was taught (and we are
taught) by the rod of God where we are to sow…
Galatians
6:8: For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he
that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Another profitable lesson: By
God making the child, produced by this unlawful, sinful union, to die, God
teaches us that our sin brings forth nothing but death.
James
1: 13: Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot
be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14: But every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15: Then when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death.
Thirdly, the rod greatly
humbled David and turned all David’s hope and desire away from all others to
God all his days—David’s last words were—
2
Samuel 23:5: Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation,
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
Brethren, be sure we get the
chief lesson: God can and will forgive us when he has brought us to repent of
even our greatest sins. Yet, ithough the guilt of our sin may be removed, the
consequences of it will subject us to much sorrow, till God shall wipe away all
tears from our eyes.
1 John 2: 1: My little children, these
things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2: And he is the propitiation for
our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Amen!