Collision Course

Opening illustration: Couple of years ago while Dennis and his wife were driving on an expressway heading to New York city, we saw a driver turn left into a median turnaround that was intended for emergency vehicles only. He was planning to make a U-turn and head back the other way.

Looking to his right, the driver waited for an opening in oncoming traffic, so he failed to notice that a police car was backing up toward him on his left. Finally seeing an opening in traffic, the U-turn driver pulled out and rammed into the back of the police car.

It’s not unusual for us to think we can get away with doing something wrong. After King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, he too was focused on “getting away with it.” But he was on a collision course with Nathan. His adultery, deceit, and murder “displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11: 27), so when Nathan exposed David’s grievous sin, the king was deeply remorseful. He confessed, repented, and received God’s forgiveness. But the consequences of his sin never departed from his household (12: 10).

If you’ve been trying to get away with something, remember that “your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32: 23). Turn yourself in to God. Don’t hide. Instead, seek His gracious forgiveness. (Illustration from Dennis Fisher, Our Daily Bread)

Let us turn to 2 Samuel 12 and check out where David was headed to …

Introduction: The story goes on as you well know, but we shall stop here, having focused on Nathan’s divinely directed rebuke of David. In our lesson today we will give thought to David’s repentance and to the immediate consequences of his sin. But let us delve into this message by considering some very important lessons for us to learn from David’s sin and Nathan’s rebuke.

I do not know how many people I have known who refused to rebuke or even caution someone close to them, thinking that they are being a friend by being non-condemning. The fear of losing a friend because of the non-acceptance of the rebuke is also high. A good friend does not let us continue on the path to our own destruction. Nathan was acting as a prophet, but he was also acting like a friend. Would that we had more prophet-friends? Would that we were a prophet-friend to one on the path of destruction?

What will it take us to be saved from sin?

1. Acknowledge your sin (vs. 13a)

These words went to David’s heart, and removed the ban of hardening which pressed upon it. If David would have just said, “I have sinned” it would mean nothing and would also exhibit his non-seriousness of his act, but we see him confessing to the prophet, “I have sinned against the Lord.” He knows and acknowledges his sin and is seriously considering the heinous act he committed. This 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 his guilt openly, candidly, and without prevarication. How serious this confession was, we may see, Psalm 51: 1-19. That is, so far as concerns his own life. As by his own sentence, 2 Samuel 12: 5, thou dost deserve, and may expect to be done by my immediate stroke.

No one sins in a vacuum. You might think that what you do affects no one but yourself. You are dead wrong! When you sin, your sin and the ripples it causes touch everyone around you. When you sin it touches your family, your church, your work, your school, your community, your friends, everything! God will forgive the sin when it is repented of and confessed, but that which was started in motion will play itself out in your life and in the lives of those touched by it. That is a sobering thought! Before you take that final step and go off into sin, think about how your sin is going to affect those around you. What will your family think? What will your church think? What will be the outcome? What damage will this do to the cause of Jesus? If you will stop and think, you will not commit that sin! Above all it will also reflect whether you genuinely have the fear of God (positive sense) in your life or not.

We may sow our wild oats and pray for crop failure, but I cannot stress too strongly the truth that we always reap what we sow, Galatians 6: 7. There is a high price on sin, are you willing to pay it? Are you willing to see it paid by your family, or by others you know and love? God help us to see how horrible sin is! For David the sword would never depart from his house because he had blatantly despised the Lord God of Israel.