Have I Sinned Too Much For God To Forgive?

I have been a pastor for about 25 years. In this period of time, I have talked to many people who have said that they had sinned too much for God to forgive. Then you have the people who say, “ I just can’t forgive myself.” You would think as many churches that we have in America that we wouldn’t have this problem. Or maybe that could be part of the problem. We have really had a hard time understanding the depth of God’s grace. I want to look at the lives of two men who sinned and how God dealt with them.

Let’s look first of all at David and Bathsheba.2SA 11:2 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. 3 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?" 4 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. 5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, "I am with child." 6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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?" 11 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." 12 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. 13 Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. 14 Then in the morning it was so that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 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." 16 So it happened, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 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. David sees Bathsheba bathing and lusts after her. He has an affair with her getting her pregnant. To cover his sin, he sends for Uriah her husband and one of David’s mighty men ( a group of men totally sold out to

David) to sleep with her so he will think it is his child and not David’s. Uriah out of his integrity refuses to sleep with his wife while his fellow comrades are fighting in the field. David even gets him drunk but he still doesn’t sleep with his wife. David sends him back to the front line with a letter telling his commanding officer to put him on the front line in battle and remove the troops so he will be killed. This is what happens. Now David is free to marry Bathsheba. Does this sound like a righteous man to you? Now read 2SA 12:1 “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. 2 "The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 "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. 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; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." 5 Then 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! 6 "And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity." 7 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. 8 ’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! 9 ’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. 10 ’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.’ 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 sun. 12 ’For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ " 13 Then 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.” This is how Nathan the prophet confronts David and his sin. Notice that David repents and God forgives him. In Acts 13:22 David is called a man after God’s own heart who will do His will. How could this be? He had been so wicked. Doesn’t this show us the grace and the power of God’s forgiveness. Did you realize that Jesus came from the linage of David? How could this be?