How Can God Forgive Somebody Like Me?

HOW CAN GOD FORGIVE SOMEBODY LIKE ME?

ILLUSTRATION:

He had been FOUND OUT! By the time he decided to CONFESS his SIN the entire NATION was already talking. UNFAITHFULNESS, ADULTERY, LIES, MURDER! How could the LEADER of the nation, the man everyone ADMIRED, the one known as “the man after God’s own HEART,” allow himself to stoop to such DEPRAVITY and DECADENCE?

I’m sure that King David’s SPIN-DOCTORS were working FURIOUSLY trying to SALVAGE their King’s REPUTATION.

“The King had shown special interest in the WOMAN because of her DIFFICULT SITUATION. She was VULNERABLE. She was YOUNG. She was ALONE. He brought her into his HOME as one of his OWN. A NOBLE GESTURE. . . .And it was a SHAME that her HUSBAND was KILLED in BATTLE, but that is the PRICE of WAR.”

Regardless of all the EFFORTS in trying to COVER-UP the SINS the King had COMMITTED, the talk PERSISTED. (INQUIRING MINDS wanted to know more.) As the NEWS continued to SPREAD, the King could HARDLY SLEEP. He was SICK all the TIME. There were FEWER and FEWER public APPEARANCES. He couldn’t even CELEBRATE the BIRTH of his SON, because it was a CONSTANT REMINDER of how he took another man’s WIFE to be his own. The PRESSURE kept building.

Shortly after his son’s birth, a PROPHET named Nathan came to see David in II Sam. 12:1ff. He told him a STORY about: “Two men who lived in this city—one RICH and the other POOR. The rich man had great flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one little EWE LAMB that he raised and nourished and brought up with his children. The lamb was like a DAUGHTER to him. A traveler came to VISIT the rich man. The rich man wanted to prepare dinner for him, but was unwilling to take a lamb from his GREAT herd. So instead, he took the poor man’s little lamb that he loved deeply, SLAUGHTERED it and prepared it for his visitor.”

When David heard this he was OUTRAGED! “As the Lord lives,” he said, “this man is worthy of death! He must pay restitution four times over for what he did to this poor man’s lamb.”

Nathan said to King David, “YOU ARE THE MAN!”

A. Has there ever been a time when you’ve taken an HONEST LOOK at the SIN in your life or at your PAST SINS and have said, “How can God FORGIVE somebody like me”?

1. If you’ve never been there, this morning’s lesson may not do much for you. (TAKE A NAP!)

2. But if you’ve ever asked that HEART-BREAKING question either orally or silently, I don’t want you

to miss a single word of this lesson.

COMMENT:

This lesson is for the STRUGGLING SINNER—Christian or non-Christian. It’s for the person who has really BLOWN IT in life or is BLOWING IT now! It’s for the person who feels that you are so EVIL, so WICKED, or so IMMORAL, that God couldn’t possibly FORGIVE you for the things you have DONE or are DOING? You can’t even FORGIVE yourself!

B. We’re going to find out today, if God could FORGIVE a man like King David, he can FORGIVE you.

ILLUSTRATION:

When the prophet Nathan told David, “YOU ARE THE MAN!” the UGLINESS of his SINS crushed his HEART. And David PENITENTLY cried out, “I have SINNED against the Lord.” He didn’t say, “I was a VICTIM of CIRCUMSTANCES.” He doesn’t BLAME anybody but himself.

Then Nathan said, “The Lord has taken AWAY your SIN.” (What wonderful words those must have been to David.)

C. We ask, “Can God forgive somebody like me?” The answer is “YES!” He can and does.

MESSAGE:

COMMENT:

Nathan’s visit to David inspired the 51st Psalm. David’s CONFESSION of SIN was not only a sign of his REPENTANCE, but a statement of his CONFIDENCE and FAITH in God.

In Psalm 51:6-9 David makes four requests from the Lord, realizing the Lord’s answer.

I. REQUEST FOR WISDOM- v. 6

A. God wants truth. David- “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts . . .”

1. What is David’s confession here?

COMMENT:

David is saying, “I haven’t been HONEST. I’ve been HIDING and COVERING up my SINS. I haven’t been wanting to ADMIT it to God, to others, or to myself.”

ILLUSTRATION:

When is the last time you tried to COVER UP a sin? You LIED. You STOLE something. You went to a STRIP JOINT. You were UNFAITHFUL to your SPOUSE. You access PORNOGRAPHY on the INTERNET. You have a DRINKING or DRUG problem. What SIN do you try to COVER UP?

After COMMITTING the sin you felt BAD—in fact the GUILT almost OVERWHELMED you at first, but you just didn’t want to think about it anymore. You hadn’t really REPENTED of it, you just PRETEND that it NEVER happened.