The movie is based on the true story of Apollo 13. Jim Lovell has just watched on TV as Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to set foot on the moon. He’s outside, gazing up at the moon. He holds up his thumb, pondering the moon in the evening sky like an artist envisioning his painting. His wife comes outside and he says, “I want to go there someday.” Lovell would never make it. He had circled the moon before. He would command a mission that would fail to reach it, then retire from the Apollo program, having never made the journey he said he wanted to someday make.
There’s a trip most people would like to make this morning. But there are hang-ups. Some aren’t sure they can afford it; some aren’t sure it’s possible; some aren’t sure that it would be worth the effort. Too some, it sounds far too risky. It’s a trip down what I want to call the path of forgiveness this morning.
David made this trip. And in this last sermon on the Shepherd King, I want you to see how he did it. And when it’s done, I want you to make a judgment this morning – you judge whether or not the Path to Forgiveness is worth it. You judge if it’s possible, and if you can make it through the hang-ups.
My plan is to look all over what it takes, and from there to watch people today start on that path.
The Path to Forgiveness
I. Is Prepared With News That You’ve Done Wrong
-We already looked at this news about David last week. He took another man’s wife, then had him killed, and now for sometime around a year has been living his life without dealing with it all. He went ahead and married Bathsheba the widow, and she had their baby, but…
2 Samuel 11:27b …But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
David may have left this thing unaddressed, but God hasn’t forgotten, and He’s going to address it through one man: Nathan, the prophet.
2 Samuel 12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David.
Ill - One of my all-time favorite fictional characters is an unnamed little boy. He appears for only a moment, but he’s my hero because he went against the flow, was honest, and he said what people needed to hear. He’s the little boy in the story The Emperor’s New Clothes who stood up and said, “But the emperor has no clothes!”
Thank God for the Nathans that He sends! It means that God cares enough about you to bother with you! It also means that someone, like Nathan, cares more about you than the discomfort that confrontation will cause.
Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.
Have you experienced the blessing of a friend’s bruises? Can you look back and appreciate when someone undertook to call you on the carpet, and you needed it?
-Ill - After a bad experience a few years ago, I decided: I’ll take the discomfort of confronting an erring brother. It’s a whole lot easier to handle the discomfort of saying, “Consider your ways, brother,” than to walk into a room where a jealous husband has just seconds before pummeled him to the floor with his fists. I’ll take the discomfort and awkwardness. I’ll take the risk of offending – maybe even losing a friend unjustly. I’ll care more about him than my own level of comfort, rather than risk letting him go on in sin.
That’s how I stand up here this morning and say that if you’re experiencing the pangs of guilt, this message is for you and you’d better listen!
Ill - Pain is our body’s warning that something is wrong. Hunger pangs tell us to eat. Sunburn pain tells us to go indoors. Chest pain tells you to get to the hospital. A sharp aching from your hand tells you to remove you finger from the car door.
The feeling of legitimate guilt is the same way. It’s a God-given warning that there’s something wrong inside. Like a warning light on the dashboard of your car, guilt flashes in our face.
Ill – Carrie and I approach car operations differently. If I hear the car making an odd noise, I want to know what it is. I’ll turn off the stereo, and tell everyone to be quiet. Then, as we travel along, I’ll turn to Carrie and say, “Did you hear that? That doesn’t sound right, does it?” Then I’ll fret about it, try to imagine what it is, and wonder how much it’s going to cost to have Norman the mechanic fix it this time - until I’ve sufficiently annoyed my wife. Carrie’s approach is different. When she hears the engine making some weird noise, she turns up the stereo!
Some people use this approach to the little warning lights on the dashboard. The next time that little red oil light comes on, you have a choice to make. You could try to ignore it. You could just smash it with a hammer. Of course, when you’re down the road a ways with a burned-up engine, you’ll look back and consider what a foolish decision that was. Or you could get off the road and try to find out what’s wrong.
For some 12 months, David has been going down the road with smashed warning lights. He chose to cover up the warning lights of guilt in his life, and here, in ch12, he’s forced to look back on it and think it through. The path to forgiveness is prepared with the news that you’ve done wrong.
II. Begins With The Acceptance that You’ve Done Wrong
2 Samuel 12:1-4 Nathan…said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
The rebuke of Nathan was powerful. In a moment, we’ll see how it dropped David like a rock. It was powerful because it was thought through. He didn’t just rush in and explode when he learned of this news. He used timing that goes beyond human gut-level reaction. And what he had to say was from God, so we would expect it to carry quite a punch to someone who needed to be punched. Jesus used stories to reach inside of people then drop a truth right into their hearts. That’s what Nathan is doing here.
Remember, David is a man of great passion. He’s a poet, a musician and singer. He danced with all his might before God when the Ark was brought into Jerusalem. It’s nothing new for us to see how deep his emotions run.
2 Samuel 12:5-6 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
Nathan allows David to jump on into the pond before he mentions there’s an alligator there. And you can almost feel David recoil like he’s been punched in the face when Nathan says,
2 Samuel 12:7-10 "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'
He’s prepared now. David is about to take his 1st step on the path to forgiveness.
1. He accepts that he has wronged God
Rightly understanding our sin will point us this way. David could have listed all the people he wronged: “Oh man, I wronged Uriah when I took his wife while he was at war. Then I had him killed! I wronged my servants by sending them to get Bathsheba to come here. I wronged Bathsheba by having her break her marriage vows. I wronged this child who has been born as the result of my sin. I wronged Joab by making him a partner to my crime to have Uriah killed. I wronged the nation by betraying their trust in me as their leader…”
But look what stands out:
2 Samuel 12:13a Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
Psalm 51 says it was written David after this scene.
Psalm 51:4a Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
When Joseph was tempted to commit adultery by Potiphar’s wife he asks, Genesis 39:9b … How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"
Sure, sin is bad because of the people it affects, but worst of all is the offence against God. Note it! Don’t bother this morning saying your sins haven’t hurt anyone.
Don’t bother excusing yourself because only you know about them.
Get bothered by the fact that your sins are an offense to your Creator God!
(2. He doesn’t make excuses – confession)
Now, how do we know that David was started on the path to forgiveness? He admitted his wrong.
Contrast that for a minute with Adam and Eve. “Adam, have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you to not eat?” “Lord, the woman You gave me, she gave it to me, and I ate.” “Eve, did you do this thing?” “Lord, the serpent deceived me.” Blah blah blah.
The Path to Forgiveness includes a confession – an admission that we’ve messed up. Confession means God says you’ve messed up and you say, “Yep. God is right. I’ve messed up.”
There have been people who suggest we shouldn’t tell people they’ve done wrong. “Why be so negative, after all? Won’t that just turn people away?” Friend, if I’m going to suggest that people start down the path of forgiveness I have to be willing to do 2 things: to lead the way myself, and to show them why they need to do it. The other path, the one that leads to destruction, the one that most people are taking, is wider. It looks easier.
Before proceeding down the path of forgiveness, people are going to accept it’s a trip they need to make.
The path to forgiveness also
III. Proceeds with repentance
It’s one thing to put on a parachute; it’s another to jump out of an airplane.
It’s one thing to say you believe you can swim across the English Channel; it’s another to swim out to the middle of it.
It’s one thing to start on a hike, it’s another to proceed to the point where there’s no turning back.
There is a point on this path of forgiveness where you either choose to go back and abandon it or accept a change in your situation. It’s the part of this forgiveness scene called repentance. Repentance is the step that goes beyond saying “I’ve done wrong.” Repentance is saying, “I’m sorry I’ve done wrong, and I’m changing.”
There’s a good OT example of the opposite of it in
Jeremiah 8:5-6 Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle.
Repentance is a charging horse turned around.
From the very beginning, the message of the Kingdom has been a call for repentance.
We shake our heads over a young man who bombs a federal building in OK City, killing 168 people, 19 of whom are little children, and he has no sorrow. It’s commonly agreed that when someone has done wrong, they should have remorse and then want to change.
We look at people and seek signs of repentance. We look for something besides just words that show they really are sorry and trying to change. That’s how we understand David to be truly repenting:
1. Open admission of his wrong
Psalms 51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
2. A desire to make a break from sin
Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
3. Brokenness and humility
Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
So, David was now proceeding on the path. Once he made this commitment, there would have to be changes.
Today, if you’re a person who needs to repent, you realize that step will make changes. Things won’t be just as they were, and you’re wrestling inside. “Is this a path I want to head down?” Listen to the end of this message before you decide not to.
The Path to Forgiveness
IV. Works Through the Consequences
It would be wrong to ignore this part of the path today. Forgiveness doesn’t change everything. The path to forgiveness is still tarnished with some of the results of messing up.
• The innocent driver killed by a drunk is still dead
• The convicted murderer is still on death row
• The person hurt by your lie or anger is still hurt
David would still suffer consequences. The worst was
2 Samuel 12:13b-14 "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."
Now, this is one of those passages that bothers me. How do we fit this into the big picture of the Bible and into the way God deals with us? Only God has the authority to interpose and forgive a crime that was supposed to be punished by death. And only God can look forward to the death of His Son and on the basis of it say to David, “Your sin is forgiven.”
Hear it. David was forgiven - just like you and I can be pronounced forgiven! But along with that reassurance comes a list of painful consequences – and a son who will die.
I notice something missing here: David isn’t saying, “Why? That’s not fair! I thought You forgave me!” That’s because we’re outside the realm of fairness here and into the realm of grace now. If life were fair, David would be dead in his shame. Instead, he gets forgiven, and others suffer the results of his sin. That’s not fair! Exactly.
Listen, Jesus, God’s Son, was nailed to a cross and hung there. He Who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Is there anything fair about that? No. Grace isn’t fair. It’s beyond fair!
The person who receives forgiveness can accept the consequences of his sin because he realizes he doesn’t want what’s fair. The path to forgiveness works through the consequences.
The path to forgiveness also
V. Results in Peace
To fully appreciate the value of this path, we need to see not only where it goes, but where it leaves.
Psalm 51 is a result of this event in II Samuel. Maybe David wrote it that night. Maybe he wrote it over the next week as he fasted for his son. We don’t know. But, bear in mind as you read it that it belongs right with what we’re looking at today.
Psalm 32 is another that sounds likely to also have come out of this episode in David’s life. It certainly fits.
It has been almost a year since Uriah was murdered and David has married his widow. Has David been basking in the joy of secret sin? Hardly. Every time the baby in Bathsheba’s womb kicked, they’ve both been reminded of their sin.
Look at how his sin, not dealt with, affects him:
Psalm 32:3-4 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
Ill – Tressa was a troubled 18 year old when she came into my office. Her home life was a mess. We had tried to help her several times. Now, she wasn’t really coming for help. She said, “I’m confused. I want to move in with my boyfriend, but my parents don’t really like him. But I hate living at my home.” So I told her, point blank, that what she was experiencing wasn’t confusion – it was the struggle of trying to decide whether she was going to do what she knew was right or turn her back on it. She left my office, unhappy because I hadn’t told her what she wanted to hear, and turned her back on it. It was almost 2 years before she finally realized what she had done. She made another visit to my office then, but this time it ended up a lot happier.
When I read Ps 51, I get a better sense of just how poorly David was doing before he started down the path to forgiveness. If you read through it, looking for the things that David was asking for, we can make a list of what has been missing in his life:
Cleanness – v2-3
Seeing God’s face – v9
A clean heart – v10
A steadfast spirit – v10
The joy of salvation – v12
The ability to teach others – v13
Deliverance from guilt – v14
All of them have been missing.
If you’re questioning if it’s worth the journey, listen. Listen to words of the broken King of Israel as he seeks to be made right with God. Listen to his journey down this path. Listen to the joy at the end.
Jeremi wrote this song from Ps 51 for the musical he wrote last year.
Listen as the Shepherd King travels down the path to forgiveness:
Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Conclusion:
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will turn back to you
My mouth will declare Your praise.
The path to forgiveness is the path to peace.
If you’re outside of Jesus this morning, you need to start on the path – today.
If you have sin in your life you need to be freed of, you need to be on this path.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Turn down the path this morning. Pay attention to the joy at the end.
