UNEXPECTED GOOD NEWS. Have you ever had something happen in your life that seemed really, really bad and unwanted at the moment but in hindsight that very thing you thought was really, really bad was exactly what you needed even though you did not want it at the time? More than that, because of the “seemingly bad” thing that happened to you, it lead to a series of events that put you in a better place than you were before it all began? Like unexpectedly losing a job due to downsizing, cuts, etc… and yet in the end you are blessed with a job you actually love and provision that exceeds that which was before?
Our passage this morning has the same “feeling” to it. David, King of Israel, experiences something troubling and uncomfortable in an encounter with a prophet named Nathan but it was from this encounter that David experienced something good.
2 SAMUEL 12:1-7a
DAVID’S WONDERING EYES… 2 SAMUEL 11:1-5
PUTTING OFF RESPONSIBILITY. The Bible records that it was the time of the year when kings should have been out in battle. David was not only king of Israel but the Commander in Chief of Israel’s army and should have been in the field with his men. David decided take this season “off” and it was during this time of unnecessary laziness and slumber that David’s commitment to the Lord was compromised.
A WALK ON THE ROOFTOP. David was restless and while walking around on his rooftop terrace he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a beautiful woman bathing in one of the buildings below him. Her beauty is such that he simply cannot take his eyes off of her. Her beauty lures him and he cannot get her out of his mind. His mind begins to race and think about what “could be.” He heart and mind is so consumed by her that he just cannot shake what is stirring in his heart.
AN INQUIRY MADE and AN INVITATION MADE. David has to send one of his servants to find out more about her. This is when it is revealed to him that this is one of his very own serviceman’s wives. At this point it really did not matter whose wife, sister, daughter or mother she was. The sin that had been brewing in David’s heart all this time begins to boil over. He had allowed his lustful temptation to take him too far down the rabbit whole and he was determined to be with her. He invites her to the king’s palace. She is probably flattered and accepts the invitation. A visit to the king’s palace resulted in a night in the king’s bedroom.
DAVID’S ATTEMPT AT COVERING UP… 2 SAMUEL 11:6-14
“BAD” NEWS COMES DAVID’S WAY. As it so happened, David’s worst nightmare became reality whenever word was sent to him that Bathsheeba was pregnant. David could not get out of this one. The servants knew whom she had been with and the servants knew where her husband was. It would appear that David is busted.
PLAN A. Rather than revealing his sinful relationship with Bathsheba David decides to cover it up his sin and sets forth this sly plan to have Uriah to come home for a few days hoping that his reprieve from fighting will make it appear that Bathsheba’s pregnancy was with her husband not David. When Uriah refuses to stay in his house with his wife when he should be in battle David tries harder. He tells Uriah to stay in Jerusalem a few days longer. He even gets him drunk hoping that in a drunken stupor he might go to his house and stay the night with his wife. All David’s plans to cover up his sin fail.
PLAN B. David sets forth another elaborate plan and this time he would manipulate the situation so that Bathsheeba’s husband, Uriah, would certainly be killed in the field of battle. If Uriah were dead then David was free to take Bathsheeba for himself and he could then play the child off as the product of a lawful relationship. David maneuvers his army like a chess master and makes sure that Uriah finds his way to the front line of battle. Just as David had planned, Uriah is killed there on the front line of the battle in his very army. ALL OUTWARD APPEARANCES SHOW THAT DAVID HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN COVERING UP HIS SIN.
SURPRISED BY GRACE—GOD SENDS NATHAN… 2 SAMUEL 12:1-10
A MESSENGER. Nathan, a prophet of God, was told by God to go to David for the express purpose of pointing out that David could not hide his sin from God. While few, if any, men may have known of David’s sin, God did. David may have worked hard to cover up his sin before men but there was not enough he could do to cover up his sin before God. God sees where nobody else can see. He knows us like nobody else. Nathan is sent to David with a message in parable form. As Nathan tells the story David’s anger grows, as he cannot believe that a man with so much would take from another with so little. At the peak of David’s anger, Nathan reveals that the story is not about just any old man but that it is about him. He is the rich man. The analogy of “many flocks and herds” is a reference to David’s abundance of all things including women as he inherited a harem from King Saul. Uriah is the poor man. The analogy of the “one little ewe lamb” is a reference to Bathsheba, Uriah’s one and only. IRONICALLY ENOUGH DAVID PRONOUNCES A SENTENCE THAT WAS DUE TO HIM! It is here that Nathan finally reveals that David is the rich man who stole the poor man’s only lamb. I wonder if it is at this point that David’s countenance fell and his knees hit the floor as he sobbed. The turmoil in his soul has now come to light. What he thought he had hidden so well is now out in the open.
GOD’S GRACE SHOWN IN THE SENDING OF NATHAN. I want us to consider the 7 words of this chapter—And the Lord sent Nathan to David—and see the grace of God being shown towards David. There was nothing about David that required God to give him a second chance. When King Saul sinned against the Lord He removed His anointing from him and took the throne away from him. David deserved the same. GOD WOULD HAVE BEEN TOTALLY JUSTIFIED TO REMOVE DAVID FROM THE THRONE AND TURN HIS WORLD UPSIDE DOWN BUT HE DID NOT.
DAVID IS A SPIRITUAL WRECK. David might not have had his world turned upside down on the outside but his “world” was upside down on the inside—PSALM 32:3-4. SPIRITUALLY DAVID WAS A WRECK! HIS SIN HAD SO DISTURBED HIS WALK WITH GOD THAT HE FELT AS IF HE HAD NO LIFE IN HIM. David did not deserve this divine meeting where he would be called to confession, repentance and ultimately restoration but GOD, IN HIS GOODNESS, LOVE AND GRACE, SENT NATHAN TO DAVID BECAUSE HE KNEW WHERE DAVID WAS. David did not have to stay there. Nathan was sent as a means of God’s grace to call David to confession and repentance and when he did confess and repent he experienced the renewing, refreshing and restoring power of God in his life and he was able to say—PSALM 32:1-2, 5. THIS MESSAGE IS CALLED “SURPRISED BY GRACE” BECAUSE WHILE WE MAY NOT IMMEDIATELY THINK THAT JESUS SPEAKING TO US ABOUT SIN IN OUR LIVES IS GRACE IT IS BECAUSE HE CALLS US TO TASK OVER OUR SIN NOT TO CONDEMN US BUT TO FORGIVE, CLEANSE, REFRESH, REVIVE AND RESTORE US. THIS IS GRACE!
APPLICATION
BE ON GUARD BECAUSE OUR ENEMY IS REAL. I don’t believe for one minute that David ever thought that the sin of adultery and murder would have ever been an option for him. In David we find that there is not a single one of us who is immune to the lure and temptation of sin. For those of us who are followers of Christ we have an active enemy who seeks our destruction and in so doing will seek to lure us away from Jesus and in to sin. Hear 1 PETER 5:8 and know that because we have an enemy who seeks to devour and destroy us with sin we must constantly be on guard. WE NEED JESUS TO STRENGTHEN US TO WALK IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
HIDING SIN HINDERS OUR WALK WITH GOD. We do not fear condemnation or destruction because of our sin because Jesus has paid our price. At the same time, Jesus comes to us in our active sin and calls us to confession and repentance so that He may RESTORE our love, joy and walk with Him. When we harbor unconfessed and unrepentant sin in our lives (hiding sin) our relationship with Jesus is not lost but it is hindered. ONE WAY OUR WALK WITH JESUS IS HINDERED IS IN THE AREAS OF PRAYER AND WORSHIP. Our worship and prayers are less effective when we are trying to “hide” sin in our lives—ISAIAH 1:10-15, 59:1-2. Are you praying and praying and it seems like nobody is listening? It could be because you are praying for the wrong thing. It could be that God is going to answer but in His timing not ours. It could be that we have sin in our lives and God chooses not to hear. HAVE YOU EVERY BEEN IN A PLACE WHERE YOU HAD NO CELL SERVICE OR WI-FI AND YOU WANTED TO COMMUNICATE WITH SOMBODY VIA TEXT, CALL, EMAIL, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, ETC… BUT YOU COULDN’T BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T HAVE SERVICE? You have a relationship with that person but there is something hindering your ability to communicate with them. That is what sin in the life of the Christian does. Our relationship is with Jesus is still in tact, because of Him not us, but our sin can hinder our ability to communicate with Him. The prayer He longs to hear is the prayer of repentance.
GOD’S SURPRISING GRACE TOWARDS US! It would be easy to miss out on the fact that God sending Nathan to David to confront him about his sin for the purpose of confession, repentance and restoration was a display of God’s loving grace towards him. In the same way, the very fact that Jesus would speak to us through His Word by way of preachers, teachers, other Christians, etc… and in doing, at times, confronting us with sin we may be trying to hide in order to call us to confession, repentance and restoration is His grace towards us.
• WE CAN ALL HIDE OUR SIN FROM ONE ANOTHER BUT NOT FROM JESUS. I do not know your heart. You can hide your sin from me and I can hide my sin from you. We are so depraved that at times we even try to hide our sin from ourselves when we justify our sinful thoughts, feelings and actions through comparing our lives to that of others or simply ignoring Jesus’ words to us altogether.
Even though we can hide our sin from each other we cannot hide our sin from Jesus and as His children He comes to us at the point of our sin and this is His grace to us for when He comes to us at that point of our sin He does so not to condemn us or destroy us but to call us to confession and repentance so that we may experience the grace of restoration in our relationship with Him. IF YOU ARE HERE TODAY AND JESUS IS SPEAKING TO YOU ABOUT SOME SIN THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO HIDE PLEASE DO NOT REJECT HIM FOR HE COMES TO YOU IN LOVE AND GRACE AS HIS CHILDREN. Hear David’s words again as he expresses his joy in being cleansed of his sin PSALM 32:1-3, 5.
I would be foolish, however, to think that everybody here today is a follower of Christ. There are some of you hear today who are trying to hide your sin from Jesus and yet you have never trusted Jesus as your Savior and Lord. YOU ARE PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME! MATTHEW 7:21-23 reveals those who played the game and ultimately lost.
