The God who Forgives – David and Bathsheba
powerppoint AVAILABLE AT coolguybri@verizon.net
About every 18 – 24 months I like to teach and preach from this heart wrenching Psalm. Why? Because I think that it describes a human dilemma not uncommon for most of us. And if it is uncommon, it may become common sometime in the future.
Turn to Psalm 51 and before we read it, let me tell you what preceded these powerful words, this cry of agony from David’s heart who desperately wanted to be forgiven and given another chance because everything precious to him was taken away.
It all started one spring evening when the air had that certain smell of freshness that just excites your senses…it was the first really perfect day of the year.
Things were good for David.
- he had a powerful kingdom which he ruled
- he had a spiritual life that was the envy of many – it sizzled
- he had a fine family
- he was highly respected and honored because of his integrity.
This story is once again going to prove that verse in 1 Cor. 10:12 Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall.
On that beautiful spring evening David was bored after a lazy day and went to the rooftop of his palace to enjoy the waning hours of the day when his eyes caught sight of something.
What he saw was a real knockout of a woman bathing on her roof – she was carefully secluded from all eyes except the eyes of David high a top his palace wall. Her name was Bathsheba…
…now I happen to believe that this wasn’t the first time David was up on this roof and it wasn’t just a coincidence that he was up there at this specific time, he knew what he was doing. And it may even be that Bathsheba, lonely with her husband gone, was herself playing a coy game with David pretnding not to notice him looking. I always knew when my next door neighbors would be in the house nbaked!
David glanced, then looked again, then stared, then had his binoculars brought to him so that he might ogle.
Right then David could have said, “ Lord, I am having some impure thoughts right now, this isn’t right, and I ask that you give me power to remain pure”…but he didn’t.
We could say…”Lord I was switching the channels when I saw…”
You see, that is how it all starts, an “innocent” unplanned meeting that is just coincidental, a second look, a touch of the hand, a second thought, a barrier that is erected by God mainly our conscience saying “NO,” but we cross that barrier.
Maybe we have a sense of entitlement and think we deserve a little sin because of all the good we have done.
David doesn’t turn his head, he continues to look, looking turns to lust. Lust is using someone to meet your needs, it is doing in your mind what you want to do with your body.
David desires, he wants something that isn’t his, he rationalizes and justifies his choices…”God made women beautiful…God made me a highly sensual man, God made her move next door, it must be his will.”
Have you ever played those kind of mind games? Like, “if my wife was more responsive to me needs…”
Right then David could have said, “Lord, you know what I am thinking right now, and this isn’t right…it is way out of bopunds, and I am about to make a stupid decision…” But he didn’t!
Now David does the unthinkable. He calls for Bathsheba to come to his house, he “just wants to get to know her a little better, maybe witness to her.” What he is really doing is playing with fire, but by now all that matters is what he wants.
It is at this point that the HS is screaming at him and us to turn back, but we think, we have already come this far we might as well go the rest of the way. It is at this point that devil is saying, “you can be forgiven…”
David is about to throw the dice and gamble everything, life, health, kingship, God, family, future, integrity…everything for a brief sexual encounter.
Think about it…would you take your pension, your savings, your retirement income and gamble it all on one throw of the dice?
Maybe for you it isn’t sexual at all. Maybe the gamble is a taking money that doesn’t belong to you, or friends you shouldn’t be with, or alcohol.
David is about to knowingly and willingly walk through a door, not a bedroom door, but a spiritual door called sin. It is a door with a huge flashing sign at the entrance but with a little well hidden door for an exit.
When you walk in that door and it closes behind you, you become subject to things outside of your control. You have given the most evil entity on the planet, Satan, permission to inflict as much hurt on you as possible. And you know what we do? Do we say, “Get outta here? NO… We actually protect him!”
-You want to stay for a little while, but you stay for a lot longer than you think.
-You think it is only going to go so far, but there are so many complications…
-You think it will only cost a little, but you end up paying a lot…
Sin takes you further than you want to go. Keeps you longer than you want to stay,. And costs you more than you want to pay. ...
"You have been given the choice between war and dishonor.
You have chosen dishonor, and you will have war!"
-Winston Churchill to the English Parliament, 1938
After the English Parliament’s 1938 appeasement in Czechoslovakia, Churchill saw the danger of choosing peace, when honor and common sense called for battle. History, of course, would confirm his point: Refusing to fight an honorable battle may afford a temporary peace, but in the long run, it’s a peace too costly. Delaying a necessary battle may well result in devastating, full scale war. Every man who’s gotten involved in sexual sin makes a decision between battle and dishonor. And as always, dishonor looks like an easier choice.
Dishonor means making peace with your sin. It means telling yourself that after so many years, it’s become such a part of your life that trying to cut it out would be too traumatic, too uncomfortable. It would mean saying goodbye to a reliable (though destructive) friend, and the battle to abstain from this "friend", with all the temptations and struggles it would involve, seems too demanding. So a dishonorable compromise is reached when a man decides to live in peaceful co-existence with sexual sin.
But tyrants never co-exist peacefully. By their nature, they demand increased territory, fewer limitations, more captives. So the sin that a man decides not to go to war against - the pornography, the affair, the commercial sex - soon demands more territory. It begins invading his career, his family, health and reputation. By the time he realizes he has to go to war against it, he’s already relinquished too much ground. Now he finds that what could have been a brief skirmish, if paid attention to early, has become full blown war. He chose dishonor over battle. In the end, he winds up with both. - - JOE DALLAS
Romans 3:23 says, “The wages of sin is death…” Something was going to die. Once that door was entered into death would occur.
Right then David could have said, “God, what am I doing? You have been so good to me and now I am about to possibly throw it all away and hurt the ones I say I love the most…I’m calling this for what it is, sin!” BUT HE DIDN’T.
Then it happened. They met. They flirted, they were coy with each other, there were little innuendos in their conversation, then they fell into each others arms. David committed adultery.
Now this sermon isn’t about adultery, but it could be. It is about sin, any sin, because all sin starts like this and all sin is at its core REBELLION AGAINST A GRACIOUS, LOVING, ALMIGHTY AND ALL KNOWING GOD WHO HAS PROMISED TO TAKE CARE OF YOU FOREVER.
And we look at God and we say, “I can do this myself! I’ll do this my way.”
All sin begins when we decide to meet our own need. It starts when we reject God’s perfect way.
After it was over, right then David could have said, “Lord, look what I have done, I can’t believe this, I have sinned, I have violated your holy command, forgive me…” BUT HE DIDN’T.
Instead David pretended, he just kept on living his “normal” life and going about his regular routine. He did his job, he went to church, he met with people, everything as normal.
He tried to baptize his sin – “It’s God’s will, he wants me to be happy, right?”
He tried to deny his sin – “I’m entitled, I am the king, it wasn’t really wrong…”
He tried to stuff his sin – “I’m just not going to think about it….”
He tried to run from his sin – “I’ll just stay real busy…”
Though nobody knew about the affair they knew something was different about David.
- his worship wasn’t as vigorous as it used to be. His attendance dropped off, his devotions became scarce, he used to be the loudest singer, the biggest amener, and his hunger for the Bible was voracious, but not now.
- He was distant to his close advisors, to the very same ones who were his closest friends. You always draw back from those you are lying to.
And isn’t that where sin takes a toll? On our relationships with God, others and ourself?
Complications arouse. Bathsheba makes a return visit to David one night, they speak in hushed tones…
“I thought I told you never to come here like this or call me..”
“But I am pregnant…and my husband is off fighting your battles in war.”
Right then David could have said, “Lord, I have gotten myself it the awfuless mess ever. What have I done? Where have I been? What should I do? No more games lord…I give up.” BUT HE DIDN’T.
Now he decided to cover up his sin…yeah…”I can fix this, I am a smart guy.” He walked through the sin door for a 15 minute encounter and NOW THIS!
- David calls her husband, Uriah, home from the war thinking that he and Bathsheba would sleep together…he can’t, won’t doesn’t.
- David forces wine on Uriah and sends him home to sleep with his wife. Nothing.
- So he sends him back to the front with a paper, the paper is his own death order. It says to put Uriah on the front line of the heaviest fighting and then to retreat and leave him to fight alone.
Right then David could have said, “Lord, what am I doing? I above all men know better and I stink! What is this that I have orchestrated? I repent Lord, enough is enough! BUT HE DIDN’T.
The plan works. The news come back that Uriah is dead. Outwardly David pretends to be sad and angry, but inwardly he is happy and planning his next move, marry Bathsheba and hide the pregnancy.
Right then David could have said, “Lord what kind of monster am I? running from one sin to another, destroying people, offending you, what has happened to me? BUT HE DIDN’T!
Notice how easilt it is to go from one sin to another to another without a second thought. We misinterpret God’s silence as approval.
The wedding is now over, the baby on about to be born. Everything is nicely covered up. That is until the day Nathan shows up. God had told Nathan the secret…if God can’t your attention any other way, he will make it public!
Nathan says, “king, advise me what to do about this.” He tells the story. What Nathan is doing is holding a mirror in front of David’s face and David cannot see that it is him that he is talking about. Sin so blinds us …
Nathan says, YOU ARE THE MAN!
You see, God’s knows! He knows where you are right now. He knows about the things that you are running from, the things you won’t talk about, the things you make excuses for. You can’t hide from him.
Right at that moment David’s heart could have gone one of two ways…
-kill the messenger and keep covering his tracks
- come clean.
David’s heart is crushed and he rips open his heart and writes these words…
Psalms 51:1-19 (NIV)
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 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.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
This prayer is for all of us here today.
- if you are stuck, dead in the water…this is for you.
- If you have blown it, this is for you.
- If you have lost your passion, make this your prayer.
David’s top clues, or warning signs, from this Psalm, that we need a change:
1. We have lost the joy of being a Christian
2. We have lost God’s presence –
3. We are lying to our self about the first 2
4. We may feel dirty, or in pieces, or like I am hiding
5. We find it hard to praise God, maybe even come to church
David cries out for 6 things in this prayer.
PLEA NO. 1. FORGIVE ME FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE.
Look at the words, he can’t say it enough, wash me, cleanse me, blot out, renew me, restore me, have mercy on me.
He talks a lot about his sin using the word sin, transgression, iniquity all meaning…
- I am a rebel
- I am twisted
- I deviated from your path
- I am guilty, I intended do to this, it wasn’t a mistake
- I missed the road
- I brought this trouble on myself
And Lord, I need to be released, to be purified from this filth, I need to be scrubbed and my past exterminated.
Can he / you be forgiven?
Romans 5:20-21 (NIV)
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Col 2:13-15 (NLT)
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross. 15 In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.
Col 1:21-22 (NLT)
21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22 yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
Heb 10:17-18 (NLT)
“I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds."
18 Now when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
In Psalm 51:7 David didn’t want anything less than white as snow cleansing. Either would we. That is what God is giving! We need the claws of this stuff broken!
By the way, just in case we think this is to easy, David cries out in vs 7 to be purged. He is asking more than just for a covering of his tracks, he wants real inner heart change. To invite and ask for purging means asking God to get to the root of the issue and remove it from you by whatever means necessary.
And if you think this is easy remember this, THE ETERNAL consequences of sin can be removed, but the HERE AND NOW CONSEQUENCES of our sin is often something we have to live with. After all, the baby died. Now David knows what it means to hurt.
PLEA NO. 2. FORGIVE ME FOR DOING THIS TO YOU, FATHER GOD! Vs 4
David was keenly aware that he had besmirched God’s glory. One time David wrote, “the lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….”
Now he is saying, “God, your not enough, I don’t trust you to meet my needs, I think that sin has something for me that you have been holding back and I don’t want to do this your way anymore.”
When we sin we stain God’s glory. We make God little. We defy Him. People look at us and they say, “Hmmm, he/she used to be a Christian; I guess God isn’t all that he is cooked up to be…”
David cries out to repair this wrong. “I have sinned against you!”
PLEA NO. 3 FORGIVE MY SELF DECIET. Vs 6
In verse 6 David admits that he has lied to himself. In verse 3 he admits that his sin was ever before him. He felt it in the morning, at lunch, at bedtime and even woke up at night with it, he couldn’t escape it. BUT…he couldn’t be honest either.
- he couldn’t own up to what he had done
- he couldn’t face the loss of hid spiritual life
but only truth can set you free. Jeremiah 17:9
PLEA NO. 4 RESTORE YOUR PRESENCE TO ME LORD! Vs 10-12
“Lord, I miss you! I remember the times we had together, when others marveled at my spiritual life, when I led the devotions in the cabin, when my prayers contained fire, when the altar didn’t intimidate me.
Now I have lost the joy. Church is drudgery, truth is stale, the Bible is old, the music doesn’t inspire and you seem so far away from me.”
“OH GOD, COME BACK! I used to love to pray and read the word and serve.”
Give it back to me.
PLEA NO. 5 LORD, YOU WANTED ME ALL ALONG, I GIVE MYSELF TO YOU!
Vs 16-17
It wasn’t an offering God wanted, it was David’s heart. He wanted his heart, total access to his inner person. He wanted a heart ready to do business with God.
All this is called repentance. It is turning from
- where you are right now
- every attitude and thought and decision that brought you to this place
- the sovereignty you have taken to run your own life
- the lie
God has a plan for us but cannot and will not enact it until we relinquish our grip on everything but Him and His plan. We cannot have His plan will embracing anything else. We have to get down to business with God.
FINISH…
David would write these words from the 23rd Psalm…”He restoreth my soul.”
Sheep would sometime eat too much and get caked with mud and they would lay down and get on their back. They would be like a turtle, unable to turn themselves over. Thet were easy prey at that point.
Some of might need this today. Restore means that the vultures are circling around you because you are in a situation that you cannot get out of. But God is a restorer, not just of tipped over sheep, but of the SOUL! The SOUL that is in danger. You simply need to come to Him.
And here is a great promise.
Joel 2:24-26 (KJV)
And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten…
And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
God can even give back the time wasted, the years that were devoured by the wrong things. I remember this promise in my own life, in this ministry.
