Riding Out The Storm Series

Introduction:

A. The story is told of a man who lay sprawled across three entire seats in this posh theater.

1. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the man, “Sorry, sir, but you’re only allowed one seat.”

2. The man groaned but didn’t budge. The usher became impatient.

3. “Sir, if you don’t get up from there I’m going to have to call the manager.”

4. Again, the man just groaned, which infuriated the usher who turned and marched briskly back up the aisle in search of his manager.

5. A few moments later, both the usher and the manager returned and stood over the man.

6. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move him, but with no success. Finally, they called in the police.

7. The police officer briefly surveyed the situation, then asked, “All right buddy, what’s your name?”

8. “Sam,” the man moaned.

9. “Where ya from, Sam?”

10. With pain in his voice, Sam replied, “The balcony.”

B. Ouch! A fall like that would really hurt.

1. You know pain really hurts me, and it hurts you too, doesn’t it?

2. There is no pain harder to bear than domestic difficulty.

3. Its not too hard to bounce back from difficulties at work, or problems at school.

4. Physical infirmities and emotional battles – as hard as they are – start to pale in comparison to the devastating impact brought on by troubles in the home.

5. Family feuds, wayward children, parent-child clashes, husband-wife disagreements, and other in-house pressures have a way of breaking our spirits and stealing our joy.

6. Sometimes troubles in the home can be traced directly back to the sins of the fathers, the mothers or the children, but other times they cannot.

7. In king David’s case, the storm he and his family were about to experience was the direct result of his sin.

C. I can only imagine what a terrible low point this must have been for David.

1. During the course of the previous year, King David had been involved in an adulterous affair, he then had the husband of the woman murdered, he then brought the pregnant widow into his own house, and added her to his growing list of wives.

2. Then when God thought the time was right, he sent Nathan the prophet to confront king David.

3. The prophet stood before the king and told him what no one else would tell him – “You are the man!” “You’re the one who took Bathsheba, another man’s wife. You’re the one who had her husband murdered. You’re the one who has lived like a hypocrite. You’re the man, David!”

4. And David said to Nathan, “I have sinned.”

5. Those three words should have been uttered much sooner, and had they been, perhaps some of the devastating consequences could have been avoided.

D. Although Nathan clearly stated that God forgave David, Nathan also announced the consequences that David would endure.

1. Those consequences can be summarized by Nathan’s statement – “The sword will never depart from your house.”

2. But you might ask, “Why are their consequences if God has forgiven David?”

3. A distinction must be made between the forgiveness of sins, spiritually, and the removal of earthly consequences for sin.

4. God will forgive me for getting drunk if I repent, but I may still have to do time for my DUI.

5. If in anger I punch a wall (which I did many times in my younger years – usually when I lost at something) and break my hand, God will forgive my angry outburst, but I may still need surgery to put the bones back together.

6. We must realize that not everyone who sins in the same fashion will experience the same consequences.

7. God, in His sovereignty, fits the consequence to the person. It is His choice. It is His plan.

8. Why God chooses some to experience this consequence and some another, we do not know.

9. Ultimately, that is not our business, it’s God’s, right?

10. All I know is that in David’s case, God led him down a path of misery so that he would never forget just how far he had gone astray, and just how much he was forgiven.

I. The Story – The Consequences the Resulted from David’s Sin

A. I want to give you a brief summary of 2 Samuel chapters 12 through 18.

1. We are not going to take a detailed look at each of these stories, rather we will tell just enough of the story to sense the downward trend of David’s grief and misery resulting from his sin.

B. Consequence #1 – The Death of Bathsheba’s baby (12:15-19)

1. The Bible says: After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill…On the seventh day the child died. (vs. 15, 18)