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Spiritual Restoration (2 Samuel 12:1-15) - Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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Let's take our Bibles now and open up to 2 Samuel
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chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12, we're going
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to look at verses 1 through 15 this morning.
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We're continuing our sermon series through the
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life of David. We're not hitting every location
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in David's life, not hitting every chapter. of
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first and second Samuel. We're hitting the highlights,
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but if you know your Bibles well and you were
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here last week, you noticed that we're skipping
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over a very important chapter. You might say,
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why are we not looking at chapter 11? Because
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indeed you need to know chapter 11 in order to
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know chapter 12. Well, what I'm going to do is
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we're going to focus our efforts in chapter 12,
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but I am going to summarize chapter 11 because
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we need to understand it. We need to hear it.
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It needs to be explained. It needs to be applied.
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So we'll spend time in both chapters this morning,
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2 Samuel 11 and 12, but for now I'll read chapter
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12, 1 through 15. Let's give careful attention
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to the reading of God's holy word. in a certain
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city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich
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man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor
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man had nothing but one little yew lamb, which
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he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew
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up with him and with his children. It used to
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eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and
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lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to
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him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man.
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And he was unwilling to take one of his own flock
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or herd to prepare for the guests who had come
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to him. But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared
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it for the man who had come to him. Then David's
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anger was greatly kindled against the man. He
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said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who
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has done this deserves to die. And he shall restore
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the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and
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because he had no pity. Nathan said to David,
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you are the man. Thus says the Lord the God of
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Israel, I anointed you king over Israel and I
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delivered you out of the hand of Saul and I gave
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you your master's house and your master's wives
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into your arms and gave you the house of Israel
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and Judah. And if this were too little, I would
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add to you as much more. Why have you despised
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the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his
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sight? You've struck down Uriah the Hittite with
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the sword and have taken his wife to be your
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wife and have killed him with the sword of the
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Ammonites Now therefore the sword shall never
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depart from your house Because you have despised
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me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite
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to be your wife thus says the Lord Behold I will
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raise up evil against you out of your own house
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And I will take your wives before your eyes and
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give them to your neighbor And he shall lie with
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your wives in the sight of the sun, for you did
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it secretly. But I will do this thing before
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all Israel and before the sun." David said to
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Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan
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said to David, the Lord also has put away your
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sin. You shall not die. Nevertheless, because
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by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord,
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the child who is born to you shall die. Then
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Nathan went to his house. This is God's word.
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Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this word,
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as convicting as it is. Lord, would you help
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us to see from this how badly we need your grace,
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your mercy, and your forgiveness? And would you
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help us cause us, Lord? to do the work of spiritual
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restoration of one another. Make us like Nathan
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and put Nathan's in our lives and grant us understanding
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now we pray in Christ's name, amen. What do you
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think Jesus says in Matthew chapter 21? Jesus
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we know can tell a parable just like Nathan.
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So in Matthew 21 Jesus says what do you think
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a man had two sons and He went to the first and
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he said son go work in the vineyard today and
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the son said To his father. I will not do it
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But then later he came to his senses and he did
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But the man also had a second son and so the
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man said to his son go son work in the vineyard
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And the son said, I will do it. But then he did
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not. And Jesus said to the religious rulers,
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the chief priests and the Pharisees, he said,
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which of the two did the will of his father?
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And those religious leaders said, the first one.
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Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, the tax
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collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom
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of God before you. sometimes with a parable can
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be really difficult to understand, right? But
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sometimes with a parable, it's very direct. And
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that's what happens in Matthew chapter 21 as
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Jesus tells this parable to the religious leaders,
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he's saying in effect, you are the man. You are
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the ones who do this. And so if you're reading
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Nathan's parable about this little lamb and you're
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getting like tastes of Jesus' parables, I think
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you should, right? Because that's exactly what
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Nathan does. He tells a parable just like Jesus,
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right? And so today we're gonna look at this
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parable from Nathan, and we're gonna see what
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Nathan was doing here. Nathan is cutting David
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to the heart with truth. He's saying, David,
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you have done this. And so let's see. what David
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has done in summarizing chapter 11. You can see
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in 2 Samuel 11 from the very get -go, from the
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very start of verse 1, something is amiss. Something's
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wrong in this text. Look there. In the spring
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of the year, the time when kings go out to battle,
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what does David do? He doesn't go out to battle.
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He doesn't do it. David instead stays home. David
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is idle here. That's his first problem. That's
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his first offense. And what I want to show you
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here is there's one little verb within the text
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that kind of carries the narrative and it's this
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one word send. I don't remember who pointed this
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out to me, but once you see it, you won't be
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able to unsee it. This verb send occurs over
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and over and over again in the text. Instead
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of David going off to battle, what does he do?
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He sent Joab and his servants and all of Israel.
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He sends them out to do the work that he should
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have been doing with them. But let's look at
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the second verb there, the second send. You can
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see it in verses three and four. David spots
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a beautiful woman as he is up top on the roof
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of his house. He sees this beautiful woman Bathsheba
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bathing and what does he do? He sends for her.
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He sends for her. After this has happened some
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time passes and what does she do? She sends word
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to David and these are words that David doesn't
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want to hear. She's pregnant. So what does David
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do now? He tries to cover this up and So he sends
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word to Joab send me Uriah the Hittite So David's
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thinking if I can get Uriah the Hittite back
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here, I can cover up my sin, right? Well, the
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problem is that Uriah is just just about the
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most upstanding man in all of Israel because
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he comes back as David summons him, as David
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sends for him, Uriah comes, but he will not go
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to his own house. He says, I will not go there
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while my men are out fighting or while the Ark
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of the Covenant is out in the field. I will not
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enjoy the comforts of my own home. David's like,
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I got to try something else here. So what does
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he try and do? He tries to intoxicate him with
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strong drink and Uriah still won't go for it.
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And so you just get this, imagine, you have this
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thought here, I do, that David is probably at
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this point pacing around the house, all right,
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around the palace. This isn't going right. I
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can't believe this is happening. What am I going
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to do? I got to come up with a new plan. So what
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does he do now? He sends a letter to Joab. and
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he sends it by way of Uriah the Hittite. Put
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Uriah on the front lines of the fighting and
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then draw back. Uriah doesn't realize he is traveling
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with this word about his own death. No doubt
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this is what they intend to do, but something
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goes wrong on the battlefield because it's not
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just Uriah who is killed. When people pull back,
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not everybody does. And so we learn from this
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that it's not just Uriah the Hittite who dies,
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it's other men. And the word of this catastrophe
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is sent back to David. There's that word send
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again. The damage is done. and the word reaches
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Bathsheba about the death of her husband. And
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then what does David do? One more time, he sends.
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He sends for Bathsheba. Friends, what this story
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really illustrates for us is that sin unchecked
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runs amok. It runs wild. Think of all that David
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does wrong in chapter 11. Idleness, lust, adultery,
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abuse of power, causing drunkenness, murder.
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He does all of these things. Friends, what we
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need to learn here is that when we sin, we need
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to immediately repent. We do not need to let
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sin fester in our hearts. Think about our assurance
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of pardon and grace today. The assurance of pardoning
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grace from Psalm 32, when I kept silent my bones
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wasted away through my groaning all day long.
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Sin eats at us, doesn't it? Sin, unrepentant
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sin, can destroy us. We do not need to treat
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sin like it's a joke. We do not need to treat
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sin like it's no big deal when we do that We
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are doing injustice to the very holiness of God.
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We don't need to make light of sin We need to
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repent of sin again the assurance of pardoning
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grace 32 5 this is what we need to do. I Acknowledged
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my sin to you and I did not cover up my iniquity
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I said I will confess my transgression to the
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Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
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Friends, the sinful bent of our hearts is to
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try and explain away sin. The sinful bent of
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our hearts is to try and hide sin. We don't want
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to look bad, right? So what do we do? If you're
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like me, at times I would lie, I would cheat,
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I would steal just to protect my own name. What
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should we do instead? We should repent. We should
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repent. Because when we try and hide our sin,
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we're forgetting one very important fact. You
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can hide your sin maybe for a little bit from
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one another. You might even be able to hide it
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from those who are very close to you. But children,
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can you hide your sin from God? No, why is that?
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Because God is omniscient. God knows everything.
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God knows you better than you know yourself.
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So trying to hide it is foolishness. David recognizes
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here, and we're gonna talk about his repentance,
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but we've read a little bit of Psalm 51. David
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recognizes in this that we can try and hide our
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sin, but ultimately we really can't. And so what
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does he say in Psalm 51? Against you, you only
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have I sinned and done evil in your sight. And
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sometimes we look at Psalm 51 and we say, David
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didn't just sin against the Lord, right? He sinned
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against your eyes, he sinned against Bathsheba,
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he sinned against all kinds of people within
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this text. But what he is doing is he's acknowledging
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that most obviously when we sin, we're sinning
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against God. And you can't hide it. Do you remember
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Cain? Do you remember when Cain killed Abel?
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And what does God do? He's talking to Cain and
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Cain says, I'm not my brother's keeper. He also
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forgot God's omniscience, right? Or maybe you
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remember Numbers 32, 23. It says, your sin will
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find you out. Your sin will find you out. And
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it's very much like what we tell our children.
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Parents, you do this for your children, I'm sure.
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Is that you tell your children, I'm here for
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you. And if you ever get in trouble, you know
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you can come talk to me, right? Don't keep things
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from me. But when our children do keep those
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things, or they try and cover it up, or they're
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dishonest, that's when there's trouble in the
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maple household, right? It's the same way with
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God, isn't it? When we try and keep things from
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God instead of repenting, that's where we're
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in real trouble and you can see from this text
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that what happens is that sin compounds sin.
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So what do we need to do? We need to be honest
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with God and we need to repent, right? But we
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also see from this text and specifically from
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chapter 12 that we need a lot of help with our
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sin, don't we? Look at the parable that Nathan
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tells David, verses one through six. This is
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a heartbreaking story, right? So he tells this
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story. There's two men in a city. The one is
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rich and the one's poor. The rich man has everything
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you could possibly want. He's got all kinds of
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animals. He's got herds and he's got flocks.
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But what about the poor man? What does he have?
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Just this one little lamb. and he treats this
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lamb like it's his daughter. But then a traveler
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comes into town and he needs to be fed. What
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does the rich man do? He takes from the poor
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man. He takes the lamb from the poor man. Why
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is Nathan telling a story about lambs to David?
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Well, When we start to look at this parable,
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we see that it very much describes David, doesn't
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it? Think about who is the rich man within the
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text. That's obviously David, because he takes
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what is not his. But David's also abusing his
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power here, isn't he? How was David even able
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to spot Bathsheba? He was able to spot her because
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of his lofty perch as king of Israel. His house,
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his palace is taller than everybody else's and
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so he's able to look down and see her. This again,
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it's an abuse of power and it starts because
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of his idleness, but it gets worse when he doesn't
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repent. Now as you read this you're thinking
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this is David. This is a man after God's own
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heart, right? What happened to the David who
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was more concerned about God having a house.
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What happened to the David who the Lord made
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covenant with? What happened to the David who
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essentially adopted Mephibosheth at the table?
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Where is that David? Well, friends, this is the
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danger of sin. It's part of our fallen condition.
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We've all fallen short of the glory of God. It
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doesn't matter if you're a prince or a pauper,
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right? We are all going to battle with this for
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the rest of our lives and sin is blinding Consider
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the book of James James chapter 1 verses 14 through
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15 actually I'll read 13 through 15 Let no one
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say when he's tempted. I'm being tempted by God
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For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself
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tempts no one But each person is tempted when
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he is lured and enticed by his own desire Then
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desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin
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and sin when it's fully grown brings forth death
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In other words desire gives birth to sin which
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grows into maturity and brings death Sin is a
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dangerous thing friends our sinful desires. We
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have to put those away I like how God puts it
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again to go back to Cain if you were to go to
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Genesis chapter 4 You would see the way that
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God speaks of sin there as he says essentially
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that sin is crouching at the door friends sin
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is a predator Waiting to pounce upon us. That's
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we have to keep our guard up So how do we do
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that? How can we ensure that we don't fall into
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unrepentant sin? Well, this might seem very simple
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and I don't mean to oversimplify it, but how
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do we guard against sin? Read your Bible. Read
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your Bible. Consider this from Psalm 119. Don't
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worry, I won't read the whole chapter. Psalm
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119, 9 through 16, and this is specifically addressed
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to young people. So children, young people, listen
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up, but all of us too. How can a young man keep
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his way pure? By guarding it according to your
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word. With my whole heart I seek you. Let me
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not wander from your commandments. I have stored
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up your word in my heart that I might not sin
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against you. Blessed are you, O Lord. Teach me
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your statutes with my lips, I declare all the
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rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies,
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I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate
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on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
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I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget
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your word. Friends, do you love the word of God?
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Do you spend time with it regularly, daily? David
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acknowledges really two great things within just
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that portion of Psalm 119. One, yes, God's Word
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has the ability to keep us from sin as we meditate
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on it, as we hide it in our hearts, but also
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secondly, we should delight in it, right? We
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should enjoy God's Word. God's Word is good food
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for us. And so we can enjoy it. And when we enjoy
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it, I think we will keep it even better, right?
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Perhaps you've had an experience where you've
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studied a book of the Bible or you've been doing
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some reading and you're just like, I love this.
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And then you have to remind yourself to do this
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again and again. Why? Because it's so good for
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you. but you thoroughly enjoy the word of God.
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Friends, as you spend time with the Bible, you
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will enjoy it more and you'll see that it's good
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food for your soul. So we need God's word. But
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secondly, we also need a Nathan. We desperately
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need to be Nathan and to have Nathan's in our
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lives. So let's talk about him for a few minutes.
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You can see that Nathan is indeed an instrument
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of the Lord. In chapter 11, I was pointing out
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to you all those times when the Bible uses the
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word send. Look at 12, verse one. And the Lord
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sent Nathan to David. Nathan here is God's instrument
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to help him to see the heinous nature of his
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sin. We need people in our lives who can do this.
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Do you know that you are to be a Nathan to others?
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Do you know that? It's so very true. This is
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one of the reasons why we desperately need the
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church. If you will, and I've used a lot of scripture
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here, but if you will, just go to Galatians for
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a second. Galatians chapter 6. verse one And
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take these words to heart Galatians 6 one brothers
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if anyone is caught in any transgression You
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who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit
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of gentleness Keep watch on yourself lest you
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too be tempted so Who is supposed to be doing
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the work of spiritual restoration? Is it just
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the elders? Is it just the deacons? Is it just
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the Sunday school teachers? Is it just the wisest
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woman or man within the church? No, Paul is very
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clear. You who are spiritual. Who is supposed
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to be doing the work of spiritual restoration
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looking out for one another? It's to be all who
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believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are mature
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enough to look out for temptation and say no
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to it themselves. Meaning that every single one
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of you who believes in Jesus, especially those
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who are maturing, we're supposed to look out
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for one another. We're supposed to help one another
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when we're caught in sin, right? So do you do
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that? Do I do that? We need to ask ourselves
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these questions here. Realizing the work of spiritual
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restoration is the job of the spiritual. Why?
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Because sin is too sinful and temptation is too
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tempting to go it alone. And so you can see how
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effective Nathan was here as the Lord speaks
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through him. Look in verse 13. He goes through
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all of this and then David says to Nathan, very
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simply, I have sinned against the Lord. I've
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sinned against the Lord. Nathan says, the Lord
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also has put away your sin. You shall not die.
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David's heard all of this from Nathan. He's been
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cut to the heart by it, and so he says probably
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the only words that he could possibly utter,
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and it's the words that we need to utter when
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we sin. Lord, I've sinned against you. Forgive
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me of my sin. Help me not to continue in these
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sins any longer. We need to understand how heinous
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sin is. And no doubt David here is confronted
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with this sin in a very upfront kind of way.
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But we can tell from passages like Psalm 51 and
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from Psalm 32 that Indeed David did repent and
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yet there can be lasting Consequences from our
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sin can't there and so you see that's what Nathan
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continues on to say right His house is going
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to be plagued by violence He's going to lose
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his wives to someone else there are lasting Consequences
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to our sin, but friends just because there are
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those consequences This does not mean somehow
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that David is not forgiven. When we sin and especially
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when we do so in a very egregious way there can
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be consequences that are ongoing that are enduring
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and for David actually when you look at the narrative
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of his entire life what you realize this episode
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with Bathsheba and Uriah this is the beginning
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of the end for David. He's going to continue
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battling all these things for the rest of his
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life but this is the beginning of the end. And
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yet, what a good work that Nathan did in confronting
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him in his sin. Friends, I know it's not a fun
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thing. It's a very hard thing to talk to one
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another about sin. But imagine how much worse
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it would have been for David if Nathan never
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did that. Or imagine how much worse it would
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have been for you if no one ever came to you
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and said, brother, sister, I'm concerned about
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you. Let's talk about this. This is the work
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we all need to be doing. And so just three points
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further of application. When we sin, we need
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to repent quickly. We do not need to let sin
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fester in our hearts. We need to understand how
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badly we need to repent. And we need to have
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Nathans in our lives. Secondly, let me jump to
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1 Corinthians 10 13. And this indeed might be
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one that you have memorized before because it's
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so good for us. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. No temptation
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has overtaken you that is not common to man.
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And God is faithful, and He will not let you
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be tempted beyond your ability. But with the
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temptation, He will also provide the way of escape
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that you may be able to endure it. I don't know
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what temptations are bothering you these days.
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I don't know what is going to confront you this
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week, but I know this. From scripture God will
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provide the way out so go to him and repent thirdly
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and lastly Today if you've never repented of
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sin Don't wait another minute Do not wait another
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minute remember Jesus's words The time is fulfilled
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and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and
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believe the gospel We need to recognize that
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Jesus has come, and He has come to take our place
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on the cross. He is the substitute for sinners.
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He has offered up Himself on the cross such that
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you would be justified, such that you would be
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forgiven, such that you would have a place with
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Him forever. Friends, today realize that what
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Jesus has done, He's given you Himself, He's
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given you the gift of faith, and in doing so,
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He's taken your sins and He's cast them into
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the bottom of the sea. Let's pray. Father, in
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heaven, thank you very much for your mercy and
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your grace and your love. It is very true. You
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have loved us before we loved you. You've chosen
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us from before the foundation of the world. You
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have poured out your grace upon us. Even though
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we're sinful, Lord, we do sin daily and thought,
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word, and deed, and yet you still pursue us.
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You've still given us your Son, and you've given
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us your Spirit. Lord, help us to be those who
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repent quickly, and help us to be like Nathan,
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to do the hard but necessary work of spiritual
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restoration for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
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This we pray in Jesus' name, amen.