The Holy Spirit led me in teaching this lesson today in Bible fellowship. It was a heavy lesson, but one I felt the Lord wanted me to speak.
Tangled In Sin
2 Samuel Chapter 12: 1-14
Introduction:
Story of getting tangled in parachute after emergency landing.
We will be looking at David today in Chapter 12, however Chapter 11 is really the backdrop to today’s lesson. We see in Chapter 11 David have an affair with Bathsheba which In-Tangled him in multiple sins. After David found out Bathsheba was pregnant he had her husband Uriah the Hittite killed. After his death David made Bathsheba one of his wives and she gave birth to a son. The end of the Chapter 11 says
“But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.”
I will read verses 1-14 in Chapter 12 so we can get a mental picture of what’s happening.
Let’s look at three points I feel helped David get Un-Tangled from his sin.
Sin Recognized
Vs. 1-4: The prophet Nathan used a story to really get David’s blood pressure up by making it very personal. David had been a Sheppard before becoming a King and no doubt had a very strong bond with his sheep. The rich man was of course David and the poor man was Uriah the Hittite. The little lamb was Bathsheba. Nathan painted David a picture he could easily recognize.
Vs.5-6: David unwittingly condemns himself here. According to Exodus 22:1 the stealing and slaughter of ox or sheep did not result in death, but restitution, and goes on to indicate a person caught stealing or slaughtering another’s animal had to pay them back four fold. John McArthur’s commentary notes: David did in a way pay four fold by losing four of his sons.
Vs.7a: The sin comes alive to David when Nathan says, “You are the man!” Do you think David was starting to catch on here.
Vs. 9: David was a criminal in God’s eyes, “Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?...” In Numbers 15:30 we see anyone defiantly voliating God's law is cut off from among his people...Numbers 15:31 “because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.’”
If David had yet to figure it out, he now recognized for sure his sin, “You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.”
Illustration:
Once recognizing I was flying the wrong direction, things became very serious for me. Emergency landings were always dangerous. I was all by myself and no one to blame. The first step in getting out of the mess I was in was seeing clearly that I was in trouble.
Application:
Often we fail to recognize our guilt. It’s easy to sit back and notice the wrong doings of others and very, very easy to condemn others. However, we seldom take a close look at ourselves. We might recognize a sin in our lives, but it is common to try and justify it. Recognizing sin in our lives is the first step towards receiving God’s forgiveness.
Sin Owned
Vs.13a: Read verse 13a
Notice here what David did not say. He did not say anything about Bathsheba or her husband. David owned his sin and acknowledged his sin was against the Lord. This is David’s short response, but it led him to write Psalm 51. Let’s take a look a what true repentance looks like.
Read Psalm 51:1-5 and notice David owning his sin. Then notice how David is turning back to God Psalm 51:6-13
Illustration:
Go with me back on my skydive. Altitude was getting lower. After I had recognized I was in trouble and flying the wrong direction, I had to quickly own the situation I found myself in. There was no way I was getting back to safe landing areas. Doing nothing was not going to cut it, just like doing nothing with our sin will not cut it. Sin will catch us. Romans 6:23 “for the wages of sin is death…”
Application:
We need to mainly understand sin is vertical – against God. Sin is transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4 says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”)
David violated many of God’s commandments. He Lied (9th), he was a thief and stole his neighbor’s wife (8th), he murdered (6th), coveted his neighbor’s wife (10), committed adultery (7th) and dishonored his father and mother (5th).
David recognizing and owning his sin led to Godly sorrow which leads to true salvation
2 Corinthians 7:10a “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation…”
Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.”
We have to own our sin and repent with a genuine sorrow and that will lead us to our third and best point. Sin Forgiven
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Sin Forgiven
Vs. 13b: “the Lord also has put away your sin” I like John McArthur’s notes here: “The Lord graciously forgave David’s sin, but the inevitable temporal consequences of sin were experienced by him. Forgiveness does not always remove the consequences of sin in this life, only in the life to come.”
“You shall not die.” McArthur goes on to note, David’s sin legally required death (Lev.20:10 adultery) and (Lev.24:17 murder), but the Lord showed David grace.
God did not have to show David mercy by allowing him to have eternal life. David was a criminal, but God’s mercy is forever abounding in Glory and He is always prepared to forgive a genuine repentant heart.
Romans 5:20 says, “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,”
Illustration:
I ended up all tangled up in my parachute, but because I recognized my problem, owned my problem and followed my emergency procedures I had a hard landing, but a forgiving landing.
Application:
Not accepting responsibility for our sin and denying our guilt will result in destructive consequences. Accepting responsibility for our sins, repenting with a genuine sorrow towards God, will result in God’s forgiveness.
Conclusion:
I just heard last Friday night while I was in Charlotte for the Apologtics Conference, Josh McDowell said large numbers of people in church’s today are committing Idoltary by worshiping a god who does not exist. This is in line with what the great evangelist A.W. Tozer said in “The Knowledge of the Holy” copyrighted in 1961, two years before his death (Chapter 1 Think Rightly About God, page 3)
We need to have a correct understanding of who God is to start unraveling any sin in our lives. King David understood who God is (Psalm 7:11 “God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day”) David also understood very clearly what the Psalmist said in Chapter 50 (vs.3 “Our God approaches, and he is not silent. Fire devours everything in his way, and a great storm rages around him.” vs.4 “He calls on the heavens above and earth below to witness the judgment of his people.” vs.12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.” In verse 16 God starts talking to the wicked (sinner) then says in vs.21-22 “While you did all this, I remained silent, and you thought I didn’t care. But now I will rebuke you, listing all my charges against you. Repent, all of you who forget me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you.”
Now I know these are heavy verses and some might be thinking, “that’s the Old Testiment and we are in the New Convenant.” Well lets real quick look at a couple of verses out of the next book of the Bible we will be studying. (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 “And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.”)
So what are some commands of Christ Jesus? Well in (Luke 6:46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?”) Jesus again in (Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”) and in (Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”)
Jesus said fear Him and this is the key to getting Un-Tangled from sin. David had another son with Bathsheba later on in his life named Solomon. Surly David taught his son about God, the great I AM. King Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived and here are just a couple of things recorded from God through him in Proverbs...
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 16:6b “And by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil.”
Proverbs 19:23 “The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.”
A healthy fear of the Lord will lead us to life and help us get un-tangled from sin, because it makes us depart from evil or sin. How do we get a healthy fear of the Lord? Read God’s word daily without fail and humble ourselves before Him.
Psalm 119:133 “Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me.”
Psalm 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”
God’s word promises if we will feed on His law day and night all we do we will prosper.
Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”
Explain quickly why Christ had to go up on the tree and the Good News!
Pray
