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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (7-11-1976 Standtown Baptist Church)
We come to a most distressing episode in David’s life.
It is another example of the Bible’s complete honesty in dealing with its
heroes. C.f. Noah’s drunkenness, Abraham’s lying, Moses’ hasty temper,
Jeremiah’s resentment, and David’s adultery.
David was Israel’s greatest
king, an ancestor of Christ, and yet we are not just given a one-sided picture
of his life. He certainly had great kindness and love – but there were times
where he could be utterly heartless and cruel. This story has spoken to millions
in warning some and convicting others, and bringing deliverance to others. It
faces up to the fact of sin in the life of the child of God. It sounds an alarm
to the self-satisfied, smug, and those who are off guard.
This warning comes especially to
the mature. This is not about a young man sowing his wild oats, but records and
incident some 17 years after the beginning of David’s wonderful reign, after
17 years of unbroken success and progress. By this time, he had proved himself a
mighty conqueror; he had subdued the surrounding nations, and given Israel a
name to be feared. He had collected the material for the building of the Temple,
and established a successful and firm government at home. There was spiritual
success and progress too. He had written many inspired Psalms, and he led the
worship of God in Israel. Yet after 17 years of this, disastrous sin overtook
him. A mature, middle-aged man, over 50 at this time, had no immunity from sin,
and was in great danger from it.
This story shows us that we can
be weakest at our strongest point. C.f. Abraham – the father of faith, yet
guilty of unbelief; Moses – the meekest man in all the earth, yet lost his
temper; Peter – the bravest, yet the most cowardly; David – generous and
warm, and yet sin made him vicious and heartless. Incidentally, all the Bible
heroes failed after years of success and maturity.
This story also teaches us the
disastrous consequences of sin. Sin reproduces itself. There is hardly such a
thing as a secret sin, for it so quickly gives birth to other sins. It affects
other people, usually quite innocent people. Once it has begun its course, where
will it end?
It is solemn but necessary to look at sin and its effects in the life of the believer. Failure to do so causes nine tenths of our heresies, and also causes much shallow Christianity, and failure in Christian living. Not forewarned means we are not forearmed. If we are not aware of the power and effects of sin, we fail to realize the value of God’s redemption and therefore fail to show gratitude for it. It may sound harsh, but the truest kindness is when we are confronted with the Word of God coming in the power of the Holy Spirit and saying, “Thou art the man”.
At the time when kings go
forth to battle… David tarried still at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 11:1). If
David had not sent his deputy to war, he would not have been idly wandering on
the roof of his house with time on his hands, falling into temptation. Idleness
exposes any believer to a multitude of subtle and serious temptations. “The
human heart, unless it is occupied with some employment, leaves space for the
Devil, who wriggles himself in and brings with him a whole host of evil
thoughts, temptations and tribulations.” (Martin Luther)
The downward path had commenced:
David saw.. enquired after… took her (2 Samuel 11:2-4). At each point
he might have checked himself, but having given way in his thought-life, he was
now carried hopelessly away by the tide. Once the dyke wall is breached, the
water pours in. It is easy to lay the blame completely at David’s door. He was
the king, and Bathsheba had to comply with his wishes. But note that it all
began with Bathsheba, acting carelessly and foolishly, lacking the usual Hebrew
modesty. In effect, she became a stumbling block. Immodesty in dress, attitude
or speech on the part of a woman is the first step in the fall of a man. Only
fools think that modesty does not matter. The Bible stresses the importance of
this matter.
So David committed adultery with
the wife of general Uriah. Then to cover his tracks he encouraged Uriah to go
and visit his wife so that everyone would think that the child she was expecting
was Uriah’s. Uriah refused to go home, even when David plied him with drink to
break his resolution. Uriah was a man of principle, and it was not right for him
to take leisure while the rest of his men were waging war.
So David resorted to extreme
measures, and arranged for Uriah to be killed. Dead men tell no tales. The plan
was to withdraw the troops at a crucial moment in battle so that Uriah would be
overwhelmed and killed. David’s sin involved Joab, who was a willing
accomplice in the murderous scheme. Then David was able to marry Bathsheba, and
their child was born within wedlock. David assumed that noone except he and Joab
knew a thing about it.
The fatal flaw in David’s
reckoning: The thing that David had done displeased the Lord (2 Samuel
11:27). Note the power of sin to corrupt the Psalmist, the poet, the shepherd,
the great spiritual force, who knew the anointing of the Spirit on him. He was
now an adulterer and a murderer. And he displeased the Lord.
Sin not only corrupts, but it
also blinds and deceives us. Nathan is God’s messenger to bring home to David
his sin. He does this through a parable. The story is of a rich man stealing the
poor man’s one little ewe lamb while he possessed many flocks and herds
himself. How indignant and disgusted David was. The man that hath done this
thing shall surely die (2 Samuel 11:5). He was blind to his own sin, but
quick to discern sin in others.
How very true to life. When we
think it is someone else’s sin we are judging, instinctive judgement comes,
but we see things differently if it is our sin being exposed. What we see as
meanness in others, we count as prudence in ourselves. Others are guilty of bad
temper, while ours is righteous indignation. We may give a non-committal answer,
but if others did that we would accuse them of dishonesty and not being
straight. We are quick to excuse our own sins, and condemn them in others. We
all strangely have blind spots about ourselves, though our eyes are wide open
when others are involved.
Thou art the man (2 Samuel 12:7), were Nathan’s words to David. How shattering this reply must have been to David. Sin had corrupted him, and sin had blinded him, even when he was in the middles of usefulness, service and devotion to the Lord. One act of folly destroyed his reputation and years of achievements. The years, with all their experience, do not diminish, but rather increase, the possibility of blunder and breakdown. With the years comes a deepening realization that the seeds of every sin and weakness are in our own hearts. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).
A year had passed before Nathan
came with this parable, 12 months in which David’s heart had hardened and he
refused to confess. Nathan brings him to a clear recognition of guilt and the
penalty to which he is liable. David is broken down in passion of penitence in
which he confesses, I have sinned against the Lord (2 Samuel 12:13).
Frank and open confession is matched by Nathan’s The Lord also hath put
away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
There is clear light here about
the nature of true repentance. Firstly we see that it is personal, and we see
that sin is against God. In David’s confession, he acknowledges there is no
hiding place from God. We must come out to the front individually and stand by
ourselves, isolated, as God sees us. We cannot hide behind others. He that
covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and foresaketh them
shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13). We must deal with God individually. Just
as he saves us one by one, so He convicts us one by one. The standard to be
matched is that of the Bible and the life of Christ, not the standard of our
conscience, which can be unreliable.
Repentance is an acknowledgement
of sin against the Lord, not just against another individual, or society. Sin is
a violation, not of an impersonal law, but of a relationship which we ought to
have to the living loving Person to whom we are answerable. Against thee,
thee only, have I sinned (Psalm 51:4).
Confession and repentance is
answered by immediate and complete forgiveness. The right relationship is
restored. However great the transgressions that have heaped up, God causes them
to pass away and be non-existent. You will cast all our sins into the depths
of the sea (Micah 7:19). This has one meaning for us all – our sins are no
longer a barrier between the free flow of His love and our poor hearts. God
removes the sense of guilt, touches the wounded conscience, and there is healing
in His hand.
Just as confession is personal, so also is salvation and pardon. “Thou art the man” is true in regard to condemnation, and “Thou art the man” is true in regard to the promise If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink (John 7:37).
Pardon for sin is real and
absolute. But the consequences of sin remain. The punishment continues. Because
by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die (2 Samuel
12:14). There is a sense in which, even to the pardoned sinner, “What a man
sows he also reaps”. David was never quite the same man again.
Consequences of sin remain, and
the punishment continues. There was not quite the same brightness in David’s
life after this episode. His own example of sin loosed the bands of morality in
his own household. His son Ammon followed and improved on his example. Absalom
murdered Ammon, went into exile, there followed rebellion, and tragic death. For
the rest of David’s life, his home was in turmoil. The temporal results of sin
had to be borne.
Worst of all, the enemies of God
blasphemed. They thought nothing of God, because of David’s sin. His sin was
for a brief moment, but the outcome lived through years. Fully forgiven, but
never fully recovered. “Better a fence at the top of a cliff than an ambulance
at the bottom.”
Some of us have experienced the
effects of sin, in our own lives, and in the lives of others. Sin has shrivelled
men up, taken men out of the mission field, removed their influence in the
church, destroyed testimonies, put us to one side in a very short time. No
matter how much promise was showed at the start, sin can corrupt and destroy,
and the marks of God’s punishment can be with men for the rest of their lives.
Do not be blind to the
consequences remaining, even with forgiveness. This fact should be a warning to
anyone who is playing with sin.
There was once a young boy who was very naughty. His father told him to bring a piece of wood, nails and hammer. He hammered the nails into the wood. “Those nails are like the sins you commit.” Then he pulled the nails out of the wood. “That is like God’s forgiveness.” But the holes remained in the wood where the nails had been. The wood will never be the same again. The marks left by sin cannot be easily removed.
It is easy to condemn David, but in identical circumstances, would we stand? This story is not meant to give us a sense of moral superiority but to warn us and frighten us. It shows us our utter dependence on God. R.M.McCheyne said that the secret was to pray for the deepest sense of utter weakness. Acknowledge that you are helpless in respect of every lust that ever was. “My only safety is to feel and confess my helplessness, that I may hang on the arm of omnipotence.”
