David’s Failure: You the Man! 2 Samuel 11-12, Psalm 51

David’s Failure: You the Man!

2 Samuel 11-12, Psalm 51

I don’t remember how old I was but my brother Richard is 5 years older than me. Mom or dad had just finished cooking on the stove and the burner was still red hot. And I don’t what caused Richard to want to see how hot it was. But it didn’t take but just ½ a second for him to find out. Richard and I learned an important lesson that day. Stoves that are red, are hot. But if Richard’s nervous system wasn’t working like it should, he may have kept his hand on the stove and done a lot of damage. But that shock and pain of his hand being burned caused him to pull his hand back quickly and caused me to laugh uncontrollably.

Guilt is our spiritual nervous system warning us that something is wrong. And guilt is a gift. It may not be a basket of goodies, but it can be a very good thing. It’s the pain of conscience when the sin-stove has been touched. It’s the those lines have been crossed. Those wrongs have been done. Ignore the pain of guilt at your own peril!

Today we are continuing to look and kings of Israel and this complicated guy, David. Last week we saw David fight against Goliath and then run for his life from Saul and we learned that we to can trust in God even in the trails.

After David sinned with Bathsheba, David initially dismissed his feeling of guilt. And it almost killed him. Finally, after Nathan’s told David that “Your the man!” David embraced his guilt, examined it, and then exchanged it for God’s grace. His experience of repentance and forgiveness was deep and real; it renewed his spirit and enabled him to walk steadfastly with God.

If you have your bibles turn with me to Psalm 51. We will be talking about the events that are found 2 Samuel 11-12 and I encourage you to go read those chapter this week. But Psalm 51 is where we will spend most of our time. Psalms is in the Old Testament. Almost in the middle of the bible If you don’t have a bible we have some on the back table. It comes right after the book of Job and right before Proverbs.

David has now become king. Saul and Jonathan at this point of died. Israel was at war with the Ammonites. They had stopped fighting for the winter but now it was spring, the battle start back up. David sends up his army lead by Joab to go and fight. Now the king normally would join their army at the lines. And even though David wouldn’t fight hands on like he did before he was king. He would lead the army. But David doesn’t go at all. He stays in Jerusalem.

David was home when all his men were off fighting the battle for him. One evening David takes a walk. David makes his way to the roof overlooking over the city. As we walks, he sees a woman bathing.

Bathsheba was married to Uriah who was off fighting for Israel. David too was married. They sleep together and she becomes pregnant. But that’s not where the story ends nor where David’s sin stops.

Their sin couldn’t be concealed anymore. Uriah would know that he had been gone and to return to find his wife either pregnant or having given birth already. So David try’s to cover up their sin. He sends for Uriah to return home. When Uriah gets there from the front lines, David makes small talk. How are the men? How is the war going? Thank you so much for your service. Uriah, why don’t you go home and see your wife.

But Uriah didn’t go home, he stayed at the palace with rest of the servants. In the morning David asks him why didn’t you go home and Uriah says ““The ark and Israel are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and (be with) my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

Man, how despicable David must had felt. David try’s again to get Uriah to go home, but he wouldn’t. So he sends Uriah back to lines with a note to Joab his commander. Joab was to put Uriah in the worst fighting, and then draw everyone back so Uriah is killed. David didn’t raise his hand to kill Uriah. But Uriah’s blood was all over David’s hands.

After a few days of “mourning” Bathsheba moves into David’s house and became another one of his wives.

Sometime later, David and Bathsheba probably thought they were in the clear. But God sends Nathan to confront David. Nathan comes to David and says, there are two neighbors, one is rich and one is poor. The rich man had tons of cattle and sheep. But the poor man only had one lamb. He raised this lamb as one of his own children. He would share his food and drink with this lamb. It was part of his family. If you have pets maybe you can understand.

One day a traveler came to visit the rich man and the rich man wanted to cook a meal for him, but he didn’t want to use one of his many cattle or sheep. So, he stole the poor man’s lamb.

Well, when David herd this he was enraged. David said the man who did this will pay. He must die because he did such a thing and had no pity. And listen to what Nathan says next.

2 Samuel 12:7

2 Samuel 12:7

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

Nathan goes on to rebuke David for all the sin that he had comitted. And it leads David to finally be confronted his sin.

In Psalm 51 we are about to see David’s response to God when Nathan confronted him with his sin. Psalm 51 describes David’s confession. This is what guilt was designed to produce. Confession - not denials, excuses, or plea bargains. Often our excuses and denials indicate both our guilt and our unwillingness to repent. Let’s learn from David once again what we should do when we are the man or woman that has sinned. I believe we can learn a lot from David’s confrontation and repentance.

When we sin, I believe, there are four things we need to do. First when we have sinned we must FACE IT. There is nothing to gain and much to lose by brushing aside guilt. David’s ignored sin and it progressed. David was lazy, he stayed home instead of going to war. Then he committed adultery. And to cover it up he murdered.

It’s tempting to ignore guilt and assume our sin will be forgotten. But it’s also dumb to do so! But finally, in Psalm 51, David faces his sin and confesses it.

Psalm 51:1-2

Psalms 51:1–2

If we are going to learn to deal with sin like David, we first must face our sin. It took Nathan confronting David but finally David repented.

We can be blind or ignorant or even numb to the pain of guilt and Ooten we need others like David needed Nathan to confront the sin in our lives and to hold us accountable.

Here at Journey Church, we want to, build strong relationships, walking side by side through the messiness of life with prayer, accountability, and encouragement.

One great place to find and build these type of strong accountability relationships is in Life Groups. Gathering on Sunday Morning is important but just as important is the other 6 days of week. Connecting with each other in Life Groups. We have a number of groups and if you aren’t part of Life Group you need to join one this week. So that others can walk side by side through the messiness of your life with. So that they can hold you accountable.

Sometimes the most loving person in your life isn't the person who tells you everything is okay. It's the person who loves you enough to say, ‘Brother, I don't think you're okay.’

If we are going to learn to deal with sin like David we first must face our sin and next we must FEEL IT.

A brief “I’m sorry” does not adequately deal with sins. Sin needs to be reflected upon. Sin calls for exploring our hearts to find the root of the evil of not only what we’ve done but why. We need to take sin seriously enough to feel the weight of what we've done, not so that we can punish ourselves, but so that we can understand our need for God's grace. That’s what David did. He expresses it:

Psalm 51:3-4

Psalms 51:3–4

David finally felt the weight of his sins. Guilt is a gift. It may not be a basket of goodies, but it can be a very good thing. Feeling guilt can and should lead us to next step of learning to deal with sin. That’s to FIX IT.

Now we can't fix our sin ourselves.

Psalm 51:17

Psalms 51:17

David hit the nail on the head. For “us” to fix our sin we must come the reality that we can’t fix our sin ourselves. As Paul says, who will rescue me? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Because here is the truth for each and every one of us. You, for him, her, and me to. We all have sinned. Maybe our sins are different from each other, maybe they are different from David. Maybe they are the same. But all of us have sinned. But now the question is what will you choose to do now? Will you ignore and hope it will go away? It won’t. Not until we face it, and feel the guilt of it, which leads us to fix it. But we can’t fix it ourselves.

Romans 5:6-8

Romans 5:6–8

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God has done what we can’t do for ourselves. Jesus paid the debt that you and I have earned with our sins. Death. We must first believe in Jesus. Put your faith in Jesus. Put your trust in Jesus. Then we must repent. As David did. Give your broken spirit, your humble heart to God. Confess your sins to God.

1 John 1:9-10

1 John 1:9–10

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Confess your sins to God. But we are also encouraged to confess our sins to each other. James tells us confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Again, this is where Life Groups are so important. Life Groups are safe places where we can walk through the messiness of life together. And part of this messy life is sin, confession, accountability, repentance, prayer, encouragement. I love what Kevin one our elders says, “sin is totally understandable and at the same time sin is totally unexpectable.” We understand the struggle because we're sinners too. But because we love each other, we won't simply tell each other what we want to hear. This is the type of support you will find in a life group. Other people that completely understand the struggle with sin, and yet will love you enough to hold you accountable to it.

Christian community isn't a place where we excuse sin; it's a place where we help one another fight sin.

If we are going to respond to sin like David will have to have to face it, feel it, allow God to fix it but finally we must forsake it.

This is true repentance. David expresses his desire to be pure, steadfast, Spirit-filled, joyful, and faithful in teaching others the ways of God.

Psalm 51:10-13

Psalms 51:10–13

David had not only faced his sin, had he felt the guilt of his sin, he had allowed God to fix it and he forsakes sin. This is transformation. David doesn't simply say: “I'm sorry.” He asks God to: create a clean heart, renew a steadfast spirit, restore joy, sustain him and use him to teach others. Repentance isn't just regretting what you did. Repentance is turning from what you did and turning toward God.

We know that sin has been beaten and guilt removed when we turn our backs on sin and walk in God’s grace, when we are able share with others our lessons that we have learned on sins and repentance.

Sin always brings shame. It causes us to want to run and hide. What did Adam and Eve do? The ran and hide. Sin causes us to do the same. Sometimes that hiding is by pointing out the speck in others eyes, so they don’t look at the plank in our own. But a sign that we have moved through the process of true repentance is when we are able to share with others openly the lessons we have learned about sins. Not to brag but humbly to help them to avoid the same pitfalls that we fell for. Sin loses its power when we bring it into the light instead of hiding it in the darkness.

David is remorseful for what he did. He says, be gracious to me, make me whiter than snow, create in me a clean heart.

David had hope that that God’s grace would blot out his sin would cleanse it, wash it away. That it would renew his spirit, that God’s grace would restore his joy. And Friends, God’s grace can do the same for you and me. It can not only cleanse us, but renew, restore, and sustain us. David's story isn't ultimately about how good David was at repenting. It's about how good God is at showing mercy to repentant sinners.

Listen to what Paul reminds us of.

Titus 3:3-6

Titus 3:3–6

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

We were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by passions and pleasures. But God, saved us, not because of what we have done, but because of his mercy. He renews us.

David was truly repentant because he owned up to his sins. He felt the guilt of his sin and turned to God for forgiveness and grace. David realized that he could not make right all that He had done. But with a broken heart David went to the one that could. And we see David’s true repentant heart in that he vowed to not only get rid of that sin, but to teach and warn others of the ways of God and the realities of their sin.

Fortunately, David was soft-hearted and courageous. He sinned tremendously - but he also felt his guilt and shamelessly cast himself on the mercy of God’s court. In true repentance he exchanged guilt for - grace. And something strangely foreign to our concept of justice took place: David received a full pardon and at the same time paid a severe penalty.

It’s not easy for us to see how these two things are compatible. Under the world’s system, it’s one or the other. But in God’s system, both are possible. David was completely forgiven; his fellowship completely restored; his spirit completely renewed. But David still faced the consequences of his action. Forgiveness does not necessarily eliminate consequences.

God forgives. But that doesn't mean: the marriage immediately heals, the trust immediately returns, the financial consequences disappear, the legal consequences disappear, or the damage never happened.

Lets learn from David to face our sins, feel the guilt of them, allow that pain to humble ourselves and allow God to fix our sin and lead us to true repentance and to forsake sin!

Pray

Let us take David’s example to heart and offer God a true confession of the sin in our life.

Maybe you've been hiding it.

Maybe you've been excusing it.

Maybe you've been carrying it.

Maybe you've been trying to fix it yourself.

Today God is saying to you what Nathan said to David: ‘You are the man.’”

Not so that He can destroy you—but so that He can save you.”

The answer isn't denial. The answer isn't excuses. The answer isn't hiding. The answer is Jesus.

If you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, today is the day to stop hiding, stop excusing, and stop trying to fix your sin yourself. Come. Repent. Put your faith in Jesus. Then meet, Jesus’ in baptism. Paul tells us in Romans 6, that when are baptized, we are joined into Jesus’ death and burial so that has Jesus was raised to life again, we too are raised to live for God. I’ll be in the lobby if you want to talk.

Communion for us as followers of Jesus gives another time to repent and forsake our sins. God has given us this as a regular reminder of who we were, and the price that has been paid for us to be transformed. So, use this time to reflect, repent and when you’re ready take the bread and the cup and remember the sacrifice that Jesus made to fix what we have broken. If you didn’t grab communion raise your hand and we will bring it to you!