The Consequences Of Forgiven Sin

[0:00] The following sermon is made available by Lakeside Bible Church in Cornelius, North Carolina.

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[0:39] If we're honest, we would all be content with the story of David's sin ending with Psalm 51, right? After all, we have seen David commit his sin.

[0:49] We've examined that closely. We have seen David be confronted with his sin. We've examined that thoroughly. We've even seen David confess his sin and be assured of God's mercy.

[1:02] And yet, there's still more to the story, as Paul Harvey would have said, right? This passage is a sober reminder that there are indeed consequences to forgiven sin.

[1:14] God, in his wonderful grace, forgives us, forgives the penitent sinner. But God, in his holy government, must still judge sin.

[1:25] It's imperative, as we study this passage and as we study the Bible, that we have a proper understanding of the difference between the eternal penalty of sin and the immediate consequences of sin.

[1:40] The Bible clearly teaches that all of us are guilty before God, and we all deserve an eternal death.

[1:51] We understand that clearly. Romans 3, verse 23, we all know the verse, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are all guilty before God. We acknowledged that last week in Psalm 51.

[2:03] We also read in the Bible where the clear, deserving nature of our sin is eternal death. And Romans chapter 6 helps us there.

[2:15] For the wages of sin is death. And when the Bible speaks of death as the payment for sin, it's not only referring to physical death.

[2:27] Physical death is a curse of sin that comes on believers and unbelievers alike. In fact, the Bible clearly teaches us that every person will die, even those who know the Lord, those who have been forgiven by the Lord.

[2:40] We will all one day face our death and go into eternity. But when the Bible references this eternal penalty of death for unbelievers, it's speaking of a spiritual death.

[2:54] Sometimes it refers to it as the second death. But what does this actually mean? What is this spiritual death? What is this eternal death that the Bible says is the punishment for our sin?

[3:09] Well, we understand God has created us all to be eternal beings. We will live forever, every one of us. We have a definite beginning. We do not, in a spiritual sense, have a definite ending.

[3:22] We will live forever. Those who believe and follow Jesus Christ receive eternal life. But those who do not are sentenced to eternal death.

[3:34] And while an unbeliever's eternity is lived out in a literal place of torment that we refer to as hell or even the lake of fire, it's a real place.

[3:45] It's a place of torment. It's a place of fire, according to the Bible. It's a place of separation, according to the Bible. The significance of this eternity and this spiritual death is that it is completely absent of God and his goodness.

[4:01] That's why we say the penalty for sin, the eternal penalty for sin, is separation from God, because that's exactly what hell is. Heaven is where God is.

[4:13] Hell is where God is not. Now, we need to think about this for just a minute. Think about everything that we enjoy here in this life, both believers and unbelievers alike.

[4:24] There's a doctrine. We refer to it as common grace. And it basically says that God, in his goodness, shows that grace to all people, not necessarily a saving grace, that is reserved for those who are believers, but he shows his grace and his goodness and his kindness to all people.

[4:41] Think of it this way. In this life, whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, we all get to enjoy beauty. We could all take a trip today up to the mountains as the leaves are beginning to change, and we could observe the beautiful creation that God has given us.

[4:55] And whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, it doesn't matter. You can enjoy that, and you can relish that, and you can be blessed and encouraged by the beauty that God has created. We are blessed by companionship.

[5:09] Believers and unbelievers alike have great, strong friendships, strong marriages. We experience love. We experience all kinds of blessings in this life.

[5:22] And the only reason we experience those blessings is because of who God is, because he has allowed in his grace to give us a bit of his presence and to give us a bit of his goodness and a bit of his grace, even for those who do not follow him in faith.

[5:38] Now, hell, eternal death, is completely absent of God and his goodness. Imagine what life on this earth would be like if it were absent of all of those things.

[5:52] There was no beauty to behold. There'd be no companionship for us to enjoy and to be encouraged by. There'd be no morality. There would be nothing good.

[6:03] Everything that is good, everything that is loving, everything that is beautiful, everything that is positive in this life comes out of the character and the blessing of God. Now, imagine an eternity absent of all of those things.

[6:18] That's the reality for people that die and go to hell. Nothing good that is enjoyed now would exist if God were to remove his presence and grace.

[6:31] But this is exactly what the experience of hell will be for those who do not believe and follow Christ. And then it will also be a place of physical torment and pain.

[6:44] It will be an eternity completely absent of the goodness of God. That's why Jesus came. In fact, Jesus said that's why he came.

[6:56] John chapter 10 and verse 10, he said, I am come that they may have life and that they may have that life more abundantly. Jesus was not just talking about life on this earth.

[7:06] He was talking about eternal life. The reason he came is so that we would not have to suffer that eternal death. His death on the cross was substitutionary, meaning that in our place and on our behalf, he absorbed the wrath of the Father so that we could then inherit eternal life through him.

[7:30] And then his resurrection, three days after that, proved that his death was indeed sufficient to pay for the penalty of man's sin. And it showed that he alone has power over this eternal death.

[7:45] And 1 Corinthians 15 tells us all about that. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and he rose on the third day according to the scriptures.

[7:57] And then later on in chapter 15, it says, But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He's the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

[8:12] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. When we talk about receiving God's mercy and being eternally forgiven, we are referring to this ultimate penalty of sin.

[8:27] And as we come to 2 Samuel chapter 12, it's imperative that we understand the difference between being made free from that ultimate penalty of sin and given eternal life through Jesus Christ.

[8:38] There's a difference between that and the immediate consequences and temporal consequences that come for our sin in this life. We must not mistake being made free from the eternal penalty of sin as escaping the consequences of sin now.

[8:57] David's life tells us and warns us that though our standing before God in eternity is one of just righteousness, God will still judge our sin in this life.

[9:16] The Lord graciously forgives the believer's sin, but we will still have to pay a cost. This passage shows us and helps us to understand the reality of the consequences of our sin.

[9:32] It teaches us how we are to respond to the chastening of the Lord. Many people, when they face the correcting love of the Lord, will turn to bitterness, perhaps even apostasy.

[9:45] But what we are seeing in David's reaction is that we are to respond in worship. And then thirdly, this passage encourages us with the assurance of God's returning blessings.

[10:00] And all three of those things is what I'd like to cover with you today. Let's first look at the reality of sin's consequences. Look with me again at verse number 10, 2 Samuel 12, verse 10.

[10:13] Nathan comes to David and he says, Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, God says, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

[10:33] Though the consequences of David's sin were pronounced through the prophet Nathan, they were all experienced after he had confessed his sin in Psalm 51.

[10:46] Though he had been assured of God's forgiveness and mercy, his sin still came at a tremendous cost to his temporal life here. It is true as we study this passage, that sin will take you further than you want to go.

[11:02] It will keep you longer than you want to stay. And it will cost you more than you want to pay. But if we are secure in our eternal salvation, and we are, the Bible tells us that clearly, how is it then that believers will experience this judgment and the consequences of our sin?

[11:23] And there's two perspectives here in David's example that is worth us noting. It's the same perspectives that we must have now. There is the law of sowing and reaping. And then there is the chastening hand or the chastening love, as I would prefer to call it, the chastening love of the Lord.

[11:42] Let's first talk about the law of sowing and reaping. There is an agricultural principle that is universally true. And Andy can help me with this if I'm wrong, from based on what he does there at the greenhouse every week.

[11:56] And if I take a pumpkin seed, I don't even know if you grow pumpkins with seeds, is that what you do? If I take a, sorry, I'm a preacher, not a farmer. If I take a pumpkin seed and I go bury it in my backyard, I can't expect to grow tomatoes, right?

[12:10] Whatever you sow is what you reap. If you reap anything, you're gonna reap what it is that you sow. The Bible applies this metaphor to our everyday lives.

[12:23] Everything that we sow in life, we can expect to reap in life. And it's a continual law of principle that we read all throughout the scriptures, really. And this is the natural consequence of sin.

[12:35] It's experienced even by those who standing is one of eternal forgiveness. Whenever we sow wickedness in this life, we can expect to reap corruption in this life.

[12:46] Whenever we sow good and righteousness in this life, we can expect to reap blessing in this life. Galatians chapter six tells us this explicitly. Do not be deceived, Paul writes.

[12:59] God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

[13:10] But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. The things that we do, we can expect to reap in consequence.

[13:20] It's the natural consequences of our sin. Now let's look at how David dealt with the natural consequences of his sin. Three ways that he had the law of sowing and reaping in this passage.

[13:32] Number one, since Uriah was killed by violence, violence would then plague the house of David. Since Uriah was killed by violence, violence would now plague the house of David.

[13:44] Look with me again at verse number 10, or verse nine actually, let's start there. God says, you have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

[13:58] Now therefore, because this is what you've done, God tells David, the sword shall never depart from your house. That's the first immediate consequence.

[14:09] We see this played out. If you were to read through the rest of 2 Samuel chapter 12 and really just the first couple of chapters of 1 Kings, you'll see this played out in David's life. Three of David's sons, in addition to this baby, three of David's sons are killed, and they're all killed by the sword.

[14:27] His son Amnon is killed by his other son Absalom. Absalom is then killed by David's cousin Joab and the commander of his army. And then a third son, Adonijah, tried to set himself up as king when it was Solomon who was intended to be king.

[14:46] And Solomon made a deal with him that he wouldn't kill him as long as he wouldn't rebel. Ultimately, he rebels and Solomon kills Adonijah as well. Three different sons of David are killed by the sword and God tells him in 2 Samuel chapter 12, this is a consequence for you taking the life of Uriah the Hittite and those other men with the sword.

[15:07] Secondly, since David stole a man's wife, someone else would steal his wives. Look again at verse 10. Because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife, thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house.

[15:30] And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the son.

[15:43] This is carried out in chapter 16 of 2 Samuel. One of David's sons, Absalom, chases David out of the kingdom. He's bitter at him about some things that David had done poorly as a father.

[15:57] And he comes in, he chases David out of the kingdom. And in the process of that, David leaves some of his harem behind in Jerusalem, something that he should have never had to begin with. It was a part of the sin of his life. But he left some of those concubines and wives behind.

[16:10] One of the pagan rituals for a conquering king in this particular day is that they would defile the wives of the defeated king. It was a show of power, basically showing that I have defeated this king and I have taken everything that belonged to him, even the most intimate things that belonged to him.

[16:27] David's own son sets up a tent on the top of David's own house in view of the entire city of Jerusalem and takes David's wives one by one into this tent and defiles them in front of the whole city, in front of all Israel.

[16:42] Why? God says, this is a payment for your sin. This is one of the natural consequences of your sin. This is what you have sown, therefore this is what you will reap. And then the third one, since David's actions had given reason for people to blaspheme the Lord, the child produced by his actions would not survive.

[17:05] Verse 14, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.

[17:19] Perhaps the most devastating of all of those consequences is that one. It wasn't because God hated the child and it wasn't because the child had necessarily done anything wrong.

[17:31] It was because God had to judge the sin. And specifically, because David had given reason for the enemies of God to blaspheme the name of the Lord, this would be what he would reap for that sin.

[17:49] The consequences of David's sin was severe, but he didn't receive anything that he had not himself done to others.

[18:01] He killed Uriah along with a bunch of other sons. He stole a man's wife. He committed the sin. He reaped the consequences. But he reaped every one of those consequences after in Psalm 51 he cries out, have mercy on me, O God.

[18:20] After he was assured in Psalm 51 that he had indeed received that mercy from God. Remember Nathan's report in 2 Samuel 12. The Lord has put away your sin. You shall not die.

[18:32] He was freed from the eternal penalty of his sin, but he was not free from the consequences of his sin in this life. Your sin may be forgiven in eternity, but it will not always be relieved of its burden now.

[18:49] This is a warning to us, and it's one that we really need to take very seriously. It is not only that our sin is an offense against God, but it is also because God will judge our sin, and we should care about that.

[19:08] So there's the law of sowing and reaping. Quickly, there's the chastening of the Lord. That's the other part to this passage. Now God's role in the consequences of David's sin cannot and should not be overlooked.

[19:22] It was from the hand of God that David faced all of these consequences. I want you to look at it with me. Look in verse 11, right at the very beginning. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will, he says, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house.

[19:40] Second part of verse 11, And I will take your wives before your eyes. Verse 12, I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son.

[19:52] Verse 15, And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bear unto David. We come to a passage like this, and we see how severe and how the penalty for this is not that it was only severe, but it was carried out in ways that we know God wasn't pleased with.

[20:09] And yet it is God who takes the credit for it. And we spend a lot of our time sometimes as Christians trying to get God off the hook when this is God's word to us, and God gives it to us, and he says, I will do this thing.

[20:21] I have done this thing. I will judge this sin. He was in complete control of everything taking place in this text.

[20:32] And he's in complete control of everything taking place in our lives as well. This is the dynamic of sin's consequences that the Bible categorizes as the chastening of the Lord.

[20:45] Now God's chastening is difficult, and sometimes severe, but it is always, always done for the purpose of the good of his people.

[20:59] It's not punitive in action like God's judgment on unbelievers. When unbelievers face the judgment of God at the end of this life, it is punitive action.

[21:10] It is depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. But the chastening of the Lord that comes down on the life of believers in this life is not punitive in nature. It is nurturing in nature.

[21:21] Severe, difficult, yes, but in order to produce good, in order that he may fashion us into the image of Christ. Think of Proverbs chapter three.

[21:33] My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord. Neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects. Even as a father, the son in whom he delights.

[21:46] Think of Hebrews chapter 12. All discipline, for the moment, seems not to be joyful, and we can all agree to that. But it is sorrowful. It is grievous.

[21:57] Yet to those who have been trained by God's discipline afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. There is a purpose in God's role in these consequences.

[22:09] It is not that he may express anger to believers. It is that he may correct and build up believers. We cannot view sin as an abstraction.

[22:23] It can only be rightly understood in relation to the character of God. The chastening of the Lord reminds us of this, and it reminds us that sin is primarily an offense against God.

[22:38] It rehearses the holiness of God. It rehearses the justice of God. It proclaims that sin and its consequences are not outside of the power and control of God.

[22:50] To overlook God's role in this text is to fundamentally miss the point of the passage. The point of the passage is David sinned, and what made it sinned was it was an offense against God.

[23:02] Therefore, God, in his holy judgment, must judge David's sin, but God, in his tremendous grace and mercy, poured out that mercy on David. In fact, the very nature of this correction was an act of God's mercy.

[23:18] But then if you were to ask enough questions about this passage, eventually, you'll find yourself looking for answers to how a loving God can allow and permit so much evil to take place.

[23:33] God says, this is the judgment that I'm carrying out, but how could God do that? How could God allow David to sin in this way to begin with? Why didn't he stop it? There's no easy answers to completely satisfy our minds, but there are plenty of truths in the Bible that help us process this as believers, and it will help us to process this in our evangelism as those same questions come against us.

[24:00] I had a conversation this week about the importance of this. As we witness of God's goodness, and someone just takes a moment as an unbeliever to examine the world around us, this question will come to their mind.

[24:16] If you're saying God is so good, how is it that all of this wickedness and evil is possible? Let me give you a few things to help with this. Number one, God is always right.

[24:30] God is always right. He's absolutely perfect and just in everything that he does. If you wanna take notes on this, Psalm 1830 is a good place to go.

[24:42] Here's what it says. It's one of my favorite verses in all the Bible. It says, this God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord proves true.

[24:54] Abraham in Genesis chapter 18 says, shall not the judge of all the earth do that which is right? One of the things we see about God's character all throughout the scripture that we must trust and believe is that God is always right.

[25:09] He is always perfect. He never does anything wrong. Whatever is allowed by his sovereign control is right to do. So God is always right.

[25:19] Secondly, God is never pleased by sin. He does not commit sin and he does not entice us to sin.

[25:32] Think of James chapter one. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one.

[25:44] First John chapter one in verse five, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. So not only is God right, not only is God perfect, but he does not, he is not pleased by sin.

[25:58] He does not commit sin, nor does he entice others to sin. Number three, God is sovereign over all things. God is absolutely sovereign over all things. There is nothing at all that is outside of his divine will and control.

[26:15] Think of Lamentations chapter three in verse 37. Who has spoken and came to pass unless the Lord has commanded it?

[26:26] Is it not from the mouth of the most high that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain about the punishment of his sins? Think of Isaiah 45.

[26:39] God says, I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. God is always right.

[26:50] He is not pleased by sin, nor does he commit sin, but he is sovereign over everything. And then fourthly, all things take place for the glory of God and the good of his people.

[27:03] All things take place for the glory of God and the good of his people. Romans chapter eight, verse 28. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

[27:21] And what is God's ultimate purpose? His own glory. Everything that takes place in your life is for his glory and your good. That doesn't mean that everything in your life is good.

[27:32] It just means that God is in control of it. And it is ultimately for your good and for his glory. We do not always know why and how God acts in the way that he does.

[27:45] We must trust him and believe that he is good. The end of Romans chapter 11, Paul gets to this great doxology and considering all of these things and trying to hold them in tension, the character of God and how we can only partly understand him with our finite being.

[28:09] And he says this, Oh, the depth and the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things.

[28:36] To him be glory forever. Amen. You say, I don't know how to process all of these things. How can God be so perfect and so just and so good and yet he allows all of these things and if we follow that through as a believing thought, understanding the scriptures and taking them for what they say, we too will come to be like Paul and say, I don't understand everything there is to know about God but how great is our God.

[28:58] Oh, the depth and the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God far beyond anything that I could understand. That's not going to cause me to reject him. That's going to cause me to worship him.

[29:09] It's going to cause me to cling to him. It's going to cause me to praise him because who can know is mine? Who could be his counselor?

[29:20] I can't be God's counselor. I can come up with all the ways that I would choose to be God and every one of them would be wrong. So I look at God's word and I say, this is what's true of God and I believe it and I will praise him for who he is.

[29:34] So we see the reality of sin's consequences. Much more quickly than that, we'll see the Christian's response to God's chastening. The Christian's response to God's chastening. This passage not only reminds us of sin's consequences but it helpfully teaches how we are to respond when we face these consequences.

[29:57] Anyone facing the chastisement of the Lord, there is danger in responding sinfully in one of two ways. The first way is bitterness, bitterness toward God and that bitterness will ultimately lead to apostasy which is knowing the truth, acknowledging the truth but still rejecting that truth because you don't like how God has determined to run his creation or how he is determined to act in his perfection.

[30:30] Hebrews chapter 12, that's the same passage that we quoted earlier about the chastisement of the Lord. Just a few verses later, it connects bitterness to that.

[30:42] The writer says, see to it that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and by it many be defiled. We need to be careful when we face the trials of life and the consequences of our sin that we don't allow those times of difficulty to push us away from God but rather we allow those difficulties to cause us to run to him and David gives us a great example of how we are to process these seasons of life.

[31:07] Four things here that David does. The first one is this, pray, fast, and grieve. Pray, fast, and grieve.

[31:18] Look at verse 16. David therefore, this is after the child has been born and is now sick. David therefore besought God for the child and he fasted and he went in and lay all night upon the earth so much so in his grief and in his prayer and in his pleading with God that everybody else in the house was worried about him.

[31:39] Verse 17, and the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the earth but he would not. Neither did he eat bread with them. And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died and the servants of David feared to tell him because they were afraid ultimately that when he heard the news of the death of the child that he would perhaps even commit suicide.

[32:03] He grieved. He prayed. He fasted. How should we respond to these difficulties in life, the correction of the Lord or the difficult circumstances that we go through?

[32:15] It's okay to grieve. Pray. Fast. Seek the Lord's face. As Sheba delivered their baby boy but he was sick and David knew that this was going to take place because Nathan told him.

[32:31] But he still begged for God to intervene. Why? Nathan had said this is what's going to happen. Why would David then move forward in prayer? For the same reason he appealed to God's mercy in Psalm 51.

[32:46] He appealed on the basis of God's character. In fact, the servants of David actually asked him this question and this is how he answered. Look with me at verse 21.

[32:57] Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done that thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive? But when the child was dead, you did rise and eat bread.

[33:07] Like you stopped grieving, you stopped praying, you stopped fasting. And here's what David said. While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?

[33:22] David appealed to what he knew to be true of God's character and he knew that just as much as God is a God of judgment, he is a God of grace. And so he found his place in these seven days fasting and praying and grieving, appealing to the grace of God that would be poured out on this child and on David's home.

[33:42] His prayer recognized the amazing grace of God and our attitude in difficulty and in trial and in correction should always anticipate God's grace and mercy.

[33:54] That should always be the anticipation of our hearts. That though we acknowledge that God may choose to pour out judgment on our lives, we also acknowledge that he is a God of grace. And let me tell you, God loves it when we think of him as a gracious and merciful God.

[34:10] So David cast himself on the Lord. You say, but God didn't answer the prayer. Well, he didn't always answer it the way that we demanded. But sometimes he does. And if you want to see an example of that, you can look at 2 Kings chapter 20 and you can look at that later on.

[34:27] So David fasted, he prayed, and he grieved. That's the first thing we do in response. We pray. Secondly, we worship the Lord. We worship the Lord. Look at verse 19. But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead.

[34:43] Therefore, David said unto his servants, is the child dead? And they said, he is dead. Then he arose and washed and anointed himself, changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord and worshiped.

[35:01] It's an amazing response. As soon as he hears that his baby has died, he immediately cleans himself up and goes into the presence of God for worship.

[35:15] God's heart. That's quite opposite of how we typically respond to the Lord, isn't it? Especially when we understand that what we're dealing with is a consequence of our own sin.

[35:26] Maybe we don't really want to acknowledge that, but deep down we understand that maybe is why we're dealing with whatever it is we're dealing with. And instead of running to God in worship, we push against him.

[35:37] Maybe get embittered towards him. That's not David's heart. Now look at everything that David is going to deal with. He's just lost his baby son. He's been told that the sword is never going to leave his house, that his wives are going to be given to somebody else.

[35:52] And yet when this baby boy dies, what does he do? He doesn't run away from God. He runs to him. He cleans himself up and he goes to worship and praise this God.

[36:05] This is the heart of the true believer when facing the chastening of the Lord. I believe that with all my heart. I remember times with the girls. This isn't a great litmus test all the time, but I was always having the back of my mind in moments of discipline with them that how they respond to my discipline says a lot about how I discipline them.

[36:28] Not so much in the severity of the discipline, but in what was my heart demonstrating to them in that moment. I remember times of sitting down with Ashlyn, especially, but even Harper too.

[36:40] I remember sitting down and having severe discipline with Ashlyn. As soon as that discipline, that moment of discipline is over, I can remember moments where she would immediately embrace me.

[36:51] Instead of running away from me, instead of throwing herself on her bed or instead of running to Julie, she would immediately embrace me. Our hearts were united in that moment. She realized she had done wrong.

[37:02] She realized that she was being punished for what she had done and that I was the instrument of that punishment, but because of our relationship with one another, in that punishment, she embraced me. That's the picture that we see with David here.

[37:15] He understood his sin. He understood that God was going to judge his sin and he understood that the judgment was severe, yet he didn't run away from him. He embraced him.

[37:26] He embraced him in that moment. Have a walk with God that is so sweet and intimate that in the moments of trial, in the moments when you know and acknowledge that this is God's doing in my life, that instead of running from him, you embrace him in worship.

[37:45] Eleven years, 13 years actually total in pastoral ministry. I don't know how many times people have gone through difficulties in their life and their first response is to back away from worship.

[37:57] They stop attending church faithfully. They stop serving the Lord in whatever way they were serving. They stop doing all the things that at one point in the times of joy they were doing.

[38:07] That is not the heart of a genuine Christian. The heart of somebody that's truly walking with Christ is even in difficulty. I'm coming closer to God. That should be our heart as well.

[38:21] Charles Spurgeon, I know I've been quoting him a lot lately, but he said, I've learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages. We'll deal with a lot in our lives and a lot of it will be our own fault.

[38:37] But learn to kiss the wave that throws you against the rock of ages. Thirdly, David moved forward in God's grace. Look at verse 20 again, the second half of it.

[38:49] After he worshipped, then he came to his own house and when he required, they set bread before him and he did eat. I can't even begin to imagine the sorrow that comes from losing a child.

[39:05] Maybe some of you have felt that, you know that. I don't know what that's like. I can't imagine what that's like. That's not something anyone can move on from as if to forget it and never feel the effects of its grief again.

[39:23] David would never move on from this moment, but he would move forward and I think there's a difference. He wasn't forgetting about what had happened. He was taking the lesson he was learning and he was intent on teaching it to others.

[39:38] But he did not allow his grief to overwhelm his life. We should never try to forget the lessons that God teaches in his chastening. Neither should we allow the failures of the past to paralyze our ability to move forward for God's glory.

[39:58] The child dies, David worships, and then he ate. For seven days he wouldn't eat food. Nobody could convince him to do it. He comes back from the house of God. I know it's a simple thing, but I think it's just a sign.

[40:11] David was moving forward. Not moving on, he was moving forward. Don't allow the difficulties of your past to paralyze you now. Learn the lesson and glorify the Lord in it in a change of life.

[40:26] Fourthly, set your mind on eternity. Look at verse 23. But now he is dead, David said.

[40:38] Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? Clearly the answer to that is no. So David says, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

[40:49] This verse has been a constant comfort for Christians through the ages. When you realize the implications of original sin like we covered it last week in Psalm 51, you can't help but wonder what does happen to young children who pass away even before having an ability to understand the gospel.

[41:13] David's perspective of eternity helps us here. It helps us have an answer for that. He acknowledged that the child could not come back to him but that he would one day go to the child.

[41:27] This is not just a general reference to death. There would be no reason for David to say this in such a hopeful way. He's responding in hope to these servants. But you can understand that hopefulness as he keeps his eyes on eternity.

[41:42] And he says, the child cannot come back to me. I can't bring him back to life but I will see him again. And sometimes we wonder that. What does happen to kids? Well, all of us are saved by grace.

[41:55] And we believe according to the Bible this being a clear verse that we lean on. That children who are unable to comprehend the gospel are safe in God's grace.

[42:09] David understood that. But this is more than just David acknowledging that he wants to go to the child. There's more to this. He's got his eyes set on eternity because not only will he see the child again but there will come a day when he is finally made free from the presence of this sin in his life.

[42:28] All of this pain, all of these consequences, one day it's all going to go away. What will help us in those times of difficulty in our life? Keeping our eyes set on eternity. This is just temporary.

[42:40] One day this will all be over. Revelation 21 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more.

[42:51] Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.

[43:03] Also he said, Write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. Why do we keep our eyes set on eternity? Because in eternity we will be rid of the sinful flesh and the consequences and the pain and the death and the sorrow that comes along with it.

[43:20] So we keep our eyes on eternity and we rejoice and we await the coming of our Savior for he will come again and we will forever be with the Lord, the Bible tells us.

[43:32] Finally, we see the return of God's blessing just quickly in verses 24 and 25. David comforted Bathsheba his wife and went in unto her and lay with her and she bare a son and he called his name Solomon and the Lord loved him and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet and he called his name Jedidiah because of the Lord.

[43:57] For the believer, God's blessing is as certain as his chastening. Because we understand the nature of God's holiness, we can be certain that he will chasten our sin.

[44:10] But because we understand and know God's grace, we can be just as certain that he will again return his blessing. That's the whole point of the chastening.

[44:23] He corrects us in order that he might once again bless us and this is why Christians can look at the correcting nature of God and see it as a sign of his mercy.

[44:34] Because it is through that correction that he once again blesses us. Here's one of the amazing things about God's grace is that he can redeem our very failures. Think about this.

[44:47] He has a way of taking our sinful deeds and using their results for his own glory. I want you to think about what's happening here in this passage. David rebels against the Lord and he sins against him and he faces severe consequences for that sin.

[45:06] The child that died never got a name. He died on the seventh day. The eighth day was the customary day for Jews to circumcise young boys and that would be the day that they would be named.

[45:17] That child never even got a name. This child that God blesses David with though has two names. David and Bathsheba give him the name Solomon which means peace. It was David's acknowledgement and his own testimony that I am at peace with God.

[45:32] He sensed that peace with the Lord. Despite his consequences he knew he was at peace with the Lord. But then God in his love sends Nathan back to David. This time it's not with a message of judgment.

[45:43] This time God gives Solomon his own name and it's the name Jedediah. That name means beloved of the Lord. And here's what's awesome about this. It would be Jedediah Solomon.

[45:55] It would be his line through which God would one day bring the Messiah Jesus Christ. Now think about that. Solomon's life was the result of an adulterous relationship between David and Bathsheba that resulted in murder.

[46:15] And now because of the greatness of God's love and grace and mercy it is Solomon whose line would now bring forth the Messiah.

[46:25] It is Solomon who would be set up as a fantastic king for Israel at least until his own sin. Who would amass this wisdom and amass this wealth and who would glorify the Lord at least as a nation.

[46:38] That is what God ends up doing with David's sin. He turns the consequences around for his own glory and God will do that with you too. We can trust that just as the Lord will chasten us he will also return his blessing to our lives for all of those who will faithfully follow him.

[46:58] His chastening is grievous but he always works for his own glory and our good. And what a blessing it is to know that he will redeem our wrong with such grace.

[47:11] There's a song called The Perfect Wisdom of Our God and the last stanza says this each strand of sorrow has a place within this tapestry of grace.

[47:25] So through the trials I choose to say your perfect will in your perfect way. You may be going through a season of difficulty right now maybe even a season of judgment.

[47:38] Can I tell you that your life is not all about this season. It's a strand of sorrow in this great tapestry of grace that God is weaving in your life.

[47:51] And as a believer no matter what your circumstance you can truly say your perfect will in your perfect way Lord. If that means sorrow your perfect will in your perfect way.

[48:04] If that means correction your perfect will in your perfect way. Why? Because all of God's work is for his glory and our good. There's a lot that we learn from this whole story.

[48:16] There's a lot we learn about sin about our own nature. There's a lot we learn about consequences. But we close our study rejoicing as once again we acknowledge God's redeeming grace and we look ahead to eternity in his presence.

[48:37] What's the biggest thing that we should take away from this? That God is good. That God is good. We are not but he surely is. Thank you for listening to this sermon made available by Lakeside Bible Church.

[48:51] Feel free to share it wherever you'd like. Please do not charge for it or alter it in any way without express written consent from Lakeside Bible Church. Don't forget to visit us online at lakesidebible.church or find us on Facebook and Instagram by searching for Lakeside Bible NC.

[49:08] If you live in the Charlotte or Lake Norman area we'd love for you to attend one of our worship services. We meet every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. We'd love to meet you.NINGNING