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The section of Scripture that is before us now and will be the focus of our study for the next six Sundays that I'm preaching at least
is set within the context of war.
Chapter 10 through 12 of 2 Samuel actually are bound together by an ongoing war between the nation of Israel
and the kingdom of Ammon or the Ammonites.
In fact, you've got your Bibles open there.
Just look at the end of chapter 10 at verse 14.
This kind of summarizes where we are as we jump into chapter 11.
It says,
When we get to chapter 11 in verse number 1,
we find that springtime is now upon them and it's time to go back to war.
So they resume this battle in the city of Rabba against the Ammonites.
All of the personnel of Israel's primary army have gone out once again in chapter 11 to battle the Ammonites.
Everyone that is except for King David.
In chapter 10, David is involved in the fighting.
In fact, the last four verses or five verses of chapter 10 are a telling of David's part of the battle,
whereas Joab was leading the battle against the Ammonites.
Now we get to chapter 11.
They've had their respite from war.
Everyone goes back to the battlefield except for David.
And it's the absence of King David that gives rise to the story that makes up almost all of chapters 11 and 12.
By the time we get to the end of chapter 12, we see the conclusion of this war.
And so it's set within that context.
It begins with war and it ends with war.
And right in the middle of it, the writer of the books of 1 and 2 Samuel pauses to ignore what's happening with the Ammonites
and zeroes in on something that happens with David.
The verses contain and communicate what is one of the most tragic and scandalous events in biblical history,
especially as it relates to the true worshipers of God, believers.
It describes the disastrous fall of one of the great heroes of the faith.
And it serves as a warning for us as believers of the potential that lies within us to fall into extreme sin.
And it shows us the devastating consequences of that sin,
even for one who's standing judicially before the God of heaven is one of forgiveness.
There are still consequences for what we do.
And it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle,
that David sent Joab and his servants with him in all Israel.
And they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah.
But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
And it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed,
walked upon the roof of the king's house,
and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself.
And the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
And David sent and inquired after the woman.
And one said,
Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
And David sent messengers and took her.
And she came in unto him, and he lay with her.
For she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house.
And the woman conceived and sent and told David and said,
I am with child.
Every time we study the Bible,
it's helpful to be reminded of its divine inspiration.
That is, that what we have in the scripture
is the perfect, inerrant word of God
given to us for a very specific reason.
Now, if you think about it,
there are millions and millions of people
and millions and millions of stories throughout history
that God could have chosen to include in the scriptures
as a part of his divine revelation to us.
But his infinite wisdom chose and orchestrated the inclusion
of what we have now in what we call the Bible.
Of all the things that God could have told us,
this is what he has determined was necessary for us to know.
And for us to know him.
And for us to know what is necessary for us
to be led ultimately to Christ and to salvation.
So in our study of the Bible,
whether it be our personal study
or whether it be our study as a church together
on Sundays or in another time,
it's helpful to always ask ourselves,
why did God choose to tell me this?
How does this fit within his divine purpose of revelation?
What is it that God is trying to reveal to us
in whatever passage we may be studying at the time?
And that's exactly the question
that is needful for us to ask now.
Of all the things that God could have included about David,
and there's a lot that he has included about David
in the scripture,
but of all the things,
why this?
Why this story?
There's no real theological teaching here.
Remember, the theological teaching that we find
comes from outside of the chapter.
It's just a story,
and it's not a good one.
It's a terrible story.
Yet God chose,
for a specific reason,
to give this to us,
to help us know him,
to help us understand his purposes.
This chapter is so much more
than a historical narrative
that is simply moving the story of Israel along.
It's not here by chance.
It reveals to us, once again,
the perfect holiness of God
as it is set against the depravity
and wickedness of man's heart.
As celebrated as David is in the scriptures even,
and as celebrated as he is
within both Jewish and Christian communities,
he was a deeply flawed man.
And like the rest of us,
he had a wicked heart,
that fell far short of the glory
that God demands that we give.
So no matter how much we champion the life of David,
he was utterly incapable of being
what we desperately need in a champion.
So what is the purpose of stories like this?
Is it just to move the history along?
No, it can't be that.
God's gotta have more of a purpose than that.
Is it to reveal to us the dangers of sin
and the consequences of sin?
It absolutely is that.
But ultimately, what this chapter does
is it subtly points us to Christ.
Where David was lacking, Christ made up.
The Bible goes to great lengths to tarnish
and expose all the men that we love,
except for one.
Because there was nothing there to tarnish.
There was nothing there to accuse.
He was perfect.
The perfect son of God
that came in order that we might be forgiven
of the sins that we commit,
similar to David and Moses and Abraham and so on.
Well, before we explore the narrative,
I wanna point out the fact
that the writer never comments
on the thoughts and reasonings
of the people involved in this story.
Did you notice that as we read through it?
There's no place in the scripture
where David's thoughts and Bathsheba's thoughts
and Joab's thoughts are really demonstrated in any way.
We have no idea what they were feeling.
We have no idea what they were thinking.
All we see is action.
With one small exception in the words of Uriah to the king,
there's no reasoning at all given
for why each person did what they did in this story.
Dale Ralph Davis wrote a really fantastic commentary
on both 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.
In fact, I would even encourage you to purchase it.
I think I got it for maybe $10 or less.
And I think that it would be a help to you
if you wanted to study these books further.
And I can give you that information later.
But he gave a really helpful literary note on this.
Here's what he said.
The writer's most apparent restraint
lies in his utter silence
regarding the feelings of his characters.
He does not clarify whether Bathsheba was baiting David
nor whether she considered the fling with the king in honor.
We do not and we cannot know.
The writer offers no help on this.
He doesn't even indicate how Joab felt
about David's plan to kill Uriah.
He carried it out and maybe even improved upon it.
But whether he felt shock or smug satisfaction
or something else, we are not told.
And then he says,
The writer seems to silence all feelings
in order to isolate David's actions.
The writer silences all feelings in this chapter
in order to isolate David's actions.
But why would he do that?
Why wouldn't he fill in this story?
Why wouldn't he fill in the gaps?
And I think the reason for excluding
any reasoning on the part of the people involved
emphasizes the fact that reasons and feelings
are irrelevant.
It doesn't matter how you feel
when it comes to the way that you behave.
It doesn't matter the reasons that you may would give
to try to justify the wrongdoing of your life.
At the end of the day,
your feelings and your reasonings are irrelevant.
At the end of the day,
what matters is this is what God has said
and this is what you have done
and you have violated the law of God
and therefore you stand guilty before God,
no matter how much you insist
on justifying your own behavior.
And so we don't find any feelings.
We only find action.
Well, let's look closely at the narrative
and just take a few minutes here
on these first five verses.
When we first study these five verses,
I think the most proper place for us to begin
is understanding sin's beginnings
and the origination of sin.
How was it that David was able to fall
so quickly in this sin?
Well, sin is conceived at the convergence
of desire and opportunity.
Sin is conceived.
It takes place at the moment that our desire
and an opportunity converge together
in a single moment
and we act upon that opportunity
and upon our desires.
James, the half-brother of Jesus,
said it this way in his letter in chapter one.
Each person is tempted
when he is lured away
and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire, when it has conceived,
gives birth to sin
and sin, when it is fully grown,
brings forth death.
So sin is committed
whenever we act upon an opportunity
to fulfill our own fleshly desires.
It's a daily battle of both the mind and the will.
For desire originates in the mind first
and opportunity is then seized by the will.
Let me explain that scripturally for just a moment.
Mind, heart, will.
That's the progression
to the origination of sin in our life.
The first thing is the battle of the mind.
Look at, or don't look at it,
I'll just read it to you.
You can write down the reference if you want.
2 Corinthians chapter 10.
Paul writes to the Corinthians and he says this,
the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh
but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
We destroy arguments
and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God
and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
In other words, the beginning stages of sin
start with the battle of the mind.
Those things that exalt themselves
against the knowledge of God, Paul says,
those are the things that in spiritual warfare
we are trying to pull down,
whether that be disbelief,
whether that be false doctrine,
whether it be the temptation to sin,
all of it begins in the mind
and we must take captive every thought
to the obedience of Jesus Christ.
Well, how do we do that?
We do that with the word of God
through the spirit of God.
Remember, Paul wrote about the battle armor
of the Christian believer
and he goes through all the different facets of our armor
and then he gets to the end
and he gives the only offensive weapon.
The only offensive weapon is the sword of the spirit
which is the word of God.
Well, how do we fight off
and win this battle of the mind against sin?
With the word of God.
And as we commit ourselves to the study
and the obedience of the word of God,
the Holy Spirit himself, God himself,
enlightens our minds, enlightens our understanding
and gives us wisdom in order that we may obey
what it is that we've read.
And whenever we refuse to study the word of God,
when we do not commit ourselves to the faithful study,
we then are susceptible to the reasonings
and the arguments that may pop into our minds
about false doctrines, the reasons
and the arguments that would pop into our minds
that would point us towards sin.
And because we have not exalted the truth of God,
we will end up exalting the things
that exalt themselves against the truth of God.
So Paul says all of this begins in the mind.
If you want to win the battle over sin,
it starts with your mind and then it moves to the heart.
It moves to the heart.
Think about this from Jeremiah 17, 9.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
desperately wicked.
Who can know it?
We speak of the heart in our idioms these days
as the seat of emotion.
It is the place of feeling, the place of desire.
So as we exalt thoughts that exalt themselves
against the truth of God,
those things make their way into desire
and into the lust of our hearts.
And then Jeremiah reminds us
that we can't trust our hearts.
We hear phrases every now and then,
it bothers me.
My girls like Disney stuff like every other girl does
and they enjoy all of these things.
And I'm all about empowering my girls
to be strong women.
And we took some time this week
to study together as a family Proverbs 31
because I want my girls to understand
this is what a true,
true empowered godly woman is.
And we went through that description together.
The last thing I want them to do
is buy the lie that says follow your heart.
Or just look into your heart.
Because God's word says that our heart
is wicked, desperately so.
Who can know it?
And what resounds in our hearts,
that is the heart of flesh,
are those thoughts that we have reasoned together
against the knowledge of God
and it only leads us to sin.
And that's when we get to the part of the will.
Romans chapter six helps us here
where Paul writes and says,
let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body
to make you obey its passions.
Do not present your members to sin
as instruments of unrighteousness
but present yourselves to God
as those who have been brought from death to life
and your members to God
as instruments of righteousness.
Did you catch that in that phrase?
In fact, you could read all of Romans chapter six
and here's what the bottom line of that chapter is.
We sin by choice, not by force.
Every time you fall
and you do something against the law of God,
it is because you have chosen to do so.
You are responsible for your sin.
You are culpable for your sin.
Therefore, you are responsible and culpable
for the consequences of that sin.
So Paul says, don't let sin reign in your body
but rather exercise your will to choose righteousness
as opposed to wickedness.
And fortunately, God in his grace offers his people
an escape hatch in every temptation.
And again, Paul writing to the Corinthians,
first Corinthians chapter 10 this time,
says no temptation has overtaken you
that is not common to man,
but God is faithful
and he will not let you be tempted
beyond your ability.
But with the temptation,
he will also provide the way of escape
that you may be able to bear it.
God provides this escape hatch
for each one of us in every temptation,
but it's up to us to take the escape.
Now I want you to consider
all of the moments and opportunities of escape
that David had in this story.
Look first at verse one.
We've talked about it a lot already.
We won't spend a lot of time on it now.
But the first escape hatch was the fact
that he should have never been at home to begin with.
He tarried still at Jerusalem, we're told.
It seems innocent.
I mean, surely after everything that David has done,
at this point, he's probably reaching 50 years old or so.
We've seen the way that God has used him.
We've seen the battles that he's fought.
Surely he has earned a little extra vacation from battle,
but we know he didn't need it.
He just had several months of vacation from battle.
It seems innocent.
Maybe it's not that big a deal,
but as you see the story unfold,
you realize that was actually a big deal.
The first thing was he should have never been there.
He abdicated his responsibility in this moment.
A little bit of laziness,
a little bit of slumber cost him dearly in the long run,
but it was an escape hatch.
He didn't have to be there.
Look at verse two.
It came to pass late one evening that David arose from off his bed,
and he walked upon the roof of the king's house.
And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing herself.
My brother and my dad have shown me pictures of what's known in Jerusalem as the city of David.
It's a section of Jerusalem,
and there's still ruins of David's palace there.
And they've shown me pictures of how you could be in the palace.
It's up on a hill,
and the places around it are very close,
but they're down.
So it'd be very easy to stand on the roof of the king's palace
and be able to see everything that's going on with the subjects below you.
You could see right into their homes.
You could see right into their backyards.
And what's happening here is,
we would assume,
is Bathsheba's probably in the courtyard of her home.
And David walks out on the roof,
and he's observing what's going on among the people that are still left there in Jerusalem.
And as he looks down,
he sees Bathsheba taking a bath.
But here's the thing.
In verse number two,
he had to walk up the stairs to the roof.
Here's the escape hatch.
The same stairs that went up to the roof
left the roof.
What would have been best for David in that moment
is after seeing Bathsheba,
to shield himself
and to immediately exit
the same way that he entered onto the roof.
But instead of exiting,
instead of taking the escape hatch,
he gawked over Bathsheba.
He fantasized over Bathsheba,
and he developed in his heart
this desire for her.
And he chose the desire
rather than choosing the righteous thing
of just going back down into the palace
and purifying his mind.
And then we get to verse three.
David sent and inquired after the woman.
And God does something unique here,
something very helpful.
Would have been.
He gave a word of reminder to David
before he has an opportunity to act.
God puts a voice in David's life.
We have no idea who this person is.
Probably just a servant
in the household of the palace.
Puts a voice.
And here's what the voice says.
Is not this Bathsheba,
the daughter of Eliam,
and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
God does that for us a lot, doesn't he?
We're going through moments of temptation.
We begin to follow down this path of temptation.
And then God puts a voice.
Most often that voice is the word of God.
Sometimes it may be a sermon on a Sunday
or a scripture reading.
Sometimes it may be through our personal devotion.
Sometimes it may be a friend
that just cares about us and loves us
and is reaching into our lives
to try to disciple us in a moment.
But God is so gracious to sometimes put voices around us
that will say,
hey, is that not Bathsheba?
This was no stranger to David.
Eliam, her father, was one of David's mighty men.
So was Uriah, her husband.
They had fought shoulder to shoulder with David
probably from even before
when Saul was still reigning in Israel.
When David was on the run,
they were fighting shoulder to shoulder.
This was not a stranger in Jerusalem.
This wasn't a random person.
David very well could have been at their wedding.
And here he is looking at the houses
that are closest to the king's palace,
those who he wanted to keep closest to him.
He knows these people and he looks over
and he sees Bathsheba
who no doubt he's probably fantasized about
in his mind before
and he sends to inquire
and then God puts a voice there
and says, David, isn't this Bathsheba?
This is your friend's daughter.
This is your friend's husband.
And he's faced with another choice there in that moment.
Yes, then what am I doing?
And he could have easily stopped every intention,
went to a place of prayer,
repented and got out to the battlefield,
but that's not what David did.
What'd he do?
Verse four.
He sent the messengers.
He ignored the voice
and he took her
and she came in unto him
and he laid with her.
For she was purified from her uncleanness.
That's just a statement to the bathing
that she was doing
was a ritualistic bathing
after her menstruation,
proving that there was only one person
that this baby could have belonged to
because her husband wasn't there
and she returned to her house.
David refused to take the divine escape routes
and he sent for Bathsheba
in order that his lust might be fulfilled
in what he probably assumed
would be a secret one-night stand.
Verse four is all action on David's part.
There's no reasoning.
He saw.
He sent.
He took.
He lay.
Action verb after action verb.
And he thought it would just be an exciting fling
while everyone else was on the battlefield.
But it turned to a nightmare
because now the king of Egypt,
not of Egypt,
the king of Israel,
the shepherd of Israel,
had now impregnated
one of his good friend's wives.
And she simply sends word and says,
I'm with child.
I don't want to take too much time here,
but I don't think that we can look at this passage
without addressing the issue of adultery
and the warning that's here.
This is a sobering passage
because it's so contemporary.
Alistair Begg said it this way,
the contemporary nature of what is conveyed here
is not simply tolerated in our culture.
It's celebrated.
And unfortunately,
the wicked view of marital fidelity
has infiltrated the church.
Statistics are alarming
about the rate of Christian divorces
that are a direct result of infidelity.
A 2014 study stated
that 54% of Christian men
regularly view pornography,
which is just another form of adultery.
And if you don't have a spouse,
it's just another form of fornication.
Impurity.
Some try to circumvent
the law of fidelity
by just simply cohabitating
with various sexual partners.
It's sin.
It's not right.
There's no love in this story.
There's no love in this scene.
Again,
Dale Davis says,
there's nothing but action.
There's no conversation.
There's no hint of caring
or affection,
of love,
only lust.
David does not call her by name.
He does not even speak to her.
At the end of the encounter,
she is only the woman
in verse five.
And the verb that finally counts
is conceived.
But the telling verb
is he took her.
Love has nothing to do with this scene.
Adultery never does.
Because adultery does not result
from true love
no matter how insistent
one may be
when attempting to justify their sin.
Love comes from God alone.
And it's impossible
for true love
to give way
to sinful behavior.
Adultery is the result
of the drunkenness of lust.
And to make anything less of it
is to utterly reject God's truth
and sink into the depths
of human depravity.
And those who commit adultery
don't normally find themselves
following it up with murder
as David did.
But that doesn't make
the adultery itself
any less serious.
So how do we fight
this battle of the mind
and this battle of the heart
and this battle of the will
as it relates to
the sin of adultery?
Let me just give you
a few verses.
The battle of the mind
you guard what you see
what you watch
the thoughts that you entertain.
Remember Philippians 4.8
Whatsoever is true
and just
and faithful
and right
and pure
think on
these things
Paul says
the battle of the mind
in this way
has everything to do
with what you put on the TV
and what you allow
on the computer
and how you allow your mind
to entertain
various things in your life.
Think on what is true
and right
and good
and faithful
and godly
win that battle of the mind.
But then there's
the battle of the heart.
Colossians chapter 3
helps us here.
Here's what Paul writes
to the church at Colossae.
If ye then be risen with Christ
seek those things
which are above
where Christ sits
on the right hand of God.
And then he says
verse 2
set your affection
on things above.
What's the things above?
Christ
is the things above.
Godliness
righteousness
truth
set your affection
your heart
your desire
desire after God
for you are dead
and your life
is hid with Christ
and God
and when Christ
who is our life
shall appear
then shall ye also
appear with him
in glory.
mortify
put to death
therefore
your members
which are upon the earth
fornication
uncleanness
inordinate affection
evil concupiscence
and covetousness
which is idolatry
for which things sake
the wrath of God
comes
on those
who disobey.
What's the battle
of the heart about?
It's about setting
your affection
on what is
Christ like
and what is true
not on what
your heart
tells you
it wants
the most
and then there's
the battle
of the will
in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4
and verse 4
or verse 3
this is the will
of God
even your
sanctification
that you should
abstain
from fornication
that every one
of you should know
how to possess
his vessel
in sanctification
and honor
not in the lust
of concupiscence
even as the Gentiles
which know not God
it's the battle
of the will.
He doesn't say
that there's some
type of magic formula
that comes
he just says
don't do it
abstain
just say
no
this story
is a sobering
acknowledgement
of the potential
for incredible sin
even in the life
of a believer
David wasn't
a lost man
he was a man
after God's own heart
it was through
David
and his seed
that God
was going to
bring the Messiah
this is significant
this is a significant
believer
a worshiper
of God
and it's a reminder
to us
that the best
of men
are men
at best
and we might
have expected
a story like this
to be
connected
with Saul
or one of the other
blatantly wicked
kings in Israel
but we would never
have assumed
that David
would have done this
and that's just
the adultery part
let alone
the murder
and the deception
it reminds us
that we are
just as
susceptible
to falling
as David
and it's a fitting
warning to all of us
in fact the Bible
warns us often
about this
1 Corinthians 10
let anyone
who thinks he stands
take heed
lest he fall
Proverbs 16
pride goes before
destruction
a haughty spirit
before a fall
you think
I would never
do that
think again
you don't know
the depths
of your own
depravity
Galatians 6
brothers
if anyone
is caught
in a transgression
you who are
spiritual
restore him
in a spirit
of gentleness
gentleness
is the operative
word
not heavy
handedly
why
because we are
to keep watch
on ourselves
lest we also
be tempted
and when we're
tempted and fall
we don't want
heavy handedness
we want mercy
and grace
and then we think
of others
in the New Testament
think about Demas
Demas was a
companion of Paul
he was a faithful
minister of the gospel
but when Paul
writes to Timothy
in 2 Timothy
chapter 4
at the end of his life
he says Demas
has forsaken me
having loved
this present world
a man who traveled
side by side
with the apostle Paul
and now he's
forsaken him
don't think that
it wouldn't happen
to you
it's much more
than a history lesson
it's a divine
warning
that we can all
fall deeply
into sin
so stay watchful
Robert Robinson
was born to
a very poor
family in Norfolk
England
1735
when he was
14 years old
his mom
sent him
to London
to follow
a barbary
trade
he was going
to be a barber
and while he
was there
he got caught
up in a gang
of delinquents
and really just
lived a life
of debauchery
when he was
17 years old
he and his
group of friends
decided that they
were going to go
to a meeting
where George
Whitfield was
preaching
and if you've
ever studied
anything about
George Whitfield
you know that
he was a very
evangelistic preacher
he had these
open door
or open air
meetings where
he would stand
in a field
and he would
preach to all
of these people
and it was a
very evangelistic
preaching
lots of people
came to know
Christ through
the ministry
of George
Whitfield
well they
went there
not to hear
the preaching
of George
Whitfield
they went
there to
on his own
quote
scoff at the
poor deluded
Methodist
is what they
went there
to do
and he didn't
get saved
that day
but there
was a phrase
that George
Whitfield
kept repeating
and it stayed
with Robert
Robinson
after the fact
it was
the wrath
to come
the wrath
to come
the wrath
to come
and he
couldn't
shake that
thought
out of his
mind
so that
a few days
later
he ended up
subsequently
coming to
Christ
and trusting
the Lord
and he even
became a pastor
and a very well
known theologian
at the time
in 1758
he wrote
and published
a famous hymn
that we sing
here at our
church
in fact
I think
we're scheduled
to sing it
next Sunday
evening
Sunday even
come thou
fount of
every blessing
is the song
that he wrote
and the song
asserts the
confidence
and wonder
of the salvation
that only comes
through Jesus
Christ
it's filled
with excitement
and joy
and love
for the Lord
and for God's
grace
but the third
verse of that
hymn
clues us in
to the dangers
that we could
all fall into
you remember
in the third
verse
Robinson writes
prone to wonder
Lord I feel it
prone to leave
the God I love
and this verse
became somewhat
prophetic
in his life
because in his
later years
he returned
to the same
debauchery
that he was
guilty of
as an unsaved
teenager
living in London
and because
of that sinfulness
he began to
walk away
from the
orthodox
teaching
of the
Bible
even became
a Unitarian
at one point
denying
the Trinitarian
God
and as the
story goes
he was
one day
riding on a
shared stagecoach
late in his
life
and there was
another woman
that was in
the stagecoach
with him
and she was
reading through
a hymn book
and humming
the tunes
of the hymn book
and to break up
the monotony
of the ride
she starts
a conversation
with Robert
Robinson
and says
what do you
think about
the hymn
that I was
just singing
and as the
story goes
Robert Robinson
emotionally
responds
madam I am
the poor
unhappy man
who wrote
that hymn
many years
ago
and I would
give a
thousand
worlds
if I had
them
to enjoy
the feelings
I had
then
I would
give a
thousand
worlds
if I
had
them
to
enjoy
the
feelings
that I
had
then
I think
both King
David and
Robinson
would have
never gone
down their
respective
paths
had they
looked ahead
at the
devastation
it would
cause
and their
lives serve
as a warning
for us
if you want
to know
what comes
at the end
of sin
look to
these men
the
displeasure
of God
and the
consequences
of sin
are not
worth
a few
moments
of pleasure
so church
take
warning
David's
not our
champion
Jesus is
and the
best thing
about the
champion
that we
have in
Christ
is that
there's
forgiveness
and grace
no matter
what we
do
for all
who will
come
not trying
to justify
and make
excuses
and tell
God
exactly
well this
is what
happened
it's really
David's
fault
or it's
really
Bathsheba's
fault
or whatever
the mercy
doesn't
await those
people
the mercy
awaits
those who
come with
a humble
and contrite
spirit
and that's
available to
you today
if your
sin has
taken hold
of your
life
but it
will only
take
a contrite
spirit
and a
humility
seeking
forgiveness
acknowledging
your own
sin
that will
receive
that
mercy
and that
forgiveness
thank you
for listening
to this
sermon
made available
by Lakeside
Bible Church
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Bible Church
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