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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.
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.
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.
God, in his wonderful grace, forgives us, forgives the penitent sinner.
But God, in his holy government, must still judge sin.
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.
The Bible clearly teaches that all of us are guilty before God, and we all deserve an eternal death.
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.
We also read in the Bible where the clear, deserving nature of our sin is eternal death.
And Romans chapter 6 helps us there.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
We will live forever.
Those who believe and follow Jesus Christ receive eternal life.
But those who do not are sentenced to eternal death.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Believers and unbelievers alike have great, strong friendships,
strong marriages.
We experience love.
We experience all kinds of blessings in this life.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The consequences of David's sin was severe,
but he didn't receive anything
that he had not himself done to others.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I have done this thing.
I will judge this sin.
He was in complete control
of everything taking place in this text.
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.
Now God's chastening is difficult,
and sometimes severe,
but it is always, always done
for the purpose of the good of his people.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Secondly, God is never pleased by sin.
He does not commit sin
and he does not entice us to sin.
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.
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.
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.
Think of Lamentations chapter three in verse 37.
Who has spoken and came to pass
unless the Lord has commanded it?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Four things here
that David does.
The first one is this,
pray, fast, and grieve.
Pray, fast, and grieve.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fourthly,
set your mind
on eternity.
Look at verse 23.
But now he is dead,
David said.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
One day
this will all
be over.
Revelation 21
He will wipe away
every tear
from their eyes.
Death shall be
no more.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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share it
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