It is a sad
and sordid account recorded in 2 Samuel 11-12.
In the
spring of the year when kings went to war, David sent his army off to risk life
and limb, which he remained safe and comfortable.
One evening,
looking around from the top of his palace, he saw a beautiful woman bathing.
She was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was one of David’s
soldiers away at war. Apparently, David liked what he saw. He sent servants to
get her for him. He had sex with her. (He’s the king! Who could say no?)
As far as
David was concerned all was well and good. But then he got a message from
Uriah’s wife. “I’m pregnant.”
Things went
from bad to worse as David made some more terrible decisions. He sent for
Uriah, brought him home from the war thinking that if Uriah had sex with his
wife, he might not know he was not the father. But when Uriah came, he made his
report to David, but when David told him to go home to his wife, he wouldn’t
go. He said, “My brothers are at war!” (So noble!) “The Ark of the Covenant is
on the field of battle!” (So pious!) So, he slept in the servants’ quarters.
But David
was not a quitter. He had Uriah come to dinner … and he got him drunk and sent
him home hoping nature would take its course. But Uriah slept among the
servants again.
So David
sent Uriah back to the war with a special message for his general. Unbeknownst
to Uriah the message ordered that he be placed in the worst part of the battle,
and when the fighting was at its fiercest … abandon him to die.
And that’s
what happened. (Do you think any other Israelites died or were wounded because
of these orders?)
So, David
covered up his sin. Sure, Bathsheba mourned Uriah, but King David, ever so
generous and kind, took her in and married her. And to many, it looked like
their magnanimous leader was providing for this widow of war.
Did I say
that David covered his sin? I should have said He thought he had covered it up.
The LORD knew and He considered what David had done to be evil. Do you agree?
So God sent
a prophet named Nathan to David. Nathan told David a story of a cruel rich man
who oppressed his poor neighbor. It was a story of a stolen and killed lamb
designed to enrage this former shepherd.
When David
heard the story, he declared, “That man deserves to die!” To which Nathan
replied, “You are the man!” And he laid our David’s sin, stroke by stroke, deed
by deed, and left David utterly defeated.
David knew …
he knew he had sinned – as surely as the sun rises and the moon moves through
its phases, David was a real sinner. Perhaps you have been there, too, to that
place where you are convicted and driven to that awful moment when your sin is
horribly obvious to you, and maybe to others, too. Oh, the shame, the fear, the
sorrow … and the remorse … that often comes when we know we are real sinners.
But I’m
getting ahead of myself. That was not the end of the story. Hear what Nathan
said to David after this: “The LORD has taken away your sin.”
“The LORD
has taken away your sin.”
He says the
same to you. That is the message of the cross. Jesus takes away your sin,
places it upon himself and allows himself to be nailed there with your sins to
die bearing their weight so that you might live in His forgiveness.
It is
tempting to look at our sin – the lies, the secret glances, the unloving
thoughts, the selfish desires – and think they are small things. Don’t do that.
You might compare yourself to David and think, “Well, at least I never …” Fine,
but don’t imagine that your sin is small, insignificant or less real than
David’s.
Let your sin
be real sin. Because Jesus brings forgiveness for real sinners. In fact, the
Bible teaches that the only thing that can truly cover sin is blood, and the
blood of Jesus cleanses you from all unrighteousness. It brings real
forgiveness for real sinners.
The
experience of knowing our sin can be awful. The word of forgiveness can be like
water to a person dying from thirst. But that doesn’t mean the experience of
forgiveness will leave you unchanged.
After David
was caught in this sin and forgiven, he wrote a poem. We know it as Psalm 51.
It begins this way:
Have mercy
on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
We’re going
to spend time during our midweek services meditating on Psalm 51, looking at it
a section at a time.
For tonight,
let’s hear the words of man broken by his sin – a real sinner – and remember
God’s answer to him, and let’s make his words our own as we confess our real
sin and hear what God says to us.
Have mercy
on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
In the stead
and by the command of my Lord Jesus, I forgive you for all your sins – real
forgiveness for real sinners – in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Comments