A Message For Those Who Have Messed Up Message 12 of 17: Ancient Paths Sermon Series

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Bernice Melton
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1 MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY NIGHT, NOVEMBER 4, 2008 CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister A Message For Those Who Have Messed Up Message 12 of 17: Ancient Paths Sermon Series Introduction Tonight s message is NOT for everyone..this message is NOT for those of you who have never made any mistakes or failed in any way...and this message is NOT for those of you who have never made any BAD CHOICES or TRAVELED down any REGRETTABLE paths in life. This message is just for those of who know the disappointment and heartache of failure. ************ Departing from the norm, let s begin tonight s ANCIENT PATHS message in the New Testament. READ ACTS 13:22 (L (Let s stop right here and ask God s blessings on our study of His Word tonight.) ****************

2 In our scripture text from ACTS 13:22 God refers to David as a man after His own heart. Many men have had great honors bestowed upon them by their fellow man, but there is no higher or more noble honor that can be bestowed upon a human being that to have God, his creator say, he is a man after My own heart. When God determines the value of a man, He doesn t look at the things we look at. We look at the outward man.. GOD looks at the inward man. *GOD is not impressed with our height, or our build or our outward appearance. He is NOT impressed with how much money we have or what we drive what we wear..or what kind of house we live in. -GOD is not impressed with our TITLES or our DEGREES or our POSITION in life. He is NOT impressed with our accomplishments, our achievements or our awards. God looks at one thing and one thing alone. And that is the condition of our heart. GOD said of David, He is a man after My own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. Well we know DAVID didn t always do everything GOD wanted him to do, did he? One of the refreshing things about God s Word is that God didn t try to hide the glaring weaknesses and terrible failures of the great men and women of the faith.

3 God puts the lives of these men and women of faith on display in the scriptures. He allows us to see these people at their very BEST and at their very WORST.. He lets us see their t monumental SUCCESSES as well as their monumental FAILURES. And even though GOD called David a man after His own heart God didn t hide the truth that DAVID was far from perfect and at times experienced monumental failure in his life. *************** If f you would, please turn in your Bibles to II SAMUEL 11. First, let s consider.. II. DAVID S CONCEALS HIS SIN II Samuel 11: Any time you study the fall of a Bible character, invariably you will find a number of mistakes the character made just prior to his or her fall. 2. As we look at these first four verses of II Samuel 11 in detail, we see David made four critical mistakes that led to his fall. MISTAKE NUMBER ONE: David Wasn t Doing What He Was Supposed to Be Doing. vs. 1 In the spring, at a t the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king s men and the whole Israelite army. In David s time, it was customary for the King to accompany his army into battle during the spring time each year. The primary reason for this was so that the King could provide strong leadership and moral support for his troops.

4 David should have been with his troops that spring, but he wasn t. He sent JOAB, his nephew and General of his army, in his place. Because David wasn t doing what he should have been doing he had time on his hands. And as the old saying goes, Idleness is the devil s workshop. THIS BRINGS US TO DAVID S SECOND MISTAKE. MISTAKE NUMBER TWO: David Wasn t Where He Was Supposed to Be David was supposed to be out on the battlefield with his troops, but verse 1 says, But David remained in Jerusalem. One can only wonder how much heartache David could have spared himself, had he gone with his troops rather than staying at home. How many people have messed up their lives because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time? MISTAKE NUMBER THREE: David Wanted Something He Wasn t Supposed to Have verses 2, 3a When we look at this scene we can t help but think of the tenth commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor s house. You shall not covet your neighbor s wife, or his man- servant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Remember that word covet means to crave or desire what belongs to another. I don t believe we are to get the impression here that Bathsheba was deliberately trying to attract David s attention. Since her soldier husband, Uriah, was off to war, Bathsheba would have believed that is where King David was too.

5 In all likelihood, Bathsheba was bathing discreetly behind a stone wall or a protective hedge. But because her house was in close proximity to the t King s palace, the tallest building in Jerusalem, David was in a position to infringe upon this woman s right to privacy. And observing her without her knowledge, David began to covet this wife of another man in his heart. MISTAKE NUMBER ONE: David Wasn t Doing What He Was Supposed to Be Doing MISTAKE NUMBER TWO: David Wasn t Where He Was Supposed to Be MISTAKE NUMBER THREE: David Wanted Something He Wasn t Supposed to Have This brings us to David s fourth mistake MISTAKE NUMBER FOUR: David Didn t Heed Counsel He Should Have Heeded verse 3b This servant wasn t playing a game of 21 Questions with King David. His questions were in the form of a stern WARNING! This servant was trying to protect King David from making a very tragic mistake. In essence what he was saying to David was, King, you re playing with fire! This woman is a married woman! You d better get off this dangerous path while you still can. But by this point, King David was so blinded by his sinful passions and desires, he didn t heed the wise counsel of this trusted servant.. 3. And verse 4 reveals the SINFUL outcome of all these mistakes David made. Then David sent s messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) ness.) Then she went back home.

6 4. Now let s just stop here for a moment and get a grasp on a vitally important scriptural truth. When we SIN, not only do we mess up our own lives, we mess up the lives of others people around us! SIN always, I repeat, always, has a ripple effect. Not only did DAVID S make a big mess out of his own life...david s sin also made a mess out of BATHSHEBA S life, In VERSE 5 we read the only words spoken by BATHSHEBA throughout this ugly mess. She sent word to David saying, I AM PREGNANT. This did more than create a social l predicament for Bathsheba, it actually put her life in grave danger. Because Hebrew law required that an adulteress be stoned to death.. David s sin also made a mess out of URIAH S life. While Uriah was off fighting a war, honorably defending his own country, his King was back home violating his marriage covenant with Bathsheba. In an attempt t to cover up his sin, David had Uriah brought home from the war with the hopes he would sleep with Bathsheba and no one would ever know about this adulterous relationship. Well Uriah came home to Jerusalem, but rather than going home to his wife, he chose to sleep on a mat outside David s palace. After this plot failed, David resorted to the UNTHINKABLE! David sent Uriah back to war with a sealed letter to General Joab. Uriah had no idea that letter were the orders for his own death. verse e 15 Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw w from him so he will be struck down and die.

7 6. Well JOAB carried out David s orders. And Uriah was killed in battle. 7. As Chapter 11 closes we find David attempting to tie up the final loose end on this BIG MESS his SIN had created. VERSES By bringing Bathsheba to live in his palace, DAVID portrayed himself to the Israelite public as a KIND, COMPASSIONATE man who was simply looking after the needs of this POOR, PREGNANT WIDOW whose husband has just been killed in battle. And now that URIAH is no longer around to talk, no one will ever know the baby BATHSHEBA was carrying was not fathered by her late husband, but rather by KING DAVID. 9. By this point DAVID is feeling pretty confident he has successfully CONCEALED HIS SIN. But notice the very last sentence in VERSE But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. 10. David had forgotten a stern warning written in the HEBREW Torrah. Numbers 32:23 Be sure your sin will find you out.

8 II. DAVID IS CONFRONTED WITH HIS SIN II SAMUEL 12:1a The Lord sent NATHAN to DAVID. 1. Nathan was a prophet of God who served King David and his son and successor, King Solomon. It was through NATHAN that the Lord decreed to King David to make preparations for the building of the original Temple in Jerusalem. This is recorded in II Samuel Now God has sent Nathan to confront David with his SIN. First of all, notice.. (A) NATHAN S PARABLE ABLE Rather than just coming right out and accusing David of having an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, Nathan tells David a story. READ II SAMUEL 12:1-7 To understand this parable it is only necessary to recognize that THE RICH MAN represented DAVID..THE POOR MAN represented URIAH..and the EWE LAMB represented BATHSHEBA. After hearing Nathan s parable, David said the Rich Man who had done this deserved to die, unwittingly pronouncing a death sentence upon himself. What do you suppose went through David s mind when Nathan said, You are the man! Personally, I believe there was a period of deafening silence.

9 Then in verses 7b-12 we see.. (B) NATHAN S PRONOUNCEMENT vs. 7b-12 In these verses Nathan spells out in very specific detail the consequences David would suffer as the result of his sin with Bathsheba. verse 10 The sword will never depart from your house Since Uriah was killed by an act of violence, the house of David would continuously be plagued by violence. These prophetic words pointed to the violent deaths of David s sons, AMNON, ABSALOM and ADONIJAH. verse 11 Out of your house I am going to bring calamity upon you. David had brought a terrible calamity upon the house of Uriah. Now his own household would be plagued with calamity. -In II Samuel 13 we read about David s son, AMNON raping his own sister, TAMAR. -Also in II Samuel 13 we read about David s son, ABSALOM murdering AMNON for raping TAMAR. -Then in II Samuel 15 we read about ABSALOM S rebellion against David in i an attempt to steal the throne from him. verse 11 Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Just as DAVID had lay with another man s wife in secret, now his wives would fall into the hands of another man. This was fulfilled in II Samuel 16 when ABSALOM lay with his father s concubines on the palace roof for all of Israel to see. 3. This T terrible sentence certainly punctuates the Apostle Paul s warning in Romans 6:23 For the wages of SIN is DEATH!

10 Finally we see.. III. DAVID CONFESSES HIS SIN verses 13,14 1. Here we have a brief version of David s confession. This confession is recorded in much greater detail in PSALM 51. Turn with me to that PSALM and let s read it together. PSALM 51: Here we see what is involved in TRUE REPENTANCE True repentance involves a CONFESSION OF THE SIN.. We see David do d that in VERSES 1,2 In verses True repentance also involves TAKING FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR SIN. You notice David does that in VERSES Not once does David point the finger of blame at Bathsheba for what happened that night. He assumes complete ownership of his sin. When one points the finger of blame at someone else for his or her sins, you can be sure they have not truly repented. True repentance involves A CLEANSING FROM GOD The hyssop David mentions in verse 7 was a little shrub dipped in blood and water and used in ceremonial cleansings in the Old Testament times. Of course when we repent we bring our sins under the precious cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. True repentance also involves A RECONCILIATION WITH GOD We see David seek this reconciliation in VERSES And True Repentance involves A FORSAKING OF OUR SINFUL WAYS vs

11 APPLICATION AND CONCLUSION Remember in the first or second grade when your teacher would give everyone in the class a picture to t color, with these instructions: Do your best to stay inside the lines. Seated beside me was CINDY CRAYOLA, the World Champion Picture Colorer. Cindy Crayola knew everything there was to know about coloring. Not only could she name all 64 Crayola colors, she knew Turquoise was a shade of blue. I thought it was another name for a Turtle. And she knew Burnt Sienna was a warm brown. I thought it was a brand of cigarettes. Well no matter how hard I tried to stay inside the lines, I failed. Pretty soon I would raise my hand. My teacher would say, Yes, Reggie, what is it? I would say, s I MESSED THIS ONE UP, CAN I HAVE ANOTHER? Let s think of OUR LIVES as a picture. No matter how hard we have tried to STAY INSIDE THE LINES, we have failed.. For we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. There is none who is righteous,, no not one. And when we look at what a MESS we have made out of our LIFE S PICTURE we can feel so discouraged and defeated as though all is hopelessly lost. But when we humble ourselves in true repentance and bring our messed up lives under r the precious cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father gives us a brand new picture. And that my friend is called GOD S AMAZING GRACE.

HISTORY DAVID DAVID & BATHSHEBA

HISTORY DAVID DAVID & BATHSHEBA HISTORY DAVID Israel asks God for a king (1 Samuel 8) God gives the people a king (Saul) but not his will King Saul disobeys God and is rejected by God David anointed as king by Samuel when only a boy