Receive God's Forgiveness Receive God's Forgiveness Michael J. NIelsen / General Go and Be Reconciled / Forgiveness; Confession; David / 2 Samuel 12:1 15; 2 Samuel 11:1 27 Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Read 2 Samuel 12:1-13 David s Story David was a man after God s own heart. That s why he was chosen. David had lots of blessings from God. He was a king, he had health and wealth. He had many wives and concubines. David was greatly blessed by his good and gracious God. All these gifts didn t satisfy him though. He still wanted more. That s where we pick up David s story. In the spring of the year, when kings go out to war David was alone in the palace and he arose went up to the roof and that s when he saw here, a beautiful woman bathing on her rooftop. David s desire for her was instant. He sent inquiring about this lovely lady and found out that she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David s most trusted men. Her name Bathsheba. David then sent messengers to have her come to the king s house. Take it, she had to come. If she didn t David could have had her killed. Bathsheba came to the house, to the room of King David and there the affair started. There he most likely seduced her. There he committed adultery with her and then she went back to her house. Soon news came to David that Bathsheba was pregnant. David was blind to the sin that he had committed. So he started a cover-up plan. He wanted to hide his sin from the public. He sent a message so that Uriah would come home and sleep with his wife. Uriah was a man who was faithful to the men of his military unit and refused to go and spend the night with his wife, while the other men were at war. David even tried to get him drunk, but he still did not go. So David ordered that Uriah be killed in battle. David in premeditated style and in a plot to cover up his previous sins had Uriah murdered by the hands of the enemy. Really, David was the one that murdered Uriah. And he used the hands of the enemy to cover it up. Here s another sin that David was blind too and thought was Page 1. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:45 PM July 18, 2017.
done in secret. After Bathsheba spent her time of grieving, she came to the king s house and she became his wife and bore him a son. Throughout this time, David was blind to his sin. He was lying to himself. He was deceiving himself. He had no clue of the seriousness of his sins. From the lust all the way to murder. He kept ignoring the sin. You would think that a man after God s own heart would have recognized his need to confess. He didn t. In this whole situation and the conflicts that David had, especially with God, the idols of his heart came out. Obviously, we see David s idol for unhealthy physical pleasure. His pride had overtaken him the only one he thought about was himself. He feared man more than he did God. If he didn t he would have come clean. He wanted even more good things for himself. David slid down the slippery slope of idolatry and fast. He even reached the bottom when there was death the death of Uriah and his own son. And David, sacrificed much to serve his idols. He sacrificed his integrity, his family, his authority, he sacrificed the life of one of his trusted military men, Uriah, and he even was sacrificing his relationship with God. Our Story Let s pause at this point in David s story... You see you and I are oftentimes like David. Now we may not seduce another man s wife in the flesh. We don t take the life of someone else. We do lust. We hate in our hearts. We covet something that isn t ours. We use the spears of our words to harm. We oftentimes fail to the see the seriousness of any sin, including a bit of gossip or telling a white lie or even the glance that creates a bit of lust in our hearts. When we fail to see the seriousness of our sin we at times cover up one sin with another. We ll say another lie to cover up the first. And any other host of examples that you and I could come up with. When you and I fall into sin and we ignore and deny our sin - the truth is not in us. We also read in Proverbs 28:13 English Standard Version Chapter 28 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, Concealing sin will also continue to drive the sin deeper, and concealing one sin will lead to concealing another one - until you ve done everything possible and you are at the pit of despair or even worse completely fallen away from the faith or in some cases will die. Concealing sin can also create conflict with others, but also with God and we too see the idols of the heart. The idols come clean, just like they did with David. You and I also have idols of physical pleasure, pride and our self-centeredness. You and I oftentimes fear man more than Page 2. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:45 PM July 18, 2017.
we fear God. We even have the idol of wanting more good things than we already have. You and I we are trapped in sin. Also as you and I are living in sin we are familiar with the sacrifices too. We too sacrifice to our idols, whether it be our own integrity or character. It could also be time and money. It can be relationships with others and even our relationship with God. And when we sin, the Lord is displeased with us. We are all trapped and we all try to cover it up, we don t prosper..especially our faith. And relationships can be hurt and destroyed. In the bible study on Confession in Go and Be Reconciled we are shown that Our sinful nature leads us to ignore our sin or try to cover it up. We desire to be righteous and to be judged by others as good people. One way to accomplish this is by denying that we have done anything sinful. However, God warns against the denial of sin. When we deny our sin, we make God out to be a liar. When we claim to be without sin, we justify ourselves and we can t. There is no way we can justify ourselves before a Holy and Almighty God. Our sin separates us from God and when we deny our sin, we deny our needs for a Savior. Scripture tells you and I that we are poor, miserable sinners. It also tells us that we are helpless before the Holy God. It tells us that you and I can do nothing. David s Story continued David was content in his sin. His new wife bore him a son, who he fathered in an extramarital affair. He wasn t just content, he was denying the sin before himself, before his people, and most importantly before God. And this greatly displeased the Holy and Almighty God. So after about a year the Lord God sent Nathan to David. Nathan told David a parable that you heard in our text. This parable was used so that David could see his sin. David recognized that the man who stole the ewe lamb was in the wrong. Yet didn t recognize it until Nathan boldly and confidently confronted David with his sin and said English Standard Version Chapter 12 You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master s house and your master s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? 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. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11 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 Page 3. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:45 PM July 18, 2017.
to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. Nathan confronts David, tells him the sins that David commited and reveals the consequences for his actions. After being confronted with his sins, David saw how a wretched man that he was. David realized that even though what he did was done in secret in the eyes of man God saw everything. His God that gave him many good things saw everything. There was no secret hidden from the Almighty God and David began to grieve over his sin, for he knew he was guilty. When David s eyes were opened to his sin David did the only thing that was right David confessed his sin and said, I have sinned against the Lord. Then Nathan didn t respond with words of judgement or more law, Nathan responded as any pastor or brother in Christ should at a confession of sin, Nathan announced God s grace to David, The Lord has also put away your sin, you shall not die. David received God s great gift of forgiveness and new life. David was reconciled before His God! What about us? Not any of us like to hear that we are sinners. No one likes their sins to be pointed out to them. At times, this is the best thing that can happen. At times, when our sins are shown to us, we are broken as David was and we come before God in confession. Here these were sins that were particularly troubling to David, so he confessed them to his pastor Nathan. When you and I come to the point by faith that we are broken and contrite, we confess our sins. This can be in the general confession where you admit before God that you are a poor miserable sinner and deserve nothing but his wrath, but plead for his mercy. Or it can be in private confession and absolution where you name your sins before another person, in the church, we name them before the pastor, since he himself in his ordination and installation vows has pledged to never divulge. In both instances you receive grace, in both instances you receives God s great forgiveness and love. You receive the news that Christ has put away your sin and has taken it upon himself. You are a forgiven sinner. You are a forgiven Child of God. Since Christ forgives you, he even forgives your idolatry. As he forgives your sins, he also restores you, reconciles you with your heavenly Father. Here at the cross of Jesus Christ in confession and absolution you are reconciled to God the Father. Notice in our text that Nathan told David you shall not die he says that because the wages of sin is death. David was now a forgiven sinner. He was now redeemed. And when you and I remember that the wages of our sin is death, we wonder how we can stand before the Page 4. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:45 PM July 18, 2017.
Almighty God and not die. We can do this because Christ became sin for us. It s because through the cross and the forgiveness of sins you are made righteous, and the righteous live by faith. You can stand before God because Jesus Christ stands. And as you come before God s throne of grace, we come as beggars, with nothing to offer. In the hymn Rock of Ages, we sing, Nothing in my hand I bring; Simply to the Cross I cling. Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash Me Savior, or I die. This is so true. We come with nothing, looking for everything looking for grace as we plead before a Savior to wash us clean and he does. You receive great grace here as you receive his absolution. You receive grace when you receive absolution in private confession and absolution. You receive forgiveness even as you come to the table to receive his body and blood for you. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as a forgiven child of God you are enabled to do Good Works. You are enabled to live before God and others in service. As you are reconciled before God, it begins the stages to be reconciled to one another. And since today s title and theme is about forgiveness, it is only fitting that you hear again the words that give you grace so that you can be reconciled before God, not because of anything you have done, but because of everything our Lord Jesus Christ has done... (Speak the Absolution). In Jesus name. Amen. Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds and keep them focused in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Page 5. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:45 PM July 18, 2017.