The Confrontation Implored 2-11-18


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THE CONFRONTATION IMPLORED 2-11-18

GUILTY AS CHARGED

2 SAM 12:1-25

Often, punishment comes not because of the offence but to stop the offence from being repeated. HUGE LESSON!!!!

“When someone gets something for nothing, someone else gets nothing for something.”

OUR SIN ALWAYS COMES AT A HIGH COST FOR SOMEONE ELSE.

David slipped and failed big time when he allowed success to get to his head.

He didn’t even resemble his former self.

The shepherd boy, the prayer warrior, and the fearless leader had given way to a monster, a whormonger, and a murderer.

His moral courageable leadership and godly principles were gone, and he paid dearly for failing to uphold truth, justice, and mercy.

  1. VICTIMS MAY BE SILENT BUT GOD BREAKS THE SILENCE

12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

After Davids sin everything changed… truth was compromised, rumors were circulating, heads were shaking, but for many months, no one dared to confront the king, no one pulled him aside, and questioned his defiance of God’s commandments, his decision to execute Uriah, or his determination to marry Bathsheba,

until Nathan’s unexpected visit.

As Nathan tells this story to David; verse 5 records David’s reaction.

5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

  1. WE MAY HAVE SECRETS, BUT GOD EXPOSES WHATS REALLY IN OUR HEART

David judged himself. David dug his own grave, and hanged himself on his own rope when he took the words right out of Nathan’s mouth and said, “The man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity” (vs 5-6).

David was rebuked had no grace or compassion.

Nathan indirectly accused David of having no sympathy, sorrow, or shame in his heart.

David felt nothing.

He had developed a heart of a stone, the skin of an ox, and the venom of a snake.

***Uriah died of premeditated murder, far from home, and without a fight, a burial, or a clue.

Through it all, he did not feel a thing, blink an eye, or lose any sleep.

David thought only of himself.

He thought that people would forget eventually, that the “thing” was already done, and that Uriah was collateral damage.

God couldn’t stand David’s act.

When David was told this story he blew up!

At the moment when David blew his top, he was exposed as the world’s biggest hypocrite, playing God with much drama…an Oscar winning performance.

  • GOD IS STERN IN JUDGMENT BUT FAST TO OFFER FORGIVENESS

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ’I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 11 “This is what the LORD says: ’Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. 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. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’“ 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.”

People may treat David with kid’s gloves and regard his behavior as child’s play or kingly perks; but not God.

God slapped David with the worst possible charge

To “despise the word of the Lord.” Worse than Murder or Adultery

God wasn’t going to let David get away with what he did.

He charged David with despising the Lord’s word (v 9).

David’s sin was against Uriah and Bathsheba, but ultimately his actions and attitude were nothing short of despising the Lord and His word.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT SIN IS…

a slap to and a spit in the face of God, and a slur to and a stain to the name of God, a scandal and a shock among God’s people.

David’s sin was intentional, willful, and defiant and he should be executed!

GOD didn’t sentence David to death, He gave him what was worse than experiencing his own death, which was to see some of his loved ones suffer and die.

 

Deceit, denial and destruction would consume, characterize, and collapse the king, his children, and his throne.

History repeated itself, lie would beget lies, and children imitated parents.

 

David deserved death, but the Lord had mercy on him.

Divine judgment is redemptive, not repulsive; it is compassionate, not cruel; and it is unpleasant, but not unbearable.

It is not nice, but it is not ugly.

God was more interested to make David a better person and king than a powerful or popular person and king.

 

God does not care if you are rich or poor, for your track record and past history, or for your superiority or success in people’s eyes.

He observes, searches and judges the heart.

God disciplines us, not demeans us. Man’s discipline can be vindictive. Man’s judgment may be condemning and destructive, but

 

God’s judgment is corrective and constructive.