Would you turn in the Scriptures to 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verses 1 to 14. We're going to consider these words a little bit this morning. We have, of course, as those of you who worship regularly here, when I come, we have been working our way through the life of David. Well, of course, we began further back than that. We began with Samuel, of course, if you go back far enough, but we've been working our way through the books of Samuel and we're here at 2 Samuel. And we were considering last time the terrible effects of David's sin as he fell, not only in taking Bathsheba Uriah's wife to himself and committing adultery with her but then arranging for Uriah's death and deceiving Joab and deceiving the people of Israel and causing great problems and then of course things went along and when after a convenient time he takes Bathsheba as his own wife and then so we're talking about probably certainly nine months later, probably a little bit longer, possibly a year later, that the Lord, we read at the end of verse 27 of chapter 11, the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. And yet nothing happened for a while, and now the Lord, God the Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, that special name of God which is only given to the Lord, our God, delineated in our Bibles by the letters, all of the letters of Lord in capital letters, L-O-R-D, all in capital letters, being that special and unique covenant name of God. God is displeased. And he sends Nathan to David. Now David thought that he had got away with his wickedness. We left him last time with that situation and spoke about the terrible, terrible situation that he was in. But, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord because God had seen all that had happened. And God was not pleased. Of course he was not. Of course he had seen everything, because God knows everything from the end to the beginning. Nothing takes God by surprise. Do you believe that, my friend? There are people who don't today. There are people who don't think that God knows and understands, but God sees everything. And I find that at times frightening, fearful, awesome. Of course he had. You cannot hide anything from God. He is the all-seeing and all-knowing God. And David fell grievously. But in the grace and mercy of God, he was not cut off by God's grace. He is convicted. And in this chapter we read about it. And he truly repents. And he is forgiven. And we're going to look at some of these things this morning. And then this evening, God willing, as we turn to the later part of this chapter, we will learn some things about grace, about the amazing nature of God's grace. I don't want to preempt that in one sense, but we need to say it now, that God is a God of grace, and thank God for that. There is forgiveness with God that he may be feared. Do you fear God? With the sense in which the Bible uses that phrase. We'll say more about that in a moment or two. And David is convicted. Now as we read it in this chapter, and as we read this morning in these words, David says, I have sinned. And in verse 13, it seems as though that's something very simple and very easy, but it is not as we shall come to see. The sacred writer who puts these things down for our edification and understanding under the inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit, uses very few words, but those few words contain an almighty amount of grace. We shall see that, I hope, this evening as we turn to this in more detail. And there are many lessons for us to learn from the sacred record. God is angry. In fact, I would say God is furious with David. But David is unaware of the fact. Do you believe that? Do you think that God can be angry? The Bible tells us that God is angry with the wicked every day. And if the wicked turn not, the Lord will whet his sword and bend his bow and make it ready and come in judgment. Ah, but God's a God of love, say people in the world. My friends, what is that love? It is holy love, which will not tolerate sin. God is furious with David, but David is unaware of this fact at the beginning of this chapter. And that is the tragic state of many people around us today. They do not know anything of the anger of God, of the hatred of God against sin. Maybe you here think like that. Maybe you think, well, because I'm in church every Sunday and I worship God and I, and I, you know, you think that God is not angry with your sin, my friend, if you continue to sin, God is angry with you. Maybe you're like David here. Maybe you're even a Christian like David, a godly person, but you've sinned against God and you think you've got away with it. you continue through your life without any idea that God is angry with you. But what does God do? Well in this context I think it is I was going to use the word fascinating. I don't want that to sound as though I mean that in a trivial way, because the word fascinating can be used in a trivial way. So maybe that's not the best word to use. I'm trying to think of a better word to use. But it is amazing. Let me say that. It is amazing what God does in this situation. And as I say, we're going to look at grace in more detail this evening, but it begins to show us something of the wonder and the glory of the grace of God. So let me give you some headings. Firstly, the courage of Nathan, the courage of Nathan. Verse one, the Lord sent Nathan to David and he came unto him and he spoke to him. Now I wonder whether Nathan went willingly. I don't know, my friends, but I think that Nathan went with great trembling. I think Nathan went with great fear. David could cut off his head. David could dispose of him. And I think left to himself, I wonder whether Nathan would have gone and confronted the king, his king, with such a rebuke. Why did he go? Well, he didn't go because David had summoned him. He goes because God has given him a supremely unpleasant task to do. The Lord sent him. Verse 1 tells us that. It's clearly there. The Lord, Jehovah Yahweh, that special covenant name, that covenant God, the only true and living God, sends Nathan. with this supremely unpleasant task. You see, the point is this, God took the initiative. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? God didn't leave David to wallow in his sin. God took the initiative to restore him and to establish him again. And I tell you, grace is evident in the way in which God brings David to repentance. God could have sent enemies to vex the land. He does that later when David sins in another matter towards the end of his life. He doesn't send a plague to bring sickness upon David and his people, which again he did at other times. Nor does he bring David to the point of death, which he did sometimes with other people. Rather, he sends to David a trusted counsellor, Prophet Nathan, who David respected because he was the mouthpiece of God to David. God was not going to leave David alone. And that's grace, my friends. Now I don't know about you, but I'm sure if you're honest with yourself before God, if you're a Christian today, you know that there have been times in your life when God has dealt with you in like manner. I can certainly think of times in my own life when I've done things with which I'm ashamed, and God has not left me, but he has still continued to show me grace. I need to repent of my sin and I need to come back to God, but he has taken the initiative. God is not going to leave David alone. I say that's grace and Nathan is obedient. God sends him and he goes and he doesn't argue. He doesn't say that because David is king, he dare not condemn him. Nor does he say that as David has sinned, he, Nathan, could no longer be responsible for the king. That would be perfectly legitimate for him to say as the prophet. As the holy man of God, to bring God's word, he could say, he could say, and perfectly legitimately, I have nothing to do with this. This is utterly wrong and sinful. But he doesn't do that. And doubtless his legs felt like jelly and his heart was pounding as he confronted the king with such a message that was likely to result in his head being chopped off. But God sends him. And he goes. He goes. The courage of Nathan. Secondly, the challenge to David. Verses 2 to 6. What does Nathan do? He tells him a story. Whether this was an actual event or not, we don't know. Or was it a parable? We're not told. We're not told. Now often, when the Lord's servants have to bring a message of judgment or rebuke, they are fully aware of their own shortcomings. If only I had been a more faithful prophet, perhaps David would not have fallen into sin. My friends, sometimes pastors feel like that as they see members of their congregation falling into sin and they think, if I'd been a more faithful pastor, maybe that person would not have sinned in the way that they had done. If I'd only been more responsible, if I'd only thought, my friends, we all fail, we all fail. And when sin is blatant, the true servants of God have cause to ask whether that is in some part their fault because maybe they haven't lived as they ought or spoken as they ought or witnessed as they should. And what is more, when there is sin among the saints, or there is lukewarmness in the church, the temptation to quit and to give up is very strong. Nathan doesn't do that. Nathan obeys the Lord. And he takes his courage in his hands. Well, I don't know whether in his hands or whatever, but he takes his courage and his weakness and his trembling, and he does what God asks him to do. I wonder, my friends, whether that is why there are so few faithful men who are entering the ministry today, because of the hardness of the work. I was only talking with her only just this last week in a meeting I was in and we were talking about the fact of men who have maybe been in the ministry for one term of service and then have found the way so hard that they've given up and not lost their faith, but they've gone back to the world because they cannot not, not gone back to the world in the worldly sense. I don't mean that, but they have gone back from serving the Lord as a pastor to a secular work in order to feed their family and so on. but they've moved back, but they're still Christians and they're still members of churches and things like that, but they've given up preaching because they find they cannot face the challenges and the difficulties of standing before sinful men and women and preaching the gospel faithfully week by week. Nathan doesn't come with arrogance. Nor does he thunder judgment. I've heard people expound this passage, Nathan comes in and he lays down, no he doesn't come in and lay down the law. He has every right to do so. But I think Nathan is conscious that he is a sinner and he comes as a sinner to convict another sinner and he comes gently. And he is conscious that he needs to deal tactfully. And he tells David about a rich man and a poor man. As I say, many commentators call it a parable. But it's not called a parable in the Scriptures. And Nathan doesn't start by telling David that he was about to tell him a parable or even a story. It is presented as a matter of judicial appointment. Here is a matter that the king is to decide upon as king, as ruler, as judge, as the king was in those days. Not quite in our system, but in those days. So Nathan, I don't think, is out here to deceive David with a fictitious story, but to tell him the truth. And you don't do truth a service by using fiction deceitfully. And when our Lord told parables, they were always indicated as parables, as such. And he never set out to deceive, to make a point. And don't, where there is any doubt, don't assume that they are fictitious. For example, when our Lord gives the account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke, many people call it a parable, but the Bible doesn't call it a parable, and Luke doesn't call it a parable, and I think it's highly likely that here is our Lord telling a story of something that actually happened, and the people knew it, and they knew who the rich man was, and they knew who Lazarus was, and they'd seen him outside the rich man's house begging, and now Lazarus had died and our Lord uses the parable and maybe the rich man had died by then but here is our Lord giving us an insight into the terrible effects of the fall and what happens when we stand before God and there is the rich man in hell in torments and our Lord is telling us something about the reality of life beyond the grave And people say, well, it was just a parable, or just a parable, just a story. My friends, I'm not convinced that that is the case. Do we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God? Luke doesn't say it's a parable. And the way it's introduced in the Greek does not indicate that it was a parable. Well, be that as it may. I think that's highly the case here, that this is not a parable, but it's an incident that actually happened. And David is to give his judgment on it. And Nathan uses it to convict David of his own sin. David, as the king, was consulted for his judgment. That was the custom of the day. That would explain why David reacts in the way he does in verses 5 and 6. If this was not a true story, if this was just a parable, David would not have reacted in the way that he did in verses 5 and 6. David reacts correctly. He reacts spiritually. He reacts in accordance with God's law, as laid down by the Old Testament law, because David knew the Old Testament law. And death is the penalty of justice, and David passes penalty and sentence in verse 6. The courage of Nathan. The challenge to David. Thirdly, the anger of grace. And we'll say more about grace tonight, but hear the anger of grace in verses seven to 12. Nathan said to David, you're the man. Now, Nathan is not angry, but God is angry. God is angry. I don't think Nathan raised his voice or thundered out the words of verse 7. I think that probably Nathan dropped his gaze and quietly spoke these words, not even daring to look David in the face as he said them. They are terrible, awful, God's anger, God's anger and displeasure boils over in righteous fury in these words. But Nathan is fully conscious that he is simply a sinner who has to bring these words to David. Nathan, the man of God, comes with a sob in his heart. He is the bearer of the fearful consequences of David's sin, but Nathan is also supremely conscious of his own deceitful heart. No one can effectively condemn sin in another without being uniquely and acutely aware of his own sinful nature. Now my friends, all sin and iniquity is an abomination to God. But God in His anger sends Nathan to David, not sends David to death. And that's grace. Four things that God has done for David are enumerated in verses 7 to 8. I anointed thee king over Israel. I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would moreover, one thing which he hadn't yet received, but God had promised to do it. And it's a summary of the totality of God's goodness and grace to David throughout his life. Verse nine, it's translated by the word wherefore, it's literally why? Why? Dale Ralph Davis says, no wonder Jehovah erupts with a why in verse nine. Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Why? David, Why have you killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword, and taken his wife to be your wife, and slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon? And by the law of God, David was worthy of death. And God gives him his threefold indictment in these words. David, you killed Uriah. The sword, verse 10, will not depart from your house. Secondly, you stole Uriah's wife in secret. Verse 11. Your wives will be stolen from you publicly and before your eyes and the whole nation will see it. We read about that later, of course, in the story. We haven't come to that in the account. We'll come to that. Terrible! Terrible! Thirdly, you destroyed another man's family by your lusts. Your own family will be destroyed by sexual immorality. And in fact, within a very few chapters, in fact, by chapter 13, that's already beginning to come to pass in the history. You see, my friends, grace is never soft on sin. Got that? Grace is never soft on sin. There is a place for righteous anger. And the first stage of restoration begins when we recognize that God is angry with sin and with wickedness. The courage of Nathan, the challenge to David, the anger of grace, fourthly, the wonder of repentance and forgiveness. Verse 13, And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. My friends, these are not trite words. When we read the account as it's given here, superficially it seems that David simply says, I've sinned and the Lord forgives him. And there's nothing more to it. Now we know that there is much more to that. David is devastated, he is shattered by it. In one shattering moment, the blinding light of God's glory has destroyed his arrogance and humbled him to repentance. And we know that from Psalm 51. And from Psalm 32. where he describes his repentance. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, the only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me and so on. And he goes on in that psalm to demonstrate that this is real heartfelt repentance. It's not just an idle word, I have sinned as it were and just forgiven like that. But it was the deep true repentance and that is rewarded with full forgiveness. all for some reality, my friends, and true emotion in our dealings with God. The courage of Nathan, the challenge to David, the anger of grace, the wonder of repentance and forgiveness. Fifthly, and finally, the consequence of sin, verse 14, how be it because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. My friends, the sinner may be forgiven, but the consequences of sin still have to be borne. There is an inevitable result of sin. There are consequences to disobedience which must be recognized. And forgiveness doesn't mean to say that we can put the clock back. What has happened has happened. But, but, but, God is well able to take the worst of situations and turn them to His glory. That must never be an excuse for our sin. My friends, in my life as a minister, I have had people come to me, men come to me sometimes, and I've had to challenge them because maybe they've fallen into adultery or something like that. And I have sadly had people come to me sometimes, even Christians come to me and say this, well, David did it and was forgiven, so why can't I? My friends, that is abomination! We cannot excuse our sin because people in the Bible sinned, and therefore we can sin and we can get away with it. These things are written for our learning, that we do not make the same mistakes. And if any of you have, my friends, I'm not passing judgment on you in that sense, but you need to come to God in repentance and faith, and all of us, for whatever sins we have committed, need to come to God in repentance and faith. And these were not right words that David speaks here. He is devastated. David deserved death, but grace, though angry, still brings forgiveness to the truly penitent. God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's how the publican prayed in the temple. And God heard him. Grace will never excuse us, but it does forgive us. The simplest of prayers, the briefest of confessions, but God knows our hearts, and God knows whether they're genuine or not. Matthew Henry says, see how ready God is to forgive sin. Let not great sinners despair of finding mercy with God if they truly repent. For who is a God like unto Him, pardoning iniquity? My friends, that's glorious, that's glorious. And in case you're tempted to say this is too easy, A few words and it is all over. My friends, it may be a few words but it was not all over. David's repentance is real. We know that from Psalm 51. But the consequences were dreadful for him in his life and experience as we shall see in the coming chapters. My friends, are we real with God or are we simply playing games? Is our repentance genuine? When last did the hair on the back of your neck stand up? When you were confronted with the presence of God and you were afraid because of your sin. We pray to God, we ask for forgiveness, but my friends let it never be so clinical and expected and part of our liturgy that we've lost the reality of it. Now, my dear friends, I'm sure that's not true of you, but I have to say it, don't I? True repentance is rewarded with full forgiveness. Oh, I say, for some reality and true emotions with our dealings with God. How amazing this is. What an amazing and wonderful thing, as we consider these things. You see, so often today men want a word of comfort and encouragement. Now, there is much encouragement in the message of the gospel, but before any comfort can be applied, there has to be repentance. The message of truth begins with condemnation, with judgment upon sin, and it is only when men see their sin that they will be able to receive forgiveness. David could have argued rightly with Nathan. Don't you know that I'm feeling low and out of touch with God? Well, that was true, but that was because of his sin. And sometimes when people preach, then there are those who criticize that preaching and they say, doesn't the preacher realize that I feel low and discouraged and I need encouragement? But why do you need encouragement? Maybe it is because your heart is out of tune with God and you have sinned against God and your heart needs to be broken first. Because pardon only comes to those who know their sin and need. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, our Lord did as he came to preach. And only then did he say, your sins are forgiven you. Your sins are forgiven you. To preach on sin and the need for repentance will never make a popular preacher. Rebuking sin is the most hated of messages, but it is the most essential. Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians because they concentrated on love without dealing with discipline. And open immorality was paraded and they rejoiced in it and did nothing about it. And Paul has to challenge them in 1 Corinthians. But thank God that no sin is beyond forgiveness. No sin is beyond forgiveness. The consequences may remain. But all sin, all sin can be forgiven. Now the immediate consequence was that the child would die. Verse 14, David the sinner is spared. The innocent child is taken. And the world will see that though God loves David, he will not allow David to escape without punishment. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. And as Dale Ralph Davis says in his commentary, God forgives the guilt of sin but inflicts the consequences of sin. He cleanses sin's defilement but may continue its discipline. Now my friends, why do men and women not see their sin? Is it because we don't have Nathans to challenge us and preach the need for repentance? Men who will preach in such a way that sinners are challenged and unsettled from their complacency and are fearless to confront the ungodly and challenge them to repentance. My friends, there is the dreadful consequence to unconfessed sin, that is separation from God eternally. Everlasting exclusion from the love of God and the blessings of salvation. Unchangeable. and never-ending experience of hell and of judgment. My friends, it's not pleasant talking about such things, but that's the consequence of unconfessed sin. So what do we learn from this as we close? What do we learn from this? Well, my friends, let us learn from David's dreadful wickedness. that the eternal God will punish sin has yet provided a way of escape from its eternal consequences through His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness with Him that He may be feared. There is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin There's a door that is open and you may go in. At Calvary's cross is where you begin when you come as a sinner to Jesus. And as we sang in our opening hymn, fear him, ye saints, and you will then have nothing else to fear. My friends, that's wonderful, that's wonderful. Do you fear the Lord with godly, holy, reverential fear? My friends, if you fear him, you have nothing else to fear. Even the consequences and punishment of your sin. because in Christ there is full forgiveness and glorious redemption. And if, my friend, you do not yet fear God, then call upon him now to give you that holy fear that will drive you to salvation in him. We're going to sing a hymn which takes up this great theme and gives us, in many ways, the full answer to this. 399. Jesus, the sinner's friend, to Thee, lost and undone, for help I flee, weary of earth, myself, and sin. Open Thine arms and take me in. Pity and heal my sin-sick soul. Lord, Thou alone canst make me whole. into my darkened spirit shine, for I am lost till thou art mine. 399.