Audio from Senior Pastor Vaughn Drawdy on Sunday morning May 26th, 2019.
These sermon notes are made available through the YouVersion free Bible app.
https://www.bible.com/events/626315
The Bible is full of ordinary people that God has walked with, encouraged, and empowered through hard times and places, in order that His name be made great. These were ORDINARY people. But with God, they did extraordinary things. Their lives have been recorded for us to see, examine, and find encouraging insight for our daily lives. In this series we will look at many ordinary people who God used.
Today we will look at David. Not the good stuff, but the bad side of David. Fighting Goliath was "faith in action" and God was victorious. But what about when man isn't walking in relationship with God anymore and really messes up? What does REPENTANCE look like? Let's look at this part of David's life today and see what God has for us.
2 Samuel 11:1-27 NIV
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. 10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home. 14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” 16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. 18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’ ” 22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” 25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.” 26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
Highlights:
>David sees Bathsheba on roof
>David pursues her, commits adultery, she’s pregnant
>David has her husband, Uriah, killed
>David marries Bathsheba
>God is not pleased with David
2 Samuel 12:1-31 NIV
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 ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 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 all 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 on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep 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 shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.” 15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” 19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” 20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. 21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” 22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” 24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 25 and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah. 26 Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. 27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. 28 Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me.” 29 So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it. 30 David took the crown from their king’s head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city 31 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brickmaking. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
Key Points:
>David is confronted about his sin.
>There are two very significant phrases I want to point out in this story:
1. verse 7 “You are the Man”
2. verse 11 “I have sinned against the Lord”
I think that we all get to that point in our faith at one time or another – it might not be as disastrous a sin as adultery and murder, but at some point we hear the words “you are the man” and they strike deep with in us – we look at ourselves and are horrified at what we’ve done, who we’ve become.
At that point we are ready for repentance – turning our hearts back to God. In the story, David says “I have sinned against the Lord.” But in the Psalms we find out that those words were just the beginning: true to form, David wrote a song to sing out his grief, shock, and his desire to return to God. We have this song in Psalm 51 – the words, not the music. And it teaches us how to respond when we are drawn into repentance.
Psalm 51:1-2 NIV
1 Have mercy on me, O God,according to your unfailing love;according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
Psalm 51:3-6 NIV
3 For I know my transgressions,and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinnedand done what is evil in your sight;so you are right in your verdictand justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth,sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Psalm 51:7 NIV
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Titus 3:5 NIV
5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Psalm 51:8-9 NIV
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sinsand blot out all my iniquity.
Psalm 51:10-12 NIV
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presenceor take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvationand grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 NIV
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
This promise is fulfilled in Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Titus 3:4-7 NIV
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
NOTE: The heart of this Psalm is in verse 12: RESTORE – it is not about ducking the lightning bolt, it is about relationship – David’s relationship with God is so precious to him – he can’t bear to lose it.
Psalm 51:13-15 NIV
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,so that sinners will turn back to you. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,you who are God my Savior,and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15 Open my lips, Lord,and my mouth will declare your praise.
Once David is freed from the bondage of sin and shame, his heart desire is to reveal the love and the forgiveness he received. Imagine experiencing something that renewed your joy and you saw others around you without joy, without hope… wouldn’t you share? help them? David commits to declaring God’s praise.
Psalm 51:16-17 NIV
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;a broken and contrite heartyou, God, will not despise.
>God doesn’t want the ritual of a one whose heart is unclean. He wants a broken heart.
God is not too impressed with sacrifice or extravagant giving if it is just there to cover a heart that is far from him.
Isaiah 1:11 NIV
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord.“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,of rams and the fat of fattened animals;I have no pleasurein the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
You can’t buy God off – you can’t give enough to him to make it all go away… he already owns everything – you can’t give him what he already owns! What he wants is your surrendered will. He wants a life that brings Him glory.
Psalm 51:18-19 NIV
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,to build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,in burnt offerings offered whole;then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Verse 18 and 19 are the responses of the righteous - not the sinner. For the righteous, God delights in their offerings. For the sinner, God doesn’t want their outward sacrifice but their repentance as a sacrifice.
God wants RESTORATION.
This is repentance – a focus on God and his mercy, a focus on healing the broken relationship, a brokenness over who you are and what you have done.
The good news is that God does not leave us to wallow in our guilt – he wants a restored relationship as much as we do: even more than we do!
1 John 1:9 NIV
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Where is your life at today? Are you holding on to sin and excuses? Have you come to terms with that sin? Can you honestly say “I am the man,” "I am the one"… "I am a sinner" or "I am sinning."
Where is your relationship with God?
Jesus is waiting to lead you to the Father, pray, call out to Him today and meet His kindness and love. He is waiting… He wants to forgive us and purify us. He wants our lives to reveal His love and our hope.