Church of Christ on Kelly Spring Road Podcast by Church of Christ on Kelly Spring Road

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Gary Copeland

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(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

This morning, we'll be focusing on a passage from 2 Samuel 12th chapter, verse 6 verses.

In which King David is visited by Nathan following his sin with Bathsheba.

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David.

And he came to him and said to him, There were 2 men in one city, one rich, the other poor.

The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds.

But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished, and it grew up together with him and with his children.

It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.

And the traveler came to the rich man who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

Then David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die, and he shall restore fourfold for the lamb because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

I never seen it.

So in that passage, the prophet told King David about a very serious injustice.

This rich man had plenty of animals, and he stole the poor man's only little lamb, and his little pet lamb.

Fed it to his visitor.

Verse 5, as was read, David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan.

As was read, as Yahweh lives, that's the legacy standard Bible.

Surely the man who has done this deserves to die.

Well, we need to understand.

Spoiler alert that Nathan's story was made up, right?

Didn't really happen.

So what was the point of it?

It was intended to make David see himself.

As God saw him.

So we're gonna talk about the King David thing from this chapter.

If you have your Bibles open to 2 Samuel 513, we'll refer to that repeatedly through this, through the lesson and uh add to add other scriptures to the story.

But the real point is driven home.

In verse 7, when Nathan says to David, You are the man.

Wow, you are the man.

You are the rich guy that stole from the poor guy.

Right, how did God see David?

Well, we can see David as a man who had multiple wives, already had multiple wives.

He was the king, he was rich, he had anything he wanted.

And he had taken a righteous man's only wife.

And killed the man It didn't get worse than that, right?

He killed the man And that man was a just man, a trusted servant, one of his top soldiers.

And David treated him like the rich man in that little made up story.

So I want us to see ourselves as God sees us.

Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13.

There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are uncovered.

The word there is literally naked.

All things are naked and laid bare.

To the eyes of him to whom we have an account to give.

God sees it all.

I mean, there's nothing that he can't just fully see he sees a little part of it.

No, it's naked, it's laid bare.

It's open before him, he sees it all.

And so the obvious application is to our actions.

Some things that David said also, O God, it is you who knows my folly, and all my guilt is not hidden from you.

Psalm 69:5.

You might remember that Adam and Eve tried to hide when they were guilty.

Jonah tried to flee his responsibilities.

The unrighteous try to deny that God sees anything that they do.

They think they can get away with it because they do it in secret, they do it in the dark.

They think that oh no, God didn't see, no, God sees it all.

He sees all our actions.

What about our thoughts?

Something else David wrote.

Psalm 139.

Verse 2 from the Legacy Standard Bible, you know, when I sit down and when I rise up, you understand my thought from afar.

I can't understand somebody's thought from nearby.

He understands our thought from afar.

He says, David says, you scrutinize my path, and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways, even before there is a word on my tongue.

Behold, oh Yahweh, you know it all.

How does he know anything before the words even on our tongue?

Right, I know something about communication, well, it's, it's gotta start with the thought, the thought before you even ever put it into words exactly.

You know, you get this idea and you just don't exactly know how to express it, God knows that thought.

He doesn't have to wait until you say it out loud.

He knows your thoughts from afar, before there's even a word on your tongue, God knows it.

So our actions, our thoughts, what about our emotions?

David was angry here.

And there's a place for anger.

I mean, that was some righteous indignation.

This rich man stole from the poor man.

Right, took his own little ewe lamb.

There's a place for anger.

Jesus was righteously indignant, he was angry in Mark chapter 3.

Right, he was about to perform a miracle and he asked the people in the synagogue, is it lawful?

On the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill, but they kept silent.

They didn't have the intellectual honesty, right, to admit that it's OK to do a good deed on the Sabbath day.

They kept silent.

And when Jesus had looked around them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their heart, Yeah, there's a place for anger.

So David's anger toward the man in the story.

Was not totally out of place.

But look what he said, the man surely deserves who has done this deserves to die.

Oh, wait a minute.

I think he's getting a little out of bed.

Die and restore fourfold for one lamb.

And of course, the irony of it is that David had committed two sins that were worthy of death according to the Old Testament law.

Right, he had committed adultery, he committed murder.

Well, here he's gonna pour out all his wrath on this man that steals a lamb.

Sometimes our anger gets out of bounds.

And sadly, sometimes it's not even justified to begin with.

The passage on the board there is Genesis 4:103, that's when God is speaking to Cain.

Yahweh said to Cain, why are you angry?

You need to stop and think about that, you get angry, you need to stop and consider why are you angry?

Right, everybody gets angry, that's a natural emotion.

It's got its place as we just read from Jesus's life.

But why are you angry?

Cain was not angry for a good reason.

He was angry out of envy.

God asked him, why has your countenance fallen?

That's his facial expression, right?

He's oh, you know, he's not happy anymore, he's all boo.

Why are you getting that way, Cain?

Why are you angry?

If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?

Life will be good, you'll be happy.

And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door.

And it's desire is for you.

But you must rule over it.

But Cain didn't rule over it.

He let his anger, his envy turn to hatred and then manifest as murder.

The passage there, James 1:20, simply says that the anger of man.

Some translations say the wrath of man, the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

God knows our emotions.

Can we see ourselves as God sees us when we're angry, when we're feeling these various emotions?

And let's flip it around to something more positive, our compassion.

Matthew chapter 18.

contains a parable that Jesus tells about a slave, who owed his king a huge amount, impossible, he couldn't pay it back and I don't know how many lifetimes.

Right, but that slave fell to the ground and was prostrating himself before the king, saying, have patience with me and I will repay you everything. Right?

Verse 27 of that passage says, and feeling compassion.

The lord of that slave released him and forgave the debt.

That's the beauty of that passage, because that's us.

Right, we're the ones that owe the king that great debt.

But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves.

We'll pause right there, that's what I put up here fellow slaves.

Anybody you interact with in this life is a fellow slave.

Right, we are all under God, the King.

However we treat other people, know first of all that God has treated us well.

Now look what this guy did.

Found one of his fellow slaves who owed him.

100 denarii.

That's not a huge amount, that's a little bit of money.

And he seized and began to choke him saying, pay back what you owe. Right?

And that guy begged him just like he had begged the king.

The king felt compassion.

This guy didn't even feel compassion toward his fellow slave.

He did not have compassion.

Man, the, the, his fellow slave begged him, just like he had begged the king.

Brothers and sisters and friends, if we can read this passage without getting a lump in our throat or a tear in our eye.

We're not reading it rightly.

We need to go back and read it correctly.

How do I make God feel?

Am I the forgiven but unforgiving slave?

And look how the king responds to him then.

You wicked slave!

I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I had mercy on you?

And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.

Listen to what Jesus says to us.

My heavenly Father will also do the same to you.

If each of you does not forgive his brother from your hearts.

God knows our thoughts, he knows our emotions.

Oh yeah, I want justice.

I want the guy that did something wrong against me to pay for it.

Right, but do I want that for myself?

Oh no, I want mercy for myself, right?

Do I not recognize that I've been that guy?

Ecclesiastes 7:20 is there.

The key phrase is you likewise.

Listen to what he says.

Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

Verse 21, also do not give your heart to all words which are spoken so that you will not hear your slave cursing you.

Verse 22, for your heart knows that you likewise.

Have many times cursed others.

And so here's this guy, he's all worried about somebody cursing him, and he didn't realize, well, look, I'm that guy, I've cursed people before.

But we need to remember this passage, the next time somebody pulls out in front of us, or somebody does something to us, or says something to us, that's very unfortunate and regrettable. Right?

Maybe in a calm moment they wish they could have that back, or even if not.

What I've never done something similar to somebody else.

Yeah, I have.

I've said a word I've done something intentionally, unintentionally.

I've been that guy Our actions, our thoughts, our emotions, even our identity.

There in 143 Samuel chapter 12 verses 7 and 8.

This is the beginning of the strongest rebuke you'll read in scripture.

Right, rebukes don't come any stronger than this because this one is directly from God against King David.

And to paraphrase a little bit, he says, I anointed you king.

I delivered you from your mortal enemy.

I gave and I gave, and I would have given you more.

But you despised my word.

You did evil.

And so he says, I will raise up evil against you.

From your own household, he was gonna punish him publicly, giving his wives to another, your companion even.

And he also said, and your son will die.

That is a harsh rebuke and severe punishment. Why?

Because God sees him for who he was.

He sees his identity.

David later described himself as David the son of Jesse, the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob.

And the sweet psalmist of Israel.

He wrote half the Psalms, and I really appreciate Eric leading some of them straight from what David wrote, The Lord is my shepherd, verse 20, uh, Psalm 23.

And then we sang Psalm 51, which David then writes in response to this sinful occasion when he's called out on these sins.

But God sees us as somebody who he has raised up.

If we are Christians, God has anointed us with the Holy Spirit.

He has raised us up to heavenly places to sit with Jesus Christ.

And that didn't give us a path to sin.

That makes it all the more important that we behave appropriately, as Ephesians 4:1 says that we walk worthy of the calling with which we've been called. Right?

Think about our identity.

You know what frustrates me sometimes when I'm driving down the road?

Pretty much any speeder, and that's just because of my envy.

I wish I could speed like that too.

I like going fast.

Right, but, well, I'm a slave to righteousness, supposed to be.

That's my identity.

They're not slaves to righteousness, they're slaves to sin, they can do what they want.

But what about when that person that goes by us is the sheriff's deputy. Right?

Doesn't that chap your grits?

I mean, you see this guy, he's always a police officer, who's gonna stop him, right?

That's a disgrace to their profession.

They are abusing their identity.

Our identity before God calls us to a higher standard.

We need to behave in an appropriate way, and it should hurt us and humble us all the more when we sin.

You're like Gary, you've taken a long time to say one point.

What about another point?

Oh yeah, there's more.

Not only do I need to see myself as God sees me, I need to say, what God already knows.

You know the fancy word for that?

Confess. Right, that's to make a public acknowledgement, to say it with.

That everybody already knows it.

At least God does, and we need to say it ourselves.

In 2 Samuel 233, you'll see verse 13 after this, or maybe in the midst of this strong rebuke.

David says, I have sinned against Yahweh.

He had sinned against Jehovah.

He made no excuses.

King Saul had done that.

First chapter 1 Samuel chapter 15 is the go to passage if you're looking for an example of excuses.

The old boy Saul had them.

I mean, he was ready.

First he just ignored his sins.

So I've obeyed the word of the Lord.

No. Oh, well, uh, they made me do it.

No. Uh, I did it for a good reason.

No, I didn't even play that card, right?

David didn't.

Saul did.

Got all these reasons.

Did it for a good reason.

Yeah, no.

1 John 1:8.

If we say that we have no sin.

We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And if we're seeking that forgiveness and that cleansing, then our confession has to be sincere, right?

It has to be heartfelt and remorseful.

Psalm 51, we sang part of the psalm in that great tune that was set to a Rock of Ages.

Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the abundance of your compassion, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against you.

You only, right, that wasn't true in David's case, but that's the, that's the poetic, it might as well be, uh, that's the, the real offense that matters.

Oh, he had sinned against Bathsheba, he had sinned against Uriah, her husband, he had sinned against all of The nation of Israel giving the enemies a reason to blaspheme, but he says against you his focus was you only.

I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak and pure when you judge.

2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 253, says that godly sorrow, This is not the sorrow that you got caught.

Godly sorrow produces a repentance, that's the turn in your mind and your thinking.

It produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation.

But the sorrow of the world brings about death.

We want to live on the path of no regrets. Right?

Part of walking on that path means that when we sin, we feel the godly sorrow and we confess our sin.

We say, I have sinned against Jehovah.

And that confession needs to be accompanied by the fruit of repentance, right?

The repentance turning our minds and then carry through with some action.

In Acts chapter 19, it tells about some people who had been practicing witchcraft.

Um, that's still a thing today.

Many of those who had believed, right, these people were converted to Christ.

So if you get to talk to a Wiccan, Or I forget all the other terms that they talk about in that, in that world.

If you get to talk to someone who's caught up in idolatry or Satanism or whatever other falsehood, Tell them about Jesus Christ, tell them where true power is and true meaning in life and where hope is found.

Well, I digress a little bit, in Ephesians 19:18, in, in Ephesus in the book of Acts, chapter 19 verse 18, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.

Verse 19 is great, and many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone.

There are some things that don't go to goodwill.

Right, because nobody should have some things.

Right, some things just need to be burned.

And sometimes our repentance costs us money.

Right, how much did that, did those books cost?

It was a lot of money.

It even calls it out in the passage, tells how much they were worth.

So there's a sacrifice that comes with repentance.

With that repentance when it's driven by godly sorrow is something we will never regret.

Those people never wanted those books back, and they were glad they were gone.

Never should have been printed to begin with.

So see myself as God sees me, say what God already knows.

And plead with God for mercy.

David sure did.

Back to 2 Samuel 12, David prayed.

And fasted, he appealed to God to relent, specifically from that last punishment, the death of the child.

Verse 16, David fasted and went and spent the night lying on the ground.

And the elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them.

Verses 93, 22 says he fasted and wept.

That lasted for 7 days.

When we confess our sins to God, we need to plead with Him for mercy.

And we also need to understand that God sometimes Let me, let me back up and say, If we are confessing our sins before Him.

As we read, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

But sometimes God says no when it comes to physical consequences.

You know, the apostle Paul, oh sorry, there's the passage that we just read from 2 Samuel 12:16 to 22.

In the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 12:8, we don't know neither, we neither know what the thorn in the flesh that Paul suffered was, nor do we know why he was suffering it.

But we know that he says, I pleaded with the Lord, I pleaded with the Lord 113 times.

That it might leave me, and he has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.

So we don't know everything about the thorn in the flesh, but we do know the purpose for which God used it.

It was to show God's power.

In the one who is suffering.

You know, we pray all the time for people's physical well-being.

As we should.

But we've got to understand that when God says no, I'm not gonna heal that person.

That person can still serve to glorify God.

People can see that wow, even in their suffering, they have faith and trust in God.

They don't give up.

Just because they're suffering.

And so if you are suffering, Suffer well.

And glorify God in those moments.

In David's case we know specifically that his consequences were the direct result of God's punishment.

We never know sometimes and we don't know in every case why we are suffering consequences.

Sometimes we can just say, yep, point A, point B, these dots are connected, right?

I committed this sin, and that's why I'm in jail, or that's why my spouse divorced me, or that's why I lost my job, right?

Sometimes it's a direct consequence of our sins.

Well A little bit more on this later, but we can know that God is at least faithful to us spiritually.

And sometimes we deserve the punishment.

But we pray to him, pleading for mercy.

And then here's the point I really want to emphasize.

Give God what he deserves.

In 2 Samuel 12, the 2nd or latter part of verse 251.

David After this weeklong fast or in the midst of this weeklong fast, said to his servants.

Has the child died?

And they didn't want to tell him, but they, he was directly asking him and they said he has died.

And now, I mean, they were bracing for the worst, right?

What is King David gonna do?

They knew his emotions ran hot sometimes.

So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes.

And he came into the house of Yahweh.

And worshiped And then he came to his own house and he asked, and they set food before him and he ate.

David, first of all, worshiped.

Right, even before breaking his weeklong fast.

And so I want to make sure that we understand we are to give God what he deserves, which is worship immediately.

What did Job do?

As soon as he heard that he had just lost all his possessions and all 210 children in one day?

What did Job do?

Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground.

and worshiped Give you a modern example.

My mom, uh, almost 214 years old.

Her birthday was within the week.

She passed away on a Sunday morning.

My dad had been keeping a vigil, you know, during the night at the hospital and whatever.

And she passed away Sunday morning about 223:225.

Now, I want you to think about that.

You've been married 29 years, your spouse dies.

How many times have you heard excuses such as, I just can't be around people right now.

I'm not in a good headspace right now.

I just need some rest.

Oh, I've got family coming in.

You know what my dad said?

My dad said, I want to do the King David thing.

Hello So he left my unbelieving sister to worry about the body, the hospital people there to take care of all that.

He went home and he got cleaned up and he was at church on time at 43 o'clock.

The King David thing.

Who should you be around?

When you're mourning.

And when you're suffering, When you're going through tough times.

We've got a friend down in Nicaragua.

We only met him a few years ago.

He's up in his 24s, he's got a couple of kids, great family, wonderful guy.

He's got 24 brothers and sisters, and he feels closer to us than he does to them.

I met a guy on Facebook the other day.

He's one of 24 children.

And all his siblings are either Muslim or they belong to the Salvation Army.

And he's reaching out to me for Bible study.

He's reaching out to me.

Good morning, brother, for friendship.

We should feel closer to our spiritual family.

And we should be worshiping.

Even when we have tough times.

How do you get your head right?

You're not in a good headspace.

How do you get your head right?

Worship will do that.

God says cast all your cares on him, for he cares for you.

First Peter 5:7, He cares for us.

And if we worship God properly, that'll help us get into a humble God-focused mindset.

Now that's a good headspace.

And what about your family coming in?

You need to bring them here. Right?

If it's time to worship, bring your family here.

Don't let them drag you away somewhere else.

You worship immediately.

You make no excuse.

You give God what He deserves.

You worship immediately and you worship in every circumstance.

When David was stressed or betrayed or sad, what did he do?

He prayed.

Psalm 22 is great after 21 verses of his suffering and his great distress, his persecution.

It's actually predicting the, the crucifixion of Jesus.

After all that, verse 25, he says, of you is my praise in the great assembly.

I shall pay my vows before those who fear him.

Middle part of verse 29 of Psalm 43.

All those who go down to the dust will bow down before him.

It will be recounted about the Lord to the coming generation.

When David was delivered, He was thankful, and he praised God and he told others.

Right, Jake gave us a snippet of that from Psalm 34, Wednesday night.

But it's in all these Psalms, Psalm 32, Psalm 51, it's specifically about David being called out on these sins.

But I want us to remember to do the King David thing and worship immediately, right, without delay, and in every circumstance.

Here David was guilty, he was punished, and he was mourning, and he wrote back to Psalm 51:10.

Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me, skipping a little bit, um, verse 14, deliver me from blood guiltiness, oh God, the God of my salvation, then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness.

Right, in every circumstance, even this one David worshiped.

The, uh, the fount of modern wisdom seems to be Facebook.

I actually read on Facebook, church should be your reason to miss everything else.

Right, how often does it go the other way?

Church should be our reason.

To miss everything else.

Finally, move forward.

David did verses 23 to 25.

He continued his relationship now with Bathsheba, and their next son Solomon was loved and blessed by God, and David kept on writing Psalms.

Now, when God forgives us, we've got to be able to forgive ourselves.

This whole experience changed David.

I'll let others elaborate on that with other lessons, but we've got to be able to forgive ourselves.

Met a woman in Kentucky.

She blamed herself for the death of her unborn baby.

I don't know.

She had, she had a good argument.

She might have been responsible for that.

She couldn't forgive herself.

You think God could forgive her?

If we meet God's conditions, If we do these other things, if we say what God already knows and plead with Him for mercy.

And give God the worship that he deserves.

He is faithful and just to forgive us.

There are plenty of other examples.

But as we move forward, just remember, never blame God.

For trouble, Satan is in the world, hello.

Satan is in the world.

Sometimes it's his fault.

We live in a world that's been cursed.

So as Ecclesiastes 9:11 says, time and misfortune overtake everybody.

Sometimes God lets bad things happen to us.

As in the case of Job for reasons only known to him.

So we're not always gonna understand why.

But we can, we can accept it and move forward.

And keep on doing the King David things, not just worship, but all this.

See ourselves as God sees us and our actions, our thoughts, our emotions, our identity.

Confess what God already knows.

Plead with Him for mercy.

Give Him the worship that he deserves immediately and in every circumstance.

David avoided a well-deserved death. Right?

Two sins worthy of death.

When we sin against our holy God, God knows it.

But he doesn't want us.

To be cast away from him, that's what we deserve, but he doesn't want that.

Ezra, when he was confessing national sins, he said, All that has come upon us is for our evil deeds and our great guilt.

Since you, our God, have required, have requited us.

Less than our iniquities deserve. Right.

So finally, go back please to Hebrews chapter 4, Romans 4, David writes of the blessedness of being forgiven.

There's the passage I just read from Ezra that it could be worse.

But back to the Hebrews chapter 4, the verse right after it says that everything is naked and laid bare before God.

You know what it tells us to do?

It says therefore, Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.

Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

If you're in a time of need spiritually, you need to take hold of your confession and draw near to the throne of grace.

You can confess that Jesus is the Son of God.

Turn from your sins, repent.

Be buried with Jesus in water through baptism, for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will find mercy and grace to help in time of need.

If you want to do that publicly, we'd encourage you to come to the front while we stand and sing.

40 min

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