David and his followers worked hard and were faithful and finally stepped into what the Lord had promised: David’s godly Kingship. But now, in a few short years, Absalom had stolen it all away, destroying what his father, David, had worked for decades to achieve. Even in the midst of this awful betrayal, in fear for his life, David wrote: “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” When we trust Jesus Christ, we too, cannot be shaken, no matter what disaster overtakes us.

2 SAMUEL 2024 To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/2Samuel/2sam19.mp3

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It is no secret that American politics have become very angry and divisive. No matter which party wins, almost half of the country apparently feels that it is a terrible disaster. We are no longer content to say that we disagree with politicians from the other party. Instead, we now declare our political opponents to be wicked and evil. With every election, to believe the rhetoric, the very existence of our country is at stake. Both sides claim this to be true.

The scripture that we are looking at today is especially relevant in these times. David was a good king; in fact, he was God’s choice for king. But Absalom sounded good, looked good and deceived enough good people, and recruited enough schemers, to take power and send his dad, David, running for his life. Politically, things looked bad for Israel. How could the country be so ignorant as to let this smooth-talking, charming megalomaniac come to power? Obviously, there were still many who supported David, and who felt that Absalom was a very bad choice for king. But they were defeated and silenced. God’s choice no longer mattered. Righteousness and right didn’t matter. Instead, power went to the one who was most ruthless and clever. Those who were wise and aware in Israel, who trusted the Lord, must have been deeply dismayed.

At the end of 2 Samuel chapter 15, we learned that when David fled from his son Absalom, he left behind a kind of spy network. Two priests who were loyal to David stayed in the city—Zadok and Abiathar. Their two sons—Ahimaaz and Jonathan—stayed outside the city, ready to relay messages to David. David also had a friend and advisor named Hushai. Hushai stayed behind and pretended to betray David, and so became a false advisor to Absalom, a kind of double agent.

David had another close friend who was an advisor. This man was named Ahithophel. 2 Samuel 16:23 says this:

23 Now the advice Ahithophel gave in those days was like someone asking about a word from God — such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice. (2Sam 16:23, HCSB)

This man truly did betray David. He supported Absalom and threw his lot in entirely with him. It is quite likely that when David wrote psalm 55, it was primarily Ahithophel whom he had in mind. He said these things:

12 Now it is not an enemy who insults me — otherwise I could bear it; it is not a foe who rises up against me — otherwise I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man who is my peer, my companion and good friend! 14 We used to have close fellowship; we walked with the crowd into the house of God. (Ps 55:12-14, HCSB)

…20 My friend acts violently against those at peace with him; he violates his covenant. 21 His buttery words are smooth, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.

When David first heard that Ahithophel had betrayed him, he prayed for the Lord to confound his advice and to defeat him. He said similar things in Psalm 55. There is something here that intrigues me. If you read the Psalms especially, David is never shy about praying for destruction to come upon evil and evil-doers. Whenever I read such things, I cringe a little bit. I think most modern Christians do. It sounds so simplistic to our sophisticated ears. These types of prayers seem to assume that we ourselves are good, not bad, and those who oppose us are the bad guys. I don’t think I’ve ever heard modern Christians pray that way. Now, Jesus did say to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. So I think we ought to do that. But have we ever considered that part of our prayers could be asking God to frustrate and confound the schemes of unrighteous and wicked people? Here’s another sample from David:

14 Let those who seek to take my life be disgraced and confounded. Let those who wish me harm be driven back and humiliated. 15 Let those who say to me, “Aha, aha! ” be horrified because of their shame. (Ps 40:14-15, HCSB)

If we pray in faith, trusting that God knows who truly needs to be confounded and frustrated, and who doesn’t, I think it is appropriate at times to pray against the success of those who appear to be against God. I’m not saying that we get to judge who those people are – I’m just saying that we can appeal to God to restrain and defeat wickedness, trusting him to judge who is wicked and who is not.

Ahithophel certainly appeared to become a wicked person. His first advice to Absalom was that he publicly violate the women of David’s harem, who had been left behind when David fled. This was a symbolic cultural gesture, expressing contempt for David, and showing the people that he had completely cowed and defeated him. The possession of the King’s concubines was a way of solidifying his own claim to be the new king.

It’s worth clarifying who these women were. In the ancient middle east, powerful men often took multiple wives. We’ve already talked about that. In addition to many wives, such men also took on concubines. A concubine was officially recognized as a kind of lower-status wife. The main difference between a concubine and a wife was that the children of concubines were never recognized as legitimate heirs to their fathers. Thus concubines also had lower social status than wives. All of this is, of course, awful, and oppressive to women. The Bible never, anywhere, endorses polygamy, let alone the practice of having concubines. But this was one of the ways in which David failed, and we talked about that at greater length in 2 Samuel part # 3.

Absalom took Ahithophel’s advice, fulfilling Nathan’s prophecy that David’s wives would be treated publicly as David treated Uriah’s wife privately (2 Samuel 12:11-12). The Hebrew here leaves a little bit of room for interpretation. Absalom’s men pitched tents in public view – on the roof of the palace. The text says that Absalom “went in” to the women. It could mean that he raped them. But in the customs of those days, when a married woman was alone with a man who was not her husband, it was a disgrace. Whether or not anything happened, it was assumed that something had. So, whatever happened, from that time forth, those women were treated as if they had been raped. In those days, the custom (not biblical, just cultural) was that no other man would ever again be with them. They would have no place with their previous husband, nor any chance of a new one. Normally, such a thing would condemn them to lives of begging and/or prostitution. This is horribly unfair, but it’s simply the way the culture was (not how God wanted it to be). However, after the rebellion was all over, David made sure that these women were well cared-for, for the rest of their lives.

Ahithophel’s next advice was cunning and might have been effective. He told Absalom to pursue David quickly, to strike  and kill him while he was still on the run, and end any doubt about who was king. But Absalom chose to also ask Hushai, David’s secret agent in the palace. Hushai gave advice that sounded excellent. He reminded Absalom that David was a cunning, fearsome old warrior, and that some of the Thirty were also with him. It would be no small thing to take such heroes on without enough preparation or force.  David and Abishai (who was with him) had once killed six hundred men in a single battle, just between the two of them. Hushai suggested that Absalom could not risk bad news like a battle gone wrong, so early in his bid for power. Hushai’s advice was meant to give David more time to escape and organize a resistance, but it wasn’t necessarily wrong. We’ll see that it turned out that when Absalom’s men finally engaged David’s men, Absalom’s people became quickly terrified when they were face to face with David’s legendarily fearsome warriors.

 In any case, the Lord heard David’s prayer, and Ahithophel’s scheme was frustrated.

Ahithophel’s reaction seems completely out of proportion. He went out and hanged himself. The text doesn’t really tell us why. I have a few theories, but they are only guesses. One thought is that Ahithophel reacted a little bit like Judas did one thousand years later, when he betrayed Jesus. Ahithophel may have realized that what he had done was wrong, and failed to believe that he could be forgiven and restored. So rather than repent and trust the mercy of God, he listened to lies of the devil that there was no forgiveness or hope, and destroyed himself.

The text does give us one clue. It says that Ahithophel killed himself after he realized that his advice had not been followed. So, it could be that in his wisdom, he realized even at that early stage that if they didn’t kill David quickly, then they would inevitably lose. He may have seen right then that Absalom’s rebellion was doomed to failure. Rather than wait through all the turmoil and then be executed by David, he decided to put his affairs in order and deprive David the satisfaction of doing justice upon his body.

Finally, Ahithophel’s suicide was an answer to David’s prayer in Psalm 55. His prayer against evil was answered quite clearly.

Chapter 17 verses 17-29 read like an adventure novel. Hushai didn’t know at this point if Absalom would follow his advice or Ahithophel’s, and so he activated the spy network, warning David to flee across the Jordan river that very night. A servant girl went out from the palace bearing a message to the sons of the two priests. But the activity was noticed, and the two young men were pursued as they carried the message to the fleeing king. They took refuge in the courtyard of a friend, hiding in the well. The woman of the house spread canvas out over the well, and covered it with grain, so that no one even knew it was there. The soldiers of Absalom searched, but failed to discover the hidden well. Afterward, the young men continued on and successfully delivered their message, with the result that David and his household fled further on to safety.

So what do we do with all this? I know that many informed faithful Christians have been deeply concerned about every political election for the past twenty-five years. Some appear to feel real angst about the results of elections. This was also probably true for followers of the Lord in the time of our text. When David was kicked out and Absalom was the new king, many people became very concerned.

Even so, I want to point out that people have been following the Lord for thousands of years, and really only in the last two hundred and fifty years have human beings had consistent opportunities to choose their own government. Christian faith thrives in freedom. Christian faith thrives in oppression. God is not hindered by unrighteous rulers – if he were, Christianity would never have survived. Just remember your hope should be in the Lord, not in a ruler. This is true whether you approve or disapprove of any particular government.

Leaders and governments come and go. So do countries and nations. Israel’s true hope was not in David’s leadership, but in God’s faithfulness and sovereignty. Our hope is the same. If we are shaken by an election, for good or for bad, then to that extent, our faith is not truly grounded in an eternal God who promises us an eternal hope. David, as he fled from his murderous son and treacherous friend, wrote this:

Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. (Psalm 55:22)

This isn’t just about elections. This is about anything in life that threatens to shake us. What does it mean, “he will never allow the righteous to be shaken?” When David wrote that, he had lost all that he had worked so hard for decades to attain. He was in danger of losing his life. His own son was trying to kill him. But he says, “the Lord will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Obviously, he did not mean that things would never be hard. Obviously, he did not mean that the future on earth would never look bleak. What he meant is that our faith in the Lord looks beyond the here and now.

You may wonder, “am I one of ‘the righteous’?” You are, if you trust Jesus. The promise of scripture is that Jesus imparts his own righteousness to us. This is not based upon what we have done, but rather on our faith in what he has done for us.

I think it is helpful to see David’s heart of faith in his extremely difficult and discouraging circumstance. Paul writes to the Philippians. He mentions people who are focused mainly on what is happening here and now:

They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20)

We are citizens of heaven. We have the same eternal king today that we had before the last election, or before the last crisis that threatened to shake us. We have the same leader that our predecessors in faith had two thousand years ago. Our best future is ahead of us, and nothing can take it away. It is difficult when life is unpleasant, or hard, or full of sorrow. But circumstances did not fundamentally shake David. They don’t have to shake you either. Set your hope fully in your eternal future with Jesus.

These two chapters of the Bible show us that David has returned to the confident, humble faith of his youth. He is willing to take on personal danger in order to spare others. When people insult him, he refuses to punish them, but patiently entrusts himself to the Lord. In this, he reminds us of Jesus, the Messiah. The way people responded to David at this point in his life also show us the ways that various people react to Jesus.

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Some weeks we get into details about a text. This week, we’re going to fly through two chapters. Even so, we’re only going to cover one part of a much larger story concerning David’s son Absalom. There is a kind of smorgasbord of spiritual truths here. Feast on whatever the Lord has to say to you through this today.

After David restored Absalom to his official position as prince, Absalom began laying the groundwork for a coup. He started by running a popularity contest against David – a contest David didn’t even know was going on.

Absalom was good looking. Once he was “official” again, he began to act charmingly also. He spent time with the people. He appeared to sympathize with their problems. Very subtly, he planted doubts in their minds about David. When they tried to honor him as their prince, he forestalled them, and treated them as equals and good friends. By doing this, Absalom won the hearts of a great many people.

David was a worshipper of God and a warrior. Though he failed at times, he rarely compromised his principles. Almost always, David cared much more about what God thought of him than what the people thought. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his people—it’s just that his way of caring and leading was oriented toward seeking the Lord, and leading the nation based upon what God wanted. For David, it wasn’t about being popular or satisfying the desires of the people. He felt, rightly, that if he was right with the Lord, then the Lord could use him to do his will for the nation of Israel.

However, the people were not as concerned with God as they were with themselves. So they were susceptible to someone like Absalom, who also appeared to be concerned with their desires. Absalom made sure he looked good. He always appeared sympathetic and engaging.

David was “old school.” He wasn’t a friend to the people—he was a leader. He stuck to his guns, because he believed right was right.

The people loved Absalom because they loved themselves more than God. If it was a choice between someone who followed God or someone who made them feel good, they wanted the one who made them feel good. We’ve already seen some things about Absalom’s character. He was ambitious for himself. He was arrogant. He wanted his own way, and worked to get it, regardless of the cost to others. He never admitted wrong, never repented, never said “thank you,” or “sorry.” But the people saw only the engaging, personable, friendly guy. They were too concerned with outward appearances.

There is no record of Absalom ever consulting the Lord about anything. And ultimately, he was not the Lord’s choice for king. But the people didn’t think about such things. They were already ready to repeat the mistake they made with Saul.

There is a classic scene in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The four hobbits have met a tall, stern, grim looking man. He tells them that he was sent by their friend, the wizard Gandalf to help them. They discuss whether or not they can trust him. Finally, Frodo, leader of the hobbits says something like this:

“I think one of the enemy’s spies would – well, seem fairer and feel fouler, if you understand.”

In other words appearances are often deceiving. So it was with Absalom. He seemed fairer and better than David. But on the inside he was already rotten. He looked and seemed like the better leader. But it was the grim, steadfast old David who was the best king the people could have had, in fact, as history showed, one of the best kings Israel ever had.

I spend time on all this because I think we are often like the people who were duped by Absalom. It’s so easy to judge by external things like looks and charm. It’s so easy to fall for a leader or lover who looks good and makes you feel good about yourself and himself – at least superficially. This is also true of ideas. Ideas and principles that make you feel good about yourself can be very seductive.

I want to encourage the people of  God to not judge by shallow things like appearance or personal charm, or even by feelings. Sometimes it takes some hard work to realize that goodness doesn’t always immediately feel good.

In any case, Absalom was able to win over enough people to attempt a coup to dethrone David (and probably kill him). It is interesting to see David’s attitude toward his son. He had no illusions about Absalom. As soon as he heard the news, he knew that his son would kill him if he could. Even so, that never changed David’s love for him. Later we’ll see that when it came to battle, David tried to protect Absalom, and he was deeply grieved when his son was killed. David did what he had to, to protect himself and take care of the kingdom God had given him – but he never wavered in his love for his son.

That is sometimes how it is with us and the Lord. The Lord has no illusions about us. He knows who we truly are—the good, and also the bad.  And yet, God loves us with an unwavering love anyway. He’s always hoping we can be saved from destroying ourselves. He’s always hoping we will reconcile with him rather than be killed.

Here is where we begin to see that David has returned to the steadfast trust in the Lord that he had as a young man. Absalom began his coup in the city of Hebron. David got the news when he was in Jerusalem. If you remember, Jerusalem at that time was a walled city on top of a ridge, with an internal water source. Years earlier, David and his men had conquered the city through the water shaft, but David quickly built defenses to stop that happening again, now that he had the city. Before the water shaft was protected, people had considered Jerusalem to be unconquerable, and so now it was even more so. Therefore, the commonsense option for David was to shut the gates of Jerusalem and make Absalom try to conquer the city. Even if Absalom were able to surround Jerusalem entirely, it would have taken a year or two to starve them out. During that time, other allies might have come to David’s aid, or Absalom’s followers might have second thoughts. However, that route would have involved a lot of hardship for the people of Jerusalem, and many of Absalom’s men would also have been killed. David said:

“Hurry! If we get out of the city before Absalom arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be spared from disaster.” (2 Samuel 15:14)

So, instead of staying where it was safe, David left the city, and allowed Absalom to come in unopposed. This shows that David was willing to trust God. He didn’t need to hold on to the advantage of the walled city. Instead, he spared the people much suffering, and took the burden upon himself.

Because of this choice, David had to run for his life. This had to be tough for him. When David was a young man, for more than a decade he had lived on the run in the wilderness. Life was physically difficult in those days. He was not respected or honored for who God made him to be. He was not recognized for his gifts. God’s promises did not seem to be fulfilled. Finally, he came through all of that and became king. If you remember, just a few years later, he ended up back in one of his old hide-outs, eluding the Philistine invaders (2 Samuel 5:17-25). He came through that. And now, well into middle age – perhaps almost sixty years old, he was back yet again, running for his life, not respected, not living out what God had promised him. In some ways, this might have been even harder. When he was young, he didn’t know exactly how it would feel to be king. But now, he knew what he was missing. And now too, he had a family to take care of. He brought his wives with him. Solomon was probably about ten years old at this point. There were other children also. I should note that he left his ten concubines behind him, because that comes up later on.

But in spite of this hardship, David did not turn away from the Lord. This would have been a time when it would be very easy to be bitter. David followed God faithfully for most of his life. True, he had failed at times, but he certainly had more than his share of trouble. Did he really deserve things to be this bad, for this many years of his life? Following God did not spare him from trouble and hardship. But he had a better hope than just a comfortable life on earth. And so as he went, we can see the grace oozing out of him. When people insulted him, he was not angry. He didn’t demand help from anyone. He went out in humility and trust.

The people seemed to have had three basic reactions to David during this period of his life. The first is shown to us in the person of Ziba. If you remember, Ziba was the man whom David made manager of the estate of Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, whom David had treated so kindly. Ziba gathered some much needed supplies and brought them to David. This was a welcome thing, and a great help to David. But it turns out that perhaps Ziba did this deceptively, for his own gain. We find out later that Ziba lied about Mephibosheth, slandering him in the hope that if David triumphed over Absalom, he, Ziba, would be rewarded with Mephibosheth’s estate. Mephibosheth, if you remember, was lame, and so Ziba took advantage of that to come see David, while not allowing his master to come. So Ziba supported David, but with the purpose of gaining something in the end. On the other hand he likely had very little to lose by doing what he did if David never came back. After all, it wasn’t his own food that he gave David. He surely took it from Mephibosheth’s supplies. There were others who doubtless supported David by way of hedging their bets, hoping to gain his favor if he triumphed, and having little to lose if he didn’t.

There was a second common reaction to David in all of this. Shimei was a relative of Saul’s, and he cursed David, throwing dust and stones at him as he left Jerusalem. David’s response reveals that he is once more a man whose heart belongs entirely to God. David’s nephew Abishai, one of his great warriors, offered to go relieve Shimei of his head (Abishai was the brother of Joab). But David restrained him. Nathan had told David (2 Samuel 12:10-12) that one of the consequences of his sin would be rebellion from within his own family. David was back to his good place in his relationship with God. His circumstances were a mess, but once more, his heart was fixed entirely on the Lord. So when Shimei cursed him, David humbly accepted whatever the Lord was doing. He trusted the Lord to straighten things out, if Shimei was wrong. There were others, obviously, who sided with Absalom and rebelled against David. David’s personal advisor, Ahithophel was one prominent one. It may be that David wrote Psalm 55 at this point. The close friend that David refers to in that Psalm was very likely Ahithophel.

Finally, a third group of people remained steadfastly with David, come what may. Ittai was a Philistine warrior who had left his home; he led a battalion of six hundred Philistines who had pledged allegiance to David. David released them from their pledge and urged them to return to their homeland, but they refused. For them it was not about being blessed or having good times. They were in it for forever, for good or for bad, no matter what. The two priests, Zadok and Abiathar, were like that, as was one of David’s advisors, Hushai. David sent them back to Jerusalem as spies, and they remained loyal to him.

Remember how David is a “type of Christ?” It shows up again here. Jesus did not return the curses and insults of those who reviled him. I think it is helpful for us to look at how people responded to David, and see ourselves, in how we respond to Jesus.

There are some people who follow Jesus, or at least, who are sympathetic to him, because even though they aren’t sure about him, they want to keep their options open. Maybe they want something from him. So they hedge their bets. They come to church. They try to manipulate Jesus into blessing them, in case he is in a position to do so. But they aren’t following him because he is the chosen one of God. They are doing it in hope for their own gain.

Others simply reject Jesus, particularly when it seems like he’s not a winner. These folks may seem to go along with the Lord for a while. But when something comes along that seems more attractive, or that makes them feel better about themselves, they desert the Lord and go along with the new thing. Sometimes they may reject Jesus because they mistakenly thought that the main thing he was supposed to do was make their lives on earth better, and when trouble came, they weren’t spiritually prepared.

And finally, there are those who remain faithful through everything. Sometimes their faithfulness costs them a great deal of suffering and hardship. Sometimes it brings peace or joy. But they follow in the certain hope that this life could never hold everything they want or desire. They are seeking their heavenly home. The book of Hebrews talks about them, and people like those loyal to David:

13 These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Heb 11:13-16, HCSB)

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you today. Maybe you need correction because your focus is on external things. Perhaps, like those who listened to Absalom, you are swayed by what looks good or what makes you feel good, and you need to be reminded not to judge based upon shallow appearances.

Or, maybe you need to be reminded that the life of faith always has ups and downs, that real saints throughout the ages have had many struggles in their lives. The trick is not to avoid struggles, but to let God’s grace surround you, and come out of you, when you are in them.

Maybe you are being challenged about the way you follow Jesus. Maybe you have been focusing more on your own personal gain. Perhaps you are susceptible, because of pain or struggle, to rejecting Jesus all together. Hear God’s gracious invitation to faith today.

This Old Testament narrative reveals profound insight into redemption, forgiveness and the tension between Truth and Love. This scripture points beyond itself to Jesus Christ as the only satisfying answer to our need for both justice and reconciliation.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/2Samuel/2sam17.mp3

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Remember the horrible story: David’s firstborn son, Amnon, the crown prince, raped his half-sister, Tamar, who was full sister to David’s next son, Absalom. Absalom killed his half-brother Amnon, and then ran away to Geshur, which was the kingdom of his grandfather.

David mourned for his firstborn son. He had turned out to be a rapist, but nobody is just one thing, and that’s important for us to remember. This isn’t just a story, it’s about real people, who are usually a very complicated mix of good and bad. David probably mourned for what Amnon had become, as well as the loss of any opportunity for Amnon to become a better man. And certainly, David simply mourned because he lost someone he loved.

But after three years, David put Amnon’s loss behind him. Now he mourned for the second son he had lost—Absalom. But of course, Absalom wasn’t dead, just banished from Israel. Remember, when it came to Amnon, David did not know how to reconcile both love and justice, and he erred on giving love without justice.

Now, with Absalom, he is making the opposite error. He has banished him forever, which was his attempt at justice, but he has not provided for any way to love Absalom.

It is interesting that Joab is the one who does something about this state of affairs. A little history about Joab is useful here. If you remember, Joab was the son of David’s sister, Zeruiah (therefore, he was David’s nephew). He had two brothers, Abishai and Asahel. After Saul’s death, during a battle with Saul’s son’s men, Asahel insisted on fighting Saul’s old war leader, Abner. Abner didn’t want to engage with Asahel, and it seems that when he did kill him, it was almost by accident (2 Samuel 2:12-23).

Joab did not forgive Abner for killing his brother in battle, and he later tricked him and murdered him while there was a truce between them (2 Samuel 3:20-30). This shows us something about Joab. He was not like David. He did not have any use for grace or forgiveness. He didn’t even have a sense of honoring any kind of agreement with an adversary. Instead, once someone was his enemy, he wanted to kill him, no matter what. There was no change of heart for Joab. You saved the people on your own side, and you killed the ones who weren’t.

With regard to Absalom, I think Joab was thinking two things. First, Absalom had killed a rapist and I’m sure that such a thing met with Joab’s approval. That’s the sort of thing that Joab himself would have done, and had done. Joab understood it, he probably had sympathy with Absalom because he was suffering for doing the kind of thing that Joab himself would do. So, I think that Joab approved of Absalom as his kind of prince. Second, Joab knew that David did not trust him since his murder of Abner. He wanted to get back into David’s good graces. Joab thought, rightly, that David needed some kind of excuse to forgive Absalom, so he cooked up the scheme that the wise woman presented to David in chapter 14.

To finish out the story, at Joab’s prompting, a woman came and presented a story to David, much like Nathan the prophet had done in confronting  David about adultery and murder. The story was basically the same situation as the one with Absalom. As expected, David got into the story, and proclaimed that the woman should not have her only remaining son executed for murder, but that he should be given mercy.

Obviously, the point of the whole exercise was verse 13, in which she says that David’s own judgment tells him he should forgive Absalom.

13 She replied, “Why don’t you do as much for the people of God as you have promised to do for me? You have convicted yourself in making this decision, because you have refused to bring home your own banished son.

However, there are important differences in this event compared to the story told by Nathan the prophet. First, David had not sinned in any way. Absalom should have been banished. In fact, he should have been executed. Second, Absalom’s situation is actually not really like the fake situation cooked up by Joab and the woman. In her scenario, her sons got into a fight, and in the heat of the moment, one of them was killed. She had only the one remaining son, and if he was executed for murder, she would be destitute, and her family name would be erased from the people of Israel. That is not like the situation of David and Absalom at all. Absalom did not kill his brother in the heat of the moment. He waited two years, and schemed it all out carefully. It was utterly premeditated. And he was not David’s only remaining son, either.

Even so, David was willing to listen, and respond graciously. I think sometimes we in the 21st century don’t understand what a big deal that was. David was king in 1000 BC. We read his psalms in the Bible, and we see his heart for God. We see, rightly, that he was God’s man. But culturally, he was still an ancient king and warrior. Such people were held in great awe, and had as much power as any dictator that has ever lived. If you got him angry, even accidentally, you could end up dead in a heartbeat. So, the woman who told him the story was, in a very real way, risking her life. So was Joab. That is, Joab was risking both her life, and his own.

I think Joab was a complicated person. There is no doubt he felt personal loyalty to his uncle, David, and probably even admiration. He also got very frustrated with David at times, and felt that David sometimes looked weak or cowardly. Joab had seen David do amazing and courageous things, so he couldn’t believe David was actually weak, or a coward, but it is clear that he never understood David’s heart for God, and therefore he deeply disagreed with many of the decisions that David made. In addition, Joab in the past had utterly refused to forgive or reconcile with those he thought had done wrong (like Abner). Because of that, he would have no standing at all to tell David to forgive. David could rightly call him a hypocrite for suggesting that he forgive Absalom.

In any case, Joab knew that David wanted someone to tell him to bring Absalom back, and Joab knew it couldn’t be him, because David hadn’t trusted him since he murdered Abner. So Joab was trying to help David. But I think that Joab also admired Absalom for being bold enough to kill his enemy. Finally, I think perhaps Joab thought that Absalom might be king one day, and it wouldn’t hurt for the next king to owe him a favor.

So, David allowed Absalom to return to Israel, but he was forbidden to see David, the king. It was a kind of combination of justice and love, but it was a weak and ineffective one. Absalom was not grateful to either David, or Joab, and he didn’t thank either one of them. Absalom was not repentant in any way. He was, however, ambitious, and he needed to have the king’s official blessing for a little while in order to fulfill his ambitions. So, he tried to get Joab to help him again. When Joab ignored him, Absalom set fire to one of his fields. Finally, Absalom got Joab to do what he wanted, and David fully restored him as a prince in Israel. But I think Joab realized at that point that Absalom was not likely to remember that he owed favors to anyone except Absalom. Absalom’s mistreatment of Joab, and his lack of gratitude, had fatal consequences for Absalom in the future. Again, it is significant that nowhere here did Absalom show any sign of repentance or remorse.

One of the things that jumps out at me from this chapter is the tension between justice and reconciliation, between truth and love. We talked about this last time, but I want to draw out the importance of this in our relationships and churches.

We human beings are very bad at holding truth and love together at the same time. Usually, we err on one side or the other. David certainly did so. With both Amnon and Absalom, David tended to prioritize love and mercy at the expense of justice and truth. With both people, that backfired in spectacularly tragic ways.

Many churches, and even whole Christian movements, also tend to err on one side or another. I know of a small church near us where the pastor often publicly shames people who come to Sunday morning worship. I heard from someone who was there that one day he proclaimed to the church that a young woman was sleeping with her boyfriend. The pastor made this declaration while the young woman herself was present at the worship service. If his information about her was correct, the pastor was right about one thing: the young woman and her boyfriend were sinning, and they needed to know that their actions were jeopardizing their relationships with the Lord. But the way the pastor went about communicating that makes me sick to my stomach. There was no love or kindness in that pastor’s actions. He had truth, yes, but no mercy or compassion. His approach would likely generate anger, or shame, or both, but I doubt it led to repentance.

To make it perfectly clear: scripture does tell us in several places that we ought to speak to Christians who are openly sinning, and to make the truth known to them. For example:

1 Brothers and sisters, if a person gets trapped by wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should help that person turn away from doing wrong. Do it in a gentle way. At the same time watch yourself so that you also are not tempted. 2 Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings. (Galatians 6:1-2)

It is not OK to deliberately, consistently, live a lifestyle of sinning. The truth of scripture should be proclaimed generally, including clear words about things that God declares are sinful. Also, people who have meaningful relationships with a Christian who is living in sin should speak to that person specifically in the hopes of leading them to repentance. But the Bible tells us clearly that such a process should be done first of all in love and gentleness, and when applied to a specific person, it should begin with a private conversation. So, truth without love can be harsh and legalistic, and drive people either to despair, and sometimes to turn away from God.

On the other hand there are churches who prioritize “love” over truth. In such places, out of sensitivity to the feelings of others, the leaders proclaim that some things that the bible calls sins are not, in fact, sinful. Not even people who are openly living sinful lifestyles are confronted. The message seems to be that God affirms and loves everyone, so the way you live doesn’t actually matter. The truth about God’s holiness and justice is lost.

And frankly, love without truth ceases to be loving. If you truly love an addict, you won’t “affirm” him in his addiction. If someone is walking toward the edge of a cliff but believes she is perfectly safe, it is not loving to affirm her course of action.

I think one of the most damaging lies these days is the idea that to tell someone the truth, when the truth will force them to face the idea that they are sinful and wrong, is less loving than simply accepting them how they are, no matter what.

So, Truth without love is harsh, condemning and legalistic. It offers no hope.

Love without truth leads to compromise and eventually it fails to be loving at all. It also offers no hope for change.

I know that here in the Southeast USA, there are a number of Christians and churches who emphasize truth at the expense of love. I do not give them a pass. Truth without love ultimately condemns all people, even those who prefer truth over love. This approach does not honor Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, I think the overall practice of our culture, including a majority of churches in America and the Western world, is to try to prioritize love over truth. We don’t like to suggest that anyone is wrong, or sinful, or needs to address things that are painful, but true. We offer only affirmation, and not correction. As I just said a minute ago, when this is pushed very far, it ceases to be loving. We end up affirming people every step of the way on their journey away from God.

The wise woman who confronted David said something very profound:

14 All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him. (2 Samuel 14:14, NLT)

This was said one thousand years before the time of Jesus. I think it was a kind of prophecy, because it sounds exactly like the gospel as we find it in the New Testament.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. (Romans 5:6-11, NLT)

21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21, NLT)

27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27-28, NLT)

One of the remarkable things about this is that the New Testament writers don’t ever explicitly quote this verse from 2 Samuel. In other words, it’s not like someone thought of this verse in 2 Samuel, and then constructed the gospel to fit it. And yet, you can see that the basic idea is the same: human beings are separated from God, and are doomed to die in despair. God, in his mercy provided Jesus as a way to reconcile to God all of those who will receive him. Once again, we find the gospel in the Old Testament, but in such a way that we can see it was intended by God, rather than clever human beings.

Jesus is the answer to the struggle between truth and love, justice and reconciliation. The truth of our sins is fully evident in the things that Jesus suffered for us. Our sins—all of them—were severely punished by God through the suffering and death of Jesus. God doesn’t just give us a pass—he deals with sin as it deserves. We see how serious sin is. Sin is terrible. We can’t just say, “it’s no big deal,” when we look at the death of Jesus. We can’t say, “no, that’s not really a sin.” As it says in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death.

At the same time, when we look at the death of Jesus, we cannot claim, “God doesn’t love us.” We cannot say that God doesn’t want us, or that we must be cut off from him forever. We cannot say that love is too weak to help us, or that there is a limit to God’s love for us. We cannot say that anyone is beyond redemption, because to say that would be to claim that the sacrifice of Jesus was not enough.

In 2019 there was a movie called “Unplanned.” It is an extremely powerful story about a woman who became the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic because she wanted to help women. After several years working for Planned Parenthood, she was called to assist with one of the abortions – the first one she had ever witnessed. She saw the baby in the ultrasound—clearly, a tiny human being—writhing in pain, and trying to move away from the needle that was killing him. This experienced caused her to see abortion in an entirely new light. She came to believe that abortion was morally equivalent to murder. One night she broke down sobbing about her own part in the deaths of so many children. She said something like: “How can I ever be forgiven?”

This was the worst moment in the film, in my opinion, because the question was not answered satisfactorily. But there is a satisfying answer. It isn’t enough to say, “It’s OK, no one is perfect.” That is an entirely inadequate response to such turmoil of soul, and the horror of sin. On the other hand, It is horrible to say, “There is no hope, you’re going to hell.”

But what if your sins were fully punished and paid for? Could someone then be welcome in God’s kingdom? Of course.

And that is what Jesus accomplished for us. We can’t say sin doesn’t matter. If we do, we are also saying that the death of Jesus was pointless, and we are actually really good people. But if we are honest with ourselves, we know we don’t have enough goodness to make up for our selfishness.

On the other hand, we can’t say that we, or anyone else, must still pay for our sins. To say that would be to claim that the death of Jesus was not enough, that we demand more than God himself asked for.

In Jesus, love and justice are perfectly fulfilled and balanced, opening up for us a way to be fully reconciled with God, even though we deserve to be separated from him.

Receive Jesus today. Trust him. Trust the love of God that he was willing to suffer for you. Trust the justice of God that your sins have already been paid for.

After his son committed a horrific crime, David was caught between the need for justice, and his love for his son. He didn’t know how to reconcile justice and love, so he did nothing. God faces the same dilemma with us, his children. But God did satisfy the demand of justice, while at the same time, satisfying his great love for us. 2 Samuel 13 reminds us of why it was so important for Jesus to do what he did for us.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/2Samuel/2sam16.mp3

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This is surely one of the most difficult passages in the entire bible. There are a few others like it, but that doesn’t make it any better. The first twenty verses describe a rape. The detail of the actual sin is not graphic, but the writer takes time to describe the premeditation that went before it. It is all the more awful because it was also incestuous. The bare facts are that David’s eldest son Amnon raped his half-sister, Tamar.

Leviticus 18:9 and 20:17 expressly forbid sexual relationships between brother and sister – even half-siblings, which they were. In fact, it is forbidden, even between adopted siblings. And of course rape—of any person—is always forbidden. But this is one of the cases where even the most non-religious do not need to be told that this was a vile, despicable, evil act. Even without the bible, the vast majority of human beings still know that this is wrong at every level.

Amnon, the one who committed the crime, was the firstborn son of David, and heir to the throne. He was the crown prince. Chileab, David’s second son, is not mentioned anywhere here, so it is probable that he died when he was younger. Therefore, the next in line after Amnon was Absalom, David’s third’s son, full brother of Tamar.

A quick language note. When it says that Amnon “loved” Tamar, it is the Hebrew word ahab, (pronounced something like uh-hahbv). This is a flexible word with many different meanings, just like “love” in English. It can mean romantic love, or friendship love. But it is not the word hesed, God’s unfailing covenant love, which we have previously learned about.

When we read the passage, modern readers might be surprised and wonder at Tamar’s attitude after the rape. Ancient Israelites thought very differently about certain aspects of sexuality than we do. Of course it was a horrific act of violence that was done to Tamar. But following that, she seemed to want to remain with Amnon. Amnon, however, once he had satisfied his lust, despised his sister:

15 Then suddenly Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her.
16 “No, no!” Tamar cried. “Sending me away now is worse than what you’ve already done to me.”
But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. 17 He shouted for his servant and demanded, “Throw this woman out, and lock the door behind her!”
18 So the servant put her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe, as was the custom in those days for the king’s virgin daughters. 19 But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying. (2 Samuel 13:15-19, NLT)

Of course the rape was horrible and traumatic. But why would she say that sending her away was even worse? It’s like this: Even worse than the sense of personal violation was her sense of public shame in the culture of that time and place.

Because Amnon had raped her, she was no longer a virgin. Because of that, no other man would ever consider marrying her, even though it wasn’t her fault in any way. It’s unfair and stupid, but that’s the way the culture was at the time. So, if Amnon had not kicked her out, but instead had gone to David and gained permission to marry her, Tamar would have at least been able to retain a respectable standing in the community. Her only chance of living an honorable life was if Amnon married her.

The brutal reality is, she would have had no expectation of marrying for love, anyway. She was a princess in 1000 B.C., and her marriage would probably have come about as part of a political bargain. She would not expect to even know her husband before hand. So if Amnon had married her, it would not have been much different, from her perspective, than what she expected anyway.

But his rejection meant that she now would never be married. Not only that, but in those days, having children was a very big deal. If Amnon rejected her, Tamar could be certain that she would never have children, because no one else would ever marry her. The rape was one event that was over quickly. I’m not minimizing it, but clearly, for Tamar herself, there were other factors that were equally important. Because Amnon refused to “make an honest woman of her,” her shame, and her loneliness were going to continue for the rest of her life. So he not only violated her personally and stole her virginity, but by also kicking her out he doomed her to lifelong shame and loneliness. In one way you might say that in Tamar’s mind, it wasn’t fully rape until Amnon revealed that he didn’t want to marry her. Once he showed that, the full weight of her tragedy came down on her.

This is probably difficult for most people in Western culture to understand. I have spoken to Muslims, and people who live in Muslim nations, who, even today, understand Tamar’s perspective.

Obviously, it was horrible for Tamar. This event also had to be hard for David. He surely must have thought that Amnon was following in his own footsteps: He sees a woman he wants, and he takes her. Only, Amnon’s sin was even worse than David’s, because it was rape, and incest. So David’s sin has been multiplied and is even worse in the second generation. Nathan’s prophetic words are beginning to come true.

Two years later came another horrific crime. Absalom, Tamar’s full brother, was furious with his half-brother Amnon, for the rape. We learn a great deal more about Absalom later, and so I think it is safe to assume that Absalom also saw that taking revenge for the rape would clear the way for himself to become the crown-prince – David’s primary heir, and heir to the throne.

So Absalom waited and schemed. Eventually (two years later), he invited Amnon and his other brothers to a feast, where he had Amnon murdered.

Not only did Amnon follow in David’s footsteps with lust and sexual sin, but now Absalom has followed David by committing conspiracy to murder.

There are clearly so many troubling things in this text, but one of them is a bit subtle. If we pay attention, we notice that David, apparently, did not do anything about the rape. Why is this? It might be that this frustrated Absalom, and led him to the sin of murder, and later on, rebellion. So what do we make of David’s inaction?

There are several possible explanations, of course, but I want to focus on three main ones.

First, in all fairness, the text doesn’t actually say when David learned of the crime of rape. It just says that he was furious when he found out. So there is the possibility that he found out only shortly before Absalom held his murderous feast. The text does show that David hesitated when Absalom wanted to invite Amnon to the feast, perhaps thinking of the rape, and wondering if there would be strife between his two sons. If David had only learned about the rape shortly before the feast, then it could be that Absalom took matters into his own hands before David himself had a chance to do anything.

A second way to look at it is this: Amnon committed a terrible crime. But David had done something similar, himself. Thus it might be that David found it too difficult to judge his son harshly for doing something like what he himself did. He might have felt like a hypocrite. What David did was lust. Lust is not merely sexual – lust means demanding that we have what we want, on our own terms, no matter what. So you can lust after food, power, money, success, the perfect body – anything that you demand to have, and work to get, regardless of the consequence. So the root sin—lust—was the same in both David and his son Amnon, though it took different outward forms. Therefore, David’s own sin may have cost him the moral fortitude to be a just and righteous ruler of his own family and kingdom. I see this quite often in our own culture. There is so much sin going around, that everyone is afraid to call any of it wrong, because people might point the finger back and say, “what about you?”

But if we have accepted God’s judgment of our sin, repented and received forgiveness, we should not feel bad calling sin the evil that it is. If we can agree that it is evil in us, it shouldn’t be a problem saying it is evil everywhere.

But there is a third possibility, and this is the one I favor, because I think it is true to the character of David, and to the overall message of scripture. I think David did not hold Amnon accountable, because he was trying (though failing) to reconcile justice and mercy; truth and forgiveness. The crime was real, and heinous. It had to be punished. And yet the punishment, at the very least, (according to Leviticus 18:29) was that Amnon should be stripped of all of his rights as a prince, and a citizen, and exiled for life. Some interpretations of the law might have even meant the death penalty. So to bring justice meant that David would be separated forever from his first born son. David clearly loved Amnon, as shown by the fact that he grieved for him for three years after his death. David, manifesting the heart of God, had a deep commitment to justice. David, manifesting the heart of God, had a deep love for his children. But David could not find a way to reconcile both that justice and that love. To follow love would mean justice would not be satisfied. To follow justice meant love would be forsaken.

And here, once again, is Jesus. God faced the same dilemma as David, only on a much larger scale. All of his children—all of us—have harbored sin and wickedness in our hearts. We have all fallen. We may not have sinned outwardly as heinously as Amnon, but the thing in Amnon’s heart that made him sin is also in our hearts. Amnon manifested what is in every human heart, and that shows us the deep need for justice. The law says we should be punished by eternal separation from our heavenly king and father. God will not violate that law. But he also loves us with an everlasting, deep, wild, love and he will not compromise that, either.

David could not reconcile love and justice, so he did nothing. But God did do something to reconcile the two. He sent Jesus. Justice for all of our sins was done—upon Jesus. Our unrighteousness was severely punished. It was punished in the person of Jesus Christ. Justice was done upon his body and soul. Jesus became a human precisely so that he could take that punishment upon himself. But because he was pure and remained God, that punishment did not destroy him like it would have destroyed us. And so, because of Jesus, justice was done. And because of Jesus, God can show his love to us, with no barrier.

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.  For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Romans 3:22-26 (New Living Translation)

As I said last time, we do need to receive, through faith, the justice and love offered by God. It has been accomplished for us, but if we do not believe we need it, or if we do not trust we have it, or if we don’t want it – it does us no good. If we are unwilling to repent, if we want our sin more than we want God, we are rejecting the sacrifice of Jesus.

Unfortunately for him, Absalom shows us that this is true. He did not seek justice from his father. He did not trust the king to satisfy the demands of justice. Instead, he took matters into his own hands. In the next chapter, we see that when Absalom wanted something from David he knew how to get it. When he wanted to be pardoned, and later restored, he was persistent and cunning until David responded. But in the case of Amnon and Tamar, Absalom never even tried to get David to do anything. In fact, from the start, he pretended that the incident meant nothing to him.

Perhaps he didn’t trust David to be both loving and just. I think also, he didn’t trust his father, the king to take care of him.

I think it is also almost certain that Absalom realized there was an opportunity here for him. Tamar’s rape gave him an excuse to remove Amnon, the one person ahead of him in the succession to David’s throne, so that it would not look like ambition, but rather an attempt at justice. The reason Absalom had for murdering his brother might just make David and the people sympathetic enough so that when it was all over, they would still accept Absalom as the next heir to the throne. I think is likely that at some point, Absalom decided to do this for both revenge and in order to become the next king.

Absalom did not seek justice from David for his sister. But even if he had, and David refused, it did not give him the right to commit a sin himself. We might do this with God in lesser ways and in lesser situations, and in some ways, it is worse for all that. David was king. He had the right to deal with Amnon however he saw fit, even if it didn’t meet Absalom’s expectations. As it turned out, David gave Absalom himself mercy rather than justice. Absalom surely had no right to demand that David withhold mercy from someone else.

God is our king. He has the right to deal with his creations however he sees fit. When it comes down to it, at great cost to himself God offers us mercy rather than justice. Do we have the right to demand justice for some person or situation, even while we depend upon his mercy for ourselves?

Sometimes we try to take matters into our own hands because God doesn’t seem to be doing anything. I think when we do that, it can lead us down a path toward rebellion, just as it did with Absalom.

What Amnon did demands justice. Justice was given, through Jesus. That allows love to also be given, and reconciliation to happen. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you today about the need for both, and about accepting both things from the Lord.

Sometimes it can feel like God is punishing us for our sins and failures. Thankfully, the Bible tells us that only Jesus received the righteous punishment for our sins. However, often, our sins do have natural consequences, which is one reason God wants us to stay away from sinning. At times, even though we are truly forgiven, we have to face those consequences. David, a man with a heart for God, shows us the way, and highlights the incredible grace of God’s forgiveness and ongoing presence with us.

I felt it was important to spend an entire message talking about repentance, and David’s beautiful psalm when he finally turned back to the Lord after the affair with Bathsheba. But we sort of skipped over another part of what Nathan said to David, and it is also significant:

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 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.’”

13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house. (2 Samuel 12:10-15, ESV)

David was truly forgiven. But Nathan declared that even so, David’s sin would result in some terrible things. He says first that “the sword shall never depart from your house.” What he means is that David’s family, and even his descendants, will be constantly engaging in violence, war and strife.

Next he says that evil, or disaster, will rise against David from within his own house (again “house” here means family).

Nathan goes on to say that just as David secretly had an affair with someone else’s wife, a person close to David will sin sexually in public. In fact, as it turned out, two of his sons sinned in this way, as we will see.

Finally, Nathan declares that though David is forgiven, and will not be killed for his sin, the child conceived in adultery will die.

When we read all this, it sounds like God said, “I forgive you, but I’m still going to punish you.” Here’s where we must interpret the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament.

We know that the punishment for sins fell upon Jesus Christ, not on sinners. This was true even for people like David, who lived before the time of Jesus:

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. (Romans 3:23-28, NLT, italic formatting added by me for emphasis)

This text clearly says that God held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, because he was looking ahead and including them in “what he would do in this present time;” in other words, in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we cannot say that God was punishing David for his sin. But if God isn’t punishing David, what is going on here, then?

I think Nathan is revealing to David not a punishment for sin, but rather the consequences of it.

Think of it this way: If you throw a rock and break a window, the owner of the window may forgive you. But the window will still be broken. Because of the window-owner’s forgiveness, you won’t be prosecuted for vandalism. Because of that forgiveness, you won’t have to pay for the window. But forgiveness does not un-break the glass. There will still be a mess to clean up and a gaping hole in the house. Rain might come into that hole before it is fixed, and cause even greater damage to the surrounding wall. Burglars or vandals might use the broken window to enter the house and cause more problems. The forgiveness does not automatically eliminate those consequences. A burglar doesn’t say, “Look, an open window that I can use to sneak into the house! What’s that you say? The guy who broke that has been forgiven? Rats! Foiled again.” No, the burglar just goes on into the house. The fact that the window-breaker is forgiven is irrelevant to him, as it is to rain, and all sorts of other possible damage.

Or suppose I tell my young child not to touch a hot stove. The child does so. Now, she has disobeyed me. She has also burned her hand. Did I burn her hand as a punishment for disobedience? Of course not. The burn was a natural and unavoidable consequence when she chose not to obey me. In fact, the very reason for my commandment “do not touch the stove” was to keep her from suffering any burn. I will certainly forgive her for disobeying me. But that won’t change the fact that she burned her hand. Depending on how bad it is, she may carry the scar of that burn for the rest of her life.

Remember, David’s greatest failure prior to this was also due to his sin concerning his relationships with women. He had married six wives before this (2 Samuel 3:2-5), and in addition, had many concubines, who were, in effect, mistresses with official, legal standing. All this was in clear violation of what the Lord had said through Moses (Deuteronomy 17:14-17), or, to put it clearly, it was against God’s revealed word. In other words, he sinned by marrying more than one woman and by having mistresses. I think when Nathan tells David what is going to happen in his family, it is not just about Bathsheba – it is about his whole problem of lust and ignoring God’s word about marriage. You might say that the Bathsheba incident represented the tip of the iceberg of David’s sin. And so I think the “punishment” here that Nathan pronounces is simply a natural result of the way David had been sinning for many years.

David’s many sexual sins also created a severely messed up and dysfunctional family. His children did not grow up in the family structure that God intended from the first to be a blessing to human beings. As a result, David’s own children were emotionally and spiritually unhealthy, and much strife came about from that. In fact, most of the consequences that Nathan prophesied were brought about by David’s sons. Thanks to David, his own sons grew up with a twisted view of marriage and sex, which led to rape and ultimately rebellion.

You see, there are reasons for what the Lord tells us to do, and to not do. Not only does our sin trample on God’s holy character, but it also hurts us when we commit it. Very often, if we disobey God, we suffer painful consequences. So, because David ignored God’s commands about sex and marriage for years, he generated enormously negative consequences for himself and for others.

Now, what about the child dying? How is that a mere consequence of David’s sin? Honestly, I don’t have the answers, I just know Jesus, who does. He doesn’t always share them with us. But I have two thoughts.

First, infant mortality was fairly high in those days. It may be that the child was going to die anyway, and the Lord was simply predicting it, and telling David ahead of time that he wouldn’t change his mind.

Another possibility is as follows. In those days it was a very shameful thing to be born as a result of adultery. This is what we call an “illegitimate child.” The other word for such a child is “bastard.” I’m not being crude – that’s what the word means. The fact that even today that word is a very derogatory and demeaning insult shows how shameful it was in times past. I’m not saying it makes sense – it is never the child’s fault, of course. But an illegitimate child in those days would have suffered for the sins of his parents all his life. If instead that child went on to be with Jesus, it was a mercy that he didn’t live long enough to be reviled and cursed and shamed all his life.

Now, I said you can’t out-sin God’s grace. That’s true. I want you to hear that and believe it. You cannot do something that Jesus’ death on the cross did not pay for. But there are two important things to bear in mind, things that are taught by this passage.

First, David was able to receive God’s grace because he admitted he was wrong, admitted his need for forgiveness, and turned away from sin. In short, he repented. You can’t out-sin God’s grace, but God’s grace does you no good if you pretend that you don’t need it. It does you no good if you do not accept God’s judgment upon the evil of your sin, and repent of it. Grace is there and there is plenty of it, but we can only receive it through repentance and faith.

Let me be clear about repentance, as well. Repentance means you turn away from the sinful things you have been doing, and go the opposite direction, toward the Lord. While you are turned toward the Lord, you may fail and sin again, but repentance means you earnestly intend to do differently in the future, even if you can’t quite always make good on that intention. To put it another way, repentance is not merely asking for forgiveness. It is a deep commitment to stop sinning. You may still sin, but in your heart you do not want to sin, and you do not intend to keep on sinning deliberately.

Some people, who do not understand repentance, use God’s grace as an excuse to keep on sinning. They want what sin offers, and think something like this: “Well, it doesn’t matter, because God forgives me anyway. I know it’s wrong, but I want to keep on doing it, and since God forgives me anyway, I might as well keep sinning.”

Brothers and sisters, that is not repentance. That is an attitude that will eventually separate you from God’s grace. You have to choose between your sin and God’s grace. You can’t deliberately continue in both at the same time.

The apostle Paul recognized that some people might take the attitude that they can keep sinning without repentance, but he makes it very clear that this attitude shows that you have not really repented:

​1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? (Romans 6:1-2, NLT)

7 “But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?” 8 And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned. (Romans 3:7-8, NLT)

Again, I’m not saying that if you repent you will never sin that way again. But I am saying that when you repent, it is your genuine intention to never sin that way again. You may not achieve that intention, but even if you fail again, you continue on the path toward God and away from sin.

I’m not putting it all back on you to repent correctly. But I’m just trying to make sure everyone understands – this isn’t universalism. God offers grace to everyone, but not everyone believes they need it, and not everyone believes he offers it, or that it is sufficient. And if you believe you can have God’s grace without turning away from yourself and your sinful desires and habits, you do not know the Bible:

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17, ESV)

14 Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15, ESV)

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:45-47, ESV)

30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:30-31, ESV)

20 I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:20-21, ESV)

In the verses above, I have italicized the word repentance so you see my point more quickly. You do see it, right? Repentance is an essential part of the gospel. It is the beginning, and it is necessary if we are to receive God’s grace.

David, when he was confronted with sin, repented. He believed he needed forgiveness. He sought that forgiveness from God, and he received it. He was forgiven. Most of the evidence seems to indicate that after this, he went back to trusting the Lord with all of his heart. Psalm 51 certainly seems to show us that. In addition, we’ll see that when David faced the real-life consequences that Nathan predicted, he remained steadfast in faith, responding like the David of old to trouble and adversity.

So what does all this say to you?

First, read the bible. The bible serves us like Nathan the prophet served David. It shows us God’s perspective on things, it helps us to see things in a new light.

Second, this passage shows us the importance of repentance. Through Jesus, God has done everything needed to restore our relationship with him, and forgive us. But we have to believe we need it, and believe he offers it. We need to turn away from our own self-oriented life, and let our life belong fully to the Lord. Again, repentance doesn’t mean perfection. But it means your heart is turned away from sin and sinful desires, and toward God. Sins become an aberration, not simply a matter of course.

Third, do not let the consequences of your sins make you doubt God’s forgiveness. Sometimes, when we experience the difficult consequences of what we’ve done, or failed to do, it feels like God is still angry at us, like maybe we are not forgiven. That’s a trap of the devil. If you have repented in faith, you are forgiven. But sometimes, those consequences remain. The Lord will give you extra grace to face those things also, if you seek him. In fact, the next several chapters in 2 Samuel are all about the consequences of David’s sin, and how David faced them. We’ll see that it seems like David returned to being the man who leaned wholly on God in trouble and sorrow. So, if we face consequences for our sins, we too can be close to God and lean entirely on him, even if what we face is our own fault. God has indeed forgiven you. Trust him, trust his forgiveness and love, and lean on him in every situation you face in life.

Pause right now, and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you.

We who are Christians know that Jesus is alive. We know it through faith. We know there is more life, better life waiting for us with him. We know it. But everyone keeps saying we have to move on. Everyone tells us we shouldn’t spend so much time thinking about it. Sometimes it feels like God hasn’t come through. But we know better. Don’t let go of that knowledge. Don’t give up that hope. Don’t fill your life with other things, don’t make yourself a life apart from the one who truly loves you and is coming back for you, no matter how long it seems.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer:

It’s always a challenge for me to preach about the Resurrection of Jesus. It is the central truth of our faith. Jesus physically rose from death; you either believe it or you don’t. In the past I have offered many facts and logical arguments that tell us it is reasonable to believe it. But this year I want to look at the difference it makes in our lives. It makes a huge difference in eternity, of course – the difference between heaven and hell. But it starts to make a difference right now, in the choices we make, and in how we deal with disappointment and grief here in this life.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Cast Away starring Tom Hanks. Hanks’ character, named “Chuck,” a FedEx executive, is on the verge of proposing to his girlfriend Kelly, the love of his life. But he has to take a business trip first, on a plane filled with FedEx packages. Over the Pacific Ocean, his plane goes down. He survives the next four years completely alone on a deserted island, aided by the contents of some of the FedEx packages. Finally, he is rescued. But four years with no word is a long time. When he returns, he finds that everyone had given up on him, and considered him dead. Even his true love, Kelly, had mourned him, and then moved on. She is now married, with a toddler.

Naturally, when Chuck returns – from the dead, so to speak – it is traumatic to both of them. Chuck drives to see Kelly at her house in the middle of the night, as the rain pours down. They both say goodbye in a heartbreaking scene, where much is left unsaid. Then, as Chuck pulls down the driveway, Kelly comes running out in the rain, calling his name. They stand in the rain, hugging and kissing. Then Kelly says:

“I always knew you were alive, I knew it. But everybody said I had to stop saying that, that I had to let you go.” Kelly pauses while they stare at each other. “I love you. You’re the love of my life.”

After another long pause while they look at each other, Chuck says, “I love you too Kelly, more than you’ll ever know.”

They get into Chuck’s car and sit in silence. But they both know that Kelly has to go back home, that it is too late for them to ever be together like that again. And so he drives her back up the driveway, and leaves her there.

If you want to watch the scene, here it is:

There is a lot of tragedy in this scene that is simply the result of circumstances that neither one of them could control. But there is also the tragedy that Kelly gave up on Chuck, gave up on hope, even when deep in her heart, she knew that she shouldn’t stop hoping. So she settled for life as best as she could get it. She quit working on her dream to be a professor. She married a decent man and had a child. And so when Chuck came back, it was too late. She had already made another life for herself, and there was no place for Chuck in it anymore.

This is heartbreaking, but it is, after all, just a movie. Even so, I think this part of the movie taps into a spiritual truth. It reveals the struggle of faith that we have sometimes as Christians. Our Lover – Jesus – has  been gone for a long time now. All around us, voices tell us to give up, to move on, to settle for life as best as we can get it. But if we do that, we find, like Kelly, that when Jesus returns, we have no room for him in our lives anymore.

Jesus’ very first disciples struggled with this. They traveled with Jesus, watched his miracles and heard him preach. They came to believe that he was God’s chosen Messiah – true God in the flesh, their only true hope for salvation and real life. And then he was killed. Now they didn’t know what to do with all their hopes and dreams. It was all over. On the third day after his death, some of these disciples went on a short journey. A stranger joined them as they walked and asked them why they seemed so sad. They told the stranger about Jesus and all he had done and said, and then they told him how Jesus had been handed over and killed. They end with a brief and poignant expression of their loss and confusion:

“But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel.”

You can almost hear the pain in their words. Things didn’t turn out the way they planned. They were sure they were following God. They were sure they had it right, and that their future was bright with their savior. They are hurt and lost. They had put their hope in Jesus, and now Jesus wasn’t there anymore.

Except that he was.

He was right next to them. He was the very stranger that they were talking to. This is extremely important. In our everyday life experience, we may feel far removed from the resurrection of Jesus. We may feel like it has nothing to do with us, like from now on we just have to get on with life as best we can. But Jesus is walking right next to us. Feeling or no feeling, whether we can perceive it somehow or not, the Resurrection of Jesus was real, and the resurrection life that he offers us is just as real.

The disciples’ lack of faith is surprising. Jesus told them exactly what was going to happen. He said several times that he would be taken captive by the authorities and executed, and then that he would rise from death on the third day (for instance, Luke 9:44-45 and 18:31-34).

But here’s the problem: They didn’t want to believe the part about him dying, until they had no choice. They wouldn’t accept what he was saying. Peter told him not to have such a negative outlook (Matthew 16:21-23). Because they wouldn’t accept the message of sorrow and suffering, they also, unknowingly, rejected the message of the hope. It’s all one message, and you can’t have one without the other. They had no hope because they first refused to believe the difficult part, the hard part, the suffering. I think this is really important. Sometimes, we fail to believe in the goodness of God because we reject that goodness when it comes in and through suffering.

So, when Jesus did die, they still didn’t believe the part where he told them he would rise again physically, because they hadn’t believed in the first part, either. Therefore, the death of Jesus destroyed them mentally and emotionally. They were completely lost.

Sometimes, we are like those disciples. Jesus told us exactly what is going to happen. He said we would have trouble in this world (John 16:33), but he also told us not to let our hearts be troubled (John 14:1). Living in a world of sin, we will experience sorrow and grief. But living in faith in Jesus Christ, those sorrows and griefs are not the final word. They are not as real as the great reality that is coming for those who trust Jesus. The pain and severe disappointment experienced by those disciples walking along the road was real. But the man walking beside them was real too, and he had already overcome their grief, even before they were aware of it. The reality of his resurrection was greater than the reality of their sorrow, whether they knew it or not.

I think the danger we face as believers in the risen Messiah is that, like those other disciples, we forget the promises of Jesus, or we think he is not close, not next to us. And so, in the meantime, we try to just go on and get some kind of life and hope for ourselves.

There is another poignant scene in the film Cast Away. For four years alone on the island, Chuck had no companion. So he began to talk to a volleyball (from one of the FedEx packages) that had a face-shaped bloodstain on it. He called it Wilson. In a strange way, he grew to care for the volleyball and became deeply attached to it. When he is sailing to try and find help, the volleyball comes loose from where it is tied. Chuck tries to swim after it but he is held back by a rope that attaches him to the raft. He finally needs to make a choice whether to hold on to the raft, which is his only chance at living and seeing Kelly again – or swimming after the volleyball, and drowning with it in his arms.

To watch the scene, watch below, or click here. It goes for the first 2 minutes, and then after that are other movie clips, so please stop at 2:00 in.

He reluctantly chooses life, but he cries his heart out at the loss of Wilson. It may be just a stupid volleyball, but it is all he has had for four long years. It is hard to blame Chuck for being so broken up after he lets Wilson go. We can understand it and even feel some of his pain. In the context of the whole movie, it is actually a very moving scene. And yet even though it is perfectly understandable, we know (and even the character Chuck knows) that ultimately, it is just a volleyball. It isn’t a real person. It isn’t worth giving your life for.

Sometimes I think we spend half our lives like Chuck in that scene, tugging on the end of the rope, not quite sure whether we are going to give up the raft, or give up the volleyball. Chuck’s problem was that after four years alone, part of him actually believed that Wilson was a real person. He wasn’t sure of the truth. He may not have been fully convinced that the raft would really bring him back to civilization and real people. Because of his experience, Wilson seemed more real, more important than the raft.

We are like that sometimes. This life sometimes seems so much more real than the Resurrection Life that Jesus told us about. The things we can have here tempt us to believe the lie that they are more real and more important than our eternal future. This is understandable. It is understandable also to have a hard time giving them up, just like Chuck had difficulty letting go of Wilson. But even though we understand, and it is hard, the choice is perfectly and completely clear. There is nothing in this life that is worth holding on to if it keeps us from the real Life that Jesus offers us.

Will we hold onto something that is ultimately worthless, or will we give it up for real life? To give it up requires faith. It requires us to trust that there is a real resurrection, that real life is still waiting for us. We can see and touch the fake things, like Chuck could touch and see the volleyball Wilson. But those things are not as real and true as what awaits us when we trust in Jesus. Jesus said:

1 “Your heart must not be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. 4 You know the way to where I am going.”

5 “Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where You’re going. How can we know the way? ” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 “If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:1-7)

The fact of the resurrection tells us that there is real life waiting for us. There is still true love possible. Our dreams have not been shattered and lost. We just need to recognize that the time is not yet. We are in the dress rehearsal, the practice before the real game begins. We are camping in a tent, not living in our home. We are practicing to love, practicing to be great.

One of the things that helped Chuck make it through was his hope of the life that existed away from his island. So I want us to dwell for a little bit on the resurrection life that waits for us, away from this little island that we mistakenly call life.

I think a lot of Christians have the feeling that the resurrection life will be a never ending worship service. Let me be honest with you. I am a pastor, and that thought does not excite me. Don’t get me wrong, I love to worship the Lord with other believers. But I also love to fish, to hike and come around the corner of a ridge to a new vista I’ve never seen before. I love to just hang out and laugh with my family and close friends. I like to write, and read and experience moving stories. I believe amazing worship will be part of our experience of resurrection life. But I think there will also be so much more.

John Eldredge writes that you cannot hope for something you do not desire. The overwhelmingly good news is that resurrection life is where our deepest, strongest, purest desires are fulfilled. The desire for intimacy that sometimes we get confused with a desire for only sex – that intimacy will be fulfilled in resurrection life. The desire to be deeply connected to beauty – the thing that causes us to ache when we see a beautiful person, or an awe-inspiring view, or hear uplifting music – that will be fulfilled. The desire to be significant, to be recognized for who you are and for the God-given gifts you have – that will be fulfilled in resurrection life. That thing in you that loves to rise to the occasion and meet challenges – that will find its ultimate expression in resurrection life.

We won’t be ghosts or angels, floating around somewhere. Jesus was not resurrected as a spirit – he had a physical body. On several occasions after he was raised, he sat down and ate with the disciples. He promises us resurrection bodies also (1 Corinthians 15). He promises us a new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21 & 22) where will live and love and do the things we love to do, and be connected to God and to each other without the destruction and cruelty of sin and sorrow.

I will never get all the love I am seeking from human beings. I may never be recognized for who I am in this life. My talents might go unappreciated. I might have to toil and spend a lot of time doing things I don’t really want to do. If this life is all there is, that would be tragic. But if all that is fulfilled in the next life, in my resurrection, which Jesus made possible – then what I face here and now is bearable. It isn’t the final word. I’m not getting too old – I’m actually getting closer to the fulfillment of all I want as I age.

I’ve heard an expression: “Some people are so heavenly-minded, they are no earthly good.” I detest that expression. It is entirely false. I have never met anyone who is too heavenly-minded. And the most resurrection-oriented people I know are the ones who have done the most for the Lord and for their fellow human beings here and now. It is only when we lose sight of resurrection that we become focused on making ourselves happy here and now, whatever the cost.

Think back to Kelly, from Cast Away. Deep in her heart, she knew Chuck was alive. But she lost faith. She gave up that hope and settled for what she could get at the moment. Because of that, she missed out forever on the life she might have had with Chuck if she had only held on.

We who are Christians know that Jesus is alive. We know it through faith. We know there is more life, better life waiting for us with him. We know it. But everyone keeps saying we have to move on. Everyone tells us we shouldn’t spend so much time thinking about it. Sometimes it feels like God hasn’t come through. But we know better. Don’t let go of that knowledge. Don’t give up that hope. Don’t fill your life with other things, don’t make yourself a life apart from the one who truly loves you and is coming back for you, no matter how long it seems.

He is Risen!

Through David’s journey, we learn about the perniciousness of sin, the depth of God’s grace and the importance of genuine repentance. This compelling narrative not only highlights the transformative power of God’s love but also encourages us to reflect on our own lives and seek a renewed heart and spirit. Our only hope is a new, clean heart and a new, right spirit. God gives us those things because of his own amazing grace.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/2Samuel/2sam14.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 2 Samuel Part 14

If you are reading this, please pause, and read 2 Samuel chapter 12:1-14 first. The message in the text is pretty plain, and I am not going to go over the whole story in detail. So read the chapter, then come back and read the rest of this. Today we are going to focus mostly on Psalm 51, which David wrote soon after this incident in his life.

Remember the situation: David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and she got pregnant. He covered it up by arranging to have her husband killed in battle. David did not appear to repent.

Not long after this, the prophet Nathan came to the king. He told David about a rich man in Israel who had a great flock of sheep, goats and other animals, and a poor man who had nothing except one little lamb who was his beloved pet. The rich man had a visitor, and he was obliged to feed the visitor. But rather than take one of his own vast herd, he extorted the one beloved pet from the poor man, killed it, and fed it to his visitor, while the poor man was helpless to prevent it.

David was enraged by the injustice of what the rich man had done, and furious that such a thing would happen in Israel while he was king. He demanded to know the name of the rich man, so he could punish him for such blatant extortion and injustice.

Nathan said: “You are the man. This story is about you.”

Besides being a very powerful part of this chapter, I think Nathan’s approach tells us something about the bible. I have said before, and I stand by it, that the whole bible, including the Old Testament, is about Jesus. The first and most important purpose of the bible is to introduce us to Jesus, and to help us get to know him better. So whenever we read any part of the bible, we should ask the Holy Spirit: “Where is Jesus here? Show me Jesus.” But part of getting to know Jesus is also about getting to know the things in our own lives that either help or hurt our relationship with him. So the famous Danish theologian and philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, told people that when they read the bible, they should say, “this is about me.” And I agree with that, at least in the way that he meant. It is about Jesus first, but in a secondary way, related to that, the bible exposes our own attitudes, thoughts and ways of approaching life. In a way, the bible is to us what Nathan’s story is to David. We are supposed to read and engage. We should ask: “Where is Jesus?” But we should also ask, “Where am I in this text? What does this bible passage tell me about myself, in relationship to Jesus?”

Nathan goes on and catalogues the outrageous sins of David. But I don’t think he needed to. Almost all people have a deeply seated sense of justice. Nathan appealed to that in David through the story, and I think David was convicted as soon as Nathan said, “you are the man.”

13 David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Then Nathan replied to David, “The LORD has taken away your sin; you will not die. 14 However, because you treated the LORD with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die.”

Now, the statement “I have sinned against the Lord,” seems a little inadequate, considering what David had done. I would have wanted more. But God knew what was in David’s heart. And we too, know what was in his heart at this point in time, because immediately after this, David wrote it down. You can find it in the bible in Psalm 51. This psalm was written right after Nathan confronted him about Bathsheba. The whole psalm is still today one of the most powerful expressions of repentance ever written.

I think Psalm 51 is amazing at so many levels. It is a powerful part of scripture, and contains much important truth. And yet, this amazing and helpful part of the Bible came about because of terrible sins. Therefore, one of the things this psalm shows us is that God can bring good out of any situation, even good out of our own horrible, deliberate sins. But we should also recognize that it wasn’t as if the sin is what generated this amazing part of the bible. It was David’s repentance from sin. I have said before, and I’ll say it again: this is what made David a man after God’s heart. Not that he never sinned, but that he always repented, and returned humbly to God, and gave up both sinning, and trying to justify his sins.

The important truths begin with the very first verse, in the way that David asks for forgiveness. He could have said, “Forgive me, Lord. After all, I am your chosen king.” He might have written: “Lord, if you don’t forgive me, all the amazing things you’ve done in my life up until now would be wasted.” Another possibility: “Forgive me, or the enemies of Israel will be encouraged. If you let something bad happen to me because of this sin, your people will be without a leader.”

He could also have made the claim—correctly—that compared to others, he had lived a mostly righteous life. Before this, he had followed the Lord even in spite of great suffering. He had refused to kill king Saul – twice – when he had him in his power. There was a lot of credit he could have claimed.

If David had lived in our time, he might have said, “Hey, love is love. I can’t help that Bathsheba and I fell in love. I can’t believe there is anything wrong with our love. And if only our society was more open, I wouldn’t have had to get Uriah killed.”

But instead of any of this, David asks for forgiveness on the basis of one thing alone: God’s hesed; that is, the faithful, covenant love that God has for his people. By doing so, David is saying: “I have no claim on you for forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. I dare to ask for forgiveness only because I know that you are a loving God. Please forgive me because of your own good and loving character.”

One of the things that is so amazing here is that it is a thousand years before Jesus. We might have expected David to offer sin-sacrifices at the tabernacle, and then consider that he had fulfilled his duty. In other words, he might have expected God to forgive him based on offering the right sacrifices. But he recognized (and he says it explicitly in verses 16-17) that sacrifices mean nothing unless his heart is in it. He knows that there is nothing he can do to earn God’s forgiveness, and no good he has done in the past is enough to “make up” for his sin. His only hope is that God will have mercy on him. No one can be righteous enough to please God. Instead, we depend entirely on God’s willingness to have mercy on us.

In verses 3-6 David expounds on this. He fully confesses his sin and brokenness, and he goes out of this way to show that he is not making excuses. There is no hope in excuses. There is no excuse. When speaking of his sin, David uses three words, translated by the ESV as: “transgression,” “iniquity,” and “sin.”  Transgression describes a moral revolt against God. This is the part inside of us that rises up and says, “I know what’s right and wrong, but I want what I want, and I’m going to get it for myself even if it’s wrong.”

Iniquity describes an internal character of sinfulness. David says: “I was born in iniquity,” (verse 5). He means he was born with a flawed and sinful nature. The New Testament describes this as our flesh. We are all deeply flawed, and I don’t mean the wonderful and beautiful quirks of personality we each have. Something deep inside all of us is perversely wired to go against God, broken and twisted from birth, always oriented away from God.

Finally, David uses the word “sin.” Sin (or sins) describes the wrong, bad action. His affair was a sin. The arranged murder was a sin. But it is important to see that sins are just the tip of the iceberg. It starts with a broken and twisted internal character, and then desire that rises up in rebellion against God, and bears fruit with the actual wrong action. This reminds me of what James wrote:

13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. 14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. (James 1:13-15, NLT)

David says something interesting in verse 4: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” When we first read this, it can sound surprising. Surely David sinned against Uriah as well, by committing adultery with his wife, and then by having him killed! How is it that David says his sin is against only God? Although this sounds wrong at first, it turns out to be quite accurate, and important – perhaps even more important today than it was when David wrote it.

In the first place, think of it like this: If there was no God, there would be no such thing as sin. Atheists believe this, and if they were right about the non-existence of God, they would also be correct about the non-existence of sin. If there is no God, even the idea that it is wrong to hurt someone else is just an arbitrary, made-up human rule. If there was no God, what David did to Uriah would be a tragedy for Uriah personally, but without God, who has the authority or power to declare it was a sin? David got away with it, after all, and he was the most powerful person in the region. Without God, that’s just the way the world works, and we need to live with it. So, you see, there can be no true moral evil unless there is some true, absolute standard.

The Bible tells us that the absolute standard is God’s holy character. Therefore, all sins are ultimately and finally sins against God. They are a violation of God’s holy character, and against his design for the human beings he made. There is no way to sin against another person without sinning against God as well.

Next, ask which is worse: violating the trust of another human being, or violating God’s? As a very imperfect analogy, suppose you kill your neighbor’s dog. Obviously, this is terrible for the dog, and it was wrong for you to hurt the dog. But the heart of your sin is really against your neighbor who loves the dog and is responsible for it. Obviously any human is more important than a dog, and in the same way, God is infinitely more important than any human being.

David is not saying that he did not wrong Uriah. Instead his point is that all sin is ultimately against God, and since God is infinitely greater, his sin against God is the heart of the issue. If he had not sinned against God, he certainly would not have sinned against Uriah.

This is especially important because in our world today, many people claim that nothing is really sinful if it doesn’t “hurt someone else.” So, for example, it is claimed, pornography doesn’t hurt anyone, so it’s not wrong to view it. Of course, they are wrong about pornography not hurting anyone. Hundreds, if not thousands, of former porn stars have testified that performing porn devastated them emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes physically. Some of those same women, while they were still performers, claimed that they really enjoyed it. But later, when they owned the truth of the matter, they confessed that in fact, porn was intensely destructive to them. In addition, some of the performers are undoubtedly women who are forced or coerced into it one way or another; no better off than sex slaves. But even if everyone was truly willing to do it, and happy about it later in life, porn is still a sin against God. We can’t say “it doesn’t hurt anyone,” because even if we lived in a fantasy world where all porn performers truly wanted to do it, it would still be a sin against God.

The same arguments are made about virtually any activity engaged in by consenting adults. We claim that the only sin is when someone doesn’t consent. But David puts us straight: all sin is sin against God. Even though it appears that Bathsheba went along with it willingly (thus, there was consent), they were both sinning, because God’s holy character intends sex for marriage alone. We can’t get ourselves off the hook by saying “I didn’t hurt anyone,” or even “I didn’t coerce anyone.” No, because all sin is against God, we have no defense. David, for his part, did not pretend to have a defense. He says: “therefore you are right when you speak, and justified when you judge me.”

In verse seven, David again affirms that it must be God who cleanses him; God alone can forgive and purify, and no one can earn it. David can’t make up for what he’s done. Verses 10-12 are the heart of this hard-hitting psalm:

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalms 51:10-12, ESV)

The problem is not just our actions. Our actions come from what is inside of us. David wants an enduring solution, one that will actually stop him from sinning again. I know many well-meaning Christians who get this confused. Many people, after sinning like David, might say something like this. “OK, from now on, I’m not going to go up on my rooftop alone. I’ll always have a guy with me up there, to make sure I’m not watching women bathe. In fact, I’ll give my wife the key to my rooftop, and she can go up there anytime, to make sure I don’t have any views of women bathing on their own rooftops, and we’ll build a wall if I do. Next, I’m going to have Nathan as my accountability partner. Finally, I won’t stay home from the wars anymore, because I might get bored and so get into trouble.”

All that is reasonably good, but it misses the point. David didn’t sin because he happened to see Bathsheba naked. He sinned because from birth, his heart was filled with iniquity. He sinned because he didn’t take that inborn iniquity seriously. Now, after these terrible actions, David knows that the problem is inside. It’s a problem he, personally, cannot fix. So he asks the Lord to give him a new heart, a righteous spirit. That is the only real hope he has to stop sinning. That is the only real hope any of us have.

I have never committed adultery, nor conspired to have someone murdered. But my heart is no better than David’s. The same iniquity inside David that led him to rebel against God is inside me, also. I’m not just saying that merely as a theological truth – I know myself well enough to know, experientially, that it is true about my heart. It is good to protect ourselves against temptation. But it is not enough. We need, along with David, to ask for a brand new heart from the Lord.

God answered David’s prayer for a new and clean heart. He answered that prayer for all mankind through Jesus. When Jesus came, he made it clear that the human heart is the real problem; and that is exactly why he came to redeem us. And the power of God for redemption is so great that it was both David and Bathsheba who became physical ancestors of Jesus who brought us that salvation. If he can turn their sin around and provide, through it, salvation for all humankind, he can also renew our hearts and spirits. Like David, let’s ask him.

Let us also see how grievously David sinned, and recognize the all-sufficiency of God’s forgiveness. I suspect that prior to committing adultery, David had been drifting away from the Lord. Probably nothing dramatic, but I would guess that as life got easier and more full for him, he focused less and less on God. In time, he drifted far enough to commit the dramatic sins he did: adultery, lying, conspiracy to murder, deceiving others into conspiracy to murder. Then nine more months passed, without him returning to the Lord or repenting on his own. We know this because Nathan didn’t confront David until after the child conceived in adultery was born. All told, I would guess that it was at least a year – perhaps several – that David was really not at all on track with God.

I think this is important, because the depth and depravity of David’s sin show us the vastness of God’s forgiveness and grace. This wasn’t just a little slip. This was an attitude of lust, murder, lying and self-reliance that continued for some time. God did not forgive David because it was just a little slip-up. It wasn’t. It was at least a year or two of wandering further and further away from God. But God forgave David because of his own loving nature. He laid the sins of David upon Jesus (Romans 3: 26).

If God can forgive David – who spent at least a year (but almost certainly more) turning his back on God and did such horrible things – he will certainly also forgive us when we repent. Don’t believe the lie that you have fallen too far or been away from God for too long. His grace is bigger than that. He will also give us a clean heart and right spirit, through Jesus Christ, physical descendant of David and Bathsheba.

This is one of the darkest times in David’s life. However, even when David failed, God made his grace known. Through the good man, Uriah, God showed the world that the Messiah would die for our sins.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/2Samuel/2sam13.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 2 Samuel Part 13

Unfortunately for David, this is the second most well-known incident in his life. Most of us remember how he killed the giant when he was a boy. And most of us remember that he committed adultery as a middle-aged man. Hopefully we have learned there is so much more to him than those two things, but there is no doubt that 2 Samuel chapter 11 records a very dark time in David’s spiritual life.

Since we’ve been going through the book sequentially, we can now set it in its context. Chapters eight and ten record a war started by the Ammonites. For perhaps a year, David’s army fought the Arameans and others who were allies of the Ammonites. Eventually, David himself led the armies that defeated those allies. After they were defeated, David sent his military commander, Joab, after the Ammonites themselves. Many preachers have made a big deal out of the fact that David didn’t personally go out with the army this time. However, I’m not convinced that his decision to stay at home was spiritually significant. He did not go out with them the year before this either, at least, not at first (2 Samuel 10:7 & 17). David was maybe around fifty years old at this point, and it would be natural for campaigns to start to get physically more demanding for him. Even more than that, as king of a growing nation, he certainly had responsibilities other than war. In any case, when the army went off to war, David stayed in Jerusalem.

In ancient Israel most buildings had flat roofs, and people used their rooftops the way modern people might use a deck, patio, porch or veranda. It was a place to relax, and enjoy, especially in the evening and at night. So it would have been quite normal for David to be out on his roof, relaxing, in the late afternoon and evening. One evening, walking on the roof of the palace, David observed a beautiful woman bathing in a nearby dwelling.

3 So David sent someone to inquire about her, and he reported, “This is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

Bathsheba’s identity is interesting. She was the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Uriah was one of David’s “thirty mighty men,” among the most famous and honorable warriors in Israel, part of the faithful band that fought alongside David and did great deeds. “The thirty” (there were actually 31) are listed in 2 Samuel 23 and again in 1 Chronicles 11. Bathsheba was also the daughter of Eliam. That name appears elsewhere only as another one of the thirty. Not all of them survived as long as David, and it seems that perhaps not all of them had been with David since his days in hiding – some might have become part of “the thirty” later on. So the picture we get is that Bathsheba was the daughter of one of David’s elite warriors, probably one of those who was with him from the very beginning. When she grew up, she married Uriah, another one of that elite band, a younger man, who likely joined the thirty later on. Bathsheba might have met David when she was a child, but if so, there’s a good possibility that he had not seen her since she grew up and got married. In any case, her family life had been bound up with David as long as she could remember. It is also likely that Bathsheba was quite young. She was married, and obviously had the ability to get pregnant, but so far she did not have any children. From this we can guess that she had not been married very long. These factors suggest that she was possibly less than twenty years old.

When David found out who she was, he sent for her. In his own mind, he may have fooled himself into thinking he only wanted to greet her and remember her father with her – we don’t really know. But when she came to the palace, they had sex.

It’s hard to know what part Bathsheba played in all this. There are some scholars who believe that this was basically rape: He sent for her, and she came and was forced to do his bidding. Certainly, it would have been very hard for her to say no. In those days it was a pretty big deal to defy your king. In addition, given her identity, David would have been the bright star in her sky all of her life – both the life of her father and her husband had been intimately bound to him. So, she may have been a little awestruck, and very flattered, also making it hard to say no. There is no doubt that David was the initiator of the sin. It would not have happened without him pursuing it.

On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine a woman bathing naked (as she almost certainly was) without checking all angles to make sure no one could see her. In fact, it is certain that David often walked on the roof of his palace, and just as certain that Bathsheba must have seen him from her own house on other occasions. She surely knew that he would be able to see her from his roof. Also, the evening was the most likely time for him to be there. So I’m convinced that Bathsheba deliberately bathed in full view of her king. I am not implying that this makes the whole incident her own fault, far from it. But I don’t think she was coerced. I think she also actively participated in this sin.

Also, there is no record of her protesting. Knowing David, if Bathsheba had reminded him of the right thing to do, as Abigail once had (1 Samuel 25:26-31), it is likely that David would have repented of his intentions and praised her righteousness, as he did in the case of Abigail (1 Samuel 25:32-34). We also know that none of the Old Testament writers, including the one who wrote 2 Samuel, were shy about calling rape what it was (cf. 2 Samuel 13:14). However, that is not what they called this. My conclusion is that they both sinned deliberately, but that David was the one who really made it happen.

Now, David compounded the sexual sin with several others, and I will talk about those things. But I don’t want to gloss over the first sin here. One of the reasons the church is now on the ropes in our culture is that decades ago, we quit publicly emphasizing that sex was made for marriage, and marriage alone. Adultery is a sin. Sex between unmarried people is also a sin, according to the bible. The New Testament calls these things “porneia.” Old English translations write it “fornication” and newer ones call it “sexual immorality.” In some ways “sexual immorality” is a better translation, because the word really means “any sexual activity that is not between a man and the woman he is married to.”

So sexual immorality (porneia) includes lust, sex before marriage, adultery, homosexual sex and all shades of those things. Jesus said it was evil in Mark 7:21-23.  Some of the other verses that condemn sexual immorality as sinful are: Romans 13:3, 1 Corinthians 6:9-18; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:5. There are many, many more. You have heard it here, if nowhere else: the bible teaches that  God created sex, and that it is good. Also, and very important, it was created for marriage, and any kind of sex outside of marriage is sinful. You may disagree with that idea, but that is what the Bible actually says, all over the place. Sex in marriage is good. Sex outside of marriage, in any form, is sinful. So don’t listen to anyone who says David’s main sin was lying, covering up and then the murder. Those were sins too. But the first sin, just as bad as all the rest, was sex with someone he was not married to.

I know it’s hard for people to go against our culture. But very rarely will you talk to an older person who says, “I wish I had had more casual sex when I was young.” Or, “it’s been really beneficial to my marriage that I had sex with lots of people before I met my wife.” When we reject God’s plan for sexuality, the result is brokenness and pain.

You may have noticed that verse 4 says that Bathsheba had been “purifying herself from her uncleanness.” Leviticus 15:19-28 instructs women to bathe seven days after the ending of their menstrual period. Though they may not have realized it, the timing of this would have been near the time of ovulation, the period when women were most likely to get pregnant. And so it happened in this case. Bathsheba soon sent David word that she was pregnant.

Because Bathsheba had gone through her menstrual period while her husband was off at war, there could be no doubt that the baby was from adultery.

Once Bathsheba became pregnant it wasn’t only a problem of sinning against God and Bathsheba’s husband. It was complicated now by the fact that other people were going to find out about it. I think David’s attitude when he found out about the pregnancy is very revealing. It is utterly unlike David for most of his life, but in this case, he was far more concerned about what others would think than he was about what God thought. God already knew about the sin, but David didn’t seem worried until he realized that others would find out.

Now, there was something very serious about others finding out. The penalty for adultery in ancient Israel was supposed to be death. Both David and Bathsheba were supposed to be stoned to death, according to the laws of Moses. (Deuteronomy 22:22). So in David’s mind, their own lives were at stake.

Everything that happened after Bathsheba got pregnant was the result of David trying to handle the situation himself, with his own resources. The biggest problem is that he tried to correct the situation without admitting his guilt or seeking forgiveness.

David brought Uriah home to be with his wife, so everyone would think the baby was legitimate. It is an almost childish effort to make things right. You can picture David thinking (but not saying) “I slept with your wife. But it should have been you, so now you do it.” But unfortunately for everyone, Uriah had apparently taken vows that were common for elite soldiers in those days. Such warriors sometimes pledged to not sleep with their wives until the war was won, and the whole army was home again. This cut back on desertions (because they’d be breaking a vow if they went home and resumed normal relations with their wives), motivated soldiers to fight, and contributed to a sense of camaraderie. Uriah was a man of great integrity, committed to keeping his vows. David even enticed him into getting drunk (thus causing him to sin in that way); but even in his drunken state, he would not go home and break his vow by being with his wife.

Notice the difference between David and Uriah here. Uriah knew that if he went home and saw his wife, he would be very likely to give in to temptation and break his vow of celibacy during war. So he didn’t even go there. David, on the other hand, in a premeditated act, brought the woman into his home. Temptation is easiest to resist on the very front end. If you take a spoonful of ice-cream, it is much harder to resist having a big bowl. It’s easier to refrain if you don’t even taste it.

So David’s first plan didn’t work. Instead of confessing and repenting, he kept trying to fix it on his own. No doubt, certain thoughts had probably crossed his mind. If only Uriah were killed in battle, then I could marry Bathsheba and the baby would be legitimate. He is a soldier, after all. These things do happen. From that sort of thinking, it isn’t such a stretch to move to actually giving some orders to make that more likely. It was a cruel irony that David trusted Uriah himself to carry the orders for his own death to Joab, David’s nephew, and the commander of the army.

It is uncertain how much Joab knew. He knew Uriah had been recalled to Jerusalem. So when he got the orders, he probably assumed that Uriah had displeased David in some way, but that David preferred him to die in battle, rather than to dishonor one of the thirty through public execution. Afterwards, of course, Joab must have figured out what happened. But in this way David tricked Joab into being an accomplice in murder. Joab did as David asked, and put Uriah in a difficult place in the battle, where he was killed. Unfortunately, Uriah didn’t die alone, and other soldiers died alongside him, unnecessarily.

So David committed adultery, got Uriah to sin by becoming drunk, got Joab to sin as an accomplice to murder, and then got Uriah and several others killed to cover it all up. As the final verse of the chapter says:

However, the LORD considered what David had done to be evil. (2 Samuel 11:27)

So, what does all this mean for us today?

One thing, as I have said, is that it is a reminder of God’s standard for sexual morality. It doesn’t matter what the culture says. Sex was made by God, to be celebrated in marriage between one man and one woman. Anything other than that is sin. Period. That really is what the bible says. If you doubt me, look up the verses I referenced earlier, or email me or comment, and I’ll show you even more. As Christians, we need to hold to that standard. When we look at the world around us, so much of the pain and hurt and hopelessness comes from the fact that people have ignored the Bible’s teaching in this area. It leads to divorce, broken families, fatherless children, people unable to maintain normal healthy relationships, and many more tragic results. There is forgiveness in Jesus for everyone. But God’s commands about sexuality are to protect us from harm, and it’s best to avoid being a cause of that harm.

Something else we might get out of this is a strategy for dealing with temptation. David first looked. Then he investigated. Then he brought Bathsheba closer, and then he sinned. If, as soon as he saw her, he had turned away, perhaps spent some time with one of his many wives, he probably would not have done all the evil that he did. It is easier to resist temptation at the very beginning. Don’t even play with the idea of doing something you know is wrong – it will burn you.

There is another thing I noticed here. It is interesting to realize when this happens. It isn’t when David is afraid for his life. It isn’t when people are betraying him, or when after twenty years, he finds himself back in a cave again. No, David’s failure was during a time of prosperity and security. We almost always look on struggle as bad and lack of struggle as good. Don’t get me wrong. I’m the same way. I like it when everything is going my way without a bump in the road. But the truth is, times of prosperity and security can be the most dangerous spiritual times of all. Jospeh Excell, a bible commentator of the nineteenth century, said it like this:

“The likelihood is that the great prosperity that was now flowing in upon David in every direction had had an unfavourable effect upon his soul.”

Sometimes, we think the goal is to get to a place where everything is smooth and there are no struggles. But maybe that’s like thinking how safe we would be if only we could get to the very edge of a cliff and sleep there. Physical prosperity and ease are not always good for the soul.

How about this: where is Jesus in this passage? In some ways, that isn’t quite a fair question, because the story is longer than just chapter 11. The whole passage goes on. But we can see Jesus quite clearly here too. However, this time, it isn’t in David. That’s important. David was not the Messiah. God often used him to show the world what the Messiah was like, but God was not dependent upon David alone. In this passage, he shows us Jesus through the good man, Uriah.

Uriah did not do anything wrong. In fact, it was both David and Bathsheba who wronged Uriah. By the law of Moses, they were supposed to die for the sin they committed against him. But instead, he died for them. He did no wrong, even when he was tempted. He was obedient and carried the orders for his own execution with him. When ordered by Joab, he went into battle, to his death, in order to save those who had sinned against him.

This is exactly what Jesus did for us. We have sinned against God (Romans 3:23). We deserve death and hell as the penalty for our sin (Romans 6:23). Jesus came to earth in obedience to the Father, carrying the orders for his own execution (Philippians 2:8). When he was tempted, he did no wrong (Hebrews 4:15). And yet Jesus died instead of us, so that we could live eternally (Romans 3:25; 1 Timothy 2:6; John 3:16).

Jesus is constantly calling to us, reminding us who he is, and how much he cares for us. Even in this awful story of betrayal and murder, Jesus is calling to us, saying “See how I love you! See what I was willing to do for you, even in the face of the worst evil you could conceive.” No evil can overcome that kind of grace and good. That grace is ours if we simply confess we need it, turn way from our sins, and receive it.

If someone rejects God, do you think God should force them to be eternally in His presence? It would mean that our choices don’t actually mean anything, that we aren’t, in fact, free. If there are no consequences for a choice, it’s not really a choice, is it? It’s meaningless to “choose” if everything will work out the same way, no matter what you choose.

Mephibosheth shows us what it looks like when we freely accept the faithful love of God. But in today’s passage, Hanun shows us what happens when we make the opposite choice and reject that love.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/2Samuel/2sam12.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 2 Samuel Part 12

Remember that in chapter eight, many of David’s military victories are described. Then, in chapter nine, we read about how David was kind to Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan. Now, in chapter 10, we get the details concerning how one of the wars described in chapter eight came about. Although it seems like chapter nine was an interruption in the flow of the narrative, actually, chapter nine fits perfectly with chapter ten.

In chapter nine, David reached out with the faithful love of God to Mephibosheth, who probably assumed that David was his enemy. Mephibosheth courageously responded to David’s overtures, and the result was a beautiful demonstration of God’s grace through David.

Now, in chapter ten, something similar happens. Nahash, king of Ammon, died. If you remember, it was Nahash who attacked the Israelite town of Jabesh-Gilead, shortly after Saul became king. This is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter eleven. Against all expectation, Saul attacked and defeated Nahash, and the armies of Ammon.

However, it appears from our text today (verse 2) that Nahash had helped David during the period he was running from Saul. This was probably more from a desire to keep the country of Israel unstable and divided, and to get revenge on Saul, than from any true kindness toward David on the part of Nahash.

Even so, when Nahash died, David sent ambassadors to his son, Hanun, to offer his condolences. Just as most kings in David’s situation would have considered Mephibosheth a threat, most would also have considered Hanun an enemy. In addition, the Ammonites were among those Canaanite tribes who worshipped idols and at times led the people of Israel away from the Lord. But David reached out to Hanun in his grief, seeking to show him the faithful love of God, just as he had done with Mephibosheth. In other words, this story starts the same way as the story of Mephibosheth in chapter nine. If you remember from last time, David said he wanted to show “the faithful love of God” to someone in Saul’s family. The Hebrew word for “faithful love of God” is hesed. That same word, hesed, is used here in chapter ten. David says he wants to show hesed to Hanun, in honor of his father (verse 20.

In this case, however, the results were very different from the situation with Mephibosheth. On the advice of his councilors, Nahash seized David’s emissaries, shaved off half their beards, and cut their robes off to show their bare buttocks. He sent them back to David that way, in utter humiliation. I think even today, we can get a sense for how rude and spiteful this was. It was like giving David “the finger” and saying “screw you!” It communicated an absolute lack of respect for David. It was more or less a declaration of war.

In other words, Hanun’s response to David, and to the faithful love of God, was pretty much the exact opposite of Mephibosheth’s response. Hanun rejected the faithful love of God that was offered to him through God’s chosen instrument, David.

Remember that Jesus and his apostles taught that even the Old Testament is ultimately about Jesus. These things actually happened, but God guided their happening in such a way as to reveal to us the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27, ESV2011)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2Tim 3:14-17, HCSB)

4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. (Rom 15:4, HCSB)

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart. (Heb 4:12, HCSB)

So, to really understand this, we need to remember that this is still all ultimately about Jesus. It should help us get to know him better. Last week, we saw that David revealed the heart of God’s ultimate Messiah, Jesus. The heart of Jesus is to find the lost and broken and show them God’s everlasting and faithful love. David lived that out, and Mephibosheth received that love.

But there is another possible outcome. Jesus wants to show God’s faithful and everlasting love to each person. But what about the person who doesn’t want it, who won’t receive it? That is what 2 Samuel 10 is all about. It is the other side of the same coin, the second part in the same story of God’s love for people. It is the story of what happens when people reject the faithful love of God.

Now, it is true, Hanun received some bad advice from his councilors. But even so, he believed his advisors, rather than the emissaries of the kind king, and the responsibility for that belief was all on him. Yes, he had people lying to him. But he also had David’s men telling him the truth, and Hanun made a choice to believe the lies rather than the truth. The consequences were all his own fault.

Now, I don’t know what would have happened if Hanun had repented and sent messengers to David acknowledging his wrong and asking for forgiveness. But Hanun, realizing that he had done wrong, proceeded to do even more wrong. He armed for war, and called on allies to help him. He was proud and stubborn and was willing to make both soldiers and civilians pay for his own mistakes.

The consequences were severe. David sent his army to besiege the capital city. Joab and his brother Abishai commanded the armies, and they defeated the Aramean allies of Hanun, while the army of Hanun fled back inside the walled city. Then the Arameans were upset, and sent another army. David himself took charge of the army of Israel, and the Arameans were defeated a second time. They never again helped the Ammonites. We are basically finding out the details of the military campaigns described in chapter eight.

Ultimately, though it took at least a year, the Ammonites themselves were utterly defeated and their capital city destroyed. Hanun lost his crown, and probably his head; while his people were made into heavy-laborers for the Israelites (these final events are recorded in 2 Samuel 12).

Hanun demonstrates for us what happens when we reject the faithful love of God that is offered through his chosen messiah, Jesus. Mephibosheth humbly received that love, and it blessed him for his entire life. But Hanun rejected it. It took some time, but ultimately, because he rejected it, he lost everything, and ruined the lives of tens of thousands of others.

We like to talk about the love and mercy and grace of God. I know I do. And that love and mercy and grace is indeed ours if we will simply trust the good heart of Jesus. When we receive it, we are brought into a daily relationship with Jesus, just as Mephibosheth had a daily relationship with David.

But the other side of the story is this: it does not go well for those who reject the love of God offered in Jesus Christ. Yes, it’s true, people lied to Hanun about David and his intentions. And the devil will use people and circumstances to lie to us about Jesus. But ultimately the truth was there for Hanun to choose, if he would just trust David. And the truth about Jesus is there, if we will just trust him. When we refuse to do that, we are inviting destruction upon ourselves. None of our allies or misplaced hopes will be able to save us.

This isn’t just an Old Testament teaching either. The writer of Hebrews says this:

1 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 3 For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”
even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” 5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:1-7, NLT)

This is pretty clear: we need to rest from our own life that centered around our own desires and selfishness, our own works and ambitions, and instead rest in God’s great love for us, surrendering to him. We enter that rest by trusting the Word, that is Jesus. If we don’t, the good news we have heard about Jesus does not help us. That’s the lesson of Hanun, king of the Ammonites. When we reject the faithful love of God, we are inviting judgment onto ourselves.

Paul writes something similar in 1 Corinthians:

1 Now I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.

 6 Now these things became examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.

Those ancient Israelites chose not to trust God, and as a result they suffered the consequences.

Isaiah wrote:

In repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength. But you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15)

Jesus himself mourned because the people of Jerusalem refused to receive him, and he said that as a result they would experience much suffering and sorrow. He also said this:

16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.

We usually only read verse 16. But verse 18 adds that if we reject God’s chosen messiah, we have condemned ourselves. About 75% of all Americans think there is a heaven, and they will go there when they die. 40% of people think it doesn’t even matter how you relate to God, he’ll accept everyone anyway. But the bible is clear: grace and truth and eternal life are offered through Jesus Christ alone. When you reject Jesus, you reject God, and you condemn yourself. John wrote:

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1John 5:11-13, HCSB)

Hanun shows us the route of “not-life.” It is real. Some people do reject Jesus. Believing the lies someone told them is not an excuse for people when they also have the truth in front of them. There are consequences to rejecting God’s faithful love.

This is difficult for many people in modern Western culture. We think it’s unfair unless everyone is included, regardless of their response. But if you think about it, it makes a great deal of sense. If someone rejects God, do you think God should force them to be eternally in His presence? It would mean that our choices don’t actually mean anything, that we aren’t, in fact, free. If there are no consequences for a choice, it’s not really a choice, is it? It’s meaningless to “choose” if everything will work out the same way, no matter what you choose.

This is the part of the Christian message that most people don’t like. In fact many people say that ideas like this are judgmental, and mean and intolerant. Do a thought experiment with me. Imagine you are at the top of a cliff, and there are many bushes all around you, so you can’t see the ground under your feet. You come upon a sign that says, “Warning! Stay Back! If you walk forward from here you may die!” Is that sign mean and judgmental, or intolerant? Of course not. The message is there to protect you from making a tragic mistake. Or imagine an inviting swimming hole in a small river. Next to the water a sign says: “Do not Swim Here! Dangerous currents and undertow! High risk of Drowning!” Is that sign being cruel and bigoted? Of course not. It is an entirely appropriate warning, trying to protect you from throwing away your own life out of foolish ignorance. The truly cruel and horrible thing to do would be to let people fall of the cliff, or drown in the swimming hole, because you were afraid of offending them by posting such signs.

Listen to God’s heart-cry toward us:

10 “Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ 11 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? (Ezekiel 33:10-11, NLT)

It might surprise you to learn that Jesus spoke about hell more than any other person in the Bible. He did not want anyone to suffer eternal separation from God, and that is why he came and died for us. But he was very clear about what happens if we reject the faithful love of God offered to us through Himself. He was so clear about it, because he does not want anyone to perish:

3 This is good and pleases God our Savior. 4 He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth. 5 There is one God. There is also one mediator between God and humans—a human, Christ Jesus. 6 He sacrificed himself for all people to free them from their sins. (1 Timothy 2:3-6, GW)

Jesus Christ does offer forgiveness, second, third and 233rd chances, love, grace and peace. He offers us daily relationship with himself, and joy. But outside of Jesus, none of that is ours. It all comes only in and through Jesus. If we reject Jesus, we reject it all, and none of the other things we rely on will be able to save us. So let’s pay attention to the lesson of Hanun, and today, let us not harden our hearts. Let’s be like Mephibosheth, not Hanun.

Listen to the Holy Spirit right now.

This Old Testament story is ultimately about how Jesus Christ loves us, pursues us, and redeems us, most especially when we know we are unworthy. It is a beautiful story, the gospel, given to us through the life of David.

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2 Samuel chapter 9 contains an interesting anecdote about David. I assume that the Lord allowed this to be included in the bible for a reason, so let’s look at it.

2 Samuel 4:4 tells us that Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth. He was just a little boy of five years old when his father Jonathan was killed in the battle with the Philistines. In the chaos that followed that battle, Mephibosheth’s nurse fled with him, and at some point there was an accident. The text says the nurse fell, presumably with the child in her arms, and Mephibosheth was permanently crippled in both feet.

If you remember, Jonathan was Saul’s firstborn son. Mephibosheth was Jonathan’s only surviving son. That means that he was Saul’s rightful heir. But if you remember, it was Jonathan’s brother, Ish-bosheth, who claimed the throne and fought with David. What this means is that when he was a child, Mephibosheth’s life was probably in danger from his uncle (Ish-bosheth) and also the war leader, Abner. No doubt, those who took care of him believed he was also in danger from David. So the adults in his life took him into hiding.

The fact that Mephibosheth was even alive was obviously not well known, and his location appears to have been a secret. He had probably lived in fear most of his life, thinking that both his own uncle, and then David, must have wanted him dead. Most civilizations in those days were not kind to people with disabilities, and certainly made no effort to make life easier for them. Especially a man who could not work or fight was considered somehow less of a man. So Mephibosheth was an outcast because his birth made him a threat to others, and he was doubly outcast because he was a cripple. There is little doubt that he spent most of his life hiding in both fear and shame.

Now once David was well-established as king and he had a little time to reflect, he wanted to honor the memory of his dear friend Jonathan. So he began looking for anyone in Saul’s remaining family he could help. His attendants found a man who had been one of the chief servants of Saul’s household, a man named Ziba. David said to Ziba

“Is there anyone left of Saul’s family that I can show the kindness of God to? ”

David’s choice of words here is interesting. If you have been a church-goer for a while, you’ve probably heard a sermon on the Greek word agape, which means “sacrificial, selfless love.” The Hebrew word David uses for “kindness” is essentially the equivalent of agape. In Hebrew is pronounced “hesed” (but it should sound like you are clearing your throat on the ‘h’). It is often translated “everlasting love,” or “faithful love.” It is usually used to describe God’s love for his people. I think the sense of what David is saying is, “I want to show the family of Saul the faithful love of God.” In a moment I will explain why I think this is so significant.

Ziba revealed the existence and location of Mephibosheth. Ziba is a complex person, and we’ll learn more about him later. He was the manager of Saul’s family’s land and property. I think it is quite possible that he was hoping David was being deceptive, and that he actually wanted to completely annihilate the family of Saul, because then he (Ziba) would have that land and property for himself. But Ziba played his cards close to the chest, and simply gave David the information he wanted. So David brought Mephibosheth out of hiding, and officially turned over to him the ancestral lands of Saul, and ordered Ziba and his family to work the land and manage it. This wasn’t entirely a bad deal for Ziba – it was a position of great responsibility and some honor, and they would be able to make a good living. But he may have wanted Saul’s inheritance for himself. I say this because later on it looks like Ziba created a nasty scheme against Mephibosheth. But we’ll tackle that incident when we get to it.

David also gave Mephibosheth a permanent place to eat at the royal table. Not only was this a great honor, but it also basically meant that Mephibosheth would never again have to worry about where he would live or what he would eat. In other words, it was kind of like being given a really good permanent retirement income. Mephibosheth’s reaction is understandable. He says,

“What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me? ”

These things really happened – they were real historical occurrences. I’ve shared many reasons at various times to believe that the bible is historically reliable. Even so, we need to realize that the writers did not record every single incident in the lives of those they wrote about; and many documents were lost or not included in the bible. As Christians we believe that the Holy Spirit guided the process all the way through. He prompted people to write what they wrote, he allowed the loss of some documents and the exclusion of others. The Holy Spirit had a purpose for including this particular piece of the bible (and in fact, every piece). The writer himself may have been unaware of God’s purpose. Jesus told his disciples that the entire Old Testament points to him. I think this is one more place where the Holy Spirit used something from the life of David to show people what the true and ultimate messiah would be like. David’s actions here reveal the heart of Jesus in him. This really happened – it isn’t an allegory. But we can still use it a little bit like a spiritual allegory, and learn about the heart of Jesus from second Samuel nine. Jesus once told the following story:

1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them! ” 3 So He told them this parable: 4 “What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, 6 and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep! ’ 7 I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance (Luke 15:1-8, HCSB)

Jesus’ heart is for the lost and the broken. He has a special tenderness for those who think they are worthless. He doesn’t wait for people to straighten themselves up and come looking for God. Instead, he goes after them, seeks them himself.

David reflected this with Mephibosheth. He didn’t wait for someone in Saul’s family to summon the courage to find him. Instead, David sent people out looking for someone to show God’s faithful love to. This is one reason I think that Hebrew word is so important. David wanted to bring God’s faithful love into the life of Mephibosheth. Jesus wants to bring that same love into our lives.

Mephibosheth was afraid of David. Technically he was David’s enemy. As the grandson of Saul, he could have made a claim to Israel’s throne. Most middle-eastern leaders in David’s situation would have found him in order to put him to death. In addition, Mephibosheth felt he was damaged goods – a worthless man who couldn’t work or fight, because of his disability. No self-respecting life-insurance agent would ever write a policy on him, because clearly he was worth more dead than alive. I think when he called himself a dead dog, it wasn’t just an expression. More than likely, he really thought of himself that way.

But the king sought out this worthless “dead dog.” He brought him out of exile. He gave honor to the man who had none. He made others serve him. And he gave him a permanent place at the royal table, making him essentially a prince, a son of the man who by rights should kill him.

Technically, we should be the enemies of Jesus. Because of our ancestors, and tragedies in our own life, we belong in the kingdom of the devil. We aren’t worth much in the eyes of the world. And truthfully, a lot of people hide from God in various ways. They completely avoid him, or deny that he exists and spend their days as far from him as possible. Others hide in religion, using empty words and good works as a way to avoid actually dealing with him face to face.

But Jesus doesn’t leave us there. He doesn’t wait for us to come to him. He seeks us out, to show us the faithful love of God. He brings us back from exile. He himself restores us as rightful citizens of his kingdom. He honors us, and declares that we are not worthless, but rather worth his attention and love. Not only that, but he gives us a permanent place with him – eternal life in relationship with him. And he treats us as his own children, inheritors of the promises of God.

David’s treatment of Mephibosheth is a signal for us that this is how Jesus will treat us, if we let him. All Mephibosheth had to do is come when David summoned him, and gratefully place his life in David’s hands, allowing David to show him God’s everlasting and gracious love. That’s all we have to do with Jesus. Mephibosheth didn’t have to make himself acceptable to David, or earn what was given him. In fact, Mephibosheth had done nothing to deserve the kindness David showed him. We can’t earn God’s grace and kindness either. But he showers it on us freely if we will come when he calls and trust our lives into his hands.