Responding To Sin

2 Samuel 12:1-15A

The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

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

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

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

Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[a] the LORD, the son born to you will die.”

After Nathan had gone home…

There are a lot of things that stand out to me here:

1. How sin blinds
2. David thought he was being honorable and responsible by marrying Bathsheba. But in fact, God saw that as sinful.
3. All God’s blessings to David, then said: “If that’d all been so little, I’d have surely added as much more.”

When we read of David repenting, it sounds like he only acknowledged that he had sinned against God, who knows his heart, also recognized that David’s heart was crying out in repentance.

This is crucial, for many I’ve spoken with who had accepted Jesus as their Lord neither first acknowledged that they had ever sinned against God, nor done anything wrong up to this point, nor ever repented of it.

God was Already His God

OK, but David was already a “believer”. God was already his God. So then this is an example about a man of God (Christian today) who sins:

1. When we sin, we sin against God.
2. When we sin against others, we despise the Word of the Lord (when we sin against God, we misrepresent God. And when we misrepresent God, we sin against God).
3. When we sin against ourselves, we also sin against God, because our bodies house the Holy Spirit, God’s own Spirit.
4. There’s no such thing as a “little sin”.
5. All sin leads to and deserves death.
6. If you break one part of the Law, you break the whole Law.

There are 2 Types of Repentance:

1. For your sake (own safety or desire to protect yourself)
2. For God’s sake (desire to get right/reconcile with God)

    David’s repentance was the 2nd type.

I doubt the thought of dying for his sin even came to David’s mind, but his heart was broken because God opened his eyes to see what he’d done.

When You’re In a Relationship with Somebody

David and God had a special master-servant relationship and it’s the same type that God wants with us today. And God blesses us not because He has to or is obligated to (not the same type of honor or blessing that David showed Jonathan’s son in chapter 9), but because of His love for us and because of the relationship we have with Him. When you’re in a relationship with somebody, don’t you want to bless them? Don’t you want to do nice things for them? If you have children, don’t you enjoy giving them things and watching them as they enjoy your gifts to them? And if even after everything you’ve given them, if they’re still unhappy, wouldn’t you give them just as much more?

After the Rooster Crowed

That’s what God did with David, but David still wanted more. So instead of asking God for more, he sinned to get it himself. And this sin got him deeper into sin. Then finally, “after the rooster crowed”, you might say, God revealed to David what he’d done. And it was David’s response to his sin that saved him: “I’ve sinned against the Lord!” Broken heart and everything.

But when he did, though God did say that he won’t die from the sin now, the things the Lord said will still happen in response.

Understand: God forgave David for all the sin that he had done, but justice still had to be served and consequences still had to come about.

If you commit adultery and your lover gets (or you get) pregnant, regardless of your forgiveness, there’s still a baby on the way (believe it or not, I’ve heard of some teens who asked why they still have STDs or were still pregnant, even after they repented to God for their sin). That part doesn’t go away. And unless you’re David, your marriage will also be affected (if not destroyed), your whole life changed and usually not for the better. But the strength of your relationship with God will depend on how you deal with it.

How You Respond to your Sin

This is going to happen regardless because you sinned. How you respond to your sin, though, will depend on whether or not you will have the Lord’s help through the consequences. And how you respond depends on where your heart is (or what your heart’s focus is on) when you repent.