We're talking about David this week.
The David who
took down the giant, Goliath.
And righteously ran from Saul,
the current king who was trying to kill him.
Instead of killing him when he had the opportunity.
And, eventually, became the greatest king
in the nation of Israel's history.
For all those reasons, I love
being called David.
That's my name.
But if you have a Biblical name then
you know this truth about
our heroes in the bible.
Most of our good guys
are actually bad guys.
And David is no different.
So, David is out one night
on his palace roof
overlooking the city, they now call
"the city of David".
And he sees this beautiful woman bathing down below on a rooftop.
And he asks, "Who is that?"
And the servant says, "Well, isn't that
"Bathsheba? The wife
"of Uriah, the Hittite?"
You see, there's a reason why
the servant knew who this was.
Uriah was no nameless private.
He was one of Israel's greatest heroes.
He was one of David's mighty men.
He had risked his life for the king countless times.
But David took his wife anyway.
And as if David hadn't acted badly enough,
then the news came that sent David into a tailspin.
Bathsheba sends a telegram with three words.
"I AM PREGNANT."
And at this point, in the account, we're screaming at David,
"Just say you're sorry to Uriah.
"Repent!"
Because we know how dangerous sin is.
Sin is the terrorist.
And every Christian needs to take
the United States government's approach to terrorists.
We don't negotiate with terrorists.
We kill them.
But David doesn't.
He can't.
Instead, he tries to call Uriah back
from the front lines and get him to sleep with his wife.
But, Uriah nobly refuses to do that while his men
are in the field fighting for Israel.
And so David has him killed instead.
Coveting.
Fornication.
Lying.
Murder.
Why, David?
Well, that's actually pretty easy.
It's because David wanted everyone to see
the great, godly, successful king that he'd
always been instead of the truth.
David didn't want them to see him.
Not, the real him.
And we get that, don't we?
I probably don't have to convince you that there's often a difference
between who you are
and who you let people believe you are.
You know, are you always the well put together person?
The person that everybody sees confidently
and successfully juggling job
and family and responsibilities?
Or, when no one's looking, are you truthfully someone else?
Do your friends love
a carefully created version of you
or do they really love you?
Well, we may be able to fool others.
But there is one who sees.
And God said the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
That's what the Bible says.
How many times could that be said
about our lives?
So, what do you suppose comes next?
So, God struck down David for his sin?
No.
And this is the grace I want to point out today.
This is God's something for nothing when we don't deserve anything.
This is the grace that ought to make
our jaws hit the floor
only followed by our knees in worship and praise of our God.
The very next line says,
"So the Lord sent Nathan."
It's unbelievable.
David had been spitting in God's face for over a year.
And God gives him a gift.
That's what Nathan means.
Nathan, the prophet.
And, why?
What was Nathan's goal?
It wasn't to condemn David to hell.
It was to get him to repent.
So that he could hear the forgiveness
of God.
The real question in this account is not,
"How could David?"
It's really,
"How could God?"
Has God given you
a Nathan in your life?
You know, someone who's willing
to point out when you're going off
the wrong path?
Instead of getting offended
that somebody is getting into your business,
see it from God's perspective.
And understand their goal.
They are not pointing out your sin
to show that they're better than you
or because they're jealous of you.
They're not doing this because they're sadistic
and they take joy in your pain.
They're doing this
because they desperately want you to repent
and see the forgiveness
that is yours from David's greater son.
A son not born
from an adulteress affair, like David and Bathsheba's was.
But one born generations later
from a virgin, named Mary.
A son who, like his forefather,
knew what it was like to have his bones
waste away and groan all day long.
Not because he was silently carrying his own sins.
But because he was publicly carrying
the sins of the whole world,
on the cross,
until they were all forgiven.
Even David's sin.
Even your sin.
Even my sin.
This is the grace greater than all our sin.
A grace
that seeks what is lost.