David’s Chastisement and Restoration

This week’s passage raises some very challenging issues, including:

What do you say to parents whose infant has suddenly died as they wonder, ‘Is it our fault? Is God punishing us? Is our baby in heaven?’
What do you say to someone who is so much in despair that you fear that she may take her own life?
What do you say to a brother or sister in Christ who has passionately sought God’s blessing in a certain situation (a relationship, a job, a dream) and God has definitively answered ‘No’.
Can God bless a marriage which has begun sinfully, perhaps after fornication, adultery, or a divorce?

Our passage this week touches on all of these issues and more.

King David has been forgiven by God for his sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah (in attempt to cover-up his sin).
David, however, will still have to face the consequences of his sin, which include the death of the son conceived through his adultery with Bathsheba.
David pleads for the life of his son, but then when his son dies, he accepts the LORD’s will and worships.
The LORD also shows favor to David as David and Bathsheba have another son (Solomon) who is beloved of the LORD. Also, David is victorious in battle over the Ammonites.
Though he will bear the consequences and the scars of his sin, David’s relationship to the LORD has been restored.

This passage offers both instruction and hope for us as we think of how the LORD deals with us both in chastisement and in grace.

Seeking and Granting Forgiveness

While the most important forgiveness is the forgiveness we receive from God, we are also called upon to seek and grant forgiveness from one another.

The story of Joseph illustrates biblical principles of forgiveness.

1. We must seek forgiveness (quickly and thoroughly) when we wrong others.
2. We must grant forgiveness when others ask us.
3. Joseph teaches how we are able to forgive others (even when it is hard).

Righteousness for the Unrighteous

Why is the Gospel “good news”? Romans 3:21-26 answers that question by showing us that God declares us to be righteous in His sight through faith in Christ, not through our best efforts to obey Him. Here are some questions to consider as you listen to this sermon:

1. What is the “righteousness of God”?
2. How does one receive the righteousness of God?
3. Why did Christ die on the cross?
4. What attributes of God are displayed in Christ’s death on the cross?

David Repents and God Forgives

Last week we looked at the Prophet Nathan’s confrontation of David over his sins with Bathsheba and Uriah.

Tomorrow we will study David’s repentance and God’s forgiveness.

We will see the difference between worldly sorrow (in the example of Saul in I Samuel 15) and David’s godly sorrow.

We also will learn that even forgiven sin may have serious consequences.

The LORD Confronts David’s Sin

This Sunday we resume our series in II Samuel as the LORD sends the prophet Nathan to confront David over his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband Uriah in the cover up. In chapter 11 it seemed that David was in control and that he had literally gotten by with his crimes, but the LORD took notice. Several months later the LORD takes action as he sends the prophet Nathan to expose and rebuke David’s sin.

This passage reminds us that, while a true believer can fall into sin, sooner or later the LORD will do what it takes to bring him to repentance.

Nathan serves as an example of how God calls us to restore one another when someone falls into sin (Gal. 6:1).

It is also a reminder of how we should be receptive to those who come to admonish us.

Consecrated to God

This week I am diverting from our studies in 2 Samuel and will be expounding Romans 12:1-2.

I plan, on certain Sundays over the next few months, to preach through Romans 12 with a special emphasis on our love and devotion for one another in the body of Christ.

Because our love for one another springs from our devotion to the Lord, Paul starts Romans 12 by exhorting us to be living sacrifices who are not to be conformed to the world.

Of course the foundation of our devotion to the Lord is the sovereign mercy which He has shown us in Christ — which was the subject of the first 11 chapters of Romans and forms the basis of Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12:1.

Portrait of a Godless Culture: An Appeal to Repent of Sinful Boasting

We will be doing a fairly rapid overview of the first nine chapters and then drawing some application from near the end of chapter nine, where Jeremiah writes, “Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.” (9:23-24).

Jeremiah’s theme leading to these texts is that of judgment: A judgment precipitated by the sinful lifestyle and arrogant living of the kingdom of Judah. The modern day parallels to our own day are truly amazing: Truly there is “nothing new under the sun.”