(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Men, so continuing on with the story if you remember this is kind of a chapter 11 and chapter 12 are kind of the same story And last week we got into the sin that david committed with bashiba when we preach all that But if you remember the kind of ominous ending last week where it said in the last verse that the thing which david did displeased the lord You know, david was kind of walking away going, you know missed, you know dodged that bullet got away with it Right because he had uraya killed But uh, we we saw last week that the lord had noticed everything that he had saw everything that had taken place and here Uh, we see where the date where the lord begins to deal with david in some very severe ways, right? These are some severe punishments that are about to be doled out upon david And of course he sends his prophet to go give him this news and to call him out nathan there it says in verse one And the lord sent nathan unto david and came unto him and said unto him there were two men in one city So he gives him this parable right of these two men that are in the city one rich once poor One had many flocks one was had nothing save this little you lamb, right? And of course we understand The uh, you know what each person represents here in the story, you know, the rich man obviously is david, you know He's the king. He has a lot of honor. He has a lot of riches. He has much goods, you know He's already got all these wives. He's got all these concubines You know, there's he's not you know, he didn't he didn't go commit that sin with bashiba because He didn't have any other options, right? He had a lot of you know As the parable goes he had a lot of sheep and everything else that he could have wanted And the poor man had nothing of course that is uraya the hitite is that poor man who had nothing And then that would of course make the you lamb, you know, it would make her it would make the lamb bashiba, right? So we kind of we understand that but notice the other uh person in the story It says in verse four and there came a traveler under the rich man And he spared to take of his flock and of his own herd and to dress for the wayfaring man That was come unto him but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come unto him So he ends this parable by saying hey He this guy his buddy shows up this traveler and he wants to take care of him But rather than taking from the many sheep that he had he goes and takes this one you lamb that was beloved Under the poor man and kills that and serves it to the man Right, and that's obviously a picture Of what david did he went and took that you lamb from uraya and notice there it says that that you're that you lamb Uh, you know, it was it lay in his bosom. It was as unto him As a daughter, you know, it says that he had nothing and that you know, it was it was with him and his children It grew up together. So this was something that he loved we have to keep in mind You know the severity of david's sin. I mean it's wicked outright But what makes it even worse is that david wrecked a good home, you know, he wrecked a good home You know, I say well, you know uraya he didn't when he had the chance he didn't go home, right? But that was because we saw that he was a man of integrity and principle And wasn't going to go home until the battle was over, right? But if you notice in the story as as the scripture was being read That you know, it's best shiba mourns at the end. You know, this wasn't like it was a distraught relationship, you know Um things you know, there were it was headed to divorce court Anyway, this was a good relationship that they had and david, you know And regardless of that it's always wicked to commit adultery. There's never an excuse for that. That's not i'm saying But it's just it compounds it makes even worse that david went in And and did this because that's kind of what the parable's showing us here, you know, this this was the one New lamb that he had it was beloved unto him and david out of all these other Lambs this rich man could that he could have selected from and he could have used it, but he went And took that one from him. Okay And what is the traveler there? What does that represent? What is the traveler and this rich man's actions and going? You know from his desire to please his guests, you know and taking from the other what does that represent in our story? What that represents is david's You know his lack of control his lack of self-control When this traveler shows up and he go and he wants to please him he just wants to have things his way That represents his lack of self-control. I mean, that's what happened in that story And I don't want to repreach, you know the entire chapter from last week But remember this wasn't that you know, this that david just stumbled into sin like oh, whoops. I just committed adultery Right. He was up on the roof. He was bored. He wasn't where he's supposed to be He wasn't fighting lord's battles and he has this he's undisciplined He's being lazy and that leads to this lack of self-control and he commits this wicked sin Okay now go over to first corinthians chapter 10. It's important to understand this for two reasons First of all, we have to understand before we really start to come on down on david and look david's got everything that's coming To him in the story. Okay. He deserves everything. God is just his ways are perfect And and david even takes it on the chin. He takes it. Well, he just he doesn't put up an argument He just takes it right because he knows he's guilty he knows he's got it coming And but before we just start, you know coming down on david and and and really, you know Just looking down our nose at him and and again i'm not condoning what he did We need to remember that, you know, we all have the potential to be just as guilty as david We all have the potential to commit the same sin or other sins or to offend god in some way like we can all do that Okay And we talked about uh, you know, I already read this verse, you know, uh, i'll just read it again But it says for this is the will of god your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication right now fornication adultery are two different things But they're both wicked sins. Okay But it says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel and sanctify sanctification and honor Not unless to concupiscence as even as the gentiles which know not god. Look we know god david knew god And because we know god it is our duty to what to possess our vessels in sanctification and honor Not in the lust of concupiscence and this is something that we have to understand because We all are we are all men of like passions, right? We're we're there's nothing, you know, uh, We we can all be tempted with with the same sins, you know And if we're not careful if we get this attitude of well that would never happen to me You know, that's probably when you're most prone to having happened to you Is when you let your guard down and you think that you're it's it's just not even possible Look, it's possible for every one of us To commit fornication to commit adultery and any other number of sins, okay so We need to keep that in mind as we're talking about what we're about david and what he did and the punishments that he uh, you know Encurred and remember the punishment should be a warning to us It shouldn't just be yeah. David got what's coming Yeah, he did but it's you think god just put this in the bible because he just wants to make David look bad. So let me just give david a black eye for eternity You know, he put it in there so we could all understand that even a great man Like king david can fall can get into sin if he's not careful if he's not fighting the lord's battles If he's not where he's supposed to be if he's lazy and undisciplined and he loses his lack of self-control He becomes what he becomes cruel even I mean, this is a cruel thing that he did breaking up this home Having a man killed having the husband killed just to cover up his tracks rather than just come clean and take the punishment You know, he had a man killed. So, you know, these are this is all there what for our admonition? That's what these things are written for you're there in first corinthians 10 look at verse 12 It says wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall Take heed lest he fall You think well i'm standing, you know, i'm not committing any of these sins i'm good to go it'll never happen You know, that is a slippery slope to get on You could just as easily fall if you did what if you did the things that david did Get out of church quit living for the lord quit reading your bible quit caring about the things of god get worldly get in the flesh The next thing you know, you know, it could lead into some wicked sin that could even potentially ruin your home. Okay? Wherefore let him that thinketh he stand to take heed lest he fall there hath no temp taken temptation taking you But such as is common to man look these are temptations that are common to all of us So that's why we need to take heed not just think david's some isolated case that this is just some You know just something that only happens, you know to certain people this could happen to anyone, okay? But notice he says it says but god is faithful who will not suffer to be tempted above that you're able But will with the temptation also may a way to escape the g may able to bear it That's why you can't just buy this excuse. Well, I just didn't have any other options you don't understand the pressure I was under my job and my marriage and our finances and you know this and that just Whatever the excuse is and just say you don't understand so obviously, you know, try to excuse myself here That's why I got into that sin. Look god has made a way to escape for every time There's no temptation that has taken us but such as is common to man That doesn't mean the temptation is always easy. Look when we're tempted with some sin, you know There will be a real struggle at times there could be a real battle But the bible is saying here that he will will make a way to escape right? Now it's not that god's going to make a little escape hatch appear and you're going to jump in it and he's going to rocket You out of there, right? This is a spiritual escape You know the the escape is prayer. The escape is god's word The escape is god's word thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee Wherewithal shall young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Right, we hide god's word in our heart when we pray we ask god and look when we're going through some temptation That's the time that you need to find the way to escape You know, we talked about last week where he you know, david was up on the roof Shouldn't have been there to begin with and he saw bathsheba But then it was the second look the inquiry the first time he saw that and had that impulse He should have been back down in his prayer closet asking god to forgive him And getting up in the morning and putting the armor on and getting down to the battlefield is what should have taken place That was the way to escape The problem is he that's not what he wanted And when we fall into some temptation when we fall into some sin, we have nobody to blame but ourselves Because we did not want this to claim this promise in first corinthians chapter 10 Look we all need to underline this highlight this memorize this know where this scripture is This should be something that comes to mind when we find ourselves in times of temptation Reminding ourselves what god has promised that there is a way to escape Because it's important to understand this because consider the severity of david's sin Consider the severity of the punishment that came as a result I mean this isn't anything I want for my life I don't want my kids being killed. I don't want my kids rebelling against me You know having all these terrible things have my reputation just ruined among the world and among brethren even But that's what these kind of things lead to that's why it's important. Oh, he's preaching about, you know, not falling to sin again Yeah, because it's important Because it happens to god's people all the time Because they don't take heed they think they stand and then they fall It happens over and over again stick around you what it'll happen You know and if and you know, we've all probably done it in our own lives to some degree or another You know, but we really want to avoid, you know, we want to minimize that as much as possible. Obviously, it's not Possibly complete without sin, but man, let's not fall into some sin like adultery fornication drunkenness Extortion covetousness all these, you know idolatry that's probably not what we're going to struggle with although covetousness is idolatry, right? Let's avoid these sins as much as we can and look if we're tempted with these things that we're struggling There is a way to escape But you're gonna have to be the one that gets in that, you know, spiritual escape chat that skate escape hatch And you know hit launch, you know through prayer through all these things that we just talked about Go over to a galatians chapter 6 galatians chapter 6 Bible says in james 1 let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of god for god cannot be tempted with evil neither tempting any tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed It's our own lust it's our own heart. It's the spirit which dwelleth in us that lust at the envy that draws us away from god You know that was that's what happened to david, you know, it was his own lust in his own heart that led him into this sin It wasn't that god was, you know, putting him in some circumstance to see if he could take it or not God doesn't have to do that God doesn't have to put us in these situations to see if we'll come out clean on the other side because It's our own hearts that lead us into these sins And you need to guard your heart for out of it are the issues of life You know when our hearts are desperately wicked who can know it the bible says And it says then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth what death You know and sometimes even literal death, you know, there's always this there's always some kind of a You know severe punishment, you know some kind of a spiritual death in some way, you know, we lost our victory, you know our Our our streak against some sin is broken or something But look even in some severe cases at times it could even be a literal death I mean, that's what we see in the story and god is the one who's bringing the death Sometimes god gets involved and says well, you know what i'm going to punish you with death Look at verse six you say well, you know, you're this is just hype, you know That you're just rattling your cage up there preacher Well, let's read galatians chapter six together then verse seven be not deceived. God is not mocked for whatsoever man Soeth that shall he also reap for he that reap it soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh what reap corruption It's just a it's a law of the universe It's just set in stone that whatever you sow you're going to reap now look that can work for you or against you You know, if you're going to go and sow to the flesh you're going to what of the flesh reap corruption But he that silleth to the spirit it goes on and says shall reap in of the spirit life Shall reap of the spirit life everlasting and look at verse nine And let us not be what weary and well-doing for in due season. We shall reap if we fate not fate not But notice he says let us not be what weary and well-doing Look, there's a way to escape god's there There's no temptation that has taken us such as his common demand but that doesn't mean that resisting sin is going to be easy That's why he says let's not be weary and well-doing, you know trying to do right and do well Ken, where are you down? He's saying like don't be weary in it. Keep doing right. Keep doing right. Keep doing right. Keep doing right even when it's not easy Look if it's easy everybody to do it If it was easy, you know everyone, you know, no one would commit adultery It was easy. Nobody would commit fornication and get devolved in this sin and that sin If it was easy, no one would be tempted these things right, but it's not easy. We are in the flesh We have the old man. We're you know, we're gonna have to bring our bodies under you know, every day daily Being ourselves into subjection And look, especially if we're people that have you know Gotten saved later in life and have developed bad habits have gotten into sins We have a proclivity towards those things, you know, we have to be on our guard And again, you say well, you know, i've never done that. I don't have this past. I've never Committed those sins. Well, let him that thinketh he stand to thank he lest he fall Because once that door is open to some sin, it's real easy to open it the next time and the next time and the next time But especially if we already have opened those doors in the past, you know We should be doubly on our guard even more so Not going to places that tempt us to do certain things not looking at something that might tempt us to commit some sin Or hang even hanging around people, you know, that's another big one we get around old friends You know we get around people that that we used to run with And the next thing you know, you just fall right back into these patterns of sin. It's real easy to do But don't be weary in doing what well doing You know if we keep doing right, you know, it's it's gonna it will get easier, but it's never gonna be without a struggle at times Okay But notice here so we start out the story we have Nathan's parable, right Or where he talks about the rich man the poor man the lamb so the traveler And he gives this to him and but notice david's response to this parable because what's going on here is nathan's baiting him, right? He's kind of he's putting this to him so he can call him out, right? And it says in verse five and he says and david's anger was greatly kindled against that man And he said to nathan as the lord liveth the man that hath done this thing shall surely die And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity And he's just trying to sound so morally superior and just so upright about everything But what he's really doing here is being hyper spiritual, okay? Because notice david's going beyond the the biblical punishment for theft You know, this is a parable this didn't even happen But if it had happened, you know what the the biblical punishment would have been Is that he yeah, he should have paid back fourfold but put to death for stealing a lamb You know, that's that's that's him adding to the word of god The bible says in exodus 22 if a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it He shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep And that's what david got right in verse six. He shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing So he's right about that but notice when he starts out. He's this guy's dead. We're gonna kill him, right? You know david's just gotten a little too comfortable just putting people to death having people taken out And it's it's hard to believe but that's where he's at in his life So what's you know and this is of course very hypocritical right that he's doing this because david Although he knows the law and but it's going so hyper spiritual and has such the moral high ground here And really, you know, he's just trying to make I don't know if he's trying to snow nathan or what? But he knows the law but yet he doesn't apply it to himself You know, he's he's he's teaching it he's preaching it but he's not practicing what he preaches, okay And what's interesting and I always this is just kind of a little side note is is nathan's tactics here I like these because you see this actually in modern interrogations, right? Because uh, he you know criminal investigations sometimes that they have a suspect that they really they think this is the guy And i've even seen seen where judges will do this so they like he's he's getting ready to dole out the sentence And he'll ask some defendant What do you think should be done to the guy that did this, you know, what kind of a punishment do they deserve? You'll see this in police interrogations. They'll say well, what do you think should happen to the guy that did this horrific crime? And they have people who are guilty have a very similar response to what david here that guy deserves to be dead Just go above and beyond right because he stole a you lamb Right one that's not biblical. It's restoring fourfold is But it's not it's be it's him adding to the word of god it's him teaching for doctrines the commandments of men Right, but what it's coming from is a guilty heart a guilty conscience Right, and sometimes these police interrogations they'll they'll do that. Well, what do you think should happen to the guy who? You know did x y and z Oh, man, that guy deserves to have the book thrown at him. He should never see the light of day They'll do a lot and a lot of times those people turn out to be guilty Obviously, that's not a foolproof tactic that you use to convict people but it's It is a tactic they use it's just interesting that that's what kind of that's kind of what nathan's doing here He's telling the story kind of putting it to david to see how he responds And david comes back with that similar Hyper-spiritual over the top just throw the book at him. Let him have it, you know, lock him up kill him, whatever And Then nathan, you know being the the man of god that he is just goes right into the direct confrontation of david's sin So he david gives his you know hyper-spiritual response and says, you know, we're just going to kill this guy He's getting back fourfold then we're going to off him and nathan. It says in verse seven said to david thou art the man And you already know that it's not like david had your eye the hit type killed and then his conscience is just completely cleared Like he's just oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot I committed adultery and killed the guy Look, this has been played no doubt. This has had to have been plaguing him every single day. He's I mean, he's he's he's not a company, you know some Reprobate with the seared conscience here. He's he's a man of god. He's he's the king, you know This is just where sin takes people to very dark places, right? And no doubt he's saying I just can imagine his response when he's getting confronted you ever been called on the carpet You've been caught, you know, you're a little kid dad walks in the room. It's just like You know just that's kind of what's going on with david his heart sinking the butterflies the sweat in the palms Thou art the man. I mean you can almost see david earth. Nathan just pointing his finger right in his face And and I want to talk a minute about nathan because you have to remember Nathan is going to write to david and saying this right to his face To the king of israel, right? And this is boldness All right, he's going right up to the most powerful man at that time and just saying you're the man You're the one who deserves to die You're the one who took that little you lamb and he goes on and lays it on him And what we can learn from what you know, nathan here is that true boldness doesn't respect persons It does not respect persons. That's what true boldness is Doesn't say well, you know, it's the king and you know He's in a unique position, you know kings do that, you know We'll give him a pass, you know, he said god It says god that the lord sent nathan and nathan just went right up and did his job. He just said thou art the man The bible says in leviticus 19 i'll read to you you shall do or no unrighteousness and judgment thou shall not respect the person of the poor Nor honor the person of the mighty but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor So the bible does command us to judge and judge it commands us to judge righteous judgment but also in that judgment we are not to Show favor to people say well, I like this person This person's my friend or this person's done nice things from the past or this is a person of influence I wouldn't want to offend them Look, you know if it's our job to put our foot down And and draw a line in the sand no matter who it is, you know, that is what we have to do Otherwise, it's respect of persons and it's not right the bible forbids it You know, we can't just overlook people's guilt because of preferences or something like that and I you know, I thought of an example And i'm probably going to step on some toes, but you know At least i'm not pointing my finger in your face and saying that other man anyway Here's my example. Okay. Think about this voting for the serial adulterer trump Now look if you voted for trump i'm not against you. Okay But that man is a serial adulterer Just go read it. Just go trump adultery and google I mean, I don't want to get into it because it's pretty lewd And the guy owns strip clubs and casinos the guy's a sleazebag folks By any any you know reasonable standard by any reasonable measure That guy is a scumbag He's proud arrogant blowhard. So are you a democrat? Nope You know, let me you know, let me blow your mind here. There's a third option i'm neither You know It's like you have to fall into one or the other no you don't okay, and i'm not you must you're defending biden No, i'm not Biden's an embarrassment to this country, you know, he's a blunt just a senile bumbling idiot. That's just Wrecking this country. Okay. So there are you happy now? I said it. All right It's not that i'm favoring anyone, okay But i'm just using this as an example because it just boggled my mind how many christians were just so pro trump And you know not even so much christians as much but men of god like pastors Big shot pastors who are going and getting their pictures taken with trump and putting it on their facebook. Like it's something to be proud of That's no nathan my friend Look, you know if you're you're not wicked if you voted for trump you support trump doesn't make you a wicked person It just means you're not nathan It just means you are respected persons. You don't have that boldness you know, i'd like to see a picture of a preacher with trump where he's just like, you know, you're fired, you know, Calling him out for all his adultery and all his sin and everything and put it in his face You know trying to get him to get right with god So I you know, you got to talk about that with nathan You got to think about the position that nathan was in and it doesn't say anything about nathan being hesitant or anything like that I don't think he had a scared bone in his body. He knew that god was with him That's where that boldness came from You know the the joy of the lord was his strength and he was able to Not fear his face and go and just call him right out But look, you know Do we see a lot of people just kind of today just kind of glossing over sin to say well, yeah, I know he's he's this and he's that but He's got the party line, you know, he's gonna he's gonna stimulate he's gonna make the economy better You know, that's all politics is about isn't it money? That's all it's really about And look, we don't want to become people who are fixated on money Being fixated money is not good for you It's it's going to corrupt you it's going to get your priorities out of whack It's just it's not it's just it's nothing good comes from it now Obviously, we all have to think about money and pay our bills and everything else But we don't want to just turn to people where it's just money money people like oh, I don't know trump Right So I wanted to mention that but let's let's move on our story we got to move it forward So it's important to understand these things about you know about david what's going on here and understand that you know When none of us is above this this could happen to us, right something similar, you know We could fall in adultery. We could fall into fornication some other sin if we are You know undisciplined and so on and so forth. I've already said all that but look at the and you're saying why is this important? Well consider the consequences Consider the consequences of david's sin here It's not just like nathan showed up and said thou art the man. All right. See I did my job And he says thou art the man and then just proceeds to just give him the worst news of his life and just lays into him And really we see The consequences of david's sin are what there there's a present consequence There's a consequence that comes in the immediate future and then there's a long-term consequence for david's sin Let's talk about the immediate one first And that would be you know, you know, i'm not saying like right now There's that the present cons, but the consequences that are right around the corner, okay There's the ones that he's going to suffer right away There's the ones that are shortly to come and then there's just this long-term consequence that david has to deal with because of his sin The immediate one, you know the one that's around the corner is absalom's rebellion, you know We're going to read that about that in a few weeks here He says in verse 10 now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house Because thou hast despised me and thou hast taken the wife of uriah the hittite to be thy wife Thus saith the lord behold. I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house And I will take away thy wives before thine eyes and give them to thy neighbor And he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun for thou did it secretly But I will do this thing before all is real and before the sun So this is a prediction of what's going to happen shortly in david's life Absalom's going to rebel and the sword is never going to depart from his house, okay But what I want to focus on because we're going to get into that in a few weeks Next is the long term. Okay, the long-term consequences of david's sins because there's consequences for sins folk There's we can't just think that we're just going to sin and get away with it We're going to suffer to some degree now, obviously a lot of times if you know If we repent if we can if we you know, if we confess and forsake our sins, we shall have mercy right And a lot of times we can negate maybe more severe circumstances or uh, punishments of sin by confessing and repenting But there's still going to be consequences Unforeseen consequences sometimes god doesn't even have to do anything sin has its own built-in punishment Just you commit this sin and this happens. It's just Action reaction, okay And really that's kind of the case here with this long term where david permanently mars his reputation You know, I read last week about uh proverbs six i'll just remind you what it said in verse 32 Whoso committed adultery with the woman lacketh understanding but he that doth doeth it Excuse me He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul a wound and dishonor shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away You know, he's saying the bible's saying here look when you commit this sin It's a reproach and again, we talked about it last week how in our society. It's really not much for approach anymore People brag about it. It's expected and all that but amongst those that have any sense of morality and decency You know, it is a reproach to have committed adultery. It's a very wicked sin that's punishable by death Right as we'll see here in a minute And david has marred his prep reputation by committing this sin in for the long term amongst two Well one amongst among the heathen look at verse 14 Howbeit because by this deed thou has given great occasion to the enemies of the lord to blaspheme So that's why god's punishing him so severely because he's brought reproach upon the name of the lord by committing this sin You know when we're known as christians when we're known as god's people And then we go out and commit some sin that gives god a black eye Look out You know god's not pleased with that. That's one way to get on god's bad side in a hurry I mean, that's why it says there the child also that is born unto these shall surely die Why did god kill that child it was it necessarily because of what david did? No What it was is because of the fact that what he did gave great occasion to the enemies of the lord to blaspheme Me Right because he was in that position. He was known he was the king of israel He was a sweet psalmist of israel, right? He was the man after god's own heart. He had this reputation Of being you know this godly man And now he's bringing a reproach upon the name of the lord And that's why god says i'm going to bring this very severe punishment down upon you and take that child's life Now if it had been anybody else that maybe it was just you know Joe six pack, you know, it was just joe the plumber who did this down in the village somewhere, you know There would still be consequences, you know death you would you know, the adulterer and the adulteress would have been put to death, right? But I don't know that it would have gone any further than that, you know, who's to say Look god brings a very serious punishment upon him because of the fact that he brought A reproach upon the name of the lord and what did he do in the process? He marred his reputation among the heathen For in the long term that's the long-term consequence of sin Look some things will stick with you Some because we like to say we're gonna we're gonna forgive and we're gonna forget right and that's what we practice to do But you know, that's not the way the vast majority of people work You know, the world's not that way you think the world likes to forgive and forget No, they like to dox people and dig up dirt and run background checks and hold things over people's head for the rest of their life That's what they do And you can you know, you commit some sin That gets out there. It's public. Everyone knows about it. Maybe it's in a circle. Maybe it's not national news or something Kind of like like who else? Oh donald trump anyway, but um, there I go again But look we could bring get a black eye and that black eye, you know You can't just put a stake on it and expect to go away It's going to be there for the rest of your life and everyone that looks at you go. Oh, yeah I remember there's that guy there's that gal. They did this they did that And your reputation is marred permanently Among the heathen and you know what's worse go over to first kings chapter one go to first kings chapter one Not only was his reputation marred among the heathen, but it was marred among his own people now. This is my opinion When I read this story in first kings chapter one, it's such an odd Circumstance that I don't have any other way of explaining this because to me, you know Maybe it's just because I didn't understand the I don't understand the culture of david's time and the customs that were you know in israel at that time But look at verse one. It says now king david was old and stricken stricken in years This is coming to the end of his life. He's an old man at this point And they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat Right, you ever meet old people like that or they're just always cold, you know, I I remember I lived and I can't tell stories anyway But I lived in this basement We it was a finished basement of this older couple my church and he had me out there cutting firewood all the time and bringing It and they just had that place blazing hot in the middle of a michigan winter It was just like they had this wood stove And it's just like herald man. It's got to be 90 degrees. He's like i'm cold, right? So that's kind of where david's at in his life. That's you know, isn't getting old great, you know We're we're all getting a little older and we're starting to complain about the bumps and bruises and the sores Well, it gets better apparently when you get old enough, you're just cold all the time, right? Great probably even here even here in arizona you think finally i'll get a break from the heat when I get old. Nope You're still gonna you're gonna be like king david you can get no heat But notice what their solution is Wherefore his servants said unto him so whose idea was this? It's his servants and they said let there be sought from the lord my king a young virgin and let her stand before the king and let her Cherish him and let her lie in thy bosom that the lord my the king may get heat Does anyone else think that that is that that's normal? Does anyone think that that's a normal thing to do? You know, i'm living in that that you know that finished basement for herald and and he's corbett i'm cold Well, let me go find some young damsel And bring her in here. I'm sure your wife won't mind. She'll just crawl into bed with you and keep you warm You can just you can snuggle and cuddle and stay warm That's a really weird solution, right? Do you think this was their only option back then? You ever heard of a water bladder? I mean, I know you didn't have electric blankets but I mean you could heat rocks and put them under the pillows you could You could take a animal skin and fill it with boiling water Right, so you got to ask yourself why is this the solution this is my opinion. Okay. This is just my opinion here My opinion is because this is the esteem that david was held in Yeah, just throw some girl in there. You know how david is Why? Because of what he did with bashiba because he was known as a man This was his this was his reputation at this point in his life as an old man They're just just throw just throw some girl in there That's how he is. There's no and notice no objection from david. He's just like sounds good Go ahead. Yeah, great Doesn't even look for another option and you know, it just to me it just it just screams. This is david's reputation in his life Go back to uh second statement chapter 12 So david, you know the long-term consequences of a sin Are the fact that he has permanently marred his reputation Among the heathen among his own servants at the end of his life. He's already got I mean And this is at the end of his life. They're like, well, that's the way david used to be It's like no, that's just the way he is Right Not only that but he's marked his reputation among all who read the scripture Right now we we understand that we get to see the full picture of david's life We get to see everything his inner thoughts and his prayers and everything We understand on the whole that david was a great man of god, okay But we also read, you know some of the more shameful things in his life that he probably would rather not have on the public record And and notice i'll just read to you from matthew chapter one You know, it's not and if you noticed in in uh, second samuel 12 Nathan refers to bathsheba as the wife of uraya The wife of uraya that doesn't change in matthew chapter one when you go through the genealogy it says in verse six And jesse begot david the king and david the king back solomon of bathsheba No of her that had been the wife of uraias So still even in matthew chapter one thousands of years later this reputation still sticks It's still there haunting david. Yeah, solomon was the son of david who was born of him of the wife Who had been the wife of uraias? Right, and it's like what do you what what happened there? Well go back to second samuel chapter 12 and read about it So this is what i'm trying to get across. This is why it's important to understand that the the sin has far reaching consequences in our lives We go out where i'm just gonna go have a good time I'm just gonna jump in the sack this once i'm just gonna drink this beer. I'm just gonna look at that I'm just gonna smoke this this one time. You have no idea how far that is the consequences are gonna reach in your life That's the way sin works And you know the world's not gonna tell you that the devil's not gonna tell you that But the bible will tell you that just one bad mistake Just one night up on that roof feeling a little bored a little a little lonely And we're reading about it in matthew chapter one thousands of years later A reference to his adultery It never goes away folks some things look did god forgive him. Of course, we read that in the story God forgive him didn't put him to death But he said there's still going to be consequences and one of them was the long-term effects of having his reputation permanently marred Now what were the present, you know, uh Consequences for sin Well, it would be that the child died right that's you know That's the one we probably all think about is the fact that his child died But we don't really think about the fact that his reputation was ruined You know because the child dying is pretty severe, you know It's every parent's worst fear, you know, I mean, I don't can't think of anything worse than that than having one of your own children die Okay At least I don't want to try look at verse 13 and david said unto nathan I have sinned against the lord and nathan said unto david the lord also hath put away thy sin And thou shalt not die Verse 14 how be it because uh by this deed that was given a great occasion enemies of the lord to blaspheme remember That's the reason why because he's given occasion the enemies of the lord to blaspheme The child also that is born of thee shall surely die Now notice verse 15 and nathan departed unto his house And the lord struck the child that uriah's wife bare unto david and it was very sick So who killed the child here the lord did The lord reached down and did this And you say well that sounds cruel. Well, you know what? What david did was pretty cruel What david did was pretty wicked Killed an innocent man killed a good man ruined a good home Ruined his reputation ruined. Bathsheba's reputation And he you know This is this this had and he brought a reproach upon the name of the lord Say well that doesn't seem fair. Well You know god is cares about his reputation You know god is holy guy He cares about what people think about he doesn't need his name drug through the mud out there by by our actions and what we really need to learn from this is that Our sin affects others, doesn't it our sin affects others who may even be innocent So a lot of times you might think well i'm going to do this sin and i'll suffer the consequences and i'm okay with that But what you don't realize is that that sin could have affect the people around you who had nothing to do with it We should never just think that oh i'm going to commit this sin and i'll bear the punishment and that's fine You don't know how god's going to work. You don't know what's going to happen. You don't know how it's going to play out It could it will affect the people around uh around you, right But notice too that you know god what is god doing here? He's making a public example Of david because what david was the most wicked thing that david did was bringing reproach upon the name of lord among the heathen He approached the name of the lord god almighty and God makes an example out of him. His sin was very public Right, so he's making a public example out of him Why so that people would see that? Oh, that's the guy that reproached the lord and his child died They say god is a you know a vengeful god and he is What gets me though is that god is the one who strikes this child for his sin, right? God david gets into the sin and the lord is the one that calls out david publicly Right, it punishes him in a very public manner for everyone to see But we today don't have preachers that can get up and call out sin But yet in many pulpits today There are preachers that get up that are afraid to deal with fornication adultery divorce So on and so forth. They don't want to touch these sins with a 10-foot pole Yet god is willing to write it down in his holy word for everyone to see that he struck that child and killed it He's the one that did that. He's I mean, that's what it says the lord struck the child And he's saying and god is just and god is righteous and his ways are above our ways Before we you know get angry with god about that. We better think long and hard about what david did But yet we don't have people today preachers who can't get up and deal with sin and call out sin Instead, you know, they'll have adultery taking place in their church Or even even worse, you know, the preacher himself is caught in adultery. He's committing adultery And you know his cronies his buddies rather than them calling him out Tell him to step down and get them out of there and get replaced. They just send him another church They just wipe it under the rug. They just sweep it under the rug You know, they'll have you know Molestation of children taking place. They'll just try and sweep it under the rug not well We don't want to cause a big stir. We don't want anyone to think that we're mean people Or we'll hand it very privately, you know, we'll do this very privately We had some you know wicked sin take place in our church and we're just going to hand it within You know some child gets molested and we're just going to we're not going to call the police Are you talking about the catholic church? Well, I could but you know this happens even in baptist churches You know and it's infuriating And here we have god who is willing to and his and in this eternal record For anyone who wants to just open up and read it and say where I killed the child because of what david did and just call it out publicly and just deal with it very severely and just Could care less what anybody else thinks about it That's how the god handled it. But you have these preachers who You know bad things happen in their church children where the cops should be called or authorities should get involved That person should never darken the door of another church That man should never behind another pulpit And yet they just want to sweep it on the rug because they don't want to be perceived as mean-spirited Or something like that. It's it's nonsense It's because they just don't want to rock the boat, you know, they got their comfortable little spot and they don't want to rock the boat I got to move on the story i'm running out of time, but Notice also that you know the consequences of david's sin right talking about the long term the short term the immediate consequences But the other thing that the other consequence is that david's life is spared. Okay, his life is spared You know, we caught that there and uh Where he said, you know thou shalt not die the lord hath put thy in verse 13 Nathan said unto david the lord the lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die However, you're still going to have to suffer these consequences But your life is being spared you say well that doesn't seem fair You know, and maybe it's not i'll give you that maybe it's not fair Maybe david should have died. I mean by the according to the law he should have died Him and bathsheba should have been drug out and stoned to death Oh, I mean that's what the bible teaches we read that last week But his life is spared. Okay, and why is that? Well, the bible says in exodus chapter 33 and he said I will make this is when the lord is appearing before moses, right? I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the lord before thee And will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy You know sometime god will just show mercy on people who he just wants to show mercy on You know, we should be the same way You know, there's nothing wrong with showing mercy to people I'm, not saying that we should sweep sin under the rug and not call it out not deal with it But you know what some what's things have been dealt with once the consequences have been doled out We can be merciful to people And just let things let them go on and live their lives. Okay And I think david understood this concept And and you know Maybe that's why he was so quick to to humble himself. But also if you notice here in the story You know david doesn't just quit he doesn't get these get this news and just say well, that's it. My life's over The child's dead. No look at verse 16. It says david therefore besought god for the child And david fasted and went in all night upon the earth, but why because david no knew That god will show mercy upon whom he'll show mercy, right? And we know the story there the elders rose he didn't eat bread with them And he did this for seven days and and the child dies the servants don't want to tell him the child was dead Because they're afraid what he's going to react they're saying look how he's acting how he vexes himself while the child's still alive What's going to happen if he's you tell him he's dead And then it says in verse 19, but when david saw that a servant whispered david perceived that child was dead dead Therefore david said unto his servants is the child dead And they said he is dead Then they said he is dead then david rose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into the house of the lord and worshiped So he didn't get bitter at god. He david You know people might read that and say well that wasn't very nice of god. Well, you know, it wasn't your kid first of all I mean look what the parent did He's fasting he's praying and when it david's like no god's right and that's what I deserve right And he doesn't get bitter against god and angry with god He goes into the house of the lord and he worships then he came into his own house and when he acquired they set Bread before him and he did eat Verse 21 then said his servants on him. What is this thing that thou has done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive But when the child was dead thou didst rise and eat bread and he said while the child was yet alive I fast and wet for I said Who can tell whether the lord will be gracious to me? So david understood that god will show mercy unto whom he will show mercy that god was a long-suffering and merciful god And he thought to himself. Well, I know this is the punishment, but maybe if I afflict myself and I pray God will still spare the child even though it's sick right You know, and unfortunately, that's that's not the way it went He says in verse 23, but now he's dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me And of course, that's a great verse when it comes to you know When a child dies or or if people experience a miscarriage, you know, a lot of times you get that question What happens if a very young child dies? Well the bible is teaching us here, you know through david that they go to heaven immediately Right because they are without sin. They they don't Of course, they do sinful things I guess but they don't have a consciousness of it I mean, they're not they don't understand these concepts until they're older. Okay, so they die innocent Right, they're not it's the age of accountability is what's called And people ask well, when is that age? Well, you know, there's a lot it depends because all children are different Some catch on quicker some are you know, just have different personalities You know and uh, i've heard it said I think this is a good measurement is when they start to be ashamed to be naked Right, and I agree with that because when you go back to genesis That's the first thing that happened when adam and eve when they fell And they realized what that they were naked and they hid themselves from the lord, right? Because you know how kids are when they're little, you know, they just it's They'll wear that birthday suiting chance. They get they love it, you know I think if you know we're potty training one right now and she's always in the pamper and that's it and she just walks around belly sticking out just you know but if something tragic happened to her i'd have no I'd have no reservations and saying well she's in heaven because she's an innocent right? That's what david's saying here. Look the child died. I can't go to him. I can't bring him back. But you know what? I'm gonna go to him and where was david going when he died Straight to heaven, right? Because he saved So this is david's, uh, you know response here his life is spared and then what his you know I want us to point out david's humility in verse 13 and david said in nathan. I have sinned against the lord He doesn't put up this fight And he just says i've sinned But you know, uh, it offers all the excuses. It's just you're right busted You know, that's the best way to handle it when you get caught Just admit it Trying to lie weasel your way out of it Because look by the time you're getting caught the time you're getting busted doing something you're not supposed to be doing The people busting you already know you did it They already know that you're guilty, right? sometimes the best is just Take your lumps And not do what hard in your neck because he that being off and reproving hard at this neck shall suddenly be destroyed the bible says But I want to just close on this thought look god's mercy is sure right That's what david's kind of resting on here at the end He's trying to get this child spared because he knows that god is merciful God's mercy is sure We could we can rest in that like look if we if maybe we're struggling in some sin Maybe we've gotten to something we're not supposed to be doing You know, and and maybe you know, we're not being found out publicly, but we all know the lord knows about it And and you know, maybe we're there, you know, it's not that we just have to well now I just got to sit and wait for god to just come down on me like a ton of bricks You know, god is merciful. God is gracious. God is long suffering If we confess our sins, he is, you know faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness If we confess them and forsake them, he we shall have mercy. That's the promise of scripture Okay, so that's you, you know God's mercy is a sure thing. It's there for you Okay, that's the that's the comforting news but you know say well, you know, maybe i'll get around to taking advantage of that Well, let me just assure you of one other thing then the consequences of sin are sure too If we harden our necks and harden our necks and harden our necks like the bible says in proverbs we shall be destroyed suddenly without remedy Like there comes a point where god just says enough I've been very merciful. I've been very patient. I've been very long suffering And you know it and and you don't want to get right so now i'm going to step in and And get the paddle out or whatever, you know And i'm going to work in your life and bring you to a place where you're going to want to get right Where you're going to want to quit sinning and and and be right with god And I want to close on this and this last thought this thought of how our sin affects, you know The big story here is how it affected david right, but it really it's affecting. How is it affecting david? It's affecting david It's affecting david through other people right? Yeah his reputation was marred Right, but his child dying the the rebellion that's coming very soon in his life in his own house through his own son That that's because that's the result of his sin affecting other people and there's another example of that here at the end of the chapter where it says in verse 27 and joe upset messenger said david and said I have fought against Rabah and have taken the city of waters now therefore gather the rest of the people together in a camp against the city and take It lest I take the city and it be called after my name And david gathered all the people together and went to rabah and fought against it and took it And he took the king's crown from off their head the weight where I was the talent of gold with precious stones And it was set on david's head and he brought forth to spoil the city in great abundance And he brought forth the peoples that were within therein and put them under saws and under harrows of iron And under axes of iron and made them pass through the brickland now look i've read verse 31 And every time I read i'm thinking is this really saying what it's saying here? Because when I when you read that I don't know about you But my first impression is it's saying that he killed these people with these things And i'm thinking well Harrows of iron saws axes You know, these are implements for work, right? So maybe what it's saying is that he brought them out and put them made them, you know subservient to them made them work But that last one always just blows that theory The smithereens it says and made them pass through the brickland because like a brickland's like a furnace for like making bricks And that's not something you carry around right? They're passing through it meaning they're going he's burning these people to death so This is a very severe thing I did and I honestly I really don't know what to make of that As far as from david's perspective what's going on there? But got to notice who it's having just and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of who of ammon? And that goes back to what chapter 10 remember when he sent the messengers to comfort the new king of aman and he humiliates them right and then And then they hired the the uh, the syrians and they try to go to war against david and he and he wipes them out And what was that this is another example of you know your sin, you know back that king in ammon in chapter 10, you know He his sin, you know, the decisions that he made are what still affecting people with david now. David's just like kill them all Just take them out here and just put them to this cruel death, right? And it's just another example of the fact that your sin affects other people and a lot of times in very severe ways So we don't want to mess around with people who have the power to punish us, right? You know, that's that's the big takeaway Don't mess around when there's people in your life that can punish you, right? This would probably go, you know, we could apply to every one of us to some degree, you know, if we have jobs We probably don't want to go to work tomorrow and just lip off to the boss You know walk in his office and put our feet up on his desk and just say you know what? I think i'm you're going to give me five more bucks an hour. He's like, I think you're going to go find another job That's how that's going to go You know, we're kids, you know, if your parents are doing their duty You know, you have some people in your life that have the power to punish you, right? And we don't want to just take, you know, lip off to them and you know you know, I can't imagine a little corbin john just coming into the middle of the living room and just you know, pulling out a pack of smokes and just Lighting one up and just saying this is the way it's going to be old man Because it's going to be whack You know You're going to eat those cigarettes. No, i'm just kidding, right? But that's kind of a silly example, but isn't that kind of the way people are in god? It's like this little kid just coming in with this big bad attitude Just doing something just blatantly sinful right in front of them And just like yeah, you know what god and then god actually says oh, okay and deals with it, right? We don't want to mess around with people who have the power to punish us, especially when that person is god Okay, let's go ahead and pray