God’s Faithfulness to Restore His Sinning Child
Bible Text: 2 Samuel 12:1-15 | Preacher: Alan Conner | Series: 2 Samuel, 2001
9/30/01
2 Samuel 12:1-15
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS TO RESTORE HIS SINNING CHILD
INTRO
There is a glorious truth which emerges from the sad account of David’s sin: God’s faithfulness will not allow His child to continue in unrepentant sin.
“Then the Lord sent Nathan to David.”
WHY GOD IS FAITHFUL TO RESTORE HIS CHILD FROM SIN.
God is a covenant keeping God and we are in covenant with Him.
Jer. 32:40 “And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.”
Ezek. 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
Matt. 7:17-18 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.”
Phil. 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
This is the same as the “doctrine of the perseverance of the saints”.
God, in covenant faithfulness to His elect in Christ Jesus, will not allow any of them to remain in unrepentant sin, but will through His Spirit rescue and restore them to fellowship with their Savior. This He will accomplish either by granting them repentance, or by bringing an end to their sin through physical death.
1) This does not mean that the believer never__________, but it does mean that we “can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace” (WCF).
2) This means that our perseverance in grace is really the perseverance of ___________ through His Spirit.
This the doctrinal foundation upon which this passage is built.
HOW DOES GOD RESTORE HIS CHILD FROM SIN (vv. 1-15).
God’s sin-killing remedies are .
1) God has a large medicine cabinet in which are found hundreds of different cures for sin.
2) Here God uses another person, the prophet Nathan.
David had been living in unrepentant sin for about months.
Note vv. 14 “the child also that is born to you”. See also v. 18.
The prophet rebukes King David.
1) Nathan’s story (vv. 1-4).
NOTE: 12:4 and 11:4 “took”.
2) David’s response (vv. 5-6). David was livid with rage, “anger burned greatly”. He exploded with a religious oath and then gave a judicial verdict and lawfully requires the man to pay back 4 fold (Exod. 22:1).
3) The punch line (vv. 7-9).
Indictment #1 – “You are the man!” (v. 7).
the rich man = __________________
the poor man = _________________
the little ewe lamb = _____________
Indictment #2 – David’s sin was against God’s __________ ( vv. 7-8).
Indictment #3 – David’s sin was one of ______________ the Lord and His word (vv. 9, 10). David sinned against the ten commandments.
Uriah the Hittite you struck down with the sword, MURDER
His wife you took as your own wife, ADULTERY
But him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites, MURDER.
4) God’s discipline (vv. 10-12, 14b). Note 4-fold judgment with v. 6.
(1) the sword shall never depart from your house (v. 10).
(2) evil will arise from your own household (v. 11).
(3) wives will be shamed in public (v. 11-12).
(4) Bathsheba’s child will die (v. 13).
These judgments provide a primary theme for chs. 13-20.
III. DAVID’S REPENTANCE AND GOD’S FORGIVENENSS (vV. 13-14).
LESSONS:
1) Praise God for His _____________ to rescue us from our sin. Praise God for persevering grace.
2) Let us humbly _____________ to God’s restoring grace in times of sin.