2 Samuel 12 (Part 1) Bible Study (Nathan Rebukes David) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Good evening. Good to see you here again tonight. And, if you've been with us in the past few weeks, you know exactly where we are in the scriptures. If you do not know where we are tonight, we are in a study in the book of second Samuel. And the Lord has led us in his timing with the pace that we trust his spirit is using for us to understand this book in chapter 12.

In second Samuel chapter 12 is where we are today. And as you know, usually what we do is we'll we'll read a portion of this chapter or of a chapter, and then I will open it up for us to give our insights or our observations. But for the sake of this study, we're going to read through these verses, and I will ask questions along as we go along with our time tonight verse by verse. But we will still read it together, and, tonight we will most likely just cover the first five or six verses. It is a lengthy chapter as you can see, but we will take our time not knowing how much time, but we will take our time to try to allow the word of God to make an impact on our hearts as we digest the meat of God's word.

Are you there with me in second Samuel 12? There we are in verse one. Here's what God's word says to us tonight. And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, there were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. He used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, or the Hebrew would say in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guests who had come to him. But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. Would you pray with me? Lord, we ask that you would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation as it is promised in Ephesians one. We ask, Lord, that we would experience the enlightenment of our eyes.

Disciples in the gospel of Luke, we pray that we would experience that same grace. And Lord, may this word get in us and have its way in us. And may you be glorified not through just the understanding of it, but through the obedience that it demands. This is our our prayer as we come as your disciples, your students in this place. In Jesus' name, amen.

Last thing that you and I read in our last week's study was that David had committed atrocious crimes, and the Lord's name was silent in chapter 11 until the very last part of that sacred text where we learned that the Lord clearly knew what was going on. He knew it all along, and what David had done displeased the Lord. Now between the last phrase of chapter 11 and the beginning of chapter 12, a few months have passed by. And the Lord, we can assume, was silent in David's life. But now he's going to shake things up.

He he's not gonna allow David to get away with this. He's not gonna allow sin to just be brushed under the carpet. The Lord now is going to bring to the surface what David thought that he had successfully concealed. And the way in which the Lord will do this by sending a prophet, one of his faithful messengers by the name of Nathan. Now this is not the first time that you and I have been introduced to this man of God.

This is the second time. Does anybody remember where we first were introduced to Nathan the prophet? It was at another critical point in David's life. When David wanted to build God a temple, Nathan came, gave him the green light. The Lord spoke to him.

He says, wait. Go back and tell him that he's not gonna do it. His son will do it. And while you're at it, give him these promises that are gonna come through an oath, a covenant. So before we come to this, we have to realize that Nathan was sent by God to give good news to David, a news that would that would deal with his his seed and and the Messiah ultimately in these wonderful, glorious things that David did not deserve.

He was overwhelmed by the grace of God, but Nathan now is coming with a different message. And before we move on with our text, it's important to meditate on who this person is and the great loyalty that he had to his God. You have to understand, for Nathan to come with this difficult word is not an easy thing. I'm sure I can speak on behalf of most people who would agree to say that confrontation is not an enjoyable experience. Some enjoy it for some reason.

They enjoy it. I don't know. Maybe it gets their blood going. I don't know what it is. But for the most part, it is uncomfortable.

It is even uncomfortable for the one who is in the right and is correcting the person who is in the wrong. It requires a great wisdom and courage in order for it to be done successfully and with the least amount of awkwardness as possible. How much more for Nathan the prophet who is not coming before any ordinary man? He is approaching more than just a friend, but a king. A king, as we learned last week, through his word can determine whether a man lived or died, and there is no one who can stand up to such a verdict.

This man had unprecedented authority and ability, and this is the man Nathan is being sent to to confront him about his sin. And Nathan already received the revelation from God of what David had done. And you know what he did do? He didn't just commit adultery. He killed the husband so that he can have the woman as a wife.

And so here's what would go through my mind as a prophet who received the revelation from God. I need you to speak to David because he committed adultery, and he killed Uriah. Lord, Uriah? Uriah. Uriah was a godly man.

He was a blameless man. He was a man of conviction and loyalty to the king and the kingdom and to the God of the kingdom. You're telling me David eliminated Uriah without hesitation? Here's what would go through my mind as a prophet. If if David was willing to kill a man like Uriah, what's gonna stop him from putting a knife to my throat, putting my head on the chopping block?

And so, yes, he received the revelation of the murder, but he is now being commissioned to go to the murderer and to speak with such boldness and courage and fearlessness. And if you and I can't perceive the potential danger of this mission, just think about the roster of prophets moving forward from this text who have had to been petrified of coming before kings and were not treated as nicely as Nathan was in this text, even all the way up to the last prophet of the old covenant by the name of who? Who's the last old testament prophet? Good. John the Baptist.

John the Baptist had a very similar operation. King Herod had his brother's wife. John the Baptist spoke up against Herod, and guess what happened to him? You know, he was thrown in jail, and eventually he lost his head. Jeremiah was thrown into cisterns.

And here's Nathan now wanting to come obediently to the Lord with the high probability that he probably will pay for it. So be careful if you wanna be a spokesperson for God. It's it's not just about getting invited to conferences. In fact, the more you are faithful to God's word, the less invites you actually get, by the way. Here's Nathan.

Despite the unfortunate possibilities at hand, we are told that the Lord sent him and there's no indication of hesitation. He will go before him, and he will speak faithfully on behalf of God. Now it's understandable, listen, that when we think about radical obedience that our minds race to, the risks of living such a life. But don't limit it to just the risks. There are rewards.

And the ultimate reward, as we know, is bringing a smile to our God. That is our chief duty and our delight. But second to that is how there is the great chance that we can be instruments of seeing people's lives changed. You see, Nathan here, by being obedient, would be the very means by which the course of David's life would turn for the better. Nathan, by being obedient, selflessly submitting to what God had told him to do, would be the very reason why David's conscience would awaken and that his fellowship with the Lord would be restored.

What if what if Nathan reserved himself? What if he had stepped back? What if he had just stepped back and said, this is just too much. I can't do this. I'm risking my friendship with this man.

More more than that, I'm potentially risking my life. We don't know what would have happened to David. I'm sure God would have raised somebody else up. But the point to see here is in this particular situation, Nathan is going to see a double reward. He's going to obey God, and he's going to see David obey God.

We can't afford, as a ministry, as Christians, to dilute the truth for fake rewards or for self preservation's sake. There's too much at stake here, and we see that here with David where David will actually make a pivotal turn in his life, and it came through a a faithful messenger. But did you notice something else in verse one? We read here that it was the Lord who sent Nathan. Who initiated the process of reconciliation?

David or God? God. So after some time had passed, though the Lord was displeased in his heart with what he saw David doing, the Lord remained silent. And that is a picture of his patience. Will David confess?

Will he come to his senses? Will he humble himself and bow before me and ask for forgiveness? And he doesn't. He doesn't. So what does the Lord do?

He initiates the plan. He reaches out to David. He seeks him, and he finds him, and he pleads with him through rebuke, yes, to confess and to come humbly before him. And that is an important thought to keep in mind for the next few weeks as we will be in this very chapter because all that we are going to read moving forward, as cutthroat as Nathan's words are going to be, as severe as the consequences will be for David's life and for his family and for the nation as a whole, everything was motivated by divine grace. Mercy.

Right? This is the Lord wanting to not destroy David, but restore David. And just like a doctor who sometimes has to bruise in order to heal, this is the exact way in which God approaches sinners. The gospel we preach is not intended to shame. It's not intended to add guilt and keep people living with that guilt.

It's meant to bring in. It's meant to reach out and to pull people out of the mire. And the picture here on a very individual level is is magnetized when we understand who God sent for humanity. And for David, he sent Nathan. For the whole human race, he sent his son.

And his son came to a world hiding in darkness, not pursuing God, but hiding from God, turning their backs to God. Not just weak, like what Romans says, but in the same chapter of Romans five, enemies of God. And this is this is when God came and when God sent his son. And like a physician with a cure for a lethal disease, He's better than any physician you can imagine because we go to the doctor and say, I'm sick. I need help.

And the doctor may help us. But this doctor goes out to those who aren't even asking for the help and say, I'm here to help you. And that is why you you should never believe the lie of Satan or of the flesh, that God is hesitant to forgive. No matter how repeated the offense may be, no matter how severe the offense may be, you have to understand that like a physician who takes great joy in his practice and who finds the greatest reward in seeing people healed, this God, our God, finds great delight in coming to you and binding you and providing balm for you and restoring you. And so as you even in that state of fallenness, you come with the confidence knowing that the Lord will embrace you and bring what you need to be exactly who He's called you to be.

And the patience of God. Again, I mentioned it, but let me say it again. The patience of God. Do we not see this magnetized in in in our universe, in our world today? The very reason why the Lord has not crashed through the skies in 2023, though he may later this year.

I don't know. I'm not setting any dates, but it's because he wants people to repent. He's waiting for more to come to their senses and say, I need to be reconciled to my creator, to the judge of the universe. And he's prolonging. Because here's the thing, when he comes, it's over.

There's no second chances. We're not universalists where everybody ends up going to heaven one day. I know it's becoming more popular, but it's not biblical. When he comes, it's done. And when I mean it's done, I mean it's done not like we're all if you're not in Christ, you're annihilated.

No. There is a second death in which you keep dying. The same way that you and I, who are in Christ, will keep living. So God in his great kindness is patient because he has a revelation that even, unfortunately, most of his children don't understand that eternity is really eternity, and it's final. And so he sends Nathan.

He comes to David, and he brings a parable. You heard it. It's pretty clear, pretty straightforward. But let me ask you this question. I'm I'm asking to hear some answers.

Why is it that when Nathan does come to David that he does present a story, and it's a fictional story, it's an allegory, it's metaphorical. I don't believe it's a real incident, But why doesn't Nathan just storm into the king's courts guns a blazing? You are the man. You thought you can hide from God. Come over here.

He's found you out. Why didn't he do that? Yes. Okay. So he's dealing with somebody who is in a particular state of the heart in which he can't give proper judgment concerning himself.

Is that what you're trying to say? Okay. Say that again. So the story is a tool to try to stimulate David to come to his own senses in one way. Somebody had their hand up over here.

Yes. So David was a shepherd before, and there is a strategy here to appeal to the emotions. I believe that is part of it. Yes? Okay.

So there is an aspect of this that grabs the attention. A story has a way of grabbing people's attention. I see that all the time from standing on this side of the congregation. The moment you start saying story, people, they lean in. Right?

They lean in. They're like, hey. What is he gonna say? Yeah. There is there is a gripping element to a story.

Absolutely. A lot of hands. Good. Yes. Yes.

Okay. So David is not only a shepherd, but he stands in the place of a judge. And this story, could it be that Nathan is presenting a scene that would provoke judgment to be made by David, not realizing that he's actually condemning himself? Yes. Yeah.

Did you have your hand up? Very good. Yes. So just like you we we're here on Sundays. If you're here on Sundays, we know we've been going through some of the parables of Jesus.

And one of the purposes of the parables is to position the hearer to be honest with themselves. Will I inquire more about this truth, or will I reject it and not inquire more about it? So there's a pulling factor to this that will entice the honest heart to come to a conclusion concerning the story in an unbiased matter, but in reality is actually dealing with the very audience that it's being presented to. You you've all touched on it, and and you have to understand here that Nathan is approaching a man who has taken great measures to cover his sin. Right?

I mean, he went to the point of killing one of his great men. Nathan is aware of this. And so Nathan needs to come with great wisdom and discernment in order to find some kind of softness in David's heart to lead him to the place of at least admitting his wrong. And the way in which he does this is by providing a technique that would position David again to be an observer, to be an observer. In essence, what Nathan is doing is he's confronting his audience in a nonconfrontational way.

And so through this story, he he causes David to be an observer and with the specific ingredients within the story to invoke and to arouse a sense of justice, and then hopefully to make a verdict about this story and essentially cornering himself. And so this is a tactic this is a tactic that is important to understand because it disarms David. And not only does it disarm David initially, but it goes further than that. It it leaves David with no escape when it is revealed that he is the very theme of the story because now David, what does he do? The the condemnation that he makes in the story, he makes against himself.

So it's much more difficult to take back your word than it is to reject somebody else's word concerning you. This is brilliant. This is Holy Spirit led. And here's what we can take just from asking the question, why is Nathan coming with this kind of delivery? As believers in Jesus Christ, part of our responsibility is that you and I have to correct, and we we have to be open to be corrected.

The church of Jesus Christ on the earth, one of its primary functions is accountability. Rogue Christians are dangerous, and they are they they are not a reality in the New Testament. To to go back to the early church and to meet a Christian who did not and was not a part of a local assembly was a foreign concept. When you're a Christian, you're part of the body of Jesus Christ in a very practical, real, and consistent way. And part of that experience is I need people in my life to correct me and to call me out when I need to be called out.

And because that is part of our responsibility as believers, we have a goal, and that goal is to restore. That goal that goal is to bring back somebody who has gone off astray and who who is entertaining something that they shouldn't. And yet, with that ambition in mind, in great humility, we often also have to remember that there is a consideration of how we do that carefully unless the ambition, which is righteous and holy, is spoiled by foolish and immature methodologies. You see, Nathan here was directed by God. He received a revelation from God about his friend's sin.

But I'm under the persuasion that it was not just the revelation of his sin, but the very delivery was designed by the same God. That the words that were put in Nathan's mouth came from God, and it proved to be most effective. So I wanna briefly mention this. If you are a serious believer, and I'm assuming all of us here are, it's important to understand that in those moments where we are faced with somebody that we know who is who is going astray, who is not implementing true Christian practice in their life, be careful. Be careful how you approach them.

Pray. Wait on God. Seek the Lord. At times, seek the counsel of mature spirit filled believers, lest our righteous mission is destroyed because of our flesh or because we thought doing it one way would work when in fact it was not with the wisdom that God's spirit would provide otherwise. Nathan comes with great discernment.

And now we've read this, but we're gonna dissect it to understand the details of the characters and some of the descriptions, and they will be rich. It will be rich if we pay attention. So we heard it. Right? The parable here is about two men, or is it?

Maybe more than two men. There's a rich man, a poor man, both different socioeconomic classes, and there's somebody else that will come on the scene that we'll touch on in a moment. But here's here's just a rule when you and I ever come towards a parable. When we read a parable, the temptation is to decode every detail and to try to find a meaning behind every feature that is presented in the allegory. That is dangerous because the intention of of parables is not necessarily to bring an allegorical interpretation behind every single thing in the scene.

That's how people get into wacky interpretations of things. What we have to understand is that the general goal of this is to, again, present a a case of injustice. Right? There's this particular bull's eye here, and that alone would suffice in order to bring David where he needed to be. Nonetheless, what Nathan presents to David parallels so closely to the real playbook that we read in second Samuel 11.

The characters are are like the theme is so near. In fact, we have confidence to interpret this carefully because in verse seven, we're not gonna touch on that. Nathan ends up saying to David, you're the man. You are the man. The man that I was talking about in that short little parable, that's you.

That's you. So we know that Nathan is intentionally choosing these characters and the descriptions wisely in order to, listen, to come as close as possible to David's error without totally unveiling that it's him. Because if David caught on, he could have gave a different judgment in this hypocrisy. Right? He could have done that.

But it was it was to to create a thin enough veil in which you can see pass through it, but not completely. So let's do that. If we have the license to look at this in greater detail than just to see a general idea, then let's do that. The rich man and the poor man, who are they? Who's the rich man?

Who's the poor man? Amen. Well, a poor man had a little lamb, a ewe lamb. Who's that? Jesus.

Very good. That is right. And we read something about the relationship between the poor man and the ewe lamb. Look here briefly here with me in verse three, and notice that the little lamb grew up with him. That's what it says here.

He brought it up, and it grew up with him. I believe that suggests the history, the long history that Uriah had with his wife. It could be that they've known each other since childhood. It could be that they were even high school sweethearts, so to speak. They had a long history of intimacy, of friendship.

And whether that is the case or not, what we have to understand is that Nathan's intention here is to create a sense of the special bond that the poor man had with the little eulan, with the little pet animal so that David would feel the significance of the crime of this rich man taking away not just some little animal, but something that was cherished by this man and his family. It was to make it make it seem so much more severe than what we would imagine just hearing somebody taking a lamb from somebody else's field. And we read on and we see something else in verse three. Look how look how carefully Nathan is speaking here, and I'm gonna ask you if it sounds familiar from our last study in chapter 11. He says here in the ver the second part of verse three eight, used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms.

That sound familiar? Does it? What does it sound like? Scroll back to chapter 11, and you'll see it. Second Samuel 11, and look at verse 11.

This is when Uriah explained to David why he didn't go into his home. Now it there's the light bulb. Right? Second Samuel eleven eleven, Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife.

As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. I don't know how strong David's memory was, But it makes me wonder if his heart start racing a little bit, or maybe not. He was completely oblivious to the nudge that Nathan is providing here. So far, everything seems clear. We have our characters in place.

The description makes sense. But when people come to this text, they often miss another important character, and I believe it's a great disservice to what this parable can offer, not just to David, but to us. There's somebody else here. There's somebody else here that we need to touch on. Who is he?

Very good. The traveler. Verse four. Now there came a traveler to the rich man. Here's my question.

Who is he? Very good. Did you hear the answer? Temptation. The traveler speaks and signifies passing lust, temptation arriving to the front step of your heart.

And if it is true that the traveler symbolizes what we can generally ascribe to as temptation, then there is so much to learn about how temptation works even in this snapshot. Here's at least two things that I gather from from this realization that the traveler is temptation. And it's true for David, and it's true for you and I today because temptation hasn't changed much since the beginning of time. If this is true, then know this one thing, believer. Temptation is a frequent visitor.

In the same way the rich man was suddenly visited by this traveler, temptation often comes unannounced. Now you and I have a response responsibility to limit the frequency and the intensity of its presence. But even with all the restrictions and all the disciplines that we apply, temptation has a way to make its voice known and to provoke us without announcement. And that is exactly what we see here. Although David did a terrible job of guarding his heart, this point that I'm presenting to you is meant to comfort us.

It's meant to comfort us because the visitation of temptation is not the same as indulging in sin. You have many believers who live on unwarranted guilt because they have mistaken intrusive thoughts with unholy imaginations. And so they're robbed of joy. They're robbed of faith. They they they fail to believe the goodness of God and the power of God because they don't interpret temptation carefully.

Remember the words of the apostle Paul when he describes briefly the nature of our spiritual warfare. Now the words that I'm gonna quote to you primarily in context deal with the weapons that we have in our hands when it comes to rescuing other people from bondage. But the same words also help us know how to defend ourselves when it comes to invasions in our own hearts, in our own minds. You know the the verse in second Corinthians ten five? He describes the nature of warfare, which is very, very different than how people emphasize warfare today.

When you tell when you when you ask Christians about spiritual warfare today, automatically, it's demons, demons manifesting, weird things happening, things flying around the air, dark objects in your room. When you ask the apostle Paul, what is the nature, what is the essence of spiritual warfare? Though demons are real, demon possession is real, manifestations of evil are all real, that's true. He describes it here in verse five of second Corinthians 10. We destroy arguments.

Remember that. Every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. So far, we have arguments, opinions, knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to Christ. What is the realm in which opinions and arguments and knowledge and thoughts dwell in? What realm?

The mind, the conscience, your thinking, your meditations, the things that are unseen. This is the arena of spiritual warfare, the mind. And the idea here is that with the truth this is what Paul is saying. With the truth, the truth has so much power that it is able to identify and capture warfare. Right?

So our listen, believers, we we don't take up arms to fight against our enemies. No. We take the sword of the spirit, and those that come with philosophies and false doctrines, our warfare is not a shouting match. It's not our fists. It's not who can be this and who can be that.

It's with this sort and then this working in the minds of others and then rescuing people, pulling down strongholds, and then taking thoughts captive to the lordship of Christ. And yet at the same time, it applies to us. Even as believers, this description of warfare is real even more real after you become a Christian. Here's the way I like to to look at it. I like to think of unrighteous thoughts as day to day intruders, And they're clever, and they're consistent and persistent, and here's their goal every single day, the moment I open my eyes to the moment I lay my head on my pillow every night.

Here's what they do, and they do the same for you. I'm just giving you a heads up. They want to come in, and they want to apprehend your affections and your attention and your reasoning and submit it to sin every single day, every waking moment. And the principle of this verse indicates that you and I have a responsibility by the power of the Spirit to arrest those false ideas, to stop them and keep them at bay the moment you're able to recognize that they do stand in contrast to the will and wisdom of God. And if we fail to see the threat that these thoughts are, then they will come in and they will set up a stronghold, and down the road, they will become much more difficult to pull down when you really want to.

This traveler wants to come inside. He's not interested in waving through the window and passing by. He wants to be a guest. And more than a guest, he wants to be the master of the home, which the rich man ends up doing. He ends up serving this man a feast as though he becomes the king.

Yes. There's a general sense in which he's hospitable, but there is this almost this, just this change of roles here. This man seems to now occupy the authority of the place. Temptation is the same. It comes in seemingly innocent, distant, and through our tolerance, it can change very quickly, which brings me to the second point.

Temptation must never ever be entertained. Temptation must never be entertained. Unfortunately, in David's case, he does. The traveler comes by, and instead of shooing this unwanted guest away, he opens the door and says, have a seat. Have a seat.

When did David do that in real time? I argue when he was standing on his rooftop, and he looked and he gazed at Bathsheba's body while she was bathing. That was when the traveler came to his heart. He says, hey. You never seen me before, but, do you have do you have an extra seat at your table?

And when he did he open the door? When he inquired for her and sought for more information, flirting with the line of sin, and it end up conceiving into sin. Here's the thing. Never forget that the way temptation evolves into sin is when we entertain it instead of pushing it away. That's when it morphs into something that is dangerous.

And the stave our sin is always strengthened, always strengthened by our persistent attention and affection that we give to it. The more attention and the more affection that you give to it, the stronger it becomes. And I argue that the rich man would have never ever ever been willing to steal that lamb if he had first made the decision to keep that door closed and to tell that traveler to go somewhere else. So here's the point. Based on this alone, we see a very, very important principle that applies to us today, That it is manifestations of evil actions begin with meditations of evil things.

Manifestations of evil actions always, always, always begin with meditations on evil things. And that's why you and I have to train ourselves if if you wanna graduate in spiritual warfare and the effectiveness of victory over sin, that you and I have to be convinced of this one foundational truth, and it's this. Thoughts are dangerous. Thoughts are dangerous. And we have to train ourselves to be aggressive with those thoughts and not be passive, allowing them to just walk by in the front lawn of our hearts.

To say, no. I have to deal with you because you have a plan. And if you stay here long enough, things are gonna change quickly. And that is exactly what spiritual warfare is all about. Let me prove it to you in the words of Jesus.

And, again, it's one of those things where we we pass quickly and we don't understand the implications of it. But I would encourage you to turn there in Mark seven twenty one. Look at this series of bullet points that Jesus makes that illustrates what I'm trying to communicate effectively, hopefully. Look at the New Testament, Mark seven twenty one down to verse 23. Here's what the Lord says when he's trying to explain the source of the evil in this world.

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. Because I'll tell you the source. It's the human heart. You know, when people come and they say, well, if there is a good God in heaven, why does he deal with all the evil in this world?

I'll tell you why, because he'd have to get rid of you. That's why. And me. Because that's where it comes. The sewage of the filth that is polluting our world is that thing that is in us.

What did Jesus mention first? Evil thoughts. That is by design. The reason why Jesus starts with evil thoughts in this list of filthy things is because that's where it starts. The following things that he lists here, all all these iniquities begin with the thought life.

That's why he starts with evil thoughts. So it comes from the heart, it goes to the mind, and what you do with the mind will determine what happens with your hands, what happens with your mouth, what happens with your eyes, what happens with your feet. And if that is true, if it comes from evil thoughts, then I know one thing, wrong thinking is what leads to wrong living. And if that is true, then true victory in our sanctification will only come when you and I understand that understand that what occurs in the mind will eventually manifest in the direction of our steps. So we have to take our thinking seriously.

We have to understand that they're not just harmless things that float around. If they stay and they pull up a chair and they sit for a while, next thing you know, it becomes a pattern. Next thing you know, it becomes a stronghold. Next thing you know, it begins to pull at you and direct you and cause you to make decisions that you never thought you would, and it all started with a traveler who knocked on the door of your heart. So here's what I think taking captive thoughts looks like in a very practical way, that when those things come like a flash, you address it with the truth of God's word, and you call it to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ as a blood bought Christian, you're not welcome here.

You know, you have a lot of Christians who are tormented by blasphemous thoughts, especially newborn Christians. I've heard it throughout the years. Brother, I can't believe these thoughts are coming through my mind. And here's my simple thing. I know it's not profound.

It doesn't really take five counseling sessions. Here's my thing. Do you want those thoughts in your head or not? I hate them. Okay.

Good. That's it. You don't want them. Right? No.

I don't want I don't know why. Then just continue to saturate your mind with the word of God, and like a dirty bowl of water, continue to pour clear water, and eventually that water is gonna become clean. Just keep at it. Keep at it. So temptation will visit us.

That you cannot help, but opening the door and feeding it and strengthening it is something that we are held accountable for. That's what he does. He goes to his neighbor, he takes what belonged to his neighbor, and he fed that traveler that lust with something that was illegitimate. Now we come to verse five, and we see the reaction of David. Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die.

Makes you wonder if David believed that this was a true story. Really, it makes you wonder, like, Nathan knew a guy, and he's just coming and he's just sharing, hey. Look what happened. And and and and David there sitting perhaps on his throne, and his his nose begin to flare, and his eyes become widened, and his veins start to stick out of his neck. I don't know how intense it was, but it says he was greatly kindled.

His anger was greatly kindled, and he erupts. And here's the thing that I that I find quite humorous. There was no call for action here. Nathan didn't demand a response. But this so touched a nerve in David's heart that he could not help but say something, and everything went according to plan.

He he he makes a judgment, and he calls out this rich man, and he condemns him. And when you and I look at that, there are things to learn about his reaction. What stands out to you about his response? Let me ask you this way. Does that man deserve to die?

Really? Does he deserve to die for stealing somebody's lamb? Exodus would disagree with you if you say yes. So Exodus 22 verse one. Exodus twenty two one gives the precise punishment for this exact crime that has been depicted.

Exodus twenty two one. Look how look how clear it is. If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. That is it. No capital punishment.

No public hanging. No slashing of the sword. You stole that man's sheep, you gotta pay fourfold. So if that is true, then what do we make of David's response? It was harsh, and it was exaggerated.

And what's interesting is verse six, he actually does quote Exodus twenty two one. Does he not? He says it, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold. So he knew the scripture. Hey, guys.

Pay attention to this. You ready for this? This one might sting. Brace yourself. I love you.

Brace yourself. It goes to show that a person can be well acquainted with the scriptures and still have a hardened heart. I told you, it might hurt. It goes to show that it's not enough to be familiar with the bible because you have people like David who are living in adultery and know the bible inside and out. It's not enough.

It's what you and I do with that knowledge that determines the effectiveness and the will of God being performed through his written word. If the word of God does not draw you closer to the God of the word, you're doing it wrong. I'm doing it wrong. If it does not personally invite me to know intimacy, if it does not create a greater reality and recognition of God's person in my life with with all that he is, his his his presence and his power and his promises, if that does not become real, if it doesn't create worship, if it doesn't change my life, if it doesn't create a new framework for my worldview, if it's not doing that, then the possibilities are endless. And I can be a guy who who quotes scripture, who tells people about scripture like David does to Nathan, and, yeah, I'm meeting with somebody else's spouse behind the scenes.

So if you if you ever looked at somebody and you heard something, unfortunately, of a scandal of some sort, and you're like, how is that possible? It's possible. The bible is showing us it's possible. It's possible. The word of God does not draw you to the God of the word.

We're not reading it according to the will of God. And that's what he is showing here, but he does more than just confirm his knowledge of the scripture. He goes above and beyond it. He's calling for this man's death. I mean, even God's law is not asking for that.

Think about that. And and there's an important principle here, and it's a second thought. This teaches us what a heart distant from God is capable of. And in this case, it's cruelty among other things. When a heart is distant from God, it is capable of many things, and in this situation, it is cruelty.

Because when you are close to God, you become more like God. And when you are far from God, you will become less like God in many ways. And in David's case, he has proven to be less merciful than the God and the judge of the entire world. Less merciful. And that tells me something, that sinners, based on David's reaction, sinners are often unaware of the sinfulness of their own sin.

Sinners are often unaware of the sinfulness of their own sin. How quick for David to pronounce a judgment on this man, to go above what God says, and to completely dismiss his own sin in the process. Yeah. That guy deserves to die. Okay.

You didn't steal a lamb. You stole life. Someone who was created in the image of God, you you robbed covenant. You stole trust. All these things, the list is quite vast of what David stole.

And it's it's interesting that Nathan uses the theme of thievery when he wants to deal with and confront David's murder and his adultery, because there is thievery in all of that. There is a taking and removing of something that doesn't belong to you. And so what we see here with this man is that he is expressing something that is not exclusive to him. It is true with our nature that one of the signs of a hardened heart is being able to identify somebody else's shortcoming and feeling confident about your own standing in morality. Okay.

Here's here's I'm gonna prove it to you. In Matthew 21, Jesus gives a parable to the Pharisees, and it's a parable of the tenants. You know this, I'm sure. There's an owner of a vineyard. He goes to a far country, but he leases it to tenants.

And And when it comes to harvest time, he sends a servant or servants to acquire some of the harvest. The tenants see, and they beat up one servant. So the owner sends another servant. The tenants come, and they kill this one. So no one comes back to the owner, so the owner sends another servant, and they now they stone him.

So now the strategy has to change. The owner of the vineyard says, I will send my son. Surely, they will respect him. And when the son is sent, the tenants realize who it is, and they say, he is the heir. If we get rid of him, maybe this will be ours, and so they kill the son.

Jesus gives that parable, and then he asked the question to these religious experts supposedly. What should be done to the tenants by the owner? And do you know what the response of the Pharisees were? Let me just read it to you. You don't have to turn there, but it's in Matthew twenty one forty one.

Easy reference to remember. Here's what the religious leaders of the day said. In Matthew twenty one forty one, they said to him, he will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give them fruits in their seasons. And so the Pharisees got all excited because now Jesus is asking them a question about morality, and this is this is their chance to puff out their chest and prove just how dignified they really are and just how much they can make an accurate assessment concerning what is injust. And so they say, they should kill him and not just kill him, but take that vineyard and give it to somebody else who will bear fruit from it, not not realizing that they just predicted what would happen to the gospel from Jew to gentile.

Not realizing that like David, they condemned themselves because they would kill the owner of the vineyard. And the point is this, that between David and the Pharisees is a gap of hundreds and hundreds of years. Hundreds and hundreds of years. And yet the nature of man and his self righteousness is the same. That, again, we we feel this strange sense of boldness to be able to look at others, call out their sin, condemn them in their sin, and yet at the same time, have this false comfort that we are righteous because what?

Because we are able to determine right and wrong outside of us and make these kind of judgments. Or maybe this will hit home more. We tend to justify ourselves not by not seeing sin in our own lives, but comparing the weightiness of our sin in comparison to others. I know I I'm not I'm not this, but at least I'm not. That kind of attitude that continually looks outward and and tries to measure up to other people's holiness or lack thereof will never win God's favor, will never win his forgiveness.

The way in which we win God's favor and his grace in our lives is when, as we heard before, he comes out with his outstretched arm. The way our hand connects with his is when we just look at ourselves and humbly confess and repent and say, when I measure myself to your standard, lord, I fall short, never mind to the person to the right or my left. To you and your law alone, I'm guilty. This is who God shines his light upon. And what it takes is a prophet sometimes to awaken that reality.

And that's why we need men to preach sin, to be direct with sin, and to not just bring theology in some theoretical matter and to explain the mechanics of justification by faith, though that's important, and sanctification by the spirit. There has to come a point in the delivery of God's word like Nathan where a finger can be pointed and say, you are the man. You are the woman. You. You.

Not just this abstract idea of God and what he did in the world, but this relates to you. You will stand before God, and you will pay for your sins unless you submit to the one who has given his life for you. That's what we need to come to. That's what shakes this kind of self righteousness up. And we see the wisdom of that here with Nathan and with Jesus.

But you had your hand up. I wanna address that before I move on. Exactly. Matthew chapter seven. Right?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Matthew seven. You are unable to perceive correctly when you are living and abiding in hypocrisy.

You inherit a blindness, and you make misjudgments all the time, and the worst kind of blindness that you can have is a blindness toward yourself. That's the worst kind of blindness. Right? Yes. Yes.

Pay fourfold, there's no call for death. Yes. Yes. Exactly. Proverbs 36 in which the word and the reason why sometimes I repeat is because people don't hear where the word warns us that if we add to his word, then we will be reproved and identified as a liar.

So David here gets too excited. He makes this judgment, and it's half true. But what he doesn't realize is that he is indicting himself. And there's so much more to say in this portion of scripture, and I won't. I'm gonna end it soon.

We can go we can go on, but I won't. I wanna end on a specific observation. It's not until you really read the following verses. When you if you've read second Samuel, maybe you have noticed this, maybe maybe not. But what I find amazing is that in the same way David unknowingly is making a verdict of death upon himself, it kinda it kinda reminds us what happened to Uriah.

Right? Where Uriah himself unknowingly held his own verdict, his own oath that would that would ultimately kill him. And now that is is being served back to David. He's being blinded by the fact that he is actually lining himself up to be judged. But it's even more precise than that.

It's actually scary. It cannot be coincidence that when even David calls out for this fourfold restitution to be made, that something happens to his own life that deals with that number four. And we've I've had a couple of conversations about this, but I wanna show it to you. I wanna show it to you as we just make these quick jumps to these references. I'm gonna join you in this.

Things are going to look absolutely and utterly different for David after chapter 12. It it's it's almost as though there are these clouds that just won't go away. They just keep staying there, and it's in and pertaining to death. We see it here in chapter 12. Look with me quickly in your bibles, and and you will appreciate this if you notice it with me here.

In second Samuel 12 verse 18, What do we see here in second Samuel 12 verse 18? We read here that on the seventh day, the child, the child that Bathsheba bore died. This child died. Stick around for the next couple of weeks, and you and I will try to understand how it is that the child died instead of David dying. What was the law for somebody who committed adultery?

You know who should have died? David and Bathsheba. Instead, we read that the child dies. But is it just a child who dies from David's offspring? No.

Come to second Samuel 13. Now we have another son, and we read here about Amnon. Right? Something happens to Amnon. He commits his own atrocious crime, and he's gonna pay for it through revenge.

In verse 28 of second Samuel 13, then Absalom commanded his servants, mark when Amnon's heart is merry with mine, and when I say to you, strike Amnon, then kill him. Do not fear. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant. So the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded.

Then all the king's sons arose and each mounted his mule and fled. A second son dies. Go to chapter 18. And we read something else of another son of David. His name is Absalom.

Absalom commits treason, and he tries to usurp the authority of David, his father, and take over the kingdom, and they go to war. And you guessed it right. Absalom ends up in verse 15 dying. Look at verse 15. What do we read here?

It says, and 10 young men, Joab's armor bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him. How many sons have died so far? Go to first Kings with me. First Kings in chapter two. We have another son of David, and he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Absalom.

And he tries to become the successor and try to take the place of Solomon as king of Israel. And it says here in 02/24, and Nathan said, my lord, the king, have you said, Adonijah shall reign after me and he shall sit on my throne? For he has gone down this day and has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, saying, long live King Adonijah. Now you come to chapter two, and you read here in verse 24 what happens to this man.

It says here, now therefore, as the Lord lives lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne, this is Solomon, of David my father, and who has made me a house as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today. How many sons of David have died? Four. This man shall surely die and he shall pay fourfold Because he had done this thing and had no pity. David couldn't pay back Uriah.

Uriah is gone. I don't think it's a coincidence that four of David's sons died after he made this verdict. And here here's here's where it's even more precise. Out of all those four deaths, you can argue that the the baby was was something that really grieved David, but he was comforted when he realized that the baby would be in the presence of God and that he would see him one day. But out of all the four, which one hurt David the most?

Yeah. And it's strange. Right? There there's some favoritism there even after all Absalom had done. Oh, Absalom.

Oh, Absalom. I'll give you one theory why I believe David was so grieved about Absalom. When it came to the death of his baby, he was comforted knowing that he would see him again. I don't know if he felt the same way about Absalom. Oh, Absalom.

Oh, Absalom. I don't know if David had a feeling that he wasn't gonna see Absalom again. But you know what's fascinating about Absalom's death? When you connect it to this moment of David's life here in chapter 11 and chapter 12, how did Absalom die? By the same hands that killed Uriah, Joab.

Joab. Think about all of those pieces. David not knowingly calling his own death warrant just like Uriah. David calling for a fourfold restitution. David seeing a fourfold punishment come to his descendants.

And David, out of all those four, seeing the most prized child that he had suffer at the hands of the same one that he asked to kill an innocent man. Isn't the Bible fascinating? Isn't God holy? Does not God mean what he says when he says, with the measure of judgement that you use will be used against you? Oh, may the Lord teach us to be just, holy, merciful, trusting that he considers what we say in every matter.

And if we want this, he'll be faithful to keep us and guide us. Much more can be said, but we will wait until next week, shall we? Let's bow our hearts before the Lord. Lord, we are fully aware that we have been, and we will continue to trek through the terrain of scripture that is sobering, heavy, perhaps unpleasant. But Lord, it is your word nonetheless, and we trust that you have so much value reserved for us as we explore these truths carefully.

We ask, oh, Lord, based on the first few verses of this chapter, that we would be free from any level of hypocrisy, that our eyes would not be clouded by self righteousness, that we would not be fooled by the concept that the pursuit of godliness is knowledge merely. And Lord, help us with the awareness of our own sin to be faithful friends. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. To be like Nathan, if we know about somebody's sin or they're drifting away to to love them enough to call their attention back to you, And, Lord, as we prepare to continue to dissect this word, may our hearts never be divorced from how it applies to our lives. Keep us close to your word, Lord.

And regardless of what it is that we are facing, may it cause us to worship you and to adore you. Lord, we are amazed at the intricacies and the consistency and the supernatural authorship of this word. And so, Lord, we just trust that your Holy Spirit would take what we studied together and minister to us exactly the way we need to be ministered. But in this moment, we just silently absorb all that was said with gratitude that this text has been made clear to us tonight. In your name we pray.

Amen. I encourage you just just briefly, I'm not gonna keep you long, but even before we jump straight into singing, One of the joys of bible study is that sometimes when you discover something this is this is what happens to me. I pull away from my chair because I get so thrilled of what I just saw that I have to, like, do something else. I gotta, like, walk around, I gotta grab a drink or something. It just it's almost as though just something happens to your soul in which you have to take some time to register it.

I think we can sabotage that when we just let's okay. Let's get going. Here's what I wanna do, and it's not gonna be long. Just with what you heard, what we studied, what we shared with one another, let's just silently church doesn't have to be noisy. Just silently just pause before we even sing to just consider some of these things.

And maybe it could be as simple as, God, your word is amazing. Help me just see more in your word. It can be just that. And just talk to the Lord with what you heard, and then we will sing, and then and then you'll be able to to safely go home. But just if we can just take one minute, just sixty seconds of meditation before we even sing one song, and when you guys are ready, we'll sing altogether.

Please do so.