(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

2nd Samuel chapter number 12, if you remember last week we went over the story about David committing adultery with Bathsheba and then murdering Uriah the Hittite by instructing his general to put him in the hottest part of the battle and then withdraw the troops from him. Well in chapter 12 is when David is getting confronted about the sin that he has committed. It says in verse number 1, the Lord sent Nathan unto David, Nathan is a prophet or preacher, and he came unto him and said unto him, there were two men in one city. The one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. Now I don't treat pets that way, but some people do apparently and this is just a fictional story that Nathan is making up to illustrate the real point that he's trying to make. But it says in verse number 4, there came a traveler unto the rich man and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd 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 to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man and he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth the man that had 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 Nathan said to David, thou art the man. And instantly when he heard those words, his heart smote him, and he immediately repents right then and there because it says, you know, obviously he says more to him, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and he preaches all this unto him. But David said unto Nathan, jump down to verse 13, David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Now, at least you have to give David credit for the fact that he has the right reaction when he's rebuked by the prophet. There are a lot of other places in the Bible where a prophet comes and rebukes a king and the king gets angry, the king throws him in prison, the king has him put to death. At least David, when he's confronted with his sin, just humbly admits it and says, you know what? I've sinned. I've sinned a long way with God. And the reason why Saul did not obtain mercy and why Saul was destroyed and his descendants after him was that whenever Saul was confronted by the prophet, he argued, he made excuses, he tried to defend his actions, instead of being like David and just saying, I've sinned. I've sinned against the Lord. I'm wrong. I'm sorry. Now, it says in verse 7, and Nathan said to David, thou art the man, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Now, he's making this comparison with the story about the lamb because of the fact that David had multiple wives, which is something that God never told us as men to do, and it's something that is wrong. It's always been a sin. It's never been something that was God's plan, but it's something that a lot of people in the Old Testament did, and even today, there are many parts of the world where people still practice this. Today, it's just not legal in the United States of America, but a lot of places, people practice polygamy and they have multiple wives, and he tells a story about a very rich man that has all of these sheep, and he just doesn't want to slaughter one of them. He has a friend coming on a journey, so he just decides to take his neighbor's pet lamb and take it and kill it and serve it. Now, when you read that story, you'd be like David and think to yourself, wow, that is just so greedy and so mean when you have all these lambs to spare, and you're taking their one lamb. And not only are you taking their one lamb, but it's their pet. They actually care about it. And you know, I think the symbolism of the story also goes to the fact that David had all these wives that he didn't really care about. I mean, think about it. This polygamous relationship where he has all these wives, it's not the love that a man and his wife can have, the two of them. And what the story is showing us also is that, you know, Uriah actually loved his wife, actually cared about his one wife, and you know, she actually was very close to him and dear unto him. And the church man just had all these flocks of sheep and whatever, and that's who David is being compared unto in this illustration that Nathan gives. Now, he, of course, commits adultery with Bathsheba. And it's just amazing how David is so angry and ready to condemn the wickedness of this story with the sheep. But in reality, that story pales in comparison to what he did. I mean, would you rather have somebody, you know, barbecue your dog for dinner, you know, take your pet and kill it and eat it, or would you rather have them commit adultery with your wife and then kill you, okay? So it's a much more serious offense that David committed. It shows how sometimes we can be quick to condemn other people for smaller offenses and just not see the huge offenses that we ourselves are guilty of, and we're really lenient with ourselves, but then when it comes to other people, we're ready to condemn them. And that's why Nathan tells this story to basically get David's reaction first before he knew what it was about, just to show him his own hypocrisy and just to show him his own sin. And he says, I gave you all of these wonderful things, and if it hadn't been enough for you, I could even give you more, but you chose to take that which was off limits by committing adultery with your neighbor's wife. And notice the phrase that he used at the beginning of verse 9, wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? And that reminds me of the scriptures that we were going over a couple weeks ago when we talked about sinning willfully after that you've received knowledge of the truth, presumptuous sins, and that word, despising the commandment of the Lord, kept coming up over and over again both in the passages back in Numbers and Deuteronomy and in the passage in Hebrews 10 when it talked about sinning willfully as just despising the commandment of the Lord, just not even having any respect for it whatsoever. He said, Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite, verse 9, with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Again, we talked about this last week, but that shows that even if you're not the one who pulls the trigger or actually wields the sword, if you have someone killed, you're guilty of murder yourself. And that goes for abortion, that goes for any other way that you participate in the murder of other people, you should have nothing to do with it. Because he's guilty of it even though he didn't actually wield the fatal blow on Uriah. He used the sword of the children of Ammon to slay Uriah. But look what it says in verse 10, Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and 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 thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this son. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. Now, obviously having someone commit adultery with your wife is a horrible thing. But how much more humiliating when someone openly commits adultery with your wife and everybody knows about it. He said, look, you've done this thing secretly, but in your punishment a man is going to commit adultery with your wives publicly in the sight of all Israel, and that's of course going to be fulfilled. Now, I think one of the biggest things that we can learn from this chapter is that even if you are corrected with a good attitude and you say, I've sinned, I'm sorry, and you have the repentance that David had, that does not mean that you're not going to suffer the consequences of your actions in this life. You still will suffer. Now this story about David and Bathsheba, if you would flip over to Psalm 51, this is actually an example that's often used of repentance, of genuine repenting of your sin. Now here's the thing, this has nothing to do with salvation, and it's funny because people sometimes try to associate this with salvation. And what's so ridiculous about that is that you'd be saying that David wasn't saved up to this point, because they'll say, well, you have to repent of your sins to be saved. Here's an example, and then they'll point you to Psalm 51, where it talks about being sorry for his sins and acknowledging that and so forth. But how ridiculous is it to believe that David was not saved until this moment? When he's already been the man after God's own heart, he's already been penning down other scripture, he's already been preaching the word of God and doing all these things, he's already been greatly used by God, anointed by God, and he clearly believed in the Lord, prayed to the Lord, encouraged himself in the Lord, called upon the name of the Lord. So this isn't salvation, this is a person who's already been saved for a long time, who goes into sin, and then when they're rebuked for it, they need to repent of that sin. See, repenting of your sin is something that is almost daily for Christians. And if you look at the book of Revelation, for example, you'll see the word repent over and over again in Revelation 2 and 3, talking to people who are already saved in seven churches and just telling them to repent of different things that they have wrong in those churches. See when it comes to being saved, it's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And you say, well, does repentance play a role in salvation? Only in the sense that you're turning from whatever false religion you believed in to the true religion, you know, the true faith of Christ, or only if you're turning from believing in a false god to believing in the true god, or repenting of not believing in Christ and beginning to believe in Christ, or repenting of your dead works that you think were going to get you to heaven, all the Hail Marys and Our Fathers and things you thought were going to get you to heaven, and you're repenting of those dead works and you're putting your faith in Christ because you're turning from one way of getting to heaven to the right way, the only right way of getting to heaven, through the Lord Jesus Christ. And people will say, you know, well, you know, they turn to God from idols, right, because an idol is a false god. And so you have to believe in the true God to be saved, you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the name that is associated with salvation. But when it comes to repenting of your sins, being sorry for your sins, turning from your sins, that's something that you do all the time after you're saved. And by the way, unsaved people do that all the time and it doesn't get them to heaven. Think about how many unsaved people repent of various sins. Don't you think there have been a lot of unsaved people who probably committed adultery and then repented? Don't you think that there are, I mean, hello, is anybody out there? Do you think that there's been anybody who has been a drunk and repented of that and just gotten completely away from alcohol, hello, Alcoholics Anonymous, 12-step program, Narcotics Anonymous, where people are constantly repenting of drugs, repenting of alcohol, people have repented of adultery, people have turned from all manner of sin. That doesn't get them into heaven. There are all kinds of unsaved people who repent of sin and they're still not saved because it's believing in Jesus Christ that saves you. And then there are all kinds of people who believe in Jesus Christ and don't repent of sin and keep walking in sin and keep living a life of sin. And then what happens? God's going to chasten and chastise them. Because if God's children walk in sin, He says, whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth and scourgeeth every son of me receiveth. So when we see David here repenting of this sin of adultery and murder, this is not salvation. He was already saved. Let me show it to you right in the passage. It says in verse 10, created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from my presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. So notice He does not say restore unto me my salvation. He says restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Why? Because when you live a life of unrepented sin, you will not have joy in your life or in your salvation. That's why in the book of 1 John, He said in chapter 1, He said, these things write me unto you that your joy may be full. He said, I'm writing this unto you that your joy may be full. And then in the very next chapter, just a few verses later, He says, my little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. So He says, I'm writing this unto you that your joy may be full. And then a few breaths later, He says, I'm writing this unto you that you sin not. Why? Because sinning not and your joy being full go together. The less you sin, the more joy you're going to have in your life. And the more you sin, the less joy you're going to have in your life. It's that simple. That's why living a life of sin doesn't make any sense for the Christian. Because why do we sin? Because we think it's going to give us happiness or joy, pleasure for a season. But in reality, it takes away our joy. It takes away the real joy. It brings a temporary fleeting pleasure that does not bring real joy and definitely is not joy in God's salvation. So David is saying, restore to me the joy of Thy salvation. Not restore the salvation. He never lost the salvation. He just lost the joy. Now not only that, but it says here, cast me not away from Thy presence and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Now why did he say take not Thy Holy Spirit from me? Now this is not the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because that did not happen until the New Testament after Jesus Christ was glorified. The Bible clearly says in John chapter 7 that the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified. So what is he talking about? The Holy Spirit had come upon David when he was anointed king. Nothing to do with salvation. When Saul was anointed king, the Holy Spirit came upon him. And if you remember when he had unrepented sin, the Bible says that God removed his spirit from Saul and troubled him with an unclean spirit. And then the Bible says that it was removed from Saul and then the Holy Spirit came upon David from that day forward. Okay, what is that about? Well there's a different concept in the Bible of having the Holy Spirit upon you. And it has to do with having the power of God. And in the New Testament, they were indwelled by the Holy Spirit right after Jesus rose from the dead. He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Ghost. And after Jesus was glorified, they were indwelled by the Spirit of God. He said of the Spirit of truth, the comforter. He said he has been with you, but he shall be in you. That's what he told them right before he went to the cross. Hours before he's going to be arrested. He said the Holy Spirit has been with you and he shall be in the future in you. Well after Jesus was glorified, then the Holy Spirit lived inside them. They were indwelled by the Holy Spirit. We are all indwelled by the Holy Spirit if we believe in Jesus Christ. The Bible says if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. And not only that, but Paul was talking to some believers that had been saved for a long time and that he had known for a long time in the church of Corinth. And he said, know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate. He says, you know, unless you're just a total imposter, you know, you're either, I mean look, if you've been in church that long, you're either saved or a reprobate at that point. You know what I mean? Look, you know, don't you, I mean, Christ is in you. I mean, unless you're just reprobate, Christ is in you. Unless you're a Judas Iscariot, unless you're an imposter, Christ is in you. Why? Because it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. We've been sealed with the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption. We have the earnest of the Spirit dwelling within us, okay? That's the indwelling of the Spirit. Okay, how does that manifest in our lives, the fact that we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit? One of the biggest things that being indwelled by the Holy Spirit does for you is that it opens your understanding of the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. Jesus said of the comforter, he said, look, I'm going away, but I'm going to send the comforter. He said, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come unto you, and he said, how be it when he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. So what does the Holy Spirit indwelling us do? He guides us into all truth. He opens our understanding and enlightens our eyes, so that when we read the Bible, we can understand it, because the Holy Spirit gives the ability to understand. That's why an unsaved person cannot understand the Bible, but then a saved person can. Part of that is the difference of the fact that our spirit has been regenerated, and part of that is that we're indwelled by the Holy Spirit, who is guiding us into all truth, and he will take of Christ's word and show it unto us, the Bible says. So that's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit of God upon you is a different thing altogether. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit was new in the New Testament. It was not yet given until Christ was glorified, according to John 7. Whereas the Holy Ghost coming upon people is something that happens throughout the Old Testament. Now a lot of people mistakenly believe that the Old Testament, Spirit of the Lord upon you, was replaced in the New Testament with the indwelling. But in reality, the indwelling was added. But it did not replace the Spirit of God upon you, because in the New Testament, it still talks about the Holy Spirit of God coming upon people in the New Testament. For example, the apostles, after Jesus rose from the dead, were indwelled by the Spirit. But why did he tell them, tarry ye here at Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high, he said, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And so they waited, they were already indwelled by the Holy Spirit in the upper room with Jesus right after he rose again. But it was not until the day of Pentecost that they were endued with power from on high. And notice, even though they were endued with power from on high in chapter 2, when you fast forward to chapter 4, verse 31, they had to be endued with power again. Because it says, then when they prayed, when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. So being filled with the Spirit, or having the Spirit of God come upon you in mighty power, is something that happens after you are saved, and it is something that, just as it was in the Old Testament, is temporary. You know, if you live a life of sin, the Spirit can depart, just like it departed from Saul. But you're still indwelled by the Spirit, because it's two different things. Having Christ in your heart, having Jesus Christ in you, having the Spirit of the Lord in you, having the Comforter with you who has sealed you under the day of redemption will never leave you nor forsake you, is different than having the Spirit of God come upon you in power. That's different. In the Old Testament, when the Spirit of the Lord would come upon someone, how did that manifest itself? In great boldness, great leadership, great warriors. The Spirit of the Lord would come upon them, and they would go out and fight a battle. Or preachers would have the Holy Spirit come upon them, and preach a powerful message. And in the New Testament, same thing. Spirit of the Lord comes upon them, and they preach with power. They preach with boldness. They speak the word of God with boldness. Other miracles would take place sometimes when they had the Spirit of the Lord upon them, such as being able to speak in a foreign language in order to win the loss to Christ that were those that were foreigners that were unsaved. So anyway, you know, I don't want to go too deep with that, but I just wanted to show you here, this isn't about losing your salvation, this is about losing the joy of your salvation. This is about getting punished by God. This is what David says when he's confronted by Nathan. Look at chapter 51 there, verse 1. God mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and clear when Thou judge'st. Now do you notice something about this passage? He's not making excuses at all. I'm sorry, God, but I just want you to know my intentions were good. God, I'm sorry I did this, but it's just because I was so stressed out being king. I was so stressed out, I just sought adultery as a way of relieving stress. He's not making excuses, and he's not trying to downplay his sin and say, well, I sinned, but was it really that bad? No, he's saying, look, it was wicked, I was wrong, and he was saying, don't forgive me because I deserve it and because I'm so wonderful. He says, for your mercy's sake, because of your lovingkindness, will you please have mercy on me? I mean, that's the first words of the chapter, have mercy upon me. This is how we should respond when we are found to be in sin, to say, God, I'm sorry, I'm not going to make excuses. It's my fault. You are justified for judging me. He said in verse 4, against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold thou desirous truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Now this also ties in with what it says in 1 John chapter 1, when it says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Again, not about salvation. Confessing your sins is ongoing. Okay, forgiveness with the Lord is something where, on an ongoing basis, sin will cause a rift between us and the Lord. And the more sin we have in our life, the more distance we will have between us and God. You know, we think of hymns that we sing of, you know, nearer my God to thee, and just a closer walk with thee, and Jesus keep me near the cross. Why? Because the Bible talks about how our sins will separate us from God. Think about it. What if you had a child that was rebellious in your home? Is there going to be a closeness of the relationship? Is there going to be a sweet relationship? No. That sin causes a rift there. And your child would come to you and say that they're sorry when they sin, and ask you to forgive them for what they've done. But was there any doubt that they were ever your child? Was it like, well, they stopped being my child, but then they came and asked for forgiveness and now they're my child again? No. Same thing between a husband and wife. It's for better or for worse. It's for richer or for poorer. It's till death do us part. So if there's a sin that comes between husband and wife, if the husband commits a grievous sin or if the wife commits a grievous sin, there's going to be a rift there, isn't there? Between the two. And then if it's made right and there's forgiveness, then the relationship is restored. And that's what we see here with God, where there's a rift there that needs to be repaired between Father and Son, between the Lord and between the Christian. And the thing is that if that repentance and confession doesn't take place, what's going to happen is the punishment is going to be more severe, like it was with Saul. Now go back, if you would, to 2 Samuel chapter 12. So we saw from Psalm 51, and even 2 Samuel 12 itself, that David really did genuinely repent. He was genuinely sorry. He was contrite. He was humble. He was asking for God's mercy. But even though God is going to accept his apology and he's going to go lenient and easy on him in comparison with what he did, that does not mean that there are no consequences for his actions. And this is something that people often get confused about. They think because someone's forgiven, there should be no consequences. And that's just simply not true. There are going to be consequences. For example, let's say someone goes out and commits murder. And that person is arrested and put in prison and sentenced to death. And let's say while that person is in prison for committing murder, someone comes to them and brings them the gospel of Jesus Christ in the prison, and they end up believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Now look, they're saved now. They're going to heaven, right? And in the sense of their salvation, that sin is forgiven. And now they're washed in the blood of Jesus and they're going to go to heaven, right? But does that mean that we should just release them from prison and just let them go free or should they still be executed? Of course. Why? Because we can't just take the gospel of Jesus Christ and make it into a message of anarchy. And this is what we have today. Basically we just have just a totally messed up theology of people who basically want to just hold these two contrary ideas of saying, well, I believe the Bible and I believe God's law is perfect, but bless God, this is America and everything we do is right. And people think that everything that America does is just automatically right. And you need to be patriotic and wave that flag and eat apple pie. And if you don't believe in the red, white, and blue, then you need to go live in Iraq or Kuwait or something. And this kind of talk of just, hey, don't ever criticize America and hey, America can do no wrong and our government's right. But the problem with being brought up that way, the problem with being brought up every day, you know, I pledge allegiance to the American flag and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty. And chanting this allegiance to the American flag and just, you know, it can never do wrong, it's indivisible, it can never be divided, you know, and all this. The problem with that is that it carries over into our interpretation of the Bible when people are brought up with this just unquestioning patriotism. Because we're brought up being way too pro-America and patriotic. You say, what are you talking about Pastor, you're un-American. I'm Christian. That's where I, I pledge allegiance to Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible. That's really my, that's where my loyalty is. And anything that's contrary to that, I'm not loyal to. Loyal to Jesus, okay? So when we're brought up with this just, this basically over the top patriotism, okay, not just a reasonable normal of, hey, we love the country that we live in, you know, America the beautiful. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, there's nothing wrong with saying, hey, you know, we love the fact that we live in Arizona. Arizona's a cool, who thinks Arizona's a cool state? Of course Arizona's the best state. I mean, Arizona is the best state for a lot of reasons. Because I mean, we have the best gun laws, just, I mean, you're 18 years old, you can carry concealed, you know, open carry, 21 to be concealed, thank you. 18 to open carry, all right. So 18 to open carry, 21, you can start hiding it, yeah. And then, you know, I mean, we have just a lot of freedom-oriented people in Arizona. We have beautiful palm trees. You know, we got all these nice forests and rivers and snow-peaked mountains and deserts and, you know, we got nice weather in the winter and part of the spring and fall we have nice weather. And even when it's an inferno, we have air conditioning. So what? Go inside, crank up the AC, you know, just wait till the middle of the night to go outside and you'll be fine. But anyway, you know, I love Arizona. I think it's one of the coolest places, I think it's the coolest place in America. Which is why, part of why I started the church here is because I like it so much. You know, there's nothing wrong with taking some pride in Arizona and we love Arizona and, you know, we love America and all that. You know, but this over-the-top patriotism of just support the troops no matter what and, you know, kill them all, let God sort them out and one nation indivisible and promoting our government and our government officials and praising the wicked and everything, that's going over the top. And the problem is that then we think, oh, well, the way our government does stuff is just automatically right and, you know what, that ends up leading to belief that God's way is wrong. Because there are times when America's way is different than God's way. So when we're just like, America's way is right, then what happens is we start condemning God's word. Where you show people laws in the Bible, you know, about the death penalty, for example, and they're just like, whoa, you're crazy, we're in the New Testament. It's like, hold on, we're not talking about Jesus. We're not talking about salvation. And they'll try to say, we're in the New Testament. It's all grace. That was law. Okay, so then should we tell that to the cops when we get pulled over for speeding? Excuse me, officer, you're living in the Old Testament. Don't you know? The law was given by Moses, officer, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Get off that Old Testament. I mean, look, walk into the courtroom and then when you go to fight the ticket, because I fight every ticket, fight every ticket. Go into the courtroom and just tell the judge, excuse me, judge not. Judge not that ye be not judged. Who are you to judge? Hey, he that is without sin among you cast the first stone, your honor. I mean, is that what every, I mean, I guess that's what every mass murderer on death row should say. Well, he that is without sin among you fired the first shot. But here's what's funny. If our country puts people to death for a certain crime, people are like, oh, well, that's fine. Oh, murder? That's fine. Why? Because we do it and everything we do is right and anything we don't do must be wrong. But then you try to tell them like, well, the Bible also says that people should be put to death for committing adultery. And then it's like, whoa, there, buddy, you're in the Old Testament. You need to get free in Christ. But hold on a second, hold on a second. There's a difference between spiritual things and laws of a nation to prevent anarchy. I mean, I look, I am not an anarchist. I do not believe that there should just be no laws and just I'm not an anarcho capitalist or whatever. You know, I don't believe in it. I do believe that there should be a government. It should be a very limited, small government. But there does need to be law and order and those laws should be very few. But there has to be a law against murder. There has to be a law against adultery. There has to be a law against stealing. Now, the problem is today that we don't have a law against adultery. In most places, adultery is totally legal. Now you say, well, why is that a problem? Well, here's the problem. There comes in a conflict between God's law and man's law because here's what, here's what God's law says. God's law says anyone who commits adultery shall surely be put to death, right? But then man's law comes along and says adultery is totally legal and fine. So what will happen is somebody's spouse will commit adultery and just be, or maybe even just be a serial adulterer, okay, and basically there's nothing that they can do about it. And then they're like, well, I'm going to get divorced and marry someone else. It's like, well, no, because God said no about that. God said no about getting divorced and marrying someone else. And then it's like, oh, well, so I have to be stuck with this adulterer for the rest of my life, the serial adulterer? Well, but see, biblically you should have been put to death and then you could have married someone else. You know, or, or, or literally someone will be married to like a pedophile. I mean, it's out there folks. There are people out there where their spouse is a pedophile and then it's like, oh, well, you know, you're telling me that I have to stay with this person for the rest of my life. Or, you know, obviously if they just want to get away from someone for being a freak like that, then, well, so what, I just have to remain single? I can't just marry someone else? Why? Because there's a conflict between God's law and American law. And what happens is when you, when you put God's law and American law together, you get like the worst of both worlds because you, it's like, you're just stuck bound to someone for life that is just a serial adulterer, a pedophile or whatever, you know, I mean, there's so many, uh, ramifications that this has. I mean, where it just, it's not compatible. And then people will start criticizing God's law. It's like, well, no, God's law is not the problem. It's the American law that's the problem. That's where the real issue lies. Okay. Also, just there, you know, laws in America that don't allow a husband to rule his home or don't allow a parent to rule over their children. I mean, you'll get, you'll end up with the worst of both worlds. You'll have a government that says, hey, you know, in certain places they'll say you can't discipline your kids. You know, thank God in Arizona, you can spank your kids and you can really, you know, in the United States, pretty much anywhere you can spank your kids, it's legal. You know, they have different laws about, you know, what level of spanking you can do. Okay. But you know, it's legal to some extent everywhere in the United States, thank God. But there are countries in Europe where it's totally illegal. So you get this thing of where, you know, you can't discipline your children the way that you want to discipline them and then the government's still going to hold you responsible to feed and take care of them and if they go out and commit a crime, you know, you're going to be held responsible. It's like, whoa, wait a minute, but you're not letting me fix the problem. You know, so again, this goes for all areas of life. It's God's laws that are right. Okay. Now, here's the thing about this story and you say, well, why did you explain all that? What does that have to do with this story? What does the death penalty have to do with this? Well, we have a guy who just committed adultery and murder. Are those not crimes that would normally, under God's law, be punishable by death? Isn't that what the Bible said? You know, who so shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. And didn't it also say that if you commit adultery, you shall surely be put to death? Well, here's the thing. Let's see what the Bible says though, because is David going to be put to death? Well, let's read the Bible and see. This is important. It says in verse 13, David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And we know from Psalm 51, he was very sincere. Watch what the Bible says. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Why is he saying to him, thou shalt not die? Because the punishment normally would have been death. That's why he specifically spells out to him, thou shalt not die. Okay. Now, is this saying that from now on, every adulterer can just commit free adultery and have no consequences from now on? And from now on, murder is fine too. Just commit murder and you're fine. Is that what this is saying? No, you're free in Christ now, you know, hundreds of years early. Because look, people will sit there and take you to the New Testament with the story of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery where Jesus pardons the woman taken in adultery and say, see you in the New Testament, no more death penalty. Why go to that story? Why not back up to this story? Isn't this the same thing as the woman taken in adultery? Isn't this somebody committing adultery and getting pardoned? So what's the difference? There is no difference. You say, well, I don't get it, Pastor Anderson. This is what it is. The law states that in general, person commits murder, they're put to death. Person commits adultery, they're put to death. A person steals, they pay back four fold, whatever. But just as in America even, the president can pardon someone, the governor can pardon a criminal, okay? God has the power to pardon people. And that's what we see in this story because David had done a lot of great things for the Lord and because he's very sincere and contrite and truly sorry, God pardons him and makes an exception for him. And in the New Testament with the woman taken in adultery, Jesus pardons her as well because he had the power to forgive sin on earth. But does that mean that we should just make adultery legal and make murder legal and steal? No, because then society will degenerate and we will not have any freedom or any rights because if someone can come kill you or someone can come commit adultery with your wife or steal your stuff, you don't have freedom, you don't have rights. So that's what we see in this story. David being pardoned. Now, why is David not going to die? Because he was sorry, because he repented, okay? That's why he's not going to die. Does that mean that he's not going to suffer any consequences for his sins? He suffers major consequences. So what's the lesson that we can learn from this in our lives? How do we apply this to our lives? If we go out and commit a big sin and we're not sorry and we do not confess it, we don't admit it, we make excuses, we try to justify it, you know what's going to happen? We're going to get a huge punishment. Whereas if we commit a big sin and then we're sorry, we're repentant, we're contrite, you know what's going to happen then? God will go easier on us but he's still going to punish us. He's still going to punish us. You don't just get no punishment. You get a more lenient punishment. And look, even today in our justice system, we have some semblance of this where there's a range of a sentence for a crime. And if they commit the crime and they're sorry and they're contrite and they're repentant and they have good behavior, they can get some time reduced or whatever. Whereas if they are just hardened about it and no contrition, then the judge is going to throw the book at them, as it were. So that's what we see in this story. So repenting can mean getting leniency but it doesn't mean there's going to be no... It'd be like if your child committed a big crime in your house and they are just... Well they're going to get a much harder spanking than the one who says, I'm so sorry, I was wrong. Right? You're going to go easier on them. I love you mom, I love you dad. Trying to say whatever to get a lenient spanking. So the bottom line is that there are always consequences for your sins. So don't just think that, oh well, you know, I can go out and commit all this sin and it's okay because God's so forgiving and loving and he's the God of the second chance. There are serious consequences for David's sin and his life is going to go downhill from here on out big time. In fact, the very next chapter it starts right away. First of all he says, the sword's not going to depart from your house. Number two, you've committed adultery with another man's wife? Someone's going to come and commit adultery with your wife as a punishment. That in and of itself is huge. But at the end of the chapter we notice that already, you know, David goes against the Ammonites and he fights against them and this is what he does to the Ammonites in verse 31, he brought forth the people that were therein and put them under saws and under harrows of iron and under axes of iron and made them pass through the brick kiln and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem. So we see a little bit of a cruel inhumanity going on here in the way that David is making war in verse 31, don't we? I mean, is that the right way to handle people that you defeat in battle? And then in the next verse, and it came to pass after this in verse 1 of chapter 13, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister whose name was Tamar and it all starts happening. This is what sets in motion the events that are going to lead to Absalom committing adultery with his wives and everything else and this whole thing is set in motion immediately after the story. It's no coincidence. As soon as Nathan rebukes him, bad things start happening. Continual warfare and just one thing in his personal life after another. Now remember when Nathan told David the story, he said, the man should be put to death and he said, also he should have to pay fourfold, I guess after he's dead, you know, take four of his lands and give it to this guy. Okay, well here's the thing, David is going to pay literally fourfold because think about the four lambs, okay? David killed Uriah the Hittite and the Bible says he's going to pay fourfold for that. Four of David's children are going to die as a result of that sin. First of all, the baby, the newborn baby that was conceived in this adultery between David and Bathsheba, that child dies at one week old, okay, who's the next child that's going to die? Amnon. After he rapes Tamar, he's killed by Absalom. So we've got lamb number one is that baby. Lamb number two is Amnon. Lamb number three is Absalom himself. And lamb number four is Adonijah later on with King Solomon. So and this is them being killed by their own kin, okay, except for the one who of course died of natural causes. So those are the four lambs in David. I mean that's a pretty serious punishment when four of your children die. So God's not playing games with sin. He might go more lenient than he was because see with King Saul, his children died too. But he died also. And he lost the kingdom and his descendants did not sit on the throne. So he had other punishments stacked up because he did not have the repentance that David had. Now let me just touch on one more thing before we go tonight. And that is this issue of the baby who died. Because that little baby died at one week old. And the Bible says in verse 15, Nathan departed unto his house and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David and it was very sick. You say, well why would God punish the child? But here's the thing, God does often cause the repercussions of sin to come upon people's family. Look, whenever we sin, it's not that hard to understand. When we sin, we hurt the people around us. We don't just hurt ourselves. The people around us suffer. The people in our church suffer. Our children suffer. Our parents suffer. Our friends suffer. Now the Bible commands us as human beings never to carry out justice on someone's child or someone's parent. We should only punish people in the legal system for what they did. But when it comes to the Lord though, He does visit the sins of the parents upon the children under the third and fourth generation. Now God here strikes this child with illness and it says in verse number, and first of all at the end of verse 14 it said the child also that is born of these shall surely die. At the end of verse 15 it says it was very sick. Verse 16, David therefore besought God for the child and David fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose and went to him and to raise him up from the earth, but he would not. Neither did he eat bread with them. And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him and he would not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vex himself if we tell him that the child is dead? But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said unto his servants, is the child dead? And they said, he's dead. Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came to his own house and when he required, they set bread before him and he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, what thing is this 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 fasted and wept, for I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he is dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. Now this right here shows a few things. Number one, it shows the fallacy of praying for people that are already dead. Now who prays for people that are already dead? Catholics, Mormons, other falsehoods. And here's the thing, sometimes when a tragedy happens, politicians, just because they want to sound spiritual but they don't really understand spiritual things, well you know, we're praying for the victims. No, I mean, praying for the victim's families makes sense. Pray for them to be strengthened and to be comforted, but to pray for the victim himself is meaningless because either that person is in heaven or hell and praying for him is not going to change that. It's not going to make any difference. And here we see David, he's not mourning like those who have no hope. Those who have no hope, when someone dies, they mourn and weep differently than when a saved person loses a loved one. Now look, obviously losing a loved one always hurts. It's always going to be painful. It doesn't say we don't mourn. It just says we don't mourn like those who have no hope. Now David here is fasting and weeping while the child's alive because he's trying to get God to be merciful. God chooses not to be merciful and the child dies. At that point he realizes there's nothing I can do anymore. It's over. He washes himself and anoints himself and he says I can't bring the child back from the dead. But he said I will go to the child, expressing his belief that the child is in heaven and that he will go to be with the child eventually. Now on the issue of whether or not babies go to heaven when they die, it's very clear in the Bible. Romans chapter 7, Romans chapter number 7 because I could point to a lot of scriptures. I could point to Job chapter 3 where there's a great scripture about an untimely birth of a woman, a miscarriage, and about how that child goes to a wonderful place that is clearly describing heaven. You can go to Ecclesiastes and it describes a miscarriage as going to a wonderful place and going to heaven. And then we have this passage here. And so we could point to all these passages and a lot of people are still not convinced. You show them Job and they try to kind of discount it, well it's poetry, blah, blah, blah. But you know when you look at it all together, when you look at the passage in Job and you look at the passage in Ecclesiastes and you look at this passage, it's a clear picture that God's painting by giving us multiple scriptures about either newborn babies or miscarriages going to heaven when they die no matter what. And some people say, well it's if the parents are saved. No that has nothing to do with it. You know, salvation is a personal thing. So you know, it doesn't have to, or well they were baptized. Salvation is not by baptism in the first place. So sprinkling that baby has nothing to do with it. You say okay, Pastor Anderson, well if a baby or a miscarriage goes to heaven then automatically, number one, why would they go to heaven automatically? And number two, what age is the cutoff? You know, these are the two questions that people ask. How can God justify allowing the baby into heaven without believing in Christ, without being saved by the blood of Jesus? And number two, you know, when's that age of accountability? You'll hear that term sometimes, even though that term can often mean different things to different people. What's that cutoff where a person becomes responsible now for either being saved or unsaved and at what point does God look at them as just a baby that doesn't know? Well to answer the first question, why God is just to still allow that person into heaven, I think you should look at the scripture in Romans chapter 7 where it says, and this is the Apostle Paul speaking, he says in verse 9, for I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. So when the Bible talks about us being dead in trespasses and sins and then being quickened when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but notice he says I was alive without the law once. But then the commandment came and sin revived and I died. He died. But then he was regenerated, resurrected when he believed on Christ. See the moment that you believe on Christ, your spirit is resurrected, right? But how can your spirit be resurrected if it has not yet died? So in order for your spirit to be resurrected, and when you believe in Christ, your spirit is resurrected from the dead at that point. Just as your body will one day be resurrected from the dead, that hasn't happened yet. But your spirit has already resurrected the moment that you believe on Christ. So in order for it to be resurrected, you have to die first. Okay, well when did he die? When did the commandment come and he died? Well, think about Adam and Eve. In the story of Adam and Eve, God said that in the day that you eat of that fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Now did they die physically? No, they lived many hundreds of years after that. But when he said in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, it was the spirit that died, right? Now what happened when the spirit died? All of a sudden they knew what? That they were naked. And their eyes were open, they knew they were naked, and they went and hid themselves, and they went and sewed themselves aprons of fig leaves to cover their nakedness, okay? Because something had changed there from being an innocence to having the knowledge of good and evil. Well, guess what? Something similar takes place in the life of every single person who's ever born. You know this Catholic teaching of original sin, where, you know, we're basically punished for Adam's sin? That is a false doctrine. We all have sinned ourselves, and we will be punished for our own sins, not for someone else's sins. Now, we are born with a sinful nature. We are born with the inclination to sin. We live as sinful flesh that will commit sin, but we are not born as a sinner. We commit sin and become a sinner by sinning, okay? Now you say, well, what do you mean by that? Well, here's what I mean by that. Is that a newborn baby in its mother's womb is not sinning in its mother's womb. And I believe that when the Bible says, you know, they go astray as soon as they're, when he talks about the wicked, he's talking about these evil, wicked, reprobate people going astray as soon as they're born speaking lies, it's a poem and it's an exaggeration. Because honestly, it is not possible for a child in its mother's womb to sin. That's what I believe. Because how could it sin? Can it commit adultery in the womb? Can it covet after its neighbor's house or ox or ass? Can it steal in the womb? Can it murder in the womb? No. Can it take the name of the Lord its God in vain in the womb? I mean, you name the sin and then tell me how it can commit those sins in the womb. It can't. Okay? Now you say, okay, Pastor Anderson, I get that, but what about after it's born, even a baby could disobey its parents. Even a very small little toddler will walk up to something and you tell them, no, no, don't touch, and they just go, and then just look at you. What are you going to do about it? There's that stage where they start testing the boundaries. They're like, what are you going to do about it? So you say, well, where's that cutoff? Because we know that even though a toddler does walk over and defy mom and dad, yet we also know that there's no way you could sit there and give the gospel to a one-year-old and get them saved or a two-year-old. I mean, maybe a three-year-old that's almost four, you know, that was a precocious child. You know, I know I was a pretty precocious child. I didn't get saved until I was six years old, okay? But I've known of kids who got saved a little younger than that, some kids a little older than that, or whatever. But we all know that two-year-olds aren't getting saved, right? One-year-olds aren't getting saved. So where's the cutoff? You know, where does God cut this thing off? Well, I think that a good indicator of it is when they start to be shameful of their nakedness. Because what happened with Adam and Eve when they died, when their spirit died? Basically, they went and hid themselves because they were naked. Guess what? Little one, two, three, four-year-olds don't hide their nakedness. They do. I mean, who here has little kids living in your house? Put up your hand. Do they run through the house naked sometimes? Of course they do. They just, whoo, just don't even think about it, don't even care. I mean, and you're like, whoa, you know, get some clothes. Now when they're, you know, when they're little, at first, you don't even give it a second thought. It's whatever. You know, they're running through the house naked. Nobody even thinks anything of it. But as they get a little older, you're like, put some clothes on. It still hasn't clicked with them. They're still just like, hey, you know, what's for dinner? You know, you're like, put some clothes on, you know. They don't care. Anybody who's been around toddlers knows they think it's fun to just strip down and, whoo, just streak through the house. Gives them a sense of freedom, you know. But they get to a certain age, though, where all of a sudden it just changes. And all of a sudden it's like, don't come in, I'm getting dressed, you know, right. And you know what? That's a good indication that it's time to start talking about the gospel for sure. I mean, obviously they should have been growing up with the gospel and in church and hearing it. But that's when you should really start to think about, hey, you know, they're starting to understand things in life. And they're starting to get a comprehension for the gospel. So that's what I believe. I believe that a little baby or toddler that is to the point where they don't even understand that there's anything wrong with running through the house naked has not yet reached the point of accountability. Whereas one that does is at that point. You know, I think that's, you know, I'm not saying it's an exact science. I'm saying that's about where the line would be. But in the end, God knows. And that's why I wouldn't put a set number on it. Because, you know, the Mormons, they put a set number on it or whatever, 12 or what is it? 13, 12, 8? Does anybody know? I think it's 8. But I don't know what number they put on it. But it's not a set number. Because think about it. What if somebody had Down syndrome? You think God's going to put the same number on them as somebody who's a precocious savant? No. Anybody who has Down syndrome, obviously because they're developmentally slow, it's probably going to take them longer to get smart enough to know the difference between good and evil. And so it's not just that they did something wrong that makes it sin. Like they disobeyed mom and dad when they were 12 months old when they said don't touch the stove and they reach for it anyway. But rather it's when they have the knowledge of good and evil. Because it says the commandment came and sin revived and I died. So it's when they have the knowledge of good and evil and they understand, you know, the difference. Now a lot of people will say, oh, well, what about a guy who lives in the jungles of Africa and never hears the Gospel? He's not accountable. He doesn't know good and evil. No, that's not true because he does know. We didn't say once you hear about Jesus you're accountable. No, it's once you're old enough to mentally know the difference between good and evil and know that you're naked and comprehend that. That's when you know that you've died spiritually and you need a savior to regenerate you so that you might be saved through the blood of Jesus. So the main lesson of the chapter tonight is simply that if you sin, go to God and confess your sin and beg for mercy and beg for leniency and he'll go lenient on you. Hopefully you never do anything like that. I mean, hopefully you're not committing adultery or murder. But even when you commit smaller sins, you know, go to God, confess it, forsake it, repent, ask for leniency and God will hear us. Now what about children? When you sin against your parents, seek leniency, you know, and they will forgive and so forth. But that doesn't mean that the consequences are still there. You're still going to be punished so don't just sin and think, oh, I'll just confess this later. It'll be great. All right, let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the story, Lord, and the warnings that are found in it. Help us not to make the mistakes that David did, Lord. But if we do make mistakes, help us to at least have the repentance that David had so that we can still salvage our lives, Lord, and still be used by you in some capacity. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.