david’s Repentant heart

Everybody makes mistakes. If you think that you becoming a Christian makes you perfect, you’re dead wrong. 

You have to do battle with sin. You are going to mess up. You see this with multiple choice tests or dating the wrong person.

God is a god of grace and forgiveness. There is not enough sin in all of us combined that can overwhelm the grace that is in Jesus. 

There’s more grace in Jesus than will ever be sin in the world. Some of you are still living with the guilt of decisions that you have made recently. You need to understand that Jesus has grace that is sufficient to remove you from the condemning nature of your sin.

Let’s look at the story of David and Bathsheba. 

David had risen to king of the nation. He never stopped believing in God’s plan for his life. He remained faithful to the Lord when the previous king, Saul, was trying to kill him. He remained faithful to the Lord when he killed Goliath.

The kingdom was unified under David’s reign. He expanded Israel’s territories. In 2 Samuel 7 God made a covenant, a promise with David. When God partakes in a covenant, He not only makes a covenant but he fulfills it. God promised to David that his offspring would reign forever. David’s lineage brought forth Jesus. Jesus will reign forever.

David trusted the Lord’s word. 

David fell into an adulterous affair instead of going to war with his men. The woman was married to another man. That man was an honorable man and a friend of David.

David abused his position of power to sleep with another man’s wife. He then tried to cover it up. When that didn’t work, he made it look like that guy got killed in battle by arranging for him to be at the front lines. 

In 2 Samuel 12, a preacher named Nathan told David a parable about a rich man. This rich man had many sheep. However this man chose to steal one lamb from a poor man. The poor man raised and cared for his lamb deeply. David was infuriated by this. He demanded for justice. Nathan told David you are the man. The Lord through Nathan said to David, “I am going to bring disaster on you before your own family.”

The Lord told David that there would be consequences for what he had done. 

David responded “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Oftentimes in counseling situations pertaining to infidelity. People will do one of two things. They will make an excuse or blame somebody else. 

People will say life is not fair or I am a victim. 

David simply said “I have sinned against the Lord.” There are two components to his confession. 

The first is repentance. 

What is repentance? 

Repentance is recognizing that you have sinned and then turning away from that sin.

You turn away from the sin you were pursuing and turn after God. 

The second component is humility.

What is humility? 

Humility is knowing you deserve the consequences, you are not worthy, and you have sinned.

It is your bad or your fault. 

Psalm 51 is David’s prayer in the middle of this story. You are probably familiar with it. Go read it. 

God gives compassion in abundance. You don’t have to hope for scraps. You have an abundance more than you could ever ask for or need. God has hope for us in his forgiveness, in his grace, in his mercy abundant compassion through the blood of Jesus.

David recognized this. David prayed blot out my rebellion. He prayed for the Lord to completely wash away his guilt and to cleanse him from his sin. He prayed that his sin was always before him. He knew he did wrong.

Some of you know you have done wrong. You can’t hide it from an all-knowing God. You hide it from other people. But God knows your thoughts. He knows your mind and the intentions of your heart.

God gives you his righteousness for your sin, if you are a Christian. God cleanses you and gives you freedom from that sin you struggle with.

David realized that.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:5-10

David in Psalm 51 says Lord you have crushed me so that you might build me up and restore me.

Some of you might be under the weight of your sin and what you need to know is that as crushing as that might be, God sometimes brings us really really really really low. And when we respond in humility he then raises and builds us up his way. Jesus’ way. The bones that the Lord has crushed will rejoice.

David said what I have done is bad but God what you will do is use it for your glory and the good of others. God will take the worst decisions you have made in your life to bring you more into the image of Jesus. Then he’ll use your story to help someone else. 

David closed Psalm 51 by saying that the Lord doesn’t want religious actions and promises. David said the Lord wants a repentant heart. That’s what he wants from us. 

In 2 Samuel 12:13, Nathan replied to David, the Lord has taken away your sin.

Whatever you have done, wherever you have been God’s grace is sufficient to cleanse you from unrighteousness.