St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church -- Watertown, WI
Pastor Mark Gartner
When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead…David had here brought to his housie, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD. The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!..
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!… Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.” 15After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.
Dear redeemed children in Christ. Amen
The other day I received a letter from someone who had been very sick, almost to the point of death. This person’s sickness started out as something that didn’t seem all to bad. She didn’t feel well, but she didn’t really know why. She went into the hospital. Unexpectedly and very quickly things got worse and worse and no one could quite figure out why. All of a sudden they figured out what was wrong, but things had gotten very serious. By God’s grace alone this person was able to recover, because the doctors were able to figure out what was wrong and they were able to give her the right medicines. The found the right cure just in time to save her life.
As we gather here in God’s house we all are sick. We are sick with the terminal sickness of sin and the consequences of sin. Sin at first might not seem very serious and even sometimes we don’t even feel sick at all. But sin just like earthly sickness changes our spiritual health. It continues to eat away at our spiritual heart seeking to cause permanent spiritual harm. And as sin works in our hearts, we soon realize that things are getting bad, and sometimes we are almost to the point of spiritual death, before God wakes us up to see that we need a cure from the deadly sickness of sin. As we sit here today, we as children of God know what this cure is and our theme for today will talk about this cure:
Sermon Theme: Jesus Is The Cure For Sin
1. Yes, we are guilty
2. Yes, Jesus has taken away our sins
3. Yes, Jesus disciplines us because he loves us
Our text for today is a familiar section of God’s Word. Most of us know who King David is. We know that he was the one who replaced the first King of Israel, Saul. We remember that David was hand picked by God to be the next leader of the people of Israel. We know that God blessed him as he defeated Goliath with a stone and slingshot. David was famous and David was powerful. David knew what it meant to be in God’s gracious hands.
But our text for today points out that David was just like you and me. He was sinner who was daily tempted to sin and just like us he fell prey to one of those temptations. As we recount this part of David’s life, we can see how much sin can infect our hearts and minds, even those who know what God’s will is. This mess it all began as David saw Bathsheba bathing and with lust in his heart he had Bathsheba brought into his house where she soon became pregnant. To cover up his sin of adultery we see the long lengths that people will go to cover up their sins. He first had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, brought back from the front lines of battle so that he would sleep with Bathsheba and it would look like the child was his. This didn’t work, because Uriah was too dedicated of a soldier and did not sleep with his wife, because his fellow soldiers were still fighting and he felt to guilty. As the lies and deceits continued to grow to cover up sins, we remember how David had Uriah killed by making it look like he was killed in battle, knowing full well that he had told the commanding officer Joab to put him in the toughest part of the fight and then withdraw leaving him to be killed. When this had happened Bathsheba mourned for her husband who was killed. Following the period of mourning David took Bathsheba in to be his wife, “When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead…David had here brought to his housie, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.”
As we live our lives on this earth it is good for us to see why this portion of God’s Word is so important for us. Look at the many similarities between our lives and the life of David. No, we are not the King of a country and we may not be famous, but we are believers who know what God’s Commandments say. We know that God doesn’t condone any sin. We know that God commands us to be perfect in our living, just like David. We also see that the Devil is working very hard in our hearts and lives. We can see that the Devil will do anything to lead us astray. We need to be aware that the temptations from the Devil never stop. On our vacation we were able to swim in the Pacific Ocean. As you watch the waves rolling in one after another, you soon grasp that the waves never stop. You can sit in the water for an hour or for days and the waves will just keep coming. Even when you get tired, the waves keep coming. Even when you go to sleep, they keep coming. Even when you have had enough of the waves, they just keep coming. That is the Devil, isn’t it? When we get spiritually tired, the Devil keeps coming. When we go to bed, the Devil keeps coming. When we never want to see the Devil again, he just keeps coming.
Following this terrible lapse into sin, we see what God has in store for David, “The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!… Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! David tried to put all this in the past, but God was not going to let that happen. He sent his prophet Nathan to go and confront David in his sin. He didn’t rant and rave, instead he used a short little story to illustrate the point of David’s sin. Isn’t it ironic for David to be so angry with this rich man who took advantage of the poor man? But the crushing words came as Nathan spoke those simple words, “You are the man!” Don’t you think that his stomach must have just sunk. God’s Law had hit him right in the middle of his heart. He was guilty and God let him know.
As we live in our little world we may think that we are fooling God. We might think that our sins have snuck by God and he really doesn’t know what is going on anyway. But just like in David’s life, we soon realize that our sins aren’t fooling God one bit. God knows our sins and is displeased with every one of our sins. God used the prophet Nathan in David’s life to point out to him that he was guilty. God might use the Pastor or the people of the church to point out our sin. David didn’t get mad at the Pastor who was only delivering the message. In the same way it makes no sense to get angry with the Pastor or the Church when our sins are pointed out. God is the one who we need to sit down with.
Now what did David do after he heard the condemning words of Nathan? He could have gotten angry and he could have started pouting and he could have went into severe despair, but he didn’t. “Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” David confessed his sins to God and Nathan then spoke about the cure that David needed for all the sins he had just confessed and for the many sins he didn’t even know he had committed, “Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin.” Listen to those words again, the Lord has taken away your sin. God’s cure for sin is given to David to sooth and to heal the mess that sin had done in David’s heart. In those words, David knew that a Savior from sin would come and set him free from all that he had done wrong.
Just as David heard those condemning words, “You are the man!” We can hear those words ringing in our hearts every time that we sin. We are the people! We are the ones who sin. I personally am guilty of everything that breaks God’s will. We are guilty, but God wants us to hear the cure for that sin. Your sins have been taken away. My sins have been taken away. As far as East is from West that is how far God has removed our sins. They are not in sight anymore. The weight of our sin and its guilt have been placed on the broad shoulder of Jesus who gave his life on the cross of Calvary. God doesn’t want us to hold it inside thinking that it should stay inside. God wants us to confess our sins and hear the answer to our sin.
That being said, we also know that God disciplines us during our lives on this earth. There are also going to be consequences for the sins that we commit. This is a hard pill to swallow at times. Yes, we are guilty. Yes, we are forgiven. But yes, God allows things to happen our lives to discipline us. In the account from our text, we hear what happens to the baby that was born from David and Bathsheba, ”But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.” 15After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.” And we know from just little further that this child died just 7 days after tit was born. God in his perfect wisdom does things that we will never understand. The child was taken from this world and brought to his heavenly Father in heaven. David knew that God’s Will would be done. It was most likely rather painful to deal with, but God was using this to draw David ever closer to him for strength and hope.
As we live our lives on this earth, we also need to recognize that God uses discipline in our lives to keep our hearts and lives focused on him. At times these acts of discipline from God might be painful and hard to deal with, but God knows what he is doing. He is looking out for our souls spiritual welfare. He will do anything to keep us going in the right direction until we arrive safely at home with Jesus.
What a perfect portion of God’s Word to lead us all to see what sin is and what sin can do to our lives. But this portion of God’s Word would mean nothing if we didn’t hear the words of forgiveness that God spoke through the prophet Nathan. I pray that we would seek to come before our Father in heaven and confess often the sin that is in our lives. I pray that we would come often to God’s house to hear those words that our sins have been taken away. I pray that we would trust that God will guide us and carry us through all the tough disciplines that God uses in our lives.