“The Truth That Hurts, The Truth That Heals”

2 Samuel 12

John T. Mabray, Pastor

Rivermont EPC

Lynchburg, Virginia

October 17, 2004

8:30 and 11:00 A.M.

THE PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Almighty and gracious God, whose mercies are new every morning: we pray that You will have mercy upon us all, each one; and, in Your mercy, pour forth Your Holy Spirit upon us afresh, with convicting power and comforting grace. By the truth of Your word, awaken us out of our spiritual slumber; enliven our hearts, and enable us to see the truth about ourselves and our sins; then, in Your mercy, enable us to see Jesus and to embrace Him as our wonderful Redeemer and eternal Savior, to the glory of Your name. Amen.

THE ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE

Now to Him who has freed us from our sins by His blood – to Jesus Christ be all praise, honor, and glory! Amen.

            Almost a year had passed since David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then plotted to have her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. A baby boy had been born. David was moving on with his life; the only problem was that he was still moving in the wrong direction.

            What does it take to make a man turn around and change his direction? The first verse of chapter twelve answers that question this way: it says, “The Lord sent Nathan to David.” In grace and mercy, the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David, to speak the truth that hurts, and the truth that heals.

            Nathan told David a parable about a rich man and a poor man. (He may have told it as though it were real news from a town in David’s kingdom). The rich man had lots of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb, which he had raised as a pet for him and his children. He loved that little lamb. But one day, a traveler came to visit the rich man. The rich man didn’t want to kill one of his own sheep or cattle for supper, so he stole the little pet lamb from the poor man and killed it and prepared it for the meal.

            When David heard it, he burned with anger and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, this man deserves to die!” (2^nd Samuel 12:5-6). It’s funny how we can see others’ sins so clearly, but cannot see our own. It’s funny how we can be so quick to condemn others for their sins, but be so slow to confess our own. No, it’s not funny at all; it’s tragic. When we can’t see the truth about ourselves and our sins, then we are trapped in tragic self-deception. That’s where David was. But the Lord in His grace and mercy sent Nathan the prophet to David to speak the truth that hurts and the truth that heals, “You are the man!”

            “You are the man! And by your own judgment you have declared that you deserve to die!” It is this truth that hurts which is the truth that heals – the truth about ourselves as sinners.

            To have our consciences cut to the quick, to be awakened out of spiritual slumber, to have the hard shell of our hearts cracked so that they might actually bleed with repentance, to have our souls pierced by the double-edge sword of the living word of God – this is not pleasant, but it is the wonderful gift of God’s grace: for the truth that hurts is the truth that heals, if we will receive it and agree with it and respond to it with repentance and faith.

            First John 1:8 tells us that “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Unacknowledged, unconfessed sin is the worst kind of self-destructive self-deception. But the truth that hurts is the truth that heals, and the healing begins with the confession of our sins. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). That is God’s promise, sealed with the blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ.

To confess our sins is to agree with God about our sins. That is what the word confession literally means: to agree, literally, to say the same thing. With respect to our sins, it means that we agree with God that we have violated His law and that we have acted rebelliously in defiant disobedience; we agree with God that our sins are hideous and heinous, and that God would be just in condemning us; we agree with God that we are without excuse. That’s what it means to confess our sins.

Confession is not a mumbling apology. Confession is not a matter of casually admitting that we’re not perfect – “Oh, I admit I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect.” That’s not confession; that’s excuse-making, and excuse-making is just another form of self-deception which occurs when we do not genuinely confess our sins. God does not accept excuses and explanations for sins. If God would forgive you on the basis of your excuses and explanations for your sins, then why would He have sent His beloved Son to suffer and die on the cross for your sins? If you could obtain forgiveness by excuses and rationalizations, then Jesus’ death on the cross would have beeen a complete and unnecessary waste. Brothers and sisters, fellow-sinners with me, do not be deceived: God does accept excuses and explanations and rationalizations for our sins. But here is the truth of the gospel: God accepts confession of sin in the name of Jesus who died for our sins, whose blood atones for our sins. “If we confess our sins – if we agree with God’s truth about ourselves and our sins – God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” through the blood of His Son shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

The truth that hurts is that we all, like David, are sinners without excuse. The truth that hurts is that we all, like David, deserve to die for our sins. Once we come to terms with that truth in the depths of our souls, once we face and acknowledge and accept that reality as the truth about ourselves and our sins, when we come to the point of agreeing with God in His judgment on our sins, then we are ready to hear and receive and believe the truth that heals: Christ died for our sins, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

Brothers and sisters, fellow-sinners with me, it is not easy to agree with God about our sins because we do not like to admit such things about ourselves. That’s an issue of spiritual pride, the worst of all sins. But the way to deal with specific sin in our life is to confess it, to name it, say it, spit it out: adultery, fornication, pornography, drunkenness, stealing, lying, envy, bitterness, greed, lust, gossip, malice and ill-will toward someone, disobedience to your parents, harshness to your children, prayerlessness, lukewarm worship, sloth, gluttony, hurtful words, worldly-mindedness, me-first selfishness. Name the sin. Judge yourself. Declare yourself guilty. Pronounce yourself worthy of God’s wrath and condemnation. And come to Jesus Christ and ask Him for forgiveness for that sin, and all your sins. With the eyes of faith, look to Jesus, and behold Him, the Lamb slain for sinners; see His bleeding wounds, His broken body, His blood poured-out for you. And pray, in Jesus’ name, a prayer like David prayed when he repented of his sin:

Have mercy on me, O God;

according to your steadfast love;

According to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin! (Psalm 51:1-2).

            David’s prayer of confession is recorded for us in Psalm 51. (The Lord willing, Pastor Cox will be preaching on Psalm 51 at the evening service; I urge you to heed the word of the Lord tonight from Psalm 51 for the health of your soul).

            When confronted with the truth that hurts, David did, finally, acknowledge and confess his sins and seek the forgiveness of the Lord. And please note this: as soon as David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord,” as soon as David said those words, Nathan immediately responded, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die” (2 Samuel 13). The promise of forgiveness came immediately after David’s confession. The implication is that when Nathan left David, David more fully and prayerfully confessed his sin through the writing of Psalm 51; but the point is that as soon as David confessed his sin, his relationship with the Lord was restored.

            But we must understand this, and this is important, please stay with me: David was forgiven by God, and restored to fellowship with God; but even though David was forgiven by God, David would suffer the consequences of his sin. Deuteronomy 8:5 says, “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.” Hebrews 12:6 (a New Testament verse) says, “…the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

The discipline of the Lord, the chastisement in response to our sins, may be unpleasant, may be painful, and may even be a consequence with which we live the rest of our lives on earth. But for those whose sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ, that discipline and chastisement of the Lord is administered in love – not in wrath, not retribution, not vengeance. Please listen carefully: for those who are in Christ through faith, there is now no condemnation. If you are a believer in Christ as your Savior, be fully assured that Jesus has already suffered the wrath of God against all your sins. Those consequences are not “payment” for your sins. Jesus has already paid in full the price of justice for your sins. God has no need to punish you, in the retributive, condemning sense, under His wrath. Jesus has already taken that punishment upon Himself for you, taking your place upon the cross. In Christ, you have – you have! – redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and peace with God!

God’s love for us in Christ is unwavering; it is steadfast love. But His love may be love expressed in blessing upon obedience, or love expressed in discipline upon disobedience. That’s a general principle, and parents would do well to apply it to their children as well. You love your children and you desire to show them your love by blessing them with good things. But if you are a faithful parent, you will show love to your child by administering discipline in response to disobedience. The love expressed in blessing and the love expressed in chastisement is the same love: it is the same love expressed in different ways for different purposes.

In His love for us, God disciplines and chastises us, just as a faithful and loving parent disciplines and chastises a disobedient child. The Lord disciplines those whom He loves in order to teach us to hate our sins, to teach us to resist temptation and avoid sin in the future, and to humble us so that we will be more submissive to Him and draw nearer to Him. The Lord disciplines those whom He loves; and sometimes (this is a general principle, not an absolute rule in every case), sometimes the Lord may ordain that we suffer in this life the specific consequences of some of our sins.

Now, let me say for clarification: this does not mean that every adversity, every difficulty, every illness or disease, or heartache is the chastisement of the Lord for specific sin. No. Everything we experience does come to us from the hand of God, but not every affliction is the consequence of specific sin, nor is every affliction the chastisement of the Lord for specific sin. Sometimes the Lord brings hardship into our life for reasons we do not know, but for reasons we must entrust to His wisdom, in the assurance that He is working all things together for good.

But the lesson to learn from David’s experience is that, yes, there are consequences in this life for sin, which we may suffer even though we are freely and fully forgiven by God. That should be a warning and wake-up call to us all. There are natural consequences of sin. Gluttony and drunkenness will eventually destroy your body. Sexual immorality can bring the consequence of a fatal disease, even after you have confessed your sin and been forgiven. Those are natural consequences by which God may, if He so chooses in His wisdom and love, chasten and discipline His children. The natural consequence of David’s adultery with Bathsheba was the conception and birth of an illegitimate child, which presented a terrible problem for David. And because David did not repent of his sin then, it led to further sin.

There are also logical consequences to sin. For example: the logical consequence of greed — of hoarding our financial resources for ourselves, stealing from God by withholding His tithe, neglecting to care for the truly poor and needy – the logical consequence of greed might be financial disaster upon ourselves. If God has blessed us financially, He has done that for the sake of advancing His kingdom on earth and showing compassion to others. If we don’t obey Him with what He’s given us, the logical consequence could be that He would take it all away through financial disaster. And if we are brought to our senses and truly repent of our greed, we will be forgiven but we might not ever again be as financially blessed. The logical consequence of David’s adultery with Bathsheba the stealing of David’s wives by his own son, Absalom; the logical consequence of the murder of Uriah was the violence and bloodshed that soon fell upon David’s house.

There are also relational or social consequences. When trust is broken between husband and wife, parents and children, or between Christian friends, that trust-breaking incident may be forgiven, there may be true reconciliation; but the fact is that once trust is broken, once respect is lost, there is a relational consequence, and it takes a long time to rebuild and restore trust and respect within that relationship. The social and relational consequence of David’s sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah was the anarchy and rebellion and disarray within his own family. His sons knew what he had done; and his sons, except for Solomon, brought him grief the rest of his life. They did not love and respect their father David.

And there are spiritual consequences. David was a forgiven man, a man loved by God, a man to whom God was still faithful, a man who was secure in his relationship with God. But the spiritual consequence of his sin was that God did not answer his prayer for the life of that baby boy, the way that David wanted him to. It was not that David was still estranged from God by his sin, so that God turned away from David’s prayer in anger or wrath, no. The death of that baby boy (who was always in God’s care and is in God’s care today) was a chastisement of love upon David. It was no doubt salt that stung his soul. But it was spiritual salt, to purify and to preserve his heart in grace.

After the death of the child, the Lord showed His continuing assurance of grace and mercy to David by blessing him and Bathsheba with the birth of Solomon. You see, the birth of Solomon to David and Bathsheba was the earthly sign of God’s forgiveness and blessing, even though that relationship had begun so sinfully. God was faithful to His promise: He gave David a son who would build the temple in Jerusalem. God was still working His purposes out, according to His covenant promise. And God was still working through David, now that David had turned around and changed His direction: now that David had received and believed the truth that hurts, the truth that heals.

Dear brothers and sisters, fellow-sinners with me, hear the word of the Lord, and believe it:

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

(Psalm 103:8-13)

David wrote those words. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David wrote those words … for you and me. David had been there, in the depth of sin and conviction. David knew what it was like to be disciplined and chastised by a loving and faithful God. David knew in his heart the joy of forgiveness, the assurance of salvation, and the promise of life everlasting. David was a sinner saved by grace through faith. David believed the promise of God: the promise of a Savior who would atone for his sins. That promise has been revealed to us in flesh and blood, and freely given to us, in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of God. He has freed us from our sins by His blood; may we live now and forever for His glory! Amen.