The Apostle Paul in his transition from chapter five to chapter six of Romans refers us to the abounding of sin, and where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. So we see the abundant grace of God in this chapter to his servant David and his abundant sins. Matthew Henry says, the foregoing chapter gave us the account of David's sin, This gives us the account of his repentance. Though he fell, he was not utterly cast down, but by the grace of God recovered himself and found mercy with God. Hear now the word of almighty God inspired by his spirit, profitable for us. Second Samuel 12, starting at verse one. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, 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. "'And 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 hath 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, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed the king over Israel and I delivered the 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? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and has taken his wife to be thy wife, and has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 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 sun. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bear unto David, And it was very sick. 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 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. where 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 is 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 hast 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. And David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and went in under her and lay with her. And she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon, and the Lord loved him. And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah because of the Lord. And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon and took the royal city. And Joab sent messengers to David and said, I have fought against Rabbah and have taken the city of waters. Now therefore gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name. And David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it. And he took their king's crown from off his head. The weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones. And it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. And 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. Thus far the reading of God's inspired, inerrant, and infallible word from the book of 2 Samuel 12. Verses one through six, we have David's conviction by the message of Nathan the prophet from God to him. This parable obliging David to condemn himself. Verse one, the Lord sent Nathan unto David. The Geneva Bible notes say the following, David lay now drowned in sin. The loving mercy of God, which does not allow his own to perish, waked his conscience by this story and brings him to repentance. There we see the grace of God abounding to David where his sin abounded. Notice the wisdom of God. There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. Here we have the condition of David and Uriah compared to each other. David is as a rich man. What is Uriah to him? One little ewe lamb, his own wife. One rich, one poor. Now this is a indirect method of reproof, at least initially. Out of respect for David's office, Nathan delivers it under God's inspiration in a manner that would be easier to receive at first, and then finally, verse seven, thou art the man, the more direct method, second. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds. Again, we see this throughout the Old Testament. God winked at and did not immediately punish the sin of the line of Cain, known by us as polygamy. One man is to have one wife. The two says he shall be one flesh, our Lord taught. And this is what God says in the book of Genesis. A man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto what? All seven of his wives? No, his wife. And they twain shall be one flesh. That is the law of nature. But God winked at this, he did not immediately punish it in his people. It was invented by the line of Cain, their wicked and lawless way, and the people of God unfortunately adopted this evil practice much to their confusion and shame as we read in the Bible itself. Think of the family of Jacob, think of the family of Abraham, think of the family of David and ask yourself this question, how much good did polygamy do for them? Well, not much. We're gonna read of the rape of Amnon raping Tamar. We read of the endless troubles among Jacob's household. We read of the son of the concubine being at war with the sons of Israel for decades and ages and perhaps even to this very day. Polygamy does no good. Men dream that it's like heaven on earth and it's actually like hell on earth because God has not ordained it. But here notice God recognizes this. You have many flocks and herds, wives and concubines. What did Uriah have? One, one little ewe lamb. The poor man had nothing save one tender, beloved, singular, precious, his only possession in this regard. Then there came a traveler unto the rich man. Now this traveler is like an inordinate desire. Remember, David was slothful. And when you're slothful, you're subject to lust. And so the lust comes along, the desire comes along, and he does not mortify it by being content with what he has. What does he do? I'll go over to this man's flock with his one little ewe lamb. He took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. Can you imagine how merciless that would be? You have thousands of sheep out there in your field and you go to the poor man and say, give me yours, wrench it out of his hands, dress it and give it to your traveler. Does that sound very kind? Does that sound like you love your neighbor, that you care about the poor? No. Cruel, thieving, wicked, merciless man that he is. And David has a proper response, does he not? David's anger was greatly kindled against whom? Himself? No. You see this? See this finger? This is what we do. Him. He's the problem. I'm mad at him for his sins. Well, what about this guy? No, he's okay. That guy over there is bad. Not me, you see. He's angry not at himself. He's angry at that man, that horrible man. And so our anger is generally such. It's easy to find fault with others. How easy is it to find fault with ourselves? We have to work long and hard at that. So easy to find fault with other people. That's how we are. And so David, quick to judge, quick to find fault, quick to blame others. As the Lord liveth, verse five, the man that hath done this thing, what does God say? Do you know? What should the man do who steals somebody else's sheep? What should happen to him? He shall restore fourfold. That's what the law says. You steal a man's ox, you give him five. You steal a man's sheep, you give him four. Exodus chapter 22, verse one. What does David say? He is a son of death. That's what it literally means. He's like a child of death. He reflects the image of death. He receives the inheritance of death. This man must be squashed by my royal power immediately, you see. And he even calls God as his witness, as the Lord liveth. This man is doomed. Matthew Poole comments, it is observable that David now, when he was most indulgent to himself and to his own sins, was most severe to others. And that's usually the case. The more we excuse our own sins, the harder we're going to be on other people. But it ought to be the other way around. God requires that we measure to others with a generous standard and that we look upon ourselves with a very strict standard. But is that what we do? No, extremely easy on ourselves and tend toward being hard on other people. Sinners that we are. If we must err, let us be too severe upon ourselves and too indulgent with others. That is the rule of scripture. But our tendency is just the opposite. David will condemn this sheep stealer to death. What about him, the adulterer? Has he condemned himself to death? Not likely. And he did not, in fact, do so. Because here's why. Here's why he should die. Because he did this thing and because he had no pity. David, you did this thing. You had no pity. It's not him. You see, this is what God is teaching David. Look to yourself, David. The application then is made in verses 7 through 14. Sentence is pronounced and David repents. Nathan said to David, Thou the man, literally. You see that little word art is in italics in your Bibles, correctly so. It's left out for emphasis, for effect. Thou the man, you see. It's meant to strike David, to terrorize him. He has just pronounced sentence against a lamb stealer, right? The sentence is death. Thou, David, you're the one I'm talking about. Who is he pronounced death against? Himself. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same thing. Romans 2. You see, this is the problem that Jesus addresses in Matthew 7, which we looked at last week. Judge not lest you be judged. We have to judge. But the manner of our judgment, judge justly, do not judge rashly, do not judge partially, judge with charity towards your neighbor. David does not do these things. He condemns himself. Let us learn to make direct and personal application of the Word of God to ourselves. You know how easy it is to make application of the Word of God to other people? It is like morsels that go down so easy. It's like eating Snickers. It's like eating candy. Oh, so easy to make application of the Word of God to those people, to him, to her. What about to me? Oh, hold on. Let's not get too personal here. As long as it's them and it's those people, we're fine. Until it's me, ouch! But that's what David should have done. He should have taken the Word of God and applied it to himself. Nathan had to do it for him. Thou art the man, he says. God continues his revelation of grace to David. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed the king over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. Do you know what we would call this? Our confession and catechisms talk about aggravations of sins. There are sins that we commit and then there are aggravations that make those sins more heinous in the sight of God than others. Let me ask you a question. God making him king means he's supposed to do what to adulterers? He's to punish them with death, right? Okay, so I anointed the king over Israel. What a blessing, what a privilege, and yet you must be a terror to them that do evil, was he? No, so it's an aggravation of his crime. What about Saul chasing you down all those years? What did I do for you, David, when you had an adversary trying to kill you who is a magistrate over you? Well, I delivered thee, I saved thee by my almighty power from him being able to touch a hair of your head. Was I not kind to you, David? That's an aggravation. You should have taken my kindness. What else did I do? I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom. You know, in the ancient world, the harem went to the next king, right? Okay, here's the harem. It goes to you now, right? He had all these things. Did you need a woman, David? Did you not have enough? God in his providence had made it abundantly clear David needed no more women. And I gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. Remember, you were only king over Judah at one time, David, seven and a half years. Then I gave you the whole kingdom. How? Through your adversary who wanted to kill you before. And I moved him Abner so that he would make a covenant with you and he brought the kingdom to you. Who did that? I did, God says. I gave you these things. And if you thought to yourself, boy, you've been stingy with me, God, this is not enough. I still would have given you more, God says. These are aggravations of his sin. If you wanted to claim victim status, David, you have no grounds. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord? Verse nine. Which commandments? Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Honor thy father and thy mother. Live before the eye of God, the first commandment. Don't bear false witness, the ninth commandment. Lying, treachery, fear of men, misuse of authority, ordering murder, committing murder yourself, committing adultery. These are commandments of God. You've despised them, David. And so sin is. Sin makes light. That's what despise means. Think something is light and unimportant when it's weighty and serious. Despising authority is where you think, oh, your authority means nothing. Whatever. I don't have to do what you say. Despising the commandments of God says, I don't have to listen to those commandments. They don't tell me what to do. Sin is a despising of God's commandments, of his word. Let us learn to reverence God's commandments, to heed his word, to confess, to forsake our sins, to live before his eye and his judgment. Verse nine, thou has killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. Remember, he's one of your mighty men. He's a proselyte to the true religion. You killed him. You took his wife to be yours. And then God repeats about slaying him. You notice he says it twice. Thou has killed Uriah the Hittite and has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. That's an aggravation too. God's enemies, the children of Ammon, those wicked ungodly people, you use their sword to murder a mighty man, a proselyte, a man who fears God. These are aggravations of his sin. Let us learn to see our sins in the light of God's truths. You know what we do is we see our sins in the light of extenuations. That's the opposite of an aggravation. Here's the reason why my sin's okay. Well, when God comes to us, does he say, here are all the reasons why your sin's okay? Here are all the reasons it's so bad. Here are all the reasons it's so wicked and heinous. All this good I've done for you, and how do you return to me? The Lord says. We must see our sins in the light of God's grace and mercy to us so that we may properly assess the aggravation of our sins and seek refuge not in lies and covering for ourselves as David did, but seek refuge in God's mercy and repenting for our sins. Pardon my sins, O Lord, for they are great. That's what the Psalms teach us to say. Our sins are massive. That's why I beg you to forgive me. God doesn't accept this prayer. My sins not actually that bad. So can you please forgive me? No, he's not going to forgive you. He's going to judge you because you're trying to extenuate your sin instead of confessing your sins. That's covering your sins. This is what God is drawing David to. Thou hast killed this godly man, this true patriot, this Gentile grafted into my people. You stole his wife. You used the heathens to murder him to cover for yourself. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house. Here is a suited chastisement. Here is the punishment for your abuse of the sword of God's enemies. Never is a long time, is it not? How long is never? Generation to generation to generation, until in God's great abounding grace, the son of David will have a sword pierce him as well. Because thou hast despised me, he says. Wait, wait, wait, wait, time out. Verse 10 says, that you despise me, verse nine says, you despise my word and my commandment. Well, which is it? Yes. To despise God is to despise his word and his commandments. To despise his commandments is to despise God himself. You see, God doesn't divvy it up and say, well, you know, my law, whatever. Don't worry, it's not that important. But me, you better really honor me. No, it doesn't work that way. He links himself together with his word, with his commandments. You want to honor God? Keep his law. You want to despise God? Despise his law. It's that simple. Let us honor God by loving his commandments, by keeping his commandments. God says, David, you despise me. It's the same exact verb in Hebrew. Thou hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Not just the initial adulterous act, that was sinful, but your marriage was sinful too. You know, God still recognizes they were married, by the way, but it was a sinful beginning to their marriage. I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah, your house polluted by your sins will be judged by me, God says. 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, fulfilled in 2 Samuel 16, 21 and 22. God in his providence orchestrating the sins of men for his own holy ends, abandoning Absalom, abandoning Ahithophel, abandoning Amnon, giving them over to their own evil desires so that David might see the judgment and we might say, oh God, save me from such acts. Keep me from such temptations. Humbling David and teaching us through his fall, the cost of doing evil. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the son. Do you know God says He will reward secret piety? You know that? Remember from the Sermon on the Mount? God who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. What about secret sins? Do you think God is just going to sit idly by and let His people get away with their secret sins? No, He's going to judge them openly. He says to David, Before the whole sun and all Israel, I will judge you, David. You sin secretly, I'll punish you openly. You fear me secretly, I will bless you openly, God says. David said unto Nathan, verse 13, I have sinned against the Lord. No more extenuation, is there? No more covering for himself so people don't see his sins. David has now confessed, I have sinned against who? The only have I sinned against, and done this evil, where? In thy sight, Psalm 51 says. God, you saw all this, you know how, what am I gonna do? Where am I gonna hide from you, God? You can hide from men, you can cover it up, you can get Joab to do this and that for you, but you cannot hide from God. And so David confesses his sin to the Lord. Let us learn when confronted by our conscience, by the preaching of God's word, by the reproofs of your brethren, let us learn to repent, to confess, to forsake our sins. Notice the grace of God, verse 13. The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Though you deserve to die, David, God has put it away, you shall not die. Both by God's command, adulterers are to be put to death, and by your own sentence, that man deserves to die. David is twice dead and God is saving him from death. The Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. God shows his grace to them that repent. Would you have the mercy of God rather than his justice? Well, listen to how this works. What did David do? He confessed his sin. I have sinned against the Lord, he says. Grace is shown to them that repent, not to them that cover their sins. God put away his sin, but because he says, by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. We are to live for the glory of God or suffer the consequences. David then, in his repentant state, mourns for the child, verses 15 through 23. The Lord struck Uriah's wife's child. This was a supernatural sickness, not something that ordinarily comes along. 16 through 19, David fasts, he weeps, he mourns, he calls on God for mercy, eventually discerning that the child is dead. David then arose, verse 20, from the earth. He washed, anointed himself, changed his apparel, came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. This is what we call a moderate mourning, where one mourns, but it's within bounds. The boundary mark is this. God has struck the child. What can I do? I've asked and pleaded for his life. God said, no, what am I going to do? I can't bring him back. So I will go and I will worship. Life goes on. He recognized he deserved the death of the child, and he let God's providence prevail. David's servants are confused by this. Verse 21 informs us. Why now that the child is dead are you not mourning? Why were you mourning while he was yet alive? For I said, David answers them, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live? God is full of grace and mercy. And when God threatens to judge and to destroy and to kill, what should we do? We should appeal to his mercy. God, have mercy upon us. You are great in compassion. Move in saving us miserable sinners. Let us then call upon the God of mercy. Let us flee for refuge to his son. Let us call upon him to be gracious to us so that we may live both us and our seed. Can I bring him back again? No. I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. This child, though born of adultery, though a bastard child, yet by God's abundant grace, David says, he's going to where I'm going. Well, where is that? Think the child's burning in hell? No, nor does David. I'm going to be with him in the glorious presence of God. Do you think David deserved that or his child? No, this is why where sin abounds, grace much more abounds to David. God does give us no license to sin, to do as David did. But should you sin, should you fall and do those things that displease the Lord, where is your comfort? Where is your hope? It is in the abundant grace of God. Verses 24 and 25, we have the birth of Solomon, God's gracious message concerning him and giving evidence that he is reconciled to David. David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, went in unto her again, though a sinful marriage yet recognized by God himself. She bare a son and she called his name Solomon and the Lord loved him. God's grace, free grace, saving grace, free and sovereign love granted by God himself to this wicked coupling of David and Bathsheba. And notice, God sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah. Yah is Jehovah. Jedidiah means beloved, one who is loved. He is the beloved of the Lord. He's a type of the Savior, Jesus Christ. The Lord renamed Solomon. He sent by the hand of his prophet to give him a new name to say, look, what do you deserve at my hand, David? And what have I given you? You deserve my wrath. You deserve my curse. You deserve my judgment. And I give you what? Love, grace, peace, mercy, grace abounding to the chief of sinners. all of grace of God's free grace. Let us then repent for our sins. Let us rejoice in God's free grace. Let us not take that grace as a license to sin, but rather as a reason to rejoice, as a cause of hope, where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. Trust in God, do his will, and rejoice that it is not of works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Then verses 26 through 31, we have the taking of Rabbah. Now remember, let's think back. When did this trouble with the Ammonites all begin? Do you remember? You remember Hanun came to the throne and David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his dad. And what did Hanun do? He sent off the messengers of David with half their beards cut off and their garments stripped to their buttocks. And he sent them back shamed and treated in such a way. And those who were sent by David, that's as if you're treating David himself that way. So David responds in vengeance. He takes their principal city here. But notice, Joab is there fighting against the children of Ammon. Life goes on. We have our sins. We have David's sins. We have his repentance. We have the forgiveness of sins. But he still had duties to do. We cannot let our sins crush us as if we no longer have... Well, I'm so sinful. How can I still be king of Israel? Well, he's still king of Israel, is he not? So he must go on. He must continue to do his duty. And he does. Joab calls upon David to take the royal city and receive the glory. Verses 27 through 29. Verse 30 tells us that he took their king's crown from off his head. This is Hanun, the punk who sent away his men. This Hanun who started this madness, he gives him this crown, the weight whereof was a talent of gold, not counting precious stones. Now depending on who you read, a talent might be anywhere from 44 pounds to 113 pounds of gold. Now think, how much would you pay for an ounce of gold? About $2,300 plus. Then you have to stack up how many ounces till you get to one pound? 16 ounces, 16 times 2300 is a lot, isn't it? It's about $30,000, 30,000 plus. Now, let's say that's 44 pounds. How much is that gonna cost? Without the jewels upon it, it might cost you about 1.6 million Federal Reserve notes, our worthless currency. or up to $4.2 million for this crown. Now, how much did he pay for all those soldiers who came? You remember? All that money down the toilet. What's happened to his crown now? Down the toilet. What happened to his principal city now? Down the toilet. Why? Evil suspicion, assuming the worst about David. Was it worth it? Was it worth it to assume that David has come to spy out your land, millions and millions of dollars down the drain? Hanan is slain. David will replace him with his brother, and his brother will help David when he flees from Absalom's revolt. Evil surmisings will cost us much. And David, by God's grace, his abounding grace, is given this 1.6 to 4.2 million dollars worth of gold, plus the precious stones. God abounding in his grace. And notice verse 30 tells us also, he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. turning from his own ways, confessing and forsaking his sins, what is God doing? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and what? All these things that kings of the earth want, God gives to David. He brought forth the people that were therein and put them under saws and under harrows of iron and under axes of iron. The Ammonites were most wicked and malicious enemies of God, and they would do this very thing to others. David is paying them back in kind. In fact, he makes them pass through their brick kilns. Do you know what the Ammonites did for their God, Molech? Do you know that they would take their little babies and bring them into their brick kilns and burn their infants with fire? Did you know they did that? They did. In fact, the Israelites adopted their wicked customs and began to worship as they had worshiped. And here David is judging them according to their sins. And thus far, the exposition of 2 Samuel chapter 12.