Consequences for Forgiven Sin

Transcription

1 Text: II Samuel 18 8/8-9, 2015 St. Stephen s Church Weekend Worship Consequences for Forgiven Sin Word of Thanks: Great to be back! 2 ½ month sabbatical, wonderful. Little bit about what I did: Reading, study, writing class at TSM. Our 12 day trip to Israel great. Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Sea of Galilee. If you ever have the chance GO! Work around my home. Family/travel NYC, SC. Worshipped in 7 different churches! Thanks Geoff, Steve, Debby, Lauren all the staff, Vestry, to you all the Church. It was a blessing. Thank you! Intro: Right back to work this week preaching! Jump into this series on the Life of David. Heard that it s been great! I want to begin with a question: Can you recall a time in your life when you faced consequences for a poor decision/sin? (2 times) I d be surprised if anyone can t! Something we all have in common. We make bad choices. We sin. Usually, consequences we have to face. My Past, late teens and early 20 s 10 years of rebellion/sin. Most of it happened growing up here in QV. 30 years later, still have consequences for those choices. Keep in mind I came to faith, confessed and repented of my sins, received forgiveness from God. I know that. But I still faced/face consequences even for forgiven sins. That s universally true for all believers. Trans: One of the best examples in the bible of this: King David. David faced consequences for his forgiven sin. David made a really bad decision. Sinned against God and other people. God was not pleased. David eventually confessed, repented. And God forgave him. But David faced consequences for the rest of his life. Both in his family and the nation that he ruled. This morning: Consider some of the consequences that David faced in his life. What happened as a result of David s sin? Also, spend some time considering the consequences we face for our sins. What truths can we learn from David s experience? How do we modern day Christians approach the consequences for our forgiven sins? Context: Last week, Geoff: looked at the sins David committed and how it played out. Well known Bathsheba/Uriah debacle. Temptation and affair with a married woman Bathsheba. David tried to cover it up. David arranged for Bathsheba s husband Uriah to die in battle. Sins=

2 Adultery and Murder. David was confronted by his personal prophet Nathan. Result David s confession, God s forgiveness. 2 Samuel 12, Then 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. David was forgiven by God. In his sin he didn t get what he deserved death. But, David still faced consequences for his sin. We see the first of the consequence in Nathan s very next words, ( You re not going to die ) BUT because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die. David s adultery with Bathsheba led to a pregnancy. And, though David pleaded with God for his child, the child died. The first of many consequences for David. There are 5 chapters between last week s reading and today s reading in 2 nd Samuel. In those chapters David s family life is in chaos. And out of his family chaos, the nation he rules is also in chaos. This fulfilled something else God told David s after his sin, 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. Here s what happened in those 5 chapters chaos. David s son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar. Sexual assault. Another son Absolom, hated Amnon for what he d done to Tamar and killed him. Murder. Absolom then fled and rebelled against his father David. Absolom led a national conspiracy against his father. He gained the hearts of a majority of the people, led a coup. David had to flee for his life. He had to go to war with his own son to regain control of the nation. Major consequences for sin! Chaos in David s family and the nation he ruled. This week David and his son Absalom, how this scenario played out. Text: 2 Samuel 18. Page 343. Set it up: David s loyal minority prepared to go to battle against Absalom s army majority. David is an underdog. David s army was divided into 3 groups, headed by 3 men he trusted. They advised David to stay behind. As king, his survival was essential. We pick up the story with verses 4 and 5,

3 The king said to them, Whatever seems best to you I will do. So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai (his 3 generals), Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. It s sobering to see the consequences that David faced for his sins. His own son rebelled against David. You d expect the son of a king to be loyal, to serve his father and work for unity in the Nation. Not Absalom. Led a coup against his father and the nation. Wanting personal power, Absalom took control of the nation from his father. He wanted to kill his father and take the throne. David s life is a mess. Consequences. And it s all directly connected to David s adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. Remember, David was forgiven. But he faced sobering consequences for his sin. David s sin s bled into his family. His family was broken. So broken that his own son wanted to kill him and take the throne. Think about the link between David s sin and the consequences. Remember, in the sin David sent for Bathsheba and took her. Now in a consequence to that sin, Absalom sent an army to take his father s life and take the nation. Terrible consequences for David s sin. Amazingly, David still has love and compassion for Absalom. Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom. We read what happened in battle, verses 6-9, 15, So David s army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. And the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the loss there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword. And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on And ten young men, Joab s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him. Illust: Women: Who is the most handsome man you can think of? I found a list 100 most handsome men of all-time. Celebrities. Subjective. Who do you think was #1?? Marlon Brando! All good looking guys. Our culture high value on physical, outward appearance. Good looks. Always been true. By our human, earthly standards Absalom was a good looking guy. Very handsome. Listen to how he is described 2 Samuel 14,

4 In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish on him. Whenever he cut the hair of his head he used to cut his hair from time to time because it became too heavy for him he would weigh it, and it s weight was 200 shekels by the royal standard. In modern language, Absalom was a stud. And he had a full, thick head of hair. And his appearance, I m sure, helped him get power. Help in the coup. But ultimately, God was in control. God isn t as impressed with appearance. And we know that from David was chosen by God to be King how God views people, 1 Samuel 16, The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Absalom was a stud. But his character was flawed. God knew his heart. And he quickly fell from power. Can t miss the irony that his full head of hair was what undid him. Absalom got separated from his army. And his hair got caught in an oak tree. Suspended in mid-air, helpless. His donkey rode away, left him hanging. David s men killed Absalom. David, the rightful king, defeated his challenger. Just happened to be his own son. The reading closes with David s response. Verses 31-33, a messenger delivers the news, And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, Good news for the lord my king! For the LORD has delivered you this day from the hand of all that rose up against you. The king said to the Cushite, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And the Cushite answered, May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man. And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son! What do we make of David s deep grief over the death of his son? This is a son who was in open, public rebellion against his father. Absalom publically embarrassed his father. He was aggressively trying to kill him. Who could blame David if he had rejoiced at the defeat of Absalom. But David grieveed the death of his son. Remember 2 nd child David has lost as a consequence to his own sin. Here we see David, a forgiven but broken man. He faced the consequences for his own sin and he was heartbroken. But he remains a man after God s own heart. John Chrysostom writes,

5 The attitude of David toward Absalom is the model of a good pastor who grieves over the suffering of his errant flock and indeed desires to take their suffering upon himself. David sinned. He confessed that sin and received God s forgiveness. But for the rest of his life David faced the consequences of his sin. Some of those consequences were very difficult for David to endure. As the story closes, David grieves the death of his son Absalom. Application: What can we take from this? What can we learn from David s experience? Apply to our own lives of faith? I want to suggest 2 things. First: Confess our sins and seek God s forgiveness. David made some really bad choices. He sinned against God and other people. But when the sin was put in his face, David confessed, repented, and God forgave him. David was spared. He didn t get what he deserved for his sin death. As bad as his sin was, David humbly repented. Good model for us. Just like David, we deserve death for our sins. But also, just like David, God spares us if we confess our sins and seek His forgiveness. Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 6, Lord. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our By grace, by no other means, BY GRACE, God spares us. We don t get the death we deserve. He forgives us. That s the power of the cross. Jesus takes our sin upon himself. By his death we are spared the death we deserve. But we must ID our sin, confess and repent/turn from sinful ways, and receive God s forgiveness. That s God s gift. That s one thing we can learn from David s experience confess and receive forgiveness. Are there unconfessed sins in your life that you can bring to God and receive his forgiveness? But there is a Second thing we can learn from David s experience. Hard lesson. We may have to face consequences for our sin. Even forgiven sins. We don t like consequences. I don t. Guessing you don t. We prefer that God forgive us and everything go back to normal. Cliché s: wipe the slate clean push the reset button. Unfortunately, it doesn t work that way. When we steal from someone, or lie to someone, we may never regain their trust. Consequence. When we cheat on our spouse, our marriage might be irreparably broken. Consequence.

6 When we kill someone, we might have to go to prison. Consequence. All true: Even if we are forgiven. We love forgiveness and grace, not so much consequences. In another of his letters, Paul writes about living good lives, doing good. But he gives a warning. Galatians 6, Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh, will from the flesh reap corruption We may reap consequences for the sins we sow. God will forgive us, by grace, if we confess. But that doesn t mean everything will go back to normal in our lives. We may face consequences for our sins. I read a great quote this week by Charles Swindoll on God s grace and forgiveness and consequences. Swindoll writes, Grace means that God, in forgiving you, does not kill you. Grace means that God, in forgiving you, gives you strength to endure the consequences. Grace frees us so that we can obey our Lord. It does not mean that sin s consequences are automatically removed. If I sin and in the process of sinning break my arm, when I find forgiveness from sin, I still have to deal with a broken bone. We don t like consequence. But the truth is, what we sow, we reap. So, we can t believe that God s forgiveness means the absence of painful impact on our lives. They work together. We may have to face painful consequences for our forgiven sins. David sinned, confessed, and was forgiven. But he faced consequences. The same will be true for all of us. May God, who by grace forgives us of our sins, also give us the strength to endure the consequences that may come from our sins. Let s pray