2Samuel 12:1-7
Caught
The question that comes to my mind as I read over this story the last few weeks
is, "Does God really forgive?" Here was a man who committed adultery. We have
the record of his confession in Psalm 51; yet David, his family, and his kingdom
will endure much suffering for this sin. Did God forgive David? If God forgave
him, why did so many have to suffer?
There is a very important lesson to learn tonight. The lesson is that it is
important what you do after you sin. I see three possibilities:
1. A quick repentance which would receive the most mercy.
2. A delayed repentance which would receive less mercy.
3. And no repentance may mean no mercy.
At the best, David falls into category number 2. David did not initiate
repentance for his sin at all. The first we see of David asking for forgiveness
is in Psalm 51 and we don’t know how long after God dealt with David that he
penned Psalm 51.
Psalm 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
It was David’s intent to hide his sin. That was the reason he had Uriah killed.
When chapter 12 opens, at least nine months have past since David committed
adultery with Bathsheba, and David still has not repented. David did not initiate
repentance until David got caught. David better falls into category 3 here.
It is not my intention to say David did not get mercy—he did. Neither is it my
intention to say that if we wait until we get caught to ask for forgivness, we
won’t be forgiven—if that were the case, we would all be hopelessly lost
What I am saying is the quicker you repent when you have done wrong, the less
likely you are to have to endure God’s chastisement. But like a child, if God
must call our attention to our wrong, God is more likely to give us some reasons
to remember not to do that again.
So we need to understand, when we have done wrong, it does matter what we do
afterward. If we are truly sorry that we have sinned and repent, things will go
much better for us than if we persist in our sin and make God come after us
(which He will do).
With that preliminary information in mind, let’s consider what happened three
sinful situations.
I. \\#Ge 20:1-7\\ Abimelech sinned ignorantly, but repented quickly.
A. Abimelech did not know God or God’s ways.
1. He was a heathen man, but not because he had rejected Jehovah God.
Rather because he had never known Jehovah God.
2. That being the case, Abimelech’s standard of morality was not
very high.
a. We say it often but lost people are going to behave like lost
people.
b. Abimelech saw Sarah, wanted her, and took her for his wife.
c. Abimelech being the ruler or king of that area, didn’t ask.
He just did what he wanted.
B. However, Abimelech didn’t know Sarah was Abraham’s wife.
1. \\#Ge 20:2\\ Abraham, being afraid that someone would kill him to
get Sarah, lied about his wife!
2. Abraham is committing another kind of sin that we will get to
later.
3. The bottom line is, that in Abimelech’s understanding, he did
nothing wrong. He was innocent.
C. Because of this, God showed Abimelech great mercy.
1. God kept Abimelech from touching Sarah that first night.
2. God appeared to Abimelech in a dream to warn him.
3. God told him how to fix his error.
D. The key here is that when informed of his sin, Abimelech repented
quickly. This left no lasting punishment upon him.
1. God never HAS to give mercy. God can always give judgment.
2. However, when we do not know what wrong is, God TENDS to show
us mercy.
E. Warnings:
1. Once we understand that we have sinned, if we do nothing about it,
mercy may begin to diminish.
a. \\#Ge 20:7\\ Look at what said He would do to Abimelech if
he did not return Sarah.
Ge 20:7 …live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die,
thou, and all that are thine.
b. To some extent, the wicked go on in their ignorance with
some measure of mercy from God.
Romans 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when
there is no law.
(1) That verse doesn’t mean an ignorant sinner can get by
with anything. It just means God tends to show mercy.
(2) However, it is the duty of the believers to tell the lost
what sin is, who God is, and what Jesus has done.
(3) When we do that, they immediately become fully
accountable for their sins.
Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound….
Romans 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died.
c. Someone might think that sinners are better off NOT KNOWING.
(1) Not so.
(2) They can’t get saved with the knowledge we have.
2. Even ignorant sin has serious consequences.
a. All sin has consequences and scars.
b. Sooner or later, sin will kill them whether they know what
is sin or not.
c. How many have wasted their youth, lost opportunities, made
terrible decisions, hurt their loved ones, and even ended
their life committed acts of ignorant sin?
d. Then, without a Mediator, damnation is sure.
II. \\#Luke 15:11-24\\ The prodigal son sinned but repented before he was
"caught."
A. Sadly, there are not a lot of examples of those who sinned and
repented. (Peter denying Christ is one.)
1. But for most, if they know it is a sin and they do it, they do
not intend on repenting.
2. This is actually a story and not a true example, but I believe
it gives us a good view of the Father’s reaction to our
repentance.
B. The father is a picture of God in this parable.
1. His son came to him with a repentant spirit and the father forgave
him.
2. Indeed, the father loved him, had a feast for him, and rejoiced
over his son’s return.
3. I believe that this is exactly what our heavenly Father does.
a. He forgives us.
b. He restores fellowship with us.
c. He rejoices with us in our return.
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
C. Of course, that didn’t mean that everything was as it once was.
1. The son had made some decisions in his sinful journey that were not
undone.
2. He had wasted his life, his health, and his wealth.
3. The conversation between the father and the elder son confirms
that the younger son received no restored status from the father.
Luke 15:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I
have is thine.
D. So we see that the ripples of sin are not stopped, but our relationship
with God does not have to be permanently damaged IF we repent quickly.
III. David sinned deliberately and did not repent until he was caught.
A. Without doubt, willful, stubborn, unrepented sin is the worst.
1. God could have killed David for his sins.
a. Death is the penalty we are all born under.
b. Anytime God wants, He may collect that debt.
c. Of course, David’s sin of adultery and murder essentially
re-issued that penalty. (The Law tells us that the penalty
for both of these sins is death.)
2. \\#2Sam 12:13\\ However, God showed mercy to David and sparred
his life.
a. You ask, "Why?"
b. Apparently the Lord did it for His own glory and purpose.
c. So God gave some measure of mercy and forgiveness to David.
B. But God also executed some measures of justice.
1. \\#9-10\\ For killing Uriah, God sent the sword into David’s house
for the remainder of his life.
a. That means although David will live, others in his family will
be hurt and die.
(1) We will see David’s own sentence being carried out in the
life of his family.
(2) In the story that Nathan made up, David—the king and
judge over Israel—determined that the man who stole
another’s only sheep should pay fourfold for what he
had taken.
(3) At least four of David’s family will pay for David’s sins.
b. Is that fair?
(1) Remember that God doesn’t make us do anything.
(a) Even though God is working in the lives of the
David’s family, each family member will be
exercising their own freewill and making their own
choices.
(b) Those choices will cause God’s judgments to come to
pass on them.
(c) Perhaps what David lost was God’s intervention to
keep bad things from happening.
i. I would think that God is always at work to
keep us on the right.
ii. Perhaps God just quick working in David’s family
and let sinful man do to himself what sinful
man does.
(d) Regardless, God judgment is carried out by what
David’s family does to itself.
(2) Remember, we are all born under the penalty of death.
(a) Some of these family members will die.
(b) When death comes "early," our tendency is to look
at the life we feel a person did not get to live.
(c) As hard as it is, we need to look at the years God
gave that weren’t deserved.
2. \\#10-11\\ For taking Uriah’s wife, God would give David’s wives
to another.
3. \\#11-12\\ For thinking that all of this could be done in secret,
God will make David’s judgment very public.
4. \\#14\\ For giving the enemies of God an occasion to blaspheme
God, the child conceived by David and Bathsheba would die.
(The account of the child’s death is recorded in the chapter
\\#2Sam 12:15-25\\.)
C. Remember the lesson.
1. It does matter what we do after we sin.
2. David was shown mercy, but it was less mercy than what one might
expect and desire.
3. Why? Because of who David was, what David had received, and what
David did after he sinned.
Our attitude to sin should always be the same. Stay away from it and when we do
get involved in it, turn from it as soon as possible.
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