David's Journey: Sin, Repentance, and Divine Mercy

And since David is the author of that psalm, in order for us to understand the intensity of the passion that he is expressing in that psalm, I want to look a little bit at the man who wrote the psalm and the circumstances under which this psalm was originally composed. [00:01:19]

David is also remembered for being one of the worst offenders of the Law of God in Biblical history. That David’s fall into sin is as dramatic as his great exploits were in the other direction. And we read of that case in his history where, while he was, uh, king, he went out onto his balcony of his palace, and he looked across the way, and he saw this beautiful woman bathing on her rooftop, assuming that she was bathing in private. [00:03:47]

David was so intoxicated with his affections for this woman that even though the woman was married to another man, David would not let that stop him from gratifying his own desire. And so this obstacle to his affection, this husband of Bathsheba was one of the loyal servants in David’s army. [00:05:00]

David had Uriah setup, so that Uriah, while he was defending David, was killed. And still David continues his relationship with this woman, until God sends His messenger to David, and we read of that account in the 12th chapter of II Samuel, where the text reads as follows, “Then the Lord sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said to him, ‘There were two men in one city...’” [00:05:44]

David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘as the Lord lives...’” He swears and oath here. “As the Lord lives the man who has done this shall surely die. And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” He was a thief. He robbed from a poor man. [00:07:59]

And then Nathan said to David, “You are the man. Thou art the man, David. And thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel. I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping. I gave you the whole house of Israel and of Judah, and if that had been too little, David, I also would have given you much more. [00:09:18]

And thus I will raise up adversity against you, from your own house, from your own son. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor and he shall lie with your wives in the light of the sun. You did it secretly David, but I will do all of this thing before all of Israel before the sun.” [00:13:02]

This is not an isolated experience in human corruption, ladies and gentlemen. We are the people. We are the men. We are the woman who are guilty of this same kind of behavior. Of nurturing sin and staying with that sin, and saying within ourselves, and saying all ways in which we can justify it, and make our evil sound like it’s actually good. [00:15:15]

That’s the way he was thinking, until God sent Nathan. ‘Til God came with the word of God, and the word of God was accompanied by the Spirit of God, because it is the Spirit of God who along with the word of God that has the power to use the sword to slice into your soul and to divide between bone and marrow, and to convict you of righteousness and of sin. [00:18:44]

God does not convict people of sin in order to destroy them. God convicts people of sin in order to heal them. In order to restore them. In order to bring them to himself. And this is what happens to David. When David listens to the parable first he responds in anger to this mythical person that Nathan had just spoken of. [00:20:05]

David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” I did it Nathan. You’re right Nathan. I am the man. See, already, the fruit of repentance is being formed in the soul of David before he ever picks up the pen to write Psalm 51. He is already responding as a godly man to the confrontation of the prophet. [00:20:57]

David you know the penalty for this is death. God has you on two counts of capital crime here: adultery, and proxy murder. And God would be perfectly just to slay you at this moment. But God is not going to kill you. He is going to temper his justice with mercy. But there will be consequences David. [00:21:57]