God is Gracious But Sin Has Terrible Consequences - Ryan Fullerton

Praise be to God that He forgives our sins and that we won't have to go to hell for them. But this doesn't mean that there will not be fierce and severe consequences for our sin. God's forgiveness doesn't in any way nullify His discipline.

�MP3: https://illbehonest.com/download/excerpts/god-is-gracious-but-sin-has-terrible-consequences-fullerton.mp3

→ This excerpt is from the full sermon, "Secret Sins": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAstlFGY4FQ

→ Ryan Fullerton pastors in Louisville at: https://immanuelky.org/

Now we noted that God forgives.

Forgives so fully that David escapes death

and brings joy to his soul.

But there are consequences.

I cannot tell you that if you
come clean of your sin,

your wife won't leave you.

I cannot tell you that
your kids won't hate you.

That your boss won't fire you.

The government won't arrest you.

I cannot make you that promise.

God often allows dark consequences

to follow our sins.

I know a man who pressed on

for many years in pornography

and saw his wife die.

He felt her death was
God's discipline for his sin.

God may discipline you
terribly for your sin,

but it's still worth it to come clean.

You may lose everything,

but you'll have God.

(incomplete thought)

Second to finally,

David pleads and presses on.

Now what David does next is shocking.

He fasts and prays that God

would not inflict the fullness
of His discipline on him.

He fasts and prays for
the life of his child.

Chapter 12, verse 15,

"And the Lord afflicted the child

that Uriah's wife bore to David,

and he became sick.

David therefore sought God
on behalf of the child

and David fasted and went in

and lay all night on the ground.

And the elders of his
house stood beside him

to raise him from the
ground, but he would not,

nor did he eat food with them.

On the seventh day, the child died,

but the servants of David were afraid

to tell him that the child was dead,

for they said, 'Behold, while
the child was yet alive,

we spoke to him and he
did not listen to us.

How can we say to him the child is dead?

He may do himself some harm.'"

They thought David was suicidal.

"But when David saw that his servants

were whispering together,

David understood that the child was dead.

And David said to his servants,

'Is the child dead?'

They said, 'He is dead.'

Then David arose from the earth

and washed and anointed himself

and changed his clothes.

He went into the house of
the Lord and worshiped.

He then went to his
servants who said to him,

'What is this thing you have done?

You fasted and wept for the
child when he was alive,

but when the child died,
you arose and ate food.'

He said, 'While the child was alive,

I fasted and wept.

For I said who knows whether the Lord

will be gracious to me,

that the child may live.

But now he is dead.

Why should I fast?

Can I bring him back again?

I shall go to him,

but he will not return to me.'"

David's servants were confused by David,

and maybe you're confused by David too.

What's going on here?

They thought he was praying
and fasting out of grief.

But he was not primarily fasting

and praying out of grief.

He was fasting and praying for mercy.

He was hoping God would remove

some of the consequences.

Did you know you can do that?

If you come clean over your sin

and God disciplines you,

you can ask God to suspend the discipline.

In fact, I've seen God grant mercy

to so many disciplined
saints over the years.

I remember a young woman

who had lied to her school.

If I remember correctly,

she had cheated on a test

affecting her entrance requirements.

And as she came to know more

of God's holiness and grace,

she came clean, but she knew

she might be kicked out of her school.

We prayed and prayed

and God had mercy on her.

And when she told the
school administration,

they had mercy on her.

I remember a man who
was fired for lying at work.

We prayed for God to be merciful to him

as he came clean.

And he was given another job

by a different company that day.

Sometimes - many times - He does that.

He releases us from the discipline.

He does not treat us as our sins deserve.

I knew a man who by the
time he came to Christ

had such a damaged marriage

that it did not look like the
marriage could be saved.

Yet, he prayed and prayed,

and he would not take
his wedding ring off.

He prayed and prayed, but in the end,

he had to take off the wedding ring

because God did not restore the marriage.

But God still forgave his sins.

He was not treated as his sins deserved.

Can I say this to you this morning?

I have not been treated
as my sins deserve.

And you have not been treated, believer,

as your sins deserve.

Perhaps you have confessed some secret sin

sometime in the past

and the discipline has stayed.

God was being merciful to you.

How you should praise God

with shouts of hallelujah this morning

that God didn't reject you
and send you to hell,

but He kept you as His child.

And maybe you're here this
morning and you're like

I did get myself in a pickle.

I should have lost my marriage.

I should have lost my job.

But instead, God sustained even those.

We should have shouts of
hallelujah to the rooftops

for how God has preserved us

even in the midst of our sin.

Finally, God restores.

The last two paragraphs of this chapter

are fairly scandalous.

David is treated with
real, practical grace.

These paragraphs include two instances

of God being super-gracious to David.

Treating him the way we kind of get mad

when we see sinners treated.

Treating him well and lavishly.

It says that God gives David Bathsheba.

And then personally sends a note

where He decides what Bathsheba's son

will be named.

You talk about divine
intervention in your life.

It says in v. 24 of chapter 12,

"Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba

and went in to her and lay with her

and she bore a son

and he called his name Solomon,

and the Lord loved him

and sent a message by Nathan the prophet

so he called his name Jedidiah

because of the Lord."

You can imagine how much David

would have doubted the love of God

after all of God's discipline upon him.

And there he is standing with his new son

and Nathan comes - the same
one who had convicted him -

and slips him a note.

God has decided the
name of this new child.

What an assurance of God's
involvement in David's life;

God's love for David.

Now you might get all judgy

about David and Bathsheba

getting to have a happy marriage

after all the mess they were in,

but some of you started your relationship

with a bunch of fornication

before you were married

and lo and behold, God
still gave you to each other

and after you came clean of your sin,

He actually gave you a stable marriage.

Some of you He even gave kids.

Pretty amazing really.

And I know of people who
should not have gotten divorced.

The Bible after all seldom allows divorce.

And they should not have gotten remarried.

After all, the Bible really
speaks negatively

of remarriage after an unlawful divorce.

I know of people who have done that,

but lo and behold, God gave them grace

and sometimes even children.

We should not take stories like this

as an excuse to sin.

But if you've been blessed

after you came clean from sin,

then you have one more reason

to bless the Lord this morning,

and one more reason to come clean

if you've hidden sin in your life.

How can you hide sin against the God

who has been so gracious to you?