Secret Sins - Ryan Fullerton

I want to speak to you this morning

about secret sins.

And what I'm talking about is sins we hide

and we hope no one will know about,

or at least we hope no one who matters

will know about.

In a Christian, these sins -

sins that we hide -

painfully rub the conscience raw

and they eventually sear the conscience

so that it can no longer feel.

Secret sins may be responsible

for deflating your spiritual joy.

Secret sins not only do that,

but they drain our spiritual power

for life and ministry.

And secret sins also demolish

our spiritual fellowship.

It's amazing - you can
always be in community,

but if you're hiding something,

you will always feel alone

and never enjoy fellowship

from God's people.

Worst of all, secret sins
separate us from God.

In a Christian, secret sins

separate us from the
warmth of God's smile.

Now there are Christians
who stand in grace,

but because of secret sins
they're holding on to,

they never really feel the warmth

of God's love.

And of course, there are
many who are not Christians

and who won't become Christians

not because they have some religious

or philosophical objection to Christianity

but because they do not want to expose

their secret sins to the light.

As D. A. Carson put it

many people don't come to Jesus

not because they have some actual

philosophical disagreement
with Christianity,

but because they're
sleeping with their girlfriends.

Worst of all, there are those

who think they are Christians but are not.

They live a double life.

They're going to church.

They're playing the game,

but behind closed doors,

their lives are dominated by
secret sins in the present

or the memory of some
secret sin in the past.

And I want to first of all begin

by showing you how secret sins

are spoken of over and over in the Bible.

This is something that
afflicts God's people.

This is not something

that is a rare occurrence
among God's people.

This is something that God points out

repeatedly in His Word

because it's something that repeatedly

infects His people and drains their joy,

drains their fellowship,

and ends their effectiveness

and their praise in the world.

Proverbs tells us in Proverbs 28:13 -

and I'm going to go through a lot,

so you may jot them down,

but you won't be able
to get there in time.

Proverbs 28:13,

"Whoever conceals his transgression

will not prosper,

but he who confesses and forsakes them

will obtain mercy."

There's no good future for you

concealing secret sin,

but there's mercy ahead of you

if you will forsake it.

Secret sins we're told in Psalm 90:8

are known to God.

It says in Psalm 90:8,

"You set our iniquities before You;

our secret sins in the
light of God's presence."

Secret sins always catch up with us.

Numbers 32:23 -

this verse is haunting.

"The Lord said to Israel,

'Be sure your sin will find you out.'"

There's no way to cover.

There's nowhere in the universe

that you can dig a hole deep enough

that God won't know everything you've done

and can't unearth it anytime He chooses.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:36-37,

"I tell you on the day of judgment

people will give an account

for every careless word they speak.

For by your words you will be justified

and by your words you will be condemned."

In other words, by how we speak

it will be proven that we
were truly children of God.

Or, by our words, it will be proven

that we weren't at all.

You might think, well, this is the Gospel.

Under the Gospel there's no more

dealing with secret sins,

but actually Paul tells us in Romans 2:16

that "according to his Gospel,

God judges the secrets
of men by Christ Jesus."

Jesus does not ignore our secret sins.

He has actually been appointed

the end time Judge of
all of our secret sins.

And of course, you and I don't know

each other's secret sins.

You and I don't know

who this sermon might be meant for;

who it might point out.

Of course, it's meant for all of us,

because even if God has
allowed you to come clean

of every single secret sin in your life,

you are to be the bed of mercy

that those whose sins are exposed

get to lay down on and find grace

in their time of need.

But we don't know each other's secret sins

and the Bible tells us that.

It tells us in 1 Timothy 5:24

some people's sins are obvious,

going before them to judgment.

But the sins of others surface later.

But they do always surface.

Ananias and Sapphira's lying

about how much they gave

surfaced in a matter of a few hours.

David's sin with Bathsheba surfaced

over the course of a few months.

Judas' stealing from
Jesus and the Apostles

didn't surface for years,

but eventually it did surface.

And we're told there's coming

a day of judgment

where every single thing
that's private and hidden

will become public and out in the open.

So there is no secret sin in the universe

that will not in due time be open

and laid bare before the entire world.

Now I want to be used this morning

by the Holy Spirit for your good.

I want to be used by the Holy Spirit

to uncover secret sins.

And I'm not going to name
anyone's names this morning.

It's not my job to from the pulpit

point to someone who
I think is keeping a secret.

Rather, I'm going to trust
that the Holy Spirit

will do His work.

You remember what we're told His work is?

John 16:8-9, "When He comes,

He will convict the world about sin,

righteousness, and judgment."

It's my hope that before

some incident comes into your life

that reveals something
going on in your life,

it's my hope that before
the last day dawns

and all is exposed, the Holy Spirit

would apply a gentle and
sweet and powerful

upward pressure to bring
anything inside out

and to allow us to confess our sins,

because when we confess our sins,

we are told over and
over in the Scriptures,

we will find mercy.

I promise you that no matter what sin

might even be brought to your mind now

as I've been speaking,

bringing it out will be less painful

than keeping it in.

In fact, bringing it out

will bring you a future you never thought

could be as good as it will be

because God meets with secret sins -

He meets with all sins with His mercy

and His grace.

And I want to speak to you this morning

about this from a very famous story -

the story of King David,
the king of Israel,

and his adulterous affair with Bathsheba.

And I'm going to tell you this story

under five headings.

First, David sins and scrambles.

Second, God knows and exposes.

Third, God forgives and disciplines.

Fourth, David pleads and presses on.

And finally, God restores.

And so let's begin first with
David sins and scrambles.

1 Samuel 11:1,

"In the spring of the year,

the time when kings go out to battle,

David sent Joab and his servant with him

and all Israel.

And they ravaged the Ammonites

and besieged Rabbah,

but David remained at Jerusalem."

Israel was a land that was promised peace

and victory over her enemies.

This is going to become important
actually in my last point.

They were promised that they would

be able to destroy their
enemies around them

and have peace in the land.

And it was the custom that in the spring -

of course when the weather was better -

that that's when kings went out to war.

And notice the author points out

that that's when "kings" went out to war.

But the king in this story - King David -

we're told decided he was
going to sit this one out;

that he'd had enough years of war,

and he would just send a general

to handle the skirmishes
that were happening

on Israel's eastern front.

And what we have here is an instance

that reminds us that very often

where sin enters into our lives

is when we're not taking our place

on the front lines of the battlefield

that God has placed us in.

It's very common that the place

sin comes into our life

is when we're avoiding the battle

that God has called us into.

We're told in 1 Timothy 5:13

that there was a bunch of widows

who really should have gotten remarried

sooner than they had,

but because they refused to get remarried

they became idlers going about

from house to house,

and not only idlers, but also gossips,

busybodies, saying what they should not.

It's amazing how much
trouble you can get in

when you slip back from the front lines

of the battle God has placed you in.

It's amazing how much trouble

you can get yourself in

browsing the Internet at work

when you should be working,

or gossiping on Marco Polo or iMessage

when you should be washing the dishes.

Neglecting what we are called to do

is one of the great places

sin will slip into our lives.

And all of this is one more
proof of the old expression:

idle hands are the devil's playground.

And so there's David.

Not doing what he should be doing.

Idling around on the roof of his castle.

And in v. 2 we read,

"It happened late one afternoon

when David arose from his couch

and was walking on the
roof of the king's house,

that he saw from the roof a woman bathing.

And the woman was very beautiful.

And David sent and inquired
about the woman.

And one said, 'Is this not Bathsheba?

The daughter of Eliam?

The wife of Uriah the Hittite?'

So David sent messengers and took her

and she came to him

and he lay with her.

Now she had been purifying herself

from her uncleanness.

Then she returned to her house."

David must have been used to the power

of being a king.

When you're a king, you see, you decide,

you speak, and things happen.

And as you read the text you
notice that's what goes on.

He saw.

He sent.

She was taken.

She came.

He lay with her.

She went home.

As one commentator pointed out

David is the actor.

David is in control.

David gets what he wants.

And it's amazing what we can get

from all of our control.

It's probably important to
notice that all David got

was one brief moment of passion.

Here for a moment and then gone.

And I want to know if you are
holding on to secret sin,

are you getting anything more

than a brief fleeting moment of pleasure

from what you're holding on to.

And if you held on to it and no one

ever found out about it -

in fact, if you got the
whole world of pleasure,

would it be anything
compared to your soul?

Anyway, all would have been fine

humanly speaking if that
was all that happened.

Bathsheba and David might have

run into each other later on,

exchanged furtive glances,

but everything would have been hidden.

But sin has an amazing way

of sticking its head up
and revealing itself.

You notice that Bathsheba

sends a note to David

saying, "I am pregnant."

So she was going to change
into maternity clothes

and announce to all of Israel

that somebody got her pregnant.

And of course, the folks in the palace

would begin to whisper

about exactly who "somebody" had been.

And that's how life works.

A drug addiction shows up

in the withdrawals in the bank statement.

Embezzlement shows up

when fresh eyes look at the books.

Abuse shows up when someone gets a bruise

makeup can't hide.

Anger says, "I was here,"

when it leaves a hole in the wall.

Laziness and lack of self-discipline

are exposed when the
report card comes home.

And of course, adultery is
revealed by pregnancy.

"And the woman conceived

and she sent and told
David, 'I am pregnant.'"

David had sinned, and
Bathsheba's growing belly

was going to rat him out all over town.

So David scrambles.

He knows he will use that kingly authority

that brought Bathsheba to him

to bring Bathsheba's husband back home

from the front lines.

And David thinks: aha, there's a plan!

I'll bring a soldier back home

and that soldier will do what soldiers do

when they get back home to their wife

for a night of furlough.

He'll go home to be with Bathsheba,

and then she'll be pregnant

and I'll be off the hook.

They'll ask who the kid looks like.

They'll decide: must look like Bathsheba.

And all will be clear for David.

His sin will stay secret.

Verse 6, "So David sent word to Joab,

'Send me Uriah the Hittite.'

And Joab sent Uriah to David.

When Uriah came to him,

David asked how Joab was doing

and how the people were doing

and how the war was going..."

A little small talk for Uriah

like he was home as a messenger.

"Then David said to Uriah,

'Go down to your house

and wash your feet.'

And Uriah went out of the king's house

and there followed him

a present from the king."

Now David, I imagine,

felt one of two ways at this moment.

One, he probably felt quite clever.

He was sending the soldier home

to be with his wife.

All will be hidden.

But we actually know from Psalm 32

that he felt another way.

Psalm 32 is a poem that David wrote

about how horrible he felt

during this time of hiding his sin.

Psalm 32 says,

"For when I kept silent

my bones wasted away,

through my groaning all day.

For day and night,

Your hand was heavy upon me.

My strength was dried up

as by the heat of summer."

So here's David, clever and cunning,

and dying on the inside.

I wonder if there are any others here

who feel the same way.

But then David runs into a problem.

Uriah is a nobler man at this point

than David is.

He won't go to sleep with his wife.

He says, hey, while the ark of God,

which was the symbol of God's presence

is on the battlefield -

and while my buddies from my platoon

are risking their lives
and sleeping in tents,

I'm not going home to be with my wife.

And so he sleeps on the palace floor

and refuses to go home to Bathsheba.

And David thinks, well,
what am I going to do?

So he has strategy number 2.

He says, well, Uriah, stick
around one more night.

And David, this man after God's own heart

gets Uriah drunk.

Because if a soldier won't
go home to his wife,

well, I tell you one guy who will -

a drunk soldier will go home to his wife.

The passage says,

"But Uriah slept at the
door of the king's house

with all the servants of his lord,

and did not go down to his house.

When they told David Uriah did not

go down to his house,

David said to Uriah,

'Have you not come from a journey?

Why did you not go down to your house?'

(v. 11) Uriah said to David,

'The ark and Israel and Judah

dwell in booths (that's tents),

and my lord Joab and
the servants of my lord

are camping in open field.

Shall I then go down to my house

to eat and to drink
and to lie with my wife?

As you live, as your soul lives,

I will not do this thing.'

Then David said to Uriah,

'Remain here today also,

and tomorrow I will send you back.'

So Uriah remained in Jerusalem

that day and the next,

and David invited him, and he ate

in the presence and drank

so that he made him drunk.

In the evening, he went out

to lie on his couch with
the servants of his lord,

but he did not go down to his house."

David had been thwarted.

He had run up against the power

that all men in sin hate -

the power of a moral man.

A man of conviction.

A man whose heart is gripped

by the fear of the Lord.

If you find that men and
women of deep conviction

frustrate your plans and get in your way,

there's a good chance you are driven

by covering up a secret sin.

Anyway, the scramble continues.

And it always does.

Sin never stays stagnant.

You may think that you're
just dabbling in something

and that you control it.

That is not the biblical
picture of sin at all.

If you are dabbling in something

you have no idea how
deep that sin will take you.

Do you think for your life

that David thought,
"I'll murder this spring"?

He just thought he was staying home.

But once sin has got its hook in our cheek

it can reel us in into
the depths of depravity

beyond what we ever thought possible.

The Bible tells us that
sin is progressive.

2 Timothy 3:13,

"Evil men (evil people) and impostors

go from bad to worse."

Romans 6:19 - Lawlessness
leads to more lawlessness.

Looking at ladies in bikinis
leads to harder porn.

You cuss once and you blush

and eventually you find yourself

swearing like a sailor without noticing.

You don't report your tips at tax time

and pretty soon you find yourself

comfortable stealing from the store.

Sin hardens and advances.

Can I ask you this?

If you're hiding a sin,

have you ever had to sin more to hide it?

And if you've hardened your heart

to sin and to hide it,

how do you know you'll be able to stop?

What if you keep hardening yourself?

Maybe you will find yourself doing things

you never dreamed that
you were capable of.

Sin demands more

and hidden sin demands
more sin to cover it,

and eventually, David, the
man after God's own heart,

arranges a murder of Uriah.

You think David ever dreamed

he would become a murderer?

Verse 14,

"In the morning David wrote a letter

to Joab (that's the general)

and sent it by the hand of Uriah."

Uriah is holding in his hand

his own death warrant.

That's calloused.

"In the letter he wrote,

'Set Uriah in the forefront
of the hardest fighting

and then draw back from him

that he may be struck down and die.'

And as Joab was besieging the city,

he assigned Uriah to the place

where he knew were valiant men.

And the men of the city came out

and fought with Joab,

and some of the servants of
David among the people fell.

Uriah the Hittite also died.

Then Joab sent and told David

all the news about the fighting."

And David gets the
news that Uriah is dead.

The scramble is over.

The deed is covered.

David gives Bathsheba a minute to mourn

and then he marries the poor widow.

Verse 26,

"When the wife of Uriah heard

that Uriah her husband was dead,

she lamented her husband.

And when the mourning was over,

David sent and brought her to his house

and she became his wife

and bore him a son."

The scramble worked.

We'll just tell people the baby
was born a little premature.

The conscience is still screaming,

but at least his sin is
not going to scream

into the city streets

when Bathsheba starts
wearing maternity clothes.

David can rest.

Except that David had forgotten -

or should I say suppressed

and swept under the rug of his mind

the fact that God knows

and God exposes.

Listen to this haunting last verse.

In verse 27, last part of the verse,

"And she became his wife

and bore him a son

(everything's covered),

but the thing that David had done

displeased the Lord."

There is nothing more foolish in the world

than hiding sin.

You are hiding sin from the One

for whom there is no darkness.

Psalm 139 - even the darkness

is as light to Him.

There's no place you can hide before God.

He knit you together in your mother's womb

and He knows the day of your death.

Before a word is on your mouth,

He knows it completely.

There's no hiding from God.

Isaiah 29:15,

"Woe to those who go to great depths

to hide their plans from the Lord

who do their work in darkness

and think, 'Who sees us? Who will know?'"

Proverbs 5:21,

"Your ways are in full view of the Lord,

and He examines all your paths."

Hebrews 4:13,

"Nothing in all creation is
hidden from God's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare

before the eyes of Him to whom

we must give an account."

If you fear your wife's anger so much

that you could never
tell her what you've done,

then you have a super shallow view of God.

If you legitimize not telling your wife

about your infidelity because you

love her so much,

you have a terribly shallow view of God.

If you're more worried about
displeasing your parents

than your God,

then you have a very small

and unbiblical view of God.

If you think your boss's anger

or losing your job is worse

than God's discipline or God's wrath

then you need a greater vision of God.

David had forgotten God.

God had seen and God was displeased.

That is all that matters.

Immanuel, if we are not a people

who deal before the face of God,

then we are not God's people.

If we are not a people who understand

that all we do and have done and will do

happens before the face of God,

and the most important thing in our lives

is to deal with that God in integrity

and truth and openness,

then we are not the people of God.

We are simply one more
dead church on the corner.

Now what God does to David is amazing.

He does not strike him dead.

Both adultery and murder

were worthy of capital punishment,

of the death penalty

in Old Testament Israel.

But instead of striking David dead,

God begins to pursue him with mercy.

He sends his most powerful weapon

to slice open David's heart

and to surgically expose and remove

the secret sin.

God sends His Word.

He sent it through a man -

a prophet named Nathan.

He sent Nathan to tell a story -

a story that would draw out David's heart

and in the process expose David's sin.

2 Samuel 12:1,

"And the Lord sent Nathan to David."

David did not choose
to expose his own sin.

God came to get him out of mercy.

"He came to him and said to him,

'There were two men in a certain city.

The one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had very
many flocks and herds,

but the poor man had nothing

but one little ewe lamb

which he had bought.

And he brought it up and it grew up

with him and with his children.

It used to eat of his morsel,

drink from his cup,

and lie in his arms.

It was like a daughter to him."

Now, I'm not usually a fan

of giving your pets your last name,

but it does look like
that's what happened here.

This was like a daughter to this man.

His one little ewe lamb.

"Now there came a
traveler to the rich man,

and he was unwilling to take

one of his own flock or herd

to prepare for the guest
who had come to him,

but he took the poor man's lamb

and prepared it for the
man who had come to him."

You know, you've got to
keep your resources secure.

You can't be draining away your assets.

I know, I'll just abscond this man's

one poor little lamb.

And he turns this daughter
of a lamb into lamb chops

and cooks it for his rich friend.

"Then David's anger was greatly kindled

against the man.

And he said to Nathan,

'As the Lord lives,

the man who has done this deserves to die,

and he shall restore the lamb fourfold

because he did this thing

and because he has had no pity.'"

Nathan's story has worked

like a Trojan horse.

He has snuck in to convict David.

If he had come into the room of man

who is now an adulterer,
a liar, and a murderer,

and he had just said, "You're a liar,

a murderer, and an adulterer,"

his words would probably

have bounced off of David's
heart and conscience.

But he came with a story

that ignited all of David's
old righteous passions.

David knew that a rich man

who takes a poor man's only treasure

is an evil man.

So now Nathan on behalf of God

pulls the line in to set the hook.

He says in v. 7,

"Nathan said to David,

'You are the man.'

Thus says the Lord the God of Israel,

'I anointed you king over Israel

and I delivered you
out of the hand of Saul

and I gave you your master's house

and your master's wives into your arms,

and gave you the house
of Israel and of Judah.

And if this were too little,

I would add to you as much more.

Why have you despised

the Word of the Lord

to do what is evil in His sight?

You have struck down Uriah the Hittite

with the sword

and taken his wife to be your wife

and have killed him with the sword

of the Ammonites.'"

Now I realize as I read that

you might be troubled by the idea

of God giving David a harem.

And I can't get into that in this sermon,

but I'll just refer you to the
sermons on Deuteronomy

which reminds us how much God overlooked

the hardness of heart in Israel

even as He was getting to the main point

of His salvation.

But what you see here is that God

mounts up the accusation against David.

I had given you everything.

I had treated you like gold.

And now you have hated My Word

and you have despised Me.

He doesn't say that David
had a hard moment

and He understands the
pressures of being king.

Sin is the despising of God's Word.

Sin is when we ignore God

and rebel against Him.

Now, let me mention just a few things here

before we move on in this story.

First, it is a great act of love

when God exposes sin.

It almost never feels like
that when it's happening.

Not to me. Not to you.

But it is a great act of love

when God exposes sin.

He could have let David go in his sin.

That is what God did with King Saul.

When King Saul sinned against God,

God said, "I'm done
with you. That was it."

But He told David in 2 Samuel 7,

"My steadfast love will
not depart from you

as it did to Saul."

And now when David sins,

God doesn't reject him and throw him away.

He comes after him to expose his sin.

Judas betrayed Jesus

and Jesus let Judas go.

But Peter betrayed Jesus as well,

and Jesus wouldn't let Peter go.

He came along and exposed Peter's sins.

That's what He does
with all of His people.

That's what He does with
His covenant children,

His chosen ones, His elect -

is even if they fall

and they sin against His grace,

He comes and gets them in grace

to bring them back to Himself

even in the midst of their hidden sin.

He wants to expose you

so He can restore you.

He wants to lead you to repentance, yes,

but to faith too.

He wants to show you that
you have displeased Him,

yes, but so He can please
you with His grace.

Let that truth overwhelm any desire

to go on in hidden sin.

All of the promises you may make yourself

that hiding your sin will
be better for you are lies

and they are utterly, utterly foolish

compared to God's promises to do you good

if you come clean.

Secondly, notice that God can

literally move mountains

to expose our sins.

David had covered this thing up.

It was done. He had done it.

He'd fixed it.

The only people who knew

were the servants of the royal throneroom

and they could be easily
disposed of if need be.

But God had other resources.

He still does.

In the New Testament church

when Ananias and Sapphira were lying

about how generous they were to the church

God gave a prophetic word to Peter

so he knew they were lying

and He exposed them.

We're told in 1 Corinthians that sometimes

unbelievers would come
into the church gatherings

and God would give prophetic words

that would expose even the
sins of those unbelievers.

We're told an unbeliever,
outsider, enters.

Then he is convicted by all.

He is called to account by all.

All the secrets of his heart are disclosed

and so falling on his face,

he will worship God and declare

that God is really among you.

God has everything at His disposal.

I heard of a pastor once
who was in an affair

and while hugging his lover,

he pocket-dialed his wife

and she heard him talking to his lover.

God moved circumstances to expose him.

I know a pastor who was stealing sermons,

but one week when he was preaching them,

a man who had been there

when those original sermons
were originally preached,

that man was there watching
the pastor steal sermons

and he showed up and he knew

and he said something.

What are the chances?

How many men were cheating on their wives

thinking no one would ever know

when the Ashley Madison website got hacked

and all of those names
were printed publicly?

Don't think you can hide from God.

And don't think He can't expose you.

Even if it's true that
no one knows your sin,

God can give a prophetic word to someone

to expose that sin.

There is no possible way
in the universe to hide.

But even if you did hide

until the day of your death,

God has planned a day where He will bring

all things to light.

And there will be no hiding then.

And why get caught then?

When it's too late?

When the judgment day has been sealed?

When your destiny in hell is sealed?

When you could come clean now?

And receive mercy and grace in this life

and for eternity?

If you look like a fool
and a wicked sinner

for the rest of your life,

wouldn't it be worth it if you

were counted righteous in eternity?

In fact, why not model

your response to God's
exposure after David's?

Look at chapter 12:13,

"David said to Nathan,

'I have sinned against the Lord.'"

Verse 13 of chapter 12.

"David said to Nathan,

'I have sinned against the Lord.'"

No if's. No and's. No but's.

No excuses.

Just a simple confession:

Yes, I agree with what I
have been accused of.

I have sinned against the Lord.

It is a miracle when
anyone says those words.

It is an absolute miracle
of the Holy Spirit

when anyone says those words.

And the only words more miraculous

than those words are
then the following words:

"And Nathan said to David,

'The Lord also has put away your sin.

You shall not die.'"

Christian, that is what is
over your whole life.

The Lord has put away your sin.

You shall not die.

But if you hold on to your sin and hide it

how do you even know you're a Christian?

The mark of a Christian
is that they come clean.

If we say we have no sin,

we deceive ourselves

and the truth is not in us.

But if we confess our sins,

He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins

and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.

Oh, in Psalm 32, David doesn't just say

that his bones are drying up

when he hides his sins.

He also says,

"Blessed is the one whose
transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom
the Lord counts no iniquity

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

For day and night, Your
hand was heavy upon me.

My strength dried up as
in the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to You.

I did not cover my iniquity.

I said I will confess my
transgressions to the Lord

and You forgave the iniquity of my sin."

That's what God does

primarily through His Son Jesus Christ

who died on the cross out in the open

to pay for all sins - even hidden sins

that we will bring into the light

of His presence.

God disciplines and forgives.

Now we would be remiss if we
did not notice something.

God disciplines David.

He forgives him, yes,
a thousand times yes.

But there are terrible consequences.

Verse 10 of chapter 12,

"Now therefore, the
sword shall never depart

from your house because
you have despised Me

and taken the wife of Uriah
the Hittite to be your wife."

If you've ever read the Old Testament,

man, this royal lineage
is always fighting.

They're always fighting

because of the
consequences of David's sin.

The sword never
departed from David's house.

"Thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will

raise up evil against you

out of your own house,

and I will take your wives
before your eyes

and give them to your neighbor,

and he shall lie with your wives
in the sight of the sun."

In other words, the wives
that David has had,

now they will be ravished in public

all bringing shame down on David's head.

"For you did it secretly,

but I will do this thing before all Israel

and before the sun."

David's house will know war.

David will be shamed as
his wives are ravished

and as other men to do David's wives

as David did to Uriah's.

It's going to be grim.

And in fact, it gets worse.

We're told, "Nevertheless,

because by this deed you
have utterly scorned the Lord,

the child who is born to you shall die."

Severe, severe discipline.

The New Testament describes

the discipline of the Lord as a scourging.

It describes it as the
hacking off of a limb

when a tree is clipped

of its most precious limbs.

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?

Now we won't skip
over this last paragraph.

You might look at it and say
this is just military details.

The chapter ends with military details.

Like what on earth is the Bible doing?

Ending the story of David and Bathsheba

with military details?

I think I'm out of time to read them,

but I'll tell you what they say.

They say that David went to that war

that he should have
been at in the first place

and he won it decisively.

And we shouldn't just see a won war here.

We should see that
God is restoring his king

to the rightful place of victory.

God had promised Israel peace.

He had promised Israel victory.

And when the king clears
the sin out of his life,

the victory returns to Israel.

And the same is true for God's church.

When we tolerate sin in our midst,

we lose our spiritual power.

We lose our spiritual effectiveness.

We lose God's blessing on the work we do.

But when we confess our sins,

we become useful to God again.

Paul told Timothy,

"If anyone cleanses himself

from what is dishonorable,

he will be a vessel for honorable use,

set apart as holy,

useful to the master of the house,

ready for every good work."

Beloved, we should clear
out sin in our midst

because it not only affects

our effectiveness and our ministry

to our friends, our roommates,

our co-workers, our children,

and our families,

but it also destroys the
work of God among us.

There's a story of
D.L. Moody, the evangelist.

And Moody tells the story like this:

Moody was used to seeing
about one person saved a day,

and often many people saved

through his evangelistic ministries.

And he says, "I remember one town

that Mr. Sankey (that
was his worship leader) -

I remember one town that
Mr. Sankey and I visited.

For a week, it seemed as if

we were beating the air.

There was no power in the meetings.

At last, one day, I said that perhaps

there was someone cultivating

the unforgiving spirit.

The chairman of our committee

was sitting next to me,

got up and left the meeting

right in view of the audience.

The arrow had hit the mark.

He had had trouble with someone

for about six months.

He at once hunted up this man

and asked him to forgive him.

He came to me with tears in his eyes

and said, 'I thank God
you ever came here.'"

That night the inquiry room

where people came to be saved

was thronged.

Wouldn't it be a glorious thing

if every single member of Immanuel

that may be holding on to secret sin

came clean?

We don't always have to
tell the whole congregation.

The Bible shows us that sin can be

limited in its confession to the people

who are affected.

But if you've sinned against someone -

and lust includes sinning
against your wife -

if you've sinned against someone,

then not only does God need to know

and be confessed to,

but that someone needs to know

and be confessed to as well.

And if you confess your sins,

you will know a refreshing

and a restoration from God's power.

You will know a fresh
outpouring of God's Spirit.

We as a people will
know a fresh outpouring

of evangelistic zeal and power

even in our own midst.

I'll leave you with one
verse from Psalm 32.

In Psalm 32, not only did God

dry up David's bones

when he sinned and kept it hidden;

and not only did God forgive David

and restore him to joy

when he came clean;

but David also says in Psalm 32,

"I acknowledged my sin to you.

I did not cover my iniquity.

I said I will confess my
transgression to the Lord.

You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Therefore let everyone who is godly

offer prayer to You at a time
that You may be found.

Surely in the rush of great
waters they shall not reach him.

You are a hiding place for me.

You preserve me from troubles.

You surround me with
shouts of deliverance.

I will instruct you and teach you

in the way you should go.

I will counsel you with My eye upon you."

David says that when he was forgiven,

it actually resulted in him praising God

and calling other people to call on God.

That is what God will do in our midst

when secret sin is uprooted.

When it stays lodged, we're bound

for dryness at best,

and deadness at worst.

But when it comes out, we are promised

fresh, fresh springs of new life.

Let's pray.

Father, You have been good to me

to expose sin

when I've held on to it too long.

I have watched You over the years

be good to Your saints,

to expose their sin sometimes even

in very surprising ways.

Lord God, I want to pray that You

would be good to every member of Immanuel

and every visitor who's here,

to help them by the Holy Spirit

to expose their own sins to the light

and to feel your grace and mercy.

And then Lord God, I also pray

that You would make us
who hear sins forgiven

to be a gracious and merciful people

knowing we have had
our sins forgiven as well.

We pray this in Jesus' name.