Down, But Not Out Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. King David's lust burned for Bathsheba, another man's wife.

A baby was conceived, and a king ended up sanctioning murder to cover up a scandal. David admitted his sin, sought forgiveness, and found restoration with God. So can any of us who has sinned sexually. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, King David was one man who clearly needed to have his soul restored. And you know, Dave, the remarkable thing is that somehow David lived with a troubled conscience for quite a while. I can't help but think that today we're talking to people out there whose consciences trouble them because of issues that have never been dealt with, that have never been forgiven.

And David, yes, sought forgiveness, and he received it. My wife, Rebecca, and I have written a book entitled Life-Changing Bible Verses You Should Know. This book deals with many different issues, including issues such as guilt and forgiveness and sensuality.

So it even relates directly to what we're talking about today. Now for a gift of any amount, this book can be yours. Ask for the book Life-Changing Bible Verses You Should Know. And of course, I have to give you info as to how you can connect with us.

Simply call 1-888-218-9337, or you can go to rtwoffer.com. Running to Win exists to help you to make it all the way to the finish line. Now let us listen carefully as we think of the story of a man who loved God but sinned greatly, but in the midst of it found forgiveness and grace. King David is the last man we would expect to see in such a mess. On the one hand, he lures a woman to bed.

She becomes pregnant, and then he becomes a murderer to cover his sin. Well, as you know, this is a series of messages and the last of the series entitled Restoring the Soul, Healing in an Age of Brokenness. And today, very briefly, we're going to look into the life of David, and we're going to see the state of his soul, how he got where he was, but also how God delivered him and lifted him at the end of his life. We're going to see David in the mud, but we're also going to see David walk on marble because our emphasis is on the restoration of the soul.

David discovered that it was much easier for him to fight Goliath than it was to fight his passions. Our passage of scripture is 2 Samuel 11. 2 Samuel 11, and the details of the story are known to you. It says in verse 2, Now when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. It says David saw, and he acted on what he saw.

As David saw this woman, his desires were awakened. And it's interesting that there are things that he didn't see, and we want to emphasize those, as he gazed at her contemplating in his heart what he would eventually do. What he did not see is the loss of four sons. He did not see the guilt, he did not see the shame, he did not see the remorse, and he did not see the disintegration of his kingdom and how his wives would laugh at him and mock at him. He did not see that. That was hidden from his sight. Nor at that moment did David see God. It wasn't that David was angry with God, it's just that God was not a part of what was happening now. God he would deal with later.

This was an issue that needed some immediate attention. I want you to know that there on the rooftop, that would have been the easiest opportunity for David to back out of what he was contemplating. Think of how different his life had been if he had prayed and said, oh God, I thank you for this beautiful woman.

I thank you that you created her, but she belongs to a man by the name of Uriah. I pray that you might mightily bless their marriage, and then he should have turned around and gone back into the house. But David did not do that. As he was looking at her, he was in effect cutting an anchor that would lead him into a river whose side and speed was continually increasing, and soon the consequences of what he had done would be totally out of his hands. But he didn't see that.

He only saw her. And so the Bible says he sent messengers to call for her. I wonder what he told the messengers to say to her. Maybe he said, well, you know, one of the things that we have is we're all so busy, we don't get time to know our neighbors.

So, you know, there's certain community projects that we can work on here. And what I want to do is to talk to Bathsheba about the possibility of heading up a committee in our neighborhood. Whatever it was, the Bible says that he sent messengers, and then he took her and he lay with her. And lo and behold, sometime later, she sent him a note and said, I'm pregnant, signed B. And somehow this casual affair between two consenting adults was not quite as casual as David had thought it might be. Now, what should David have done in a situation like that?

Well, ideally, what he should have done is to call Uriah from battle and say, Uriah, I'm going to tell you the truth about what happened. The child that your wife is bearing is my child. Then they could have discussed some custody issues and worked out the best arrangement possible. You say, well, Pastor Lutzer, there's no way in the world.

I mean, who in the world would ever do that? But the choice that David now made would be far worse, and the consequences literally unending. Well, now we turn to the cover up.

The cover up begins, and the cover up actually is in three stages. And I'm going to assume that you know this story because I'm only giving you what the text says, and what you need to do is to read it on your own. But David brings Uriah home from the battlefield, and what he wants Uriah to do is to go home and to sleep with Bathsheba, his wife, so that Uriah will think that the child is his.

That's plan A. And he brings Uriah back home, but Uriah will not go home to see his wife. He's there at the door of the king's palace, and he's saying, you know, how can I possibly do this when there are so many men dying on the battlefield? And his loyalty prevented him from enjoying an evening with his wife, even though David sent some presents along so that it would be a very romantic atmosphere. Uriah doesn't do it.

Plan B, get him drunk. So the text tells us in chapter 11 in verse 12, David said to Uriah, stay here today and tomorrow I will let you go. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem, and David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. And in the evening he went to lie on his bed with his Lord's servants, but Uriah would not go down into his house.

What are you going to do with a guy like this? He's a better man drunk than David is sober. Plan C. David writes a note to Joab, the military commander, and says, Joab, I want you to put Uriah in the hottest battle, and when it's really fierce, withdraw from him so that he dies. He takes this and he puts it into an envelope of some type, seals it, gives it to Uriah, and trusts Uriah not to open it, and that it is given to Joab. And Joab does exactly as David requests. He's a good military man who takes orders, and then he sends a messenger to David that says, you know, the battle was very hot, and Uriah was fighting, and Uriah is dead. And David hears the messenger and basically says, well, you know, that's the way war is. You win some, you lose some.

Life is tough. So then Bathsheba is brought into the palace after that little bit of messiness has been taken care of. Bathsheba is brought into the palace and she becomes another one of David's wives, and everything from here on is sweetness and light because the cover-up was really, really successful. Well, no.

How successful was it? Well, who all knows the truth? Bathsheba knows. Joab knows. The servants know.

They can count to nine. We know. Millions of people know. David is famous for his cover-up. Even people who don't know anything else about the life of David know about his adultery and the murder that he got involved in. I mean, everybody knows. Millions know. David knows.

But there's something else that is more important than all that. God knows. And that's why you have this chapter ending, and I'm reading only the last phrase of chapter 11, the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Wow. God knew the truth. Well, let's look at David now, and let's consider his restoration. Nathan the prophet comes to him because the prophet also knows. Prophets tend to know. And so he comes to David with a story, and he says, David, you know, there was this rich man who had all kinds of goats and sheep, and when a traveler came, you know what he did? He stole a little lamb from his neighbor, and it was the only lamb that the neighbor had. What do you think of that, David? David, who struggled with his temper anyway, said that man ought to die.

And then he changed his mind a little bit and said that he ought to at least pay fourfold. And Nathan looked into David's eyes and said in the Hebrew text, it's very brief, etah haish, you're the man. I sometimes teach preaching to young preachers. This is a good example of a sermon. First of all, it's a story that would even appeal to the post-modern generation. Secondly, it's brief. You'll like that part, don't you? And then thirdly, is it pointed or what? Talk about a direct application.

You are the man. We can't even pause to go into the beautiful illustration here of human nature that David would consider a little lamb to be of more value than a man's wife, but it shows that sin blinds us. Sin has that quality of confusing us so that we aren't able to look at ourselves objectively. And so David repents, but Nathan has a word for him from God. There are going to be several judgments upon David's family. Yes, David will be forgiven, but he says in verse 10, the sword shall never depart from your house. And it goes on to say that within your own family, God is going to raise up adversaries and David is going to lose four sons. And he'll lose those sons because he'll have no moral authority over them, whatever. David will never be able to tell them that they're misbehaving because they're going to say, dad, who are you to talk?

Look at what you've done. And so David is going to become a very passive father and just let the kids do whatever kids do. And they're going to turn against him and turn against one another. Furthermore, God says you did this secretly. The same thing is going to happen to your wives now publicly. And you remember that's what Absalom did on the rooftops of Israel, humiliating David and trying to kill his own father. And then furthermore, Nathan says the child that Bathsheba is going to bear will die.

And you may look at this and think, well, this was kind of harsh. But if you read the text, you'll see that what God is saying is you did this sin in the presence of all these blessings that I gave you. I blessed you. I gave you wives. I gave you a kingdom. I gave you victories. In fact, if you'd have wanted something more, you could have prayed for it.

And I'd have given you that, too. And now you've caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. There are people in the various nations of the world who are looking on and saying, because the rumor has spread throughout the whole kingdom and beyond the kingdom. And what they are saying is, look at David. You know, he claims to belong to God.

But look at what he does. He's living like the rest of us, committing adultery and murder. And so God is saying, David, I want you to know that you're going to be forgiven, but the consequences are just going to boomerang. Well, since this is a message on the restoration of the soul, how is David's soul at this point?

How would we describe it? We could say, well, it's defiled, guilt ridden, no doubt angry, angry at himself, maybe anger towards God, anger towards others, because guilt and anger are so often related, deep remorse, unbelievable regret that all this is going to have to fall upon his shoulders. If only he could turn the clock back, but he can't turn the clock back. And so he is cast down. He is in despair. How does God revive a soul that is in despair? Is there the possibility of being revived and strengthened and restored even though the circumstances around you remain the same and those uncontrollable circumstances just keep going? Is it possible that the soul can be restored in an inward way when the circumstances around you are such that there's no way for you to be able to be restored even to the people whom you have hurt?

When the circumstances are so pointedly and directly out of your control. Well, all of us know that David repented and the Psalm that is most known to us, which I frequently have quoted from memory, though I shall not do so today, is Psalm 51, David's great prayer of repentance. And what I want us to notice is that, first of all, David is going to receive hope because God is going to forgive him.

You say, well, yeah, of course. Don't skip over that so lightly. Remember this, that all of the tears that David might ever cry and weep will never, never change the circumstances. They will never bring a dead man back to life. They will never restore the purity of Bathsheba.

Nothing will ever change that. Furthermore, God will forgive him, even though perhaps there is no forgiveness coming from anyone else. Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness. According to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only I have sinned.

I've done what is evil in your sight so that you are justified when thou dost speak and blameless when thou dost judge. O God, O God, my sin's ever before me. When the telephone rings, I think to myself, I wonder who knows.

When somebody makes an appointment I am saying to myself, I wonder if they know. I see in my mind's eye a dead man. I see the face of Uriah. I wake up in the morning and I see his face and remember that I had him deliberately murdered. O God, my sin is ever before me. Uriah can't forgive me.

He's dead. Bathsheba may or may not forgive me. Surely David's other wives did not forgive him because they were upset with the fact that he not only did this but he happened to love Bathsheba more than all the rest as the story unfolds and you can imagine how unhappy they were and what they were saying behind David's back. His family never forgave him. Absalom turned against his dad. And so you have David saying, I don't know where to go because I can ask for forgiveness but I don't know who will give it to me and I know that some people most assuredly will withhold it.

There is nothing that I can do to rectify this situation. But God, this sin was against you primarily and then indirectly to others and therefore I appeal to you and to you alone for the forgiveness and the restoration that I so desperately long for and need. So God says, David, I'm going to forgive you. In fact, how clean is David going to be? He says in verse seven, purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

I've often marveled at that phrase because those of us who live in Chicago and know what snow is like sometimes maybe 12 inches, sometimes 18 inches overnight and you wake up and you see this snow glistening in the sunlight and you think whiter than snow. Wow, that's, that's pure for a man who committed adultery and murder. Isn't it wonderful to know that in the midst of the depths of his sin, David experienced God's wondrous grace and he was forgiven.

He was made clean. And I can't help but think today that there are those of you who are listening who need exactly that. You have a very troubled conscience, but in the midst of it, as you come to God to receive his cleansing and his forgiveness, then you have to ask the question, what else may I have to do in order to be right with others?

But a clean conscience is a powerful conscience. My wife and I have written a book entitled Life Changing Bible Verses You Should Know. Now it's not just Bible verses, it is Bible verses that are explained. As a matter of fact, in this book, very briefly, we cover 40 different topics, all about forgiveness, about grace, sensuality.

What does it mean to say that God created the heavens and the earth? This is a great book for you to grow in the Christian life, but also a wonderful opportunity to disciple others. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Ask for the book Life Changing Bible Verses You Should Know. Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

I hope you had an opportunity to write it down, rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. John from Illinois wrote to us recently with a question on sexual purity.

Here is his story. I'm an average 22-year-old guy who is still a virgin. In our society, that's often seen as pretty pathetic. But I know God wants a man to wait for marriage, and I know he has a reason for that. But it's not easy to hold off the criticism, advice, humiliation, and I dare say the questions about your sexuality and preferences. To me, it's all very difficult and frustrating. Well, John, I was so happy to receive your question, because I think it is wonderful that you are living a pure life. And believe me, you will never regret it.

You talk to all those who are sexually active, and then you think about what they take into their marriage, and they've got a whole lot of baggage they need to take care of. And God is going to honor what he's doing in your life and your commitment to purity and to overcome temptation. You know the bottom line, John?

Don't worry about what your friends are saying. You know, the Bible has a great deal to say in the book of Proverbs about those who are influenced by their peers, influenced wrongly by their peers. At the end of the day, what really matters is that you are serving the Lord, that you are pleasing the Lord in all things, and if you take some harassment, accept that also as part of the courage that you have shown to be a follower of Christ.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and keep doing what is right. Thank you, John, for that question. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com, that's rtwoffer.com, and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer. Or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. King David's tortured journey through moral failure shows us God's desire that we repent, and his mercy in restoring our souls. Next time on Running to Win, our series concludes as we learn how we, like David, can come back to God. Plan to join us. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.