You are the Man

Thank you, Chad. We appreciate that very much. Very nicely done. Certainly we do thank God for all He's done for us. Wonderful message in that particular song. Well, brethren, I have a question to begin with. Are you the man or the woman, perhaps? This may bring to mind a certain parable. It's given in 2 Samuel 12. So if you'll turn with me to 2 Samuel 12, I'd like you to read along with me. I believe there are a number of lessons that can be learned from this particular parable in 2 Samuel 12. Then the Eternal sent Nathan to David. So God directly sent the prophet Nathan to David. And he came to him and said to him, There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one little yew lamb which he had brought up and nourished, and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom. It was like a daughter to him, so a very cherished little lamb. And a traveler came to the rich man who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him. But he took the poor man's lamb, this man's pet, and prepared it for the man who had come to him. So David's anger, as he listened to this parable from Nathan the prophet, was greatly aroused against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the eternal lives, the man who has done this shall surely die.

So David pronounced the death sentence on this man who took a lamb and had it killed, a little lamb that belonged to someone else and was someone's pet. Verse 6, And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity. Then Nathan said to David, You are the man! Well, that must have really shocked David. David had just pronounced a death sentence on that man. And Nathan says, You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel. It's not me, it's the Lord God of Israel who sent me who says this. I anointed you king over Israel, and 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 house of Israel and Judah, and if that hadn't been too little, I also would have given you much more. Why have you despised the commandment of the Eternal? Why have you despised the commandment of the Eternal to do evil in his sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me. He says that David had despised him because of the sin that he committed with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. You have despised me and you have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel before the son. So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Eternal. And Nathan said to David, The Eternal also has put away your sin. You shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die. Then Nathan departed to his house. So this is a very shocking parable and a very shocking result from David, who actually took what was said to him, accepted it, and admitted his sin. Unlike many other kings, no doubt, to follow him, and the one before him, certainly Saul, did not have this approach either. David simply admitted that he was right. So are you the man? Are you the man? Are you the man who is hiding from his sins like David, and willing to face your sins? That is exactly what David did for quite some time. For a long time, actually, he hid from his sins. He tried to cover them up.

So are you the man who hides from his sins? Are you the man who is unwilling to face his sins, to confess his sins, to repent of his sins? We must all come to the realization, brethren, that we too are the man. Every single one of us is the man, or the woman, of course. He's talking about mankind. You are the man, you are the woman who is guilty of the same type of sins that David was guilty of. Not perhaps exactly the same sin, but certainly guilty of sin. Like David, when he heard Nathan's parable regarding the little lamb, are we not all indignant against such injustice and rank selfishness? When we hear someone talk about it, it infuriates us, doesn't it? Someone took this little lamb that was a pet. The children loved this little lamb. The man who was poor loved this little lamb, and this rich person took it and butchered it. So we would all be incensed by that. But like David, are we not all so guilty at times of hiding from our sins? In what way have you been hiding from your sins? Again, in what way are you the man? David sinned greatly, and Nathan was sent to him to make that fact abundantly clear. David would not own up to his sins. That's why God had to send a messenger. If David had owned up to his sins quickly, immediately things would have been far different than the scenario that we've just read. David paid a great price for not seeing his sins and admitting them more quickly. What lessons should we learn from Nathan's parable and David's reaction to it? Again, there are many, many lessons. I'd like to share with you five lessons today. Lessons from Nathan's parable and David's reaction to it. The first one, we are all often blind to our own sins. But God is bound to reveal them to us in the course of time. Oftentimes, we are blind to our own sins. At least, we pretend that we're blind to our own sins. Now, David could easily see the sin of the rich man in the parable, but he was hiding from his own sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. It took a direct accusation, a direct declaration from Nathan, before David was able to face his sins. So what about you? Do you have trouble facing your sins head-on? Is there anything in your life, maybe going on right now, or perhaps has gone on in the past that you frankly haven't faced, you haven't repented, you're still in your sins? Are you waiting for God to send a messenger? Are you waiting for God to take more drastic action? Is that what you're waiting for? In Matthew 7, verse 3, it talks about the moat that we can clearly see in our brother's eye, but we do not see the beam that is in our own eye oftentimes. Matthew 7, verse 3. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Again, we're very quick to observe and to see someone else's sin, someone else's shortcoming, but oftentimes we neglect seeing a huge sin of our own. Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye. Hypocrite, this is a word that Christ used a number of times to describe many people that he came in contact with, hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. So obviously we need to be looking at ourselves first and foremost. Instead of being blinded to our own sins, we should pray that God would open our eyes to see our sin first and foremost.

We can easily again see a small sin in another person, but why is it so difficult to see our own sin? Why is that? Well, it could be. We may let strong desires confuse the distinction between right and wrong. David had strong desires, didn't he, for Bathsheba. He lusted for Bathsheba. He greatly wanted to fulfill that desire. He was king. He was God's anointed. He could easily have what he wanted, could he not? Shouldn't he? As king, weren't kings above the law? Couldn't they do just about anything they wanted to do? Surely God would understand the needs of a king.

Also, it's very easy for a human being to be short-sighted and not clearly see or face the likely result or consequences of a sinful action that is being considered. Oftentimes, we put a blind eye to the consequences. We don't want to think about the consequences of what we are tempted to do. We just want to think about doing it, whatever it is.

It's easy for a human being, even a converted one, to minimize the sinfulness of an action that he is tempted to commit. I just saw the LAs. I should say, welcome back. It's good to see both of you. I knew you were here, but I forgot to... See, whenever I start mentioning people, I forget people. It's good to have the LAs back with us, Mark and Glenda. So it's easy for a human being, even a converted one, to minimize the sinfulness of an action that he is tempted to commit.

Surely David knew better. Think about it. David was a smart man. He knew God's law. He loved God's law. Deep inside, he had to know what he was doing was deeply wrong, and contrary to God's way. But at this time in his life, David hid from God so he could enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Humanly, he did what he wanted to do, and he ignored God's laws. Let's go to Romans 7, where Paul basically talks about this dilemma that we all have as human beings.

David is no different, in that sense, than any of us. We are the man. We're very much like David. In verse 12 of Romans 7, Therefore the law is holy, the commandment is holy, and just and good. David believed that as well. Just read Psalm 119, about how love I thy law it is ever with me. David did love God's law.

He was committed to God's law, but he was also blinded by his lust and by his desires that were wrong, that were evil, that were sinful. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not. But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

We know what sin is because of God's law. God tells us what sin is. He outlines in his word what sin is. We don't have to guess. All we have to do is read and believe. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. This is Paul speaking. He says, I am carnal. I am sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. I would think that that was going on in David's mind and in his heart when he pursued Bathsheba. And when he pursued the death of her husband after Bathsheba became pregnant, he wanted to cover things up and he was going to have Bathsheba as his own.

And he was going to kill Uriah in the process. So some of this had to be going on in David's heart and in his mind. But what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin that dwells in me. I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me.

But how to perform what is good I do not find. He's talking about the times when we are distant from God and we are seeking our own carnal pleasures instead of seeking the very word of God and pleasing Him. For the good that I will to do I do not do, but the evil I will not to do that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin that dwells in me. In other words, he's given himself over to this sinful carnal way of thinking. He is not having the mind of Christ. He's having the mind of Satan the devil.

I find that a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members. It's warring against the law of my mind and it's bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man, that I am. Now undoubtedly David had to have the same thoughts going through his head. Or he was sure pushing them aside because he knew better. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? In fact, I'm sure he had to have this thinking and that's the only reason he was able to own up to his sin. When Nathan came along and he agreed, he said, You're right, I am the man. I have sinned against the eternal. So this was a battle that was going on in David. He knew he was guilty. He knew he had sinned against God. He had to feel distant from God because of what he had done. But thankfully, he was the kind of man that was able to admit that he had sinned and that he desired to change and no longer be that man who had sinned against God. O wretched man that I am, who's going to deliver me from this body of death? Have you ever felt that way? You personally? Have you ever felt like this? I know I have. I felt exactly like this at times. And then also, I'm very thankful for verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Because there are times when all of us fall short when we do sin, when we do commit sin. And that's when we are indeed wretched people. We're wretched at that particular time and that particular point. Obviously, that's when we need to seek repentance and admit that we're wretched, that we've sinned, that we've disobeyed God, that we've turned against Him, that we've despised Him. But it's so easy for us as human beings to compromise with sin, especially when we allow ourselves to habitually flirt with evil. It seems that as human beings, it's very easy to get into this habit of flirting with evil. There's something about evil. There's something tantalizing about it. Certain types of evil, not all kinds of evil, some types of evil we shrink back from very quickly, but there's other types of evil that we cozy up to. And we should seek to understand and recognize those areas in which we are tempted, and stop flirting with that evil.

It's easy to get used to the world's ways and to begin thinking that its ways are acceptable to God. It's easy as a human being to allow ourselves to think this way. Or at least we begin to think, this world is so evil, surely God wouldn't mind or think my little sins are such a big deal.

There's nowhere in the Bible that says little sins won't bring death. The wages of sin is death.

So, brethren, we need to be very careful that we do not begin to accept the world's ways in regards to modesty. This world is not a very modest world, is it? We must be careful we don't accept the world's ways in regards to modesty, sex, entertainment, humor, truth, and a whole host of other areas of life. The standards of this world begin to lower our standards, or in some cases they even become our standards. We, the saints of God, begin to look more like a person of the world than a true child of God. So, let's all remember that we are the man. You are the man. I am the man. I am the one that has to admit I've sinned. And seek repentance. In Numbers 32, verse 23, this is one of those basic scriptures. But if you do not do so, then take note you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sins will find you out. Our sins do find us out. There are always consequences for sin. Sometimes, perhaps, it's just the mental anguish that we go through knowing we've sinned as we seek repentance. Hopefully, that's as far as it goes with you. It's just the mental anguish. And hopefully, you repent quickly. And you haven't done anything that would bring disaster upon you.

So, that's the first point. And I spent a lot of time on the first one. Because it is the longest point, thankfully. Let's go on to point number two, the second principle, the second lesson. The first lesson is, we're often blind to our own sins, but God is bound to reveal those sins to us in the course of time. God is bound to do that. Be sure your sins will find you out. In one way or another, God is bound. Hopefully, He won't have to send a prophet, a messenger, like He had to with Nathan, or like He had to with David. Hopefully, we would repent more quickly, but are we a lot like David? A second lesson that we can learn is, brethren, it's much easier to face our sins and admit them readily and repent of them, to hide from them, and to deny that they exist. In many ways, it's easier to just face our sins quickly and repent of them, because we're going to have to face them eventually. And the sooner we face them, the better off we are. David would have likely saved himself and his family from a lot of heartache and grief had he repented prior to Nathan's visit, before Nathan was ever sent. God would not have had to send Nathan if David would have sought repentance earlier. Search your life and ask yourself, is there anything that I need to repent of now before God has to send a messenger, so that I will finally deal with it? Is there anything that I need to repent of right now before God has to send a messenger to reveal it to me? If God has to send a messenger, again, it's generally much more painful than if we repent before such drastic action needs to be taken. Some years ago, Tiger Woods was the best, wasn't he? Tiger Woods had such a future in golf. He was the best that anyone had ever seen at his age. He was phenomenal. And yet, things happened in Tiger Woods' life that brought him disgrace upon him and his family. I would think that before that fateful day, when it all came out, that there were numerous times when Tiger Woods should have seen what he was doing to himself and to his wife, to his family. Tiger's not converted.

But God works with all of us in various ways. I'm convinced that God would have sent a number of messages to Tiger Woods that he needed to straighten up, but he wouldn't listen. He thought he was above all of that. He thought he could get away with it forever. Destruction came upon him. I don't know how he's living his life now, but he certainly is not reaching the potential that he had as a golfer once upon a time. How much of that has to do with everything that happened? Who knows? That's just an example of just humanly how we can bring destruction upon ourselves if we don't listen to the messages that God sends us, and especially those who are in God's church that God's working with more actively. In 1 John chapter 1, let's go there for a moment. 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1 verse 5. This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. God is perfect, always has been perfect, always will be perfect. There is no sin in God. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and yet we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we're walking in darkness, if we're sinning, that's walking in darkness. That's Satan's way. That's not God's way. When we sin, we are walking in darkness. We're no longer having the kind of fellowship with God that we need to have because we've despised him. We've turned against him. We've turned against his ways. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. So clearly it's talking about an approach. It's talking about a repentant mind, a repentant heart. It doesn't mean that we will never sin. It does mean that we will have a repentant heart and that we will turn from our sin as quickly as possible. I mean, obviously, if we don't sin in the first place, that's a million times better than having sinned and having to repent of it. We should seek not to sin, not to go down that road in the first place. We must strive to be overcomers. That's what this is all about. Overcoming. Fighting the good fight. Never giving in, or when we do give in, quickly admitting that we have, seeing it, repenting of it, and getting back up to fight the good fight again. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, verse 7, we have fellowship with one another. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. We have to have this relationship with Jesus Christ, seeking to live by every word of God and to please Christ and to please the Father. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If you are saying that you're sitting there and you have no sin, then I can guarantee you that you are deceiving yourself. Because there's not a single person here today that isn't still a sinner.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, 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. It's imperative that we confess our sins. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. And the truth, the truth or His word, is not in us.

The second lesson, it is much better to face our sins and admit them readily and seek repentance for them, to hide from them and deny that they exist. The third lesson that we learn from this parable is that when God sends a messenger, we certainly better listen and heed the warning, repent and no longer go down that path. That's what saved David's life. It saved his life. If David had not responded properly, it's very likely that God would have taken his spirit from him.

When God sends a messenger, you better listen. You better heed the warning. You better go down the right path and you better strive to sin no more. David shows he is a man after God's own heart because he heeds God's messenger and he repents bitterly of his sin. When Jeremiah was sent to the kings of Judah to warn them and prophesy of the impending doom and captivity of Judah, what did they do to him? Did they immediately admit that he was right? Did they sin against God? Did they immediately repent of their sins? Did they immediately seek forgiveness for their sins? Or did they instead put him in stocks and throw him in a dungeon? That's what they did to Jeremiah. They threw him in a dungeon. They didn't listen to him and then, of course, they went into captivity. Thousands suffered and died because of that decision.

In Psalm 51, let's go there for a moment and consider David's Psalm of Repentance, which actually occurred after this visit from Nathan.

This visit from Nathan precipitated this Psalm of Repentance in Psalm 51. Let's read it together.

Certainly, all of our sin is first and foremost to God because God is the great law-giver. He gives the law. We're the ones who are bound to keep the law. Against you and you only have I sinned, I've done this evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak. So he wasn't justifying himself, but he was justifying God's right to send Nathan the prophet, to tell him of his sins.

That you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. Now this is talking about the overall state of mankind who are sinners. We're all sinners. I don't believe it's talking about any kind of illicit relationship that his wife or that his mother had. He was one of the younger, I think he was the youngest of the children, Jesse and his wife. It's just talking about the overall state of mankind that we're all sinners. We all fall short of God's glory. Verse 6 Yes, David did come boldly before the throne of grace. That's what David is doing here. He's coming boldly before the throne. He was a huge sinner. He'd sinned with Bathsheba, he'd sinned with Uriah the Hittite. He was guilty. Guilty as charged. But he comes boldly before the throne of God and he fights for his life. I hope you are fighting for your life. I hope you realize that sin is this serious. You have to be fighting for your life. Creating me a clean heart, O God, renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. David knew that he was in danger of God taking the very spirit away from him, condemning him to the lake of fire.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me by your generous spirit, then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you. David realized that he had a job to do, that he was to be God's servant. And if he failed, then others would not have the opportunity to learn from David. David knew that he needed to repent bitterly before God and continue to do the work that God had given him to do. We all need to finish the work that God has given us. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall show forth your praise, for you do not desire sacrifice. Else I would give it, you do not delight in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. That's what David had. He had a broken spirit.

A broken and a contrite heart, these, O God, you will not despise. We must all be broken in heart when we sin, when we despise God. We should see it for what it is. We should be broken by our sins. David was a king, but to David's credit he was open to the criticism and correction of others. Another important lesson. He was humble even though he enjoyed an exalted position in Israel. David was grateful to God and to Nathan the prophet for revealing his sins to him, making him own up to them. He knew better. He knew he had sinned. It was not a great revelation. He just had not been willing to own up to those sins. He realized that God cared and he respected the courage of Nathan. His life was at stake. David made his repentance very personal with God. David didn't attempt to spread the guilt to others. There are no words about Bathsheba tempting him or there are no words about Joab and his involvement in the death of Uriah. He doesn't seek to justify himself. He clearly says, I have sinned and against you and you only have I sinned. Not that sin doesn't affect other people because it surely did. It affected Uriah. A great deal. But the sin is toward God because God is the Lawgiver. So that third lesson that we all need to learn from this parable is when God sends a messenger, we better listen and heed the warning. We should repent and go down that right path. We should go and sin no more. That should be our attitude. That should be our desire. Our approach is that we no longer want to go down that path, that path of darkness. The fourth lesson is that God forgives completely, but consequences will follow. Be sure your sins are going to find you out. There were great consequences for David's sin. How much better would David have been had he never sinned with Bathsheba? Had he never gone down that road in the first place? Or had he repented of that and admitted his sin and didn't seek to kill Uriah, how much better off would he have been?

David and Bathsheba's baby died. That was a direct result of their sin. David's daughter, Tamar, was later raped by her half-brother, Amnon. One son, Amnon, was killed by another son, Absalom. That son, Absalom, led a conspiracy against his own father, took over the kingdom for a time, laid with his father's concubines, was finally killed.

Our sins will find us out, sometimes in extreme ways, and, oftentimes, thankfully, not so extreme. Today an alcoholic may quit drinking and be forgiven, but he will still suffer the physical consequences of alcoholism. There are still consequences of drug addiction and other things that people do to themselves. A parent may come to repentance, but do so too late to have a positive effect upon his children. He's damaged them badly, and there's not much he can do about it. A young person may sow wild oats before settling down and becoming a Christian, while forgiven, they may still have to reap what they've sown. There will still be consequences. Sometimes there's STDs that follow sexually transmitted diseases that follow our sins. Sometimes a moment of passion will have great consequences. Sometimes a pregnancy, a broken marriage, and, in some cases, experimenting with drugs can cause irreversible brain damage at times. God's pardon is wonderful, but we should not forget there are always consequences of our sin. Better not to sin in the first place. The pleasures of sin for a season are simply not worth it. So the fourth point is God forgives completely, but consequences will certainly follow. And the last point is a very short one. Be content with all that God has given you. Don't want more, especially not if it's wrong or illicit.

Be thankful for what God has given you. Look to Him for godly pleasures. There are many godly pleasures. You don't have to go out and seek worldly pleasures. The pleasures of seeking God are far greater, far more meaningful and fulfilling than the carnal pleasures of this world. So don't settle for temporary, fleeting carnal pleasures. Sins for a season that cause great destruction and guilt in a person's life. Teenagers, I hope you're listening to this message today because you're going to be making some decisions in the next few years that will greatly affect your life. Greatly affect your life. Don't settle for temporary, fleeting carnal pleasures. Those sins for a short season that are temporary, that cause great destruction later on down the road. That is the fifth lesson. There are other lessons, obviously, that could be learned, but these five lessons are important lessons. I hope you'll think about them. I hope you'll dwell on them, and I hope you'll go to God and discuss this sermon with Him. May we be wise enough to learn the lessons of Nathan's parable and David's reaction to it. Brethren, remember, you too are the man.