Rev. David Holwick I The Life of David, #9
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 16, 2014
2 Samuel 24:10-15
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I. Things don't always turn out the way you want.
A. From prank to panic.
According to Cheryl Crausewell, neighborhood kids "TP'd" her
family's home in Dora, Alabama.
In case you don't know what "TP'ing" is, that is when you throw
rolls of toilet paper into the trees in someone's front yard.
Crausewell and her son cleaned up as well as they could, but
there was still some toilet paper stuck in a tree.
So, Cheryl decided to burn it out - igniting the toilet paper
with her lighter.
The wind blew a piece of burning tissue into the yard.
Cheryl said, "It just popped out into a little patch and we
tried to put it out and it just kept going, so I was trying
to keep it from going down the front porch and..."
The fire spread into the backyard, where it's believed a
propane tank caught fire, and the house went up in flames.
Nobody was hurt, but the house was destroyed.
"I just realize life is really precious," Crausewell said.
(You have to say something in cases like this....)
#64372
B. Everyone is dumb in their own way.
1) David sets the bar high.
a) He had natural gifts.
b) He lived in a critical time.
c) He had important responsibilities.
2) He was a very spiritual man.
a) The Bible says he was a man after God's own heart.
1 Samuel 13:14
"...the LORD has sought out a man after his own
heart and appointed him leader of his people..."
b) Very few humans have had such a spiritual impact on
the world.
c) His poetry has inspired people for 3,000 years - just
think of Psalm 23 (shepherd psalm) or Psalm 91.
3) He was a very sinful man.
a) He burned himself on multiple occasions.
b) He did horrendous things that could get him a
death sentence even today.
c) The Bible is very transparent about David's failings
as a man and a king.
C. You are a lot like David.
1) There are areas of your life you are undeniably gifted.
2) But much of what you could accomplish will be squandered
because of choices you have made, or will make.
3) You must deal with the failures and move back into God's
grace.
II. David had quite a record of blowing it.
A. Adultery with Bathsheba - blinded by lust. 2 Sam 11
1) Pastor Frank, who rents space above my office, mentioned
that we tend to focus on the adultery.
a) David's big sin was really contract murder.
b) He even had the audacity to hand Bathsheba's husband
the order which basically said, "Kill this guy."
2) He could have as many women as he wanted, and yet he wanted
the one he couldn't have.
a) He thought he had gotten away with it - the husband
Uriah was dead, Bathsheba mourned appropriately,
then she and David officially married.
b) Many Jews have thought he should get away with it. [1]
1> The Talmud quotes a Jewish tradition that allowed
divorce on the eve of battle, so David wasn't
committing adultery after all.
2> And Uriah deserved to die because he disobeyed a
direct order of the king (a crime that called for
capital punishment) to go home to be with
his wife, so David is not guilty of murder.
3> One Jew did believe David had sinned - David himself.
3) God knew the real story, and he told a prophet.
B. Apathetic as a father - unengaged with his children. 1 Kg 1:6
1) With all those wives he ended up with a slew of kids.
2) David had a very modern parental style - he let them
do whatever they wanted.
1 Kings 1:6, concerning his son Adonijah:
(His father had never interfered with him by asking,
"Why do you behave as you do?")
a) David probably reasoned that he was a very busy man,
leading an army, ruling a nation and keeping up
with all those women.
b) You may not think of this as a sin, but God commands
fathers to nurture their children spiritually and
emotionally. Eph 6:4
1> Benign neglect is still neglect.
2> It can be just as devastating as physical abuse.
C. Arrogant as a king - sidelined by pride. 2 Sam 24
1) Taking a census doesn't seem like a sin to us.
a) Our Constitution mandates a census every ten years,
and always has.
1> It helps our government divide up political power
fairly.
2> It's also a great tool for genealogists!
b) God himself ordered Israel to count their people.
1> The book of Numbers gets its name from a census
God ordered them to take. Num 1:2-3
2> The purpose was to find out the potential size of
their army as they prepared to invade Israel.
2) Why this census was an issue for the Jews.
a) The new census was called after Israel had already
defeated their enemies.
1> A peacetime army could have one purpose - conquest
and expansion.
2> It showed a pride in their own strength and a
lack of trust in God.
b) Even Joab, a hard-bitten general, was against the idea.
1> David had enjoyed stupendous victories against
overwhelming odds, and had given all the credit
to God.
2> Now that he was on top, why was he insulting God?
3) The curious case of who instigated David to do this.
a) 2 Samuel 24 says God incited David, while 1 Chron. 21:1
says Satan did it.
b) This shows the interplay between temptation and sin.
1> God allows Satan to bring out the worst in us,
to show us what we are really made of.
2> Paul's "thorn in the flesh" episode seems to draw
from this Old Testament incident. 2 Cor 12:7
A> His thorn was a messenger of Satan.
B> But only God could take it away.
C> And why was it sent? To keep Paul from becoming
full of pride due to his vision.
III. Sins always have consequences.
A. Bathsheba's curse. 2 Sam 12:9-14
1) The prophet Nathan has a harsh pronouncement.
a) Because of the murder, the "sword" will haunt David.
1> And one of his own family will humiliate him.
2> The adultery was secret but the humiliation will
be very public.
b) Because of the adultery, the child from that affair
will die.
1> The son died despite all of David's fasting, tears
and prayers.
2> This seems very harsh to us, but adultery often
feeds thoughts on death.
Lynn Anderson, who wrote a book on King David, said this:
"Mark it down for the centuries: Most adulterers, at some
moment, have considered the death of someone.
Things sure would be better if my mate were dead and I could
have my lover; or,
If this forbidden lover, whom I cannot resist, would be dead,
this thing would be over with; or,
I wish I could die and be out of this; or more commonly,
We'll murder the unborn child and thus escape the
consequences.
"These are murderous thoughts.
David is not alone. Not alone."
#5600
2) People still think they can get away with cheating on their
spouse.
a) Apparently many are never discovered and their marriages
endure.
b) But there are still consequences, there is still a cost.
1> You may start to wonder if your spouse is cheating
on you.
2> And your confidence in God's laws, and his justice,
will diminish.
B. Family disintegration.
1) God's pronouncement is contained in Nathan's rebuke, where
he foretells David's humiliation by a son.
a) It is also contained in the stories of the Bible from
Noah to Timothy.
2) David's sons turn on each other, and on their father.
a) His son Amnon assaulted his half-sister Tamar, and
Amnon was later murdered by her full-brother,
Absalom.
b) Later, Absalom tried to kill David in a coup.
c) Adonijah tried to kick David off his throne and
take over the harem while David was still living.
3) Every parent can appreciate the consequences of raising
your kids wrong.
a) Your ability to mold their character continually
diminishes as they mature.
b) You may fear that they will end up making the same
sinful choices you did and mess themselves up.
c) We are only given one shot at it. Take it seriously.
C. A terrible plague reduces his population. 2 Sam 24:11-15
1) Due to the census, David is offered a choice of punishment.
a) Parents sometimes do that.
1> In my day, it usually went like this: "Do you want
a belt, or my hand?"
2> Not much of a choice.
b) David's options were much worse.
1> 3 years of famine.
2> 3 months of personal persecution.
3> 3 days of plague.
A> Each descending option has a shorter period
but a greater intensity.
B> Should he spread it out, or take it in one
big blow?
2) David goes for anything but persecution. 2 Sam 24:14
a) It might seem like he is a coward, putting the pain
on his people rather than himself.
b) His reasoning is actually very spiritual.
1> He has learned that God's mercy is real, and he
can trust it.
2> Over the same lifetime he has learned that people
are not very merciful, and he can't trust them.
3> So he naturally goes with God.
IV. It worked out all right in the end.
A. Bathsheba bears Solomon.
1) Solomon is a decent king, though he doesn't end as well
as David.
2) Ultimately, both are ancestors of the Messiah, Jesus.
B. David's family endures.
1) Despite the bloodshed on his next generation, they became
a stable dynasty.
2) In the Northern Kingdom, which broke away, king after king
was murdered or deposed.
a) In the South (Judah), the dynasty held until they were
sent into exile.
b) And even then it endured, culminating in Jesus, an
offspring of David.
C. The temple comes to Jerusalem.
1) The point at which the plague stops, becomes the site of
the altar for the temple that Solomon builds.
2) The plague diminishes the nation but they still have
enough left to defend themselves and prosper.
V. Sin's consequences are not God's last word.
A. We would rather avoid the topic altogether.
1) Thursday night Bible study - does God punish us?
2) The answer they wanted to hear was, "No!"
a) They understood that punishment might happen in the
Old Testament, but certainly not in the New Testament.
b) Don't be so sure.
B. The "Law of the Harvest" runs throughout the Bible.
1) Violating God's standards brings pain, one way or another.
a) If you defy God your whole life, you will be cut off
from him forever.
b) Even if you are a believer, your sinful actions can
bring you pain.
2) God's discipline always has a positive purpose.
a) He doesn't enjoy whacking us; instead, he wants to
mold us.
b) Human parents have the same motivation.
C. Not consequences, but grace, is the key.
1) Jesus took the consequences of our sin to the cross. 2 Cor 5:21
2) He offers mercy to all of us. Have you received it?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] This material comes from Wikipedia.org and is derived from the Jewish
Encylopedia article on David. The Talmudic source is the Babylonian
Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, pp. 107a.
# 5600 “David Is Not Alone,” Lynn Anderson, Roddy Chestnut Illustration
Collection. Original source is Lynn Anderson, Finding the
Heart to Go On (San Bernadino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers,
1992) pp. 127-128.
#64372 “Toilet Paper Turmoil,” Mike Straw, This Is True internet
newsletter, February 14, 2014. Original source is WBRC
Birmingham.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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