“When I sit in
darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the
Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute
judgment for me.” Micah 7:8, 9.
When someone sins against
God and heaven, why is it that when people find out, they are quick to ask the question, “Is
there any hope for them?" The quick responses by so many people to condemn and censor someone who had sinned are not of God.
What is sin?
According
to the Bible, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Sin is described in the
Bible primarily in theological and relational terms, as it is aimed against our
God, the Creator and Redeemer, and it destroys us and our relationships with
people around us. “Every sin is done against the will of God.” David expressed
it eloquently in his repentance after he acutely understood the demoralizing
nature of his sinful actions upon himself, Bathsheba, and his family: “Against
you [O God], . . . have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” Psalm
51:4; Genesis 39:8.
God views sin as
the transgression of His law and as a fundamental evil that originated with
Lucifer, not God. While all sin is seen as serious and will lock you out of
entering heaven, there are different degrees of guilt. Sin is a condition that
severs humanity from God and can only be overcome through repentance and
acceptance of Christ's sacrifice.
Because mankind is
subject to fall by giving way to their lower nature at times in thought or
deed. None can depend upon their profession of faith as proof that they
have a saving connection with God. We are not only to say, “I believe,” but to
practice the truth. It is by conformity to the will of God in word and deed
that our deportment, our character, proves our connection with Him. Whenever
one renounces sin, which is the transgression of the law, his life will be
brought into conformity to the law, into perfect obedience. This is the work of
the Holy Spirit. The light of the Word carefully studied, the voice of
conscience, the strivings of the Spirit, produce in the heart genuine love for
Christ, who gave Himself a whole sacrifice to redeem the whole person, body,
soul, and spirit. And love is manifested in obedience. The line of demarcation
will be plain and distinct between those who love God and keep His
commandments, and those who love Him not and disregard His precepts.
Faithful Christian
men and women should have a deep interest in bringing the convicted soul to a correct understanding of righteousness in Christ Jesus. They must not neglect
the faithful, tender, loving instruction so essential to the young converts that
there may be no half-hearted work. The very first experience should be
right.... Through association with those who love and fear God, they will
receive strength.
What
method does God use in dealing with those who sin? This question encompasses all types of sin. We will use as an
example King David, who sinned against God in multiple ways.
When David had sinned
with Bathsheba and after killed her husband, what consequences did David face
for committing adultery and murder?
The thing that
David had done displeased the Lord. 2 Samuel 11:27. When in ease and
self-security, he let go his hold upon God, David yielded to Satan and brought
upon his soul the stain of guilt. He, the Heaven-appointed leader of the
nation, chosen by God to execute His law, himself trampled upon its precepts.
He who should have been a terror to evildoers, by his own act, strengthened
their hands.
Amid the perils of
his earlier life, David, in conscious integrity, could trust his case with God.
The Lord’s hand had guided him safely past the unnumbered snares that had been
laid for his feet. But now, guilty and unrepentant, he did not ask help and
guidance from Heaven, but sought to extricate himself from the dangers in which
sin had involved him. Bathsheba, whose fatal beauty had proved a snare to the
king, was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s bravest and most
faithful officers. None could foresee what would be the result should the crime
become known....
Every effort which
David made to conceal his guilt proved unavailing.... In his desperation, he
was hurried on to add murder to adultery. He who had compassed the destruction
of Saul was seeking to lead David also to ruin. Though the temptations were
different, they were alike in leading to transgression of God’s law....
Uriah was made the
bearer of his own death warrant. A letter sent by his hand to Joab from the
king commanded, “Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and
retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.” Joab, already stained
with the guilt of one wanton murder, did not hesitate to obey the king’s
instructions, and Uriah fell by the sword of the children of Ammon....
He whose tender
conscience and high sense of honor would not permit him, even when in peril of
his life, to put forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed, had so fallen that
he could wrong and murder one of his most faithful and most valiant soldiers, and
hope to enjoy undisturbed the reward of his sin. Alas! how had the fine gold
become dim! how had the most fine gold changed!
According to the
Bible, the punishment for David's adultery and murder was not death or loss of
position as king in authority, but a devastating series of consequences that
would befall his household, including the death of his child with Bathsheba,
perpetual conflict in his house, and dishonor.
David trembled,
because he was afraid that he would be cut down, guilty and unforgiven, by the
swift judgment of God. But the message was sent to him by the prophet,
“The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” Yet justice must be
maintained. The sentence of death was transferred from David to the child of
his sin. Thus, the king was given opportunity to repent, while the suffering
and death of the child, as a part of his punishment, was far more bitter to him
than his own death could have been.
When his child was
stricken, David pleaded for its life with fasting and deep humiliation. Night
after night he lay in heartbroken grief interceding for the innocent one
suffering for his guilt. When he heard that the child was dead, he quietly
submitted to the decree of God. The first stroke had fallen of the very
punishment that he himself had declared just.
As time passed, which
was a year after, David’s sin toward Bathsheba became known, and suspicion was
excited that he had planned the death of Uriah. The Lord was dishonored. He had
favored and exalted David, and David’s sin misrepresented the character of God
and cast reproach upon His name. It tended to lower the standard of godliness
in Israel, to lessen in many minds the abhorrence of sin; while those who did
not love and fear God were by it emboldened in transgression.
Nathan the prophet
was bidden to bear a message of reproof to David. It was a message terrible in
its severity. To few sovereigns could such a reproof be given but at the price
of certain death to the reprover. Nathan delivered the divine sentence unflinchingly,
yet with such heaven-born wisdom as to engage the sympathies of the king, to
arouse his conscience, and to call from his lips the sentence of death upon
himself....
The guilty may
attempt, as David had done, to conceal their crime from men; they may seek to
bury the evil deed forever from human sight or knowledge; but “all things are
naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Hebrews 4:13.
The prophet
Nathan’s parable of the ewe lamb, given to King David, may be studied by
all.... While he was following his course of self-indulgence and commandment-breaking,
the parable of a rich man who took from a poor man his one ewe lamb, was
presented before him. But the king was so completely wrapped in his garments of
sin, that he did not see that he was the sinner. He fell into the trap, and ...
passed his sentence upon another man, as he supposed, condemning him to
death.... “And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.” 2 Samuel 12:7.
This experience
was most painful to David, but it was most beneficial. But for the mirror which
Nathan held up before him, in which he so clearly recognized his own likeness,
he would have gone on unconvicted of his heinous sin, and would have been ruined.
The conviction of his guilt was the saving of his soul. He saw himself in
another light, as the Lord saw him, and as long as he lived, he repented of his
sin.
Reading the
history of David’s fall, many have asked, “Why did God see fit to throw open to
the world this dark chapter in the life of one so highly honored by Heaven?”
Atheists and unbelievers have pointed to the character of David and have
exclaimed with a sneer, “This is the man after God’s own heart!” As a result,
God and His word have been blasphemed, and many people, while professing to be
religious, have become bold in sin.
But the history of
David does not give any approval for sin. It was when he was walking with God
and following His counsel that David was called a man after God’s own heart.
When he sinned, this stopped being true of him until, by repenting, he returned
to the Lord. “The thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord”
(KJV). Though David repented of his sin, he reaped the deadly harvest of the
seed he had sown. The judgments upon him testify how much God hates sin.
David himself was
broken in spirit by the consciousness of his sin and its far-reaching results.
He felt humbled in the eyes of his subjects, and his influence was weakened.
Now his subjects, knowing about his sin, would be led to sin more freely. His
authority in his own household was weakened as his guilt kept him silent when
he should have condemned sin. His evil example exerted its influence on his
sons, and God would not step in to prevent the result. So David was severely
punished, and no repentance could help him escape the agony and shame that
would darken his whole earthly life.
People who point
to the example of David to try to lessen the guilt of their own sins should
learn from the Bible record that the way of transgression is hard. The results
of sin, even in this life, will be found bitter and hard to bear.
God intended that
the history of David’s fall would serve as a warning that even those whom He
has greatly blessed are not to feel smugly secure. And it has served this
purpose to everyone who has humbly tried to learn the lesson He designed to
teach. The fall of David, one so honored by the Lord, has awakened in them
distrust of self. Knowing that their strength and safety was in God alone, they
have been afraid to take the first step onto Satan’s ground.
If you have
committed any form of sin or iniquity and need forgiveness or a breakthrough,
there is hope for you. “Many a wrongdoer has excused their own sin by pointing
to David’s fall, but how few there are who manifest David’s penitence and
humility. How few would bear reproof and retribution with the patience and
fortitude that he manifested. He had confessed his sin, and for years had
sought to do his duty as a faithful servant of God; he had labored for the
upbuilding of his kingdom, and under his rule it had attained to strength and
prosperity never reached before. He had gathered rich stores of material for
the building of the house of God, and now was all the labor of his life to be
swept away? Must the results of years of consecrated toil, the work of genius
and devotion and statesmanship, pass into the hands of his reckless and
traitorous son, who regarded not the honor of God nor the prosperity of Israel?
How natural it would have seemed for David to murmur against God in this great
affliction!
But he saw in his
own sin the cause of his trouble.... And the Lord did not forsake David. This
chapter in his experience, when, under cruelest wrong and insult, he shows
himself to be humble, unselfish, generous, and submissive, is one of the
noblest in his whole experience. Never was the ruler of Israel more truly great
in the sight of heaven than at this hour of his deepest outward humiliation.”
Finally, David
received mercy from God after committing adultery. The big question today for
us is, how do we make ourselves available to God’s mercy when we sin? Humanly
speaking, some situations are considered hopeful, some are considered doubtful,
and some are considered hopeless. Whether your situation is considered doubtful
or hopeless, there’s still hope for you. The word of God says in Micah 7:19, "you
will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of
the sea" and Jeremiah 31:34, "I will forgive their wickedness and
will remember their sins no more." There is hope for you, therefore don’t
panic. Don’t quit and don’t give up.
There is hope for
you; God will wipe all your sins away. There is hope for you; He will keep you
from future sins from today. There is hope, my friend, for you.
There is hope for
you; God is coming back again. There is hope for you; He is going to take you
to heaven, where there will be no more will to sin. There is hope, my friend, for
you.
And now may the
LORD bless you and keep you and make His face shine on you and give you His
peace.
The takeaway:
1. Let us be careful how we point fingers at others and
condemn them, when we have a closet full of ugly skeletons of secret sins and
iniquity that need to be cleared out.
2. In the kingdom of God, King David will be saved because,
after his great sin, he genuinely humbled himself and repented. The Bible teaches
that God's judgment is different from human judgment and that many who
appear unsaved by worldly standards may be saved in God's kingdom.
3. Those who accept God's promises in faith will find pardon,
as "The Lord will never cast away one truly repentant soul."
4. May we all find grace and mercy in the eyes of God as we
seek His face and ask Him for repentance of our own personal sins and iniquity.
Have a Happy Day!
By GARDEN MINISTRY
