THERE IS HOPE FOR YOU

“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