Ransom | Lowering Our Defenses (2 Samuel 12:1-13)

When we’re accused of doing wrong, it’s easy to get defensive, making excuses or comparing ourselves to others. But with our defenses up, repentance is impossible. God, however, lowers our defenses by inviting us into His open
arms, where we don’t need to pretend to be perfect. He doesn’t ask us to confess our sins because He doesn’t know them—He already does. He calls us to repent so that we might fully understand the weight of our sin and, in turn, call out for His mercy. And when we do, God is always quick to forgive.

Transcript

It’s a scene we are terrified of. Standing exposed, all cards on the table, our most shameful sins now known to the world. It’s what makes the encounter between David and Nathan so impactful. You instinctively read yourself into the story, and imagine…what if that were me? Maybe you’ve found yourself not so much living life but “pretending” life, hiding your sin, convincing yourself that as long as no one knows, you’ll be okay? We have some complex things to talk about this Ash Wednesday, but I know God will do what he always does through his Word. Bring clarity. Bring joy. Bring hope.

Now, we’re looking at 2 Samuel 12 and we could spend a lot of time talking about all the missteps David made: The lust, the assault, the murder but our focus tonight will be how David tried to defend his actions, to avoid exposure, and to keep his reputation, that thought “As long as no one else knows. I’ll be okay.” David was in a dangerous spiritual place. For nine months, he lived a lie. Things seem to be okay, but he is most certainly not. The world may not see it, but as he says in Psalm 32, his bones are wasting away inside due to his guilt, but he thought if he could just suppress it and shove it down, maybe he’d finally have some sort of peace again. It's an interesting idea, the thought that we don't want people to know yet our conscience is screaming to finally let it out, to let go of this burden that eats you from the inside out. 

That’s what guilt and shame do. They are insidious. They will devour you. They break you down yet box you in, contain you, trap you. And you want to get out of it. You want to be free, but you just can't. That's what Satan does. He was working in David's heart to think, “If this gets out, not only will your kingdom be gone, you’ll lose everything.” And so for nine months, David lives in delusion. And the LORD is seeing this. I love the fact that the Tetragrammaton (LORD) is used so many times in this section: Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh. Who is Yahweh, who is the LORD? He is the God of perfect faithfulness, perfect justice, perfect forgiveness. And because he's our good and gracious Father, he saw all those walls trapping David in. And that's why he gave us the law. It's the spiritual sledgehammer. 

The law busts down all those sin-constructed defenses we construct. God lovingly breaks down those false defenses and does something radical. He drops the sledgehammer in the rubble, rattling on the concrete, only to wrap you in his arms with the good news, the gospel. How did God do that for David? By sending his pastor, Nathan. Undoubtedly, in those nine months, they had talked a lot. And David put on a show, put on a face for a little while. We get that. Maybe that's what we do at church sometimes. You're really wrestling with sin, but nope, I can hold it together for an hour or two. That’s where David was.

That was the condition of his heart. So it happens after you hide a sin for so, so long. You can almost disconnect yourself from it. It's a strange phenomenon. You see, like an addiction, where you get so used to hiding it, you're so far down the spectrum. You hide it to the point that nobody will be able to see it, but it’s controlling you. We see this with David! How could he not see that Nathan was talking about him in the parable? He's a smart guy, how could he not see himself in this story?  I mean it couldn't be more obvious! A wealthy man with a bunch of sheep wants to throw a party, he takes the poor man’s only lamb, slaughters it heartlessly, lovelessly, with no payment at all. And David is irate after he hears the story! “How dare this man do that? He should die for what he did!” So Nathan finally exposes what David should have seen right away. “You're the man.” You're the man. I've come to find in my own life the sins that I come down the hardest on, the sins that I just can't stand to see in other people. You know what I find? It's because I see it in myself. 

That's where David was. Reality finally hits. He's known. He's exposed. The defenses have been broken down by God's grace. And Nathan tells him, “David, there are consequences.” Every sin has them. We're gonna talk about the beauty of consequences in a second. But Nathan rattles them off: Family dysfunction for the rest of David's life, his authority will be disrespected, he will be humbled, no more sterling reputation. Yet processing that, David experienced unexpected joy. Maybe not in happiness, but in exposure. Finally, he was known. On his knees, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “Against you, you only have I sinned, LORD.”

Oh, he sinned against a lot of people. How could he say “against you, you only?” That's what broke him. He hurt the God who gave him everything. David, of course, was a prophet. He got to look into the future. God, in His grace, allowed him to see the cross. Look at Psalm 22. Look at Psalm 69. He got to witness it 1000 years before it happened. You and I, we get to look back and see the cross. And the worst part about our sin, it's not even the people we've hurt, and that's devastating. It's not the times we've hurt ourselves. That hurts deeply. But to imagine looking in the face of Jesus who died, who went through hell for me, for you. To wrong him? The God-man who went through more pain than we could ever know. It's like a slap in his face. And that's what crushed David, how could I do this to you, God? And You know if I were Nathan, there would be a temptation to guilt trip, “Yeah you really did it, David, God should just smite you right now, be done with it!” But what does Nathan immediately say? “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” You’re forgiven.

I think about that tax collector in the parable, beating his chest, “Lord have mercy on a sinner like me.” Don’t you know that feeling? To look at our sin and think, “God would you have me? I know what I've done, you've busted my defenses, I have no defense anymore.” I know that place. To think, “Nothing is hidden from you, God, you see it all.” For him to speak to you through the cross and say, “You're forgiven, that sin does not cage you in anymore, never again. Our Jesus who spoke that parable of the tax collector, designed to break down the walls of hypocrisy the Pharisees had, he designs to break down your walls too. If there's a sin you're hiding and you've invested a lot of your life to do it, it's not worth it.  Because you might be able to pull a fast one over everybody in your life. You might be able to pull that off for a lifetime, but you'll never have peace. The more we hold onto our sins, and the less we confess them, the more they will eat you from the inside out. David's living proof. But then, to run to the cross, to fall on your knees again, say, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. And to hear his voice through his Word again, you're forgiven. I've paid the price. You're not going to die. So much more, you're gonna live with me. I'm preparing a place for you. There's a place at my table for you, not on the outside, right here. And that's why God is amazing, love. 

In love, He sends consequences into your life and mine. Why? Imagine if God would have just let David go. Let him live caged by his sin. He went nine months without confessing it, who’s to say he wouldn't have done that for the rest of his life? Turning away from God entirely? The Lord couldn’t bear that thought for David, and he can’t bear that thought for you either. Jesus has taken every bit of the punishment you and I deserve. Consequences are not punishments. This was not God punishing David. God uses consequences to keep you near him.

When you see those consequences of your sin, by grace you can say thank you, God. Thank you for keeping me from building those defenses around my sin instead of running to you. Thank you for doing away with sin so nothing will separate us again. Our greatest disappointments, our most painful consequences drive us to Jesus’ cross again and again, if that is why God gives them, would any of us say that’s a bad thing? If this is what it takes for you to be held in God’s arms, how can we not have joy? Because no matter what consequence you endure you know the Father disciplines those He loves. Yahweh, the God of compassion, grace, and faithfulness, keeps His promises, including the promise to take you home. And if this is what it takes, it's worth it. Keep in mind in those consequences, the Lord is at your side. Always.

He doesn't leave you to prove yourself worthy of His love again. No. We'll never have to face the prospect of standing before God and him asking, “Are you worthy?” We know we’re not, but we also know who is! The Lamb who is slain. Your Savior Jesus who seeks to restore you, to build you up again, to break down all those false hopes of sin and evil, to take you out of the trap of death, which He has, and to give you life to the full. Forgiven.

God does not intend for you to live a life of faking it, but He lovingly gives you and me the law to crush any idea that we may have that you can earn His love, to crush any idea that we can make it through life on your own. He doesn't want us to live in self-delusion, but in total godly inclusion that we could belong to Him. And so in turn, we not only accept the consequences, we thank the Lord for them, maybe not with a smile, but with joy all the same. 

And the more we confess, the more we appreciate that much more deeply what the gospel means: A guilt-free life. Yes often the first wave of emotion of being found out is anger. But then relief comes. Why? Because there's not a single sin in your life that Jesus hasn't paid for. It's not like you're gonna get to heaven for him to say “Oops, I missed that one.” Nope. Every single sinful thought, word, and deed has been forgiven. Like David, it’s why we appreciate the law. The law is designed to bring you to the end of yourself. So you can see Jesus as your everything, your life. To be exposed and to expose, it's hard. Our greatest fear is to be exposed and rejected. But that fear isn't for you, dear Christian. There's one who was forsaken in your place and it's not you or me, it's Jesus. And he was forsaken why? That you could be fully known, yes, and you are. But never forget, you're fully loved. So as we start this Lenten journey, what if you considered doing the thing that you've been afraid to do for far too long? Confront that sin. Bring it to Jesus. Go to a Christian friend, confess, hear forgiveness. Now is the time. Don't be afraid. You won’t be alone. What does Jesus say in Matthew 18? “Where two or three gather in my name there I am with them.” What's the subject matter of Matthew 18? Not worship. Confession and forgiveness. Where two or three gather, there Jesus is. The constant 3rd-wheel. 

After we confess our sins together in worship, I get to do the coolest thing as your pastor. I get to look you in the eye and share the gospel, “You're forgiven.” You know how cool that is to tell somebody that?! The cross is for you. And then when you say “Amen,” maybe you haven't realized until now you're also saying that to me. “Pastor, you're forgiven, too.” Those words hit. I'm forgiven. You are too. Because Christ has set you and me free. He's broken down our walls of sin. You're that loved. Don't ever forget it. Confess. Be healed. Live in forgiveness. Amen.