II Sam 12:1-14
INTRODUCTION From Newsweek (February 6, 1995), We live in a country of
shamelessness. We have T.V. shows where people tell the world
about bestiality inside their homes and we yawn. Where a former
crack head runs for mayor and wins in
president is repeatedly caught lying to the American people and
most see no problem.
THESIS: We must awake from our sleep in the comfort of our sins and own them.
Text: David had committed adultery and murder.....HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
A year had passed and he had victory over his enemies...
His conscience was asleep
Nathan the prophet confronts with a parable
Sheep sometimes kept inside as pets....
Rich man, who had more than enough livestock, steals poor man's lamb to feed
a traveler.
David's anger burns....Heb. to be hot...to smoke...to start a fire....Great wrath
David's heart was asleep to his sin...but reactionary to anthers
"Thou art the man!"
Nathan had brought David to the first part of repentance...Shame and Self
Judgment
The greatest evil David did was to bring dishonor upon the Lord's name (V.14)
Repentance is the only way back to God.....In Any broken Relationship....Needed For healing.
Repentance is a gift of God's Grace not a good work
Acts
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
2 Tim. 2:25
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
Repentance never exists except in conjunction with faith, while on the other hand, wherever there is true faith, there is also real repentance. The two are but different aspects of the same turning—a turning away from sin in the direction of God…The two cannot be separated; they are simply complementary parts of the same process. - L Berkhoff, Systematic Theology, p. 487
....
Repentance is turning from the disgrace of sin to God for forgiveness,
with a true desire to walk in the ways of the Lord… Acts 26:20 but kept declaring both to those of
Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of
Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God,
performing deeds appropriate to repentance.
Charles Hodge Repentance is incomplete unless it leads to confession and restitution in cases of injury; unless it causes us to forsake not merely outward sins, which others notice, but those which lie concealed in the heart; unless it makes us choose the service of God and live not for ourselves but for Him. There is no duty which is either more obvious in itself, or more frequently asserted in the Word of God, than that of repentance.
A sinner is the only subject capable of repentance. Christ "came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance;" and he intimated that "just men need no repentance." But "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
The first step of repentance is to become aware of the shame and disgrace of our sin....
Ezra 9:6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
ILLUSTRATION
2408.220 REASONS FOR HARDNESS OF SINNERS
There is an
interesting article in "
called "The Evil of Banality" a critic of a book by Christopher
Browning. The book deals with a German police unit from World
War II known as "Battalion 101." The article takes up the
question of how members of this unit could so coldly kill 80,000
Jewish men, women and children between 1943-1947. Many would
kill hundreds a day and go home to a nice dinner and a loving
wife. Here are some possible reasons that the Germans could act
so terribly and not feel any pains of conscience:
1. They reframed their actions....Jews are not real human beings
2. They became desensitized to it....At first some members of 101
asked to be relieved of duty later it became rare for anyone to
mind.
3. They had the approval and acceptance of the German Culture.
Their piers considered them honorable men.
4. They had the pressure of making a living...profit
motive...they had a job to do.
5. They denied their consciences...denial
6. They began to enjoy the slaughter...evil heart....One tells
the story of shooting a small boy with his pistol in the back of
the head then having his partner laugh at him because he got
brains all over his revolver. They were instructed to keep their
pistol barrels 20 cm.'s away from the back of the head to prevent
this....
7. They rationalized the guilt and shame away...Somebody would
kill them anyway...
YOU IN THE SAME WAY HANDLE THE DISGRACE OF YOUR OWN SIN>>>
1. You reframe your actions and heart....
2. You get use to it....Done this for years....
3. Approval of Culture....
4. Pressure of making a living...Do whatever it takes to survive....
5. Deny conscience.....Like David you know better...but you decide to do it anyway.
6. The lure and enjoyment of sin....Its fun to ......
7. Rationalize the guilt and shame away....It's really not that bad.....
We must awake from our sleep in the comfort of our sins and own them.
YOU ARE THE MAN....
In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception “that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior.” He goes on to say, “It is revival without reformation, without repentance.”
ARE YOUR ASLEEP IN SIN?
God receives repentant sinners through Christ….