THE SIN AND THE PUNISHMENT

PROCLAMATION

“Why did you despise The Word of The Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes?  You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own.  You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.  Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house … ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you.  Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.’ … ‘The Lord has taken away your sin.  You are not going to die.  But … the son born to you will die.’”  2 Samuel 12:9-14 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

After King David had slept with Bathsheba and after he had killed her husband Uriah, The Lord God sent Nathan the prophet to David with a message. (2 Samuel 12:1-4)  Nathan told David a parable.  After he heard the parable, David was angry with the man in the parable.  David said that man must pay four times over for doing such a thing, and he must die.  Nathan drew out of David a sentence against himself and then he told David that he was the man. (2 Samuel 12:5-7)  By his actions David had shown no regard for the law of God, the Ten Commandments.  The sixth commandment is: “Thou shalt not kill.” (Exodus 20:13)  The seventh commandment is: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)  The child born to David and Bathsheba became ill and died. (2 Samuel 12:15-19) David would soon have to flee from his son Absalom. (2 Samuel 15:13-14)  Afterwards, Absalom would sleep with David’s concubines during the day in the sight of all Israel. (2 Samuel 16:22)

APPLICATION

There will be a price to pay for willful disregard and disobedience of God’s Word.  It does not matter who we do wrong to, all sin is a sin against The Lord God. (Psalm 51:4)  As a believer we may not lose our salvation because of a sin, but we can lose our joy. (Psalm 51:12)  We need to acknowledge our sins (Psalm 51:3) and ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness. (Psalm 51:1-2)  Only The Lord God can clean us up after we fall, (Psalm 51:7) and only He can create within us a clean heart and a righteous spirit. (Psalm 51:10)