05.02. Failure Doesn't Mean Forever- David

Failure Doesn’t Mean Forever- David 2 Samuel 12:1-13

Last time we looked a hero that the Bible had nothing bad to say about. We know that Joseph was not perfect because all have sinned. Today we come to another man who is known as the greatest king that Israel ever had. All others are compared to King David. You know the story of this hero. He was anointed to be king at a very young age, probably around 16. (1 Samuel 16:13 ) It would be many years before this promise given in the anointing would come to pass.

I- The Opinion that Matters Most:

We have a thing that has been identified as "peer pressure." It is the pressure placed on us to act a certain way to be accepted. Peer pressure can be good or bad depending on the ones who are doing the pressuring. We make the mistake of thinking it only happens to our children in school. May I say adults succumb to peer pressure as often. We what people to think good of us. We want to be like, accepted, appreciated and thusly others opinion of us matters. We are going to look today at the failure of David. However, I want us all to notice what the opinion of the one that matters most was of David. Saul is being told that his kingdom will not continue after him. 1 Samuel 13:14 "But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee." This man after God’s own heart was our hero today, David. Shortly this man would go before the giant Goliath and slay him. This took a great deal of faith on the part of this shepherd boy. Notice what his statement was as he prepared to go to battle. 1 Samuel 17:37 "David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee."

II- Failure:

David would become a fugitive from Saul after he killed Goliath. Saul became jealous and tried to kill David and then as David and his men fled he attempted to hunt him down with his army. On two different occasions David could have killed Saul but would not. We can tell a lot about people by the way they treat their enemies. There is a story told out of our nations past and about one of our greatest presidential heroes, Abraham Lincoln.

One of President Abraham Lincoln’s associates scolded him rather severely for being soft on his enemies. "Why do you insist on trying to make friends of them?" he chided. "You should be trying to destroy them." To which Lincoln replied gently, "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make them my friends?" In speaking of those who were his enemies during the Civil War, Lincoln is reported to have said, "Insane as it may seem, I hold malice toward none of them. I have neither the time nor the energy in this life to hold that kind of resentment."

Still as great as David was he had his failures. We have the failure with Bathsheba recorded for us in 2 Samuel 11:1-27. We will address this only by acknowledging that David was not perfect. But it was the events that took place afterward that give rise to this sermon’s main thought. We might ask does failure mean that we are forever removed from being a hero. May I simply say no? We now come to our text found in 2 Samuel 12:1-13 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." After the failure of David the prophet Nathan comes to visit him and tells him in a parable about his failures. His story of a man who had only one lamb that the neighbor stole and killed made David mad. He then is confronted with the fact of his sin.

III- Restoration of the Hero:

What if David had reacted differently? He could have had the prophet killed, it was within his power. After all we know that David had already had Uriah killed. What if he had only faked the repentance and later had the prophet assassinated? We might ask District Judge Phillip Killien of Seattle about this.

Recently, a young man appeared before Judge Killien on charges of car theft. The judge saw no reason to keep him locked up while he awaited court action. He released him on his own recognizance. A short time later, Killien’s own car disappeared.

Police quickly found the stolen car, and the one who stole it. Then, Judge Killien was in court in a new role, not as a judge, but as a witness, against the same young man he had released, who stood accused of stealing the magistrate’s wheels.

The thing that made David’s a great man was when he was confronted with his sin he repented. We see here the restoration of the hero. Please notice the words of David about whom he had sinned against. "¹³And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD." But wait, he had taken advantage of Bathsheba by calling her in as king so she could not refuse his advances. He had killed her husband. But David understood that he had ultimately sinned against God.

IV- The Keepers of Forgiveness:

    What if God never forgave anyone of anything. What a mess we would be in would you not say. The forgiveness of God is illustrated many ways around us. Let me illustrate it for us.    

One day when Stan Mooneyham was walking along a trail in East Africa with some friends, he became aware of a delightful odor that filled the air. He looked up in the trees and around at the bushes in an effort to discover where it was coming from. Then his friends told him to look down at the small blue flower growing along the path. Each time they crushed the tiny blossoms under their feet, more of its sweet perfume was released into the air. Then his friends said, "We call it the forgiveness flower." This forgiveness flower does not wait until we ask forgiveness for crushing it. It does not release its fragrance in measured doses or hold us to a reciprocal arrangement. It does not ask for an apology; it merely lives up to its name and forgives-freely, fully, richly. What a touching example of outrageous forgiveness! My my! What a great illustration of God’s forgiveness being offered on the cross. Remember Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The keeper of forgiveness is also the provider of the way of forgiveness. He only waits for us to come to Him in repentance. You have seen a cloud drifting across the pure blue of the sky, and as you watch it, it breaks up and disappears forever. You will never see that cloud again. So God deals with your sins. You believe in His Son as your Lord and Savior. Then He blots out your transgressions just as He sweeps the cloud from your sight forever. The Bible abounds in these assurances of utter removal of the penalty of sin from the child of God.

    But what about us? Do we give forgiveness and forget it like God does? Do we bury the hatched and leave the handle stick out as the old saying goes. Do we ever allow someone who is fallen to again gain hero status?

    May I quickly say again in God’s eyes the restoration comes after repentance.

I read a story about a family that hits close to home for many families. The Berry Spoon

"I’ll never forgive him. I told him I would never forgive him." The attractive elderly lady spoke softly, but with resolve, to the night nurse. Her expression was troubled as she turned away, focusing her eyes on the drape closing in her nursing home bed. The conversation had traveled from the temporal to the eternal and now a deep hurt had surfaced.

She told of how her brother had approached her hospital bed, accusing her of taking more than her share of family heirlooms following their mother’s death. He spoke of various items, ending with "the berry spoon." He said, "I want the berry spoon." For the 40 years since the parent’s death he had hidden his feelings, and now they erupted. She was both hurt and angered by his accusation and vowed never to forgive him. "It’s my spoon. It was given to me," she defended herself. "He’s wrong and I won’t forgive him." A berry spoon. In the bed lay a woman given two months to live-60 days-and she would face eternity and never see her brother again in this life. Her mind and spirit were in anguish, and her only remaining family tie was broken over a spoon.

How many berry spoons are there in our lives? How many things, as insignificant as a spoon, in light of eternity, separate us from full communion with God? How much lack of forgiveness keeps us from fellowship with others?

    "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" Matthew 6:14-15 .

    Some things are best forgotten. May I be so bold to say that for us to be a hero in action we must at times move past hurts.    

Following the Civil War, Robert E. Lee was visiting in Kentucky where one lady showed him the remains of what had been an enormous, old tree. This tree stood directly in front of her house. She bitterly cried to General Lee of how its limbs and trunk had been shattered by Federal artillery fire. Having poured out her anguish she looked to the old soldier for a condemnation of the North. Following a brief silence, Lee responded, "Cut it down, my dear madam, and forget it." Clara Barton, Red Cross founder, was asked if she remembered an especially cruel thing done to her years before. When she seemed not to recall it, a friend asked, "Don’t you remember?" "No," said Miss Barton, "I distinctly remember forgetting it."

David, the restored hero, found that failure does not mean forever. Maybe it is time we move on into the future with a compassion for those who beat themselves us after failures. Maybe it is time we act like heroes toward those fallen ones. If you want to show someone how spiritual you are don’t do it by criticizing but by helping as it says in Galatians 6:1 "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."