Godly Sorrow | Sunday, June 28, 2026

Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Anthony and team. Good morning, Cross Connections. It is good to see you all. You can have a seat. I am so glad you're here to worship with us this morning.

That song we were just singing has a portion taken from a great passage of Scripture in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, where Jesus says to his disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

Around the world, we often face trials, troubles, and tribulations. In those moments, it's good to have the hope of the Scriptures. My Father speaks of many mansions; what a good word from the Lord. It is truly good to see you all here this morning.

This week, we are going to be in our fourth message in our summer series called "Fly on the Wall," where we get to be the fly on the wall in situations where God is having a conversation with an individual or where two individuals are interacting with one another. We are kind of spectators, watching what is going on.

We've seen some great things. In the book of Exodus, we spent a couple of weeks observing God interacting with Moses and revealing Himself. Last week, Pastor Jason taught on the passage where Jacob wrestles with God. This week, we have a great passage to get into.

It was interesting last week; this is the first year in my 18 years as the pastor of this church that I haven't been here for Father's Day and Mother's Day. I was traveling on Mother's Day to speak at a conference elsewhere. Then, last weekend, my oldest son, who is now a senior in high school, which is totally tripping my brain a little bit, was selected to attend a leadership conference at Pepperdine University.

We were driving him up there last week, and it felt very surreal. It was like a preview of what is coming because we were waving goodbye. I thought, "This is really weird." After getting back in the car, I had a two-and-a-half-hour drive, just thinking, "Man, Lord, this is strange." It goes by so fast.

This week, my wife, my son Ethan, Evangeline, and a whole bunch of other people from our church are...

In Argentina this week, we are serving with Su Refugio. Please keep them in your prayers. We have another group of people going out next month to Paraguay and Peru. There are lots of different things going on, so there are many opportunities happening. Please be praying for those who are serving on your behalf in other places.

On that note, I want to acknowledge two individuals who grew up in our church, met in our church, and got married after they met in our church. They went through our children's ministry and our youth ministry, and they have been serving in China for the last seven years. I want to identify them, even though this probably embarrasses them: Shane and Anna Nelson. Would you just wave or stand up to say hello? They have just returned from serving in China for seven years.

Shane has been involved in missions in China since he was 18, right? He went on his first trip with us when he was 18. I received a call from Kelly, our missions director at the time, and she said Shane wanted to stay there. Well, if his parents said okay, then we basically just left him behind. Don't worry; if you go with us on a trip, we probably won't do that.

I think it's safe to say that trip changed your life, didn't it? Yes, it totally changed the direction of your life. On that point, I want to emphasize that we believe it is important for you to experience what God is doing in other places. If you have an opportunity, even if it's just the smallest seed of a desire to go on a trip with us when we go somewhere, I would encourage you to go. The likelihood of God saying, "I'm calling you to missions long-term," is pretty low, but it's not zero. God may have a call for you in that way, and I encourage you to consider it.

I know that right there, I probably just made half of you think, "I would never go on a trip," but for some of you, God is doing work, which is great. I hope that you would consider it.

As I mentioned, we are doing this series with a kind of strange title and a strange idea: "Fly on the Wall." We have these interactions in Scripture that God inspired. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, as Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 3. There is nothing in the Bible that isn't there by God's plan, purpose, and design. There are situations, circumstances, and conversations that we would not know about had God not inspired the writing of these things down, where it is just a conversation between God and...

Moses, Exodus chapter 3. Another passage is God and Moses in Exodus 34, which we looked at two weeks ago, or Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32. In these situations, we learn great things. They reveal important insights about God and show us significant things to consider about ourselves. They teach us valuable lessons about how we ought to live and provide guidance on what we should do and what we should not do. They definitely reveal something of the Lord—His character, His nature, who He is, what He has done, and what He wants to do in us.

This week, we have another one of these instances in the Old Testament, which is like the climax, the high point, the conclusion of what is perhaps one of the most bothersome stories in all the Bible. That might seem like a very bold statement, but I think you will understand why I say it as we get into this story, because it is one of the problematic stories in the Bible.

If you read through the Old Testament, which I really encourage you to do if you've never done it, I know that sometimes we put these ideas on ourselves as burdens. We think we have to read through the whole Bible in a year, and that can be a challenge, especially with books like Leviticus and First Chronicles that can be difficult to read. However, I would encourage you, if you've never read from Genesis to Revelation, to take the time to do that. You would be among, unfortunately, a minority of people who have done so.

As you go through the story, you're introduced to all kinds of amazing characters like Abraham or, as we looked at last week, Jacob. One of the standout characters in the Old Testament is David, the great king of Israel. There's no way to read the Bible without really starting to look at this character, because so much of the history of Israel revolves around him. He is one of the most beloved characters in the Old Testament—the shepherd boy who became king.

It's an amazing story when you follow his rise to the throne in First Samuel. Watching this shepherd boy become king is incredible, and then you come to realize that he is referred to as the great psalmist of Israel. The Psalms take up the largest section of our Bibles, with 150 Psalms, and 75 of them—half of them—actually have his name in the title. They were written by him, and probably more than those 75 were composed by the great psalmist of Israel.

So, he is a songwriter, the king, the shepherd, the great shepherd. What's amazing about him is that First Samuel records that he was a man after God's own heart. What a title to have, like on your business card: man after God's own heart. You know, Pastor Mark, sometimes when he introduces himself, I've heard him say...

Servant of the Most High. That's a great title, but "man after God's own heart" is also quoted in the New Testament, in Acts chapter 13, referring to David. He was the youngest in his family and perhaps the most overlooked, with seven older brothers. Can you imagine that?

It's amazing when the prophet Samuel came to the house of Jesse, David's father, to anoint David as king. He was just a boy, probably a young teenager, taking care of the sheep. Jesse caused all of his sons to pass before Samuel, and Samuel said, "Nope, not that one, nope, not that one." Finally, after all of the sons had passed, he asked, "Do you have any more sons?" Jesse replied, "Well, yeah, there's David." The actual wording seems to imply that he considered David the least in his estimation. He thought, "You can't possibly want David, that one out there in the field keeping the sheep."

So, the overlooked one, maybe the weakest one, the one that no one expected to really amount to much, was called by God. If you ask anybody if they know anything about David in the Bible, they're probably going to remember that David slew Goliath. He is the one who killed the giant. What an amazing story!

Not only did he slay the giant, but after God anointed him as king, he had to flee from the one who occupied the throne, King Saul, for more than a decade as Saul sought to kill him. There are so many things that you could highlight about David; there are so many things to love about him. He is the one who united the people of Israel. Before he was king, the people of Israel were twelve scattered tribes in the land of Canaan. David brought them together as one nation.

He conquered the city of Jerusalem and made it the capital for the people. Many look to him as the one who directed the nation to become a great nation. The amazing thing is that he is in the lineage of Christ. When you talk about the Messiah, we know him as the son of David. David is an incredible character, and among all the highlights, there is this one detail we could call a low light. It's the one detail in David's life that maybe even he wished you would forget about, that you wouldn't know about this story.

The story that we're going to look at today reminds us of something that I heard many years ago from a Bible teacher I respect named Alistair Begg. Alistair frequently says, "The best of men are men at best." This is one of those stories that highlights that reality. Even the best of men, on their best days, are still the worst of sinners, and that's very clear in this story.

I think the fact that this story is in the Bible points to the divine inspiration of Scripture. If this were just a text of nationalistic literature, this is the kind of story that would have been whitewashed and removed. It would be like saying, "Let's not talk about that incident because it's a black stain on the great king."

So, if you would take out your Bibles this morning and open to the book of 2 Samuel, it's in about the first quarter of your Bible. It comes right after 1 Samuel, interestingly enough. If you would stand with me, we're going to actually pick it up at the very end of this book in chapter 12.

2 Samuel, chapter 12, is where we will be today. Verse 1 says, "Then the Lord sent Nathan, who was a prophet, to David. He came to him and said, 'There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. He was a trillionaire. But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished. It grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, in his lap. It was like a daughter to him.'

Now, a traveler came to the rich man, and the rich man refused to take from his many flocks or from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man's lamb, killed it, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man. He said to Nathan, 'As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die, and he shall restore fourfold for the lamb because he did this thing and because he had no pity, compassion, or mercy.'

Then Nathan said to David, 'You are the man. Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from...'"

The hand of Saul was given to you, and I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. If that had been too little, I would have given you much more. Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife to be your wife, and you have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.

Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will rise up adversity against you from your own house. I will take away your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.

And so David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." God, I pray that You would speak to us this morning from this devastating story. Lord, give us wisdom and understanding as we consider this. As we reflect on what it ultimately reveals about You, but also what it reveals about us, would You continue by Your word and by Your Spirit to transform us by the renewing of our minds, to make us more like You? Lord, remind us of Your character and Your nature as we consider this passage. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

This is perhaps one of the most memorable stories in all of literature. As I said previously, if you ask someone what they know about King David in the Bible, even those who don't really know a lot about the Bible are probably going to at least identify the story of David and Goliath.

I'll never forget years ago, I was trying to show a picture of David and Goliath while sharing the gospel over a period of weeks and months with a gentleman who was a well-established businessman. At one point, we were driving in his car, going up to L.A. for a business meeting. As we were driving, I was telling him various stories about the Bible. I started to tell him the story about David and Goliath, and he stopped me mid-sentence. He said, "Wait a minute, that story's in the Bible?" I replied, "Yes, it's one of the famous stories of the Bible." He responded, "I just thought that was a..."

The story they told you in business school about the little guy overcoming the big guy is a familiar one. I had no idea that it was in the Bible, but people know this story, even if they went to get their MBA. They have heard about David and Goliath.

One of the other stories that many people know is not just David and Goliath, but also David and Bathsheba. These two stories represent the high point and the low point of David's life. They confront us with the fact that most people, in the story of their lives, experience a high high, like a David and Goliath situation, and they probably have one or two low lows, like a David and Bathsheba story. Over the course of our lives, these become the defining stories that we remember. They are the ones that stick out the most, and most frequently, it is the low lows that resonate with us more than the high highs. It is the David and Bathsheba moments that linger in our minds.

Imagine your lowest low being recorded in the Bible, the most well-known book in all of history, the most sold book in all of history. Imagine your worst day being there for everybody to read the details, as it is with this story. This is the story of David's life that, more than any other, causes us to scratch our heads and ask the question: how is it possible that this guy could be called a man after God's own heart?

I have heard this question many times over the years from people who take on the task of trying to read through the whole Bible. They get to 1 Samuel, and by the end of 1 Samuel, they say, "Man, I love David. He's so awesome! Saul has killed his thousands, and David has killed his tens of thousands." What an awesome guy! But then you get to 2 Samuel, and you think, "What a wretched maggot." That is what happens when you see this guy in this passage, and you wonder, "What is this?"

You read that passage recorded in 1 Samuel and again in Acts chapter 13, where it states that David is a man after God's own heart. You have to ask the question, and people have come to talk to me as a pastor before, saying, "I don't get it. How is this guy a man after God's own heart? How is he any worse than Saul? How is he not worse than Saul, who was rejected by God as king, to be the one chosen by God to serve in Saul's stead?"

I found in David, a man of Jesse, a man after God's own heart. How is that even possible? It is very difficult to see the difference between the things that Saul did in disobedience to God and the things that David did, which, if you just look at the surface and put them side by side, seem quite similar.

Charting the course of David's life, one might wonder why he seemed worse than others. The backstory is important, so let's turn just one page to the left from where you are in 1 Samuel chapter 12 to 1 Samuel chapter 11, where we read this:

"It happened in the spring of the year, at the time that kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants. Joab was one of his chief generals, and his servants with him and all of Israel. They destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem."

Those five words are key: "But David remained at Jerusalem."

It's interesting to note that this event occurred in the spring, a time when kings typically went out to battle. After the winter months, as spring began, people returned to their fields. This was a very agrarian society; they were out plowing, planting, and tending to their flocks. During this time, the enemies of Israel would frequently attack, prompting the king and his armies to defend their territories. Sometimes, they would even go on the offensive to push back their enemies encroaching on their land.

However, the scriptures state that David remained at Jerusalem while his men went out into the field. These words become a crucial part of the story.

Point number one, if you're taking notes this morning, is that idle disengagement is often the first step towards sin. This was David's first step in the story: "But David remained in Jerusalem."

Of course, the steps didn't stop there; they rarely do. Remaining in Jerusalem while his men were away engaged in battle wasn't, in and of itself, a sin. It’s not as if he was doing something immoral or wrong by staying back as the rest of his armies went out. Perhaps in his mind, he thought, "I've done that every single year. I've led the armies, and now I have generals who can take care of that." David, who was once great in battle, may have felt that he no longer needed to participate. He decided to let the younger men handle it, and in doing so, he disengaged.

Oftentimes, when you disengage, that's when you can expect temptation to arise. If you consider your own experiences and the story of your life, you’ve probably seen the same pattern. While everyone else was out engaged in the work, David chose to remain behind.

They were supposed to be doing, and he remained in Jerusalem. Now temptation comes. Look at 2 Samuel 11. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. It may seem weird to us, but that was common and normal at that time. They'd have a rooftop deck. So, he's walking on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof, he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful to behold.

David sent and inquired about the woman. Someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed of her impurity, and she returned to her house.

I used it earlier; I think it's the right word: maggot. What in the world are you doing, David, the great king of Israel? Staying behind in Jerusalem was not sin. Walking on the roof deck there in Jerusalem was not sin either, but it did provide the opportunity for it.

Now, the interesting thing is that seeing the woman bathing, just casually seeing her, wasn't necessarily sin either. But that's not where he stopped. The seeing turned to beholding, then to coveting, then to inquiring, and finally to sending for her to bring her to himself.

One of the craziest parts of this story is when he inquires of one of his servants, "Hey, who is that lady that lives over in that house?" They respond, "Oh, that's Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam." That would have triggered something for David. Why?

If you do a character study on Bathsheba and Eliam, you'll find that Eliam's father was a man named Ahithophel. If you study Ahithophel, you'll find that he was one of David's key advisors, one of the wisest men in his entire royal court. This was the granddaughter of one of David's chief advisors.

So, his servant says, "That's Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam. You know, her dad, her grandpa is Ahithophel. And she's the wife of Uriah." It's interesting that Uriah was a Hittite. You see, a Hittite, this man that this woman was married to, was not a man of Israel. How did a Hittite, who were the very people that the children of Israel would fight against in war, end up being married to a woman like Bathsheba?

Is married to the granddaughter of one of David's chief advisors? Well, the story is that this man, Uriah the Hittite, if you do a study on him, was one of David's mighty men of valor. During the ten or more years that David was on the run, fleeing from Saul when Saul was trying to kill him, a whole group of men gathered around David who served with him, fought with him, and defended him and the people of Israel. This Hittite became one of the close, mighty men of David's military. And that is his wife that David was ogling over.

You would think at this point, when he hears that that's Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, David would have had that little voice in his head that said, "No touchy." You would hope; you would think. But that's not what happened. The exits are there, and he's not taking them.

In the New Testament book of First Corinthians, Paul says that all these things in the Old Testament that are recorded for us were recorded for our examples and instruction. The Old Testament serves as instruction for us. He says in First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12, "So let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." And then this, this is key: look at verse 13. "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

Hey, keep this in mind. This is key. Point number two: there are always ample exits along the path to sin. God is gracious. God is faithful. He gives us off-ramps as we're on the path to sin. There are always ample exits. You can go all the way back to the opening pages of Scripture. Genesis chapter four is a great example. Cain killed his brother Abel, but before he killed his brother Abel, God showed up and said, "Hey, Cain, sin is at your door seeking to destroy you, and you've got to find a way to master it and control it."

James in the New Testament says each one of us is tempted when we're drawn away by our own desires and enticed. When desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown...

Grown, it brings death. One of the most insidious and destructive sins revealed in the Scriptures and known to all of us is sexual immorality. That's why the Scriptures say to flee sexual immorality. Don't hang around with that.

Maybe the best story that illustrates fleeing sexual immorality is found in the book of Genesis with a man named Joseph. The master that Joseph served was a slave owner or employer, if you will. His wife came to him one day and said, "I want you to sleep with me." He fled from her and left his cloak behind; he ran away. That's what it looks like to flee sexual immorality.

David did not do that. Here in this passage, he blew past the exits. Unfortunately, when we look back in our own lives, we frequently do the same. He sent for her, brought her to his home, and lay with her. Then, in verse five of Second Samuel, chapter 11, you knew this was coming: the woman conceived. She sent and told David, saying, "I am with child."

You see, that's what happens. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Thank you, Isaac Newton, for the third law of motion. David expected, or you would assume, that this would have been one of those brief excursions into indiscretion. After the fact, he probably thought, "Well, that was dumb, and I won't do that again." But it was behind him, and he thought they could just keep that on the down low until the message came. She said, "I am with child, with your child."

Actions have consequences, repercussions, and ramifications. When the consequences come, we have new choices and opportunities to respond. Well, how did David respond? Not so well.

Look at verse six of Second Samuel 11. David sent to Joab, the commander general of his army, saying, "Send Uriah the Hittite." Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, how the people were doing, and how the war was prospering. David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet."

Uriah departed from the king's house, and the gift of food from the king followed him—a present to take home and have a meal with his wife. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house.

He had too much integrity for that. He slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his master. He did not go down to his house. When they told David that Uriah did not go down to his house, David asked Uriah, "Did you not come from a far journey? Why did you not go to your house?"

Uriah replied, "The ark of Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents. My Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house and eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live, as your soul lives, I will not do this thing." He had too much integrity for that.

David then said to Uriah, "Wait here today; hang out just another day longer, and tomorrow I'll let you depart." Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. When David called him, he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. David thought that if he could just get Uriah drunk, he would go home to his wife, have relations with her, and all of this would be put to bed without anyone knowing.

However, Uriah went out in the evening and lay on his bed with the servants of the Lord, but he did not go to his house. David had a problem. In the morning, he wrote a letter to Joab, the general, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter, he wrote, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die."

Point number three: sin, like leaven, has a tendency to expand and explode. That's why leaven or yeast is used as a picture of sin in the Scriptures, both Old Testament and New. A little leaven, says the New Testament, leavens the whole lump. Just as many of you have baked before and used yeast, you put a little bit into the dough, and what happens? It expands and rises. That's exactly what happens with sin, and that's exactly what's happening here in this passage.

David coveted his neighbor's wife, which is a transgression of the Tenth Commandment. Then, the covetousness turned to adultery, breaking the Seventh Commandment. When he couldn't cover up the adultery, it expanded to murder, breaking the Sixth Commandment.

Let’s skip down to verse 26 of 2 Samuel chapter 11. When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. When the period of her mourning was over, David sent and brought her into his house.

House and she became his wife and bore him a son. Now David gets to appear as the hero. This was probably a national tragedy for so many people. Uriah, one of David's mighty men, fell in battle and died. His poor wife is home pregnant, a widow. David, what a good king, brings her into his house to take care of her. He is going to provide for her when she has no one else to provide for her. Probably everybody's saying, "Bravo, king, bravo."

But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Covetousness, theft, adultery, murder, false witness, dishonoring himself and his parents—let's just go through the list. That's six of the Ten Commandments right there. Now maybe you understand why people ask the question, how is it possible that this guy could be a man after God's own heart? There's no way that he's better than King Saul. Saul disobeyed God, yes, but David committed covetousness, theft, adultery, murder, lying, and dishonoring his family and his name. The thing that David did displeased the Lord. Are you surprised at that? No.

But you know what is surprising? The very next word. We already read it: 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 1. Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. Don't miss this. It's key. It's so important. It's essential in the story of sin. Point number four: God is always the first mover in dealing with man's sin. That's what we see here in this passage.

That's what we saw in Genesis chapter 3 with the first sin of the first humans, Adam and Eve. It was God who came to them. They hid from God, but God went to them and promised them redemption in Genesis 3:15. God made for them skins to cover their nakedness, which implies there was a sacrifice. God was the first mover. Then in Genesis 4, when Cain killed Abel, it was God who went to Cain, seeking him out as well. We see this constantly throughout the scriptures. God is the first mover. We run from God. Paul recognizes this in the book of Romans chapter 3: there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none.

That seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, says Isaiah chapter 53. It's not us; it's not we who pursue God. It's God who seeks after us.

When we were without strength, Romans 5:6 tells us that in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God does this because Jesus is the good shepherd. He leaves the ninety-nine to seek after the one.

The theme verse of the Gospel of Luke, which we've been studying through this year, is found in Luke 19:10: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost."

So the Lord sent Nathan to David. Nathan, the prophet, came to David with great wisdom and tact. Remember, he was speaking to a man who was formerly a shepherd. He came with a story about a man who had a sheep. If anybody knew about having sheep, it was David.

Consider the courage of Nathan. David had already proven he was willing to kill to cover up his sin. Nathan approached him with wisdom and tact, telling the story. When David heard this story, he said, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die, and he shall restore fourfold the land because he did this thing and because he had no mercy."

Then Nathan, in the mic drop of all mic drop moments, said to David, "You are the man." This isn't just a story about a man with sheep; it's much worse. You are the man.

Then comes God's devastating indictment: "I anointed you," God says, "as king over Israel. I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you the throne, your master's house, and your master's wives into your keeping. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. I brought the whole nation to be united under you. And if that had been too little, I would have given you much more. So why did you despise the commandment of the Lord to do this evil in His sight?"

It's no wonder that people look at this story and think to themselves, how is it possible that this is a man after God's own heart? Well, the answer to the question comes right here in verse 13. So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." This is where we see the difference between Saul and David.

The wrong way to see the difference between Saul and David is to think that David was a righteous man who always did what was right and Saul was a failure. No, that's not true. They are both sinners, just like every single one of us here. There is none righteous, no, not one. David is not a righteous man, and we get to see his unrighteousness in full color, and just how truly wicked it was.

So we do ask the question, why is this guy a man after God's own heart? Just like Saul, David is confronted with his sin, and every single person will, at one point or another, be confronted with their sin, their willful evil and disobedience, their transgression. We will all be confronted with it, and David here is confronted with it. Saul was confronted with it in 1 Samuel 13 and again in 1 Samuel chapter 15. Each of us, when we are presented with the wickedness of our sin, is then presented with a choice about how we will respond in that moment.

This is where the difference between Saul and David becomes clear: the response. It's interesting. If you look at Saul's response to his sin, when another individual, Samuel, a prophet, came and confronted him, the words are the same. He says the exact same words that David says. You can look at it for yourself later in 1 Samuel chapter 15. Saul says, "I have sinned." David says, "I have sinned." But then the difference begins. David adds, "I have sinned against the Lord."

You may say, well, wait a minute. What about Uriah and Bathsheba and Ahithophel? Why does he say, "I have sinned against the Lord"? Because he recognizes that, at the end of the day, all sin is ultimately against God, the moral lawgiver. Yes, it has sinful effects among other people, but it primarily is against God. Saul, on the other hand, said, "I have sinned and transgressed the commandment of the Lord because of the people," immediately shifting the blame.

Yes, I broke the rules. I did. I broke the rules, Samuel. But you don't understand the situation. The people made me do it. I'm sure none of you have ever thought something like that, but there it is. I'm sorry; I screwed up. But everybody else was doing it, so it can't possibly be that bad. I've sinned against the Lord.

We know that David's heart in this is different from Saul's because of what happened after he sinned against the Lord. It's recorded by him for us in the Psalms. If you turn to about the middle of your Bible to that big book of the Psalms and find Psalm 51, you'll see it there. Psalm 51, verse one, actually has the introduction to the chief musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba.

Wow. Now you know the rest of the story. "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness; according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin."

Interesting. Reading this, it's very clear that David, when he writes this, is thinking of the very words we looked at two weeks ago in Exodus chapter 34, verse six, when God introduced Himself to Moses and said, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and patient, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." He's thinking of that when he says, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness; according to the multitude of your tender mercies, have mercy upon me."

In verse three, he acknowledges, "I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight." You see, this right here is confession. This is repentance.

But there's something else with David that was different from Saul. David confessed, he repented, and he accepted the consequences of his sinful actions. The consequences don't always go away. You see, God forgives, and He is gracious to those who come in repentance, as David did in this passage. But the consequences don't always go away. The consequences in David's life and in...

David's household was clear. God said to him, "Because of this sin that you have engaged in, there are going to be consequences in your household." It's interesting when David, upon hearing the story about the man taking the sheep, declares that he shall restore fourfold for what he has done. It is fascinating to follow the story of David after this, as four of his own children, as a result of his sinful actions, are destroyed. The consequences do not go away.

Now, Saul, on the other hand, resisted the consequences for at least ten years. He fought against what God had ultimately said would be the consequence of his sin, but here David accepts it. Psalm 51 is why David is considered a man after God's own heart. Not because he was righteous and always did everything that was good, true, and right, but because when he did sin, he ultimately confessed, repented, and turned to God for His grace.

Here’s the awesome thing that you learn when you do that: God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Those words are quoted in the New Testament by James, but they were originally penned by David in Psalm 138. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Because God is gracious, He will, like He did for David and like He did for Saul, send to you a Nathan or a Samuel to come to you when you have strayed from His path. He will send someone to say, "You need to turn back to the Lord."

In that moment, I hope you remember that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The man or woman after God's own heart is not the person who always does everything perfectly and right. If that were true, none of us would ever be listed as a man or woman after God's own heart. That title is given to the person who recognizes that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. God is so gracious to those who turn to Him in faith and repentance.

One of the great examples of that is found in the New Testament, in the opening words of the first book. We read this in Matthew chapter one, verse six: "And Jesse begot David, the king, and David begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah." That's grace—undeserved, unmerited favor.

Verse six presents the lineage of redemption, the genealogy of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. David, the king, begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. That's grace. God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, saved us by grace through faith. That not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. He extends grace to us as we turn to Him in faith and repentance, not only so that we would hold it and hoard it to ourselves, but that we would go and take it to others.

You are an ambassador of the grace of God. It may be that today you need to hear this word because perhaps you're in a place where, in your heart, you're actually far from God. God would say, if you will turn to Me in humble repentance, I will give you grace. I guarantee you will meet some people where you get to be in the position of Nathan or Samuel, as someone who carries the word of grace to others. We live in a world that desperately needs the grace of God, and it's available to anyone who will turn in humility and say, "God, please save me." That's the good news of the gospel. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? God, thank You for this story. It's one of those stories that just hits us when we read it. Thank You that we get the chance to peek in on it because, under the inspiration of Your Spirit, You caused this to be recorded for us—the lowest of low points in David's life—so that You could reveal the greatness of who You are. Not so that we would see just the depths of the depravity of who he is, but the awesomeness of how good You are.

Thank You, Lord, that You pursue us when we're far from You. Thank You that all we like sheep, when we go astray, You are the one who would willingly leave the ninety-nine to pursue the one, because You are the good shepherd. You are the one who came to seek and to save that which is lost. Every single one of us is lost or has been lost, and You come with such amazing grace—how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like us. We praise You, Jesus. We pray that You would help us to not only be the recipients of Your grace but also the conduits of Your grace to others, for we ask this in Jesus' name.

And all those that agreed said, "Amen."