Wednesday, February 20, 2008

By Faith... David, Part 11 of 15

TEXT: 2 Samuel 11 and 12

IDEA: When we know the Bible, it is a vehicle that God uses to correct us and restore us.

PURPOSE: to help listeners see how God uses his word to speak to us.

In 2 Tim 3:16 Paul says that "all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in right living."

Paul is saying to Timothy that these are the things that the Scriptures can do.  Therefore he needs to use the Scriptures well.

• When you think of using the Bible to correct, what comes to your mind?
• When you think of using the Bible to correct, how do you imagine someone doing that?

I. Nathan, a prophet, had to confront David about his sin.

What had happened in David's life that obligated Nathan to confront him?

Do you think that Nathan would have thought about this situation of actually going to King David and telling him that God knew about his sin and David needed to repent?

It's always a dangerous thing to confront the king. It's even more dangerous to confront a king with a guilty conscience, and already more dangerous to confront a king with a guilty conscience who has killed a man to cover up what he has done.

II. Nathan didn't "quote Bible verses" when he confronted David. Instead, he told him a story.

What was the story that Nathan told David? 2 Samuel 12:1-7a:

 

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David.  And he came to him and said to him, “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.  The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds.  But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children.  It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.

And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

Then David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and 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 had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

Why do you think Nathan framed the story in terms of a poor man and his pet lamb?

Why is David's reaction to that story so significant?

III. If Nathan had told that story to the Pharaoh of Egypt, the Pharaoh would not have understood it.

There is a difference between David as a king and Pharaoh as a king. Pharaoh was above the law, but David was under the law.

In that story there is the breaking of several of God's commandments: you shall not covet, you shall not steal, even you shall love your neighbor. All of that would have been in David's mind, but the story brought it to the surface.

God confronts us as Christians through his word. That doesn't necessarily mean the use of Bible verses. If God's word is in your heart, there are ways in which God can bring it to the surface to rebuke us and to correct us.