THe Hope of repentance
2 samuel 12 and psalm 51
Main Idea: God’s grace and steadfast love invites us to humble and honest repentance.
I. Relenting to God’s Word (2 Sam. 12:1-7a)
The Lord sends his Word through the prophet Nathan to open David’s eyes from his blindness of his sin. Nathan’s “parable” brilliantly provokes David:
He appeals to the ‘shepherd’ theme that is central David’s life
The poor man treated his lamb like a “daughter” (Heb. ‘bath’)
David rightly recalls the Word of God about fourfold restoration (Ex. 22:1)
Hebrews 4:12-13: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Nathan is not just a prophet of the Lord in this action, but also a faithful friend who risks his own life to confront King David in truth and in grace (cf. Prov. 27:6, James 5:16).
Nathan knew what stout defenses mind and mouth can muster against a frontal assault. So instead of sitting down and calling David a filthy womanizer and a cruel murderer he began with, ‘Sir, I want to tell you about a situation …’ He so suckered the king into the case that David judged himself… Nathan’s strategy is nothing but the ingenuity of grace. His technique is the godly scheming of grace that goes around the end of our resistance and causes us to switch the floodlights on our own darkness.
~ Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Samuel: Out of Every Adversity.
II. Taking Responsibility for Sin (2 Sam. 12:7b-13, Psalm 51:1-5)
With David now condemned by his own judgment, Nathan rightly diagnoses the fact that David “despised the word of the Lord” (12:9), essentially “despising” God himself (12:10). David has abused God’s kindness and generosity toward him and instead did what was “evil in his sight.”
Despite the consequences & discipline of the Lord that will result from this sin (12:10-12, 14), David humbly and simply takes the first step of repentance: “I have sinned against the Lord” (12:13a; cf. Lk. 18:13-14).
David’s expanded repentance in Psalm 51 shows he grasps the seriousness of his sin, acknowledging:
Sin is against God (51:4)
Sin is comprehensive (51:1-2, 5; cf. Eph. 2:1-4)
Sin is pervasive (51:3)
2 Corinthians 7:9–10: As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
There is an eternal difference between regret and repentance. Regret feels bad about past sins. Repentance turns away from past sins. Most of us are content with regret. We just want to feel bad for a while, have a good cry, enjoy the cathartic experience, bewail our sin and how selfish/stupid/sorry we are. But we don’t really want to change… Here’s one way to distinguish between worldly grief and godly grief: one mobilizes you into action and the other immobilizes you. Godly grief is a fruitful and effective emotion. We are not meant to wallow in this grief. It is supposed to spur us to action, to change, to make right our wrongs, to be zealous for good works, to run from sin and start walking in the opposite direction. But worldly grief makes you idle and stagnant. You don’t change. You don’t grow. You don’t fight against the deeds of the flesh. Instead, you ruminate on your mistakes and obsess about what people’s opinions and ponder what might have been.
~ Kevin DeYoung, “Godly Grief
III. Experiencing Renewal and Restoration (2 Samuel 12:13b, Psalm 51 6-19)
As David takes up full ownership of his sin, he simultaneously appeals to God’s mercy and “steadfast love” (51:1- Heb. ‘hesed’), which is shockingly offered to David through Nathan: “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Sam. 12:13b; cf. Rom. 2:4).
David makes a series of pleas for God’s forgiveness, cleansing, and inward renewal, showing his humble willingness to be changed by God (Ps. 51:6-12). All of these pleas are answered at the cross of Jesus Christ, where “by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24-25).
Just as sin never impacts just you alone, the same is true of repentance (Ps. 51:13-19); God’s renewing and restorative grace in David’s life leads him to “teach transgressors your ways,” urging “sinners to return to you,” and true worship to be experienced among God’s people.
A broken and contrite heart is a heart that knows how little it deserves yet how much it has received. To know only the first truth is to be self-loathing, to know only the second is to be self-satisfied - and both kinds of hearts will be self absorbed… David came to hate his sin but not himself.
~ Tim Keller, The Songs of Jesus
