In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: You must come to him with a contrite spirit. You need his forgiveness, and you know that forgiveness always comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. The moment you are to ask with a contrite spirit and receive it, you are forgiven. That means that God no longer holds you guilty of that.

But that does not mean that your confession has erased all the consequences because the nature of sin is such, you can erase all the consequences of it.

Guest (Male): It's common for people to make the wrong assumption about forgiveness from God, thinking it means he also erases the consequences of their actions. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley will continue our study of Second Samuel, looking at the way David's sin with Bathsheba impacted his whole life. Stay with us for a practical lesson about the continuing consequences of our conduct as In Touch continues.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Second Samuel, chapter 12, and I want us to read only a portion of chapter 12 here because I want to take us through chapter 12 all the way through chapter 18 in discussing the consequences of his conduct.

You'll recall in chapter 11 that David had reached the pinnacle of his ministry. He had been a king for 20 years in the nation of Israel, been through all kinds of difficulties and heartaches, but triumphed over all of them.

And in a moment of weakness, he saw Bathsheba taking a bath, he called her to himself, he went to bed with her, as the modern day lingo would say. And as a result, that was the beginning of a long period of heartache and consequences.

And I want to say to you this evening, here is the most perfect example of the cost of one violation of God's principles. And no man ever paid such a price for one night's pleasure as David paid. It ought to be a lesson and a challenge and a warning to every single one of us that instant pleasure brings continuing consequences for our sin.

So, the 11th chapter gives an account of that, and then the 12th chapter begins, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David.

And he came to him and said unto him, "There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds." And so he gave him a parable how one man took advantage of another one. And so, when he came to the end of that parable, David was so angry, he said the man ought to be killed.

And as a result, of course, of the parable, the scripture says in verse seven, "And Nathan said to David, 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. I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives, and unto 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 things," that is, just about anything you wanted.

"Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You've taken his wife to be thy wife. You've slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 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."

"Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. But thou did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun." He fulfilled that promise absolutely and exactly and precisely. And I'm going to show you tonight.

And David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die."

Now, in reality, David's primary sin was the sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Everything else that happened to him, happened to him as a result of that. But the second thing he did, of course, was he had Uriah, Bathsheba's husband killed in battle, and then with a covetous heart, he took Bathsheba to be his wife.

What happened as a result? What are the consequences of David's sin? So what I want to do is to take you through chapter 11 through 18 momentarily, and then come back to look at the principles that you and I need to examine here.

All right, first of all, what was the first consequence of David's sin against Bathsheba? Well, the first thing was that Bathsheba became pregnant, and you can only hide that for a little while. Nobody knew what was happening, and yet she became pregnant and she sent the word, the scripture says, in the chapter 11, she told David in verse five, she said, "I am with child." So that's the first consequence that he had to face.

The second consequence he had to face was in chapter 12, in verse seven, when Nathan the prophet, God's prophet, who had been a prophet and who had been a counselor to David, came to him and gave him this parable about the man with the lamb, and he said to David, "David, you are the man. Thou art the man." So the second consequence was that God's prophet exposed David's sin to David, and it didn't take that long to permeate the whole household of David.

The third consequence of his sin, Nathan told him what that consequence would be. He says, "Your enemies are going to blaspheme your God." When the enemies of Israel hear about this, that the king has committed adultery and has had the husband of the woman killed in battle, what are they going to do but they are going to encourage themselves against the nation of Israel?

The fourth thing that happens here in chapter 12 is that the baby dies, in verse 18, the child died. Then the next thing that happens, and here's where David's sins begin to catch up with him exactly as he committed them.

Chapter 13 says, if you'll notice in verse one, "It came to pass after this that Absalom, who was David's son, the son of David had a fair sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon, the son of David loved her." So Amnon wants Tamar, and so he doesn't know how to work that out. So one of his friends in verse three, Jonadab, Jonadab was his name, a very subtle man. He said, "Look, here's what you do. You play like you're sick. Ask her to bring you some food and minister to you, and when you do, then you commit immorality with her."

So he works all of this out. And the scripture says in verse 14, that he forced her, or he raped his half sister or part sister, one of David's children.

Well, is this not exactly what David had done to Bathsheba? He took her unto himself and he went to bed with her. Whether she wanted to or not, the scripture does not say, but he forced her. He had the right to do it in his own eyes because he was king and the king was sovereign, but David knew that he was also subject to Almighty God, who looked upon that, not only as being displeasing to God, but a sinful act against God. But here's David's son doing the very same thing that David had done.

All right, the result of that, the next thing that happens is, in chapter 13, again, David's consequence coming back to him. Absalom plotted to kill Amnon. He told his servants, he said, "Now, we're going to get the king's servants together and we're going to get them drunk." And he says, "When I give you the word, you kill Amnon." Verse 28 of chapter 13. "Absalom had commanded his servants saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, when I say to you, smite Amnon, then kill him. Fear not. Have not I commanded you to be courageous and to be valiant?" So he kills him.

As a result of that, in chapter 14, Absalom flees for his life, and he leaves Jerusalem, but then he finally comes back, but he's not able to see King David for two years. In the 14th chapter, in the 28th verse, "So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face," because he was responsible for killing Amnon.

The next thing that happens is in chapter 15, is that Absalom becomes a little tired of being separated from the king, so he starts a rebellion, and he rebels against his own father, divides the nation of Israel, and the people begin to follow him. Verse 13 of chapter 15, "And there came a message to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom." And so, as a result of that, the next thing that happens in chapter 15, David is forced to flee Jerusalem for his life.

Here he was the king, and all of a sudden his son has caused the rebellion, and now he's having to flee for his life.

Well, the next thing that happens here, if you'll notice in chapter 16, verse 21, says, "And then said Absalom to Ahithophel, 'Give counsel among you what we shall do.'" And Ahithophel is one of his counselors along with some other people here. And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, "Go in unto thy father's concubines, the ten that he left back there at his household, which he's left to keep the house, and all Israel shall hear that you are abhorred by your father, then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong." So here's what they did. They split Absalom a tent upon the top of the house, and Absalom went in and committed adultery with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. And that's exactly what God said through Nathan was going to happen to him.

Now this is one night of pleasure. He's had to kill one man to cover up for it. The baby died, and then like dominoes, one, two, three, right down the line, everywhere David turns, he finds himself suffering from the consequence of one sin.

Then the scripture says in chapter 17, "Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, 'Let me now choose out 12,000 men and I will arise and pursue after David this night. I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed and will make him afraid, and all the people that are with him shall flee, and I will smite the king.'" That is, Ahithophel says, "If you'll give me 12,000 men, I'll trace your father David down, I'll find him in a weak moment, I will kill him."

David got word of what was happening, and so the scripture says that Joab, who has been his right-hand man through all these years and years of fighting against Saul, and now he's been a king for 20 years, Joab heard about it. So, as a result of Absalom agreeing and sending Ahithophel in his troops, the troops of David and the troops of Ahithophel began battle.

And the scripture says that Absalom had long hair. He was galloping through the forest, and his hair caught on a limb, jerked him off his horse and there he was hanging and he couldn't get down. Nothing he could do about it. So someone came and told Joab, he said, "Absalom has been caught by his hair, he's hanging, and he's helpless." The messenger said, "But I wouldn't dare touch him."

Joab said, "Tell me where he is." And so the scripture says that they told him, in verse 14 of chapter 18 said, "Then Joab said, 'I may not tarry thus with thee.'" And he took three darts or three javelins, and he thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

But you see, David couldn't say a whole lot about that, because isn't that exactly what he did to Uriah, only he had somebody else to do his dirty work for him?

So I've listed for you 12 consequences of one night's pleasure.

And the Bible says, "Be sure your sin will do what? Will find you out."

Friend, if you think you're going to sin against God and get away with it, you couldn't be further from the truth. There is no way. You say, "Yeah, but you know, I've done some things that nobody's heard about." You haven't heard the rest of the sermon.

Because there is absolutely no way to escape disobedience and violation of God's word.

And when I look to see the kind of immorality that has taken this country and people are saying, "Well, you know, after all, what consequences are there? We don't see any consequences." They're all over the place and they're multiplying every day. There are lots of questions that rise as a result of the title of this message, and that is the continuing consequences of our conduct.

Now, our conduct can be good, and when our conduct is good, the consequences will be good. You could take almost all of these things and turn them around for something good. But I'm giving this as a warning, not necessarily as an encouragement, but a warning.

So I want to give you seven statements. I want you to write them all down. Every single one of them is important, and Dad, I want you to get them down and teach them to your children if you'll take this passage and rivet this truth into your kids' minds. At first they'll say, "Oh, Dad, you know, you must think I'm going out and get myself in trouble." No, son, I'm going to tell you this so you won't do it, not because I think you're going to, but because I don't want you to.

I want to give you an honest, fair, biblical warning of the consequences of sin.

And listen, it's bad to sin whether you're 15, 25, 45, 60, or 75, but there's some things when you become involved in at an early age, it'll wreck your whole life.

All right, now let's think about something so you won't get confused now. Let's look at the background for a moment. We're talking about one man's sin. We're talking about the consequences of that sin. Now listen, all sin is not alike. All sin won't have 12 consequences. Some of them will have more than that.

And I want you to listen carefully so because you're going to have two or three questions that I'm going to answer in these seven statements. So I want you to write them down and then let's discuss them. All right, the first one is this.

That the continuing consequences of our sin, and if you want to abbreviate that after the first statement, CCS, the continuing consequences of our sin is a biblical principle. You cannot avoid it, and you cannot escape it, and I want to tell you why I want to say that strongly in a moment.

But if you'll recall in Galatians chapter six, and beginning in verse seven, he says, "Be not deceived." Now watch that. "Be not deceived." This world is totally deceived. If you think because nobody knows about your sin that you've gotten away with it, you are deceived. If you think because you've committed the same thing three or four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 times, and it looks like you're not suffering and you think you've gotten away with it, you are deceived.

"Be not deceived, God is not mocked." Because a man who thinks he's getting away with sin is mocking God. "God, you said I couldn't, but hahaha, yes, I did. Nobody knows about it but me, and nobody's suffering. I've gotten away with it." He says, "If you think you've gotten away with sin," he says, "God is not mocked. You are deceived, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he what? Reap."

Now let me give you my little um, three points on that that I give you all the time. Maybe you can remember it. We reap what? We reap what we sow, what? More than we sow, and what? Later than we sow. And isn't that exactly true of David? He reaped what he sowed, murder, adultery, deceit. He reaped more than he sowed, one night and the next 20 years of his life. He suffered. And he reaped later than he sowed. He was reaping years after he had sown.

Now, you and I need to understand that the reason that's true, if you and I can get away with sin, we're mocking God. God says, "You cannot." We say, "Oh, yes, we did." That is to mock God. "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap." So that the continuing consequences of our sin is a biblical principle and it cannot be altered under any circumstance by anybody, regardless of who you are, because it is a decree of God.

Second statement. CCS, the continuing consequences of sin is an act of divine chastisement. It is an act of divine chastisement to correct us. The continuing consequences of sin is a divine act of chastisement to correct us.

Now, look if you will in Romans, uh, Hebrews chapter 12 for a moment. You'll recall what he says about our attitude toward the Lord's chastisement. He says in verse five, "Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, 'My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him'?" "For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourgeth every man whom he receives." "If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?"

Now, the reason God sends continuous consequences for our sin is in order to do what? To correct us. If he didn't, what would we do? We'd just keep on doing the same old thing. We would mock God. If God didn't send his chastening hand to trace us down, we'd keep on doing the same old thing. And I want to tell you, my friend, God's chastising hand usually doesn't come the way you expect it, when you expect it, or the manner in which you would expect it to come.

It is oftentimes in the most unexpected ways, the most unexpected timing. But God sends these continuing consequences to do what? To catch us, stop us dead in our track and turn us around, or we keep on doing the same old thing. So that listen, the consequences, watch this, the consequences of our sin is an act of love on the part of God to stop us dead in our track and correct us. Listen, not to punish us. Punishment is what God does to the wicked. To children, he chastens us. Listen, punishment is vindication because of sin, disobedience. Chastisement always has as its ultimate goal correction. Correction, not anger, correction. Chastisement is an act of love. The ultimate objective is correction.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. The correct response to disobedience is to repent, ask for the Lord's forgiveness, and move forward in righteousness. Sin and failure don't have to define you. The resources at intouch.org can help you face your mistakes and embrace a life of holiness. To listen again to what you just heard, you can click "Today on Radio" and that is on intouch.org. If you'd like to order a complete copy of Dr. Stanley's message today, open our online store. The title is "The Continuing Consequences of Our Conduct." Or, order his teaching set, "Pursuing God's Heart." Our web address again is intouch.org. To call or text, the number simply is 1-800-INTOUCH. You can also write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357, or 1-800-INTOUCH.

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Guest (Male): And some time in detention. You can be a patient example, a generous leader, a joyful provider. In his book, "Man of God," Dr. Charles Stanley looks at what it takes to grow into a man after God's own heart. Order your copy at intouch.org or 1-800-INTOUCH.

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Guest (Male): Do you tell God what you want, or do you ask him what he wants for you? With Insight for Believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: We all have desires. Some of them are good. Some of them may not be so good. They tell a lot about us. Desires are from God. The capacity to desire and to want is from God. But it's to be sanctified. That is, it is to be controlled. Our desires are to be controlled by the Spirit. Do these desires fit God's plan and purpose for my life?

Now, some desires would fit one person but wouldn't fit another, because God's purpose and plan for everybody is not the same. But righteous desires, of course, are always the desires that God would have us to have in our life. And when a person chooses to do otherwise, what happens is they are moving in a direction that's going to get them in trouble. You have to be careful what you want because you may get it.

And you can get some desires that absolutely are totally ungodly. And there's for evidence, if you look around, all the sinful things and the wickedness and the vileness that's going on, and the corruption and the dishonesty and the immoral things, many people are getting the desires of their heart.

They don't know yet, some of them, but many of them do, that it leads to emptiness, pain, suffering, heartache, disappointment, and sometime destruction and death. But all of that is the result of desires that are fleshly, worldly, corrupt, and harmful. So the warning is there that we have to be careful what we desire. He says, "Delight yourself in the Lord. He'll give you the desires of your heart."

So, when he says he'll give us the desires of our heart, that is not an open door to anything and everything that we want. So our responsibility is to delight myself in the Lord.

Guest (Male): Learn more about the hope you can have through faith in Jesus Christ at intouch.org. If today's program fueled your excitement about Jesus, tell someone, and then share your story with us too. Well, coming soon on In Touch, we'll hear more about the continuing consequences of our conduct, as our study of First and Second Samuel continues on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley.

Guest (Male): This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on the station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.