Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Live With the Consequences of Sin | David in 22 | 2 Samuel 15

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10 minute Bible talks where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now we're working through the story of David's life in First and Second Samuel. There are consequences to our sin. Even the sins that have been forgiven by God still carry consequences in our life. And that's sobering. It's sobering to realize that God's forgiveness reconciles us with.

Starting point is 00:00:34 God, but it does not erase or eliminate the consequences for the sins that we've committed, that the biblical principle that you reap what you sow is true. Sin will take you where you don't want to go and keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay. Sin comes to us in the form of a promise that life will be better, that life will be more enjoyable, that will be more secure, that will be happier, that relationships will be better. It always comes to us in the form of a promise that life will be better if we do what we want to do instead of living under the authority of God. And yet, it never lives up to its promise. Sin always destroys. Sin always leads to pain and misery. And sin's consequences are not erased by God forgiving us.

Starting point is 00:01:28 If I gossip about someone, I can apologize to them and ask their forgiveness and they can forgive me, but they're going to still wonder whether I'm trustworthy and they're not going to share things with me in confidence again. That's one of the consequences of the sin of gossip. Or if I embarrass my wife and hurt her feelings, she can forgive me for that. But there's still hurt in her heart. That doesn't just go away. If I say something rude or inappropriate, someone can forgive me for that,

Starting point is 00:02:05 but you can't unring the bell of my rude, hurtful words. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. That's what I mean by sin has consequences. And we're going to see that play out in David's life. David's sin against Besheba, his sin against God, was forgiven, but it had incredible. devastating consequences. When Nathan the Prophet confronted David, David confessed his sin, God forgave him his sin. He experienced the grace of God in that sense. But remember, that doesn't

Starting point is 00:02:40 mean that the consequences go away. So the consequences of David's sin in Uriah's life, that's Bishiba's husband. Well, they're obvious, right? I mean, because of David's sin against Bashiba, Uriah is dead by the time Chapter 12 ends. But then it keeps unfolding. David's whole family starts to fall apart. Chapter 13 tells the story of Amman, one of David's sons, Rape of Tamar, and Absalom, his oldest son, taking revenge by killing Amman. Brother has turned against brother all because of the father's sin. And as a result of Absalom killing Amon, he flees Jerusalem, and he's in exile for three years, until Joab, who is David's military commander, coaxes David to bring Absalom back to Jerusalem, and the father and son are eventually reconciled. But then in chapter 15,

Starting point is 00:03:40 Absalom, again the oldest son, conspires to overthrow his father, King David. And as the conspirator Fear as he gains momentum, it gets to a point where David's life is really threatened. And so now David has to flee Jerusalem. And David now is in exile because of his sin. That's a theme that runs throughout the Bible, that we end up in exile because of our sin. That's one of the consequences that sin brings in our life. Remember back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve are living in perfect harmony with each other, but also with God, and it says that God would walk with them in the cool of the day.

Starting point is 00:04:22 But after sin enters into the world, not only is their relationship with each other ruptured, but so is their relationship with God. And God exiles them from the garden. That's one of the consequences of sin in our life. We see it repeated in the nation of Israel. When they sin against God, he sends them into exile, first into Assyria, and then the southern kingdom is exiled into Babylon. Now David is exiled, kicked out of Jerusalem, kicked out of his own family, on the run for his life, all because of his sin. So with his dad, the king gone, Absalom wants to assert his own authority in some way, to show kind of that he's now the king. He's in charge. And his counselors, his advisors say, the way to do this is to sleep with David's concubines. So Absalom puts up a tent on

Starting point is 00:05:16 top of the palace, and he does just that he sleeps with David's concubines in the sight of all of Israel. And you thought the Game of Thrones was juicy, yeah? Now, here's what I don't want you to miss. This whole mess is a result of David's sin against Besheba. When Nathan the prophet confronted David all the way back in chapter 12, Nathan rebuked David, and he told him that this was going to be the consequence of his sin. He said in verse 11, this is what the Lord says. Out of your own household, I'm going to bring calamity on you.

Starting point is 00:05:54 Before your very eyes, I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all of Israel. See, the prophet Nathan draws a line, a line between David's sin against Beshiba and God and, of course, many others. We'll talk about that in a second. But between that sin and the way

Starting point is 00:06:20 that his family is disintegrating, the way his kingdom is falling apart, he's saying, yes, God has forgiven you, but all the consequences of this sin remain in your life and it has devastating impact on people. What can we learn from this? What can we learn from this sobering truth that that the consequences of our sin are not erased by God's forgiveness. Well, one thing we can learn is that sin might seem fun and exciting on the front end, but on the back end is filled with pain and misery. That sin might be enjoyable, but it's for a fleeting moment. That sin looks so enticing and appealing,

Starting point is 00:07:01 but it always ends in devastation and heartache and pain and hurt, and the loss of trust, and the loss of respect. Second, sin always has consequences. In this situation, it's pain in David's family. It's his son raping to Marr, his brother-killing brother, it's David in exile. Sin always has consequences. It always leaves people hurt.

Starting point is 00:07:30 Leaves people not trusting you. Leaves people in resentment. Leaves people in unjust circumstances. Third, sin always affects other people. There's this belief in our head that if we sin, it just kind of affects me, so I'm only making decisions for myself, but that is patently false. Think about David's sin. He's sinned with Besheba.

Starting point is 00:07:57 But who's affected? Well, Besheba's affected. Uriah is affected. His sons and daughters and all of his family, his whole kingdom is affected. David's sin had an impact far greater than just himself. Other people were sucked in so that they had to reap the consequences of the sin that David had sown. My family's been divorced. It's pretty common, right?

Starting point is 00:08:21 It's nothing exceptional to have divorce in your family. My parents were divorced, and maybe that's true of you, too. But in our culture, we see that the divorce has an impact on all kinds of people. All kinds of people are hurt. You don't tell a person who is a child of divorce that the sin of the parents only affected them. No, it affects the kids. It affects generations. It affects the extended family.

Starting point is 00:08:50 You don't tell a child of divorce that the sin of the parents only affected them. No, it affected the children. It affected the next generation of children. It affected the entire network, the entire extended family. In small ways or big ways, our sin causes ripples to go out and doesn't just affect us, but so many other people that we care about and love. This is a sobering chapter. It takes the gloss off of sin.

Starting point is 00:09:22 It makes me come face to face with the reality of it. And to pray, God have mercy on me. Keep me from the kind of devastating sin that hurts so many people. wake me up, God, so that I can see through the lie of sin and believe the truth that only Jesus satisfies. Only obeying your will really brings me the life I want. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily.

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Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Live With the Consequences of Sin | David in 22 | 2 Samuel 15

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