God chose David to be the King of Israel not because of his strength, his ability to lead, or his record as a warrior. Instead, God chose David for his heart. As we have looked at David's heart for the last three weeks, we have seen that David had a heart that sought God, that served God, and that was surrendered to God. David had a heart that pursued the victory because of his faith, trust, and obedience to God. But David's heart wasn't immune from sin. When he allowed his heart to take a vacation from God, he was tempted and he gave in to that temptation. Knowing that he had the power to have anything he wanted, he had Bathsheba brought to him and he had an affair with her. When she discovered she had become pregnant, David put her husband Uriah, one of David's most loyal solidiers, in the heat of the battle so he would die. With these actions David lived as if he was outside the commands of God. He broke at least 3 of the ten commandments during this fiasco.
Where we concluded last week, David had taken Bathsheba as his wife after the funeral for Uriah was over and the period of grieving had ended. David pretty much thought he had taken care of everything. He had erased everything (Show Eraser)
But there was one thing he had not dealth with - HIS SIN. God was not pleased with David and he wanted David to know that he could not just cover up his acts and pretend that everything was O.K. God revealed to the prophet Nathan what David had done. Nathan then went to David and told him a story that revealed to him his sin. Knowing David had been a shepherd, Nathan crafted his story well. Nathan told David of a man who had a small lamb that was the only lamb he had. He gave it the best of care and loved it with all his heart. But there was an evil man who took that lamb away from the man and put it with all the rest of his sheep. David couldn't believe what he was hearing. He wanted that man to be brought to him and punished. Then Nathan revealed to David that he was the evil man. He had taken Bathsheba from Uriah when this was his only wife and the one he loved more than anything. On hearing this, David realized that his sin was known to Nathan. It was not hidden as he had assumed…but now was out in the open for all to see. Some kings who were confronted outright with such sin would have killed Nathan. ( If you remember the story of John the Baptist, that's exactly how he ended up beheaded. He kept preaching against the sin of Herod and Herodius. He was sleeping with his sister-in-law. She didn't like John reminding her of their sin so she had him be-headed.)
But David doesn't keep up the bloodshed in an attempt to hide his sin. After he hears Nathan's truth, David does the very thing he should do. He begins to repent of his sin. Today, we can learn from David's heart what true repentance is.

Listen to the scripture as we pick up the story from the point where Nathan reveals David's sin to him:

2 Samuel 12:13-17

Did you hear David's first words to Nathan:

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." (2 Sam. 12:13)

1. Here's the first step to repentance that we learn from David: The repentant heart confesses the sin. Until you and I have confessed our sin to God and in some cases to those whom we have wronged, there can be no repentance.

Repentance starts with acknowledging our sin and taking responsibility for it.

We talked last week about how most of the time we don't want to take responsibility for our sin. We blame others or conditions or situations. But repentance can only begin when we truly take ownership and responsibility for our sin.
There was another time in David's life when he committed a sin against God. He lost trust in God and begin to trust more in the military he had assembled. At some point, David began to question if his military was sufficient. Instead of going to God with his fear, David conducted a census, which in those days was the equivalent of a draft. He began the process of signing all the men up and getting them ready for battle. But after this process David realized it was not necessary. Now most Presidents or Kings would have said, "O.K. this was a mistake…I just got a little carried away in my anxiousness." But not David. He turns to God knowing that he has not trusted God and had trusted more in his military strength. So he confesses:

I have sinned greatly in what I have done….I have done a very foolish thing. (2 Samuel 24:10)

David doesn't just let sin pass by like it was a mistake. He realizes his sin and confesses to God.

But David doesn't stop there. David knows that sin requires more than confession. Sin is disobedience and there are consequences that follow. Sin is such a severe breech with God's will that it requires punishment. In the case of David's affair with Bathsheba, David deserves to die but God's mercy spares him. However, God reveals to David that the child Bathsheba conceived will die because of the sin. Now at this point many question God and say that this is very cruel that God requires the child to die instead of David. I don't pretend to understand why this is. I don't understand all of God's workings because I can't as a human being. But I do know this. This punishment led David to see the seriousness of his sin. He was going to be the cause of an innocent child's life. So David's heart is cut to the quick.

His actions reveal to us the second necessary step in repentance:
2. The repentant heart grieves the sin.

When David's child is struck sick, David gets down on his hands and knees to God. He pleads with God. God wants David to experience the grief his sin has brought. It is interesting that way the scripture communicates the punishment in V. 15 (After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill.) Notice it doesn't say the child Bathsheba had borne - instead it reads "Uriah's wife". The scritpure is still plain here that this woman was the one and only wife of Uriah in God's eyes. No matter what David has done, he can't change this. Usually if a spouse dies, the other spouse is no longer considered married. But in this situation where David murdered Uriah, God still communicates that Bathsheba is Uriah's wife.

David grieves his sin that has caused so much death already, and is not bringing the death of his child. In Psalm 51:17, he expresses his grief and writes that for his sin God would not be pleased with an ordinary sacrifice. God requires of David a sacrifice of his heart:

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

All too often when we start feeling guilty about our sins, we'll confess to God and ask for forgiveness. Then we'll go about our business and forget about it. We'll tune into something funny and there are plenty of comedy shows and comedians to life our spirits back up again with humor. But the problem with that is we haven't taken our sin seriously enough. We have sort of glazed over it and not taken the next step of really grieving over it. The book of James tells us to GRIEVE, MOURN, AND WIL over our sins. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. (James 4:9) We'd rather laugh. But our hearts need to grieve over our sin. James says "Humble yourselves before the Lord."

Our hearts should be broken over the sin we have committed. Sin is that serious.

Once when I was in my garden, I noticed that a squash plant wasn't doing too well. All the others were fine, but for some reason this one was wilting and almost dead. I pulled up the plant to remove it from the garden and the stalk broke in half. There was a hole all the way through the stalk that a bore worm had carved as it ate the heart out of the stem of the plant.

That's what sin does in our life. It's serious because it eats away at the heart and brings death. David's heart was broken and he grieved over the death that he saw that sin had bore into his life.

In his grief where could he turn to? David turned to the Lord as his only source for dealing with his sin. He knew that only God could forgive and restore his heart. That's exactly what repentance means - Turning away from Sin and toward God. David teaches us that

3. The repentant heart turns to God for forgiveness and restoration.

Again, in Psalm 51, David expresses turning fully toward God in repentance:

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion. Blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin."
(Psalm 51:1-2)

As he turns to God, David does two things. First he pleads to God, crying out for the child in hope that God would spare the child from death. Then he lies down on the ground and fasts. No one could get him to eat anything. David reminds us that

Repentance humbles us to seek God's grace through fasting and prayer.

In America, most of us don't realize the need for fasting. We may pray to God, but we rarely fast. Fasting is important because it humbles us and reminds us where our real source of strength lies. It doesn't lie in anything we can put into our body. It doesn't lie in anything we can make of ourselves. God is the only source of our real strength. Fasting is a practice that keeps us focused on the real source of life, strength, healing, and forgiveness.

David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted… (2 Samuel 12:16)

When was the last time you turned to God for forgiveness by fasting over your sin?

So we must confess, grieve, and turn to God…but there is still one more step that David takes:

David realizes that sin costs. It requires that a sacrifice be made. An atonement is necessary.
After David had sinned against God by drafting all the capable men throughout Israel, God sent a plague upon all of Israel for David's sin. David realized his sin and he didn't want the whole country to have to pay for it. So David made a sacrifice that was costly to atone for the sin.

(Listen to the story - 2 Samuel 24:18-25)
It is clear in this story that David realizes that his sin costs. He didn't allow someone else to just give him the animals he would sacrifice as an offering to God. He paid for them. You may remember that evil tax collector Zacchues had the same recognition when he was eating with Jesus and realized his sin. He paid back the money he had stolen from people 4 fold. This showed not only that he wanted to give back what he had stolen, but that he went the extra mile and sacrificed for his sin by giving more than he had stolen.

David and Zaccheus gave the costly sacrifice in repentance of their sin.

I want you to understand something very important here: David and Zaccheus weren't trying to buy forgiveness. We can't buy forgiveness from God. Forgiveness is given by God's grace.
The point of their sacrifices is that they realized that God's grace is a gift - a gift that is greater than anything that can be purchased. That kind of gift is costly for God to give. It required atonement and it required sacrifice from the heart. They realized that:

4. The repentant heart receives c___________ grace.

David says,
"I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."(2 Samuel 24:24)
not because he is trying to buy grace, but because he knows that God's grace is costly. It requires an us to sacrifice of ourselves in gratitude for God's gift of forgiveness.

In Jesus we see that ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Hebrews 9:15 says:

Christ……has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed…(Hebrews 9:15)

Jesus gave his very life for our sin. His blood was the all-atoning sacrifice. Grace is costly. Jesus extends His grace to us forever so that we wouldn't have to keep making animal sacrifices.

When we come to the table this morning, we receive the reminder of that grace as we take the bread and cup. We remember that sin is very costly….but that Jesus freely gives us His grace by making atoning for our sins. The grace we receive is very costly.

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice, but he also reminds us that if we are to receive this costly grace, we also must give…..we must give our lives to him. If we are to become his disciples we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow him.

Show eraser.

Jesus didn't just come to erase our sins. He came to teach us the true meaning of repentance. He came to show us the meaning of sacrifice and of turning totally to God. That kind of grace costs us our lives as well. It costs us the life that we want, in exchange for the life that God can give us. That's the redeemed life, free of sin, that only God can give to you and me.

That's the life that David modeled with his heart of repentance - the heart that confesses the sin, greives the sin, turns to God for forgiveness, and sacrifices in order to receive that costly grace.