Nathan confronts David
Key Passage: 2 Samuel 12:1-6
Date: June 7, 2024
This is David’s great sin, most will call it. And you’ll know the story. David, he just committed adultery with Bathsheba. And then he, her husband, Uriah, he was out in battle. He got him to come home, try to get him to go be with his wife because she was expecting. That plan didn’t work. And so the next thing, he committed murder.
Isn’t it amazing? You never plan on going into, and I use this word lightly, deep sin. Well, I just start, I just do a little, and that little always needs to a little bit more and a little bit more. Nobody ever plans on being an alcoholic. Nobody ever says, “Well, I’m going to get drunk and become an alcoholic.” Nobody does that. But they do. And so adultery and then deceiving murder. And then he calls Bathsheba over and she becomes his wife. And they say, well, they’re just going to go on with life like nothing ever happened.
And God sent this man, Nathan. He’s mentioned in three different main episodes between him and David. And very interesting, at the end of David’s life, Nathan was still a very good friend to David. Nathan helped David out at the very end to make sure Solomon became the next king. We’ll get to that one of these days.
But Nathan, I just feel like the Lord wants us to stop as far as on David for a little bit and just focus on Nathan tonight. Nathan was a great, great Christian, a great friend. And we just want to look at Nathan a little bit tonight in this story. And we’re going to start in verse number one of 2 Samuel 12.
Do you want to learn something from God’s word or get something on God’s word? Amen. I believe you are. I’m thankful you’re hungry for God’s word. That’s the key right there. I appreciate you being hungry for God’s word.
2 Samuel 12. We’re going to start verse number one.
And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came in unto him and said to him, “There were two men in one city, the one rich, the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb. Now, a lamb is a baby sheep. The ewe lamb, that was a girl, and just had a little baby-girl lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him, with his children, and it did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.”
That’s amazing. We had a baby sheep, Snowball, when my daughter Sarah was about ten years old. She bought a little lamb, and she was our pet for a while at the house. In fact, years ago—think before we enlarge—but we were about to get new carpet. So let’s bring Snowball in before we get new carpet, in case anything happens; the old carpet doesn’t matter, you know. And we brought Snowball in. Snowball was our pet. She was our bud. She thought she was part of the family. Now, we weren’t as bad as this guy. Snowball didn’t eat out of our own plates and all that. She didn’t sleep with us and all that stuff. This guy, this pet, was like his daughter. They were close.
How many of you know somebody, they treat their dogs better than most treat their kids? Am I right? Yeah. That’s the way this guy was right here, all right? Well, this baby lamb, it was a family pet. They loved it. It was like his daughter. That’s what’s going on. Verse four: “And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd.” Usually, when a traveler would come in, just the custom of that day, they would feed him, house him. “And he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him, but took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him.”
David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man.
He’s just furious. We don’t know, but some will say David was in the court at the time of his being the judge, and sometimes he was like a judge, and that’s when Nathan came, and so he had to make a judgment about it, and he was just, he was furious about this thing. He was mad about it.
Verse number five: “And David’s anger was kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord liveth, the man that had done this thing shall surely die. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold.’”
That’s interesting. I’m sorry, I’m pausing here and there. He’s interested. Whoever that guy is, we’re going to kill him! And he’s going to restore fourfold. How’s it going to restore fourfold when he’s dead? You know what I mean? David’s just mad, and he’s outraged over the injustice. Isn’t it amazing? Even someone living in sin has a system of justice about it. Even drug dealers do. Everybody’s got their lines. And don’t say, “Well, Pastor, have you got so many lines.” Everybody’s got lines. It doesn’t matter where you draw the line.
But verse number six: “And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing because he had no pity.” That’s amazing.
And Nathan said to 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, thy master’s wife into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. If that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, hast taken his wife, notice that, his wife, to be thy wife, and slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart out of thine house.” So sad. To the very end, he always had wars, battles going on, sometimes even inside his own house. But 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.” (It actually became his own son, Absalom.) “And 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 the sun.” (Actually, he did it in the palace top, and it’s interesting where David saw Bathsheba.) “For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.”
And David said unto Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
At this point, David did the best thing he could do. What a—he’s done messed up. We’ve spent a couple of weeks talking about it, but he did the best thing he could do. That’s the right thing to do. David said unto Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
And Nathan said unto David, “The Lord hath also 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.”
And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
Nathan was such a bold man, brave man. Imagine if Nathan had not gone to David. What if David just could keep sweeping it under the rug, maybe for years? And by the way, we often think this didn’t take. It took a while for this to play out. And the child was already born at this point. But here’s the thing: what if it just kept playing out? What if David had this secret sin would not have prospered?
I wonder how many people would have died in battle. How many dads, how many husbands would have died in battle because of a secret sin? I don’t know how. Maybe David would have just gotten by with it. Maybe David would have continued in a downward spiral, never really pulled out of the dive. I don’t know. But just think if Nathan wouldn’t have had his part of this thing, if he had did what God called him to do. I wonder if maybe Israel would have just became a nation under captivity at this point eventually because of David’s sin.
But Nathan, he stepped up to the role and he stepped up to the plate and he goes before King David. Now, King David, you remember when Saul died and the guy that had seen him and he thought, “Well, he’s dead anyway,” and he said, “Hey, come before they find him,” and so on. And he took care of Saul. Remember what David did? David said, “Kill him.” And Nathan knew all that happened more than one occasion with David. Nathan knew all that, and yet Nathan was brave enough to go to David.
I mean, Nathan was putting his life on the line. David—remember when he got angry and he said, “I’m going to kill every one of the men over there,” and he was going to do it? Remember, David had a temper? And yet Nathan knew all that, and yet Nathan was bold enough to go in and to face the king in his sin. That takes boldness.
Nathan was willing to step up and do what was—can you imagine how you, you know, ever got to say something to someone you don’t want to do it? You got to swallow hard, you know, kind of, “Here we go, we’ll see how this goes,” type thing. Nathan did it. Nathan was such a brave Christian.
Now, what was it that gave Nathan his boldness? What enabled Nathan to go before the king? The king had just total authority, not like we have in America—well, we’re getting there in America, but not like we’re supposed to be in America. What gave him the boldness going to the king? I think verse number one has a lot to say about it, really, just the beginning of it. If you look back at verse number one, 2 Samuel 12:1, “And the Lord sent Nathan unto David.”
Now, if you know in your heart, you know in your mind you’ve settled it, that you’re doing what God wants you to do, there’s boldness that comes in. If you’re going to talk to someone and you know it’s not really you that’s going to—you’ve got God’s backing behind you. You ever see sometimes the referees on Sunday morning, or even police officers? Sometimes they’re not the biggest guys in the world, but they got that badge, and that represents the city or the state or the county backing them.
And when you know God wants you to do something, you know it, you’ve settled it, you’ve prayed about it, you’ve sought the Lord, and you know God’s in that thing, that will give you boldness—the boldness to do what you know you ought to do. You say, “Well, how do I know that?” Well, one thing: the Bible, God’s word. God had spoken to Nathan, and there’s a little difference before the Bible was completed. I don’t know if God came to Nathan verbally or not, I don’t know. But the Lord sent him, and Nathan knew God was sending him. God’s word—you’ll know of God’s leading in a certain way.
And then sometimes prayer. Sometimes it takes a lot of prayer. The more you pray, the clearer the vision gets. And that’s a very important statement. The more you pray, the clearer the vision gets. Sometimes it takes years for you to know what God wants. But you pray, and God gives you a clear leading. I know God wants me to do this. I know God’s in this thing here. That gives you boldness.
David, he was a king, and yet Nathan was bold enough to go and rebuke the king, looks like his own palace. Why? Because God was leading him to do that. And if you get to the point you know God wants you to do it, that is the key about witnessing. If you really get it in you, God wants you to witness to people—you know that. You’re settled. You found out from the word of God, and you have no doubt about it, and you’ve prayed about it, and you know God’s in there saying, that’ll give you boldness in the face of fear.
Look if you will over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Just along that line. It’s a great verse about witnessing. We’ll talk about witnessing specifically next month. We know we’re supposed to go. I wait till you find it. Just say a word or two before we read this verse. But 2 Thessalonians chapter 2—excuse me, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. I’m sorry. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 2.
I wish, I wish it worked like this: I wish I could just try to be a good Christian and people would come to me. Now, every once in a while that will happen. I know of Acts 16, Paul and Silas had happened. That’s the exception, not the rule, if you will. Isn’t it interesting? Jesus, when He was talking to Nicodemus, Jesus is the one that brought up heaven. Nicodemus was bragging on Jesus. Jesus was cut to the chase: “Hey, you can’t enter the kingdom of heaven unless you’re born again.” Jesus was talking to the woman of the well, and she’s talking about water, and Jesus is the one that brought up salvation, living water.
I wish people would just come to me, but what’s the first two letters of the gospel? G.O. Go. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations. Go ye and preach the gospel.” “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Go is part of it. I can’t wait for them to come to me; I have to go to them. Witnessing.
Look at this passage here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Look in verse number 4, a great verse about witnessing. He says, “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we”—it doesn’t say live, I’m for living it. If I’m not living it when I speak it, they’re not going to listen to me—“even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” It’s saying in witnessing we can’t just wait for them. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” It doesn’t say live, I’m for living; it says preaching. That’s what it says. Faith cometh by what? Hearing. Not by seeing, by hearing.
And when I get it in my heart, my mind, and my bones, I’m supposed to go tell somebody how to go to heaven. I’m supposed to witness. That way, when I do go witness, I’m not going on my own. It’s not Paul trying to muster up this; it’s Paul saying, “God’s telling me to do it, and I got to do what God told me to do.” That gives you boldness in the midst of fear.
Because you know the Lord said, Nathan, Nathan probably going there and said, “I’m going to get in all kinds of trouble, and everybody’s going to think I’m the craziest guy in the world, but I want everybody to know it’s not me; God sent me to do this thing.” And when you go and you say, “I’m going to witness not because of me and what I am and what I want to do, but God’s told me to do this thing,” it gives you boldness even in the face of fear.
I forget, I worked at Union Tank Car Company in East Chicago. And a very, very sinful place. And for a while, I was the low man on the totem pole. And so they were moving me from a different position, different position. And I knew I was going to have to go work over here in this section with a guy everybody called him Wolfman Jack.
Wolfman Jack had this long beard; he was a welder, too. And, you know, you’re welding that fire, and so he would actually roll his beard up with a curler, and he’d have a curler hanging on his chin during work hours. He’d walk around long hair and everything, and he had this curler out there, you know, to keep his beard from catching on fire. I don’t know—the rumor was, the rumor was, probably not true—but the rumor was he had killed somebody with a shovel and hid his body around there somewhere. I don’t know. And it was a crazy place, East Chicago, gangs and everything, you know. And I was going to go work with Wolfman Jack. I thought, “Wow, this is going to be interesting.”
And then I knew, I knew, had no doubt about it. I just as sure as I knew the Lord wanted me to witness to Wolfman Jack. I didn’t want to witness to Wolfman Jack. That guy carries a shovel, you know. He’s got a curler in his beard, you know. He’s not a normal guy over there, you know. But when you got—you know, God’s, He’s pushing you. It’s the Lord’s sending you. You’re not going on your own. You’re doing what God’s called you. You’re His ambassador.
And I probably didn’t do a good job. It’s not a matter of you doing a good job witnessing; God does the work. He just needs someone to be a voice. But if a guy—I talked about that—just a voice. And so I went and I was working with Wolfman Jack. That’s the only name I can remember to call him; that’s what everybody called him. And I witnessed to the guy. And I don’t know the guy didn’t say with me. I can’t remember if he said he was saved or not, but you know the guy, he was so good to me after that. I mean, I felt like he was my bodyguard a little bit after that, but I liked it, you know. I could be cocky because Wolfman Jack’s my buddy now; he’s my friend.
And I say that you never know what’s going to happen when you just follow the Lord’s guidance, His leadership. Nathan was stepping out and speaking up and speaking the truth, but he knew the Lord sent him. And when you know the Lord’s sending you, that’s the key. That’s where boldness, that’s where strength, that’s where authority comes from.
I remember as a young preacher trying to preach on marriage, and I called an older pastor. The older pastor said, “I feel like the Lord wants me to preach on marriage, but these guys—how can I preach to them? They’ve been married no longer than I’ve been.” I’ve been married a couple of years now, and so on and so on. And he said, “Just preach the Bible. There’s authority in the Bible, and you’ve got the Bible; get Bible principles. That’s where your authority comes from—the Bible. And if you know you’re following God’s lead, there’s strength there, boldness there.” That’s how Nathan had his boldness—that verse number one, because the Lord, the Lord had sent him.
God’s word, and then sometimes it just takes prayer. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about talking or standing up at work or wherever it may be. And I remember as a young boy, I was 16, 17 years old. I worked at the sheet metal machine—all these metal shops and fabrication welding shops and all the machine shops. And I worked there at nighttime, some after school, chief and clean. And I had a very important job: I was the broom operator, amen. I mean, these machine shops, a lot of you probably know these machines have all the metal shavings. Some of you know what I’m talking about. You take shovels, and that was my job. That’s what I did.
And yet the foreman of the second shift, his name was Art. I won’t say his last name. I believe he’s in heaven now. He was a German guy, very intelligent. He had built his own plane—I think it was a kit thing, but he had built his own plane. And he was just very—that’s why he was a foreman of the second shift machine shop. And they would give him difficult jobs. He was a very intelligent man, my honest, a very bitter man, hard man. I was 16, and I come in there and clean at nighttime. He just had a filthy mouth. And I could take it, but when he had used the Lord’s name in vain in his cursing—and I knew the Lord wanted me to do something about it. You’ve been there before. He’s the boss of the place, you know. I mean, I don’t want to say anything. I’m just a sixteen-year-old kid, a little punk with the broom, you know. I mean, what am I going to do?
But boy, the Lord—when the Lord convicts you. And I let it slide a time or two. Man, it was just—the Holy Spirit was all over me. I can’t remember how long it had been going on, but finally, the Lord just said, “Paul, you got to do something. You got to speak up.” I had prayed about it where I knew the Lord wanted me to do something. Now, I’m not for going around policing everybody else’s business, but sometimes God needs His people to stand up. I had prayed about it, and I knew the Lord wanted me to stand up about that thing.
So sure enough, one night he used the Lord’s name in vain again. Man, I stared. My knees were knocking. And I said, “Hey, you got to stop cussing at my God.” Oh, my goodness, he got mad. He started yelling at me. Not all I could muster to say was, “Well, I don’t cuss at your wife.” He just screamed and yelled at me for I don’t know how long. And I kind of tucked my tail and got my broom, went over to the corner, and started sweeping again. But he never said it again around me. Never one time.
And sometimes you need to spend time in prayer and let the Holy Spirit guide you and lead you to stand up. Not always pleasant, but it’s right. And God needs His people to be salt. Nathan, he stood up in the face of danger, a life-threatening situation, and he told David. He said, “Look, thou art the man.” It’s amazing, just four words. Now, it goes on to say some other things, but just “Thou art the man.” And God used that in a great way.
How did Nathan have that boldness? By the Lord’s sending. Sometimes for us to know if the Lord’s sending us or not, it’s going to take a lot of prayer. You may have to bathe that thing in prayer. But when you know God’s leading, you’ve got to do something; there’s boldness that comes with that.
Then boldness—just talking about boldness. Look over in Proverbs 28. Proverbs 28, in verse number one, for just a moment here. It felt like God wanted us to talk about Nathan. What a hero Nathan was. Where did he get his boldness from? It was a great principle found over here in Proverbs 28 and verse number one. Proverbs 28, verse number one, is a great verse. When you find it, would you say amen? Amen. Proverbs 28. Look at verse number one: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
Isn’t it amazing how a guilty conscience can make a strong, bold man or lady into just a mouse? They run, they flee. Nobody’s pursuing. They’re just scared to death in their own shadow because of sin in our life. You know, and I’m not living like God, I’m not close to the Lord, I’m not walking close to God, I’m not very bold in my witness. I’m weakened. The wicked flee. You’re just—a guilty conscience will weaken. The biggest muscle guy can be so wimpy, if you will, because of sin. Sin weakens you. Makes you afraid of everybody and everything. The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. The lion just roars in the face of danger.
Now look, Nathan wouldn’t have that boldness unless he was living for the Lord, close to God, walking with God. And if I want to be bold for the Lord, I’ve got to be close to God. That’s where boldness comes from. You know the verse over in Psalm 23, David and the Shepherd’s Psalm, over there in verse number four: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou—what is it?—for Thou art with me.” You get that boldness because you’re living for the Lord and you’re walking with Him.
It’s amazing when I’m really—I’m waking up and reading my Bible and praying like I ought to, and I’m consistently, by the way—sometimes it takes a week or two for me to kind of, you know, I pray extra long, whatnot, for an hour or two or two or there. I’m not trying to put time, but for a day or two is what I’m trying to say. And I think, “Man,” but sometimes it takes a week or two for me just to keep working at things. But I’m consistently walking and praying and doing the things I need to do. It’s amazing how boldness comes when you’re close to Him, walking with Him.
Talking about the sheep earlier, Snowball, our sheep. I mentioned this at the graveside, Brother Busho. But Snowball, sheep—they’re very fearful animals. Snowball, she—if there’s a new dog in the neighborhood, Snowball wouldn’t know about it. She thought she was one of the dogs in the neighborhood, Snowball did. Honestly, she was a good mood. She played with the dogs in the neighborhood. Sheep butt, and, you know, the dogs, they wrestle with each other. And Snowball would go up with the dogs, and she would start butting them in the side. The dogs were like, “Man, what’s wrong with you?” you know? The dogs would bark, and Snowball would be, you know, and the dogs are like, “Man, that’s the weirdest bark I have.” But she really did. She thought she was one of the dogs in the neighborhood. I say this the other day; it was true. I remember the kids in the neighborhood playing kickball in our yard. We all tried to get them to come over to our house so we know what they’re doing at least, you know, and play kickball. And Snowball’s out there using a good move. They’d be running the bases, and Snowball would run and butt them and knock them down. Kids were like, “Would you put your sheep up so we can play kickball in the neighborhood?” The sheep just do it. They butt when they’re in a good mood, you know, and the actual kick their heels. It’s amazing. But they’re fearful. If there’s a new dog in the neighborhood, Snowball gets fearful. There’s a storm, Snowball gets fearful. Sheep stay fearful long enough, they won’t eat. They can die from it. Snowball gets real fidgety, and she just—she’s fearful. She would bleat if it was a storm and she was outside by herself; she would bleat all night long, and you can’t sleep when she bleated. So we put her—Sandy in the pen with Snowball, and Sandy hated it. We called Sandy Houdini. She could escape from any fence in the world. It’s true. It was amazing. It’s the truth. She could escape. Or if my wife still has a bad feeling of Sandy, you couldn’t pin Sandy up; she’d find a way out.
But anyway, all these things about Snowball. But here’s the thing: the worst storm, dogs in the neighborhood, and Sarah—Snowball knew Sarah was her shepherd. I said this before: “My sheep know my voice.” Snowball would be in the backyard, and how I’d call Snowball—Snowball wouldn’t even lift her head up. Made me mad, you know. So I tried to mimic Sarah’s little ten-year-old voice, “Snowball!” you know, and Snowball wouldn’t come. But Sarah would go out there and call Snowball, and Snowball’s head would just pop up. The shepherd. And Sarah would start calling, and Snowball would come running. And Snowball really did. Snowball and Sarah had a special bond.
This is a true story. And I’m going on too much on the story, but I’ll finish it out. Some of you heard this, but anyway, eventually we sold Snowball to a farmer out in Woodbury, out a little bit outside of Woodbury. And we said, “Hey, look, if Snowball has babies, would you call us? We’ll go out there.” So me and Sarah went out there in the middle of getting dark, and it had been snowing in Tennessee here. And actually, he said Snowball had the baby in a snowstorm, and so we named the baby Snowflake, Snowball’s baby.
So here’s the interesting thing, talking about the shepherd and all that. The farmer, he had a bunch of sheep, and he said they’re just all sheep to him, you know. But Snowball, he could take his pet because Snowball would come up and would hang around the humans, and they could pet her, all that. The other sheep weren’t like that so much. But when Snowball had a baby, Snowball became like all the other sheep; she would stay away and keep her baby away from all the other people. And he said, “I can’t really get close to Snowball right now because she’s got a baby, and she keeps her baby away from us.” But me and Sarah went up there that night, and Sarah started calling for Snowball, and you could tell Snowball was like, “Whoa, I know that voice.” And she wouldn’t let anybody else, but she let Sarah go up there and pet her just a little while. It was almost like she let Sarah come up there and pet her, and she realized, “Hey, I’m a mom now.” You could tell she was kind of like, “All right, I’ll let you come, but we got separated. I’ll get me a mom back now.”
But I say all that to say the bond between the shepherd and the sheep. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” So here’s the thing: when you get your shepherd, there’s always strength, peace there. There’d be a bad storm going on, or the new dog’s in the neighborhood, and Sarah would come out there, and Snowball would come up and get close to Sarah, you know, and rub her head along Sarah, and Snowball would calm down, get peaceful. And if I’m close to the Lord, the righteous are as bold as long as I’m walking close to my shepherd. There’s boldness that comes down.
Nathan would go to this king and stand in the face of the king and say, “Hey, thou art the man.” And if he hadn’t been walking with God and had some strength, some boldness from God, the boldness in your life comes to walk with God.
Then let me say this, and I’m going to be done. Nathan delivered God’s message wisely. Isn’t it interesting? I think about as a preacher—I’m not there—but Nathan was wise. Nathan just didn’t go in there and say, “Hey, David, you’re dirty rot.” He considered him. He didn’t do that. Now, he got the message across; he was very sly about it. He went in there. First thing he did, he told him a story. He gave an illustration.
Spurgeon used to say illustrations are wind to the soul. But that’s what Nathan did. The first thing he did, he told him a story, and he got Nathan’s heart and emotion into it. David was mad. “I’m going to kill that guy! Fourfold!” you know. He’s just into it. He was very wise, very sly about it. Then, once he’s got David—David’s listening, he’s got all his heart and his mind and everything paying attention—then Nathan says, “Thou art the man.”
It’s interesting. Jesus, when He sent His apostles out one time for a mission, if you will, He said, “Look, I’m going to send you; you’re going to be in the middle of a bunch of wolves.” And He makes this statement; He says He wants to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Nathan was very wise in how he delivered the message of truth. Very careful about that.
Can I say sometimes we go in just harping on something, and the truth doesn’t turn them off, we turn them off? More preachers, you should say, “Look, if the truth offends them, you can’t change that. But if your disposition, if your position offends them, you can’t change it ought to be on the Bible. But if your disposition offends them, you ought to change your disposition.” Nathan was very wise about how he did this thing, and very—all he got him into before he told him the truth.
Can I say this along this line? Be so careful about your tongue. There’s no room for smart alecks in the ministry of God. Remember old Pastor Carter? He just resigned fifty years past his church, and he used to say—he used to kind of come in and say, “Nobody likes a smart aleck.” You might think it’s funny, but you’re limiting the amount that God can use you, and often you’re hurting people. And he was very wise about his tongue, very tactful, if you will, about it. Now, he told him the truth, but he just didn’t go in there spouting off, mouthing off. He wasn’t out of control. By the way, Jesus, He got mad, and He drove them out of the temple, but He didn’t lose it. He did it on purpose. One of those times He made a scourge; it took time. He knew what He was doing.
Be so careful with your tongue. There’s an interesting verse. I don’t know that I understand everything about this verse. Look over in James chapter 3. James chapter 3. I’m looking at verse number 18. James 3:18. So many passages we could use along this line, but I just want to point out how Nathan was wise about it. And he didn’t just go in there harping on him. By the way, sometimes we just harp and harp and harp, and we’ve turned somebody off a long time ago. We’re not accomplishing anything; we’re turning people off. And he gets him involved in this story, and then he says, “Thou art the man.” And then he goes on with the message.
But look over in James 3. Look in verse number 18: “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” That’s interesting. This before God starts off of salvation. The fruit of righteousness is sown in anger and mad and harping and yelling at—no, it’s sown in peace of them that make peace. That’s just interesting. If I’m going to have the fruit of righteousness, I sow that in peace. Be wise about it, if you do. Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” Yeah, Nathan had salt in there, but he was wise about it. You may know how you ought to answer every man.
Can I say this, just talking about how wise Nathan was when he delivered the message? Be careful getting caught up in worthless battles. Been there myself. I remember going to North Florida Shipyard. I’m talking about all these places you work at. And I wasn’t witnessing like all to—and I said, “I’ve got to get back to witnessing to these people here.” And I was determined, “I’m going to start witnessing more on the job when it was allowed to.” And I remember we went to clock in one morning. We’d gather around a certain section before them, and they’d give us our jobs for the day or whatnot. Somehow, some argument came up; I can’t even remember what it was all about. It was about where the—harder for the camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And somehow some debate came up about it. And somebody said, “Well, Paul’s a preacher,” and all that. Man, I got right in the thick of that argument. I thought, “Man, that’s the dumbest thing in the world. I’m trying to win people to the Lord, get people saved, and I haven’t got caught up with some worthless, silly argument here.” And I still get called up every once in a while. I remember a man used to come, and I knew he wanted to argue over a certain subject, and he had always tried to—it seemed like he’d catch me right before service started. I’d say, “Paul, don’t get pulled into it. Don’t get pulled into it.” Everyone’s wise—he’d pull me into it.
Be wise with your tongue. Nathan was wise, but Nathan, he didn’t just go in there spouting off. He went in there wisely. “Hey, let me tell you about this man that had a pet sheep.” Well, David knew about that; he was a shepherd. Remember his boy? He got on David’s level. He got into a thing that David—it meant something to him. He was wise about it. Wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Nathan was wise about it.
Now, let me—we’ve been told about Nathan all the night pretty much. Let me ask you: Is there someone you’re supposed to witness to? Have you a coworker, a friend, a relative? Is there some issue somewhere, maybe at work, wherever, I don’t know, but where you need to stand up on an issue?
I’m going into the lunchroom of one of the jobs and—oh, I cannot remember—but it was something about homosexuals. And I felt like the Lord said, “Well, Paul, you’ve got to stand up now.” I felt like the whole lunchroom was against me. But you’ve got to stand. Is there an area, some issue you need to stand on? I didn’t have to stand. Is there some place that you just kind of tuck your Christianity in your pocket and you don’t want to let it be known? I’ve got to stand.
Now, here’s the interesting thing about it. Praise the Lord, old David—he set his life straight against the Lord. And as far as we know, Nathan served until the end of David’s life. He even served Solomon a little bit.
Look over, if you will, in 1 Chronicles chapter 3. It’s an interesting verse. 1 Chronicles chapter 3. As far as we can tell, Nathan did not go in there proud and haughty. He said, “Look, David, this is what the Lord said.” He was wise about the way he did it. I believe he did it in love. Praise the Lord, God used that. David got his life straightened out from it. God uses people that are standing in love for the truth.
Then I want you to notice this: 1 Chronicles chapter 3. Look in verse number five, if you would. 1 Chronicles chapter 3, and verse number five. Look at the top of that chapter, chapter number three. My Scofield Bible just—not the text, but it gives a little what this paragraph is about. It just says, “Family of David born in Hebron.” And then we’re dumped down in verse number five: “These were born unto him in Jerusalem.” Now, before we name all them, let me just say these are not necessarily in the birth order. Some will say the Bible is contradicting; no. The Bible doesn’t always give it in chronological order. Okay.
But notice the very last part of the verse: “of Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel.” Now the spelling is a little different, both in Bathsheba, Bathshua, and the dad. It was the same name both times. Now I want you to go back. Let’s look at these four people. These were born unto him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four of Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel. Here’s what I want you to notice: David and Bathsheba named one of their sons, Nathan—Nathan that went and said, “Thou art the man,” when he and Bathsheba had committed adultery. At the end of the day, David kept Nathan on. Nathan served him, and actually David’s son, and David and Bathsheba even named one of their sons, Nathan. Now, I’m not talking about going around haughty and self-righteous and pointing out everybody, but in love, you tell the truth in love. God uses people like that.
Original File: Nathan - Pastor Paul Chisgar Wednesday 32421