Sermon Tone Analysis

NORTHEAST HOUSTON COMMUNITY CHURCH

*Sermon – Stop Being Ungrateful*

*Scripture –     *2 Sam 12:1-15

*5-25**-08*

 

    2 Sam 12:1-15

*12 *Then the Lord sent Nathan to David.

And he came to him, and said to him: "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.

*2** *The rich /man /had exceedingly many flocks and herds.

*3** *But the poor /man /had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children.

It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.

*4** *And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

*5** *So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "/As /the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! *6** *And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity."

*7** *Then Nathan said to David, "You /are /the man!

Thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

*8** *I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah.

And if /that had been /too little, I also would have given you much more!

*9** *Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight?

You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife /to be /your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.

*10** *Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' *11** *Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give /them /to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

*12** *For you did /it /secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.'" *13** *So David said to Nathan,"I have sinned against the Lord."

And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

*14** *However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also /who is /born to you shall surely die."

*15** *Then Nathan departed to his house.

NKJV

   

We will pick up where we left off last week

/2 Sam 11:26-27           /*/26/**/ /*/When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.

/*/27/**/ /*/And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

NKJV/

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The cover-up is engaged.

The problem is solved, so they think.

Getting by does not mean the same as getting away.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A woman who spent 32 years on the run after breaking out of prison in 1976 today is back behind bars after being arrested in California, authorities said on Wednesday.

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*Prophet* - This chapter opens with the Lord sending Nathan, a prophet, to David.

If you have not been reading along the life of David, then this is the first time you would have heard of Nathan.

In the life of David, Nathan can be considers the main prophet taking the place of Samuel who has died.

Nathan first appears in 2 Samuel 7. David desired to build a house for God, Nathan thought it was a good idea.

God said no. Nathan told David no.

God also, through Nathan, reminded David from where God brought Him and to where he is now (blessings).

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God also promised that the throne of David would be established forever.

/2 Sam 7:16      /*/16 /*/And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you./*/~*/**/

/*/Your throne shall be established forever."'"

NKJV/

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When God is ready and you least expect it, He will have a way to call your sins out.

*Proverb -               *Nathan goes to David and begins to tell him a proverb.

(An earthly story with a heavenly~/spiritual meaning)

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Story Summary – He tells of a rich man that had everything in abundance and of a poor man that had very little.

Nathan emphasizes how much this poor man loved his one and only lamb (wife).

The rich man took what little the poor man had in order to satisfy his desire to entertain a guest instead of taking one of his own many lambs to satisfy this desire.

*The proverb connection*.

The rich man is David.

The Poor man is Uriah.

The Lamb represents the wife (Bathsheba for Uriah) David had at least 7 wives and many concubines and the wives of Saul belonged to him.

The traveler represents David’s desire.

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After hearing the story, David became very angry.

/2 Sam 12:5-6       5 So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity."

NKJV/

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 David condemns that man to death.

He wants to restores to the poor man fourfold.

He accuses the man of having no pity.

We see here David’s reaction to injustice, to wrong doing.

How often have we condemned the actions of others and found ourselves doing or having done the same thing.

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Jesus addresses this same attitude.

/Matt 7:3           /*/3 /*/And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

//NKJV/

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*The Pronouncement - *    V*7 *Then Nathan said to David, "You /are /the man!

David is called out and he has condemned himself.

That which he thought was a secret was not a secret.

One thing I don’t think we consider enough and that is how often we disappoint God.

We say we love Him, we say how good he has been to us, yet we do things that break His heart.

We may not think so but we turn around and throw all His goodness toward us back into His face. 

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God desires to bless us.

He wants the best for us.

I see disappointment and hurt in verse 7 – 9. We are far too often and ungrateful people And being ungrateful is like despising God.

We sound like we want your blessings God but we really don’t want you.

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No one wants to consider themselves to be ungrateful but you tell me a better term for it.

Can you see it here in the following words.

/Thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

/*/8/**/ /*/I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah.

And if //that had been //too little, I also would have given you much more!

/*/9/**/ /*/Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight?/

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I remember reading this for the first time and I became so convicted I believed I must have cried.

I never ever will forget the words in verse 8b/ And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!/

God had given David so much and If David did not think that was enough He would have given him more.

That can only be described as love.

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I remember looking back on the times God saved my life, the blessings of a good job, good health and blessings all around I could not be ungrateful.

It is not just to avoid committing adultery but it is about living a life of godliness in obedience to God out of respect and love for all He has done for me and those close to me.

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We have to take time and inventory the blessing that we have and not let the Devil cause us to covet what we do not have.*

*

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In my life this was a life changing story.

Am I the only one here that has been ungrateful for the blessings of God? Ask yourself if God would think you to be ungrateful.

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*The Prophecy*

*/10/**/ /**/Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' /**/11/**/ /**/Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give /**/them /**/to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun./**/

/**/12/**/ /**/For you did /**/it /**/secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.'"/*

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God said that David despised Him

*Definition       Despised:* to look down on with contempt or aversion </despised/ the weak> *2* *:* to regard as negligible, worthless, or distasteful

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Can He say the same about you?

I know this is a hard sermon but we have to quit considering God as negligible in our lives and that our own will and desires come before Him.

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 Sin will always have its consequences either now or later.

Nathan tells David of the consequences of his actions.

*1.

**The sword shall never depart from your house.

This means that there will always be deadly fighting within the family of David.