Amongst a growing number of people there is an adhearence to a false doctine concerning sin that becomes more common every day. That being, since all sin, all are disqualified from judging sin apart from their own life. It does tend to hinder the identification of sin and render those affected by it untouchable. This faulty reasoning does not come by way of the fullness of scripture rather it comes from reasoning scripture out of its proper context. It is a reasoning that is more worldly than Godly and it is becoming more and more prevalent within the church. It is this invasion of worldly philosophy into the church that threatens her health and well being. As for the body of Christ, it will cripple her appeal towards holiness. It will hinder church discipline and inturn promote the feared leavening within the body. It will also aid the propogation of a cheap gospel, as it makes little of sin.
We should not be surprised to see this used as a tool of tolerance towards a life in rebellion. No matter what scripture says about sin it will meet with a counter argument for disqualification. What is most shocking to hear is how many calling themselves by Christs name accede to this worldly logic. Often the conversation that defends this reasoning does not go long before the sin of David is bannered as its defense. The motive more times than not is the validation of the live and let live philosophy. This philosophy should never find a place in the church of our Lord and Savior. So the sins of David read in 2nd Samuel 11 end up a refuge and standard for the practicing sinner(s). Sin now no matter how heinous is the common affliction and so it is not to be taken too serious. After all, David's transgressions were so terrible in degree that all except the most abominable of sinners fall short of them in magnitude.
If no one is qualified to judge sin then it goes equally that the time one spends in it offers no grounds for debate. David's sin was for a season, so what differece is there if the season of sin be prolonged? Couple that with a once saved promise then one who stays in sin could be there an extrordinary amount of time yet not consider themselves to be any great offense to God. Who can place a time limit on the pratice of sin? Who can put a date on it? For David a year. For another decades? While it is true by example that one can fall into a like sin of David this should never be the emphasis of his example in scripture. We understand what scripture says about the dangers of one who practices sin. The dangers of the hardening. The testimony that accompanies the rebellion that speaks to the integration of light and darknes. Was David guilty of sin? Yes on all accounts. Can one take comfort and consolement if they find themselves in like circumstances? Absolutely, but one must not look only upon the infractions of David. One must look at the life of David in God. One must examine the life of David apart from the God he so loved. In Autobiographical form via his songs we gain insight into this life.
This is no place to dwell for one who attempts to justify their wrongs by associating themselves in David's company. It is not just the measure of the infraction that we gain from David's songs but also the measure of despair. What David held up as the most important thing in his life was his relationship with God. God was everything to David as He is to the one born of God. The identity of one in Christ is an open book. It will be manifested. Should there be a seperation from one bound in such a love relationship the results will be devestating. The seperation that comes by unrepented sin, bears a substantial conviction of the Spirit and always the accusation of the god of this world who wishes death upon the child of God. One who has abided in God will prove to be the most miserable of creatures when apart from Him. What consolation others may offer while in this spiritual state of limbo will be of no comfort. For it is not consolation that brings restoration but repentance and forgiveness. One will remain pitiful and pathetic until this relationship is restored.
So we know the sin of David but what of the heart of him that God spoke as being after His own? While many can say they have a conscience, and it may nag them when they violate it, the question is to what degree? David's was not a nagging conscience but a lethal one. If we draw a few excerpts from his songs we gain better insight into the life of a brother in unrepentant sin. Psalm 6,32,and 51 sees David crying both day and night. His pillow is soaked with tears. He doesn't sleep nor rest as neither is granted him by the Spirit which indwells him. Since no rest is granted him by night he must face the day exhausted and feel the torment of the waking hours knowing that the most important thing in his life that has carried him and strengthened him through the day is not to be found. Both day and sleepless night the emptiness and separation from God haunts him. He is riddled with guilt and there is no respite. He is crushed by guilt's burdensome weight and there is no comfort to be found. There no security in this state of existence and the enjoyment of the season that was sin is now understood for what it truly is; rebellion. Now we see the pitiful existence of David in unrepented sin, and this is the defense that many will run to?
Most of what David experienced bears no similarity to the description of the majority of people wishing to harbor sin by hiding behind David's misunderstood reputation in it. As one should clearly see David depicts the regenerate soul. David lived his year in utter misery. By God's grace Nathan bore God's words of comfort to David even though they came at such a great cost. To David the disciplinary actions of God was that of a loving father who does not withold the rod of correction from the child He cares for. His chastisement was evidence of the love of his Father. It came as relief from sins captivity which was becoming death to David as he was waisting away in it. This call to repentance brought the greatest relief ever experienced in the life of David. It was more nurishing than the showbread and and more queching than the well water of Bethlehem. This man could war and soldier like no other. He faced incredible odds and came out victorious by the hand of God time and time again, but never was David so miserable considering all of the problems he encountered with his family, as he was when he turned to sin and away from God. God never forsook David. God suffered the great sins of this child and then loved him back into the same arms that David had earlier rejected. No said could have ever been more hurtful to one who loved God than,"YOU HAVE HATED MY WORDS AND DESPISED ME". This must have been the greatest wound David ever suffered, for how great was David's love for the Lord. How great the repentance that must have followed? This then exemplifies the condition of a believer in the degradation of sin. It is certainly no ground upon which one should ever take comfort as obviously David could not.
