Sunday 12 • 22 • 19

There's a slide behind me. It should be confidential mailboxes. So with the content of this sermon, as we walk through abuse and sexual violence, there are some things that may come up in some of you. But you got a safe place, confidential mailboxes. What you send will be confidential and the commission women or and the elders will reach out to you if you email one of these. So if you're a woman, email carefulwomen@ctkriley.org. If anything comes up, please send an email. It will be confidential and commission women will reach out to you.

And you fellas, men, if this happened to you in the past and some things come up in you, there is careformen@ctkriley.org. So please use it as you wrestle with feelings, as you walk through this. You don't have to walk through this alone and this information is confidential. So if that's you, please use these emails that are listed behind me.

Now, we're going to turn to God's word. Matthew chapter one verses one through six. I'm reading from the CSB version.

An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac. Isaac fathered Jacob. Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. Judah fathered Perez and Zerubatamar. Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron fathered Aram. Aram fathered Amanadab. Amanadab fathered Nashan. Nashan fathered Salmon. Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab. Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth. Obed fathered Jesse. And Jesse fathered King David. Notice it. David fathered Solomon by Uriah's wife. — Matthew 1:1-6

Now, second Samuel chapter 11 verses one to five.

In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Arabah but David remained in Jerusalem. One evening, David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, a very beautiful woman. So David sent someone to inquire about her and he said, isn't this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah, the Hittite? David sent messages to get her and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now, she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home. The woman conceived and sent word to inform David. I am pregnant. — 2 Samuel 11:1-5

Before going further, let us ask God to meet us in this moment in prayer.

Father, I'm thankful that each week, Lord, you give us an opportunity to open your word, to come corporately. Lord, I recognize that there are people in here that it's just a sweet season. Lord, you have blessed mightily. You have met powerfully but also know that there are people, Lord, this may be a tough season. Things may not seem to be going well. There's a lot of pain and there's a lot of hurt. All of us collectively, Lord, can come to you with our needs and I pray that you would meet us in this moment. That even as we talk about some hard things, Lord God, by your spirit, you will minister to our souls. Give us tools, Lord God, to be able to walk through this season, whatever it may be and to be sensitive to those around us who may be struggling. Lord, may we reflect who you are in our daily lives in Christ's name. Amen.

The Color Purple

In 1985, there was a movie that came out that is now a classic. I'm going to ruin it for you because it came out in 1985, so I'm sorry. It's called The Color Purple. This movie deals with a lot of issues. You have domestic violence in this movie. You have pedophilia and incest. You have sexism. You have poverty. The main character in this movie is a woman by the name of Celie and if you watch this movie, Celie seems to go through it. The first thing that you see is that her father, actually, her stepfather slept with her, got her pregnant. She had a child for him. The man who was supposed to protect her, to care for her, to love her, violated her. She had a child. Well, in the store, she has two children and it doesn't stop there because then her stepfather takes those kids and sends them away. So not only did she have a child by a man who was supposed to protect her, her kids whom she loved are now taken from her. Abandonment. Then, she's given to a man who is referred to in the movie as Mister. Mister was just abusive on every level. She was not pretty to Mister. He would often call her ugly. He would beat her. You see domestic violence. When you watch this, it seems that no one seemed to love her. It's so tragic. The men in her life who should have protected and loved her used their position of power and authority to abuse her.

Question for you this morning. Whatever level of power and authority you have, how do you use it? How do you use it? Do you use it to benefit those in your care or do you use it to violate and abuse whether physically or verbally?

In the story of David and Bathsheba, we see how someone can use and abuse their power to get what they want when they want it. David sexually violated Bathsheba, even though she was the wife of another man, Uriah. David's role as king was to shepherd, was to protect his people, but there are two people in this text in Second Samuel 11 that he did not protect. He violated and he abused. Normally, we just think of Bathsheba because that's glaring, but we tend to forget about Uriah himself—he also was violated and abused.

He chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheep pens. He brought him from tending ewes to be shepherd over his people, Jacob, over Israel, his inheritance. He shepherded them with a pure heart and guided them with his skillful hands. — Psalm 78:70-72

But in Second Samuel 11, David was not doing this. He was abusing. He was violating.

Grace in the Midst of Pain

Now, for many of us, we look at this story and some of you here may see yourself in the story of Bathsheba. You've been abused. Just as David brought one-way violence to Bathsheba, someone brought one-way violence to you. The pain you've experienced is real, just as the pain that Bathsheba experienced was real. But I want to encourage you because just as someone brought one-way violence to you, God and Jesus Christ brought one-way love to you. There was a redemptive narrative that God is writing in your life. So, please, in the midst of pain, understand that God is writing something beautiful in the midst of this tragedy. This is grace. Grace is love that seeks you out even when you have nothing to give in return. Grace says, "I love you even when you feel unlovable."

The Misuse of Power

For those of us who exercise power and authority on some level, again, I want to ask you: Do you use that power and authority for evil? Do you abuse others physically or verbally?

Counselor Greg Wilson of the Association of Biblical Counselors defines abuse as the desecration of the Imago Dei—through the intentional misuse of power, both covertly and overtly in words or actions, for the purpose of gratifying self.

Abuse is the desecration of the Imago Dei, the image of God, through the intentional misuse of power, both covertly and overtly in words or actions, for the purpose of gratifying self. And as I think about that definition, in recent years because of social media and media coverage, we've seen abuse even take place in crazy ways, even within religious institutions, even within the church. Places that should be safe for us sometimes can even be places of danger. This breaks our heart.

Peter Scazzero in his book, The Emotionally Healthy Leader, he shows leaders how to be aware of the sources of their power and how they use that power. As I'm thinking about all of this, I am really reflecting and praying, understanding that there is a level of authority and power that I have as a church planter. But how am I going to use that power and authority? Am I going to use it to hurt others, abuse others, or will I use it to benefit others?

God, help me by your Spirit to benefit people, because I'm not over them. I am like them. I am a sheep just like other people are, and I don't need to take power and authority to walk on or hurt.

The Humility of Christ

But we have an example in Jesus who is 100% God and 100% man. If Jesus wanted to, he could squash me. But instead of squashing me, he benefits me. He loves me. And Paul writes of this beautiful humility of Jesus for my benefit in Philippians chapter two, verses five to eight.

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross. — Philippians 2:5-8

Jesus humbled himself. When you see the life of Jesus, you see him walking among people—not smashing them, not abusing them, but doing all things to help and benefit. And Paul says, have the same mindset. The same mindset.

David abused his power. He violated the sheep he was charged with leading and protecting. When you read the story of Second Samuel 11, David didn't care for nobody but himself. This was a dark moment. Dark moment.

Even if we have not experienced what Bathsheba experienced, I'm looking at a group of people who probably know what dark moments are like. You know what hopelessness feels like. You know what it's like when it becomes like, "Lord, how do I come out of this? Lord, this season is too long." And I can only imagine what Bathsheba, who is a human, experienced.

So, when we read the text, let's not think that this is a fictional character that we are reading about. No, she's real. Uriah is real and they had feelings and the darkness and the pain. Right? We are human. We know what darkness and pain is like but in the midst of hurt that we may have, I pray that we remember this season of Advent. This is not your normal Advent sermon, right? We want to come in and talk about jingle bells and sleigh rides and all of these things but Advent gives hope because really this is what the gospel is. The gospel takes this tragedy of humanity. The darkness of sin and in the midst of this darkness, the light has shown. Jesus and Bathsheba's life was dark, right? But when we're going to look at this story, Uriah and Bathsheba trusted in Yahweh. They were trusting in the Messiah to come and in the midst of this backdrop, in our own personal life and corporately in Israel, Jesus came into that picture and so let's see this. God applied grace to Bathsheba's disgrace and he does the same for you and I. Bathsheba's pain y'all impacted my destiny and your destiny and we're going to talk about that in a little bit.

In his first coming, God in Jesus' first coming, God brought relief to his people. In his second coming, which is where we are. We're not waiting for Jesus to come the first time. He came. He hung on that wood. He died. He got about the grave and dusted his shoulders off and told death and Satan, "See like y'all can't hold me. I'm God." And so now, we are waiting for Jesus to whatever your eschatology is, it does not matter to me but one thing, Jesus is coming back. He's coming back to make all things new. There would not be no more abuse y'all. There is not going to be any more tears. We in this Advent season, we are waiting on that moment.

The Narrative Approach

So, today, as we continue to look at the mothers of Jesus, particularly Bathsheba, I want to apologize to those of you who love points and notes. I don't have no points for you today. I'm sorry. I have none. You know, it's amazing to me that we take any genre of scripture and give it five points, three points, two points, and I'm not mad at that but sometimes I just want to sit in the narrative or sit in the genre which this is a narrative y'all and I just want to tell the story. Let's sit in the story. Let's see the characters. Let's feel the characters. Let's try to see what their emotions were. We are people that love to exercise mental abilities but often times, we divorce our emotions. Not only do we need to engage it with our minds but let's engage it with our hearts, right? Some of you may already be there but let's get into this narrative but not only see this narrative but let's see the beauty of her and her pain being included in the lineage of Jesus and how God redeems even her story and how he can redeem your story as well.

So, we're going to look in Second Samuel. The first five verses.

So, again, y'all walk with the brother. This story begins in the spring when kings march out to war. — 2 Samuel 11:1

Now, what in the world is taking place? Well, in order to understand this, we need to go back to Second Samuel chapter 10. What was happening there? Well, the Ammonite king died who obviously was a friend of King David and so David understood this. He sent messengers to the son of the Ammonite king who just died to console, to offer condolences and so these messengers go but the Ammonites king's son has some foolish advisers. I don't want to talk about nobody but myself. Have you all ever had some people around you that just don't say nothing right? And they influence you. They just say a bunch of nothings and we end up following this crazy advice and this is what happened to this Ammonite king's son where because his adviser says, "Man, David not trying to offer you condolences, brother. He's trying to come and take over. He's trying to deal with you" and so then they shamed these messengers and violated them and then they go back to David. That's why David started war with the Ammonites but obviously a winter must have come between this because the text says, "In the spring when kings come out to march out to war." Now, many scholars say this is exactly one year from the time of Second Samuel 11. So, now that the year is over, there's no more winter. The environment is conducive. The kings are marching out to war.

Now, David would normally go to war with his people but this time he stayed home. Now, I don't know about you but I have heard pastors say, "David was in sin. If he would've just been with his soldiers, he would not have been there to see Bathsheba." Well, maybe but the text doesn't say that. In other places in scripture, it says that the armies of Israel, these leaders would tell David, "Look, don't you keep coming to war with us because you could die and you're king, so don't come with us."

We don't know why David stayed home if the men said, don't come or if he just wanted to do it himself. What we do know is that he stayed home. And one evening, David went to the roof of the palace and walked back and forth. Now, we don't try to pay attention to topography because nothing in scripture says that in this section, but David's palace would have probably been on the highest level of ground in the city. So when he went to the roof, he would have had access and seen everything taking place in the city. And it is there that the scripture says that he saw a woman bathing. Notice the detail the writer is giving us. He is setting us up. This is almost like a soap opera, showtime. It says that he saw a woman bathe, but then it gives us another description: a very beautiful woman. What is happening with David here? His desires were aroused, and it seems that the only thing he could think was, I want her. I want her and I'm going to do whatever I gotta do to get her.

Now, it's important to understand that she did not entice him. She is not to blame for what David did to her. She was minding her business. And it is here that I want to encourage anyone this morning who has experienced being violated sexually: You do not have to walk around in shame. Because you did nothing wrong. Don't play that game in your head thinking, "If I had not worn that outfit, then maybe," or "If I did not speak to that person, then maybe this would not have happened." Bathsheba did not entice David.

As a matter of fact, James would write in James chapter one, verse 14:

But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. — James 1:14

It's also important to understand that David had wives—plural. He had women. He had them. But David was king. Now, we live in a democracy. We vote on everything. We don't understand much of what a minority, a monarchy, feels like, especially one where the king is absolute. But in this situation, the king could do whatever he wanted to do.

And to get an idea of that, all we have to do is go back to First Samuel chapter eight. Israel says, "I want a king like the nations." Samuel says, "Look, hold up. Y'all don't know what you're asking for. Because if you want a king like the nations, those kings do what they want to do when they want to do it." Samuel would say that kings take sons and daughters and puts them to use in his chariots, horses running in front of chariots. He takes male and female servants. He can even take a person's land. This is imminent domain on crack. Like, he could just come up to a person and say, "Look, that land is good, but I want it. Give me that." And he flexed in this way because he saw something he wanted and he went and got it.

But what's interesting to me is that David in scripture is called a man after God's heart. But in Second Samuel 11, he is not. He is not acting like that man that's after God's heart. All he wanted to do was satisfy his own desires. David knew what the penalty was for adultery. It was death. Yet he still sent someone to get Bathsheba and he had sex with her. He sinned against God and against Bathsheba.

Now, again, I want to engage Bathsheba as a human, right? So I started thinking as I'm reading this story, and I want to encourage us. Let's not be so familiar with the story and just kind of gloss over it. I'm reading and I'm sitting there wondering, what was Bathsheba thinking when she got the knock at the door? And the messenger from the king says, "David wants you." What was she thinking? The text does not tell us. I wonder what it was like that night or that day, the last day Uriah was in the house with her. Did she kiss him and say, "Babe, I'll see you later"? Was she missing him? And was she just trusting in Yahweh that he would bring victory and also bring her husband home? We don't know what she was thinking, but what we do know is that David violated her. He violated her.

A Word to the Church on Abuse and Healing

See, we should never gloss over abuse. While there's grace for both the abused and the abuser, as a church, we must be intentional about not rushing or dictating the process of healing for the abused. You know, America—we're triumphant, right? Americans, we're trying unfun and we just want people to get over it. But as a church, we gotta be careful not to rush that process of healing for those who may have been violated or abused.

You see, when we look at David, David had this illusion with sin that he was in control. See, sin creates an illusion that you're in control of it. When I was little, my aunt used to allow me sometimes to sit on her lap and drive. Now, her—it was her van. Now, today, vans are smart vans and you got three and four rows, but everything seems to be just technologically savvy. This was in the day, in the early eighties, when vans were like big boxes, right? Well, you could almost put curtains on the windows.

It was so big and so my aunt would allow me to sit on her lap and drive. Now, my foot could not reach the brakes nor could it reach the accelerator and my aunt would let me drive in a parking lot or on a small street but I'm sitting there, got my hands on the wheels saying, I'm driving but I was not driving because her hands were under my hands and her feet were the one controlling the accelerator and the brake. You see, sin creates the illusion that you're in control until it decides to bite.

Question, aren't we like David? Before brushing past that, can we see that David did some evil things but the question is, I think there's a little bit of David in us, in all of us because aren't there times when we think we're in control of sin? That we're in control? That because I'm in control, I can do what I wanna do when I wanna do it and no one will get hurt because I know what I'm doing. I see a lot of myself in David.

See, David violated Bathsheba to satisfy his sinful longings but things changed when Bathsheba sent a message to the king which was cataclysmic. Here is a person just a normal person sending a message to the king and she says, I'm pregnant. What do you do now? Verse six to 13 gives us that because David has a problem on his hands and now his brain is working to try to see how he could cover up his sin. Now, please stay with me because we're going to show how God redeems in this story.

So, what does David do? David sends word to Joab to have Uriah come back to him. He has a plan in place but Uriah was one of David's leading men. He was a warrior. Uriah was a warrior but now also notice this, Uriah was not a Jew but he was one of David's top men. Again, I'm trying to get in the head of Uriah. He's on the battle line and he gets a tap on the shoulder and says, look, the king wants to see you. What was he thinking? Is my wife okay? Did I do something wrong? Am I about to die because I'm going before the king? What's what's going on here? But he gets before David and David greeted him and all David does, he asks him, how is Joab and the troops? How are they doing in war?

One theologian notes this, he says, the answer Uriah gives is not included in the narrative. A significant gap which symbolizes that David just let him talk, not paying any attention to his account. Have you ever done that to people? When they are talking to you, you don't hear nothing they're saying. It's like the teacher on Charlie Brown. I just want, want, want, want, want, want, want. You don't hear anything. So, it's like David is letting him talk. David didn't really care about what he said. All David wanted Uriah to do was go home, have sex with his wife so that he could cover up what was wrong. So now, if he is intimate with his wife and he realizes that she is pregnant, he could take credit for his wife being pregnant and David is off the hook but Uriah switched the game on him. Uriah didn't go home. He slept at the door of the palace with his servants, with David's servants.

See, Uriah was a man of integrity. David wanted Uriah to go up to his desires to be just like him, to give in to those desires but Uriah didn't go. And then David asked him, say, why didn't you go home? Notice verse 11.

That Uriah said, the ark, Israel, and Judah are dwelling in tents and my master Joab and his soldiers are camping in the open field. How can I enter my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife as surely as you live and by your life, I will not do it? — 2 Samuel 11:11

Notice that Uriah first mentioned the ark. This was the covenant symbol for Israel. This is God's presence with him. Uriah was concerned about God's presence being, I can't go home when they're out there fighting. I told you, Uriah was a follower of Yahweh. He cared about the things of God even when David did not.

So then in verses 14 to 25, David doubled down on his plan. He wanted Uriah to go home so badly. He put in another layer. He wanted to get him drunk because it starts like when he drunk, like he's going home. He's going to be with his wife. It says, but Uriah did something different. It says, he went out in the evening and laid down on his cot with his master's servant. Uriah did the same thing he did before. I wonder if he was sloppy drunk. It didn't even matter. The fact he was tipsy and instead of going home, he did what he did before. He was aware enough to realize that no, this is not time for me to go home. Uriah drunk is more righteous than David sober.

Now, David's plan becomes sinister. It's getting evil now. He writes a death warrant. He sends a letter to Joab probably with the king's signet ring which means it's official. Sends a letter to Joab and when Uriah carries this letter, he can't read it but when Joab gets it, he reads, put Uriah on the place of the fiercest battle so that he could die.

Uriah carried his own death warrant and didn't even know it. Question: what lengths would you go to make sure you're not found out? That your sin is not discovered. What would you do?

See, David put a plan in place to have one of his best men, Uriah, killed. All because he couldn't control himself sexually and to cover up the fact that Bathsheba was pregnant. Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that all sin has collateral damage. What David thought would be a sexual interlude turned into a pregnancy, a murder, a cover up, lies, and let's not forget the one who was violated, Bathsheba.

The story goes Uriah died. He died. What David wanted to happen actually happened. David didn't even mourn for one of his best soldiers.

You see, when Uriah died, Joab sent a message back to David and he told David what happened in the war. Joab said, "Look, if he doesn't like it, if he gets upset, the fact that we have been pushed back, that we've been dealt with a little bit, that there are a lot of men died, also tell David, Uriah is also dead."

And when he gets that message, in between verses fourteen and twenty-five, David sends a message back to Joab saying, "Don't let this matter upset you because the sword devours all alike." His goal is accomplished. Uriah is dead. But all is not well.

Later, Bathsheba found out that her husband, Uriah, was dead and the text tells us that she mourned for her husband. It was here as I sat in this text that only one image came to my mind: my grandmother.

Because for seventy-six years, she was married to one man. She got married at nineteen. This past May, my grandfather died. The man that she loved, that she woke up to every morning, that she had five kids with. I remember one morning when I was staying there with them, and I said, "Mama, you don't have to cook for me. You don't have to cook for daddy. I'm gonna go get some breakfast." She said these words to me: "That's my husband."

It showed me the depth of a love. Because I believe today, my grandmother is still grieving. It's only been a few months since my grandfather's been gone, but I believe she is still mourning and still grieving. And this let me into the mind and the heart, I believe, of Bathsheba.

No, she wasn't married seventy-six years. I don't believe that. But she lost someone she loved. The last time she saw him, he was going out to war. And the next time she sees him, she's burying him. She's mourning. She is grieving.

And after her mourning ended, David brought her to his house and she became his wife and the text says, she bore him a son. Now, everything seemed to be alright. David accomplished his task except for the last scripture in this chapter. The text says:

The Lord considered what David had done to be evil.

He couldn't hide. God sees all things.

Sin Destroys

See, sin is like a woodpecker. It keeps pecking at your life. Now, when you look at the individual pecks, it doesn't seem that bad. If you look at one peck, but when the job is over, you've got a hole in the tree of your life. Sin destroys. It destroys.

Jesus in the Genealogy

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Russell, what does this story have to do with us?" I'm glad you asked.

So, going to Matthew now. Bathsheba is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus, but her name is not mentioned. It says:

In verse six, "And Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon by Uriah's wife."

Now, to understand where I'm going, Matthew wrote to Jews to let them know that Jesus is the true king. What do you know about Jews? Well, in genealogies during that time, holistically, women were not mentioned in those genealogies, but four women are mentioned: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and it says, "the wife of Uriah." The original readers would have known that that's Bathsheba.

All four women have scandal tied to their names. And they were non-Jews. So, here's the next level: Why are you putting these foreign women in our bloodline? Our bloodline is supposed to stay pure. We don't marry outside of our race.

Sound familiar? We live in a place today and I'm not just talking about one group of people. I'm talking about across the board where we would say, "No, you don't marry outside of your race. You keep our bloodline pure." But praise be to God, I'm in His bloodline. That He's got some Moabite blood in it. That He's got some Canaanite blood in it. Showing that He is welcoming of all nations.

But not only that, notice that this genealogy starts with talking about Abraham. Now, you gotta go back to Genesis chapter twelve. When God said to Abraham:

"I'm going to bless all nations through you."

He said that right after the Tower of Babel, where all nations were scattered. So, these nations are now scattered all over the place. Nations that wanted to do their own thing. And then God tells Abraham—in essence—those nations are scattered. I'm going to bless them through you.

They're going to be welcomed in my land and you just read the Old Testament all the way through, you will see that God's heart has always been for the nations to be included with his people. We see Gentile and Jewish inclusion. This is what Paul tells us that the church is made up of. In Ephesians chapter two verses 11 through 15, Paul says:

Remember that at one time, you were Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by those called circumcised which is done in the flesh by human hands. At that time, you were without Christ and excluded from the citizenship of Israel and foreigners of the covenants of promise. Notice it, without hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus. Y'all, I'm not without hope anymore. I'm accepted. You have been brought near by the blood of Christ. — Ephesians 2:11-15

Bathsheba was brought near. Even though she experienced all of that pain and devastation, you were brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. There is nothing now that should divide us as a people. We have not only been reconciled to God because of Jesus but we are reconciled to one another. In his flesh, he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations so that he might create in himself one new man.

It is here I remembered a Kynos conference, I think back in 2015, where a pastor in New York who was a Hispanic brother said these words: "In this setting, we easily will call someone of another race, 'that's my brother or sister.' But we gotta go deeper than that. So don't just call me your brother and sister. Let's make this a reality. Let me marry your daughter. Let me marry your daughter." You know, getting to that next level. Because I think that pushes against what we think now. If we want to talk about what this looks like, let's really become family.

Bathsheba's story was tragic, but her story was used for our good. Again, her pain impacted my destiny. Her pain impacted your destiny. With her and the other three women, we see God's mission for the inclusion of Gentiles. Yet David sent a gift to Bathsheba, but God was the one writing her story. God knew what was happening. He wasn't aloof. He knew her pain. I have to believe that he was near to her in her pain and he was writing a different narrative than the one that the people would have known about.

We know the end of this story. It's the same for those of you who've experienced this kind of sexual trauma or any kind of trauma. God has not forgotten you. He has not abandoned you. He knows right where you are. He brings relief to you in the midst of your pain. Injustice will not have the final word. Abuse will not have the final word. Molestation will not have the final word. God's justice will triumph.

We are eagerly waiting for the day when God's kingdom will be experienced in totality with his people and the next day Jesus returns, there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more weeping.

The Abuser and Hope for Repentance

We're looking at Bathsheba there and realizing that we're coming to a close. We talk about the victim, but we have not talked so much yet about the abused—I mean, the abuser—and what's available for the abuser. There may be some of you here this morning who may have abused someone else and there was hope for you as well.

We did not look at the finish of the story with David. David got confronted by a prophet named Nathan who exposed his sin. But instead of glossing over and saying, "Oh, it wasn't that big of a deal," David repented. We can see this in Psalm 51. You see, our God is holy and righteous, but he is also loving and forgiving. Jesus died for David and he died for you and me as well.

Just like David, we sinned against God, but just like David, we can also come to him in repentance and we will be forgiven. The story of the prodigal—actually, the two prodigal sons—is wonderful. One son left, squandered all he had, but he was able to come home. But there was the oldest son who thought he was self-righteous, and the story leaves us open: did he actually come home? The self-righteous and the flamboyant in sin both are welcomed into the family of God.

The Hero and the Villain

Just like you, I love a good love story or just a good story period, right? And with most stories, you have a hero. While every hero is different in content, they are the same in context. You have someone who would do whatever it takes or do whatever to save the victim. However, God turns this narrative on its head.

While many of us have not done what David did, in Jesus' story, we are the villain. We're the villain. And in this story of grace, the hero dies for the villain.

We are the villains and the same grace that David received is the same grace that's available for you and me.

Closing Reflections

I close with a few things that I want you to know, and I borrowed these from an article written by the Gospel Coalition.

First, God does not condone violence against women or anyone for that matter. God does not condone it. It's not acceptable.

Second, God offers the counsel we need. He gives us Christian friends, godly pastors, legal professionals, even law enforcement. Most importantly, he has given us his word.

Third, Jesus died for all of your sins—past, present, and future—and because of that, you don't have to hide from him. He already knows. Come to him in repentance. He loves you, and that love was expressed in death on the cross.

Finally, God has not forgotten you. In the same way he did not forget Bathsheba, he remembered Bathsheba. He has not forgotten her. He has not forgotten us. And now we have a moment where we can remember him, not forget him. Remembering him in taking of this family meal, the Lord's Supper.

So let's now turn our attention to the liturgy. I will read the first part and then you read the second.