“And David…lay with her…and she returned unto her house.”  (2 Samuel 11)

“And [Moses] looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian [that beat Moses’ fellow Hebrew], and hid him in the sand.”

 

When I was a kid, I heard one of my friends say, “A!?.”  His mother jumped up and asked, “What did you say?” My friend’s response?, “it’s in the Bible, Momma.”  My friend found out that “sparing the rod spoils the child” is in the Bible, too.

Sinful actions by persons in Scripture do not give license to commit similar sin. Though David and Moses both found God to be forgiving, they both suffered greatly for their sin. Forgiveness does not = escape from the penalty of one’s actions. Let us remember the repentant thief on the cross. Though he found forgiveness, he still paid a great penalty for his crime…death on a cross, a bad reputation or name to his contemporaries, and the pain he caused his family and friends.

It is a Bible fact, that through a broken and contrite heart, David found forgiveness.  However, David was told by God, through the prophet, Nathan, “…[T]he sword shall never depart from thine house……Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house.

The sword and God-raised evil from within David’s house took the form of *Bathsheba’s baby’s suffering and death, *an incestuous rape of David’s daughter by her brother Amnon, *by the murder of Amnon by Absolom, *the death of Absolom after he betrayed David, his father.  *Another son of David, Adonijah, instead of mourning over the nearing death of his father, David, announced himself king-elect and had a party.

While the sin of David does not give anyone a license to sin and to presume upon God’s mercy, grace and forgiving Nature, David’s sin can comfort those that have, shall we say, sinned greatly? But to be sound in our doctrine, sin is sin; all sin offends God, there are no little sins or big sins from God’s point of view. It is written in James, if we break one law we have broken them all. However, though sin is sin, some sins will cost the sinner more than others in life. For example, murder will cost one more than lying to a friend or a boss, but neither the liar or the murderer will enter Heaven at their death. In life, there may be a variable in sin’s costs, but once a sinner dies, sin will cost him an eternity in Hell.

None should ever presume upon God’s grace and forgiveness prior to premeditated sin. “I’ll ask for forgiveness later” will not do. Your premeditated sin will not be forgiven…let me restate that, your premeditated sin will not be forgiven. If you sin, willfully, while presuming upon God’s forgiveness afterwards, your real problem goes far deeper than the sin you are about to perpetrate. The sin you are about to commit is not the issue, your arrogance, premeditation and your presumption is the issue. God will not forgive your sin until the real problem is dealt with.

Using the words  “will not forgive”  may cause some confusion. Some may be thinking, “Wait a minute, haven’t I been forgiven by God?” Let us clarify. If you are a Christ-ian, you have been justified and that equates to forgiveness. Justified is a legal term. To be justified equates to being found innocent by God, the Judge. This justification was and is made possible by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, alone.
Once one has been justified, one enters into the sanctified family of God. God, therefore, is no longer your Judge; God is now and forever will be your Father.

Having clarified that, when we say, “God will not forgive…” we are stating that there is a problem between you and your Heavenly Father and until you set things right, you must not expect His Fatherly forgiveness. An analogy: A spoiled child of a wealthy father acts up without fear. This brat does so because father’s money will protect the spoiled child. However, this time the father does not come to the rescue. Why not?  The spoiled child is abusing the father’s wealth of love and grace. Therefore, until the spoiled child comes to respect the father, until the spoiled child learns to be thankful and grateful for the father, there shall be no help or forgiveness from the father.

To commit a premeditated sin and to expect or to presume forgiveness from God for that premeditated sin is to Abuse God’s grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness. Before one will receive their Heavenly Father’s forgiveness for the premeditated sin and presumptuous expectation of forgiveness, one must repent of their abuse of the divine.

 

Godspeed