David: The Honesty of God’s Word

We are granted a revealing and clear view of the imperfections of our heroes from the Bible:

We know:

Adam & Eve broke the single commandment (Gen 3}.

Noah allowed the fruit of the vine to overcome his life at times and he was drunken (Gen 9) ..

Abraham was a times a liar(Gen 12) and he disbelieved God's promise of a son to come (Gen 17) and Sarah laughed at God's promise (Gen 18).

Isaac, like his father, was at times a liar (Gen 26).

Jacob lived with false god idols in his own home (Gen 35).

Peter, overcome by fear, denied he even knew the Lord (John 18).

David yielded to the temptation of the flesh, taking another man's wife, and arranging her husband's death to have her as his own, breaking at least four of the Lord's Holy Commandments (6-7-8-10).

Scripture grants us these, and other, views of imperfections and sin in order that we may understand that while some are heroes and chosen by God, they are also human.

Just as we do still today, these special Bible examples struggled with the carnal side of their own lives. While each of us is well aware of this struggle, scripture confirms it for us in Galatians 5: 1 7 :

"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would".

Of all the examples given in scripture, David's life provides the strongest example of how a man who seeks to live a godly life must resolve the conflict of the warfare of the flesh against the Spirit that rages within.

David came to accept the ancient warning that God gave to Cain: " ... if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door ... " (Gen 4:7).

David provides us the spiritual road map that leads us to the title of our study guide, The Restoration of a Sinner.

David's life teaches us that when our relationship with our Heavenly Father is damaged by our yielding to our sin nature, restoration is found only when we confess the sin in prayer, remove the sin from our life, sincerely and truly repenting of it, and seek the Lord's forgiveness.

David taught us that repentance is not a single moment that occurs at our new birth, but repentance IS the godly life, never ending while we are here.

While the precious blood of Jesus, shed to bring us under Grace, is sufficient for all sin, it is effective atonement only for the sins of those who are born again into new and eternal life through faith in Christ alone.

These are His elect.

While we remain here, sin will never leave us. The issue of the Christian walk is not that we no longer have sin in our lives, but that it no longer will possess dominion over our lives.

Romans 6: 13-14 teaches us:

" ... yield yourselves unto God ... for sin shall not have dominion over you ...”.

David yielded himself unto God and he taught us by his life and by his writings in the Psalms how sinners may be restored unto God.