I Bet You Think This Sermon's About You (Don't You?)
You can imagine the king of Israel sitting there on his throne, brow furrowed and nodding consistently. It was impossible for this youngest son of Jesse not to be drawn into the picture that Nathan was verbally painting. A wealthy man had orchestrated and executed a sinister plot that resulted in the robbery of a poor and oppressed man.
By the conclusion of the prophet’s tragic tale, the king's anger was burning. His nodding had subsided into a frozen, glaring grimace as he thought of this great injustice happening on his watch, in his kingdom. David had been moved to apply Nathan’s sermon. The poet-warrior declared, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die…because he did this thing and had no pity.” At that moment, the brave messenger of God delivered news full of irony that outweighed any Hitchcockian tale.
He said, “You are the man.”
My friends, we are David. When we hear our shepherds bring forth the Word of God, we think of others. We search the sanctuary and then think, “Man, I wish so-and-so were here to hear this message.” We are ready to apply our lessons to the lives of our brethren. But we miss the most obvious target: ourselves.
It’s easy to identify with all the protagonists in Scripture. They are there to inspire us to have faith and action (Heb 11). However, Paul calls us to take warning through the negative examples of Scripture. He says, “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.” Even the antagonists, villains, and bad guys in the Bible are there for our benefit…
The jealous and murderous son of Adam
The correction-hating fool of Proverbs
The camel-swallowing Pharisees
The politically-weaselly Sadducees
The mob-pleasing Pilate and Herod
The glory-seeking Ananias and Sapphira
We tend to project our villains onto the villains in Scripture. They are Roman Catholics, woke Evangelicals, God-hating atheists, and so forth. It’s not wrong to draw those connections. They are often justified. However, our default should be to begin with our own hearts. The Spirit that moved Nathan speaks through Scripture. And He says, “You are the man.”
Take the counsel of Soren Kierkegaard, who advises, “When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, ''It is talking to me, and about me.'' Learn from David. Nathan is talking to you. Walk away from every sermon convicted and strengthened.