Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19941225.htm

GOD'S CHRISTMAS GRACE TO FAMILIES: FOUR GRANDMOTHERS OF JESUS
"Grandmother Bathsheba: Gaining God's Balm As The Victimized"
(2 Samuel 11-12)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

(1) On a Christmas day, several decades ago, a foster child named Norma Jean was the only child in the house not to open a Christmas present. She was deemed unworthy to have a present where all of the other children in the family got to open presents ! That little girl grew up with a great drive to be accepted and appreciated. She found such appreciation from men through her sensual appeal, and made a living out using that appeal to gain attention. We know little Norma Jean by her Hollywood name of M arilyn Monroe, a tragic figure in the past generation who allegedly took her own life!

Is there any hope on Christmas Day for people like Marilyn Monroe who are used and abused throughout their lives by others in relationship with them so that they turn to aberrant behavior to meet their needs?!

(2) Since bringing last Sunday's sermon, I have had eight different talks with different parties on a variety of different cases though all of the cases dealt with parties who had been painfully wronged or who had considered themselves painfully wrong ed in some way! When you have been wronged like little Norma Jean was wronged that Christmas day decades ago, something just eats away inside and you have to find a way to handle that pain!

Is there any hope on Christmas Day for people who are used and abused throughout their lives by others in relationship with them?!



Need: Someone I know always seems to be victimized through the mistreatment he receives from others in his family or extended family! Is there any hope of happiness for him this Christmas?!"
  1. Bathsheba was dreadfully victimized in her relationships!
    1. King David unjustly viewed Bathsheba's naked body while she bathed in the privacy of her home, 2 Samuel 11:2-3:
      1. Bathsheba's home was enclosed by a walled courtyard so that she could bathe during warm spring evenings in her outside courtyard, expecting to enjoy total privacy, Ryrie S.B., KJV, ftn. to 2 S. 11:2.
      2. Yet, as she bathed in the lamplight, David victimized Bathsheba by lewdly gazing over her courtyard wall from his unseen, darkened palace roof on Mount Zion, 2 Sam. 11:2.
    2. David also summoned Bathsheba and used his powers to make her commit adultery with him, 2 Sam. 11:3-4.
    3. When Bathsheba conceived, David killed her husband, Uriah to cover up the sin, causing Bathsheba great sorrow, 2 Sam. 11:15,26.
    4. Her baby also died as divine judgment on David for the adultery, causing Bathsheba more grief, 2 Sam. 12:13-14 with 12:24a.
    5. Besides all of these problems, Bathsheba's great trust in king David left her very unnerved:
      1. Her father was Ahithophel, one of David's thirty mighty warriors who risked his life to promote David's rule, 2 Sam. 11:3 & 23:34.
      2. Uriah, Bathsheba's former husband, was also one of the thirty warriors who supported David with his life, 2 Sam. 11:3,11; 23:34!
      3. Bathsheba had come to put a deep trust in David through the influence of beloved family men around her who had risked their lives to support him! Yet David crushed that trust by his hurried, lustful adultery against Bathsheba, and that must have hurt deeply!
  2. God's solution for the victimized Bathsheba addresses the needs of all who are victims in family relationships this Christmas!
    1. God offered temporal encouragement to Bathsheba within her marriage to David !
      1. Though it must have been hard for her, Bathsheba had to marry David after Uriah's death, 2 Sam. 11:27a.
      2. However, within that marriage to David , God gave Bathsheba a son named Solomon , a name meaning "peace," 2 Sam. 12:24. Though he was a younger son of David's, God chose him to be king that would have encouraged Bathsheba, 2 S. 12:25!
    2. God also provided long-term solutions to ALL family relationship victims through Bathsheba's union with David :
      1. Besides Solomon , Bathsheba also bore Nathan through her union with David, cf. 1 Chronicles 3:5.
      2. These two sons became God's gateways to solve sin in humanity!
        1. Jeconiah, a descendant of Solomon came under a curse: he was no longer to have a son sit on the throne and prosper, Jer. 22:30.
        2. Thus, for Messiah to sit on David's throne and prosper, he could no longer come through Solomon's line! Yet only Solomon's line had the right to rule on David's throne!
        3. The issue is solved via Bathsheba's sons through David combined with the miracle of the virgin birth ! (a) Mary, the mother of Jesus, traces her lineage back to David through Nathan , cf. Lk. 3:31,23, Walvoord, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, p. 104. (b) Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, traces his line back through the cursed Jeconiah and Solomon to David, Mt. 1:6,16, Ibid. (c) Since He was virgin born , Jesus gains David's lineage through Mary's uncursed line via Nathan , and has the right to rule through adoption with the marriage of Mary to Joseph!
        4. God in turn used the resulting virgin birth of Jesus to qualify Him as man's sinless atonement to settle before God the sins of such abuse, Rom. 3:24-25; 2 Cor. 5:21! In the end, God will finally release Bathsheba and all abused people who believe in Christ from the effects of sin's abuse, Rv. 21:3-4!
Application: To enjoy temporal and long-term peace from God this Christmas while a victim of family relationships, (1) believe on Christ for salvation from sin, Jn. 3:16. (2) Then live in obedience to Scripture (Psalm 1) and look to God while living within the current situation to see God's temporal and eventual eternal solutions apply! (3) For encouragement to do this, remember the history of Bathsheba and her relationship with David !

Lesson: God provided both temporary relief for Bathsheba and long-term gateways to real solutions for all abused people within her union with the one who had victimized her -- with David ! The hope this Christmas for all victims of abuse to look to Christ now for help while living in the family structure, and to anticipate eternity's peace!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the lesson of the message . . .)

 In the land of Nigeria, thirty years ago, a little girl named Dija lived in an African village with her parents. The family did not know the Lord, and did not know about Him until a missionary woman visited Dija's village and told about Jesus Christ . Dija was warmed toward the Gospel, and believed on Christ for salvation. She listened intently as the missionary told her story after story from the Word of God whereby she could direct her life.

One day, Dija's father ordered her to steal something from another family in the village. In that culture, stealing is not wrong providing one is not caught stealing! However, from her exposure to the missionary, Dija recognized that this command violated her walk with God, so she refused to steal! Her father was infuriated at this unusual act of rebellion against him, and he beat Dija merciles sly and threw her into the goat house behind the family home! The ultimate disgrace for a child was having to live in the goat house with these lowly animals!

Though she was confused and hurt by this fallout from her stand for Christ, Dija recalled the story of Paul and Silas singing praises to God while they were in prison in Acts 16:25. Feeling that she was suffering for the same reason as they, Dija decided to sing some of the Christian choruses that she had learned from the missionary. She sang softly at first, and then just let the songs float out across the vale as her heart was increasingly warmed by the Lord!

The townspeople were amazed that a child under the discipline of staying in the goat house would ever want to sing, and they inquired as to why Dija was reacting this way to the punishment. When she explained her reasons, the adults in the village realize d that a divine change had occurred in Dija's heart, and they began opening their hearts to the missionary's gospel! That whole village eventually turned to Christ due to the Dija's singing in her father's goat house!

Dija's story can be repeated a hundred different ways in a hundred different parts of the world with a hundred different scenes. Yet all of them have the same plot -- the temporal and eternal conquest of the unjustly abused person who is at peace with Jes us Christ!

May this be our lot this Christmas Day as we trust in Christ for temporal and eternal salvation with accompanying blessings!