Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On May 30, 2018: 2 Samuel 11 Pursue Gods Heart Away From Sin
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. We are going to be in 2 Samuel chapter 11 this evening, so you can turn there in your Bibles. 2 Samuel chapter 11, as we continue to follow along with the books of Samuel and following along with the life of David. We've been seeing now David on the throne for several weeks as we jumped into 2 Samuel and we got to see the beginnings of his kingdom. And I've mentioned a few times that here in these chapters of 2 Samuel, it kind of deviates from a chronological, here's a sequence of events. And it's really an overview of the life of David and the reign of David and so different aspects are grouped together. And so we looked at chapter 8 and 10 and we saw all the battles that David fought. And many of those, you know, happened throughout different periods of his reign and different events that took place in between with his encounter with Mephibosheth and all of these things that took place during the reign of David. But continuing to focus on this idea and this understanding that David was is for us a good example of someone who pursued God's heart, that he is declared by God to be a man after God's heart. And it is then for us a good example to follow to learn what is it look like whenever someone is pursuing the heart of God. And we've learned so many lessons from David in that. But tonight, it's a different kind of lesson. As we look at David here in 2 Samuel chapter 11, it is a quite famous passage where David has a pretty big failure in his dealings with a woman named Bathsheba. And then her husband, Uriah. And so as we look at this this evening, we are still learning from David. It's still an example of David. David still is, you know, called by God, a man after God's own heart. But we recognize that that includes, you know, the failures of David. That he wasn't a perfect and a flawless man, but that he also fell into sin and had some serious issues that happened in his life, which should be encouraging for us in that, you know, we and our failures, sometimes we can look at other people and we kind of have them on pedestals and we think, you know, surely they don't struggle like I do. But as we look back to David, we can recognize, well, he had some serious issues in his life as well. And yet God was still able to provide him as an example and say, here's a man who is after my heart. And so we learn from David that First of all, that failure is something that is involved in all of our lives, no matter how spiritual we are, how much we seek after God, that we will have these kinds of issues. And yet at the same time, we learn from that as we go forward, not necessarily tonight, but as we continue to look at the account of David. How we respond to these failures in our lives is also a crucial part of this account and an important part of learning how to pursue God's heart. And so as we look at these things, I want to encourage you this evening to take them to heart. that you would actually stop and consider. And maybe there is some, you know, present situations that you already know. We haven't even got into the passage yet, but you already know the Lord, you know, has some things to say to you about the issue of sin and these kinds of temptation struggles. But also, I would just remind you that sometimes God brings us these things in advance. And we may not know. David wasn't anticipating this whole situation to unfold before him. And he wasn't prepared for it. And so I would encourage you this evening that perhaps, you know, if there's not already an immediate thing going on, maybe it's something that God wants to prepare you for some things around the corner that you're not aware of yet, but they're going to be there and there's going to be some temptations that you're going to face and God wants to help you prepare to deal with those things. And so we're going to look at 2 Samuel chapter 11. Let's begin by reading through verses 1 through 5 and then we'll jump into the message for this evening. 2 Samuel 11, verse 1, it says, But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David sent messengers and took her. Here as we look at 2 Samuel chapter 11, again, it is that famous passage, the You know, if there's only a couple things you know about the life of David, it's probably David and Goliath and David and Bathsheba, right? It's like kind of those peaks that are very familiar to us as those who have heard the scriptures and heard the Bible studies and heard about the life of David. But here we see this great man of God, this man who God said, he is a man after my own heart. We see that he has... an adulterous affair with a woman named Bathsheba. I've titled the message for this evening, Pursue God's Heart Away from Sin. As we've been talking about pursuing the heart of God, and that is seeking to please God and obey God and do the things that are honorable and that God would desire for us to do, that is generally speaking the way that David lived his life. But he had his moments of failure, some of them huge and some of them not as notable. But he had those moments of weakness, those moments of failure, those moments of sin. And what we need to be reminded of this evening is that God's heart for you always is going to be in the direction away from sin. And sometimes we need these reminders in our lives that we can allow in our minds and in our hearts for there to be a softening of the issue of sin. And whether it's, you know, sexual type of sin, like we're seeing here in 2 Samuel 11 with David, or some other kind of sin, that it is easy for us to kind of develop a callousness towards sin or relax in our urgency regarding sin. And it... creates a very dangerous situation where we kind of just, you know, play around with, dabble with, allow things to continue in our lives. And here's what you need to know about the heart of God. If you would ask God, God, what do you want from me in regards to issues of sin? God would say, flee from sin, run from sin, get as far away from sin as you possibly can. Because while God has declared sin to be sin, because of the destruction that it brings into our lives. And God wants what's best for us. And so we need to be always in a position of being on the move away from sin and protecting ourselves from those kinds of things. And I would share this, you know, kind of particularly for those of us who have been around for a while, you know, and as new believers perhaps or younger in the faith, you know, there's a more... easy to understand, you know, hey, I need to turn away from these things. Repentance, you know, is kind of, you know, something that you're dealing with. It's immediate. It's urgent right there. But sometimes for us as older men and women in the Lord, we can have, I can call myself older now because I'm 40, so I'm in that group. But we can have kind of that lax and think, you know, hey, I used to battle with those things, you know, in my 20s. I used to have those kinds of struggles in those earlier years. And we can kind of let our guard down in this issue of sin. And that perhaps is something that is happening here in the life of David. These events for David probably happened around when he was 50 years old. We don't know the exact timing, but it seems to be he was about 50 years old when these things unfolded. And so it's a little bit later in his life. He's, you know, he began to reign when he was about 30 years old. And so he's, you know, been on the throne for about 20 years. He's had some victories and he has a palace, as you can see. And, you know, he's pretty well established and it kind of sets him up for this situation where he is not, you know, when he was in the wilderness, you know, running for his life and just barely surviving and trusting in the Lord at every moment, he was much more guarded against the issue of sin than right now. It's, you know, things are more settled. Things are more established. And it finds David in a vulnerable position to fall into sin during this time. And so we're going to look here at verses 1 through 5, and that'll give us point number one, and that is keep your guard up in the battle against sin. And I want to encourage you this evening to kind of, maybe, you know, kind of, your hands have been dropping, you know, you've been kind of, you're in the ring, but, you You're not paying that much attention perhaps to the issue of sin. You're not really protecting yourself. You're not perhaps considering the dangers of the things that you're involved with or opening yourself up to. And there is a need for us to keep our guard up, even if you're 50 years old or, you know, a little bit older, like Harvey's case, you know, whatever the case may be, that there needs to be this kind of like, hey, keep your guard up. Like, remember, there is an enemy who wants to destroy you. He uses sin in our lives. And there is a need for us to have not a kind of relaxed, you know, approach to this, but but to be on alert because these things can wreck havoc in our lives. Well, again, in verse one, it tells us it happened in the spring of the year at the time when kings go out to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel. And they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David remained at Jerusalem. And so we're not going to look at all of the potential things that we could look at here in this passage. But just to stop and take a moment here. It's the spring of the year. This is the time where kings would battle. Because it was very difficult to be out in the field in the wilderness. And on the battlefield during winter time. And those kinds of things. And so they had the normal time of year where they would battle one another. And so it was that time. It was that time to go back to the work that they had left behind. you know, from the previous season that needed to be done. And as they prepare now for battle, David decides, I'm not going to go. David has been a warrior from his youth. He's been involved in battles for many years, but This time he decides, I'm not going to go. I'm just going to send Joab. This, you know, this task, this battle is not so great that it requires, you know, the best of the best. I don't have to be there. We've got, you know, an army established. And so I'm just going to send them. And it says that David remained. Again, this is probably happening after David has reigned for about 20 years. He's had some victories and things are pretty settled now for his kingdom. He's pretty established. And Charles Swindoll had a good note about that. He says, They come when we have some leisure, when we've got time on our hands, when we're bored. And this is kind of the situation that David is going to find himself now. And he's going to be in the midst of a great battle, but it's happening partially because he's not on the battlefield. It's happening partially because he's not engaged in the work at hand. He is kind of kicked back, relaxing there in his palace and resting. Not involved in the battle that is going on. Now, this is something to consider because it's not so much that busyness is always better and we need to kind of guard against that, but that there needs to be a looking to the Lord as far as where we should be and what we should be involved in in our schedules. Now, there's going to be a time later where David is going to try to be in battle, but he's too old at that point, and he almost gets killed, and his guys say, hey, look, David, you know, you got to sit up. You're too important to be on the battlefield. And there will come a time where David is not supposed to be part of the battle. But if David were to stop and pursue God's heart here and ask God, God, you know, do you want me to be part of this battle? It's likely that God would have said, David, I want you to be part of this battle. But so the issue is not so much the busyness or not busyness, you know, it's not so much that busy is always better or keep yourself busy so you don't get in trouble. You know, sometimes God wants you to rest too. Like that's an appropriate thing. But the issue comes back to the heart of where was David in the pursuit of God's heart? Where was David in seeking God's heart regarding this schedule, regarding this event that took place and whether or not he was to be part of it? Now, David chose not to be part of it. And again, it's not because God told him, David, don't go, stay home. But he was pretty well established. He didn't have to seek the Lord like he once did when daily his life was in danger. It was a more established time for him. And so he got to make this decision. And he decided, hey, I've earned it. I've deserved it. I don't have to go to every battle, right? I don't have to participate in everything. I can... Send the guys, send Joab, send the soldiers and let them fight it. And it sets him up for this situation. Again, I give it this picture that his guard is down. He's not thinking that there's a great danger here. He's not thinking there's a great danger with the enemy that he's sending his guys out to fight. So, you know, it's not a great danger. So why don't you guys just go handle that? There's no great danger in me just kind of kicking back here at the palace. So I'm just going to hang out here. You guys go there. And his sense of danger is there's no alarms going off. You know, his spidey sense is not tingling. And he's just kind of enjoying the victory and enjoying the success, enjoying being established. And it's at that time his guard is down. And now there is going to be this very strong temptation that he will face. In verse 2, it tells us it happened one evening that David arose from his bed, walked on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. And so here's David. He's back home. It seems like he's a little bit restless. He can't sleep. He's laying in bed, but Not quite satisfied, not quite asleep. And so he gets up. He's kind of walking around on the rooftop. Pacing around is the idea there of what's happening. And here he sees this woman bathing and she was beautiful to behold. Now, as we work our way through chapter 11 here, we're kind of watching this develop, right? We're watching David go down the rabbit hole of sin. And as you go through the chapter, he goes deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. And at any point now, like we could say like, hey, get out now, you know, verse one, get out now. Like you have opportunity and we can't change the course of action that David took, but But again, I would ask you to allow the Lord just to maybe stir up within you some reminders that maybe there's a course of action, a course of a change that needs to take place in your life. As you watch this sin develop, you know, there's some things to consider here. David, you know, he's up there. He probably didn't plan it. But, you know, all of a sudden there is this woman and she's bathing. And the initial, you know, encounter probably was not planned, right? For either part, you know, some have other ideas about that, that maybe Bathsheba is enticing David from there and that kind of thing. And so, you know, maybe there is that potential. But essentially, you know, that first sight, that first encounter, it's not really sin at this point, but it It continues on, and there's a lingering now. There's a continuing to behold. There's now entertaining of the thoughts, and this sin is developing before our eyes as we look at this experience in the life of David. It reminded me of what James described in James chapter 1. He said that each of us are tempted when we're drawn away by our own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death. And James describes this kind of like development of sin, right? As David goes deeper and deeper down this rabbit hole of sin, the sin is being more and more developed and it is going to be then full grown and bring forth death. And the reason why this is important to recognize is because we don't have to see it through to the end. That, you know, if David would have responded in verse one or in verse two or in verse three, you know, recognizing the sin that was going on and the sin that was developing, it would have saved him from much pain. hurt and heartache and consequences that we're going to unfold from this event. And so we need to keep our guard up and recognize, hey, you know, at first, you know, it's verse one, it's verse two. I'm just relaxing a little bit. You know, it's just a glance. It's just, you know, a little bit of a thing. It's not a big deal. But what's happening is this thing is building and it's developing. And again, it needs to remind us to keep our guard up. That there is this danger. It doesn't, you know, if you would have presented David with, hey, you want to kill somebody today so you could take his wife? You know, that kind of thing. You know, David would have outright rejected that. But that's not how sin, you know, creeps into our lives. It comes in in these little things. And that's why, again, we need to have this guard up, this urgency and this alertness about the battle that is going on. In verse 3, we continue to see it develop. It says, David sent... and inquired about the woman. And someone said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Now we know that Jesus taught us, right? Adultery in the heart, that's adultery. That's sin. It's not the same as far as, you know, the effect and the impact in people's lives is, you know, actual physical, the act of adultery, but it's still a sin issue. David here has already begun to contemplate and allow these things to develop in his heart. Now he's exploring the possibilities a little bit. Maybe this woman I saw is single. Maybe there's no wrong. I can just marry her and just invite her to the rest of my wives. And David had already had multiple wives and he'd already kind of compromised in that position of marriage and that situation of marriage in his life. And so there was that perhaps opportunity that he was exploring and But he hears now this is the wife of Uriah the Hittite. And at this point, the thought has been entertained for so long that that's not a hindering factor any longer. In verse 4, David sent messengers and took her and she came to him and he lay with her for she was cleansed from her impurity and she returned to her house. So David now reaches out. He finds out who she is, finds out that she's married, but Actually finds out, hey, there is opportunity because I've sent Uriah off to battle with the rest of the guys. So I know her husband's not around. And so I have an opportunity here. And David exploits that opportunity, takes advantage of his position, takes advantage of his, you know, his role, his authority, takes advantage of the convenience, you know, the situation that her husband is away. And he has an affair. He commits adultery here with Bathsheba. How could David do this? The man after God's own heart. The man that we look up to greatly. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10, talking about these accounts that we have here in the Old Testament. He says, look, these happened as examples. They were written for our admonition. They were written for us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. This again is a reminder for us to keep our guard up. The best of the best. The only one who lived without sin is Jesus. The rest of us, we're all vulnerable. It doesn't matter how long you've walked with the Lord. It doesn't matter what kind of capacity you've served the Lord in. It doesn't matter where you've been or how you've been. It doesn't matter. There is a vulnerability in every one of us for sin. And we have to keep our guard up. Paul says, if you think you stand, you better take heed. Like, the more comfortable you feel in regards to, hey, I don't really struggle with sin. I don't really, like, the more comfortable you feel in that direction, well, the more you need to be stirred up and to take heed because, whoa, I need to recognize I'm not really alert. I'm not really alarmed by sin. Listen, if you're not alarmed by sin, if you're not concerned about sin in your life, you need to wake up. Because, well, there is a serious battle going on and serious traps that are being set for you. And they may not happen overnight and they may not happen tomorrow. But David here was probably on this path for some time. This wasn't just, you know, he woke up today and, you know, had this battle with lust and, you know, that was the issue. But there was developing in David for some time this desire. the preparations for this scenario. And that happens in our lives. And so here David folds under the pressure, folds under this opportunity to sin. In verse 5, the woman conceived, so she sent to David and said, I am with child. Their sin now is going to become known. At first, maybe, perhaps, hey, it looks like everything, you know, your eye is still away. Everything kind of seemed to go okay. But now, you know, it's for sure this is going to come out. And our act, that one night stand that we had, it's going to become known. And so now they're going to have to deal with that. Keep your guard up in the battle against sin. Think about this quote from F.B. Meyer. He says, However great our attainments, however high our standing, we are all liable to attack and failure. But when we abide in Christ, no weapon that hell can forge can hurt us. When we have sinned, our only safety is an instant confession. When we are abiding in Christ, he says, no weapon that hell can forge can hurt us. This is coming back to this concept of pursuing God's heart. This is why there needs to be not just a casual, like, yeah, I want to please God and I want to live for God and do what God wants and hear from God once in a while and stuff. It's something I like. I want to do that. It's important to me. That kind of casual, like, I can say the words, but my life really isn't dominated by the pursuit of God's heart, that's an issue. There needs to be this pursuit of God's heart, this urgency, this, you know, alarm that needs to be sounding when I'm not pursuing God's heart because... when I'm safe. You know, as Paul talks about later on, if we walk in the spirit, then we won't gratify the lust of the flesh. That's the safety. That's where we're able to be safe from these kinds of situations. And not that we won't be tempted, but that the best place for us is to be in pursuit, to be stirring ourselves up, to seek after God, to know God, and to be walking with Him and be seeking to please Him. And And anything less than that puts us in this great vulnerable state. And we need to be careful not to be lulled to sleep, that we just kind of settle in that place of complacency and contentment. And it's like, hey, everything's cool. And I don't have to be so aggressive like I used to be. The apostle Peter warned us in 1 Peter 5, 8, "'Be sober, be vigilant, "'because your adversary the devil walks about "'like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.'" He calls us to be sober and vigilant. Again, this is the idea of be alert, be alarmed, be on the lookout, take heed, get your guard up because the enemy, he's got some plans to destroy you, to devour you. And so there needs to be a pursuit of God's heart. There needs to be a real urgency and zeal in you to know God and to please him, to protect you. from these kinds of plans and attacks of the enemy. We'll try. We'll do our best. We'll seek the Lord. We'll try to pursue God's heart. And even though as we pursue God's heart, that is the place of protection, every one of us are going to have the moments that we don't. We're going to have the moments that we fall, the moments where that urgency fades, where our guard is not up, where we're not pursuing God's heart, we're not walking in the Spirit. Every one of us is going to have those things like David, and we're going to fall. And so as we go forward now, I want to continue to encourage you as we talk about pursuing God's heart away from sin. Now, what do we do in the aftermath? What do we do like David, we've fallen to whatever sin, regardless, you know, large or small, however we might categorize it. How do we respond to that? And we learn from David what not to do as we continue to look at his example in verses 6 through 13. Here's point number two. Don't try to cover up your sin. You're going to fall. I mean, you need to have an urgency. You need to pursue God's heart. And as long as you do, you know, there's going to be a safety there because you're seeking after God. But You're also going to have those times of weakness, those moments of failure. And how we handle those moments is a crucial part of whether or not we are pursuing God's heart. Whether or not, you know, are you only pursuing God's heart when it's easy or now after you've failed? How are you going to recover from that? And will you pursue God's heart? And God's heart for you is not to try to cover up the failure, the sin that has taken place. In verse five or verse six, then David said to Joab saying, send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. When David had come to him, David asked Joab how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, go down to your house and wash your feet. So Uriah departed from the king's house and a gift of food from the king followed him. Here, David begins his efforts to cover up this sin. I mean, the situation is very clear. Bathsheba has just finished her monthly period, right? That's what it's talking about. She was cleansed from her impurity. That's the bath that she was taking. So for sure, now that she's pregnant, it's not Uriah's baby. He's been on the battlefield. David and Bathsheba, they had relations. And so now she's pregnant. It's David's baby, right? But David has this idea, okay, if I can get Uriah to come home, then, well, he'll sleep with his wife. And then all of a sudden when it's found out that Bathsheba's pregnant, he'll be like, oh yeah, that's right, I came home from the battlefield. Makes sense. Wow, delivered kind of early. Six months, you know, kind of big for a six-month delivery, kind of big for a preemie, you know, it might be what would unfold later, but close enough, right? Like, okay, yeah, strange things happen, you know, okay, so no big deal. Like, you can kind of see David planning it out, plotting it out, and thinking, okay, this is gonna take care of it. And so he brings Uriah back and, you know, he kind of puts on a little show like, hey, how's Joab doing, Uriah? You know, I called you back here because I want to know, you know, I couldn't ask Joab directly because, you know, things are difficult. He doesn't always tell me the truth. So I know I can trust you, Uriah. You're going to tell me the truth. How's Joab doing? You know, and how's the war going on? And what is happening there on the battlefield? And, oh, thank you so much for coming back, Uriah. Man, you're one of my best friends. soldiers, you know, and he is one of the mighty men later on listed as, you know, one of like David's top warriors. But it's just an attempt to cover up the sin. He's putting on a show and He says, hey, why don't you go home and wash your feet? Go home, take a shower, you know, get some of that battlefield dirt off of you and just relax for a little bit. And then David sends a gift of food, you know, I'm going to send you a little gift basket and just, you know, go have a good evening with your wife and just enjoy this break from the battle. He is hard at work trying to cover up his sin. Trying to get them to spend the night together so that, you know, that tension of, oh man, we're going to get found out. I'm, you know, he's trying to get rid of that by setting up this scenario. Proverbs chapter 28 verse 13 says, "...he who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." This is something for us to consider. We all fail. We all will fall short. How do we handle that? And the Lord says, look, if you're trying to, you know, pretend like you don't fail, you're trying to pretend like you didn't do that, you're not going to prosper. There's going to be some serious issues. If you want the mercy of the Lord, you want the prosperity of the Lord, you want the confessing and forsaking or repentance and confession, that is the path, that is the appropriate response when we have found ourselves in failure in the midst of sin. Verse, where are we? Verse eight again. And David said, Uriah, go down to your house and wash your feet. So Uriah departed from the king's house and a gift of food from the king followed him. So David here, he's trying to make things happen but it doesn't work. In verse 9, but Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of the Lord and did not go down to his house. He tried hard. He made all the arrangements and, you know, sent the gift basket and, you know, called them back and, you know, tried to set up everything so that it would happen the way that he thought it would happen, but it didn't work. Uriah didn't go home. He stayed there at the king's house with the servants of the king. And so what does David do? Verse 10. So when they told David, saying, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? And Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and to lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. Uriah here shows himself to be an honorable man. He says, look, the ark of the covenant is out in the field, out in the midst of battle. How can I go home and enjoy the comforts of home? No, I'm going to stay right here because... I can't enjoy those comforts while other people are out risking their necks. You know, they're out of, that's where I belong. I can't go home and enjoy that comfort. This testimony from Uriah, man, we don't have an account of this, but I imagine it was like such conviction in David's life, right? Like here Uriah has a right to go home to his wife and it wouldn't have been sin for him to go home to his wife in this situation. But David, But he held himself to such a standard of honor that he was like, no, the ark of God is out there, that my fellow soldiers are out there. I can't go home and enjoy the luxuries of home, the comfort of home while all of that is going on. Meanwhile, David is enjoying the comforts of Uriah's house. While the rest of those elements are still in play. The ark of God is out there. You know, man, such conviction that probably came to the heart of David. And here he is trying to cover up his sin. When what he should have done, it's not going to work and he won't prosper. There should have been and it was an opportunity for there to be repentance and confession there. on behalf of David. And I would ask you to consider what would that look like? What would repentance and confession look like for David right here in these verses? Repentance and confession, it wouldn't have necessarily had to be a public thing, right? It wouldn't necessarily have had to be an announcement heralded throughout the nation where David announces to everybody, here's what I did. No, probably repentance and confession for David at this time. First of all, of course, between him and the Lord, he would have had to confess his sin and acknowledge his sin and go to the Lord with that. It would have also been appropriate for him to bring Uriah home and for him to bring this up, you know, bring this out in the open before Uriah and ask for forgiveness. It would have been appropriate for him to handle it between him and Uriah and Bathsheba. And that would have been appropriate. But instead he brings Uriah home to try to cover up his sin instead of confessing it and bringing it out before the Lord. And I think that's important to consider because it's not that when we talk about repentance and confession, as opposed to covering up sin, that doesn't mean that, you know, we have to put an announcement in the bulletin every time Richard sins. You know, otherwise he's trying to cover up his sin. He's not going to prosper, right? That's not necessarily the case. And so we don't have to go overboard in the sense of like, you know, make announcements. You don't have to put it on Facebook, you know, in order to confess. But there does need to be confession according to, well, the circumstances of sin. the sin. There's a great preacher, J. Edwin Orr, who put it this way. He says, And so here he gives us some kind of guidance, you know. And for David at this point, it was him, Uriah, Bathsheba, like these were the people involved. And so it would have been appropriate for there to be repentance and confession to that level. And then, you know, allow the Lord to deal with the situation as the Lord would see fit. But Instead of doing that, David's involving those same people, but now he's trying to cover up the sin. Have you ever tried to clean up something dirty with dirty hands? Right? Like it just, you're making things worse. When your hands are dirty trying to clean up something, it doesn't work. I don't know about you, but I don't like having stuff on my hands. I just, I I can't stand it. It's one of the reasons why I don't like construction work. It's one of the reasons why I don't work on my car because then you get stuff on your hands that you can't get off for like a week. You know, that grease and that gunk and it's just on there. And even like with food, like if we're going to go have crabs or something, like I have to like really psych myself out. Like, okay, your hands are going to get dirty and you're just going to have to be okay with it. And that's hard for me. I just, it's just, it takes a lot of time for me to, I just don't like it. And so when I get things on my hands, food particularly, well, I try to get it off as quick as possible. And so, like Richard, I usually go through quite a few napkins at dinner. Like, it's just like, you know, every bite, okay, you know, wipe my hands. Okay, now go again. Okay, now wipe my hands. And then go ahead again. And Kim was laughing at me yesterday because we were eating something. What were we eating? I don't even remember. But we were eating something and I had, you know... little bits of it on my fingers, and so I was like sucking on my fingers to get it off, and apparently I was doing that quite noisily. Oh, it was chips and queso, and oh man, it was so good. I was just like eating it, and then but a little bit of queso got on my fingers, and so I was like, you know, it's like thick, like it doesn't just like, you know, like come off, like you had to like really like, you know, get it off, and so... So I was working hard because I just, I don't like it. But you know what that's like, right? So if I had queso all over my hands and I'm like trying to like clean the table and I'm just like smearing queso around the table, right? This is what it's like when we try to cover up our sin. That here we are, we've messed up, we've blown it. Okay, now, and we get this like frantic mode. I got to clean it up now. But if there's not been the repentance and confession, we're like, we've got these dirty hands and we're trying to like clean it up, but we're just making a mess. And maybe we don't see it. always that way. We don't recognize that that's what's happening, but that's the reality. And when we try to cover up our sin, it makes things worse. It makes the sin issue worse. It makes the consequences worse. It makes everything worse. Well, David doesn't give up though. In verse 12 and 13, it goes on to say, then David said to Uriah, wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. So David here, let's try to like lower your, you know, inhibitions a little bit and like, you know, compromise your honor, your integrity, your judgment. Let's get you drunk and then... Maybe you'll be weak enough to go home and spend the night with your wife and then cover up. And so going further, trying to get Uriah to go against his conviction, what Paul talks about in Corinthians 8, right? About, you know, causing someone to stumble. David is deliberately trying to get him to stumble, to do what he believes God doesn't want him to do. It's making his sin worse. His sin against Uriah was already great, but now it becomes even greater as he tries to cover up his sin. Don't try to cover up your sin. Don't try to pretend like it didn't happen or don't try to clean it up with your dirty hands. But, well, there needs to be a real repentance and confession before God can clean up these kinds of situations. Spurgeon tells us this, as soon as we ever are conscious of sin, Again, I kind of described it as, you know, going deeper down the rabbit hole of sin, right? Every step, David's going further and further away. You know, it started with just the look, then it was the entertaining, then it was the invitation, then it was the actual act, and now it's the cover-up, and he's going further and further. But at any point along this, the right thing to do would be to repent. You don't have to go all the way to the end, but as soon as you're recognizing, whoa, this is This is sin. Then there needs to be that repentance, not a waiting until, and sometimes we try to do that, you know, with the coverup. We're like, okay, well, if I can just get to this point, you know, just get, okay, I spent this money I wasn't supposed to spend, but, you know, I think, okay, if I have a little bit of money, if I deposit this there, then they won't find out that I spent that. Okay, so, you know, and we're like trying to like fix the situation, right? before we come to repentance. And that's what Spurgeon is saying. Don't do that. That is the worst approach. Best thing to do right now. And again, there's an urgency there. Don't try to cover up your sin. Come to repentance. Come to confession immediately instead of trying to continue on taking care of these things yourself. Well, moving on to verses 14 through 17, here we get the next example that we learn what not to do from David. Don't ask others to participate in your sin. Verse 14 says, So it was while Joab besieged the city that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab and some of the people of the servants of David fell and Uriah the Hittite died also. Here David now unsuccessful at getting Uriah to go home. Now he goes to plan C. Okay, we just got to take Uriah out. We got to kill Uriah so that I don't get caught. in this issue of sin. I don't get caught in this act of adultery. So he sends Joab a message. It points out he sends it by the hand of Uriah. He uses the man who he's plotting against, the man who he already sinned against greatly, to carry the message to Joab. So he's involving Uriah in his sin to a greater degree. He's now involving Joab, and he's saying, Joab, remember I'm your commander-in-chief. I'm your general, so you need to do what I say, and you need to put Uriah in a compromised position where he will be killed. David involved Joab in the sin at this point. Now, Joab should have refused, but he doesn't. He obeys. I've shared it a few times before, but Joab, I used to always think of him as a really good assistant, you know, a good example of someone who's right there alongside of this leader. And the more you look at Joab, the more you realize he was a bad assistant. He should not have obeyed. He should have objected. This was wrong. But he doesn't. He goes along with it. And so now Joab is guilty, but David is double guilty because he's He's now asked Joab and involved Joab in this sin, not only being an adulterer, but now becoming a murderer as Joab is killed in battle by David's design, by deliberate strategy and choice. And so Uriah is killed in verse 17, but notice it's not just Uriah. In verse 17, then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab and some of the people of the servants of David fell and Uriah the Hittite died also. Uriah was one of the casualties. Joab, as he's seeking to carry out this plan of David, it's not just Uriah that dies, but there's also others around Uriah. Because of course, hey, in the midst of battle, the fellow soldiers, the comrades, I mean, Joab might retreat, he might call the retreat, but there's a camaraderie. So even if they designed this perfectly, like, you know, There's going to be people with Uriah. David is not just killing Uriah, but he's risking the lives of everyone around him. I mean, oh man, there's so much to consider here about how others are impacted by our sin. And that is a reality that we wish wasn't the case, but is the case. And so we need to be careful. Other people are going to be involved and impacted by our sin. No matter what the sin is, no matter how well we think we have it contained, other people are going to be impacted. But sometimes we also then do the thing like David did and we're trying to bring other people in to help us cover up and fix. Well, okay, I, you know, Going back to the silly example I used a moment ago, if I can get this money in deposit, okay, so Richard, can you give me five bucks and then I'll deposit, you know, and now I'm involving him in trying to cover up to try to fix and not really deal with the sin that has taken place. And it brings guilt upon others and it wrecks havoc upon others as well. There's great danger in bringing others into the sin that has taken place. Pastor John Corson put it this way, sin has a sneaky way of compounding itself. Before you know it, you're more deeply involved in it than you ever thought you would be. That's why it's absolutely not to give in at that first point of temptation. I would add on to that. That's why it's essential. No matter what point, however far down the road of sin that you're getting, the best course of action, the thing that needs to happen immediately is for there to be confession and repentance, for you to come back to God. to turn from sin and not to continue down the road of trying to fix it on your own. Don't ask others to participate in your sin. Well, moving on to verses 18 through 25, we get the fourth point, and that is don't comfort others in their sin. And here we see Joab and David now kind of consoling and encouraging each other after this event has taken place. Verse 18 says, then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war. And charged the messenger saying, when you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king, if it happens that the king's wrath rises and he says to you, why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know they would shoot from the wall? Who struck Abimelech, the son of Jerubbosheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall so that he died in Thebes? Why did you go near the wall? Then you shall say, your servant, Uriah the Hittite, is dead also. Joab anticipated that David would be upset about the cost of that battle and the people who died in the midst of the battle. He anticipated that David's going to be upset. So when he sends the messenger, he says, okay, he coaches the messenger. All right, so first tell him this, then tell him this is what happened. Then here's how he's going to respond. He's not going to like this. And so he always brings up Abimelech, and he always talks about, don't be so foolish to go close to the wall. Look what happened to Abimelech. He knows David well enough. He's been around him long enough. He knows how he's going to respond, the stories and the illustrations he's going to use along with it. But so when he's upset, when his wrath is stirred up, Here's what you tell him. Here's how you calm him down. Here's how you comfort David. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. And that'll settle him right down because now David is going to be able to say, oh, okay, that tense situation, this thing's been hanging over me for a long time now. Uriah is finally dead. The sin issue is finally resolved. And so he's going to let this go. And so that's what the servant does in verse 22. So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him. And the messenger said to David, surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field. Then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. The archers shot from the wall at your servants and some of the king's servants are dead. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. And so the servant goes and delivers the message in the way that Joab instructed him to because Joab knew this would calm down David. This would settle him a little bit, comfort him instead of convicting him and dealing with the issue of the act that they had just done. And then David returns the favor in verse 25. Then David said to the messenger, thus you shall say to Joab, do not let this thing displease you. For the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it. So encourage him. David, send some comfort back to Joab. Joab, don't let this displease you. Don't be upset about this. David or Joab, you know, things happen and it's in battle. The sword devours one as well as the other. You know, if we didn't do this, you know, Uriah probably would have died another way or, you know, like, okay, there's loss and there's those kinds of costs to battle. We know that. We all know that. Every soldier knows that. And so don't let this displease you. And so he gives the messenger the words to encourage Joab. And here they are, two guys wrapped up and entangled in this murderous affair, trying to help each other, comfort each other, you know, with the act that they have done and the things that they're experiencing, the things that they're feeling as a result of it. This, well, this is something that can happen in our lives, that as we're involved in sin, as we're involved in others in our sin, that we try to comfort each other. We try to, you know, help each other to not feel so terrible in the midst of the sin that we have done. And our place is to call people to repentance when there's sin issues like this going on. And I don't mean like this in the sense that it has to be a murderous plot, but when there is deliberate decision to sin, that there needs to be a strong voice, a strong call to repent, to turn, and to say this isn't right, and to To help each other to get right with God is what's best, not to help each other feel better about the things that we've done. That's not real comfort. That's not real encouragement. That doesn't help the situation. That, again, is messy hands making things more messy because we're comforting each other in regard to the sin that has taken place. Well, finally, verse 26 and 27 gives us point number five, and that is don't forget how God feels about sin. Verse 26, when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. It seems like it worked. Everything went to plan. I mean, you know, ideally, Uriah would have just went home. But, okay, had to go to plan C, you know, had to kill Uriah and a bunch of people. But, you know, it worked. Word comes back. Uriah is dead. Bathsheba mourns. And then he's able to bring her to his house. She becomes his wife. And she gives birth to their child that they had in this adulterous event. It seems like it went okay. It seems like they've resolved the situation. But that last line there, the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. We're gonna see in chapter 12, there's going to be a strong rebuke from the Lord. There's gonna be some consequences to this action. In fact, the rest of David's life, he's going to be experiencing the repercussions. God tells him in chapter 12, for the rest of your life, you're gonna experience the sword. For the rest of your life, you're gonna experience the consequences from this one action. event. What David had done displeased the Lord. We can be really satisfied with ourselves about how well we cover up our sin, but don't forget how God feels about it. We can easily console ourselves and say, you know, Richard could tell me, you know, Jerry, I know, like, yeah, that was bad and stuff, but, you know, it's not that bad. I mean, it could have been worse, and, you know, we can comfort each other in our sin, and we can kind of, like, feel okay about our sin, and, But don't forget how God feels. Is that what God says? Like, oh no, yeah, like, yeah, it's kind of bad, you know, and maybe could have been avoided or wish you would have done it a different way. But you know, don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. You know, it could have been worse. At least you're not like Harvey, you know, you know, it could be worse. How does God feel about it? Like again, that's, it comes back to pursuing God's heart. What is God's heart about this situation? And God is not like, okay, you know, if you get a little bit upset, just like remind him, you know, hey, you know, Uriah's dead. You know, it worked out. Things are okay, you know. Wish you wouldn't have done that, David. But, you know, we'll just move on from here. That's not how God is going to have to deal with this. How does God feel about sin? How does God feel about your actions, your decisions, what you're doing? This is something important for us to consider. And sometimes we forget things. aspect of Of all of our cover-up plans, of all of our dealing with sin, of all of our, you know, repentance plans without actually repenting, you know, like how I'm going to fix this and I promise I'm not going to go back. I'm not going to do that again. But there's not real repentance. It's just, you know, I'm trying to avoid that altogether. And you really can't do that because God is very interested and concerned with these kinds of issues and issues of sin in our life. F.B. Meyer puts it this way, the king was duly notified and on hearing the news, he must have given a sigh of relief. The child could be born under cover of lawful wedlock. There was, however, a fatal flaw in the whole arrangement. The thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Can you imagine that? You think Bathsheba had a sigh of relief? I mean, she mourned for her husband, but do you think she also had a sigh of relief because she didn't have to confess to her husband about what she did? Was it like, Like, is that what David experienced? Like, oh, yes. You know, that pressure, those feelings that, oh, wow, okay, I can stop feeling guilty. Okay, it's not gonna be found out. It's gonna be okay. And there was this like temporary feeling of relief. And it's not actually for some time. The baby's born, months are passing, but it displeased the Lord. And how the Lord feels about it is gonna come out later. As God gives them opportunity still to repent, gives them opportunity still to see, you know, hey, will you come back? Will you confess? Will you deal with this? And they don't. It's up to the Lord to, you know, confront them with their sin. And at that point, you know, there's still the opportunity of whether or not you're going to repent. But the further down that path you go, the worse it is as far as the consequences are concerned and the aftermath, the issues that are involved. the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. How does the Lord feel about your life, your day, your conversations, your situations? Don't forget about how God feels. And other people might comfort you and say, hey, you did the right thing, man. If I was in your shoes, I would have done the same thing or I would have done worse. So you're a better man than I am, you know, like, and we can comfort each other to be complacent with the sin that unfolded and the things that went on. And don't forget about how God feels. God doesn't let us off the hook. If we're going to be pursuing God's heart, it's going to be in the direction away from sin every time. And so this morning, or this evening, I would encourage you to let the Lord kind of stir you up in remembrance of the danger of sin, that we need to keep our guard up to not become lax, to not become casual in our relationship with God and in our dealings with sin, so that we don't Find ourselves in David's situation. And even with our best attempts, we are gonna fall into sin. And then afterwards, don't follow the example. Don't try to cover it up. Don't involve others in the cover-up or other aspects of the sin. Don't comfort each other and help each other feel okay with the sin that has gone on. And don't forget how God feels about the sin so that as soon as possible, at the earliest moment, you come back to God with repentance and confession. This is a need, an urgent need for every one of us because again, the devil is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and there's a need for us to be vigilant, to be sober, to be paying attention. Like the Lord told Abel, sin lies at your door. Not Abel, Cain. Sin lies at your door. It will become your master. It will seek to dominate you. This is the condition of every one of us. And again, sometimes we don't feel that urgency. And so this evening, I would invite you to just come before the Lord and just ask him to stir up that urgency. Noah's going to come up and lead us in some closing worship. And as he does, I would just encourage you to take that before the Lord. And if there is that kind of settled feeling in your life, you're kind of like David, you're kind of like settled in and You know, you've been around for a while, things are kind of going okay, and there's just not that urgent, zealous, passionate pursuit of God's heart. Boy, that should be a real alarm for you. There needs to be a desire to know God, a desire to please God. You know, the Apostle Paul expressed that as well, and he said, look, hey, I keep pressing on, forgetting the things which are behind, that It's not appropriate for us to be in a place where we just don't really desire to grow in our relationship with God. We don't desire to know God more, to serve him better, to honor him. Those things should sound some alarms in our hearts because if we're gonna be pursuing God's heart, first of all, it's gonna be a pursuit and there's gonna be action and it's always gonna be in the direction away from us. from sin. Not just kind of hanging out, not just kind of dabbling, not just kind of, well, it could be worse, but to have a serious, a serious view of the issue of sin. And so may the Lord stir up our hearts and remind us. Lord, we pray that you would help us to see the issues of sin and the temptations that we face and the battles that are going on that we're just completely oblivious to. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to have a higher sense, Lord, of the urgency and the alarm. Lord, not that we have to be panicked and living in fear in that sense, but Lord, living in that appreciation of that recognition of how much we need you. God, I pray that you would help us to really pursue you. Lord, you call us to love you with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. Help us to do that, Lord, to really give of ourselves, to walk with you, to know you, to please you. And Lord, wherever we're not, If there's any issues, Lord, that you want to deal with, even right now in our hearts, I pray that you would speak to us, that you would stir us up, that you would help us to come to you right now in repentance and confession, Lord, that we would get out as soon as possible. It's inevitable that we will fall into sin, that we will have these issues, Lord, and I pray that you would help us to not delay that repentance and make things worse, but to come to you as quickly as possible. Keep us, Lord, in your paths. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil as we seek after you. In Jesus' name we pray. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.