It Aint Worth it
Notes
Transcript
The Covenant
The Covenant
Nobody is safe from the temptation of sin. There is not one single man or woman that has walked this earth that has not been tempted. Being tempted is not a sin. It is what you do in response to that temptation that determines whether it is a sin or not.
Tonight we’re going to explore a story about David. This is a story of how temptation came to him and how he responded to it. Before we get to the story though, I’m going to give you some context.
And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
So if you know nothing else about the man David, if this is your first time hearing about this man, know that God was with Him.
From there he went up to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
We as a people have forgotten what it is like to have the Lord with us! We have forgotten what that power is like. You have the King of the universe at your side! So when we read “for the Lord is with you”, we need to understand that it is significant!
Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
Theres a few things to note here.
God reminds David of his past. He reminds David of where he came from and where he is now.
He reminds David that He has never left him and that all of his enemies have been defeated.
God then promises fame, security, safety, peace, and a legacy.
Complacency Kills
Complacency Kills
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
Why is David not going out to war? This is the season of action. This is the season that he is supposed to be doing a certain thing. This is the season of his life where he should be advancing the kingdom of God, but instead, he is sitting at home. David has this enemy that is trying to wipe him out and instead of taking them out himself, instead of going when God has appointed him to go, hes laying around. David has all these victories, but maybe that’s made him complacent. He starts to let his guard down.
It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
David saw, asked about her, and slept with her. Translation: see it, wanted it, got it. Thats how sin works. Thats how its always worked!!!
For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
David saw some new beautiful woman he’d never seen before. He craved that physical pleasure that all men do. Maybe he thought to himself “I deserve this. I’ve done all these things for God. I’ve won all these battles for Him. I deserve to feel good.” He had pride in his possessions because He was the King. He knew he could do whatever he wanted.
See when you sin, and you don’t repent, the first thing you do is try to justify it.
So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
The second thing you do is try to cover it up. Maybe you lie about it, ignore it, or deny it. No matter how you try to cover it up, sin always reveals itself in the worst way, at the worst time.
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.
So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. And when the 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.
The third thing that people do with unrepentant sin is try to live two different lives. There’s the one life that everyone sees. Everyone sees the man of faith.
The second life is the life of sin. This life is one that nobody sees. When you have unrepentant sin, it isn’t just a one time occurence. It spreads to other areas of your life. Sin is a cancer that only repentance to God can cut out.
Let me be very clear. You cannot be a faithful man of God and live with unrepentant sin in your life. It is impossible.
And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’ ”
The fourth thing that we do with unrepentant sin is we begin to judge people. We, as Christians, have forgotten what sin is. We think to ourselves “well I’m not a murderer, I’ve never raped anyone, I’m not that bad.” We’ve gotten complacent. We’ve forgotten that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
It is only after David has been confronted with his sin that he repents. Even when we repent though, we may still have to deal with the fallout from our sin.
2 Samuel 12:13–14 (ESV)
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.”
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.