3) A Tragic Fall Manuscript

Save Qs for discussion

Bibles - sharing (avoid phone bibles)

Good morning guys!

I hope you all got SOME sleep last night…and you have had some coffee so as to help you stay alert this morning as we continue in our Drama of David.

Yesterday morning we were introduced to this famous Bible character David,

learning of his inspiring friendship with Jonathan, Saul’s son

a friendship marked by HESED: steadfast, promise-keeping love

a friendship with God at the center,

setting an example for us of the types of friends we should be

and look for;

ultimately pointing us to Jesus himself, the Friend closer and more faithful than any human being or spouse could EVER be

Last night, we saw David’s extraordinary KINDNESS

his faithful LOVE for Mephibosheth,

the surviving son of Jonathan, son of Saul

David KEEPING his promise to Jonathan, by showing this personal, gracious, generous, faithful favor to his undeserving offspring

We saw how David points us in this scene to GOD’s LOVE—

infinitely more personal, gracious, generous, and faithful than any human’s kindness—anchored in the person and work of Jesus Christ, to whom we are united by faith and can share in the never-ending fountain of God’s love

This morning,

We continue in this story, this great DRAMA of David to chapter 2.

Unfortunately, everything is about to take a turn for the worst.

God’s King is about to take a FALL—a TRAGIC fall.

An EPIC fail and spectacular sin of faithlessness toward his God,

and DISLOYALTY to his nation

A FALL that assures us that David could not save us, nor any mere human leader,

who is subject to the same pride and selfishness we all face

2 Sam 11 is the Genesis 3 of the David story.

The TURNING point into sin and disaster.

This is the moment Edmund betrays his siblings and Aslan,

making an agreement with the White Witch to get her Turkish Delights.

The moment the GOOD GUY begins to make a series of terrible DECISIONS that have you squirming and turning in your seat as they GO where they OBVIOUSLY shouldn’t go, DO what they OBVIOUSLY shouldn’t DO, and SAY what they OBVIOUSLY shouldn’t SAY…

When they act FOOLISHLY rather than FAITHFULLY;

- IN the FLESH

- rather than by faith

So if you would, turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Sam 11.

Read the text. (Enlist helpers - David, Uriah, Joab)

PRAY.

The question we are going to wrestle with today is how did God’s King, God’s anointed,

The man after God’s own heart,

The sweet psalmist of Israel,

FALL into such horrific iniquity?

How is it that REALLY godly people, can sin really BAD sins?

How is it that WE find ourselves acting unfaithfully to our Lord, after all His faithfulness to us?

We will see 6 steps king David took,

that led him into into horrible unfaithfulness, bringing God’s judgment upon his household.

6 stages or so of sin + temptation,

That you and I can LEARN from,

in order to DETECT and DEFEAT sin’s advances upon our own souls,

which, if left unresisted, can lead us to break faith with and even deny Christ.

6 Steps Into Unfaithfulness SLIDE

Number 1) Compromise with cultural standards SLIDE

2 Sam 3:2-5, 5:13

He compromised with cultural NORMS, standards.

2) [Isolate yourself with comfort and leisure]

2 Sam 11:1

He isolated himself out of comfort and leisure. “He remained.”

“David Remained” [LOCATION]

When we put ourselves OUTSIDE the will of God and ISOLATED from the army of God, we set ourselves up for temptation

3) [Look upon things that trigger lust]

He saw a stimulus that triggered lust. “He saw.”

David Saw [VISION]

2 Sam 11:2

Not always in our control.

Bird/nest illustration.

4) [Investigate those things]

2 Sam 11:3

He sought after the lust. “He inquired.”

5) [Indulge those things]

2 Sam 11: 4

He indulged the lust. “He took.”

6) [Cover up your tracks]

2 Sam 11:6-27 He covered up his sin.

He murdered a HITTITE more righteous than him (by a letter in his own hand)

oh the extend we are sometimes willing to go to HIDE our sin…!

He married Bath after her 7-day mourning (so that child would look like his)

NO one would notice! Wiping his hands clean of this, and moving on with his life…

But God… v.27 lit. ‘evil in his eyes’

God loved David too much to let his sin go unchecked.

12:1 “the LORD sent”

Out of HESED, God’s prophet Nathan came bringing rebuke, judgment, the wages of his sin: death (his son, the sword)

Before moving on to the good news, important to linger here:

Take these 6 steps, and you WILL experience Suffering, God’s Judgment, Death

A well-known pastor once said, “Choose to sin, choose to suffer.”

The SAD rest of David’s story…

the sword in his house, the suffering in the kingdom

BUT there is good news:

For when you do sin.

When you are unfaithful.

When the Spirit convicts you—even after a long season of backsliding or rebellion—

maybe when are confronted by somebody.

Satan would want you to despair. But not God.

David—in his muck and filth—in spite of his temporary faithlessness—is a GREAT model of how to respond to sin exposed

One Step Into Faithfulness

Repentance! 2 Sam 12:13

2 Samuel 12:13 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.

TRUSTING in the HESED and mercy of God, which endures forever!

1) Acknowledge sin as sin and evil

2) Turn away from sin and to God in humble brokenness