Rooftop View

There is a story of a little boy who lived in the country and they didn't have any indoor plumbing and so the family had an outhouse. The boy hated the outhouse, it was cold in the winter time, hot in the summertime and it smelled all the time. So he decided in his mind that he was going to push the outhouse into the river that was next to it. The perfect day came as it had rained a lot and the river was overflowing and if he pushed it, it would go down the river. So he ran, hit it hard and pushed this outhouse over into the river and out of sight it went. Later that night his father approached him and said son, we are going out to the woodshed for a little while (he knew what that meant). He asked his dad why and his dad said, “well son, somebody pushed the outhouse in the river today and I suspect it was you. As they were walking towards the woodshed, the little boy knew that telling the truth was the right thing to do so he stopped his dad and said “dad I know telling the truth is the right thing to do so, it was me, but I also know that when George Washington chopped down the tree he told his dad the truth and he didn't get into trouble. His father was proud of his son for telling the truth, but his father replied, “I understand, but George Washington's dad was not in the tree when he chopped it down. Now let's go to the woodshed.

You may have never pushed an outhouse down the river but we can all relate to that little boy can't we? Have you ever been caught in a lie? To do something you know deep down inside of yourself that you shouldn't do and yet you still do it? In high school as a freshman I found a phone and instead of turning it in, I destroyed it, why? Because I thought it was funny, and I tried to cover it up, and guess what, less than 24 hours later I was found out. And I paid the consequences. Why did I do that, why do you do that? Because we all have a sin nature, the Apostle Paul would say in Romans 7, I do what I don't want to do, and I don't do what I wish I could do, so basically, what do I do about it? We first have to become aware of it.

Sine we have a sinful nature we have to be aware that it doesn't just impact us, no matter what your sin is, overeating, gossip, sexual sin, porn addiction, cheating, stealing, anger, alcohol addiction, bad financial decisions, infidelity, stealing, the list can go on and on as you know but our sin never simply affects us it affects people around us. How many of you have been a recipient of unwanted sin splashing? You know what I mean, when someone does a cannonball in a pool and you unsuspectedly get wet? Either you have been the cannonball into sin or the recipient of the sin splash. Let's take this back to your sinful nature, you never really know the effect of your sin until well after the event happens. And don't you wish you could have a larger perspective before you disrupt or destroy your life? Don't you wish you could see the ripple effects of your decisions before they happen? Don't you wish you could have a rooftop view to see the hurt, pain, regret, and impact your decisions make both big and small before you follow your sin nature, before you give into your temptation, before you compromise? You ask people all the time “What were you thinking when…” and the answer is, “well I wasn't” and that's the issue. Instant gratification often outweighs long-term consequences in the heat of the moment. And long term consequences could be life long, it was for David. For I am sure David wishes he had a different rooftop view. In fact that's the title of my Message thai Morning: Rooftop Views.

Open your bibles to 2 Samuel 11. But before we get there we have to understand something, Satan can attack us in many ways, but we see it in two major instances more than any other times in our lives. 1: When everything is going wrong. When everything is going wrong in our lives, when it feels like all hell is against us we become bitter towards God. You turn your back from God, get angry, make stupid decisions, and you dig a deeper hole of self pity. The other time is 2: When everything is going right. When everything is going great, when life is humming, we tend to drop our guard, we feel like we can do no wrong and that's what happened to David. Life was going great, he is King, top of the world and on top of a roof.

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.2 Samuel 11:1-2 - Where was David supposed to be as king? He was supposed to be with his troops out in the battlefields. But instead, he stayed back in Jerusalem, I'm sure he had his enemy under control, convinced himself he didn't have to be there and because everything was going great, he wasn't where he was supposed to be, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. If he was in battle, the rest of the story would have never happened, this is what happened. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliamand the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”2 Samuel 11:2-5

So David from the rooftop sees a beautiful woman bathing, and he does what high school boys say in the movies when the popular girl walks in…, he asks “who is that'' Now his men around him do something smart, they say, that is bathsheba the WIFE of Uriah. That's Uriah’s wife. They gave strong indications or warnings saying, David the naked woman you are looking at is Married. And who is Uriah, how would they know that very specific information? It’s because Uruiah was one of David's elite warriors. His secret service, these guys in a moment would lay down their lives for david. They were fighting for the king. That's Uriah.

David ignores all of that and he takes the next step and sends for her. He takes the next step, because temptation is going to come our way and it does for everyone. It doesn't mean we are evil or temptation is our fault, Jesus was tempted. But it's when we take the first step toward temptation that's when it starts leading us down the path of destruction. Let me put this into different terms, you don't want dessert, but you look at the menu. That's the first step, the next is ordering something you desire, next step they bring it out, next step you eat it, next step complain that you are the dessert. When you are tempted you can have a decision to make, do you take the first step towards the temptation, do you look at the menu, or do you say no thanks? Here is the truth, many people today in this room are already contemplating whether or not to take the next step in your temptation, whatever it may be. You may not always control what tempts you, but you can always control how you respond to those temptations.I don't know what it is for you but you are thinking about it you want to, you are struggling with temptation and you may take the next step and give in to temptation. God is saying don't do it, don't do it, don't take a step, don't put sin on your calendar, zoom out and look at the big picture. It isn't worth it.

So David sends for her and he takes the next step and he sleeps with her.  David, who is a man after God’s own heart commits adultery with one of his mighty warriors' wives. It gets more complicated because she is pregnant with his child. Now he has a decision to make: does he confess, repent and fess up saying he did this and that's his child and bear the consequences of confession or he could conceal it and try to cover it up. David has a problem, he knows that Uriah knows how babies are made and yet Uriah has been out at war away from his wife. David knows that if he doesn't get Uriah to come home and sleep with his wife soon there will be awkward questions. So he sends for Uriah thinking, naturally I might add, that Uriah has been at war, away from his wife and surrounded by men. He believes that Uriah will take the first chance he gets to sleep with his wife.  Isn't it interesting that when we have given in to temptation and sin we will go to great lengths to cover our sin and stay away from the consequences?

But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,[a] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!- The way that God contrasts two different men in his word here is outstanding. When I am reading the story of David, this is the first time that I don't want to be David. I don't want to be a part of his decision making. I want to be a man of integrity, character and honor like Uriah. Uriah is acting more honorable than a man after God's own heart. But David gives it one more try. He gets Uriah drunk thinking if I can impair his decision making…then surely can get him to go home and sleep with his wife 12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.2 Samuel 11:9-15  But the plan didn't work, so the nuclear option is in paly.

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”David plots to have Uriah killed in battle and Uriah dies in battle and David is guilty of conspiring the murder of his friend after he took his friend's wife as his own. So what happens? When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.2 Samuel 11:26-27

David marries bathsheba thinking everything is covered up, we are in the clear, but there is one person who saw it and one person who always sees it. God cared more about David to allow David to go back to normal. And that's true for you also, God cares too much about you for you to openly sin and to never be found out. That's why in scripture over and over again it says your sin will find you out. It's impossible to be a person running after God's heart when your heart is running after sin. So what does God do? He sent the profit of Israel Nathan to David to confront him and he gets confronted in a really good way. Have you ever been confronted, have you ever had to confront. Maybe it was an intervention. But regardless, it never feels good to give or receive confrontation. But it is necessary. So Nathan goes to David in a creative way he tells him, David there has been a dispute in the kingdom that we need to know your opinion on. There is a rich man who has as many sheep and cattle as he would like. There is also this poor man who has one sheep and this sheep he has had from a young age and to him it's not even a sheep it's more like another one of his children. He loved this animal. Then a friend came into town to dine with the rich man and instead of preparing any of his own animals he stole the poor man's sheep, prepared it and ate it. What should we do with this rich man? Enraged David said this man should die and we should have no pity on him. David is playing right into Nathan hand and nathan yes, YOU ARE THAT MAN DAVID.You have everything you could want and more, God's anointing, the kingdom, riches, wives, food and all Uriah had was his life and his wife and you took them both. You are that man.

Have you ever wondered how after all of that after the sin, the adulty, the plotting, the murder, how in the world is David still seen as a man after God's own heart, he is the greatest king in all of Israel's history. Is it because his sin was any less? Nope. What is it about David that God loved, what is it about David that still made him a man after God's own heart? Have you ever wondered how you can be someone who runs after God's heart after all that you have done? It is the response after you sin.

In 2 Samuel 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” David immediately comes clean, he doesn't try to rationalize it, or pretend it didn't happen. I have sinned. David confesses his sin and he repents of his sin and has massive grief and shame for his sin, not because he was caught, but because of what he did. How many of you know there is a difference between being upset you were caught and upset for what you've done. True repentance isn't saying sorry for being found out, it's confession of sin and turning the other direction, pleading for forgiveness for your actions and turning back to God. It is this backstory that we read Psalm 51 the Psalm that David wrote. Do you know how the Lord's prayer is a good outline of how to pray, Psalm 51 is a good outline of how to repent.

Psalm 51:1-12 - Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.4  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. I’ve sinned against you and you only - That's a weird statement, I'm sure David sinned against bathsheba and he definitely sinned against Uriah. But looking at it from the rooftops you see that all our sin no matter who, ultimately goes back to God.   5  Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.6  Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.7  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

David's reaction to his sin was immediate, and do you know the great part. God's forgiveness was immediate also. Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[a] the Lord, the son born to you will die.” 2 Samuel 12:13-14

We can go before God and we can confess, repent, receive forgiveness from God but receiving forgiveness from our sin does not mean we escape the consequences of our sin. I have stories of people who lived like hell in their 20’s and 30’s being radically saved by Jesus but due to drugs and alcohol they had heart attacks years later. People have affairs and God forgives them. Life may be better now, but the family is still broken apart. There are consequences for the sin that has been forgiven. How many have you gotten mad at God because he forgave your sins, but what you really wanted was for him to remove your consequences. We have a thing in our house where we say, “You can choose your actions, you can't choose your consequences' ' David couldn't choose his either.

From that moment on David's life never saw peace again in his family, his kingdom or in his life again. His sin had long-term consequences. You see what I said earlier is true, your sin does not just impact you, David never thought asking Bathsheba to come over would lead murder or to a rebellion in the kingdom.

So which rooftop view would you rather have? One that gives into your temptation, or one that views how life will play out if you were to give in. Think of David, do you really think that if he knew the outcomes of what he was doing that he would do exactly what he did? One moment he is looking at a beautiful naked woman, the next he's a murderer and years later he's looking at his son Absolom usurping his throne with a country in disarray. But here is the key, here is how David was still a man after God's own heart.

David throughout his sin, his repentance, his forgiveness and him suffering his consequences, he never stopped loving God. You can get bitter at God or you can get better in Christ. It seems to me as you will see next week that David got closer to God, grew closer to God's heart after all of this happened. When we are in sin, when we have given into temptation our first reaction should be confession and repentance. Because a heart after God's own heart confesses sins and genuinely repents. Many people want to have a pure heart but don't confess our sins, so what sin do you need to confess? What are you hiding, what are you pretending isn't a big issue that has actually spun out of control. And repentance isn't asking for forgiveness, it is truly changing your ways so that moving forward you will have a proper rooftop view of how giving into your sin will destroy your life. Christians, it is time to stop hiding and it is time to start confessing it is time to stop asking for forgiveness if there is not true repentance. It is time to stop being afraid of the consequences of our sin and start living in spiritual freedom because as long as the devil can keep your mouth shut he can enslave your heart. You have never reached a level of sin that Jesus cannot forgive, you may be a great sinner but Jesus is a great savior, as long as you have air in your lungs you have worship in your life, God is not done with you but we must have pure hearts before him. So cry out to God as David did,  Have mercy on me, O God,according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.4 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior,and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.

Pray out