Depending on God in Guilt and Shame

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Intro:

Life is actually pretty good for David at this point. The kingdom is established; everyone loves him. Go back and read 2 Samuel 10, and you’ll see that David has just emerged the victor of a whole slew of battles. If there were stock in David, Inc., it would be through the roof. In short, David was living a blessed life.

It may seem surprising to us that David’s sin comes at a moment of extreme blessing. In times of adversity, sure, sexual sin is appealing. It acts like a savior, an escape, something to give us the quick fix we think we need. But what’s so dangerous about blessing?

The danger in blessing is that we tend to forget just how dependent we are on God. When life showers us with goodness, we assume we have caused it. So God gets pushed to the periphery. This is why the author of Proverbs 30 prays to God, “Give me neither poverty nor wealth,” but rather “feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying, “Who is the LORD?’ ” (Prov 30:8–9). The more self-sufficient we feel, the closer we are to disaster. As the apostle Paul says, “So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall” (1 Cor 10:12).

J. D. Greear and Heath A. Thomas, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), 213–214.

He put himself in the position to be tempted

David is wandering around on the roof, alone, peering over at one roof after another. This is the ancient equivalent to staying up late and browsing the Internet. Is it any surprise what happens next? David had put himself in a place where he could be tempted. Deep down he wanted to be tempted

J. D. Greear and Heath A. Thomas, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), 214.

Avoiding temptation

it is far easier to avoid temptation than it is to resist sin. Don’t get me wrong: resisting sin is important, immensely so. We must cultivate a habit of coming face-to-face with temptation and still resisting sin. But the world throws enough temptation our way; do we really need to go seek out more of it?

RUN

Therefore the Bible teaches that in times of temptation to our flesh there is one command—flee. Flee youthful lust. Flee worldly temptation. If you’re feeling under pressure and on the verge of something—an emotion is welling up within you—what does the Bible say? Run. No human being has within them the strength to resist such overpowering emotions. (Temptation, 116–17)

J. D. Greear and Heath A. Thomas, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), 215.

Sin Hurts

It doesn’t matter what the venue is. It doesn’t matter what the sin is. Sin hurts people. It affects someone’s mother, someone’s daughter, someone’s son—even if that someone is just you. God’s rules, we have to remember, are never arbitrary. They are given to us for our good, to show us the most life-giving way of interacting with others. God doesn’t want to keep us from sinning because He’s out to ruin our fun. He wants to keep us from sinning because He knows how deeply it will wound us. Sin disintegrates. It wounds. Every time. Without fail.

J. D. Greear and Heath A. Thomas, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), 215–216.

Sin hurts

Sin can always be forgiven. As we will see in a moment, David came to God and received healing for what he had done. But we can’t always undo the damage caused when we freely walk into sin. Sin is a plague: by its very nature it destroys.

I hesitate to hammer this point too heavily because I never want people in sin to feel condemned. But some of you are on the brink of making an enormously foolish decision, running headlong into a situation you know you shouldn’t touch. It might be an adulterous affair. It might be pornography. It might be cheating in school, or dishonest business practices, or a grudge you’ve been nursing that is consuming your heart. Whatever it is, you need to know that sin’s whispers that promise joy are lies and that the end of that road is disaster. As John Owen said, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”

J. D. Greear and Heath A. Thomas, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), 217.

Repentence

When confronted with the results of our sin—as David was when Bathsheba got pregnant (11:5)—we can hide it, rationalize it, or shift blame. And that may work for a season. But there’s only one true remedy for sin, and that is to repent. The question is not, Do you sin? The question is, What do you do after you sin? The answer to that question is a matter of life and death.

J. D. Greear and Heath A. Thomas, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), 218.

Correct kind of reptence

When we’re caught in our sin, our natural inclination is to explain it away. “I’m not really as bad as all that,” we want to say. “It was just a moment of weakness.” But David goes the complete opposite direction. “I am conscious of my rebellion,” he says. “It isn’t a mistake I made; it’s at the core of who I am.” In verse 5, he takes this about as far as it will go: “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” In other words, “Hey, you think I’m bad? You don’t know the half of it. This sin stuff? It’s in my blood.”

Love God More

First, David realizes that his sin began as a sin against God. What was it about Bathsheba that David wanted? Was it the feeling of power? her beauty? a moment of physical pleasure? Ultimately, David wasn’t swept away because he wanted something specific. David was seduced by Bathsheba’s beauty because he was no longer captivated by God’s.

All our sin starts as a dissolution in our relationship with God. It begins as we grow dissatisfied with what God has given us, as we doubt His goodness toward us. So we start to feel God’s boundaries as restrictive, not life-giving. This means the way to deal with sin in our lives isn’t merely to suppress the sin; it’s to increase our delight in God so that we love Him more than we love the sin. The only way to overcome sinful urges is not by learning to love them less but by learning to love God more.

God has forgiven us

David needed someone who could “blot out all [his] guilt.” That someone was Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, dying in our place so God’s wrath would pass us by. David needed someone to “create a clean heart” for him. That someone was Jesus, who came to cleanse our leprous souls, souls so deeply sick that no amount of reformation or incentive could cure them. David needed someone to “renew a steadfast spirit” within him. That someone was Jesus, who imparted His Spirit to us as a sign of God’s grace toward us.

Here’s what is so beautiful about the gospel. David was crying out to God, asking God to purge him and cleanse him. But he also knew how deep his sin was. To be truly purged, truly cleansed, he would need to pay far more than what he possessed. The penalty for his sin—and ours—was death. But in the gospel God takes the penalty of our sin on Himself, absorbing it in the cross. The cross is God’s promise to us that there is no sin so heinous, no heart so wicked, that He cannot cleanse it. And the resurrection is God’s promise that there is no situation so dead that He cannot renew and restore it.

J. D. Greear and Heath A. Thomas, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), 221–222.

J. D. Greear and Heath A. Thomas, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), 220.