Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.1UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.6LIKELY
Sadness
0.57LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.14UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.57LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.7LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.52LIKELY
Extraversion
0.13UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.81LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.63LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
The Lord Has Taken Away Your Sin
3.2.22 [2 Samuel 11-12] River of Life (21st Sunday after Pentecost)
Adam & Eve.
Cain & Abel.
David & Bathsheba.
There are some sins that are so infamous that we can’t imagine what they were thinking.
Or if they even were.
Reading these Old Testament stories is like watching a car wreck in slow motion.
Because of 2 Samuel 11’s clear account, we know exactly what happened.
We know all the red flag warnings that David saw and ignored.
And there were so many.
One sleepless spring night in Jerusalem, king David went up on the rooftop of his palace.
He spied a beautiful woman taking a bath.
That was his first chance to (1 Cor.
6:18) flee sexual temptation.
Instead, he sent someone (2 Sm. 11:3) to find out about her.
She’s Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, fighting against the Ammonites in David’s place.
Again another red flag warning.
But David ignored them all and sent messengers in the middle of the night to go get her.
(2 Sm. 11:4) She came to him and he had his way with her and (2 Sm. 11:4) then she went back home—likely that very night—now that the king’s carnal urges were satiated.
That was that.
Or so David likely hoped.
But sin always spawns more trouble than you initially bargain for.
Bathsheba sent word to David, saying: (2 Sm. 11:5) I am pregnant.
David launched into damage control, sending word to Joab, the commander of his army: (2 Sm. 11:6) send me Uriah the Hittite.
When Uriah arrived, David played it cool.
He asked Uriah how about Joab, the soldiers, and the war.
Then David sent Uriah home to wash up, with a gift trailing behind him.
David was hoping to make it look like Bathsheba was pregnant because of Uriah.
But (2 Sm. 11:10) Uriah didn’t go home.
David asked him why and this Hittite, someone that was not a descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob said: (2 Sm. 11:11) The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents.
My commander and my lord’s men are camped in the open country.
How could I go to my house and eat and drink and make love to my wife?
As surely as you live, king David, I will not do such a thing.
I can only imagine how words must have rung in David’s ears and stung his heart.
But I know they didn’t change his plan to cover up his transgression.
Knowing Uriah’s loyalty and integrity David hatched a new plan.
He told Uriah to stay one more day.
He had a big meal.
David gave him too much to drink.
David hoped intoxicated Uriah wouldn’t have such integrity.
But he was wrong.
(2 Sm. 11:13) Uriah didn’t go home.
He slept among David’s servants on a mat.
In the morning, David hatched a new plan.
He wrote a letter to Joab the commander that said: (2 Sm. 11:15) Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest.
Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.
Joab knew where the fighting was the fiercest, so that’s where he sent Uriah.
And David’s reckless, ruthless plan worked.
(2 Sm. 11:17) Uriah died in battle.
Joab sent a messenger back to David with an update on the battle.
When David was told that some of his men died, including Uriah, he told the messenger to tell Joab: (2 Sm. 11:25) Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another.
It was chilling to hear how little remorse—if any—David felt in sending one of his own mighty men to die in battle.
(2 Sm. 11:27) When Bathsheba heard that Uriah was dead, she mourned for him.
A month later, David had her brought to his house.
She became his wife.
She gave birth to a son.
Watching this all unfold is distressing and disgusting.
But we know so much more about what really happened than most of David’s people did at the time.
Beyond a few messengers and Bathsheba, it seems David had kept the whole affair under wraps.
Joab knew that David ordered Uriah’s death, but was never given any reason why.
Bathsheba knew of their adultery, but wasn’t privy to details about Uriah’s return or how David masterminded his murder.
David strategically built firewalls between his iniquities.
A few people knew a few, little bits and pieces—but only David knew it all.
Who would even suspect David of such dark and depraved behavior?
(1 Sm. 13:14; Acts 13:22) David was the man after the Lord’s own heart.
(1 Sm. 22:9-11) David was the man who wouldn’t even lay a hand on Saul because he was the Lord’s anointed.
Perhaps some even thought David was being kind by taking the young widow Bathsheba into his palace after her husband lost his life in battle.
David went to tremendous lengths to appear to be a good guy who does the right thing.
He was willing to sacrifice anyone to keep his sterling reputation.
He was willing to go to great lengths to keep his sin hidden.
(2 Sm. 11:27) But the thing David had done was known by God and it displeased the Lord.
So it is with us.
We are no less attached to our good names and reputations.
How many times have you committed compounding sins all in an effort to preserve your sterling reputation?
In a moment of selfishness and reckless wickedness, we have ignored all the spiritual red-flags—just like David did.
We have entertained sexually immoral thoughts—lusted after those who are not our spouses, ever or just not yet.
Husbands, do you rejoice daily (Pr.
5:18) in the wife of your youth?
Or do you compare her to the most recent pretty young thing that has walked by? Do your eyes engage with those God has not joined with you as one flesh?
Does your mind fantasize about forbidden pleasure?
Do you, day after day, look at your own wife and find reasons for dissatisfaction?
Wives, have you grown disappointed with your husbands physically, emotionally, sexually, even spiritually?
Have you found yourself attracted to being in the presence of another?
His job or his life is so much more interesting.
He has drive and charisma.
He’s sensitive and funny, present and interested in you.
He’s such a faithful man, such a good father.
Such a good husband, even.
But they don’t appreciate him!
Many affairs seem to begin in a flash—but sometimes we have allowed a fire for another to smolder.
The pandemic of pornography is not just popular among the pagans, is it?
Romance novels or sexually graphic entertainment allow us the false sense of security that we’re not really sinning because we’re not really doing anything.
Jesus warns us that (Mt.
6:23) if our eyes are engrossed with evil things, our whole body will be corrupted.
If the light within us is darkness, how great is the darkness!
And like David, we commit all kinds of sin under the cover of darkness.
Sinning in ways that no one else can see or know.
We have allowed anger and resentment to fester in our hearts.
We have handed ourselves over to greed and jealousy.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9