"Truth is... Sin is Real"

Intro

SIN

What is sin?

Sin is anything, done by man, that is against the will of God

2 Samuel 11:1–5 ESV

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. 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.”

Unpack

David Sinned. David slept with a woman that was not his wife. That’s not okay.

David was not where he was supposed to be

2 Samuel 11:1 (ESV)

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. It happened

David was supposed to be with the other kings at the battle.

When you aren’t where you are supposed to be, you’re vulnerable. You’re susceptible.

It’s easiest for Satan to attack when you’re hungry, you are lonely or you are tired.

It Happened...

I love this language in the ESV. It reminds me of a passage in 1 Peter 5:8

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

If you think that sin, is something that happens accidentally. You’re mistaken.

Your Adversary, Satan himself is stalking you. Waiting for a moment to strike. Waiting for you to be in the perfect spot to pounce. Do not give him a chance!

So David was not where he was supposed be. Like we are often where we aren’t supposed to be, and the opportunity came for temptation to strike, and Satan pounced on the King of Israel and he slept with Bathsheba.

What’s interesting about this part of the story, is that there were multiple opportunities for David to back out.

We always have an out!

He could have not gawked!

We’re all going to see stuff. It’s apart of life. The first look is an oops, the second is on you.

He could have gone back inside!

He had a WHOLE PALACE. He stayed right where he could see.

One of his advisors tried to remind him that the woman he was asking about was the wife of one of his friends!

If you have a frined about to make a stupid decision, please step up more than this guy. He couldn’t because David was a king but still...

The Response

2 Samuel 11:6–11 ESV

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.”

David tries to cover it up! David knows that he needs to get Uriah over to the house to make this thing make sense, so that he wont have to face the consequences! Uriah had so much character, he didn’t want to be enjoying his home while his buddies were still on the front lines.

It gets worse

You have to understand, David was terrified of the scandal of him fathering a child to a woman that was not only not his wife, but the wife of one of his commanders of his army.

David Goes Farther

2 Samuel 11:15–17 (ESV)

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.

David has Uriah killed.

Let’s look at the progression.

Slothfulness/Lazyness

Lust

Adultery

Murder.

All in the span of days.

“But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”

The Reckoning

David thought that he got away with it.

But the prophet Nathan came and told David a story.

English Standard Version (Chapter 12)

4 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.” 5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, z“As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb afourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

Sin is the ultimate ruiner!

It attacks in ways that we can’t fathom.

It affects your mind in ways you might not understand

Repentance

David Confesses his Sin.

Psalm 51 (ESV)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

Psalm 51:12 ESV

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Repentance Looks Like...

Admit you’ve done wrong

Ask for forgiveness

Make it right where you can

Know you are forgiven and move on.

How are you doing?

Sin is something that I see ruining generation after generation, and the world would tell you that Sin is a little oops. But the fact of the matter is when you lie you’ve committed treason against your creator.

Invitation for repentance

Prayer

Close