Sexual Sin, Part 3
During the last couple of weeks we’ve talked about sexual immorality, adultery, and sexual sin in general. Today we will look at the way God deals with His children who commit adultery. In 2 Samuel 11:1 we will see how David committed adultery.
2 Samuel 11:1 – 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.
David should have been out fighting the war, but instead he stayed in Jerusalem. A little bit of pleasing the flesh, of course, leads to more. Those who walk in the Spirit have experienced this. If you give in to one little area, by the end of the week you can look back and see how you continued to pamper the flesh. It gets bigger and bigger. Hopefully you’ll wake up in time to repent. David should have been out in the battle; he should have been leading his men.
2 Samuel 11:1 – In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…
We don’t find a king going off to war, we find the king back in his palace sending everybody else out to fight the war.
2 Samuel 11:11 – Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields…”
Everyone else remained in the fields, engaged in battle. The ark of the Lord, or the Spirit of God, was out fighting the battle. All his men were camped in tents and open fields doing warfare, but David was not there fighting the battle. Many people who give way to sexual sin, not only adultery, but sexual sin in general, wind up in this place. They should be fighting the war and not indulging the flesh. In other words, if we get busy doing what God has called us to do, we are far less likely to commit sexual sin than if we stay at home taking it easy and enjoying ourselves in the Lord.
2 Timothy 2:3 – Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
That is, be out here in the battle with us.
2 Timothy 2:3-4 – Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.
My dad was in the military. When you’re in the military you’re on call twenty-four hours a day, even when you’re on vacation. I can remember a time when my dad was transferred between posts and he didn’t know what he would do when he got there. His orders were sealed in a cardboard tube with two metal clamps on the end and he wasn’t permitted to open it. He had to carry them to his destination. He could take a vacation, but any time during that period he could be called in for duty. His commanding officer had to know where he was at all times.
Even when we involve ourselves in worldly affairs like picnics, vacations, or whatever, we are still on duty. We should always be prepared for battle, always in the warfare, never letting down our guard. We should never be like the world and just sit down in our palace and take it easy with things that God has given us to do. Look at David, a man of God; a man who has written Psalms. This man had close communion with God. David had great victories in God; a man who watched God make Saul’s army and kingdom become less and less over the years and his became greater and greater. He was in the middle of enjoying all the blessings from God, with all the spiritual gifts and things God had poured out. He was resting, when he should have been in warfare. We take it easy when God has blessed us and really worked in our life. We then begin to indulge the flesh just a little bit. We think somehow our relationship with God can’t be destroyed or disrupted and we wind up like David committing adultery when we should have been fighting the war, fighting the good fight.
Philippians 2:22 – But you know that Timothy has proved himself . . .
This should be our heart toward each other when it comes to warfare, reaching out to people in the neighborhood, praying for people in the body, and serving God. We should be able to turn to each other and say, “These people have proven themselves in Christ Jesus. They have demonstrated that they are really soldiers in Jesus Christ. They don’t let down their guard; they are always busy doing the work of the Lord.”
Philippians 2:22 – But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
We should be able to say that to one another, as each of us has proven ourselves to be faithful in God. So what kind of worker are you? What kind of laborer are you? What kind of soldier are you? When was the last time you endured any hardship? He wrote to them to endure hardship like a good soldier. When was the last time we had hardships to endure? God brings us times of rest, and He wants us to take it easy. But some of us don’t know the contrast because we have never been in the warfare to really know the rest of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 6: – For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
We all see and agree with that. We all lay claim to that. Look at what he says in verse three.
2 Corinthians 6:3-4 – We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God . . .
People pride themselves in this. We like to sing about it and think of ourselves as servants of God.
2 Corinthians 6:4 – . . . we commend ourselves in every way . . .
What shows us that we are servants of God? Is it taking it easy in the palace, gaining everything in this world, and having all the spiritual blessings that are in God? No. The next verse shows us.
2 Corinthians 6:4-5 – … in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;
Let us try being soldiers for Jesus one time in the area of “hard work.” We may not be in prison right now or threatened with riots or beatings. However, we can surely go to God and say, “God, I proved myself to be a servant because of hard work. I put forth all of my heart into the work that you called me to do.” Yet we are not proving ourselves to be servants of God, otherwise we would be known for our hard work. We should be known for the labor we put forth for God in whatever area God has called us.
2 Samuel 11:2 – One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.
Have you ever been bored in the flesh and lay down the cross, the labor, and the battle? You feed the flesh a little bit and as time goes on you get really bored with indulging the flesh so you begin to look for new things to indulge yourself in. David went up on the roof—he was restless, he couldn’t sleep. He rested too much and indulged the flesh. Have you ever sat and watched TV for a whole day and when you get up you feel more tired than if you’d gone to work? When you constantly indulge your flesh, you are unable to rest. For one thing, you do not have the peace of God.
2 Samuel 11:2 – 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 . . .
He looked. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but I don’t believe this just “happened.” She knew what was going on and so did he. Somehow, there had been those glances before and the opportune time was there. You need to understand something, if someone had told David he would commit adultery, he wouldn’t have gone up to the roof of the house. By the time he climbed up on the roof of his house, it was too late, he would commit the sin. Indeed, by his persistence to cover it up, he demonstrated the zealousness with which he wanted to commit the sin. He knew it was wrong. He knew it was not God’s will and yet by that time, it was too late. He committed the sin. We’ve all felt the pressure of sin and you know when it comes to the point in time when there is no turning back. You’ve got to commit the sin, you will commit the sin, and nobody will stop you. He went up to gaze at her beauty.
Proverbs 5:20-21 – Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife? For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths.
God examines every path, every step we take. He tests, tries, and watches our steps.
Proverbs 5:22 – The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.
We walk along the path of sin’s entanglement.
Proverbs 5:23 – He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
We need to deal with sexual sin today, now. When we have a lustful thought, we need to confess it before God. If we don’t claim the victory in that, then we need to confess it before one another and pray for one another. It must be wrestled with or it will get a hold of us in some form or fashion—guaranteed. The cords entangle and hold us and will not let go.
2 Samuel 11:3 – …and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
David sent messengers to find out exactly who she was. I don’t know if he was under conviction or not. I don’t need to be convicted about everything to know that it is wrong. We should know the proper things in God to do. We should be able to say, “I wasn’t convicted about a particular thing, but I knew it was wrong.” That doesn’t mean it wasn’t wrong. You should know the mind of the Master. David went to amazing lengths to commit this sin and also to cover it up. But it shouldn’t amaze us, because we all do the same thing. We do it in smaller ways, but given the circumstances of David, we need to ask ourselves the question, would we do what he did? We don’t have the power to do what David did. We don’t have the power to cover it up with murder, but if we had the opportunity, what would we do? You only need to look at the small ways you give into sin now, and you have your answer.
2 Samuel 11:4-6 – Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.
They only slept together one time, but she conceived. Rather than confessing it as sin before God, the God whom he knew would forgive, he started to cover it up. He began with Joab, a very interesting man. It’s not amazing why David chose Joab. Look at 2 Samuel 3:26. Joab must have had a certain amount of joy in his heart and was glad that David had called him to do this. Years before, David had cursed Joab. Joab committed murder and David cursed him before God for what he did and Joab felt good knowing he was on equal territory.
2 Samuel 3:26-29 – Joab then left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah. But David did not know it. Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the gateway, as though to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died. Later, when David heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. May his blood fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house! May Joab’s house never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food.”
David called Joab to do his deeds because he knew he could count on him to complete the job. He used the sinful to commit his sins.
2 Samuel 3:30 – (Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.)
This was the conflict of war and it wasn’t proper for Joab to call Abner aside to kill him. See how David cursed him? He not only cursed him, but his whole family as well. He cursed with famine, sores, leprosy, and all kinds things upon Joab’s family. Yet now David asked Joab to commit murder and cover it up. Joab was glad to see David fall. He was eager to complete this task. In fact, we will see that Joab did it with zealousness to help David cover up his sin. Now Joab felt that somehow he was on equal territory. That ought to grieve our hearts more than the committed sin. When our enemies rejoice in the fact that we fall and can say we are no longer the men of God we used to be brings sadness. Our enemies wait for us to fall and when we do, they are eager to serve.
2 Samuel 11:7 – When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.
David sent Joab to get Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to come back out of the battle.
2 Samuel 11:8 – Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
He tried to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so Uriah could claim the child.
2 Samuel 11:9-10 – But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. When David was told, “Uriah did not go home,” he asked him, “Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?”
We find out that Uriah has a more noble heart than David at this moment.
2 Samuel 11:11 – Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
He knew his place was in battle with his men, not indulging his flesh. How rebuking this must have been to David’s heart, yet it still didn’t lead him to confess the sin nor to ask God for forgiveness.
2 Samuel 11:12-13 – 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. 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.
No matter what David did to this man, getting him drunk, having him please the flesh by feasting, he would not sleep with his wife. He didn’t go home and indulge himself. David rested in his palace, but Uriah wouldn’t even go to his humble home and enjoy some comforts.
2 Samuel 11:14 – In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest.”
He sent the death sentence with the very man who was to be killed. What great lengths we will go to cover up our sin. Who are we willing to sacrifice and lay on the altar in order to justify what we do? Amazingly a man like David, a man with purity of holiness who knew God, went to such great lengths to cover his sin.
2 Samuel 11:15b – Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.
He committed murder so he could legally marry Bathsheba, then the child would be born lawfully and no one would know the difference.
2 Samuel 11:16-17 – So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
Not only did he lose men in trying to kill Uriah, he killed the innocent. He sacrificed a portion of his army in order that Uriah might die.
2 Samuel 11:18-20 – Joab sent David a full account of the battle. He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you…”
Do you see what he did? He tried to make the situation look good. He knew that even David’s scheme wasn’t good enough. If you just send one man out against the enemies and he dies, obviously the people would pick up on some kind of plot. You don’t send one man up against the wall to stand there and fight against the city. So Joab took great lengths to make it look good for David. I think David knew this and could count on Joab to take care of things.
2 Samuel 11:20-21 – “Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?” If he asks you this, then say to him, “Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
The death was complete; the murder finished.
2 Samuel 11:22-25 – The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you . . .’”
Look at the conversation and games these two men played to make themselves look good.
2 Samuel 11:25b – “. . . Press the attack against the city and destroy it.” Say this to encourage Joab.
A man he once cursed, he now encouraged. What friends do we make or want to run to when we commit sin? We like to run to those who will say what we want to hear, in order to justify our sins. What smooth talking preachers or teachers do we look for when we indulge the flesh?
Proverbs 28:13 – He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
The man who seeks to conceal or blame his sin on someone else will not prosper in the Lord. He will not have the fellowship he once had. He will not gain the deeper fellowship he says he so desires. He will blame the devil or circumstances. When we commit murder, lie, or make something look a little nobler than it really is, we will not prosper. Even when we justify our sin and find other people to agree with us. It doesn’t matter. You might lie to men. No one else may know what you did. You might commit murder, but you won’t prosper in terms of the Lord because every path you take is in full view of God.
James 5:16a – Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Many of us hide and justify our sins, we don’t even see the sins we commit because we whitewash them before they get to our minds to reason them out. Our hearts are so good at saying we didn’t commit a sin. We never get to a place of conviction with the sin and neither did David. But if we confess our sins and pray for each other we would be healed. If David had come down from the roof and asked somebody to pray with him about the sins he was battling with, he would have found mercy.
2 Samuel 11:26-27 – When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.
Below is the most important sentence in this whole story.
2 Samuel 11: 27 – But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
Ultimately you give an account to God. You can whitewash it to me, or your husband or wife, you can make it look good to your neighbors, or to those at work, but did it please the Lord? In Psalms 32:1 David wrote this psalm when the prophet Nathan came to him. Let’s read what David wrote, because a year had lapsed before Nathan came to David. David had a whole year to think about what he had done. Every morning he saw Bathsheba and realized he murdered her husband. Every day he was under conviction and yet the conviction never led him to confess his sin.
Psalms 32:1-2 – Of David. A maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
He doesn’t lie to himself, whitewash, justify, or cover-up.
Psalms 32:3 – When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
When we hold our sins in, it robs us of any life we have with God. Though we might smile with our faces and lift our hands to God, our hearts remain unclean and impure.
Psalms 32:3-4 – When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah
Selah means to pause, think, consider, and remember what conviction is like. For a whole year he felt God’s hand upon him, but he never confessed—he held it in. He didn’t want to get it out. Blessed is the man who has only felt it for a week and then confesses his sin and gets it out in the open. Blessed is the man who has had the fellowship that David had and knows the difference when he’s under conviction. Stop, think, and remember how it must feel to have the hand of the Lord upon you for a whole year.
Psalms 32:5 – Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Again, Scripture says pause. Consider how it feels to hold in sin and not get it out in the light or confess it. What pain and turmoil, then God graciously forgives when you confess your sin. You may have committed murder and adultery, but to hold it in is a more grievous sin than the ones you committed.
How few conversions are really conversions at all? We baptize people and tell them to ask Jesus in their heart and they don’t have to see their sin. They don’t have to recount it or confess it to anyone. There’s no sense of shame or guilt because we do the same thing. Stop and consider what joy happens when a man confesses his sin.
I get so weary of people asking, “What do you mean “confess your sins to each other”? We should just confess them to God. Only God knows my heart.” They don’t know the pain they carry with them and the burdens they lay on their shoulders. The man who confesses them before God remains in the light. He is full of joy because he can say, “God has forgiven me!” I also get tired of people saying, “Even David committed adultery,” to justify their own flesh and sins. They must also taste the heights of the righteousness that David lived in order to claim the depths of sin that he sunk into. To be able to say that even David committed sin, you should also be able to say, “But I also love God as much as David did.” Why don’t they claim the heights of the way he loved God? They cannot say by the Spirit that God testified that their heart is after His own heart. To lay hold of the fact that David committed adultery is fine, but you also must point to the fact that he confessed his sin and renounced it.
I remember when Jimmy Swaggert committed sexual immorality and made some general statement about his actions. He kept the details covered up. God doesn’t deal that way with His people. Sin must be brought out in the light and revealed. Once on the computer bulletin board I asked a series of questions that people could vote on. It came down to, “Did God keep it a secret just between Him and David when David committed adultery?” The two answers were: “No, he revealed it in the light.” and “Yes, he kept it between him and God.” Everybody put down that he just kept it between him and God. Others said they had never read the story. They would justify saying what Jimmy did in terms of his confession was a real confession of sin. Blessed is the man who knows to confess his sin and bring it into the light.
Psalms 32:6-7 – Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
Again, Selah. I want you to remember this passage in verse seven because when David said, “You are my hiding place,” we will see some discipline that David underwent because of the sin he committed. Yet through it all, even though God had forgiven his sin, he had to undergo some discipline. Yet he was still able to say God, “You are my hiding place even though I have to undergo this discipline.”
Psalms 32:8-9 – I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.
2 Samuel 12:1 – The LORD sent Nathan to David.
It was a year later. Count your blessings if you have people whom you fellowship with that will come to you when you are in sin. Don’t consider it a curse from God but consider it a blessing.
2 Samuel 12:1-5 – The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!”
David said it with his own lips. He testified that it is the law of the Lord that the man should die for stealing the lamb.
2 Samuel 12:6 – He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.
Do we not realize how we hurt other people when we commit sexual sin? When we even lust in our heart, we harm the innocent and destroy families. When our own hearts are consumed with lust, we can’t love anyone else even in our own families. You destroy them spiritually, which is a greater destruction than even a physical murder. You can’t love your children or serve your wife or your husband like you need to because your thoughts are somewhere else. It divides and kills. Now I want you to realize that David is not under conviction, even though God comes to him with conviction.
1 Corinthians 4:4 – My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
Just because you testify to me that your conscience is clear and clean that doesn’t mean it is. Some of us grow so accustomed to lusting, we consider it company; like friends, neighbors, and people we recognize. We have lived with it so much, it’s not a stranger. Somehow we think we are in a relationship with God while we tolerate and love this lust. Your conscience may be clear, and you may be saying that you are in a right relationship with God. You may be churning with indignation, and preaching sermons saying, “That man deserves to die.” But it is God who judges and we must bow before God and ask if our hearts are clean. Philippians 2:12 says that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Just because you have a clear conscience it does not mean that you are innocent.
2 Samuel 12:7 – Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”
He judged David. He brought this sin out in the light. And blessed is anyone who has experienced this. David didn’t turn to Nathan and ask, “How could you judge me? Who are you to come to me? I’m the king of Israel. The Lord has blessed me in all these ways. Who are you to say these things to me?”
2 Samuel 12:7-9 – “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.’”
Note well the consequences of lust in a family. From there on out David would have no peace in his home. Think about it for a moment—a man who’s had this kind of fellowship with God, who communes with God as much as we would long to, is now constantly in family turmoil because of this sin that he has allowed.
2 Samuel 12:10-12 – Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. This is what the LORD says: “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.”
Scripture says in 1 John to walk in the light with one another. It means to confess our sins and share our struggles. We must deal with them and be in the light, because I can assure you, if you do it in darkness, some day it will be in the light for all to know. If you would but confess it, you would be delivered.
2 Samuel 12:12 – You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.
When God said someone close to David would sleep with his wives, He meant David’s son. It was done in broad daylight. Absalom slept with David’s wives and concubines. Absalom dethroned David and sought to take it for himself all because David committed adultery. David’s other son lusted after his half-sister and destroyed her innocence. Lust not only effects us, it effects the whole body, the church, and people we know.
2 Samuel 16:20 – Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?”
Absalom had chased David from his throne. He was sitting on his father’s throne, wanting to know the best way to secure the throne and get people allied to him.
2 Samuel 16:21 – Ahithophel answered, “Lie with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench in your father’s nostrils, and the hands of everyone with you will be strengthened.”
First of all, let’s stop and consider what kind of friends he gained. You commit this atrocity in front of all Israel and he said it would strengthen the hands of the people who are with you. These are the kinds of friends I don’t need.
2 Samuel 16:22 – So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
Interesting. “On the roof.” What David did in secret would be done in broad daylight.
2 Samuel 16:23 – Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice.
Be careful who you listen to. Does the advice only please you about what you want to hear or does it cut against your flesh?
2 Samuel 12:13 – Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
He confessed his sin. A simple word from the heart, but he finally said what God was waiting for in the first place. From the very moment he began to lust, God was only waiting for was David to say, “I have sinned in Your sight.”
2 Samuel 12:13 – . . . Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.”
He was forgiven. If we confess our sins, God remains faithful and just to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness and wickedness. He is faithful to forgive those who confess and are in the light not only before God, but also before men. He would have done it long before Nathan got to him. Listen, if I have to come to you to show you a sin, you need to go back and check your heart. Why did it take so long? When someone comes to me and points something out in my life, I have to say to myself, “Why did it take so long for me to see it? What’s so hard about my heart? Why am I so blind?” I can receive His Spirit and can walk according to His word, but why does it take somebody else? Blessed is the fact that it happens, but why?
1 Corinthians 11:31-32 – But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Now God didn’t take away His judgments from David. God forgave his sin, but He didn’t remove the judgment. Many of us go into little self-pity trips when God disciplines. Hebrews tells us to strengthen our weak arms and feeble knees. A lot of us would rather die. If Nathan would have turned to us and said, “You’re not going to die,” we would say we would rather die than undergo the discipline. Nathan came to David and said. “God has forgiven you, but He won’t remove the judgments that are about to come upon your house.” David didn’t even ask for them to be removed, and neither should we. God may forgive our sins, but He may put us through the fires of discipline so that we never commit the sin again. Let me tell you, God will never make it more severe than He needs to. If He had to do that to Absalom within David’s house, it was for a very good reason. If a child has to die, it will be done. If Paul was able to rejoice with a thorn in the flesh, then we should also be able to rejoice when God brings discipline.
2 Samuel 12:14 – But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.
You see, God couldn’t allow the child to live. Surely it must have been a very grievous thing to God to kill David’s son, but He had no other choice. What would the enemies of God have said if David committed adultery, Bathsheba became pregnant, and God did nothing? The enemies of God would say, “Why serve that kind of God? He shows favoritism.” There had to be discipline and an innocent child had to die. David could have gotten angry or embittered toward God and asked, “Why bother to follow this kind of God?” He might have asked, “What kind of mercy is this? What kind of unfailing love is this?” He might have gone down to the First Church of Whitewash to get himself a different kind of God, but he serves a God who has said, “I will kill your child because of your sin.” That’s how much he loved God.
1 Samuel 12:15 – After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.
Again, God reminds us in the Word who Bathsheba really belonged to. He stated again that Bathsheba was not David’s wife. There are people have been divorced or remarried several times and the person they are married to is not really their wife or husband. If they would stand up and confess that was wrong, that they are in adultery and not where they need to be, they would not only feel the sense of God’s law and His judgment saying that it is wrong, but they would also know His grace and forgiveness. If they are unwilling to stand up and say what they did was wrong, they will never know the peace that can come.
1 Samuel 12:16-18 – David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
David surely prayed and asked God not for himself, but for the child’s sake. Not because he wants the child, but because he knows God’s judgments are true. But why should the child have to die?
2 Samuel 12:19-20a – David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped.
Would you worship after going through that experience? You prayed, fasted, pleaded, and begged God, and He didn’t change His mind. Would you go in and worship the kind of God that killed your child? For some people, if their car dies they decide whether they want to continue to worship God. I’m one of them.
2 Samuel 12:18 – On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead . . .
But they told him anyway and he went in, cleaned himself up, and worshipped God.
2 Samuel 12:21-23 – His servants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
He accepted the will of the Lord and did so by worshipping God. Let our love for God be the same. No wonder God could discipline David. No wonder David could commit the sin. Some men have committed fewer sins than David and have been struck dead for it. No wonder God could discipline a man like David because David would repent and worship and love God anyway. He didn’t blame God; he blamed himself.
2 Samuel 12:24 – Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him;
How many couples who have been divorced and remarried could hear those words if they would just confess their sin and let God deal with them? Those are precious words to hear after committing all those sins. For God to bring another child and name him Solomon, especially under the adulterous situation, was a wonderful work of God. He works more than we can ask or imagine for the man who confesses his sin. The Lord loved Solomon and blessed him.
Samuel 12:25 – …and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
Blessed is the man who not only receives rebukes from another, but also receives encouragement by the Spirit of God. How gracious God would be to us, if we would confess our sins.
2 Samuel 12: 26-28 – Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me.”
Now I want you to notice that you still have the manipulations going on. Though David was in a weakened state, he went on to fight the battle, but Joab did the work, didn’t he? Later on, David’s men went to a well and fought their way through the battle line to get him a glass of water. He poured it out before the Lord. He said he wouldn’t take the water and yet he was willing to go fight before a whole city for a man who’s done the other work. It’s been a dastardly work indeed. Sin always weakens us spiritually, but we can regain the victory. We can come back to God if we confess our sins and renounce them.
2 Samuel 12:29 – So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it.
God gave the victory but David was still not up to his fine and most holy moments. How often when we are weakened and sin makes us all cowards and we all run. We are not as pure and sharp—the fire doesn’t burn quite as hot. Let us confess and renounce our sins and deal with the sexual immorality that we might be a bold. Let us be able to come before God confessing our sins and yet feeling His love, grace, and forgiveness. Even though we might be chastised and disciplined for it, we should say as Psalms 36:7 says;
Psalms 36:7-10 – How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.
We deal with sexual sin by laying ourselves before God, confessing our sin, and letting Him deal with us however He needs to deal with us in order to purify us. Be sure of this—the man who doesn’t confess his sins, will not prosper in the Lord.
Let us pray:
Father we do give you praise, glory and honor for your unfailing love, for your grace that does forgive. We pour contempt Father on our own folly and wickedness that continues to enslave us, yet it does not have to. We ask you Father to deal with us, to make our hearts pure and clean, to make us holy. To deal with us Father however severely you need to do so in order to make us holy. Father make us strong that we might endure all things. Make us able to face any temptation Father and to be able to say no. Father, especially in this body, put your guard around us to keep any of us from committing sexual immorality. May nothing in the body Father ever be hidden in that matter. May it always be revealed and brought to the light. May we know you Father as a holy and awesome God worthy of our love and devotion. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
This transcription has been edited to a reader friendly format. Every effort has been made to be true to the speaker’s original message. Any mistranslations are unintentional.
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