II Samuel 11:6-12:14
“Three Questions” • 2.4.08 • Autonomy, Authority And The Man Of God, Session #23
Intro.
- David has just received news of Bath-Sheba’s pregnancy. It was not welcome news.
- David believed that the issue was salvageable though, and immediately hatched a “fool-proof” plan to deal with this: He would invite Bath-Sheba’s husband over!
• II Samuel 11:6-8 : “Then David sent to Joab, saying, ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite.’ And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, ‘Go down to your house and wash your feet.’ So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him.”
- The problem though is that Uriah did not go into his home. He opted to sleep on the King’s porch and not even go down to his own home.
- David, in the throes of sin, cannot fathom why Uriah would not go to his own bed. Men who begin to personally compromise, often are stupefied by men who are so upright.
• II Samuel 11:11 : “And Uriah said to David, ‘The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.’”
- David can hardly believe it! He has the perfect plan and it fails! Ah, he forgot the wine! Verse 13 is one of the most shameful verses in the life of David.
• II Samuel 11:13 : “Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.”
- David has lost his alibi. Uriah has not provided him with reasonable doubt, so the sin, begun in private, was growing ever more visible with every passing day. Unfortunately, he is willing to go even lower in verse 14.
• II Samuel 11:14,15 : “In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, ‘Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.’”
- Joab followed orders and sent back word to David that his “special mission” was accomplished. Meanwhile, news of Uriah’s death traveled to the ears of Bath-Sheba.
• II Samuel 11:26,27 : “When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”
- This chapter is followed by a visit from Nathan, who tells David a story about an injustice in His Kingdom, involving a single lamb. This lamb is removed from his master and killed for a banquet of strangers.
- David is incensed over this outrage and promises to deal with this injustice severely. It’s at this point that Nathan names the real culprit.
• II Samuel 7:7-12 : “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ‘I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! ‘Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ‘For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”
- David is caught, and in a state of shock replies.
• II Samuel 7:13,14 : “So David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.’”
- This episode is admittedly heavy and difficult to deal with. There are a few questions that we need to consider when we discuss the topic of dealing with our sin. David chose to hide to cover up.
- He needs to ask himself, just as we need to ask ourselves, these three telling questions.
- Adam and Eve made fig leaves. Their son Cain, left his dead brother out in a field.
- Here David comes up with an ornate drama, that will not only cover his sin, but will eventually make him look like a hero as well! David should know better. Who does he think he is fooling?
• Psalm 139:1-4 : “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.”
- God knows our ways. He is aware of all that is going on in my heart and in my life, even if I happen to “get away” with it in this life.
- Even then, one has to ask himself whether they are truly getting away with anything at all!
- David, in writing about this chapter in his life, writes very revealingly about the physical nature of hiding one’s sin.
• Psalm 32:1-4 : “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.”
- During David’s time of hiding his sin, he suffered like a man with a physical ailment.
- For the child of God, there is a heaviness of the hand of God. It drains you to the point of depression. God’s hand is not upon that person to punish them, but to free them.
- This is the function of God’s Spirit, convicting the man who purposes to walk after God.
- Today, you and I must remind ourselves that we are not fooling anyone, we are not getting away with anything.
- God sees, and He calls out to each of us today, not that we will cower in fear, but that we will stand forgiven and cleansed in His sight.
- God holds David directly responsible for the death of Uriah, even though the people of Ammon were unwilling accomplices in this action.
- Because of this plan, God tells David that his action will reap consequences. Because he has employed the sword, now by the same “sword,” metaphorically speaking of violence and deceit, will he watch the destruction of his own house.
- Notice that God is going to be the initiator in raising up adversity from within David’s own house. God allows each of these things to happen as we continue studying the life of David.
- He will face adversity in his own family through the rise and rebellion of Absalom.
- His daughter will be raped by his son, his half-sister.
- And here, almost immediately, David will lose his unnamed son from this sinful union with Bath-Sheba.
- There are consequences immediately and the consequences that will last for years after this.
- The truth is that God will not be mocked. Our sins will bear consequences.
• Galatians 6:7,8 : “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
- Does this mean that God is not forgiving? Why does He allow consequences when He has forgiven? The answer is the He does forgive, but our actions take on a life of their own.
- God will forgive David, but the consequences of his actions will affect his family.
- David has lived this way, despising God’s command. What message has been translated to his children? They will later choose to despise the command of the Lord as well.
- I have seen over many years that men who despise the Lord’s command and indulge in some sin, will find their children indulging in the same sin that their Father has.
- Our sins affect our family immediately, as it did David, as well as over the long haul.
• Psalm 51:1-4 : “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight--That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.”
- David confessed his sin to the Lord, and God was faithful to hear David’s honest confession.
- Nathan uses a great picture here in verse 13 to describe forgiveness.
- “He has put away your sins.” The concept is separation. My sins, when they are forgiven are put away from me.
• Psalm 103:8-12 : “The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
- In the book of Leviticus, there is an interesting story about two goats that were to be brought before the Lord. One would be offered to the Lord and the other would be made to be the scapegoat of atonement.
- Once the lot fell on the scapegoat, it would be released into the wilderness. That is the picture of God’s forgiveness. In this case, David will not face the ultimate consequence of death.
- But a consequence of David’s sin was that the enemies of the Lord would blaspheme.
- The word “blaspheme” means primarily to swear or curse toward. It has the general meaning of treating God or the subject of God, disrespectfully.
- The NIV translates this verse: “But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt…"
- David’s sinful action prompted the enemies of the Lord to esteem God in the lowest light possible. They mocked David’s God, when the man of God himself, manifested little respect for the God that he supposedly served.
- How many times have I heard the people who hate God, use the actions of men of God, to blaspheme the name of the Lord?
- We know rightfully that Christians aren’t perfect and that they are forgiven when they are repentant and ask for forgiveness. We know that their actions are only reflective of their own lack of fidelity toward God.
- However, the world looks at the fallen Christian, and do not fault the Christian. They blaspheme God! They derisively say that God has obviously not had any effect upon this person.
- Sin demolishes your witness, and often, the chances of people believing that Your God is worth trusting or living for.
Conclusion
- As we come to the end of this session, let’s ask ourselves these questions. Who are we trying to fool? The Lord sees. It won’t help if everyone thinks that we are “alright” and we are not!
- How will our sin impact our family? If the answer is even the temporary loss of intimacy or trust, then the sin in question is not worth the time. However, most of the time, the consequences are much more steep than that!
- What will this sin do to my witness? Will people look at God in a disrespectful way, or speak of Him as though He were powerless? Perhaps it’s time to re-assess our actions again.
“Three Questions” • 2.4.08 • Autonomy, Authority And The Man Of God, Session #23
Intro.
- David has just received news of Bath-Sheba’s pregnancy. It was not welcome news.
- David believed that the issue was salvageable though, and immediately hatched a “fool-proof” plan to deal with this: He would invite Bath-Sheba’s husband over!
• II Samuel 11:6-8 : “Then David sent to Joab, saying, ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite.’ And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, ‘Go down to your house and wash your feet.’ So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him.”
- The problem though is that Uriah did not go into his home. He opted to sleep on the King’s porch and not even go down to his own home.
- David, in the throes of sin, cannot fathom why Uriah would not go to his own bed. Men who begin to personally compromise, often are stupefied by men who are so upright.
• II Samuel 11:11 : “And Uriah said to David, ‘The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.’”
- David can hardly believe it! He has the perfect plan and it fails! Ah, he forgot the wine! Verse 13 is one of the most shameful verses in the life of David.
• II Samuel 11:13 : “Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.”
- David has lost his alibi. Uriah has not provided him with reasonable doubt, so the sin, begun in private, was growing ever more visible with every passing day. Unfortunately, he is willing to go even lower in verse 14.
• II Samuel 11:14,15 : “In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, ‘Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.’”
- Joab followed orders and sent back word to David that his “special mission” was accomplished. Meanwhile, news of Uriah’s death traveled to the ears of Bath-Sheba.
• II Samuel 11:26,27 : “When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”
- This chapter is followed by a visit from Nathan, who tells David a story about an injustice in His Kingdom, involving a single lamb. This lamb is removed from his master and killed for a banquet of strangers.
- David is incensed over this outrage and promises to deal with this injustice severely. It’s at this point that Nathan names the real culprit.
• II Samuel 7:7-12 : “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ‘I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! ‘Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ‘For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”
- David is caught, and in a state of shock replies.
• II Samuel 7:13,14 : “So David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.’”
- This episode is admittedly heavy and difficult to deal with. There are a few questions that we need to consider when we discuss the topic of dealing with our sin. David chose to hide to cover up.
- He needs to ask himself, just as we need to ask ourselves, these three telling questions.
I. Who Am I Fooling?
II. How Will This Affect My Family?
III. What Will This Do To My Witness?
TextII. How Will This Affect My Family?
III. What Will This Do To My Witness?
I. Who Am I Fooling?
- Sin does not make a man very smart. In David’s case, the fear that accompanies every act of sin, generally leads us to hide. It’s been the same since the very beginning.- Adam and Eve made fig leaves. Their son Cain, left his dead brother out in a field.
- Here David comes up with an ornate drama, that will not only cover his sin, but will eventually make him look like a hero as well! David should know better. Who does he think he is fooling?
• Psalm 139:1-4 : “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.”
- God knows our ways. He is aware of all that is going on in my heart and in my life, even if I happen to “get away” with it in this life.
- Even then, one has to ask himself whether they are truly getting away with anything at all!
- David, in writing about this chapter in his life, writes very revealingly about the physical nature of hiding one’s sin.
• Psalm 32:1-4 : “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.”
- During David’s time of hiding his sin, he suffered like a man with a physical ailment.
- For the child of God, there is a heaviness of the hand of God. It drains you to the point of depression. God’s hand is not upon that person to punish them, but to free them.
- This is the function of God’s Spirit, convicting the man who purposes to walk after God.
- Today, you and I must remind ourselves that we are not fooling anyone, we are not getting away with anything.
- God sees, and He calls out to each of us today, not that we will cower in fear, but that we will stand forgiven and cleansed in His sight.
II. How Will This Affect My Family?
• II Samuel 11:9-11 : “Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.” : David’s sin would have a very direct affect upon his immediate family.- God holds David directly responsible for the death of Uriah, even though the people of Ammon were unwilling accomplices in this action.
- Because of this plan, God tells David that his action will reap consequences. Because he has employed the sword, now by the same “sword,” metaphorically speaking of violence and deceit, will he watch the destruction of his own house.
- Notice that God is going to be the initiator in raising up adversity from within David’s own house. God allows each of these things to happen as we continue studying the life of David.
- He will face adversity in his own family through the rise and rebellion of Absalom.
- His daughter will be raped by his son, his half-sister.
- And here, almost immediately, David will lose his unnamed son from this sinful union with Bath-Sheba.
- There are consequences immediately and the consequences that will last for years after this.
- The truth is that God will not be mocked. Our sins will bear consequences.
• Galatians 6:7,8 : “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
- Does this mean that God is not forgiving? Why does He allow consequences when He has forgiven? The answer is the He does forgive, but our actions take on a life of their own.
- God will forgive David, but the consequences of his actions will affect his family.
- David has lived this way, despising God’s command. What message has been translated to his children? They will later choose to despise the command of the Lord as well.
- I have seen over many years that men who despise the Lord’s command and indulge in some sin, will find their children indulging in the same sin that their Father has.
- Our sins affect our family immediately, as it did David, as well as over the long haul.
III. What Will This Do To My Witness?
• II Samuel 7:13,14 : “So David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.’” : David realizes that his sin has offended the Lord and he confesses that. For a more full study on what David expressed to the Lord, one would do well to read Psalm 51, which was written at this time. For our purposes, we’ll just note 4 verses.• Psalm 51:1-4 : “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight--That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.”
- David confessed his sin to the Lord, and God was faithful to hear David’s honest confession.
- Nathan uses a great picture here in verse 13 to describe forgiveness.
- “He has put away your sins.” The concept is separation. My sins, when they are forgiven are put away from me.
• Psalm 103:8-12 : “The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
- In the book of Leviticus, there is an interesting story about two goats that were to be brought before the Lord. One would be offered to the Lord and the other would be made to be the scapegoat of atonement.
- Once the lot fell on the scapegoat, it would be released into the wilderness. That is the picture of God’s forgiveness. In this case, David will not face the ultimate consequence of death.
- But a consequence of David’s sin was that the enemies of the Lord would blaspheme.
- The word “blaspheme” means primarily to swear or curse toward. It has the general meaning of treating God or the subject of God, disrespectfully.
- The NIV translates this verse: “But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt…"
- David’s sinful action prompted the enemies of the Lord to esteem God in the lowest light possible. They mocked David’s God, when the man of God himself, manifested little respect for the God that he supposedly served.
- How many times have I heard the people who hate God, use the actions of men of God, to blaspheme the name of the Lord?
- We know rightfully that Christians aren’t perfect and that they are forgiven when they are repentant and ask for forgiveness. We know that their actions are only reflective of their own lack of fidelity toward God.
- However, the world looks at the fallen Christian, and do not fault the Christian. They blaspheme God! They derisively say that God has obviously not had any effect upon this person.
- Sin demolishes your witness, and often, the chances of people believing that Your God is worth trusting or living for.
Conclusion
- As we come to the end of this session, let’s ask ourselves these questions. Who are we trying to fool? The Lord sees. It won’t help if everyone thinks that we are “alright” and we are not!
- How will our sin impact our family? If the answer is even the temporary loss of intimacy or trust, then the sin in question is not worth the time. However, most of the time, the consequences are much more steep than that!
- What will this sin do to my witness? Will people look at God in a disrespectful way, or speak of Him as though He were powerless? Perhaps it’s time to re-assess our actions again.
1 comment:
1 Sin immediately prompts us to hide. It is part of our nature that we have inherited from Adam. Understanding that God knows what is happening and that our brothers have experienced the same things, what is it that we are afraid of? What are some practical steps to follow in the act of being accountable with one another?
2 Sin affects our family, both immediately and over the long term. Have you seen this principle in action, perhaps even in your own personal history? What verses or truths have you come upon that have kept you from repeating sinful patterns?
3 Sin committed by a believer provides an occasion for people to insult God. Let’s consider this topic from a few different dimensions. First, you have a clean record, but a fellow worker has been a poor witness. How do you address this brother? Second, you have reacted poorly to a situation. What are the steps that you will take in order to keep the enemies of God from blaspheming?
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