2Samuel 11:2-5
David’s Sinful Journey
We began looking at this text last week and did not even attempt to get through
it. Neither will we get through it today.
This is the tragic story of David’s great sin. We started last week by
discussing that very topic but with the introduction of Bathsheba, we turned to
look at her part in this affair. Tonight, we return to continue our discussion
of David’s sins.
I. \\#2Sam 11:1\\ David was out of his place.
A. All of this started with David being in Jerusalem when he was supposed
to be on the battlefield.
1. Part of David’s problem was who was going to question the king?
2. No one unless David made provision for it.
B. Accountability is one of the best practical deterrents to sin there is.
1. The ones with the most authority, independence, and resources need
to make themselves more accountable than they have to be.
2. Every individual, male and female, needs to make themselves
accountable to others.
a. You need to have someone who knows where you are—all of the
time.
b. You need to have someone who checks what you spend your money
on.
c. You need to have someone who has the liberty to warn you
when you are getting too close to the edge.
3. Unfortunately, those who most need to be held accountable, often
rebel against it the most.
a. "That treat me like a kid!"
b. There is a reason we treat children the way we do.
c. It is because they need accountability.
d. So do adults.
C. Being accountable could have saved David a lot of heartache.
II. David committed adultery.
A. Adultery is sexual misconduct when married.
1. Strictly speaking, adultery is a married individual having sex
with someone other than their marriage partner.
2. However, Jesus broadened the definition.
Matthew 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not
commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart.
a. We live in a society where most want to modify our definitions
to water down sin. (We remember a president who, before
Congress and the world, testified, "I have not had sex with
that woman.")
b. Jesus, who is God, broadened the definition of the word to
include behavior which most today would consider to be
normal behavior—lusting after one of the opposite sex.
c. By the way, just because everyone else does it or someone
else thinks it is normal, that doesn’t make it so!
(1) I am amazed today at teenagers who are 15 to 16 years
old saying that they are homosexual.
(2) They should not have been having sex with the opposite
gender at that age, let along having perverted sex
with their own gender.
B. Any sexual sin is wrong; however, because the adulterer is married,
he/she automatically commits a variety of sins.
1. Adultery is lying.
a. As far as I know, marriage in every culture is commenced with
vows of love and exclusiveness.
b. Whether you acknowledge God or not, whether you spoke them or
not, marriage always consists of a vow before God.
2. \\#2Sam 12:1-4, 7\\ Adultery is stealing, as illustrated by
Nathan’s sermon.
3. Adultery is betrayal. For David, there was a dual betrayal.
a. Every adulterer betrays a mate.
(1) Adultery is not just what you and some stranger do.
(2) Adultery is an act of extreme maliciousness, deception,
and a selling out of your mate.
(3) Most people have to work their way up to justifying their
betrayal.
(a) They will rationalize that their mate doesn’t listen
to them, doesn’t meet their needs, doesn’t show
them the attention they deserve.
(b) If there are issues which are driving a couple
a part, they should settle them.
(c) However, nothing can or will justify this kind of
betrayal.
b. David also betrayed Uriah.
(1) Uriah was one of his men. David was his superior and
this man was loyal to him.
(2) This made Uriah was David’s friend and comrade in battle.
(3) These men made commitments to die for one another, a
commitment Uriah was keeping while David was laying
with his wife!
(4) There is a bond between men of battle that some say runs
even deeper than the blood.
III. David stayed in adultery—and stayed, and stayed.
A. David did not fall into sin.
1. David took a journey into sin.
2. In fact, it is evident from David’s behavior, that David had no
intentions of coming back.
a. \\#2Sam 11:5\\ Bathsheba and David had a means of secret and
direct communication with one another.
(1) This was not just a one night stand.
(2) It was to be a prolonged arrangement.
b. \\#2Sam 11:6-13\\ David intended to have it look like Uriah
was the father of his baby.
(1) Notice, there is something very sick about this
situation.
(2) So often, those involved in adultery want to claim that
they love one another.
(3) Here David is, sending Uriah home to have relations with
the woman he is supposed to love.
c. \\#2Sam 11:14-17, 27\\ When that failed, David had Uriah
killed and then took her to be his wife.
(1) David had no intentions of coming clean about this
affair.
(2) He was never going to repent.
B. David intended to live in this adulterous relationship for the
remainder of his life.
1. There was one minor problem with David’s intentions; that is,
there is a just God who lives and knows all that is done.
2. Thank God for God!
3. I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that God has shown
some special favor toward David; yet even David could not get
away with sin before God.
IV. David practiced deception.
A. Deception is nothing less than lying.
1. Someone argues that lying is using words to tell an untruth.
2. Whether you are lying with your words or are lying with your
actions, you are still lying.
B. Who did David attempt to deceive? Who did he not?
1. David attempted to deceive God.
a. The Bible gives us absolutely no details of David’s walk with
God during these days.
b. This was a long period of time for \\#2Sam 11:27\\ tells us
that the baby was born before God starts dealing with David
about this sin.
c. Do you suppose David kept writing his psalms, going to the
temple, offering his prayers and sacrifices during those
days—as if God wouldn’t know what he was doing?
d. Or do you suppose he just quit for awhile? A man who had
communed with God every day since he was a lad and now he
just quit?
e. Somehow David must have believed that he had God fooled!
2. David attempted to deceive Uriah.
a. We have already read how David tried to get Uriah to at least
get under the same roof as his wife.
b. David even used liquor in his attempt to Uriah to his wife.
c. One has to notice Uriah’s honor.
(1) David has so little honor for Uriah that he had taken
Uriah’s wife. Uriah had so much honor for David and
God, that has long as the armies of Israel were on the
battlefield, he would not take his own wife.
(2) Uriah’s honor kept him out of the deception.
(3) Sadly, Uriah’s honor guaranteed his murder.
(a) It is a sad reality that refusing to compromise
leaves our enemies few choices in dealing with us.
(b) They must either accept us or remove us.
(4) David choose to remove Uriah.
3. David attempted to deceive his family, friends, servants, and
kingdom.
a. David wanted to keep his secret, but who do you suppose David
fooled?
b. He had sent his servants to go get Bathsheba.
c. He wrote Joab a note, having Joab to murder Uriah (which Joab
appeared to be only too happy to do).
d. By the time David married Bathsheba, I imagine everyone who
was anyone knew what had gone on.
e. Even David’s enemies knew would David had done.
2 Samuel 12:14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to
the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall
surely die.
4. David attempted to deceive himself. Of all the people who were
caught in the web of deception, David was more deceived than
them all.
V. David murdered Uriah.
A. David had killed many others.
B. David had even been responsible for other innocent people dying.
C. However, as far as we know, Uriah was the only man David out and out
murdered.
2Sam 12:9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil
in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken
his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of
Ammon.
1. This was unlike anything that David did before or did after.
2. We can try to make murder sound less murderous by giving it
different degrees and calling it by different names, but what
David did to Uriah was murder as surely as if David had run
Uriah through with a sword himself.
VI. Notice, the escalation of sin.
A. Sin is like eating Lay’s Potato Chips. You can’t stop with just one.
B. There are several reasons for that.
1. Sin is required to hid sin. The only way to keep a sin even
partially hidden is with more sin.
2. The pleasure of sin is hard to walk away from.
a. Let’s face it. David was enjoying Bathsheba and, apparently,
she enjoyed him.
b. It is not hard to walk away from an un-pleasurable vice, but
it is extremely difficult to walk away from something you
enjoyed.
(1) If every time we sinned, God reached down from heaven and
wrung our noses, it would be a lot easier to give sin
up.
(2) Unfortunately, most sin is very pleasurable. Adultery
offers…
(a) the pleasure of sex,
(b) the intrigue of secrecy,
(c) the dare of being caught,
(d) the notion of being naughty,
(e) and several others thrills that I suppose I could
not even imagine.
(3) What does doing right offer?
(a) Comparatively speaking, doing right is rather bland.
(b) Even worse, sometimes it is just plain boring.
(c) Sometimes I get bored with my own preaching!
C. David had no idea when he allowed himself to lust after Bathsheba that
he would end up with the blood of Uriah on his hands!
1. That is the danger of sin.
2. Once you cut yourself from the anchor of truth and obedience to
God’s Word, you have no idea where the tides of sin will carry
you.
3. The best advice is never find out!
Now the question has been asked me before, "If adultery leads to another
marriage, will that marriage always be adulterous?" That is what happened
to David. While I do not have all the answers, I would say adultery
remains adulterous until those involved in the situation seek God’s
forgiveness. We will talk about God’s forgiveness next.
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