Scriptures: 2 Samuel 11:1-15, Psalm 14: 1-3
The last couple of weeks God has had a sense of humor with
me, because I feel that he has challenged me to speak about difficult subjects
within His churches. And with churches that don’t yet know me. I have been
blessed the last few weeks with the opportunity to come into new churches on
first impressions, all smiles, and then have to get up to the front and be like
“thanks for having me, its been great to meet you, praise God, (NOW LETS TALK ABOUT THE GREATEST SIN YOU
COMMITT THAT IS IN THE BIBLE) Little tough God… I will say that sometimes
as we follow the lectionary we get some tough subjects.
Today, as you may have noticed from our scriptures, is rated R. But God is good, and I just can’t praise
him enough for using me. I am just a normal person- no different than anyone
else here, really. Yet he keeps surprising me by letting me speak at churches- even though he knows how crazy I am.
But I sure am a lot less crazy today than I once was. And that has a lot to do with what we are
talking about today. Today is special
because we are talking about something that has the potential to change our
entire lives. We are talking about something that if we embrace it, it will
change our entire relationship with God and with other people. If you have been
on a plateau with God, this thing will take you to the next level. Mastering
this one thing can CHANGE EVERYTHING!
Lets get into it by getting into the word of God this
morning. Today we are focusing on the Good King David and the not-so-good
things that David got himself into. Has any of you ever gotten into something they
shouldn’t have and then had to suffer the consequences?
Now in this part of the story our king David, a man that was
once a lowly shepherd, with nothing, has been raised up. God brought David from a place where he had
nothing into being a KING. Into a place where he had ALL of the worldy things
he could possibly want, plus some. Yet what happened? Well the same thing that
happens to today’s celebrities, really. David wanted even more. David wanted what he couldn’t have. David got a little
proud. Showed a little apathy towards God. David thought- I am KING! And when
the king wants, the king gets! In the heat of the moment, David forgot who the
real king was.
So David is looking out over the kingdom, oh so proud of the
kingdom he has built. And he sees an attractive young woman. And so maybe the
first time he looked out, or maybe over many times of checking her out he says
to one of his advisors-
Who is THAT? And hes told- She is Bathsheeba. She is the
daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah of Hittite. Why is this important?
Perhaps it is important because Uriah is known to be a dedicated and honorable
soldier. What this should have told David is- don’t go there. These are
honorable people that serve you faithfully. But David is caught up in the
temptation. So he proceeds anyway. He takes the next steps. He has her brought
in, has affairs with her, then a few weeks later, she gets pregnant.
Does he turn from the sin, does he fess up? No! He calls for
Uriah to come home, then repeatedly tries to get him to go home with his wife
so that he can cover it up by passing off the kid to be Uriahs. And I have
heard people say that the bible is boring?!
Well unfortunately for David, Uriah, is so honorable as a soldier that he wont do it.
Anyone know a soldier? I come from a military family so I sure do. And one
thing I know is this- guys and gals CANNOT WAIT to get on home for some leave.
What is better? But Uriah is soooo committed, he wont even go home. He
literally says “Look, I can’t do that. My brothers are out there fighting. I
owe it to them. I don’t deserve it when I know that they are out there fighting
and dying. So he sleeps outside and wont even go home.
It only gets worse. Now King David is in a conundrum. Does he
make a good choice here?? No- he digs himself even deeper, escalates his sin
even more by sending Uriah back into battle with a sealed letter to his nephew
and general Joab that says to get Uriah killed in battle. So as they rush into
battle Uriah is on the front lines, then suddenly Joab pulls back the forces.
And Uriah, a innocent and honorable man, is killed. And several other good men
who are completely innocent, are killed as well.
Well that really spun out of control, didn’t it? Did you
follow it? This thing started with just looking at a woman through a window-
and people are DEAD. Then the child born out of this tragedy DIES. How does
this happen?
The truth lies in understanding how Sin works. The biggest
sins NEVER start out that way. It starts out small. It starts out usually in a
specific area of our lives that we struggle with. It sneaks in. We fall into a
little area of it and before we know it gets OUT OF CONTROL. Its becomes something we don’t intend it to. Its
like the alcoholic that says that is just going to have “one beer”. It doesn’t
work that way! You cant toe around in sin and expect your life not to be
affected by it. When we do that we are limiting what our lives can be, what our
lives can become. Sexual sins are some of the worst, but it could be anything.
Jealousy, anger, pride, alcoholism, you name it.
In working in social work for ten years now, I can tell you
definitively that I have watched people crash and burn from making the same
mistakes THOUSANDS of times. Over and over people can make the same mistakes
without even realizing it, or even worse, do realize it- yet keep doing it. We come to church for a
reason. We no longer need to do this. We no longer are people who need to
suffer from choices gone bad. We don’t need to get caught in the cycles.
EVERYONE has or has had that ONE THING that has been holding
them back from experiencing that incredible life and faith. That one thing that
kept them from a relationship with God like no other. What is yours? I bet you
already know. What causes you to sin? What traps you? What is holding you back
in your life and relationships? If you have already overcome it- PRAISE GOD. Be
a light to that victory and help another through it.
Even my son is a testament to this truth. Now I want to
preface this story with saying that I have amazing, wonderful children. I have
really been blessed with my kids. And I am so proud of each one of them. But
they are human and make mistakes, and I try to somewhat gently guide and
correct them when this happens. Recently, Ethan, my 8 year old, was entrusted
to take twenty dollars to add to his lunch account at school. Some days later,
he comes home with a bunch of stuff from the school store. I said “Ethan, where
did you get the stuff?” “The school store” he says. And without skipping a beat
he adds- mom gave me some money for the school store. Fair enough, I thought,
and I go about my business. A couple days later mom asks about the money I gave
Ethan to go to the school store. Wait a minute!. Well as it turns out, our sweet
little innocent child, got a little tempted while passing the school store. And
then lied, and then lied some more, and tried to cover it up. While making a
mistake mis-spending the money that he was entrusted to bring for lunch was bad
enough, some cover up lying compounded his problem. And what wouldn’t have been
a big deal had he come clean about it- turned into a much bigger deal. Needless
to say Ethan worked a very productive couple of days at a lemonade stand, just
to turn over his profits as restitution. And in the meantime heard lectures
from dad on honesty and integrity. An important lesson learned.
It starts early, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be this way.
For that one thing that you struggle with, God teaches us through the bible
three simple steps in overcoming our problem and having victory with our sins.
I didn’t personally make them up- so you know that they are much more reliable.
They really work.
11.) First, Go to God in earnest prayer to
help you stay away from the people, places, and situations that may tempt you.
Of course this is to help you to break the cycle. The other piece to it is true
repentance. I have found that in my own struggles, when I have approached God
seriously with this from the bottom of my heart he has provided a way out that
I then chose to take or not. But he provides it.
22.) Memorize and meditate on portions of
scripture that combat your weakness. I can’t stress that enough. Nothing else
could possibly train you as well as this as when you identify your problem
coming on. Its like a pessimist becoming an optimist. If they have really been
practicing optimism, it is much easier to see the pessimism when it comes out.
33.) Find another strong believer that you
can share your struggles with. Those individuals who I mentioned earlier who
have overcome their greatest struggles- its time for those people to shine.
Seek out someone who has won your battle. Would you rather disarm a bomb with a
hairdresser or a skilled demolition squad leader?
These simple steps can help us to
begin to live life differently- in a way that will build up our relationship
with God, as well as improve life in general. If we choose to follow them, who
knows what God could have in store for us. We didn’t get into the outcome of
today’s story with David, but after some solid discipline and David’s heartfelt
repentance, God used David in amazing ways. After all, David was the ancestor
of Jesus. And there is no greater honor than that.
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