We first moved into the house we live in 17 years ago. There is a huge pine tree outside which drops sap and pine needles everywhere. I still remember when it was about 10 feet tall. Lately I was thinking, if only I cut it down when it was still small. Now, it's a job that requires professional tree cutters and they would charge at least a thousand dollars to remove. Like so many things in life, it would have been better to deal with it earlier, but we often lack the foresight.
Maybe you have some sin that you are letting grow in your life. Maybe nobody knows about it, gossip, anger, greed, lust, pornography, hate, or judgementalism. If not dealt with through confession and repentance we are allowing it to grow to the point our lives can come crashing down. The Title of my message is "The Danger of Unconfessed Sin."
Our text today is 2 Samuel 11:6-17. The context before the passage is that King David fell for Bathsheba. He knew she was married but had her come to his palace anyway and he slept with her and she became pregnant. Read passage.
The first thing we see is that David hatches a plan to cover up his sin. He wants Uriah to come home and sleep with his wife so that her pregnancy will be explainable. He can walk away and let someone else take the credit for the pregnancy. Problem solved. Right?
So David sends for the husband, Uriah. He arrives at the palace, still tense and wound up from warfare. Obviously he is surprised to be called in like this. His mind is still in the battle, but he is forced to come to this meeting with the king. He's probably thinking, "what a time for a meeting; I'm needed on the battle field." So David meets him and appears to be making small talk.
"So, how's everyone? How's Joab? How are the rest of the soldiers holding up?" You can imagine Uriah's impatience with these questions.
When we mess up, do we look to place the blame on others or do we take responsibility for our actions? Unfortunately David felt he was powerful enough and had enough to avoid consequences.
The lesson we learn is that no matter how powerful we are, no matter how smart we are, the Lord will not allow us to get away with it. The Bible says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Galatians 6:7. It's a divine principle.
David's plan fails. He encouraged Uriah to go home but Uriah did not listen. He slept at the entrance of the palace. When David found out he did not listen he asked “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
Here you see the character of Uriah. His mind is not on himself like David. He said, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” Uriah is a loyal soldier and a man who cares about the ark of Israel. He puts God and others before himself.
So David has another idea, "I know, I'll throw a party and let a few glasses of wine to do the job." So he assures Uriah, just stay another day and I'll let you go back to the battle. He throws a party and it says, "David made him drunk." David thought the wine would make him forget about the battle and the men and the ark of God, but he was wrong. After the party, Uriah just took his mat and slept in the servants' area again.
So at this point David should have realized. OK, I better just confess to Uriah what happened. He could have brought him to the palace, close the doors, and maybe have a few of his bodyguards there just in case and say, "Uriah, I'm so sorry but I have sinned against you. Your wife Bathsheba is pregnant and I'm the guilty one. Please forgive me for doing this to you and to your family." What do you think Uriah would have done? It's possible he would have just showed mercy. We will never know. Instead, David went even deeper into sin.
The impact of unconfessed sin only multiplies. Do we have sins that we refuse to fess up to and keep living a lie?
Rather than accept that his plan has failed, David goes to the next level. He goes mafia on the guy: If you can't convince him nicely then have him killed. This is one of the most despicable, vicious things anyone has ever done to another person.
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab the commander and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and die." (vs 15) He basically signed the death sentence for an innocent man. How evil is that?
I can see him hurrying back to the battle field, glad to see his fellow soldiers and handing Joab the letter. Once Joab read it, no questions were asked, and what follows is so shameful and a stain on the wonderful life of King David. Poor Uriah was killed by an onslaught of arrows piercing his body until he could not move. Blood poured out of his body as his mind returned to his beautiful wife. He probably was thinking, "I should have gone home like king David told me so I could have kissed her for the last time."
David gets the news of Uriah's death and thinks, "Yes! Finally, everything is going as planned. Problem solved." But is it? Not even close. Read chapter 12. Soon Nathan will come to him with the truth that God knows what he did and the consequences will take the next 20 chapters to reveal: one heartache after another.
If we learn one thing it is that covering up of sin can do more damage than the sin that we are trying to cover up. The best thing is that we come clean. Every time we cover up instead of coming clean we are allowing our past to do more damage to our future.
Years ago I was introduced to a Christian man who was a real estate broker. I was interested in getting into that field so it was good to meet him. His company was worth millions. He was involved in his church and everyone looked up to him. Nobody knew his problem with sexual addiction. He was in the habit of filming women without their permission through secret cameras. He would also use selfie sticks to record his neighbors when they were in their bedrooms. The authorities were called and he was busted. They found thousands of pictures on his computer and he is currently serving a 4 year sentence. He lost all his employees. He even lost his wife. His life came crashing down because he was not willing to come clean.
How about us? Let us pray for mercy and go to those we have hurt and say we're sorry. Let us not allow pride to keep us living a life of secrets. Someone told me lately that secrets leads to shame. Shame keeps us locked in sin until it grows to the point we cannot do much about it but receive the worst consequences.
We are called to be sincere and honest in all things. The Bible says that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1John 1:9. Let us kill the sin before it grows. Let us kill our sin before it kills us.
Grace and peace to you and you walk in the transparency and sincerity of faith.
