Temptation, Sin, And Consequences (Part 1) Series

Introduction:

A. Perhaps there have been times when you have felt like praying this prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, I think you’d be proud of me! So far today I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, lusted, lost my temper, haven’t been greedy, grumpy, or selfish. Praise Your Name! I’m grateful for Your grace. But Lord, a few minutes from now, I’m getting out of bed. From then on I’m going to need a lot MORE of Your help!”

1. Temptation and sin are an ever present, on-going struggle for all of us.

2. None of us, are exempt from its powerful draw and terrible effects.

3. Of all of the temptations and sins, none perhaps are as strong and devastating as sexual lust and sexual sin.

4. The Bible clearly warns us about these temptations with explicit commands and personal examples.

B. Today we turn the attention of our sermon back to our series on the life of David and we come to one of the darker moments in the life of this man after God’s own heart.

1. One of the things that makes the Bible the perfect Word of God is that it doesn’t flatter its heroes.

2. All the men and women of Scripture have feet of clay, and when the Holy Spirit paints a portrait of their lives, He’s a very realistic artist.

3. The Holy Spirit doesn’t ignore, deny or minimize the darker side of each person, including David.

C. It is interesting to me that the two stories that David is most remembered for have to do with two people – Goliath and Bathsheba.

1. The physical forms attached to these two people could hardly be more different – Goliath was an ugly, cruel giant and Bathsheba was a beautiful, gentle woman.

2. But as different as Goliath and Bathsheba were in appearance, there is a similarity in the place they hold in David’s life – both present him with a serious test.

3. The giant and the woman enter David’s life at contrasting times.

4. In the meeting with Goliath, David is young, unknown, and in many respects, untested.

5. In the meeting with Bathsheba, David is mature, well known, and thoroughly tested and tried.

6. In the first meeting, David emerges triumphant; in the second meeting, he goes down in defeat.

7. We will discuss what factors led to the victory on one hand, and defeat on the other.

I. The Story – As the story begins, we notice that David is at…

A. A Vulnerable Stage

1. Verse 1 begins: 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. (2 Sam. 11:1)

2. At this point, Davd was about 50 years old and had been king for two decades.

a. He has distinguished himself as a man of God, as a composer of psalms, and a valiant warrior and a powerful leader of God’s nation.

b. David was a man of passion and compassion.

3. Now keep in mind that we are not examining the life of a wild rebel or a sexual pervert.

4. David was a man who fell into a period of sin, and that sin will have devastating consequences for his family, his reign, and his nation.

5. David’s life at this point was like a neglected sea wall standing constantly against the barrage of the tide and the waves of the ever-pounding sea.

a. Unguarded and in a weakened state, it crumbled at his feet and he will pay a terrible price for his disobedience.

6. But we must realize that David didn’t fall suddenly; some chinks had already begun to form in his spiritual armor.

a. Back in chapter 5, verse 13, we notice that David was taking more concubines and wives, and more and more sons and daughters were being born to him.

b. This increase in the number of his wives and concubines was in direct disobedience to God’s commandments (Deut. 17:14-17).

c. David learned the hard way that having a harem of women doesn’t satisfy sexual passion it only increases it.

d. One of the lies of Satan that our society has taken “hook-line-and sinker” is that if you just give into your lustful desires, then they will be abated, but the opposite occurs.

e. One premarital hop in the sack turns into more; one affair turns into more than one; one glance at pornographic websites leads to an addiction.

f. Feeding the lustful appetite only intensifies it.

g. David’s lust and polygamy secretly began to erode his spirituality and integrity.

7. Another aspect of David’s vulnerability was his success.

a. In 2 Samuel chapters 5 through 11 we see nothing in David’s life except success.