2 Samuel 11:1-17 - Serious Sin
- Chad Werkhoven
- a few seconds ago
- 5 min read
Each sin is powerful enough to break every commandment, but God's grace is stronger!
2 Samuel 11:1–17 (NIV)
11 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 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “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!”
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
Canons of Dordt
Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints
Article 4: The Danger of True Believers’ Falling into Serious Sins
The power of God strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh.
Yet those converted are not always so activated and motivated by God
that in certain specific actions they - by their own fault - depart from the leading of grace,
and are led astray by the desires of the flesh,
and give in to them.
For this reason they must constantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptations.
When they fail to do this, not only can they be carried away by
the flesh,
the world,
and Satan
into sins,
even serious and outrageous ones,
They sometimes are carried away by God’s just permission!
Witness the sad cases, described in Scripture, of David, Peter, and other saints falling into sins.
Summary
This week we've been reviewing the sad stories of great Biblical men who stumbled into sin. Today we read the story of one of the Bible's greatest men - King David, the man after God's own heart - who fell face first into a series of some of the Bible's biggest sins.
The commandment violations David stacks up here are massive, starting with the entire second table of the Law, which governs our horizontal relationships. David's adultery and murder are obvious. Slightly less so, but still very plain, are his coveting and bearing false witness, in that his ploy bringing Uriah back home was nothing more than just a well orchestrated lie in hopes of covering up evidence.
David also stole another man's wife, breaking the fifth of the six commandments in the second table. But he shatters the sixth as well: he failed to honor his father and mother in that Bathsheba's father and grandfather were one of David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23) and a senior advisor respectively; both men had a bond with David closer than blood.
Certainly it's not possible to break the second table of the law without first shattering the first (which covers our relationship to the LORD). If we had the space we could demonstrate how David did that as well. But the point is made. David's sin crushed all ten commandments.
Dig Deeper
As we've studied the Canons of Dordt together this year, our theme has been demonstrating how it is that God's grace is stronger than we are. And this glorious truth shines the brightest in this fifth and final doctrine of the Canons, the perseverance of the saints. We read it so plainly last week in Article 3, that God is faithful... powerfully preserving us in the grace he conferred on us to the end.
So maybe it seems odd after a powerful promise like that to give a stark warning, but that's exactly what the Canons do here in Article 4. You must constantly watch and pray that you would not be led into temptations. When you fail to do this, you can be carried away... into sins, even serious and outrageous ones.
The Canons echo scripture in describing the three ruthless enemies that wage war against you in hopes of dragging you into sin:
The flesh - this is Sarx, your sinful human nature that scripture commands you to continually kill off. This is your most common and continual enemy, but it often works in tandem with its two allies:
The world - the wealth, money and power that Sarx continually lusts after;
and Satan - Let's not give the devil too much credit. He's not omnipresent like our God, so with billions of people in the world, you're not likely to face him directly. But Peter reminds us he's like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Thank God that His power strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh (and the world and Satan as well). Pray that the Holy Spirit will keep you activated and motivated to fight against the constant temptation you face.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose ten commandments cover every facet of our lives;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would constantly watch and pray that you may not be led into temptations;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: John 6
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