The Careless Path to Sin; II Samuel 11:1-5

Sermons

Bro. Tim Baker
First Baptist Church Festus/Crystal City, MO
II Samuel 11:1-5

Download: June 29, 2008 AM Audio, mp3

1 Cor 10.12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. NASU

1. Prosperous times can become hazardous.

   1. 1. 1. A confidence in our own security is no evidence that we are safe. Barnes Commentary

            1. 1. 1. David had reached the height of his success.

                     1. He had become king over both Judah and Israel.

                     2. God made a covenant with David that his house and kingdom will endure forever. II Samuel 7.16

                     3. He was triumphant time and again in battle. II Samuel 8

                     4. He had made a name for himself and the LORD helped David wherever he went. II Samuel 8.13

                     5. He had brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. II Samuel 6.15-19.

                  2. We must never allow what we have done or who we are keep us from knowing that we are sinners.

                     1. All flesh is equally week.

                     2. Pride cometh before a fall.

1. 1. 1. 1. David made a deliberate choice to not go and fight with his army. 11.1

            1. 1. 1. In times past, that is where he would have been (5.1; 8.1-14; 10.17).

                  2. However, now he found himself at a place in which he was susceptible to the temptation of Satan.

                     1. He had idle time on his hands.

                     2. Satan was going to tempt him in one of his primary week spots.

1. You cannot fall off until you have inched your way to the edge.

Crumbling is not an instant’s act,

A fundamental pause;

Dilapidation’s processes

Are organized decays.

‘Tis first a cobweb on the soul,

A cuticle of dust,

A borer in the axis,

An elemental rust.

Ruin is formal, devil’s work,

Consecutive and slow—

Fail in an instant no man did,

Slipping is crash’s law.

- Emily Dickinson

1. 1. 1. 1. Areas of private neglect begin to take their toll.

            1. 1. 1. David became vulnerable by not heeding the Word of God.

Deut 17.14-17 14 “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘ I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. 16 ” Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 “He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. NASU

2 Sam 5.13 Meanwhile David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron; and more sons and daughters were born to David. NASU

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. David indulged himself perhaps by his own accomplishments and found himself at a place he shouldn’t have been.

1. 1. 1. 1. The warnings become more and more difficult to see and hear.

James 1.13-15

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. NASU

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. The conviction of God is lessened by our deliberate actions of time and again refusing to heed warning. Because of David’s indulgence in women, it became difficult for him to not take what he wanted when he saw Bathsheba, lusted for her, and then made the decision to follow through with what he was thinking.

                  2. We even neglect to listen to the warnings of someone else. Even his servant spoke to him and said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” II Samuel 11.3b

1. The desire of the flesh

   1. 1. 1. Anyone is susceptible

In our members there is a slumbering inclination toward desire, which is both sudden and fierce. With irresistible power, desire seizes mastery of the flesh. All at once a secret, smoldering fire is kindled. The flesh burns in its flames. It makes no difference whether it is a sexual desire, or ambition, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money…

At this moment, God is quite unreal to us. He loses all reality, and only one desire for the creature is real. The only reality is the devil. Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God. The lust thus aroused envelopes the mind and will of man in deepest darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us.

- Dietrich Bonhoffer, Temptation

Read II Samuel 11.4

1. 1. 1. 1. We must flee from temptation

Therefore the Bible teaches us in times of temptation in the flesh, there is one command: Flee! Flee fornication. Flee idolatry. Flee youthful lusts. Flee lusts of the world. There is no resistance to Satan in lust other than flight. Every struggle against one’s own strength is doomed to failure.

- Dietrich Bonhoffer, Temptation

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Posted by Valerie on June 29, 2008