# David’s Great Sin

Key Passage: 2 Samuel 11:1-5
Date: June 7, 2024

To 2 Samuel, chapter 11. We are continuing our study of the life of David, entering a new phase, if you will, of David’s life.

A little timeline of David’s life might be helpful before we get into it. I will read it for you.

1,040 BC. That is the birth of David. Don’t get too particular about the exact year. David lived approximately 1,000 years before the life of Christ. That might help you mentally get a time frame. Born to Jesse of the tribe of Judah, the youngest of eight sons. Very interesting, a little younger than I thought, and some will debate some of this, but I think it is fairly accurate.

Anointed king by Samuel when he was about 12 or 13, fairly young. Then killed Goliath the Philistine, which we think was around age 17, most would guess along there. Became a musician for King Saul around this time.

It gives particulars, which are very important if we are talking about a timeline. It says we do not know how old David was when he was anointed king, killed Goliath, or did most of the other things in his life. The only age stated is that he was 30 years old when he began to reign as king in Hebron. He ruled seven and a half years, and then was made king of all Israel. We try to factor the other ages around those known dates according to the Bible.

At 30 years old, he became king of Judah, the Southern Kingdom. Seven and a half years later, at 37 and a half, he becomes king over all Israel. Remember, he conquered Jerusalem and made that the capital. He was really the first of Israel to do that. We just went over this. Remember he brought the Ark to Jerusalem, and then he made plans to build the temple. God said no, but God gave him special promises. Around age 42 or 43, we think his age was there. After that time frame, he had great blessings. They enlarged their kingdom; we are skipping just to touch where they won so many battles and increased the kingdom.

So, just a time of prosperity. We are skipping over the details of battle after battle.

But then, Bathsheba, after killing her husband, Uriah. We are going to start on that subject tonight. We think he was 40, some say a touch older, somewhere along that line, when he commits the most known, the great sin most people talk about. Solomon is born a little while later to Bathsheba. Absalom’s rebellion is around age 60, then Solomon is anointed king right before David dies, after reigning 40 years. He is 70 years old when he dies.

King Saul reigned 40 years. David reigned seven and a half years over the southern kingdom, and 33 years over all Israel, and then Solomon reigned for 40 years also. This timeline helps us get some things in mind where we are. He is in his mid-40s where we are tonight.

Second Samuel, chapter 11. We will talk tonight about the gradual fall of David into sin. The gradual fall of David into sin. You will see where he is a little bit going downhill, if you will. We are going to search for that in 2 Samuel chapter 11.

Let’s stand, if you would. I will read the Bible to bring respect to it. Second Samuel 11, starting in verse 1. We will read down through verse 5, and then we will pray and go back verse by verse.

Verse number 1: “And it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.”

Verse 2: “And it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself: and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.”

Verse 3: “And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

Verse 4: “And David sent messengers and took her. And she came in unto him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived.”

Verse 5: “And sent and told David, and said, I am with child.”

Just to note before we pray and get going: Notice that phrase “with child.” It does not say “with fetus.” Twenty-six times the Bible says “with child.” Twenty-six times. It is pretty clear. God says that is the baby. In 26 places in the Bible, you can prove abortion is murder, for sure.

Bob Jones, Sr., who started Bob Jones University in South Carolina, is known for his quotes. He said, “It’s no disgrace to fail. It is a disgrace to do less than your best to keep from failing.” Did you hear that? “It’s no disgrace to fail. It is a disgrace to do less than your best to keep from failing.” He also said this: “Back of every tragedy in human character, there is a slow process of wicked thinking.” Sometimes people think someone just fell off the cliff. No, typically something has been going on for a while. Back of every tragedy in human character, there is a slow process of wicked thinking.

I want to look for this wicked process of thinking in David. Why did he fall? The great sin. We will study and see all the harm and repercussions. It is like when you throw a rock in a lake or a pond and you see the ripples. From this sin—when he committed adultery and eventually murdered her husband—there were ripples for years on his kids and on David. If we have time, we won’t do it tonight, but Bathsheba’s grandfather ends up committing suicide, most likely because of this. The effect of this sin is amazing and very tragic.

How could such a great man, after God’s own heart, get to this point where he is committing adultery with one of his loyal men? Uriah was one of his great men, one of his generals; David listed him among his mighty men. How could he commit adultery with this man who served him so loyally? How did David get there? I want to look at a couple of things tonight, and maybe God gives us a glimpse into how David sank to this low point, causing repercussions that wreaked havoc on his family. It is a sad thing.

Look back at verse 1. We will go verse by verse and pull up some things in the verse. “And it came to pass after the year was expired at the time…” They think this was springtime, when they could travel, be supplied with goods, and have battle. In our day, battles sometimes stop because of weather and cold. This was the season when they went to battle.

Notice this, which is very important: “At the time when…” What is the next word? Kings. At the time when kings go forth to battle. It did not say generals, though they typically did. David, you are the king. You cannot blame Joab; Joab was following David’s orders. David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel was out there, yet the king was not there.

They destroyed the children of Ammon. It was a great success. This was a time of prosperity for Israel; they had a good, strong military. They besieged Rabbah, the capital city, but David tarried still at Jerusalem.

I feel like I am starting to see that saying: “It is a disgrace to do less than your best to keep from falling.” This slow process of wicked thinking. We in our day, if you go to preachers’ meetings, hear preachers talk about how many people do not want responsibility. David did not want the responsibility. David stayed back at the palace when the kings should have gone to battle. David said, “I don’t want routine. I don’t want schedule. I don’t want responsibility.” Sometimes responsibility and schedule are your best friend. We praise the Lord for people willing to get involved in church. But so often we try to avoid it. When someone is trying to overcome an addiction, yet they do not have a regular job that keeps them on a regular schedule, that is a tough situation.

Can I be honest? Young people, close your ears. I did not like it when they did not have school, where they had to get up every morning and go to school, because schedule is a good thing. It teaches character. I have to get out and be somewhere on time. David just said, “I’ll let them take care of it.” David stayed home when kings should have gone to battle. That is when he failed.

Look over in Ezekiel, chapter 16, verse 49. He is talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, where God brought fire and brimstone down because of sodomy and homosexuality. How does God feel about it? Fire and brimstone is pretty clear. Jude 7 tells us that was an example to us, and that is in the New Testament as well. By the way, pray that your senators vote no to this Equality Act thing. Some of you already sent letters; I have not, and I need to work on it. But Ezekiel 16:49: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her.” This abundance of idleness—we say idleness is the devil’s workshop. An abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Isn’t it amazing when God cursed the ground? He said, “Adam, I am doing this for your sake. Man needs to get up and go work to provide. He needs that.”

I was in Chicago for years, doing ministries, bus ministry. The worst apartment complexes are the government subsidized ones. They will take a block, fix it all up, make it wonderful, and then let people move back in and give them everything they need. A couple of years later, it is back down where it used to be. They need purpose. They need to get up and go to work and provide. It builds integrity; it builds self-esteem when you have to work.

But David, when the kings were going off to battle, said, “No, I think I will just take it easy for a little while.” That is where he failed. Most would say the greatest mark against him is this. Many talk about reading your Bible through every year. You do not have to read it through every year, but you have to do it every day. I know it gets criticized—putting a checkmark on it—but you have to be in the book. There is something about scheduling, getting up every morning or every night before I go to bed. The blessing of a work schedule is so important to many people. The thing we sometimes hate is the thing that is so good for us. You can go soul winning any time; we ought to be trying to soul win all the time. But scheduling soul winning helps me focus. It helps me be soul conscious at other times. Schedule and routine are such good things. Be so careful when you get out of schedule.

Can I say something for a moment to the folks online? If some have already had their second shot and you have been out of schedule long enough, I understand there are true concerns. But for some of you, it is time to get back in schedule and just say, “Hey, I am just going to get in there.” If you had your second shot, friend, get back. It is easy to have a bad habit, but hard to have a good habit. Someone said, “You make your habits, and your habits make you.” David got out of schedule. He got out of habit. You know what makes you a great Christian? This is going to sound complicated. Here it is: Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. That makes great Christians. That is the best discipleship program. David just got out of sync. It was a time of prosperity. They had just enlarged their coast. Things were looking up. David was doing well.

Satan wanted to get Job. Satan took everything Job had: his money, his kids, his help. His wife was grieving and did not support him. Job said, “I will come forth as gold.” Maybe the devil took a note of that and changed his technique. In Revelation, concerning the church of Laodicea, Satan said, “Instead of taking everything, let me give them everything.” They were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing. What did God say about that church? He said He wanted to throw them up—lukewarm. They had everything. Sometimes I think Satan learns: maybe I cannot get them by taking everything away, but maybe I can get them by giving them everything in the world. I believe he has many Christians in America, including me from time to time, by just giving us everything.

David stayed in Jerusalem. Remember, David moved the capital to Jerusalem, the Hill of Zion, the City of David. I believe David loved it. Maybe David thought, “All those years in my 20s, when Saul was chasing me, I had to sleep in caves. I have done my time. I have my palace. I love this palace.” Maybe David said, “I will let them do their time; I have done mine.” So he was there in the luxury of this palace. Someone said, you are old if you are always talking about what you used to do, and you are still young if you are talking about what you are going to do. I love old brother Milton Hicks, who used to pastor several churches. He is in a nursing home. Because of COVID, people cannot visit, so he started a church in the nursing home. His son, Tony, said, “Dad was a habit.” He had 17 people in church on Sunday, and he was thrilled. I like that. He is still working for the Lord. Let’s keep going. David is at ease in Jerusalem.

Verse 2 is when he fell. We are trying to find out what happened behind the scenes—how he got to this point. “And it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed…” David had already been in bed. He gets up. Maybe he just had so much time; he could go to sleep and get up at any time. He had a life of ease, no schedule. David arose from his bed and walked upon the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

Notice this part: “…David arose from off his bed and walked.” Notice that he walked. He could not sleep. I wonder if maybe he was a little convicted. Maybe his conscience was bothering him: “My soldiers are out on the battlefield; I am usually out there, and I am sitting home.” Maybe that is why he could not sleep. He is walking on the rooftop for some reason. The Holy Spirit convicted him a little bit: “You are not out in battle.” Lazy people are never happy people. Involved people are happy people. But if I am continually lazy, I am not happy. David is walking; he cannot sleep. He had to rise from the bed and walk. Here is a very key word about him falling into sin: “…from the roof, he saw a woman.” That word “saw” is vital.

Remember Adam and Eve in Genesis 3? Satan came in the form of the serpent talking to Eve: “God did not really mean that you shall not surely die.” Eve was deceived, and Adam outright sinned. Look at Genesis 3:6. This is when the fall came to mankind. “And when the woman saw…” That is when the whole curse came. “She saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree would be desired to make one wise.” So she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Remember when the children of Israel came in under General Joshua and took Jericho? The next city was Ai. They got soundly beaten there; 36 men died. Joshua went to pray, and God said, “Get up off your face. There is sin in the camp.” They narrowed it down to one man: Achan. If Achan had owned up to it, he could have had mercy, but he did not own up until God pointed him out. Let me read what Achan said when he confessed after God pointed him out. It is in Joshua 7:21. Achan says, “When I saw…” His great sin caused people to die, and Achan and his family ended up dying. “When I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonish garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold, of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them.” He saw, then he coveted, and took them. “Behold, they are hidden in the earth in my tent, and the silver under it.” She saw. Achan saw.

Twice in the New Testament, the Bible says the light of the body is the eye. David, when he saw… I remember that song we used to sing in Sunday school: “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.” It is a great truth. If your eyes are not looking at the right thing, you are not going to win. What your eye affects your heart—what you are looking at. When David saw her, it was downhill from there. Can I suggest you ask the Lord about a couple of things in your life? What about the movies you watch? We have been overdosing on Little House on the Prairie. I said, I just do not want to go to movies; it is so hard to find a decent one. But your movies—are you bringing immorality into your home: drinking, cursing, wicked dress, adultery? It seems like so many shows try to include at least one homosexual character nowadays.

I was upset at other preachers because they laughed at a man who said he could not handle Facebook. He liked to argue on it. He said it was like a crack addict having a little bit, so he deleted it. I thought, “Praise the Lord for that man.” Pinterest? SnapChat? TikTok? Maybe that is where your joy is going. Maybe that is why you cannot win over lust. What you are seeing—when David saw her, it was downhill from there.

Can I say a word about Bathsheba? It does not say she was on the rooftop. She was washing, the Bible says. She sure was not concerned about modesty. Wherever she was—even in her bathroom—I am sure they had some kind of blinds in that day and time. Good, godly ladies like to be covered. David could see this was not right. Ladies, you do not want to attribute to the sin. I think we have very godly ladies at church. You do not want to attribute to the sin by saying, “Well, everybody else is doing it and wearing it.” I remember telling my dad, “Dad, everybody’s doing it.” And Dad said, “Not everybody is doing it because you are not doing it, boy.” You do not want to be a part of that. If you have to dress down to get a young man, that is not the manual. There will always be somebody else dressed down a little bit lower, a little bit worse. We better get to verse 3.

Verse 3: “David sent and inquired after the woman, and one said, Is not this Bathsheba? The daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Her grandfather was a Hithel. Uriah is one of your mighty men. He is a foreigner who left his country, the Hittites, and came over to Israel. Many of his mighty men were like that. He became one of your most loyal, faithful soldiers. You listed him among your mighty men. David, it ought to be enough just to know who she is to say, “Hands off.”

Sin will take you further than you want to go. It is a sad thing what sin will make you do. What lust will make you do. Jesus said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant thereof.” It is a sad, sad thing when mothers have their money stolen by sons because they need a fix. David takes the wife of one of his most loyal men, and what a sad state David fell into.

Let’s keep going. Verse 4: “And David sent messengers and took her.” It does not seem like she had a whole lot of choice in that matter, but it does seem like it changed. “And she came in unto him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from uncleanness.” Some say that is what she was doing when she was washing. And she returned into her house. They thought they had gotten away with it. They would just go on with their normal business like nothing ever happened. We will look at the next verse, verse 5.

“And the woman conceived and sent and told David, ‘I am with child.’” Can I just say something here? It might have been good if she just got right with the Lord and said, “I need to get back to my husband.” David is just as wicked as anyone. Sin always has a child. Always. Look over in Galatians 6: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Be sure your sin will find you out. Sin always has a child. Someone said, “Secret sin on earth is open scandal in heaven.”

You heard about the boy whose dad told him to plant an entire bag of corn. The boy wanted to go fishing, so he put a handful in every hole instead of one or two kernels. When Dad came home, the boy said he planted the whole bag. A month later, instead of one stalk, there was a whole lot of little stalks. You are not going to get any corn like that. It did not take Dad long to figure out what happened.

Sin always sprouts up. It will sprout up in your marriage; it will sprout up in your kids. It will always sprout up. Sin always has a child. What did Bob Jones, Sr. say? “It is no disgrace to fail. It is a disgrace to do less than your best to keep from failing.” The back of every tragedy in human character is a slow process of wicked thinking.

Original File: David’s Great Sin - Wednesday Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday PM - 3321