2 Samuel 11:1-5

The Fall of a Giant Killer

 

Introduction:  We discovered over the last few weeks that Saul had grown to hate David and desperately wanted him dead. After a long chase in which David had continued to elude Saul, Saul finally died and David ascended to the throne. There David had distinguished himself as a trusted leader of his people. He was a man of passion and compassion. He led the people in righteousness and now had two decades of sterling leadership on his resume. His military boundaries now reached 60,000 square miles. His army was undefeated. The country was financially healthy; David had a beautiful home and was making plans for a new temple of the Lord. And we discovered that the reason for David’s success was that the Spirit of the Lord was with him. Things were good, in fact, they were very good.

But the Bible never flatters its heroes. When it paints a portrait of their lives it’s a very realistic one. It doesn’t ignore, deny or overlook the dark side.

With that said we find ourselves today reading about a sin which has received more press than any other sin, save the sin of Adam and Eve.

Somehow David became so entangled in sin that it drug him to a new depth in his life, a place where he never thought he would end up. David, the giant killer, the writer of beautiful Psalms committed not only adultery but premeditated murder. Who would have ever thought?

What makes this sin even so much more difficult to swallow was the fact that this was David, you know the same one who was said to be “a man after God’s own heart.” Everyone looked up to him! How could he have fallen?  The purpose of this sermon is to warn us although God gives us the victory over our giants, that even the giant killers can succumb to the flesh and sin—which will cause us to become ineffective in our efforts for Christian service.

 

I.                   Sin will take place when there is Idleness (vv.1-3)

bullet(v.1) Idleness came as a result of tarrying instead of going to where he should have been in the first place.
bullet(v.2) Idleness caused him to start roaming, instead of being in devotion.
bullet(v.3) Idleness caused him to go a step further instead of running from the temptation.

 

II.                Sin will always cost you more than you want to Pay (vv.4-5)

bulletIsn’t it interesting that the Devil never tips his hand in temptation? He only shows us the beauty, the ecstasy, the fun, the excitement of stolen desires.
bulletHe never tells the heavy drinker, “Tomorrow morning there’ll be a hangover. Ultimately, you’ll ruin your family.”
bulletHe never tells the drug user early on, “This is the beginning of a long, sorrowful, dead-end road.”
bulletHe never tells the thief, “You’re going to get caught, friend. You do this, and you’ll wind up behind bars.”
bullet He certainly doesn’t warn the adulterer, lust, “You know, pregnancy is a real possibility.” Or, “You could get a life-threatening disease.”

 

III.             Sin will always take you further than you want to go (vv.6ff)

bulletThere’s something about sin that causes us to get deeper and deeper into it before we realize what we’ve done and by the time we look for help it’s too late. It’s kind of like quick sand. The more we get into it the more we struggle and the more we struggle the deeper we get into it.
bulletAfter having attempted to get him drunk and send him to his wife with no success he sent a note with this soldier back to the commander that he was to be placed on the front line of the fiercest battle and withdrawn from so that he would be killed. And his plan worked. Uriah was killed in battle and following his death David took Bathsheba as his wife.

 

Conclusion: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again.” (But Humpty hadn’t met Jesus) (Ps.51)