In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of David and Bathsheba from 2 Samuel chapter 11. He describes a scene where David and Bathsheba are together, knowing they have done wrong but feeling glad that they got away with it. However, the preacher emphasizes that even though God is not mentioned until the end of the chapter, He is still present and displeased with David's actions. The preacher emphasizes the importance of confessing and repenting of our sins instead of trying to hide or cover them up. He also warns against being deceived by Satan's tactics and encourages the congregation to be on guard.

From what I hear and read today about ministry and pastors and preaching, you're not supposed to like this morning's message. I'll just tell you that at the get go, because what they tell us pastors today is that people want it real soft. They want it real easy, and they don't really want to be challenged from the pulpit. They just want to be calmed and reassured and made to feel good. And this is going to be a message this morning that doesn't make us all feel good. It's a very challenging passage of scripture. Now, not that I'm against feeling good from God's word, but when the text causes us to feel good, I want us to feel good when the text challenges us and gives us a stern warning, then we should take that stern warning in hand. And that's what we're faced with this morning is a very bold, I'll say stark passage in God's word that will lead us to see the sweet psalmist of Israel, the greatest king, the nation of Israel ever knew the man after God's own heart sin in a way that we never thought was imaginable. Our text this morning is 2 Samuel chapter 11. We're going to begin at verse six. The last time we were in 2 Samuel 11, we looked at the first five verses where David committed the sin of adultery with this woman named Bathsheba. It's a well known biblical incident. David ignored the warnings God gave to him. David was not occupied with what he should have been occupied with. David did not take the way of escape that God gave to him when the temptation came. And David entertained temptation and temptation turned to lust and lust turned to adultery and adultery turned to pregnancy. That's where we left it last week in verse five, where Bathsheba, the very beautiful woman that David committed adultery with, sent a message to David saying, I'm pregnant. And this complicated the matter greatly because they had thought they got away with it, that it was a night of illicit pleasure that they probably contemplated repeating. But now David is faced with the consequences of his sin in a very bold way. What's going to happen when Bathsheba begins to show when it becomes apparent to everyone that she's pregnant and everybody knows that her husband is away at battle? And what's going to happen when people start connecting the dots? And the word goes about that Bathsheba was a mysterious visitor to the palace. Right around the time when that baby would have been conceived, surely there would be some in Israel who would say that the penalty of the Mosaic Law calls for this adulterous couple to be executed. It would be a scandal that would rock David's kingdom. So what do you do? What do you do when you sin and the consequences of your sin begin to find you out? Now you and I know what we should do. We should say, God, you're warning me. You're allowing the consequences to boil to the surface so that I will confess and repent before you now. That's how David should have received the news of Bathsheba's pregnancy. But he did not. David did what man has been doing since the time of Adam. When he sinned, he tried to cover it. And we're going to see David try to fit an awkward fig leaf over his guilty conscience, beginning here at verse six. Then David sent to Joab saying, send me Uriah the Hittite. This is Bathsheba's husband. And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war prospered. It's awkward making small talk like that when you really have an agenda, don't you? And David had an agenda. David had it all figured out. He said, I can hide my sin if I bring Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba's husband, bring him home from the front, have him spend time with his wife. Then when Bathsheba begins to show and everybody knows that she's pregnant, they'll just, well, look, Uriah was around at that time. Everybody can figure this one out. There's nothing strange. There's nothing unusual. And David can breathe a sigh of relief and Bathsheba can breathe a sigh of relief and Uriah, well, he'll be none the wiser. He's got it all figured out. He can hide his sin. He can cover it. But friends, can we clear away for a moment that fog of deception that sin puts us in? And do you know what that's like? Do you know what it's like to follow a course of sin down the road and you're just not thinking so clear anymore? That's where David was. If David would have thought for a moment, he would have considered that the whole concept of hiding our sin is a joke. Our sin is never hidden before God. What? He sees it. And it's only with great difficulty hidden from our conscience. Oh, you can do it. You work hard enough and you can ram your conscience with a battering ram until it doesn't yell at you so much anymore. But David wasn't right with God. He wasn't right with his conscience because our hidden sin hinders our fellowship with God and with others. And it's a barrier to spiritual life and power. Look, you may look all great on the outside here today at church. You may have given the proper smile, the proper handshake. If you're hiding sin today, you're not in the kind of fellowship with God that you could be. It's just not there. The Bible says that God is light. And if we have fellowship with him, we're going to walk in the light. And nobody might be able to tell. You know, there's not like a blue light that starts flashing in your head when you're not in the kind of fellowship with God that you should be. But you just don't know what you're missing out on, or maybe you do know. And that's why you need to confess. That's why you need to repent. That's why the idea of covering our sin, of hiding our sin, why why it's such a joke. And so we need to confess. We need to repent. David didn't want to. David wanted to hide his sin. And so he's making this small talk with with Uriah in verses six and seven. But finally, in verse eight, he gets to the point. And David said to Uriah, go down to your house and wash your feet, make yourself comfortable. So Uriah departed from the king's house and a gift of food from the king followed him. Here's the fruit basket, Uriah. Relax, make yourself at home, make yourself comfortable. There's you, the fireplace, the fruit basket and the little woman. You're on leave. Enjoy yourself. Nice plan from David's part, right? David, you're thinking, but he's not thinking. Do you think God's going to bless your attempt to cover your sin? Do you think the Lord's hand is in this, David? Look at what Uriah does in verse nine. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. So when they told David saying Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, why did you did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? And Uriah said to David, the ark in Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents. And my lord, Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and to lie with my wife as you live and as your soul lives? I will not do this thing. What an amazing man of honor and integrity Uriah is. David, how can I do this? David, I'm a team player and the team is out on the field of battle. It's not a water break for me until it's a water break for them. I'm not on leave until they're on leave. And so thank you for your kindness. Thank you for your hospitality. But I'm going to play like a team player, David. Far more honor, far more integrity in Uriah than in David himself. I think David was hoping that Uriah would be a little bit more like David. A little more given to just living by your passions. Uriah wasn't like that. A greater man of integrity than David himself. So David says, I've got to ratchet this plan up a little bit. It's not working. My sin isn't being covered. I have to hide my sin. I have to cover my sin. How am I going to make this happen? Well, here, look at what he does beginning at verse 12. Then David said to Uriah, wait here today also and tomorrow I'll let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Do you get the feeling that Uriah is itching to get back to the battle because he's a team player? Now, verse 13. Now, when David called him, he ate and drank before him and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his Lord. But he did not go down to his house. See, David says, I got to loosen this guy up a little bit. He wouldn't eat the fruit basket when I sent it to his house. I'll invite him to the palace for dinner. He can't refuse that. And Uriah couldn't. How can you refuse the hospitality that came? And so he ate at the king's table. He drank at the king's table. You could see David directing the butler. Take another thing of wine over to Uriah. David's thinking is my got to loosen the guy up. See, David knew very well that he was drunk with lust when he sinned with Bathsheba. He's hoping that by getting Uriah drunk with wine. He can get him to do this as well. But he wouldn't do it. Did you see that in verse 13? But he did not go down to his house. You know, some commentators believe that Uriah suspected some infidelity in Bathsheba. And that he avoided her out of suspicion or jealousy. I wouldn't doubt it. You know, many times I've seen the case where before an adulterous affair is exposed, it is suspected by the spouse that is victimized. Oh, there's no hard evidence. You know, there's not the smoking gun, so to speak. But it is suspected. And I wouldn't doubt it if Uriah suspected it here. Just something different in Bathsheba, something different in her countenance, in her mind, maybe in a word that she said, or maybe it was just almost supernatural knowledge. One old commentator, John Trapp, says it is like he smelt something. And maybe he did. In any regard, he did not enjoy these relations with his wife. Well, David tried twice to cover his sin and it didn't work. God's hand wasn't in it. So what does the man after God's own heart do? What is the sweet psalmist of Israel do next? Look at it there in verse 14. Then in the morning it was so that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter saying, set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retreat from him that he may be struck down and die. You know, there's nothing ambiguous in that letter. It's a death sentence. David just sentenced Uriah to death. Now he's going to cover it by making it happen on the field of battle and by doing it at the hand of another man. But he has sentenced Uriah to death. And we scratch our heads. We think of how Joab must have felt getting this letter. Can you see Joab out there? He's handed this letter by Uriah. He opens it up and he's looking at Uriah as he reads this. And he's thinking, why would David make this man give me his own death sentence? Something's going on here. I can imagine Joab thinking, you know, that master of mine can sing psalms with the best of them. Well, I really heard him praise the Lord. But now there's some dirty work to be done and he wants me to do it for him. OK, David, I'll do it. But, you know, Joab was a cunning man and basically he did this so that he would have something to hold over David's head. And then you think of Uriah. Uriah, a man so trusted by David that he trusted him to deliver his own death sentence without opening it up. Can you imagine that? David honors Uriah so much that he's going to kill him. He's going to murder him. We think of Joab. We think of Uriah. Oh, but then we think of David having failed to cover his sin. David said, well, the only way I can think to get out of this is to have Uriah dead. Friends, many adulterers secretly wish that death would free them to marry the object of their adultery. Oh, and Satan whispers deception into ears. Well, why has this person come into my life? As if God brought that person you're committing adultery or contemplating adultery with into your life. Oh, well, maybe it's because God is going to take my spouse home. And you find a twist, a turn, and your heart is filled with the subtle way it's filled with murder. Now, we look at this and we're amazed at David, we're absolutely amazed. We say this, this is unbelievable. I mean, David, look at the progression that you've gone down. I mean, David started off by just indulging his sensual lust. He did that by marrying many women. Let's not forget that David had five or six wives at the time he committed adultery with Bathsheba. So here's David indulging his sensual lust, not saying no to himself. And then he's ignoring God's warnings. God tried to tell David you need to be out at battle. David ignored it. And then he he ignored God's ways of escape. You know, when he asked, who is that woman? David was told it's it's Bathsheba. Well, David knew who Bathsheba's husband was. Uriah the Hittite, one of David's mighty men, a trusted assistant to David. And he knew who Bathsheba's grandfather was. Another trusted counselor to David named Ahithophel. That was God's way of telling David, no trespassing here, David. Stop. Get back. Back away. But he didn't. He ignored God's warnings. He ignored God's ways of escape. And he allowed temptation to turn into lust and lust to turn into adultery. And then when the consequences of his adultery threatened to expose that sin, he tried to cover it first with deception. And when that wouldn't work, he wanted to cover it with murder. Friends, pay attention to how Satan works. Satan could have never dumped this load on David at once. Hey, David, here's the here's the package. First, I want you to indulge your sensual lust for years, then ignore God's warnings, then ignore God's ways of escape, then let temptation turn into lust, lust into adultery, adultery into deception and covering up and finally murder a man who trusts you and is a trusted helper to you. How about that, David? What do you think David's going to answer to that kind of invitation? Not in a million years, David would say. If Satan were to tempt him with that, David would almost be offended. He'd look at the devil square in the eye and say, what kind of man do you think I am? And the devil would say back to him, you're the kind of man that I've trapped many times before because I'm going to bring you to this place, but I'm not going to dump it on you all at once. I'm going to lead you step by gradual, wretched step. And we know that that's how Satan spins this web of deception one strand at a time. And so today you're patting yourself on the back because you say, well, I haven't murdered anybody. Well, no, take a step back. Well, at least I'm not committing adultery. Take a step back. Well, I'm really not lusting after somebody. Take a step back. Well, I'm really not entertaining temptation. We'll take a step back. Well, I'm really, you know, not taking God's ways escape or I'm not indulging sensual lust. Do you see the point, my friends? Stop it after the first strand, after the first step, Satan knows how to build it step by step. This was the sweet psalmist of Israel. This was the man after God's own heart. Who here is more spiritual than David? Who here has a greater heart after God than he did? And if he could fall, you can too. I'm going to be bold enough to say, don't you dare think in your mind that it couldn't happen to you. Well, I'm on guard. You know, I'm safe. I'll keep an eye out for it. You know, you get down on your knees before God and you see if in any way whatsoever you're compromising in one of these areas and you say, God, keep me from it. I need the every hour. That's where David failed. And when we fail, that's where it is. There's a sense in which we mourn over David's sin with him. But there's another sense in which we thank God that it was allowed. Because God's trying to show you something. If this could be David, it could be you. Unless you honestly think you're more spiritual than the writer of all those songs, if that's you, fine, let me know after service. We found our next pastor, then, you know, it's not a problem at all. No, we need to live on guard and completely dependent upon the Lord, because you you've heard that old cliche, that old illustration. It's sort of, you know, been done over a thousand times, but it's pretty accurate one, you know, the one about the frog in the kettle. You put the frog in and there's a pot of boiling water. And if you throw the frog in there, the frog is going to instantly feel the heat of that and just jump out right away, perhaps be a bit scalded, but at least not boiled. That's not going to work for boiling the frog. Oh, but you put the frog in the kettle where the water is just room temperature, and the frog's kind of happy in that water, and then you turn on the heat. And as the heat just slowly escalates and gets hotter and hotter, pretty soon you have boiled frog. Well, that's how Satan gets us, too, folks. God, keep us on guard. Keep me on guard. And, friends, you need to know. I hope this is a given among us, that it's something that almost goes without saying, but it is helpful for me to say it from time to time, that I preach to my self just as much as I preach to any of you. I'm not here as the expert instructing the ignorant. I am here preaching to myself as well. Verse 18, Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war and charged the messenger saying, When you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king, if it happens that the king's wrath rises and he says to you, Why did you approach so near the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who struck Abimelech, the son of Jerubashech? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebes? Why did you go near the wall? Joab is anticipating that David would protest the loss of men in battle. And he's quoting something that happened in the days of judges that generals should have been instructed by. Then you shall say. Your servant, Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also. So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him, and the messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field. Then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. The archers shot from the wall at your servants and some of the king's servants are dead. And your servant, Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also. Then David said to the messenger, Thus you shall say to Joab, Do not let this thing displease you. For the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it. So encourage him. Oh, the sword devours one as well as another. David's kind of sending the message back to Joab. Well, you know, these things happen in battle, but they don't happen in battle. Kings don't send trusted, valiant men deliberately to their death so that the king's own sin can be covered. When David heard that Uriah, the Hittite, was dead, he breathed a sigh of relief. Oh, now my sin is covered. I got away with it. I can make it through this. I can hang on. Maybe he even thought, and friends, our minds can get this perverted under the deception of sin. Maybe he even thought that God was now blessing his plans. So look what happens. Verse 26, When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when her mourning was over, it was probably seven days, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Now, we have no reason to believe that Bathsheba was in on the plot to murder Uriah. If I had to guess, I would say she knew nothing of it. There's no compelling reason why David would need to tell that to her. And she probably wouldn't want to be party to it as well. But at the same time, friends, I'm going to suggest to you, and I can't say this with absolute certainty, I offer it to you somewhat as a speculation, but knowing human nature, I'll suggest to you that Bathsheba was partly relieved to hear of her husband's death, because she was going to be found out as well. She knew that the whole thing of bringing Uriah home on leave, she knew that that failed. She knew that the sin wasn't covered. She knew that the problem was still out there. She knew that in a matter of weeks, she would start showing. She knew that there was a difficulty here. And she, well, dare I even say it, praised the Lord. This is an answer to a problem. She was probably inwardly glad because now she was not going to be punished as an adulteress. Now, now she was a queen, the wife of a king. Nothing new for David to add another wife. This was number six or seven. Now, you'll just add one more. And you know what? This is this is slick. David covers his sin and comes out looking like a hero. Look at how compassionate the king of Israel is. Here is this poor widow. Her husband valiantly died in battle. And look, she's pregnant with her husband's child, of course, because, you know, dead men tell no tales. And the king of Israel has such compassion on this widow that he brings her into his house and he's going to take care of her. What a compassionate man that king of Israel is. If I was filming this, friends, I would make the camera kind of come back and there's David and Bathsheba in a room in front of the fireplace and they know they shouldn't be all glad because Uriah is dead. But at the same time, they're glad. And they're thinking, I got away with it, we we got away with it. It was a mess, but it got covered somehow. And maybe maybe this is how it should have been all along, Bathsheba's thinking and perhaps David as well. But you saw the last line of the chapter, didn't you? But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Do you understand that that's the first mention of God in the entire chapter? Now, it's not that God wasn't present. He was there all around. God was there warning David. God was there giving him a way of escape. God was there making his plans to cover his sin fail. But David determined in his sin, God allowed him to commit it. But at the end of it all, even when David, even when Bathsheba, they thought they covered it all up, they thought they got away with it. They didn't get away with anything. This set David upon a period in his life that he describes in Psalm 32. Remember what I said about your hidden sin, breaking and disturbing your fellowship with God? This is how David describes his relationship with the Lord during this time when he's hiding his sin. He says, when I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all day long for day and night. Your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality turned into the drought of summer. Until David says that he confessed his sin unto the Lord and God restored him. What did David get away with? Nothing. Because this was the man after God's own heart and God had his hand upon him. And he was under intense conviction. All the joy in his life evaporated and he knew the stress and the agony of living a double false life. Maybe some of you right now, this morning, you're living a double life. Now, you're one thing at church, you know how to put on the smile. You got the church thing down pretty good. Man, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, you're living a double life, because if your life was an open life, because if your life was an open book, you'd be horribly ashamed. You know, that causes incredible psychological stress upon a person when they live a double life. And God never meant for you to live a double life. Remember that old soap opera, I don't know if they have it around anymore. One life to live. Well, that's what God wants for you. One life to live, not two, but one life fully sold out for Jesus Christ. And if you're living a double life, I pity you this morning. My heart goes out to you. God wants to fix that. You think that the safe place for you to be is in the place of hiding your sin. You're deceived. The safe place for you to be is in confession and repentance. And the more you have loved God, the more miserable you're going to be in hiding your sin. And God's offering you a release this morning, a way of escape. He's saying, free yourself. You might be like David in that terrible place where you got too much sin in you to be happy in God. But you've got too much God in you to be happy in sin. And you're in the worst possible place. Well, God will deal with David. And he will sing sweet psalms again. You can be sure of it. But I want you to be assured that he didn't get away with anything. He paid a price. He's paying it in the dryness of his own soul. And there would be more to pay, as we're going to see in the next chapter. Friends, is God holding out before you a way of escape right now? Take it. Is he speaking to you about hidden sin in your life or sin that you're covering? Forsake it. Confess it. Do you see the love of God to you this morning, giving you these warnings? He doesn't want you to have this dry, leanness that's in your soul. He wants to bless you and fill you and have you enjoy a fellowship with him that you can only dream of right now. I'm going to pray. The prayer team will come up and the worship team will come up as I pray. I think there should be many people who come up and speak with the prayer team this morning. Because I am convinced this touches many lives, if not in the direct sin of adultery or immorality, then in some other related sin that the Holy Spirit's been speaking to your heart about. These principles apply across the board. So let me pray and ask the Holy Spirit to deal with this now. Lord, won't you do that? Won't you send your Holy Spirit now? It's possible, Lord, though to my mind it seems unlikely that there might be some unconvinced hearts here this morning. I don't know how we could be unconvinced when we see it so plain in your word. Lord, if there are unconvinced hearts this morning, then right now touch them and bring them low by your Spirit. Not for the sake of bringing them or leaving them low, but for the sake of clearing away every hindrance and every hidden sin to lift us up to a better place in you. Pour out your Spirit upon this congregation and upon me, Lord. We yield ourselves before you this morning. Come with power now, Lord, and move by your Spirit in Jesus' name. Amen. you