In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the story of David and his mistakes. He highlights three mistakes made by David, which ultimately led to disastrous consequences. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of being cautious about the temptations and sins that we expose ourselves to, particularly through technology. The sermon concludes with the message that God sees our sins, cannot ignore them, but also offers forgiveness if we confess and repent.

It used to be when you went to the cinema that there were three categories, certificates of films. There was a U film for suitable for anyone I guess and the A film, children have to be accompanied by a parent I think up to a certain age and then there was the X rated film, only adults could go to that film. The passage that we are looking at this morning and to some extent the words that I will be speaking this morning I would put into the X rated category. Let's turn to God's Word, 2 Samuel chapter 11, 2 Samuel chapter 11 and we start to read from the beginning of this chapter. Now 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 Raba, but David remained in Jerusalem. 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 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, isn't this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her. She had purified herself from her own cleanness. Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David saying, I'm pregnant. So David sent this word to Joab, send me Uriah the Hittite and Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 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. But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all the master servants and did not go down to his house. When David was told Uriah did not go home, he asked, haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home? Uriah said to David, the Ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents and my master Joab and my Lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife, for surely as you live I would not do such a thing. 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. 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. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it to Uriah. In it he wrote, put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest, then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die. So while Joab had the city under siege he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 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 was dead. Let's go over to chapter 12 the first verse there. The Lord sent Nathan to David when he came to me said, there were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a large number of sheep and cattle but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it and grew it up with him and his children. He shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arm. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him. David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, as surely as the Lord lives the man who did this deserves to die. He must pay for that lamb four times over because he did such a thing and had no pity. Then Nathan said to David, you are the man. We leave the reading there let's pray. Heavenly Father sometimes we have to look at things that are unpalatable and here is a very difficult passage of scripture but it is therefore there it is there in scripture and therefore we must look at it and we pray that you'll help us to sensitively understand it and what you're saying to us through it for Jesus sake amen. The one thing I like about the bible is this it's totally honest it never glosses over things it never builds up people to be what they are not and that's so with the case of David. Oliver Cromwell was having his portrait painted and when he met the artist he said to the artist he said when you paint me he said paint me with warts and all and here we have a story of David with warts and all if you like. It's a story as colourful as any soap opera it's been the subject of more than one Hollywood film it's a story that school boys snigger at and sometimes the church has avoided it but above all it's a warning it's a warning to you and to me of the subtlety of temptation and the disastrous consequences of sin. Now as we look through this story I want to point out to you three mistakes two results and one hope three mistakes made by David two results that came from his mistakes and one hope that he had in the end. Now at this point in David's life when he was at the pinnacle of his career he was the king over all Israel he was a soldier he was a politician he was a musician he was a poet seems no manner no end to the talents that this man had never had there been more success for Israel as a nation they have more territory than they ever had before. David he was loved by the people he was served by the soldiers he was followed by the crowds and he had everything that he could possibly have wanted and we're told about David this that he was a man after God's own heart yet he had a flaw. I want to look at this mistakes that David made first of all and when I say mistakes that's probably a mild word to use we're talking about sin three mistakes that David made the first mistake was this that he was in the wrong place David was in the wrong place it tells us there in the very first verse that we rang that we read together in the spring at the times when kings go off to war where was David he had stayed behind there in Jerusalem David should have been with his troops out there on the battlefield it's not like wars today it tends to be that politicians send soldiers off to battles that's only a recent event even going back to you won't remember you weren't there in 1413 what the battle of Agincourt King Henry V he was there with his troops and if you saw the film of Henry V probably the first version with Lawrence of Libya you remember how he says to his troops there we few we happy few we band of brothers for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother or whether Henry V said that or not I don't know what we do know was that he was there with his troops that was the place where king should be and that is where David should have been there with his troops leading them into battle but instead he'd gone back to Jerusalem he'd gone back to the luxury of his palace and there he was indulging in living luxurious life while his men were dying on his behalf I don't know what had happened to David but it was seen from reading this that somehow he'd become a little idol certainly he had become proud and he had left himself open to temptation Proverbs 16 18 says this pride goes before destruction a haughty spirit before a fall I read this somewhere recently someone said that you linger too long at high altitudes and your hearing dulls and your eyesight dims I don't know what had happened maybe the heady wine of power had begun to turn his head but he was in the wrong place let me say this to each of us here this morning if you are in the wrong place the wrong place mentally in your thought life in the wrong place physically where you are going what you are doing the wrong place spiritually in that you're not in a right relationship with God then if you are in a wrong place you leave yourself open to temptation are you in the right place this morning where are you going what places are you going to are you going to places that you shouldn't really be going to what are you doing what are the things that you are doing what are you thinking about what's filling your thought life at this time what things are you saying are you conscious at this time that you are in God's will now being in the right place you won't avoid temptation but when you're in the right place it is a better place to overcome temptation and David was in the wrong place that was the first mistake the second mistake was this that he failed to control his vision his eyesight David was back there in his palace and he'd gone to bed that night and he was restless he couldn't sleep probably he was thinking about the fact that he should really been out there on the battlefield and he got up out of his bed there was nothing good on the telly so he went out for a walk on the roof and in those days the palaces were made in that way they were patio rooms with beautiful gardens and he went out there and he walked on the rooftop and as he looked over from the palace he saw a lady a beautiful young lady we're told there and she was bathing and bathing costumes weren't invented in those days you know what I mean and he saw that she was beautiful and at that moment he should have run away in the opposite direction but instead of that he feasted his eyes upon her and before long he's having her brought another into his and the next thing they're sleeping together this is David the man after God's own heart Billy Graham said this you can't help the first look but you can help the second actually David it seems had been going down a slippery slope for some time he must have been drifting away from Israel in his relationship with God you see he'd taken to himself several wives and concubines as they're called their mistresses which was directly against what God has said in the book of Deuteronomy when it speaks about if Israel were to take a king for themselves it says that you are you must not take many wives this is what God said the king must not take many wives or his heart will be led astray Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 17 but we read in 2 Samuel chapter 5 verse 13 that after he left Hebron David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem and more sons and daughters were born to him he had a weakness in this direction and he'd been going down this way he'd been slippery sliding down this slope and here he's opened his eyes and he opened them up so that temptation had come in and that temptation had been realized in sin and it's with our eyes we can either open or shut the window of temptation but the more we open that window the more temptation is likely to realize it itself in sin for you and for me that's why Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5 he says you've heard that whatever what was said do not commit adultery but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart no one is exempt with our eyes we can open up ourselves to all sorts of temptations and if we do well upon it we let those things in sin will take place and we like David will fall no one is exempt 1 Corinthians 10 12 says this so if you think you are standing firm think that can't happen to me listen to what the apostle says if you think you are standing firm be careful that you don't fall let me be absolutely blunt and frank here I think I can here in this church sex is one of God's beautiful gifts to his people to be used in the right way in the context that he prescribes but distorted set a distorted view of sex is one of satan's most powerful weapons of temptation so many fall through this oh just a few weeks ago well let me start at the beginning we have a friend he's a pastor been in the ministry for many many years very dear friend to us he's one of the finest pastors I know superb in his visitation a great bible teacher we shared together we prayed together at one time he wanted me to work with him together we hadn't heard from him for some time and then just a few weeks ago I received an email from him it was a long email and he said Robin he said I'm no longer in the ministry he said it happened like this that when I got on my computer I started to go into sites that I shouldn't be going into I got involved in pornography and this has gone on and grown and it's led me to go to places I shouldn't go to to massage parlors and other places it says it caused heartache to my family my marriage is almost broken I've been put out of the church he said he said I've been suicidal didn't know where to turn I didn't have many words I could say to him but you see that's what sin does and why I tell you that story is if one because you'll no one here will let one know who I'm talking about but also because it's one of the problems that's facing us today as a society with our computers and this is one of the ways that satan is getting into people not only outside there but in the church with our eyes we're opening up ourselves to things that we should not be seeing and they lead us down a very dangerous path let me ask you this morning who are you looking at men who are you looking at what are you what are you looking at what are you watching on the television what are you reading what magazines are you reading are you pulling some of those off the top shelf what are you watching what are you looking at on the computer I've said to someone before now it's better you get rid of the computer than fall into sin we are all vulnerable equally so male female young and old with our eyes we can open up ourselves to all sorts of things it's a danger field but it's not new one of the earliest people in the bible was a man called job he faced the same situation I like the way that job deals with it job says this I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl I think that's the answer you make a covenant with your eyes decide before God what you're going to put your eyes upon what you're going to look upon well let's move on to the story of David now and the third mistake he made was this he tried to cover up his sin have you ever been on a roller coaster I haven't been for a long time and I don't think I will be now a few weeks ago well actually I think it's just two or three weeks ago some folk were stuck on a roller coaster must have been a horrible experience for them they had to be rescued you know what happens you go up on a roller coaster it's great up there at the top isn't it and you look down then you go rolling down get to the bottom then you go back up again and then there's another it goes on and you cannot get off once you're on that roller coaster you cannot get off and that's what was happening here with David he could not get off this roller coaster sin that he got himself involved in Bathsheba comes back to him and she knocks on his door and says David you know the other night we spent together well I'm pregnant blunt us that I am pregnant you know David he could have stopped there all right he couldn't undo what was done but he could have stopped it there he could have confessed his sin before God and asked for forgiveness and tried to sort out the mess but he didn't so like a character from Blackadder he says I have a cunning plan and the cunning plan number one is this I'll bring Uriah back from the battlefield he brings Uriah back from the battlefield on the pretense of getting a report on how the battle is going and he thinks if Uriah comes back here he can spend some time at home and go back to be with his wife he'll sleep with his wife and no one will then know who the baby belongs to but Uriah does not go back to his house he's a very honourable man and he sleeps with the servant and says I cannot while the men are out on the battlefield while the ark of the covenant is in the midst of the battle I cannot be back there with my wife eating and drinking and the rest of it David could still have got out of it he could have stopped there but he didn't so he brings plan B into operation he gets Uriah to come round to his palace once again and he brings him there for the evening and they have a slap-up meal I don't know what was on the menu but it was pretty good I'm sure and David gets Uriah drunk the idea is this he's so drunk he goes back to his wife he won't know what has happened what has done and no one will know who the baby belongs to but that didn't work because again Uriah spends the time after the feast even whilst he's drunk sleeping with the king's servants David could have stopped but he didn't you see this is how the slippery slope of sin goes and he was sliding down it at a fast rate now he was getting deeper and deeper into it so now what he does is this he sends a message back to Joab the commander of his troops in the field and he sends it back with Uriah and he says look put Uriah in the front of the fighting when the battle is at its fiercest and then pull all the men back from Uriah so that he is hit and he is killed do you see what's happened here no longer is David just an adulterer but now he has become a murderer as well he's been going down that slope sliding further and further down you cannot cover up sin do not be deceived Paul says right into the Galatians God cannot be mocked a man sows what a man reaps what he sows the one who sows to please his sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction the one who sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life David should have confessed that he was wrong he should have repented before God before it got worse but he just let it all go and he slid further and further down into the pits look if you this morning are in a relationship that you should not be in if you are doing something that you should not be doing and you know it is wrong in the sight of God stop now get out of it confess it before God repent of your sin move away from it now it will not be easy I know that it will cost you but it's better that that than that than you reap the wrath of God that's the alternative well that's his mistakes I want to look very briefly now at the results of his mistakes David suffered two results I'm sure that David and Bathsheba when they spent their night together in the king's bedroom they enjoyed their romp around you see sin is pleasurable for a season but they had not counted upon the terrible cost of sin the wages of sin would have to be paid it always demands a heavy price and David had to pay a very heavy price for his sins comes along another character now enter Nathan the prophet Nathan the prophet comes along very bravely I think but most of those prophets in the old testament were brave men he comes along and he confronts the king he confronts David and he does it in a very clever way he tells a story and he tells this story like this there were two men one was very rich he had flocks and cattle and everything he needed lots of it and there was a poor man in the same town and he just had one little lamb he brought it up by hand he'd he'd fed it by bottle himself he looked after it himself it was a pet it was like one of his children is it's the most precious thing that he had and then someone came to the town they were a traveler and the rich man wanted to make a feast for the traveler who come along but he didn't take one of his own flock he went to the poor man and he turned his pet lamb into a roast dinner David heard that story and he was angry it tells us there he was so angry at what he had heard he said this man must be punished he can't get away with this surely he's gonna die and Nathan points his bow finger at David and says you are the man you are the man you're the one who has not only offended Bathsheba and Uriah you've offended God and you must pay for your sin a sword will come into your household there will be trouble for the rest of your life here the two results of David's sin the first is this it affected others David's sin affected let's have a list Bathsheba for a start I know that she was compliant with David but maybe she was put under pressure because he was the king I don't know but certainly her marriage broke up and she lost her husband there was Uriah not only did he lose his wife but he lost his life as well all these were affected then there was Joab Joab the commander of the king's troop he was brought into this intrigue and David ruled the day afterwards that he brought him into the into the story there were the soldiers that because when when Uriah died other soldiers died with him tells us there they died as well as a result of the sin there was the child that was born to David and Bathsheba that child died there was the kingdom as a whole that suffered you see sin always leaves its mark others suffer whatever it is others will be affected by our sin oh you don't do things like David did do no but you might tell a half-truth you might speak about someone else and tell a half-truth to someone else and that person then passes it on as a whole truth and the next person who passes it on exaggerates a little bit more and when it gets back to the person that's been spoken about that person is devastated sin always affects other people and not only did he it affect others but he had to live with the consequences of sin things were never the same for David after this you see you read through the story there he's reached the pinnacle it seems that he's beginning to move down now it wasn't it wasn't for the same for Israel the nation and that's exactly what Nathan said would happen it wasn't just the fact that his son would die but there will be turmoil in the family there will be tragedy there will be a rape there will be revenge there will be an uncontrollable son there will be a son who betrayed him and the throne will be divided and there will be civil war there are always consequences to sin numbers 32 35 says this you may be sure that your sin will find you out why because there are always consequences of our sin and you have to live with the consequences of sin right at this moment there is a man on trial in cambodia called comrade dutch you may have heard about this he's on it's a war trial he was the commander of the concentration camp in Phnom Penh known as s21 or otherwise known as tor slung in that camp the most horrific things took place over 12 000 people entered through that camp and less than a dozen ever lived to tell the tale the atrocities that were performed there are beyond telling surely i surely and i went there just after cambodia was opened up and we saw things there that i wouldn't want to talk about to you it was the most horrific place i've been to on earth and this was perpetrated by this man dutch now dutch has become a christian and it's genuine where i have that on good authority that he is a christian he's on trial for the crimes he's committed he has confessed those sins before god but he'll always have to live with the consequences the terrible consequences of what he's done i'm sure he must have nightmares as he thinks about the things that he has done in the past do you know the longest shadow in the world is the shadow of el piton mount el piton in tenerife it throws a shadow 150 miles long into the atlantic but that's nothing to the shadow that sin casts over everything it leaves a trail of destruction with consequences that like for david can often last a lifetime but i don't want to leave you with that note i want to come to a positive note it's been heavy going yes i know because there was one hope that david had and this is it there is hope for you and for me because god still forgave him in chapter 12 verse 13 it tells us then david said to nathan i have sinned against the lord david confessed his sin and he replied the lord has taken away your sin even though sin has its consequences and terrible hope though those consequences may be god will still forgive god is a god of forgiveness we looked at one john recently what does it say there if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness david's relationship with god was restored we know that by the fact of the psalm that he wrote if you have time to read that through it says in there creating me a pure heart oh god and renew a steadfast spirit within me do not cast your presence from me or take your holy spirit from me restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me praise david david knew that god was one who would forgive and whatever we have done god can still forgive and god can still restore the relationship with him we know something better than david you see david knew there was a god there who would forgive we know more than that because of the cross we know this that god hates sin and he sent his son jesus to die upon that cross so that sin could be dealt with once and for all by the shedding of the precious blood of his dear son jesus and we when we come to the cross in true repentance god says i will forgive your sin i will cast them away forever and even then when we even come to him and we still foul up as we do so often as i do as you do we can come back to him and we come back to that cross and pray father would you please forgive me because of jesus he will forgive and restore our relationship with him psalm 130 says this if you oh lord kept a record of sins who could stand i certainly couldn't i'm not i'm sure that you couldn't either but he goes on to say this with you there is forgiveness therefore you are feared the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from jesus a pardon receives it's a shocking story that we've read together a very human story about a man who fell from grace david actually i think it tells us more about god than it tells us about david it tells us this we have a god who sees our sin nothing is hidden from the sight of god we have a god who cannot ignore our sin you may think you've got away with it with other people but you'll never get away with it with god and it tells us that we have a god who forgives our sin let's bow in quietness together i don't know whether anything that i've said has struck a chord with you i hope that it's god that spoke and not me there's something that you need to get right you need to do it now if you're conscious of some sin in your life you need to confess it before god you need to repent of that sin and make good if there's a relationship that needs to be restored you need to see that that is dealt with before god i'm going to pray a prayer now in the words of an old hymn it's a hymn that was written in the 1930s and been used to bless many people ever since let me pray this prayer search me oh god and know my heart today try me oh lord and know my thoughts i pray see if there be some wicked way in me cleanse me from every sin and set me free amen now i'm not going to call for any public response at all this morning it's not appropriate we're just going to close the service quietly we're going to sing that lovely song before the throne of grace of god because that's where we go before the throne of grace of god before the throne of god above singing that through quietly and i want to suggest this that if in some way god has spoken to you about some of the issues that have been raised this morning and they're not easy issues that you go away quietly and talk about these things to god get it sorted out before god and then you find someone that you can trust and i really mean that someone you can trust and go and ask them to pray with you over the things you've been sorting out with god let's stand now and sing before the throne of god above so before the throne of god above