Preacher: James Hamilton, associate professor of biblical theology at Southern Seminary.
Text/title: 2 Samuel 11 – The wife of Uriah.
Hamilton prayed that no one in the room would fall to sexual immorality and adultery by the grace of God.
Our culture is awash in sexual immorality and adultery. Our culture celebrates these sins as though they are the path to the good life. But they are the path to destruction. We are weak, but God can deliver us. Owen wrote that even the best saints left to themselves will appear to be nothing. All of our strength is weakness and all of our wisdom is folly. The only way we can stand is by relying on God.
The temptations we face are more powerful than we are.
To overcome them, only the power of God through the Spirit applying the Word to us is sufficient to enable us to overcome temptation. We must know God as more pleasing than the temptations than we face to overcome them.
David, Bathsheba and Uriah
Hamilton said he could focus on many things in this text, including the redemptive plan of God with Bathsheba being in the line of Christ or God’s great mercy, but today he wants to focus on David’s response to Nathan and what we can learn as we fight temptation.
In 2 Samuel 7, God gives David astonishing promises. In 2 Samuel 8-10, David is seeking to cover the land with the glory of the Lord as the dry land covers the sin. Then comes David’s sin with Bathsheba and Uriah in 2 Samuel 11. From there on out 2 Samuel is filled with sadness.
2 Samuel 11 tells us that in the spring, when kings go to battle, David did not go to battle. Instead, he sent Joab and David stayed at Jerusalem. Then David went up on the rooftop and at this point the battle was lost. David was perhaps coasting spiritually; He was not meditating on the text of Scripture. And he went up to the rooftop and Bathsheba happened to be there and David happened to see her.
Had David known about the devastating effects his sin with Bathsheba would have, he would not have done it. Our sinful desires make us stupid. This is not going to be a pleasant little fling David can have and then move on. This is going to wreck his life.
We should ask God to seal to our heart: our sins will find us out. We must not be deceived by the delay of God’s justice. It will find us out.
Sins like this in the life of David are like going over the edge of the Grand Canyon. It is a rush when you go over, but then comes a devastating crash.
How are you doing with the edges in your life? Are you flirting with the edges? We need to not even go near the edge. We need to not say, “I wonder what is on TV?” We need to not get ourselves near the edges. We need to guard our lives and only go to places and only do things that promote godliness. I don’t think most of us would have done any better than David did, once he saw Bathsheba bathing. The battle is won or lost before that moment.
We need to be wise, we need to be strategic, we need to think on these consequences before the moment comes, we need to think on the fact that we are free from bondage of sin in our life. We must rely on the power of God in our life by the Holy Spirit and know Him to be more pleasing to us. We need to see the consequences, the results, of meditating on the words in the text and the consequences of looking on Bathsheba bathing.
David has disregarded the law and gone over two precipices: adultery and murder.
If you feel like someone is pestering you about your Covenant Eyes report, about multiple conversations you are having with someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse, consider: maybe the Lord is working in your life through them.
Nathan fears God more than he fears David’s reaction. Are there people in your lives who are willing to say to you: “You are the man?” You need people in your life like that.
One strategy the biblical author gives us for fighting temptation is rehearsing in our lives often the good works of God in our lives. We must rely on God by the power of His Spirit and believe God’s promises. Believe statements like God saying He will meet all of our desires.
The weeds of lust don’t thrive in the soil of thankful, worshipping, believing hearts.