David's Great Sin - Bob Jennings

This chapter - it starts out 2 Samuel 11.

In my Bible, it's got
a subheading entitled,

"David's Great Sin."

David's Great Sin.

And the first three words:
"Then it happened..."

I come back to this chapter

whenever I read this chapter,

whenever I come upon this chapter

I just... I just...

recoil.

I just read it and feel,

David, my dear friend,

I am so sorry for you.

And you just think,

O God,

keep us.

Keep us.

Men, women, older men, older women,

younger men, younger women,

all of us.

Well, I tell you, David -
he conquered a Goliath.

But that enemy there was nothing

compared to the one that got him.

These fleshly lusts are...

they are a bigger giant than Goliath.

And you look at David's life.

And you can't believe it happened.

You know, "then it happened."

You can't believe it happened.

As David, you know, is set before us,

he was a standard.

He was an example of
godliness and righteousness.

Always being set forth.

He was a man after God's heart.

He was a man who in such a rare way

was a man who sought after God's heart

and had intimacy with God.

He was a man who was in love with God

and had a passion for God,

who thirsted for God

like the deer pants for the water brooks.

And yet, it happened.

How can it be?

How can it be?

God is just so transparent.

He put it in there.

It's in the Bible.

Written down for our instruction.

Written for our learning.

It's written for our admonition.

It's written for our warning.

It's written that we might take heed

and not fall into the same miry clay

and horrible pit.

It's written for our benefit.

It would take more than one hand to number

the pastors and pastor's wives

that I know of

that have been destroyed -

ruined, their work, their ministry,

their reputation has been ruined

by this sin right here.

And it's just "an ox to the slaughter."

It's that type of thing
we're looking at here.

Satan knows if he cannot
get us with a sword,

then he'll do it with a smile.

That's the case of Baal of Peor

and Balaam's counsel to Balak.

He told him how he could get at him.

You couldn't conquer him with a sword

because God was with him

like the horns of a wild ox.

And so here's what you do...

bring some women in.

That led to their defeat, their downfall.

We ought to be warned here

to hate sin and to love righteousness.

It didn't make any difference

that David was about maybe in his 50's.

I mean, it was not
a case of youthful lust.

It doesn't matter that the body

is drying up a little bit.

Still, the thing we're
dealing with is in the mind.

And that's where Satan's workshop is.

And so, young? Old?
It doesn't matter, does it?

It's still something that
we must fight Amalek

to the very end.

And we either kill it or it will kill us.

There is no way that we can satisfy lust.

There is nothing that will do it.

It is just out to get you.

It's out to devour you.

It will take you right down.

There is nothing that will satisfy it.

It didn't matter whether he had 100 wives.

Sin and lust cannot be satisfied.

It refuses to be satisfied!

There is only one thing
that can be done with sin

and that's kill it!

And it didn't matter that he had had

all these other victories.

Victories over Goliath.

It didn't matter that
he was a great warrior,

that he was outstanding,

he was a man of repute.

It didn't matter that he had slain -

Saul his thousands,

David his ten thousands.

It didn't matter that he had
attained that success in that area.

In other words, the point here is

that we are obliged before God

and for our own soul to watch,

watch, watch to the very end.

To the end.

He who endures to the end...

And he walked around on the roof

of the king's house,

and from the roof he saw a woman.

"He saw..."

Man fell with a look.

It says she saw that the
fruit was good for food.

Man fell with a look

and he is saved by a look -

looking to Jesus.

And so here he saw a woman.

Do we realize?

I think we do -

the power of the lust of the eyes.

How great a forest was set aflame

by such a little fire.

Just a look.

And a look led to an inquiry

and an inquiry to an invitation

and on and down in went

resulting finally in much death.

Here's where it began:

A look.

I mean, here's a man whose conscience

was so sensitive.

He was smitten in his heart

when he just snipped Saul's robe.

Here his conscience

was already hardened and seared.

And he tries to cover it up.

And the Lord sent Nathan.

God uses different means, doesn't He,

to come after us, to recover us.

In the case of Peter,

it was a rooster's crow

and a tender look.

In the case of Job,

it was a majestic revelation.

In the case of Jonah,

it was some kind of a plant.

Here God sent a prophet -

a man with a word for him.

And Nathan, you can imagine,

it was a bit of a challenge.

A bit of a daunting thing for him

to go and reprove this king.

He finally tells him in v. 7,

You are the man I'm talking about.

And David was smitten and repented.

V. 13, "I have sinned against the Lord."

And Nathan said to David,

"The Lord has also taken away your sin

and you will not die."

So, David was spared

and you can understand the overflow

in Psalm 32,

"How blessed is the
man whose sin is forgiven,

whose iniquity was covered."

David was spared, but
there were consequences.

There was much death

resulting from his sin.

Incredible.

You remember that story about the man -

the mountain climber -

who was up there alone

and a big rock fell on his
arm and pinned him?

And he waited for some days.

Couldn't get free

and finally took his knife

and cut his own arm off.

And so the Lord says it's better

that you enter into life

without a member of your body

than to be thrown whole into hell.

We will not be sorry

for dealing radically with sin.

We will not be sorry

for dealing radically with sin.