The Cover-up

Have your Bibles with you. Turn with me if you would to 2 Samuel chapter 11. We're going to start this morning just with one verse, verse 5, and we'll be going through the rest of the chapter through the sermon. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, I am pregnant.

Bow with me as we go to our Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, in Proverbs 28, 13, you inspired David's son Solomon to write these words. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes his sin shall have mercy. Lord, I have often wondered if Solomon wrote those words with his dad in mind. I wondered if David sat Solomon down as a teenage boy and told him about the cover-up. Lord, did David tell his son that he was ashamed of his adultery, but he was broken to pieces over the cover-up? Did he tell Solomon that he was guilty of his conspiracy to murder an innocent man in order to hide his sin? Or whether Solomon knew that or not, Proverbs 28, 13 is a perfect picture of Solomon's dad. He who covers his sin shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes his sin shall have mercy. David covered his sin.

The hypocritical cover-up quickly brought destruction into his life. Father, help us to learn from David's hypocrisy. Help us to be truthful and real, even when we are ashamed and embarrassed. Oftentimes we cower from this kind of openness and honesty. Help us to realize that you are the one we should strive to please, and you see right through every cover-up. We pray this prayer now in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. You may be seated. When Richard Nixon was on his deathbed, he had a pastor friend to stop by to visit with him and sat down beside his bed. Nixon knew that he didn't have long to live, that his life was quickly slipping away. And he said to this pastor, he said, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life.

Do you know which one is the biggest one? And the pastor said, I would guess it would be the Watergate break-in. And he said, no, it was not the Watergate break-in, but it was the cover-up. He said, I lied about it. I hid it.

I tried everything I could to keep it away from people's knowledge. And he said, I believe with all my heart that if I had just been honest, if I had just revealed to everybody my involvement in the Watergate break-in, and if I had asked America to forgive me, he said, I believe they would have forgiven me. But he said, America would not forgive my hypocrisy and would to God that I had just been honest. Folks, as I read 2 Samuel chapter 11 and chapter 12, I have to think that that was David's confession as well. David had committed adultery, a horrible, terrible sin. And it was a sin that hurt deeply David himself. It hurt deeply Bathsheba and her family. It hurt David's wives. It hurt his children. In fact, it had an impact on everybody that lived in Israel and was a citizen of that land.

It hurt them. But I want you to know that I believe with all my heart that that adultery was not as harmful and not as destructive as the cover-up. Look again at verse 5. And the woman conceived, so she sent and told David and said, I am with child. For a couple of months David had been living his life as if nothing had happened.

Yes, he had involved himself in an adulterous affair, but there was just a very few people that knew about it. And this talking about it was not going on. And so David was just saying to himself, I think I'll just kind of pass this along and not worry about it, not think about it too much.

This is just water under the bridge now. And I'll just put it out of my mind and kind of try to forget that it happened. God help us never to do that. God help us never to be so spiritually lethargic that we want to quit thinking about unconfessed sin.

Folks, we need to have a sensitivity about us, such a sensitivity that we would be deeply concerned in our heart if there's unconfessed and unrepentant sin that has not been dealt with. One day David's doing some paperwork there in his palace and he has a knock on the door and says, who is it? And his servant says, we've got somebody here to see you. And David said, well, send them on in. And this little domestic maid walks in. She walks in David's office there and she closes the door behind her so there's nobody there but her and David. And she says, sir, you don't know me. But I am a servant of Bathsheba and Bathsheba has a message for you. And David said, well, what is it? Her eyes well up with tears. And she said, Bathsheba wants you to know that she is expecting a baby.

I can imagine David's pen just dropping to the floor. His face turns white. His hands begin to tremble. And he says to the young lady, you can leave. And she turns around to walk out the door. And then David stops her and says, ma'am, I want you to promise me right now that you will not tell a soul about this.

Understand? And she says, yes, sir, my lips are sealed. David sits back in stunned silence. His mind is whirring a hundred miles a minute. And he's thinking to himself, how can I get out of this?

What can I do? I wonder if the words of Moses came to his mind when Moses spoke to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, the half tribe of Manasseh. And Moses knew that they had not fulfilled their obligation of moving into the promised land like they were supposed to. And David said to them, be sure of this. Your sin will find you out. I wonder if David thought of those words as all this is going on. And he's wondering, is my sin going to find me out? And then he kind of says to himself, well, maybe not.

Maybe nobody will know that this baby is mine. But David knows that there's a slight problem because in 1 Samuel 16 verse 12, the scripture says that David was ruddy. Now that's an interesting word. It can mean red in complexion. But most of the time when that word ruddy is used, it meant red hair. So it may very well have been that David was red headed. That's very unusual for a Jewish man.

Most of the Jews had very dark black hair like his son Absalom. But if David had red hair, then that might mean that if he had a son, that that son might have red hair too and that would give him away. But he says maybe not. Maybe the baby will have all of Bathsheba's coloring and maybe that won't happen. And even if the baby is red headed, he says, I can always just deny it. So he meets with Bathsheba and Bathsheba is terribly upset. And Bathsheba says, David, what in the world are we going to do? He says, we don't have to do anything. He said, everybody will just believe that the baby belongs to Uriah.

And she said, no, that will never work. Uriah has been out in the battlefield for months and months. He has not seen me. And he will know exactly what has happened. And David said, well, we don't have to worry about that because I will get Joab, my minister of war, to send Uriah back and to give me a report on how the war is going.

And when he comes back, I'll send him over to your house and then he'll meet with you and everything will be fine. Four points I want to share with you today. The first point is this.

What power cannot do? Look at verses 5 through 13. And the woman conceived and she sent and told David, I am pregnant. So David sent word to Joab, send me Uriah the Hittite. Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing, how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, go down to your house and wash your feet. Uriah went out of the king's house and there followed him a present from the king.

Had you ever thought about that? David's committed adultery with his wife and what does he do? He gives him a present. What kind of present is he going to give him? A fruit basket? So I've committed adultery with your wife. I'm going to make it up here.

Let me give you a little present. 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. When they told David Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, have you not come from a journey?

Why did you not go down to your house? Uriah said to David, the ark in Israel and Judah dwell in booze and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house and eat and drink and to lie with my wife?

As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. And David said to Uriah, remain here today also and tomorrow I'll send you back. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next and David invited him and he ate in his presence and drank so that he made him drunk. The evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of the lord but he did not go to his house. David had the perfect plan.

His perfect plan had a flaw in it. He did not realize just what a man of integrity Uriah was. Uriah was extremely loyal to King David. He was extremely loyal to his fellow soldiers.

He was extremely loyal to God. He came back, he gave David the report, the military report on how the war was going and then he went out and he sat on David's porch and he would not leave and he did not go back home. David questioned him about this and said, why have you not gone back home? You need to go right now. You deserve a break. Your family needs to see you.

This would be a great time for you. I want you to go home. And Uriah said emphatically, no, I will not go. This would dishonor God and it would be disloyal for my fellow soldiers for me to go.

They're on the battlefield and I would be back at home enjoying the pleasure of my family. He says, no, I will not do it. So David said to himself, this calls for drastic measures. And so David starts giving him alcohol to drink and one drink after another until he gets him drunk. He thinks that this will lower his inhibitions, that this will lower his resolve, but it does not. Uriah still says, no sir, I will not go home and he did not.

Listen to what Richard Phillips says here. In his sin with Bathsheba, David wickedly employed his great power. In his attempt to deceive Uriah, however, David would begin to learn what his power could not do. Specifically, David's great power could not overcome a faithful godly man. We see David's failure in Uriah's response. 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.

When David learned of this act of self-denial, he summoned Uriah again. Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? Uriah answered. The ark in Israel and Judah dwell in booze and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field.

Shall I then go to my house to eat, to drink, to lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. Folks, Uriah was not a covenant child of God. He was not born that way. He was born as a Hittite. He was born into paganism. He was born into heathenism, so to speak. He did not have the privilege of being born as an Israelite. He was a Hittite.

The Hittites worshiped their own false gods. The lord got a hold of Uriah's heart. And Uriah came to know him, believed in the lord, trusted in him, put his faith in him.

And the lord turned his heart around and filled him with great character and integrity. Uriah's noble answer to David had to sting David's heart. David had caved in to lust. He had given in to full blown adultery. He had taken his god and himself and his family and Bathsheba's family and just put them to the outside of his mind so he didn't even have to deal with it as he used Uriah's wife as a play toy.

Uriah, on the other hand, would not even go home to legitimately enjoy his wife because he believed that that would dishonor God and it would not be fair to his fellow soldiers. Now remember who David is. David's the king of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. When David said jump, people said how high.

That's the kind of power he had. But he says to Uriah, I want you to go home. Uriah says no, I will not do it. For Uriah believed that King Yahweh was greater than King David. And it was more important to be obedient to Yahweh, to Jehovah, than it was to be obedient to David.

You can almost hear David's thought. Well I compromised my convictions and I'm the king. If I can compromise, so can you.

And Uriah would not budge. That's what we need to be. We need to be non-budgers. We need to be non-compromisers.

We need to be people who will stand for steadfast truth and just be tough. So as powerful as David was, his authority and his power could not force Uriah to compromise his convictions. That takes us to point two, what power can do. Look at verses fourteen through twenty-six. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting and then draw back from him, then he may be struck down and die. And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting and he instructed the messenger, when you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then if the king's anger arises and if he says to you, why did you go so near the city to fight, did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubasheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebes?

Why did you go near the wall? 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 him to tell. The messenger said to David, the men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. David said to the messenger, thus shall you say to Joab, do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another.

Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it, and encourage him. When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. David was not ready to face the public shame of his sin. He also knew what Leviticus chapter 20 verse 10 says. It says that adultery is a crime that is punishable by death. Now let me read those words to you from Leviticus 20 to 10. And I can imagine David should have been just shaking in his boots when he read those words. If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Did David know that scripture?

Absolutely he did. But in the white hot heat of temptation, he was able to just push it away as if it really didn't matter. But now the consequences of his sin are slapping him right in the face. And David said to himself, I don't want to die, but if Uriah dies, then I won't have to die. David's mind began to whirl like a top. Something's got to work.

There's got to be some way out of this thing. So he sits down and he writes out a message, and in the message he's going to send to Joab. He says, I want you to take Uriah, put him in some precarious position out there on the battlefield, so that Uriah will be killed. He takes that message, he rolls it up, and then he takes a string and he ties it, and then he gives it to Uriah and says, I want you to take this back to Joab. And so Uriah is the courier of his own death message.

Folks, how sad is that? David knew that Uriah was such a man of integrity that he would never think to open that message up to Joab and read it to himself on the way back. David knew he wouldn't do that. So he got back to Joab, Uriah did, and he hands the message to Joab. Joab unravels it and opens it up, and he reads the message. Then he looks at Uriah, their eyes meet, and he realizes that Uriah has no clue as to what's on that death message. Richard Phillips had unbelievably great insight here, and he says some things here that I had not thought about.

I want you to listen to this carefully. We can only imagine the grim satisfaction that Joab felt when Uriah delivered the sealed message and the general read David's royal instructions to send the valiant soldier to his death. It is possible that news of David's sin with Bathsheba had spread from the palace servants to the army headquarters as such information tends to do. Whether or not Joab understood the full situation, however, he knew that David would never again lord it over him in righteousness. Joab had incurred David's wrath over the murder of Abner. When the leader of the northern tribes had tried to sue for peace, David had shamed Joab for that sin, cursing his nephew publicly and causing him to trudge mournfully before Abner's casket during the state funeral.

But the next time the two met, Joab knew exactly how he would look David in the eye. David's sinful refusal to repent of sin had brought him all the way down to Joab's bottom feeding level, and the general was only too willing to accommodate the royal dissent. So Joab obeys David. He sends Uriah out to a precarious position on the battlefield, and Uriah is killed. But not only is Uriah killed, there are several other soldiers that are killed along with him. When I speak of David's sin, I usually mention the adultery, and I usually mention the murder and conspiracy to murder of Uriah, but I very seldom think to mention the other soldiers that died as a result of it. Folks, we need to understand that those soldiers that died are also on David's account. So the news came back to David, Uriah the Hittite is dead, and David breathes a sigh of relief.

Okay, good, that's over with now, and now we can move on. I can bring Bathsheba back into my house, she can be my wife, and nobody will think a thing about it. Bathsheba went through a time of mourning, and then after a time of mourning, she moved back in with David, became his wife, and bore a son. Now we're not told whether or not David told Bathsheba what he had done. We're not told if she knew about this conspiracy to have Uriah killed. David had worked all the details out and commanded Joab to do that.

There are some scholars that believe that she probably had to know because the timing was not accidental. There are some scholars who actually believe that she had fallen so in love with David at this point in time that she was part of the plan, that she helped David in concocting that plan. Verse 25 says this, David said to the messengers, Thus you shall say to Joab, Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another.

Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it. I don't know about you, but that rubs my fur the wrong way. David's attitude just absolutely stinks. David is told that Uriah and a few others are dead, and he says, Well, you just go back and tell Joab, that kind of stuff happens. Oh yes, they died, but that's what goes on when you're in a war. Some people die, some people live, and he just acts so casual about it. Like it really just doesn't matter. Those dead soldiers had wives and children at home who now did not have a daddy and who now did not have a husband. And it's just absolutely heartbreaking. David ordered their deaths, and then he shrugged his shoulders and said, Well, this kind of stuff just happens.

He could have cared less. What a lesson this should be to every single one of us who are in positions of leadership and authority. It is horribly wicked to ever use God-given leadership and authority for sinful, selfish purposes. This is why Peter tells the elders in the church in 1 Peter 5, if they are not to lead as dictators, they are not to lord it over the flock, but they are to lead as servants, and they are to lead with a servant's spirit.

Who is it that can abuse God-given authority? A parent can do that. A teacher can do that. A coach can do that.

A supervisor at work can do that. A preacher can do that. Folks, when that happens, we need to know it's always wrong before God. But whatever, it's done. Uriah has been killed.

Bathsheba is now David's newest wife, and David thinks that he's home free, but it's okay that he's gotten away with his sin. Folks, that's what power can do. It was ungodly political power. We have people in the prosperity church today, the name it, claim it, faith word church, that believe that they're almost invulnerable. They say as long as we have faith and we're going to have health, we're going to have wealth, we're going to live a long life, that's a lie.

It's not always going to happen that way. In fact, in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28, Jesus said, don't fear that one who can only kill the body but not the soul, but fear that one who can kill body and soul in hell. Listen, don't think that godliness will keep you out of persecution. Godliness will lead you right into persecution.

2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 12 says, all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. So David used his political power to orchestrate the death of Uriah. That was power, political power that he used to get his way, but it did not stop the consequences of his sin.

The third point that I want to mention is the power of sin. Look with me at verse 27. And when the morning was over, 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. It was a problem, a problem that David was not considering, and this is true in every cover-up. We may hide things from people, but we can't hide things from God. The last statement that is made in this chapter David should have seen.

It says this, the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Pastor friend of mine said it this way, secret sin on earth is open scandal in heaven. Folks, God knows everything we're doing. Let me give you a few verses to ponder as we are closing this up. Galatians 6, 7, be not deceived, for God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, actually also reap. Proverbs chapter 28 verse 13, he who covers this sin shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes this sin shall have mercy. Proverbs 15, 3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the good and the evil. Psalm 139 verse 12, the darkness and the light are both alike to the Lord. 2 Timothy chapter 5 verse 24, some men's sins are opened beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men's sins follow afterwards. What do these verses tell us? They tell us that cover-ups do not work. They tell us that cover-ups might seem to be a temporary answer, and they might give you a sense of security for a while, but they will end up taking you to your demise.

Why? Because God loves his people too much to let hypocrisy, to let them get away with hypocrisy. He loves us too much for that. The Scripture says that Jesus is truth, not just that he had truth, not just that he believed truth, that he is truth. And because Jesus is truth, he cannot deal with phoniness and hypocrisy. And over in Romans chapter 8 verse 29, the Scripture says that we were predestined to be conformed into the image of his Son. We were predestined in order that we might be like Christ. So God has the obligation to chisel away the phoniness and the hypocrisy in us in order that we might become like Christ. Why does God do that?

One of the reasons he does it so that the world can see that God's people, God's children, are different than the world's children. J. Vernon McGee said that someone asked him a question one day. He said, can a true Christian get drunk? And J. Vernon McGee says, yes, a true Christian can get drunk.

And he was a little bit shocked. He said, can a true Christian get drunk and get away with it? And J. Vernon McGee says, that's where the rub is. He said, the men of this world can get by with it in this life because the Lord does not spank the devil's children. But he said, the Lord takes his own children to the woodshed when they sin. And Dr. McGee said, take it from one who has been to the woodshed he said, I personally know that a Christian cannot get by with sin. David's getting ready to find that out. But he goes for several months deceiving himself into thinking that the cover-up has worked.

Too bad he couldn't have read that last statement in 2 Samuel 11 that says the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Folks, listen carefully. Sin will take you further than you want to go. It will keep you longer than you want to stay.

And it will cost you more than you want to pay. Alright, point four is the power of grace. John chapter 10 verse 28 through 29 says, I give unto them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all.

And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 1 Corinthians 10, 12 says, Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls. Why did God give us 2 Samuel chapter 11? He didn't give us this chapter in order that we might have a better understanding of David's personal life. He didn't give us this chapter so that we would be better at Bible jeopardy. He gave us this chapter to tell us if this man after God's own heart, if the apple of God's eye, if the killer of giants, if the writer of Psalms could sin this heinously, then so could we. Folks, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

There is none good, no not one. All of our righteousness are as filthy rags before the Lord. All we like sheep have gone astray, each having gone his own way. We have this chapter to remind us to flee youthful lust. In Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23, King Solomon said, Watch over your heart with all diligence, for out of the heart flows the rivers of life. Five chapters before this, David is bringing the ark of the covenant back into Jerusalem. He is dancing before the Lord. He's so excited, he's worshipping so fully. He's going to take the ark of the covenant, he's going to put it in the tabernacle of David, and he is so filled with the Spirit of God, he just thinks it's the greatest spiritual experience that he's ever had. If you had walked up to David on that day, and if you had said to David, David in just a few years, you're going to steal a man's wife, you're going to commit adultery with her, and then you're going to have him put to death, and this man is a faithful servant to you. But you're going to put that man to death in order to try to cover your sin. David would have said, that could never happen.

It did happen. It happened to David, and folks, it can happen to us. So what do we do? We prepare. We throw ourself on the mercy and the grace of God. We get up every morning, and we put on the whole armor of God. We get serious about sin, we get serious about repentance, and then we stand on the promises that Jesus gave in John 10, when Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life, and they will never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. People, that's the promise that we need to be standing on. And if we stand on that promise, all hell won't shake us.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, there have been times that I've been too enamored with David. His boldness, his faith, his toughness have tempted me to make a hero out of him. Today's passage has removed that temptation. You've not called me to make David my hero. You've not led me to idolize David or any other sinful man. You have shown us that David is a sinner, and desperately needed a savior, just like we do. Father, help us to have no heroes but Jesus. Keep reminding us that we are nothing but sinners, saved by grace, and the only one we should worship is Christ. Help us not to be discouraged by David's failures, but learn from them. Help us to see past David to the true savior on the cross, and to our savior now, who is seated on his throne in glory. For it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.