The Way Back to God | Part 1

Though he was a great king, David was a great sinner, just like us.

Listen to Adrian Rogers. Was there ever a man like David? What a grand and glorious man, and yet we come to chapter 11.

Oh, I wish it were not here. I wish somehow that it were just taken from the Word of God, that we did not have to tell you this story, this horrible story, this vile story, yes, this filthy story of David's sin. And yet the Holy Spirit has recorded this story and He's put it here as a warning to us all, and I'm glad that the Bible put it here, though I'm not glad that it happened.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding, the truth of the gospel presented through the timeless messages of Adrian Rogers. As we just heard from Pastor Rogers, King David, though a man after God's own heart, was a great sinner. In 2 Samuel chapter 11, he committed adultery, and in covering that up, he committed murder. But in 2 Samuel chapter 12, we find that David was also a great repenter, and he exemplifies the way back to God after we fall into sin. If you have your Bible, turn there now as Adrian Rogers shares part one of the way back to God.

I want you to take your Bibles tonight. I want you to open, please, to 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12. And as we look at David, instead of the life of David, we just have to stand back and say, what a man. No wonder the Bible calls him a man after God's own heart. Was there ever a man like David?

What a grand and glorious man, and yet we come to chapter 11. Oh, I wish it were not here. I wish somehow that it were just taken from the word of God, that we did not have to tell you this story, this horrible story, this hellish story, this vile story, yes, this filthy story of David's sin. And yet the Holy Spirit has put it here, and the Holy Spirit has put it here for our admonition and for our instruction, and the Holy Spirit has put it here.

Now listen to me. The Holy Spirit has put it here as a warning to Adrian Rogers. David loved God. He was a man after God's own heart, and David fell, and great was the fall of David. And the Holy Spirit has recorded this story, and he's put it here as a warning to us all. And I'm glad that the Bible put it here, though I'm not glad that it happened. So first of all, I want us to look at the cause of David's sin, the cause of David's sin. As I meditated upon this, I would say that his sin was primarily caused by three things.

First of all, his was the sin of idleness. Look again in chapter 11 and verse 1. And it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But, and notice that the Holy Spirit puts the word but there, that conjunction there. He puts it there in contradistinction as to what has gone on, but David tarried still at Jerusalem. And then notice in verse 2, the first part. And it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed.

Now you look at that. Friend, I want to tell you that it was time to go to bed and David was getting out of bed. It was at evening tide that he arose from his bed. We can hardly believe that this is the David that we once knew. He is committing the sin of idleness. He is committing the sin that we call the sin of omission. Jesus said that the sins of omission are greater than the sins of commission. Somebody asked a little boy, what are the sins of omission? He said, those must be the sins that you were supposed to have done and didn't do.

No, no, no, no. What is the sin of omission? The sin of omission is failure to do what you ought to be doing. James says, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. It is a greater sin to fail to do what you ought to do than to do what you ought not to do, for if you're doing what you ought to do, you can't do what you ought not to do. Right? Sure.

Absolutely. Nobody can do two things at one time. And so if he's doing what's right, he can't be doing what's wrong.

If he's thinking what's right, he can't be thinking what's wrong. And so therefore, David got in trouble just simply because he was not doing what he ought to have done. It was the time when kings went to war.

Now, this was not a frivolous war. These enemies that David was supposed to fight were God's enemies. These were those people that were the enemies of God and God and his righteous judgment had brought judgment and David as the king and the righteous king that he was, was supposed to have led in battle. But at this time, when he should have been on the battlefield for his Lord, he was not on the battlefield for his Lord.

And the Bible says in the New Testament that we as Christians are to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ and that we are to put on the whole armor of God. But David, when he ought to have the armor on, had put the armor off. And what David was doing is this, that after he'd won so many battles, after he'd seen so many victories, after the good hand of his God had been upon him, David now had begun to take God for granted. David now had begun to coast. And David had just assumed that the blessings of God were going to just keep on coming, just keep on coming. And so David now becomes lax.

David takes off the armor and David now is a lolling around in the afternoon. He has not been redeeming the time. Well might he have read Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 33, though had not yet been written. But well might he know the truth of that proverb, yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth and thy want as an armed man. Here was David committing a sin of idleness, a sin of laziness, a sin of omission. He was not doing what he ought to have done. He was just simply thinking that the blessings were going to come.

I want to tell you something, friend, idleness is a dangerous time. And you know, sometimes we hear proverbs and because they're proverbs, I mean human proverbs and slogans and cliches, we tend to forget them. We say, oh, that's only a proverb. That's only a cliche. How does a cliche get to be a cliche? How does a proverb get to be a proverb? When somebody said that an idle mind is the devil's workshop, we've heard that so much that we hear it, it goes in one ear and out the other.

But my friend, that is a tremendous proverb. An idle mind is the devil's workshop. And this is where David got into trouble to begin with, just simply by the sin of idleness, just simply by taking God for granted, just assuming that the blessings of the Lord are going to continue to come.

But not only was it a sin of idleness, but right along with that, it was a sin of carelessness. Look again, if you will, in verse 2, and it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. Now, David could not help perhaps the first look. Perhaps that was chance. Perhaps he had not intended to see what he saw.

Another proverb that we've often heard is this, that we can't keep the birds from flying over our heads, but we can certainly keep them from making a nest in our hair. And David perhaps could not have helped himself at this first thing. But oh, if he could have only remembered again in Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23, the truth that would later be expressed by a Solomon, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.

But he was careless with his thought life, and a look turned to dust. And what he saw, he soon sought and sent after and inquired. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 33 verse 15, he that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth, listen to this young people, that stoppeth his ears from the hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. He shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be in the munitions of the rocks. Bread shall be given unto him, and his waters shall be sure. Now notice what it says. He shutteth his eyes from the seeing of evil.

You cannot put garbage in your mind, and it not affect you. When David saw this, David should have looked away. David himself said in Psalm 101 verses 2 and 4, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when wilt thou come unto me?

I will walk within mine house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Oh, if David could only have remembered what he wrote himself in that time of devotion, if he could only have learned what Solomon would later say to keep your heart with all diligence, if he could only have known the truth that Isaiah the prophet had spoken that we must set no wicked thing before our eyes. If only, if only David could have been like Joseph when Potiphar's wife tried to entice Joseph and she said, come lie with me. Joseph was wise enough, the Bible says, that he fled, he got away from that thing. He had no dalliance with evil. He had no, he had no time for evil to sprout its seeds within his heart.

We might laugh at Joseph, call him Holy Joe, but he's still pure. For the Bible says, there hath no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful who will not suffer a man to be tempted above that he is able, but will with the temptation, free to make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. And often the way to escape is the King's highway, two legs and a hard run, but David didn't do this. David committed first of all, the sin of idleness and the sin of idleness grew to the sin of carelessness.

And he was careless and he continued to look and he continued to inquire. And then you will remember that he committed the horrible sin of adultery. And in order to try to cover the sin of adultery, he had Bathsheba's husband Uriah the Hittite set in the hottest part of the battle and he was slain and God held him accountable therefore not only for the sin of adultery, but also for the sin of murder.

So idleness turned to carelessness and carelessness turned to callousness. I can hardly believe that David would have done what he did. Now it is bad enough that he committed adultery. That was a hot blooded sin.

But when he committed murder, that was a cold blooded sin. I cannot believe that it is David, David who allowed Uriah the Hittite to be put to death. You see Uriah was a friend of David. Uriah was a man that trusted David. Uriah was under David's command and therefore he was under David's protection. I say that even sadder than what David did with Bathsheba was what David did to Uriah the Hittite. David's pride meant more to him now than Uriah's life and he plotted the death of a devoted servant. And Uriah who was willing to die for David's honor died by David's hand. Oh the sin of callousness.

How could David have done it? I'll tell you how. You will remember a while back I spoke to you about the hardened heart and the deceitfulness of sin. Friend let me tell you there's something about the deceitfulness of sin that will so callous your heart and so harden your heart and if I were to tell you what you're capable of doing, you sitting in that pew you'd say no, I never would do such a thing. But I tell you the proclivities of the human heart are such if you allow yourself first of all to become idle and then to be careless you will suddenly become or find yourself callous and doing things that you never dreamed were possible.

There are three persons sitting in your seat tonight. There's the person you are tonight. There's the person you could be for God if you were to let him have all there is of you. And there is the person you could be for evil if you take your eyes from the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here is the cause of David's sin and I'm not going to dwell with David's sin.

I'm not going to try to be sensational tonight and paint a sorry story as I talk about his sin of adultery and his sin of murder. But the question comes was David a saved man? Could a saved man do this?

Reluctantly I must say yes. David was a saved man. We will meet David in heaven. David was saved. Well you say then it's all right for me to dabble in sin. Wait till you find out what happened to David. And wait till you find out what David's sin did to him. You say if I'm living in adultery is it all right for me to call myself saved?

No. Unless the hand of God is so heavy upon you that you know that you know if you don't get right you're going to die soon. Let me tell you something friend. If this is your way of life, if you have grave, deep, vile, unconfessed, unrepentant of moral sin in your life and God is not dealing with you, you have no right whatsoever to think that you're saved. Oh the cost of David's sin as we're going to see here in a moment. Yes he was saved but oh what a fearful price he paid for his sin. I want to tell you when a child of God sins he pays a fearful price to buy that sin and he enjoys it.

Just a brief time. And the consequences even though the sin may be forgiven, the consequences of that sin go on and on as they did in David's life. But I want us to move from the cause of David's sin.

I want us to see something else. I want us to see the covering of David's sin. David at first did not confess his sin. As a matter of fact, it seems as though almost a year went by before David ever really dealt with this sin. Now the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 28 and verse 13, he that covereth his sin shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. David covered his sin. You see David should have confessed his sin immediately. Now it's terrible to sin but sin immediately confessed can be sin immediately cleansed and therefore it does not fester and it does not infect as quickly. That's the reason Jesus said agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him. That is when you sin.

As soon as you realize that you've sinned, confess it and God will deal in mercy. But David spent a year and what a horrible year it was. I want you to put a bookmark here in 2 Samuel chapter 11 and I want you to turn to Psalm 32 where David tells what happened to him during that year. You know sometimes you talk to a person, you'll be out door to door soul winning and some man will come to the door and you'll tell him who you are and he'll say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you're talking about. I used to go down there to that church. I used to be a Christian. Guess I'm just an old backslider.

He's not an old backslider. He's lost and going to hell. No backslider laughs and carps about his sin, ridicules it, lives in ease. Let me tell you something David sinned but when David sinned the hand of God was so upon him.

I want you to look here in Psalm 32 verses 3 and 4. He says concerning that year that he covered his sin. Concerning that year when he failed to confess his sin, when I kept silence my bones waxed old through the roaring through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moistures turned to the drought of summer. Selah, think about it, he says.

Just think about it. You know what happened to David that year? Let me tell you, dear friend, in one year he most likely aged 10 years. He had a premature aging. Look, he said, when I kept silence my bones waxed old. There's nothing, there's nothing that will prematurely age a Christian like unconfessed sin in his heart and in his life.

But not only was there this premature aging, there was this inward groaning, this agony on the inside. He speaks of his roaring all the day long and this word roaring literally means his groaning, his sighs. When God saves you, mister, he does not fix you up where you cannot sin anymore but he fixes you where you cannot sin and enjoy it anymore. And the most miserable man on earth is not a lost man. He's a saved man out of fellowship with God. Here was David, a saved man, and he speaks of the aging that came upon him, the pressure that was there, the inward roaring and the groaning that was there. And then he says in verse 4, for night and day thy hand was heavy upon me. God had David in his hand and God's heavy hand was waiting upon David.

Let me tell you something, friend. When a child of God sins, God doesn't look the other way. God moves in and God brings conviction. It was the heavy hand of God that was upon David's life that was convicting him of the thing that he had done in day and night, night and day, the thing that David had done so etched itself upon his consciousness and so reverberated through his heart and his mind that it seemed like God was squeezing the very life out of him. Not only was there this premature aging, this inward groaning, God's heavy hand of conviction in verse 4, but there was a spiritual dryness.

He says, and my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. How dry he was, how spiritually dry. He had once had known joy and victory. He had once sung unto the Lord.

He had leaped and danced before the ark of God and now it's all gone. His life is dry and withered and shriveled. Now it's a struggle for him to pray. It's a struggle for him to witness. It's a struggle for him to praise. There's no joy. There's no victory.

There's no peace in his life. I'm talking to some of you tonight who once walked with God and you're truly saved, but rather than confessing your sin, you've been covering your sin. There used to be a time when you'd get in your automobile and just praise God. I mean you'd roll up the window so nobody'd hear you and you'd just sing and shout and pray and love the Lord Jesus Christ. You'd get in your bedroom down upon your knees and have a glorious time. You'd read your Bible and weep and pray before the Lord and Jesus Christ was nearer and more real to you than your members of your family, but it's all gone now. Sin is in your heart and sin is in your life because you have failed to confess your sin.

You've covered it. How do we cover our sins? We cover our sins today by rationalization. The behavioristic psychologists have told us, well, it's really not our fault. We're just somehow victims of the culture and society has molded us and we may be sick, but we're not sinful. We may be ill, but we're not evil.

We may be weak, but we're not wicked. And so somehow we cover our sins by making some alibi, some excuse. If David had had entree to one of these behavioristic psychologists today he would have said, well, it really wasn't my fault. I had some sort of an inward frustration that society put into me.

I just had to work out or I had a glandular malfunction or something. He would have explained it away, explained it away. How do we cover our sins? Some people cover their sin by activity. They get busy, but they won't confess their sin.

You can even get busy in church work. David continued to be king, but oh, he was covering his sin. Some cover their sin by hypocrisy.

They act like nothing is there and nothing is wrong. Oh, Moses backslid. When Moses backslid, when Moses was right with God, his face shone so brightly he had to wear a veil over his face. And then to keep his face from almost blinding those who looked at his face, but after he backslid and the glow was gone he wore the veil still to keep people from seeing that the glow was gone. And oh, a lot of you here sitting here looking at me with big smiles are just wearing a veil, just wearing a veil.

You're covering your sin. And there's no joy. There's no peace.

There's no victory. And the Bible says he that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, the same shall have mercy. In coming up tomorrow, we'll hear part two of this liberating message. But today, if you have questions about who Jesus is, what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with Christ, go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

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