Be Careful That You Don’t Fall!

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 Rabbah. 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, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am 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 his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.

David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”

Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will 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 with Uriah. In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front 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 died.

Joab sent David a full account of the battle. He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”

The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”

When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. (2 Samuel 11:1-27 NIV)

I didn’t like studying this lesson. That sounds wrong, doesn’t it? I love studying God’s Word. Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the chance to dive into fifteen chapters of the Bible in Hebrew. It’s been great, except for this studying this story. It was painful. There is a lot of sin and sadness in the Bible, but other than the day when Adam and Eve fell into sin for the first time, there’s nothing more heart-breaking in the Bible than this story of David and Bathsheba.

Because the Bible holds King David up so high. Remember what we’ve learned about him this summer? David was “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). He was good on the inside. David patiently trusted in God as King Saul chased him around. David won victory after victory, like conquering Jerusalem. David loved to worship God and danced with all his might when he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. David showed kindness even to his enemies. Remember that guy’s name? Mephibosheth. God promised David that his descendant would be the forever King—Christ the King! There is no one like King David in the Bible.

Then, crash! How? The power of sin and temptation is so much stronger than we give it credit. It all started with these fateful words: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war,… David remained in Jerusalem.” If it was the time for kings to be leading their armies into battle, where should King David have been? Leading his army into battle. Instead, David got lazy. Suddenly, he decided not to do what God had called him to do. Suddenly, he decided not to carry out his responsibilities. When you don’t find useful things to do, do you know what finds you? Sin.

“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.” David was bored. Uh oh! He went for a walk and saw a beautiful woman bathing. It doesn’t sound like he saw her on purpose. So what should he have done immediately? Look away! Say, “No!” in his mind. David was married. Actually, he had multiple wives, which is another issue. He should have turned around right then and there. Then we could end the sermon and go home early! Amen! But he didn’t turn around. He didn’t say, “No!” He kept looking. Then he did more. He asked, “Who is she?”

And the story gets more painful. Bathsheba was married. That should have been a huge red line, right? “Married? Out of the question. We can’t even go on a date!” But she wasn’t just married. She was married to Uriah. Do you know who Uriah was? He was one of David’s mighty men. David had some of the most loyal soldiers of all time. And Uriah was one of them. But not just Uriah. Bathsheba was the daughter of Eliam. Eliam was another one of David’s mighty men. There were a thousand reasons screaming at David, “Don’t do it! Go back to bed. Don’t do it!”

But he did it. “Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.” It’s so short and sad. Note that the Bible doesn’t place any blame on Bathsheba. We men can do that with women today, can’t we? “Why didn’t she stop him? It must have been okay!” Not the Bible. The Bible never excuses David’s wicked behavior. The Bible never tries to sugar coat anything. David brought her in. David slept with her. David sent her home. Easy. Done.

But sin never makes life easy. “The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, ‘I am pregnant.’” Now what? Well, this is where abortion comes in today. People today would say, “Kill it. That will make everything better.” One sin always leads to another sin and another sin… David sent to have Uriah come home and sleep with his wife. That would cover it up! But Uriah was so honorable, he refused to go to his house when the army was fighting in battle. How can you not respect this man? There should be more Christian men named Uriah! While David was lazy, Uriah fought. While David slept with his wife, Uriah insisted on sleeping with the servants.

He was so honorable that David had to have him killed. There’s so much irony. Faithful Uriah carried in his own hand the note from David to have him killed. But David knew that Uriah was so faithful he would never open it. The army commander put Uriah where the fiercest defenders were. Uriah and some other soldiers were killed. How many people died to cover up one sin? And David was so happy. He’d gotten away with it! “But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.” God had seen. The lust. The adultery. The murder. It’s shocking how far David fell.

But not anymore. I mean, none of this is really shocking today, is it? A man sleeps with another man’s wife? We call that Monday. And Tuesday. And every day. Who cares, right? What should shock us doesn’t even bother us anymore. We’ve gotten so accepting of sin, we don’t even notice it! I once had a neighbor whose wife left him for another man. Why? All her girlfriends told her she should find a better-looking man. So she did—and left her husband for him. Why not?

Because God says so. Actually, God has a good plan for sex. God created sex. The Bible says, “God created mankind… Male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Who created gender and sexuality? God did! He makes people male and female. That means God created sexual relations too. God said Adam and Eve were to become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). That was a good thing. Sex is part of God’s plan to join a man and a woman together in marriage. In fact, the Bible commands that married couples are to have sex. It’s a good thing. But the God who created sex adds this: “Only in marriage. Only for a man and a woman truly committed in marriage.”

Not outside of marriage. Sex outside of marriage, sex before marriage, is sinful. “Oh, come on, pastor, don’t you know that living together before marriage is smart? We’ve got to test it out. That’s smart, right?” Yeah, if slapping God in the face is smart. When you have sex outside marriage, it’s like marching into heaven and saying to God himself, “You’re wrong!” You think nobody sees. You think you get away with it. What does our lesson say? “The thing David had done displeased the LORD.” Do you trust God? Do you love God? You can say whatever you want with your mouth, but how you treat God’s plan for sex shows what’s really in your heart.

There’s so much we could talk about. We just finished pride month—celebrating homosexuality. Do you know what the Bible says? It’s sin. Homosexual relations are wrong. In fact, the Bible says that when a culture accepts homosexuality, that’s clear sign that it’s fallen away from God (Romans 1:24-27). To see sin paraded through the streets, flown on flags everywhere…. “Love is love, right? What does God know anyway?” God should judge this country. He should make things get so much worse than a little inflation and high gas prices. There’s so much sexual sin.

And some of us are thinking, “Yes! Get them!” Please don’t think that. If right now you’re thinking about other people’s sins, you’ve completely missed the point. Did you hear what Jesus said? To look lustfully is the same as adultery. Do you use porn? It’s sinful. Do you watch TV shows filled with sexual immorality? Do you laugh at dirty jokes? Do you have thoughts that you would be embarrassed for anyone else to know? It’s sinful. It’s a slap in the face to God and his Word. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

David did. Listen to what David wrote in Psalm 32: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer” (Psalm 32:3-4). It sounds as though David lost his faith in God for a time. Why? He chose sexual sin over God. He kept silent. He refused to repent, even as the weight of guilt crushed him inside. Could that happen to you? To me? If it could happen to David, it could happen to us. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.”

But if you do fall, remember this: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you, … And you forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). When we repent of our sins, God forgives us. The Bible says, “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” You can’t live in sin and be saved. But it continues, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). No matter what sins you have committed, there is a washing and a forgiving and a saving in the name of Jesus Christ.

How? In our story, one man was guilty and sinful—David. One man was honorable and innocent—Uriah. Who died? The innocent one. Uriah died. David lived. Does that remind you of someone? Jesus. We are sinful. Jesus is innocent. And who died? Jesus did. On the cross, Jesus died the death we deserve. With Jesus, it wasn’t irony or accident. He loves us. The innocent one died for us and for our sins. So that we can live. So that we are forgiven. You are forgiven!

Because David isn’t the hero of the Bible. If you’ve started to think that the past few weeks, today is a wake-up call. David is not the hero of the Bible. Neither is Moses or Abraham or Peter or Mary or Paul. The Bible goes out of its way to show us their sins. Why? So we put our trust in the real hero. Who? Jesus. The Bible is the story of how Jesus came to save sinners like David and you and me by God’s grace. David was a sinner and a forgiven saint by the grace of God.

After hearing this story today, maybe you’re thinking, “How could the Bible say anything good about David at all?” This is how grace works. It’s undeserved love for those who don’t deserve it. At all. If a part of you says, “After all this, David didn’t deserve anything good from God!” You’re absolutely right. David didn’t deserve anything good from God at all. You don’t either. I don’t either. But God still loves us. He still blesses us. How? By grace. That’s how God works.

As hard as it is to hear, we need to hear and remember this story. You and I are so much more sinful than we like to think. Even if you feel as righteous as King David, you are always this close to falling. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” When you are tempted, turn away. Say, “No!” When you sin, repent! Because God is so much more gracious than we like to think. Do you know how that verse ends? “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Learn this from David: Be careful that you don’t fall. But when you do, fall on Jesus and his grace.