FAMOUS FAILURES - Part 7 - David — Defiled the Purity of God

2 Samuel 11-12

In this study we are looking at Famous failures — Adam, Moses, Jonah, Peter, and John Mark.

Now, let's look back at David. Ask the average person on the street what they know about the David of the Bible and they'll probably recall his Greatest Feat and his Greatest Failure.

* His greatest feat? Killing Goliath.

* His greatest failure? Adultery with Bathsheba. 1 Kings 15:5

2 Samuel 11:1-4 David's failure? He defiled the purity of God.

Allow me to set the stage of David's life when this failure occurred. Age. David was middle aged, not a youth. Probably about 50. There are the 4 B's of middle age - baldness, bulges, bifocals, and bunions! David was having a middle age crisis before middle age crisis were cool! He may have had it in the back of his mind that he was not the man he once was.

Achievement. He was enjoying success, not adversity. David had served 20 years as King of Judah and Israel. He established Jerusalem as his capital city. He was no longer being chased by Saul, cursed by Shimei , or rebuked by Nabal. He was on top. He was both popular and successful.

Warning: Our success or popularity is not a sign of God's blanket approval of all we are doing.

Apathy. He had gotten into idleness, not busyness. Under David's leadership the Israelites had defeated every nation that was a threat to their security. But at this stage, he had turned over his direct leadership to Joab, his military commander. Now David relaxed and enjoyed his position as king. There is not much distance between idleness and boredom.

1. The Occasion of David's Ruin.

David was driven by lust. Not love. Three reasons.

<1> He didn't even know her name. Back in the 60's there was a rock group called The Doors who surely takes the prize for the most ignorant musical number of the century. It was called, "Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name!" Hay, David may have been the first to sing that dumb tune.

<2> Once he found out who she was, he discovered she was married — married to one of his soldiers. Let me say this in the face of modern ideas — a man cannot in truth love a woman who is married to another man! God does give a person a love he cannot legitimately act upon.

<3> Real love that includes sex does not exist among the unmarried! You hear people describing sex as "making love." David was not interested in a lifetime commitment with Bathsheba. Listen, David would have been happy to have had his one-night stand with Bathsheba and leave it at that were it not for a slight complication that arose.

This is all about lust, not love! Lust is desire. Now, God gives males a physical desire for females, which is natural. But, that physical desire is to acted upon only among a husband and wife. So, a legitimate desire among the married is an illegitimate desire among the unmarried.

What feeds lust in men? What is it that get the attention of a man? The next time you are in an airport watch some men.

Beauty, 2 Samuel 11:2. Sex isn't sold by the ugly or homely. Men, whose supposed love is based on beauty, somehow lose that love when the beauty is gone.

Nudity. Men are aroused by what they see. And there is more to see today than ever before! You can't watch a ball game on TV without some dancing women being paraded before you in alluring attire. Women who dress in such a way as to expose themselves with the desire to be looked at and lusted after share in men's' sin. And what a shame it is that many moms and dads dress their daughters in that manner thinking its cute.

· Matthew 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." It is not lustful looking that causes the sin in the heart, but the sin in the heart that causes the lustful looking.

· Job 31:1 "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?"

Sin is never as simple as you and I think it is. Every "play day" has a "pay day." In David's mind the event was over. But not so! The worst four words David had ever heard, "I am with child." By the way, Bathsheba did not say, "I am with fetus."

David had taken advantage of God's grace once too often and now would suffer some terrible consequences.

* God stopped David from killing Nagal through Abigail.

* David was about to go into battle with the Philistine army against Israel, and God delivered him. * But now, David decided to commit adultery with Bathsheba and God did not stand in his way.

Displeased the Lord, 11:27. David has sinned against God. To this point in his life it was his greatest sin! But in his position as king of Israel, as he had done on previous occasions, he did not immediately acknowledge his mistake. It appears he even refused to recognize it as sin. He attempted to solve the problem by himself, only getting himself in deeper.

The mapping, murdering, mockery, 2 Samuel 11:6-25. A royal wedding did not make this right. "But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord."

Pleasing the Lord is our number one job.

* Everyone else can be displeased and the Lord pleased - its ok.

* Everyone else pleased and the Lord displeased - trouble.

Little Billy said, "You don't want to make God mad." The displeasure of the Lord is not to be seen only as rage or destruction. Sin not only hurts us. Sin hurts God!

Despised the law, 2 Samuel 12:9. He wanted to live without rules and responsibilities. What was the law he had despised?

<1> Political law. David had sown the seeds of this events years before when he had excused his disobedience to the command of God not to multiply unto himself wives, Deuteronomy 17:17. David had gotten away with this earlier, 2 Samuel 5:13. Why not one more? He had developed the mind-set that he could do almost anything and get my with it.

<2> Perennial law. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." This is a law for all people, in all times, in all cultures, in all countries. It is a perennial law and has never been amended or overruled.

Illustration: A driver being hired. He was told to drive as close to the edge as he could. The man who was hired refused to because he knew the danger. Instead of seeing how close we can get to sin and still have God's peace in our lives, we should be seeing how far we can get from sin!

2. The Occasion of David's Recovery.

"The purpose of God in all His dealings with sinners is not their condemnation and destruction, but rather their restoration and recovery." - Roy Hession.

* Adam . . . symbol. * Moses . . . sight. *Jonah . . . storm. *Peter . . . sound. * John Mark . . . servant -- For David: God used a sermon. 2 Samuel 12:1-12

The man. Nathan = "given."

The mission. "And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him." From every indication of Scripture, Nathan was on a death mission. It would be either his own or David's.

<1> It could have meant the prophet's death. In the New Testament Paul said he became an enemy to some simply because he told them the truth, Gal. 4:16. The test of a real man of God is not his popularity among men, but his faithfulness to God.

<2> It was to mean the death of David if he did not get right with God. 1 John 5:16 says there is "a sin unto death." David was living on borrowed time in his refusal to get right with God.

The message. It was both a simple and a stirring message. It was the moving story about a rich man who was a sheep stealer! And David got emotionally moved, v. 5. David listened, but really never got the point. At that point Nathan moved from storytelling to application. I have contended for a long time that people don't mind preaching, even Bible preaching, so long as you draw no conclusions and point no fingers. "Thou art the man."

Nathan wasn't concerned with tact, but contact! I have found it is all right to preach that a believer's body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, but don't say the temple ought not to smoke or drink liquor or overeat. It is all right to say a person is to be faithful to the church of God, but don't say they ought not visit mamma or work unnecessary overtime on Sundays. It is all right to say a person is to be a witness, but don't come on to people about going out on visitation night. If is all right to say a person should tithe, but don't go so far as to say a person who doesn't is robbing God!

Three things about David and his sin.

1. David was deeply convicted of his sin, 2 Samuel 12:7-12.

2. David honestly confessed his sin. 2 Samuel 12:13. David was forgiven of his sin, but the consequences were not removed. (e.g. drunk, cut hand off, excample).

3. David seriously forsook his sin and changed his life. David could not restore Urriah back to life, but he could take responsibility. After David confessed his sin and received forgiveness, he accepted the consequences of his sin. 2 Samuel 12:20.

This series has not really been about failure as much as it has been about recovery after failure.

· Moses failed, but recovered and God greatly used him for 40 more years.

· Jonah failed, but recovered and God greatly used to see Nineveh turn to God.

· Peter failed, but recovered and he became one of the great apostles of the church.

· John Mark failed, but recovered and God used him to write the Gospel of Mark.

· David failed but God went on and used David for another 20 years.

In the New Testament David is most frequently mentioned in conjunction with the lineage of Jesus Christ. Our Lord and Savior was the offspring of David. He is often called the Son of David. In fact, our Lord's direct line can be traced from David's child through Bathsehba, Matthew 1:6. And if this is surprising, if you trace Christ's lineage back further, Jesus' great, great, great grandmother was Rahab the harlot, who was converted to the God of Israel out of the pagan city of Jericho, Matthew 1:5.

What does all of this mean? Perhaps most significantly it means that Jesus Christ not only identified with out failures in His life on earth, but He also identified with the great failures of mankind in His heritage. His purity and His sinless life were not dependent upon His ancestry. It could not have been "‘for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23.

But a the human level Jesus Christ identified without sins without sinning. And because He did, He understands our temptations. He is our Great High Priest who is able to "be touched with the feelings of our infirmities," Heb. 4:15.

Were He not this kind of Savior no man could be saved --- including His great, great, grandfather, David.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin? Have you confessed your lost condition and experienced the cleansing power of His shed blood? If not, do so today. Simply, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," Acts 16:31.

And as a Christian, perhaps you are living out of God's will. Like David, you have blown it. Then, like David, acknowledge your sin, repent and turn back to God. 1 John 1:9. If God's mercy was available to a repentant heart in the Old Testament, how much then is His mercy available in the New Testament.