OVERCOMING TEMPTATION

The Life of David ❧ Part 1 of 1

2 Samuel 11:1-15; James 1:14-15 ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney

Not long ago while I was reading my Bible during my devotions, I came to the passage we’re going to look at today.  My first response was a groan of disappointment.  Who wants to read about David’s great moral failures? I sure didn’t!  Nonetheless, I prayed and began reading.  It is a habit of mine to not just read, but to intentionally reflect on, study, and make a journal entry on whatever passage is part of my devotions.   Even though I knew the story line well, I still took my time dug into the text.  To my surprise, I was greatly refreshed and encouraged.  I thought this would be a great passage for a men’s retreat! Sure enough, this was the passage I was asked to speak on (Read 2 Samuel 2:1-13 & James 1:14-15).  

David’s story is nothing short of shocking.  If there is a passage Hollywood has exploited more than any other, it is this one.  Aren’t you glad God is finished writing the Bible? I know I am.  Who would want to have all their moral failures and blunders in print for all the world to see?  Here is a godly man, a man after God’s own heart, the sweet psalmist of Israel who penned some of the greatest hymns in the Bible.  Here is a man who is close to God.  A man extraordinarily blessed and used by God.  And yet a man did some unbelievable horrible things.  How could such a great man like this be capable of such great moral failure? Hearing the news of yet another moral failure about a pastor or some well-known Christian is always heartbreaking.  I don’t need to give you any reminders.  Even as I speak, you’re probably recalling names of once prominent men or women of God who’ve fallen.  

David’s story is shocking.  But it is also convicting.  His sin was no greater than yours or mine.  It is true he handled his failure horribly. It would unleash a tsunami of pain and regret in his life and many others.  David reminds us that no matter who you are or how close your walk with God may be, you’re not immune. Speaking to believers, the Bible says: Therefore let him who thinks he standstake heed that he does not fall(1 Corinthians 10:12). It’s been pointed out that between the words stands and fall is the warning take heed.  We need to take heed.  We’re going to do two things today.  One look at four Steps to Overcoming Temptation.  1) Guard your heart, 2) Discipline your eyes 3) Strengthen your accountability, 4) Deal with your sin quickly.  Second answer the question: What if you’ve failed? What if you’ve already fallen? Is there any hope? Can God rebuild your life?

1. Guard your heart. Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 11:1). We’re mistaken if we think David’s fall was sudden. It was far from it.  While Joab was laying siege to the city of Rabbah for weeks, Satan had been laying siege to David’s heart for years.  At this point in David’s life he was well into his fifties. He’d served as Israel’s king for the past twenty years.  His life was marked by greatness and success few have ever known.  He was winsomely handsome, athletic, highly gifted in music and prose. He was a king of tremendous character and leadership abilities as well as unusual compassion.  It was David who graciously took in Mephibosheth, Saul’s crippled grandson, accepting him as one of his own.  All this in keeping his promise to Jonathan.  He was not only a king who ruled well but fought well.  He was a heroic warrior who through his leadership greatly expanded Israel’s territory to 60,000 square miles!  Now, after twenty years plus and so many great accomplishments, David felt he needed a break.  David should have been with Joab.  Little did David know the walls of his life were about to collapse with a mighty fall under Satan’s long siege. 

David’s moral failure wasn’t sudden.  It was an accumulation of years of private neglect, of failing to keep a vigilant watch over his heart, namely his lust for other women.  Six chapters earlier we’re told that when David became king over all Israel, he took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem(2 Sam. 15:13).  When he first became king, he had two wives (1 Sam. 27:3).  But when he came to Jerusalem, he took on at least seven more! This means before Bathsheba came into the picture David already had at least nine wives!  The truth is David had been giving himself over to his own fleshly indulgences for a long time!  He should have been guarding his heart.  Probers 4:23 says, Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life (Proverbs 4:23, NLT).  The Hebrew word for heart means more than just our emotions, but our values as well.   

Hundreds of years before, in Deuteronomy 17, God issued a clear and irrevocable warning to Israels future kings.  There were three express things the kings of Israel were not permitted to do: 1) multiply horses (Deut. 17:16), 2) greatly increase in silver and gold (17:17), and 3) multiply wives, lest his heart turn away.  Why were these three? I think a good part of the answer is found in what they represent: horses refer to military strength (power), gold and silver refer to wealth and affluence (prestige), wives refer to contentment (pleasure).  The king was to keep each one of these areas in check to remind him to keep God first in his life.  For a king, these three things were like the forbidden fruit that promised Adam and Eve a godlike status. 

David’s many wives did not satisfy his lust, it increased it! You can never satisfy your lust of the flesh.  David’s son Solomon would go on to powerfully illustrate this with 700 wives and 300 concubines!  Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied (Proverbs 27:20). Your eyes will never be satisfied.  It wasn’t so much that David wanted Bathsheba, it was that he would not be satisfied with what God gave him.    Set a guard over your heart that keeps your eyes on God. He alone satisfies. David should have guarded his heart, but he didn’t.  He should have been with his men, but he wasn’t. Instead, David was in Jerusalem.  

2. Discipline your eyes.  Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance (2 Samuel 11:2).  Restless, maybe feeling guilty, David can’t sleep.  He’s in bed when he should be in battle.  Getting up he stretches and makes his way to what was probably a luxurious balcony overlooking the evening lights of Jerusalem.  A number of years ago I had the opportunity to see the remains of David’s palace.  It would have overlooked a number of homes below. It was spring and there was probably a warm breeze in the air. It was then that maybe he heard the soft splashing of water, caught the subtle scent of bath fragrance. His eyes caught the dancing light of candles.  He heard a woman’s voice softly humming a melodious tune. And then, he saw her.  he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.  

A great deal has been speculated whether or not Bathsheba intentionally bathed in direct sight of Davd’s porch.  It really doesn’t matter.  The real guilty party is David.  He looked and saw that she was very beautiful.  I would guess she was much younger than David.   At that moment in time, David had a choice.  He could maintain his gaze or turn his eyes elsewhere.  I have little doubt that there were many times he wished he could go back and undo that moment.  Even though she was very beautiful, it wasn’t her beauty that got David into trouble – it was David’s own lust.  One person wisely pointed out: The real strength of temptation often does not lie in the quality of the tempting object, but in the state of the heart and mind of the one being tempted (Guzik, The Enduring Word).  Joseph faced a far greater temptation from Potiphar’s wife than David did with Bathsheba, but it didn’t overpower him.  Why? Jospeh’s heart was stronger than the temptation.  He was wise enough to flee.  David should have as well.  James tells us, But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death (James 1:14-15). 

If the Bible is right, that the eyes of a man are never satisfied, then it stands to reason one of our greatest defenses against temptation is learning to guard our hearts and discipline our eyes.  How do you discipline your eyes? First, make a choice.  I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman(Job 31:1, NLT).  Job made a deliberate and determined agreement with his eyes not to look with lust at a woman.  Jesus said: You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart(Matthew 5:27). The psalmist made this prayer: Turn my eyes from worthless things and give me life through your word (Psalm 119:37, NLT).  Lord, turn my eyes from deceptive lies to Your truth. Second, when you see a beautiful woman, thank God for her beauty.  Say, Thank you Lord for her beauty.  Don’t lie to yourself and say, Wow! She’s not exactly what I would call beautiful!  As though lying to yourself will remove the temptation.  Don’t lie to yourself. Third, stop looking and pray for God’s protection: Lord, I pray You would protect me or someone else from sinning against her beauty.  Bring God into the picture.  How do you overcome temptation? Guard your heart, discipline your eyes.  Third…

3. Strengthen your accountability.  So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”(2 Samuel 11:3).  I get the sense David’s servant was trying to protect him.  He plainly told him she’s a married woman.  David learned that Bathsheba came from an important family. She was from the upper classes. Her father was Eliam, one of David’s mighty men (2 Samuel 23:34). Her grandfather was Ahithophel – one of David’s trusted counselors who would later turn on him (2 Samuel 23:34, 2 Samuel 15:12). He knew more than enough about Bathsheba to go no further. 

What David lacked was not accountability, but accountability with teeth.  It would have been great had Nathan the prophet stepped in at this moment.  But God didn’t send Nathan, not yet.  Nathan doesn’t enter the picture until David had been trying to hide from his sins for almost a year. It was not that David was without plenty of warning though.  He knew the seventh commandment forbids adultery (Ex. 20:14). That God’s Law states those who commit adultery are to be put to death (Lev. 20:10).  His servant clearly warned him. David could not blame God.  What David should have done was strengthen his accountability.  Instead, he sent for Bathsheba and lay with her. 

Not long ago the heartbreaking news came out that a well-known Christian apologist had been a serial adulterer for years.  Many had suspected, but a private investigation following his death revealed the ugly truth.  How was he able to maintain a life of adultery? He kept his life out of reach of accountability.   

How do you strengthen your accountability? I suggest you ask your wife and or friends to look your computer, cell phone, media devices, mail, email, books, on a regular basis.  Seek out men who will hold you accountable by asking the hard questions on a regular basis.  You may do these things, but   it doesn’t matter how stringent the accountability you submit to may be, you can still deceive, still hide.  You have to decide to honest before God and others.  No one can do that for you.  Strengthen your accountability. 

4. Deal with your sin quickly. This is exactly what David didn’t do.  Shortly after he learns Bathsheba is pregnant it says, Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David(2 Samuel 11:6).  What was David doing? He was trying to cover up his sin.  He soon finds that Uriah isn’t going along with David’s schemes.  Uriah has more integrity than David. I cannot help but wonder if Joab, as well as Uriah didn’t see through David’s cover up.  I wonder what Joab must have thought of David. How can this great man of God, this sweet psalmist of Israel plot to put to death one of his mighty men? Some even wonder if Bathsheba tried to lure Uriah home as well.  

David thought he could get away with his sin.  But he failed to remember you cannot hide your sin from God.  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will reap(Gal. 6:7).  At this point, David was in panic mode.  He was running from God when instead he should have been running to God.  His sin with Bathsheba and his attempt to hide it set in motion a whirlwind of consequences that would bring more grief and sorrow into David’s life and his family than he would have ever imagined.  

What were some of those consequences? – A broken relationship with God, – public shame, – unwanted pregnancy, – loss of a not just one child, but three, – murder of Bathsheba’s husband, – daughter raped by her brother, – a civil war, – a son who starts where David stopped and marries a thousand wives and eventually leads the whole nations away from God.  And on and on it goes.  

David would have spared his family, his friends, his nation a great deal of grief had he dealt with the matter right then and there.  But he didn’t.  Would God have put David and Bathsheba to death? I don’t know.  But I’m sure looking back David wished he’d been honest from the start.

Have you ever thought of the consequences of committing adultery? What would you tell your wife as you look into her eyes? What would you say to your children?  Better we come to God first, then God come to us – and He will.  

What if you’ve failed? How can a righteous God forgive and restore someone who has committed adultery and murder? God gives us that answer in David’s great Psalm 51.  

1. Seek God’s grace.  Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions(Psalm 51:1). Don’t run away from God. Run to Him. God is a gracious God and He is the only One you’re going to find hope and healing.  If you’re still entertaining the relationship, stop. Give it up immediately.  Repent. 

2. Confess your sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You,You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge(Psalm 51:3-4).  Don’t try to minimize it or call it what it isn’t. It’s sin.  Sin always separates and destroys.    

3. Ask God for a new heart. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). No matter how bad your failure, God’s grace is greater still. If you’ve asked Him to forgive you, you have to trust Him to do what He says He’ll do. That’s why Jesus died.  Accept His forgiveness and start living for Him. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners will be converted to You(Vv. 12-13).  God will not waste your pain but use it to help others. If you’re still feeling guilty, ashamed, self-condemnation even though you’ve asked God to forgive you it means one of two things.  You haven’t changed your lifestyle, or you haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness and you’re believing the lie that you can never be forgiven.