Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
And I don't know if you've ever done this before.
I've read enough books where I know that I have.
Over the years, have you ever just gotten really engrossed in
a book? You're reading a book, you're
really into it. You're into the characters,
you're into decisions that they make.
And you start to realize that they're making some bad
decisions. In fact, they're making a bad
decision, something so bad that you know it's going to change
the trajectory and the story of the book.
And you almost get so agitated. You're so into reading it,
you're like, no, no, stop that. Like as if you saying that is
actually going to change anything in the book, you know,
but like don't do that. What's the matter with you?
Why would you make that kind of decision?
And you know, if there's someone else in the house and like, are
you talking to yourself? No, I'm not talking about
something like crazy. I'm talking to a book like, oh,
well, that's a lot better. OK.
But you know, sometimes you get to that place where you just get
so engrossed in it. You want to tell them to stop.
But you know that you can't. No one to remind you this
evening. I know what group I'm with here
tonight, but I do want to remind you that when we're looking at
the word of God, we're not talking about a storybook, We're
not talking about a fairy tale, We're not talking about a work
fiction. These are real people.
And this is the very word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit that
we have in front of us this evening.
But I will tell you, although this account took place
somewhere around 3000 years ago, it hurts to read it if you know
where we're at. We're talking about David and
Bathsheba. You read it.
You want to say, David, stop, stop, don't do it.
What do you, What do you think you're going to accomplish here?
But no matter how much you try, you can't change what the word
of God says and the events that took place over 3000 years ago.
David's story is a story of adultery and murder.
And because of that, oftentimes if we look at it, we can think
it has nothing to do with us because it's a story of adultery
and murder. But I would submit to you that
perhaps even greater than the idea that this is a story of
adultery and murder, it's the story of the steps that got him
to adultery and murder. You know, you and I, we may not
be in the places where we have committed those types of sins,
but I will tell you this, the steps that get us to sin are
just as important for us to understand as the sin
themselves. Because if we don't take those
steps, guess what? We don't commit the sin.
And David tonight is going to meet his greatest nemesis and
we're going to look at that tonight by the grace of God.
So why don't you remain seated this evening?
There's, there's quite a few verses that I want you to read.
So I want you to focus in. We're going to read verses #1
through 17. And then we're also going to
read the end of the chapter. But I feel it's important that
we read all of it. And I do want to encourage you,
kind of like as we were encouraged when we looked at
David and Goliath, First Samuel 17.
I know that was many months ago, but there are times that you are
very familiar with the Bible passage and we can read it and
you just kind of let it go over your head as we're reading it
because you know what's about to happen.
Can I encourage you pay attention to every word, pay
attention to every decision. This is the word of God and
allow it to speak to you afresh and a new tonight.
Not that we're going to find anything new in the word of God.
Well, there is nothing new in the word of God is there?
It's preserved for us. It's not new, it's timeless as
we've talked about several times over the last few weeks, but
would you allow God to speak to you afresh and a new from this
book here this evening. So it says this, And it came to
pass after the year was expired, and the time when kings go
forth, the battle that David sent Joab and his servants with
him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon
and besieged Rabba. But David tarried still at
Jerusalem. And it came to pass in the
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.
And David sent inquired after the woman, and one said, is not
this Bathsheba the daughter of Elium, the wife of Uriah the
Hittite? Now I would remind you that
Uriah the Hittite is one of his mighty men.
Remember we saw the mighty men for the first time last week.
This isn't just any soldier. This is one of his chiefest and
one of his bravest men. And David sent messengers, and
took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her, for
she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned to
her house. And the woman conceived and sat,
and told David, and said, I am with child.
And David said to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite.
And Joab sent Uriah to David, And when Uriah was come unto
him, David demanded of him how Joab did, how the people did,
and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, Go down
to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the
King's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the
king. But Uriah slept at the door of
the King's house with all the servants of his Lord, and went
not down to his house. And when they had told David,
saying, Uriah went not down to his house.
And David said unto Uriah, Cameest thou not from thy
journey? Why did sought thou go down unto
thine house? And Uriah said unto David, The
ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents, and my Lord Joab and
the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields.
Shall I then go into mine house to eat and to drink, and to lie
with my wife? As thou livethest and as thy
soul livethest, I will not do this thing.
And David said to Uriah, Terry here today also, and tomorrow I
will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that
day and tomorrow. And when David called him, he
did eat and drink before him. And he made him.
Drunk and even, he went out to lie on his bed with the servants
of his Lord, but he went not down to his house.
I came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to
Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
And he wrote in the letter saying, Set you Uriah in the
forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye him from and
retire from him, that he may be smitten and die.
It came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he
assigned Uriah into a place where he knew that the valiant
men were. And the men of the city went out
and fought with Joab, and there fell some of the people of the
servants of David and Uriah the Hittite also died.
A drop down to verse #26 And when the wife of Uriah heard
that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
And when the morning was. Passed David sat and fetched her
to his house, and she became his wife and bear him a son.
But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
This is the man after God's own heart.
This is the man that we've seen show kindness to his enemies, to
show kindness to his friends, to show thought of love and
appreciation for all that God has done for him.
And then we see this. Well, how did it get here?
What do we need to diagnose tonight to make sure the same
does not happen to us? No, no, not necessarily
committing adultery and murder. I I'm not insinuating that
tonight. But you can make life altering,
life changing bad decisions by following the exact same process
of steps that David did here in second Samuel Chapter 11.
And I want to look at that here tonight.
Heavenly Father, I do thank you for this night, and I do pray
you would help me to convey the seriousness of this message.
Lord, there's really nothing funny about what we see here
tonight. And Lord, certainly to have a
merry heart does good like a medicine, your word says.
But there's also a time of appropriateness.
And I see the serious as this text tonight.
Know that while it shows the fall of David in so many ways,
it also shows us the steps that we can avoid within our own
life. And so, Lord, do help us as we
look at this text and help us to discern these own things in our
own life before they get far out of hand.
And we do ask it all in Jesus name.
Amen. Again, tonight's text is
probably very familiar to you this evening, but it requires us
to take a look at the details nonetheless.
And really, we can see David's decisions can be broken down
into three separate parts. There's the carrying out,
there's the cover up, and there's the completion.
We see the carrying out, the covering up, and the completion.
Verses #1 through 5 talk about David carrying out this act.
Verse number one said that David should have been out with the
kings when there was the time of war.
Did you see that verse #1 it says, and it came to pass after
the year was expired at the time when kings go forth to battle.
And then at the end of the verse it says, but David tarried still
at Jerusalem. David's first problem here was
he wasn't where he was supposed to be.
David will put himself in a very bad position.
You know a good way to make sure you don't drink alcohol?
Don't go to a bar. You don't make good way to make
sure that you don't drink alcohol, don't go to a paki.
That's a good way to make sure. And here is David, you know, a
good way to make sure he stayed out of trouble.
Be on the battlefield where you're supposed to be.
But David was negligent. A man who had always been on the
battlefield now is deciding that he is going to stay home and
allow Joab to do the work that he is supposed to be doing.
And it says at the evening tide that he is awake and he goes out
onto the porch. Now understand this, this
evening tide is likely twilight. It was probably dusk, if you
will. And that's because there was
obviously enough light to be able to see what was taking
place. And David's palace would have
been higher likely than any of the other homes that would have
been there. And it wasn't uncommon
necessarily that someone was to wash on a housetop.
That was not an uncommon thing. But typically, because other
people's homes would have been about the same height, that
there will be ways that you could maybe block out other
people seeing you while you're washing.
But David having, if you would, a bird's eye view over the city,
would have been able to see Bathsheba in this very
compromising position as she was washing herself.
And the Bible itself says that she was very beautiful to look
upon, that Bathsheba was a very beautiful woman.
And David, in that moment, instead of saying, as he goes
out into his porch, there's a woman in a state of undress, I
ought not to be looking at her, which is all that should have
happened, by the way. Could I just make something
clear this evening before we get too far?
The idea of David's temptation here, It's not a sin to be
tempted. Well, that's pretty quiet.
I don't know that everyone's tracking with me, but I'm gonna
say it again. It is not a sin to be tempted.
And you say, why would that be the case?
Pastor, may I remind you? That Jesus was tempted for 40
days in the wilderness, and Jesus was without sin.
He was tempted 3 specific times, but he wasn't just tempted those
three times. The Bible says for 40 days he
was tempted in the wilderness. If temptation itself was a sin,
we would find this that Jesus himself would have sinned.
No, no. The idea of the temptation, the
idea of David going out onto the rooftop and seeing a woman, that
in and of itself would not have been a sin if he had said I got
to go back inside. I not think about this.
I ought not dwell on this. I ought not to ask who this
woman is. I need to discard this like a
rotten apple core. You know, when you you get a
rotten apple core. You don't think, should I eat
this? I know it's that time of year
where everyone goes apple picking, where we spend five
times as much as the apples cost in the store to go out and do
the work that we have to do and then we have to pay more.
It seems like it's backwards to be able to do that, quite
honestly. But if you go apple picking,
you'll find apples all over the ground and some of them look
good and you pick it up and you find out that it's rotten
because it's been sitting on the ground forever.
You probably don't think, you know, there's a part of this is
pretty good. There's not even a thought
process. You see it's rotten.
You see there's worms inside of it and disease inside of it.
You just cast it off to the side.
Listen, when temptation comes your way, it's that rotten apple
cord. Here's what you need to do.
Just discard it. Just put it off to the side.
You know, I don't want this. I don't need this.
This isn't something that I should have in my life.
But David, in that moment of temptation, decides to not
discard, but to dwell upon it. And he starts to think that is a
beautiful woman, and I like beautiful women.
I am the king, and who could stop me?
Who's to say that I can't have something of which I want and
which I desire? And in that moment, instead of
discarding, he starts to dwell on the thought and he starts to
ask questions. Who is this woman?
And again, his friends, his advisors.
Someone should have said, David, what are you thinking, David?
Don't even ask David. Forget about it.
Pretend you never even saw her. But they said, oh, that's
Bathsheba. By the way, she's husband to
Uriah the the Hittite. And David sent the messengers 4
and fetched her and brought her. And what happened?
Not only did they lie together, but the Bible says this, that a
baby is involved. So that's the carrying out of
the event that we are very familiar with.
But then there's the covering up that takes place next.
That the covering up takes place from verse number six to verse
#25 David realizes if I can get Uriah home, if I can get him off
the battlefield and if I can get him to lay with his wife, well
then what will take place that people will have see that baby
and realize that baby is your wife is not ever knowing that
the baby belongs to the king. And so he calls Uriah and he
talks to about the battle and he says why don't you go home and
wash your feet. And the connotation there has
nothing to do with him going home and simply taking care of
himself and cleaning himself up because he could have done that
very well in the palace. In fact, David reveals later
that why he desires her to go, go spend some time with your
wife. And Uriah in its moment in time
is more honorable than David is because he comes back and he
says this the next day, why didn't you, why didn't you spend
time with your wife? He says, listen, could I spend
time with my wife when all of Israel, the soldiers are out
there on the battlefield and I'm to be found in my wife's arms as
that can't be. In fact, he says something very
interesting in verse #11 he says unto David, the ark of in Israel
and Judah abide in tents. Now we understand the thought of
tents. You know, they're out in these
temporary dwelling places. Do you remember who else had
this idea of, of, of something dwelling in a tent not that long
ago? It was David when David's heart
was tender. He says should I be dwelling in
a House of cedar and the Ark of the covenant be dwelling in a
Tabernacle of curtains. He had this thought process of
look at how much ease I have and look at where the Ark of the
Covenant. Is, he says.
This ought not to be, but now it's Uriah, the one who's
saying, look, I ought not to have comfort and ease when the
tat when the the Ark of the Covenant, when my friends, all
these people, they're intense and I'm going to be able to go
home to my wife. I won't do it.
So David gets him to a place where he finds him to be
intoxicated. David encourages intoxication.
He becomes intoxicated. But even in your eyes, you talk
intoxication. He refuses to go home and then
just sleeps with the servants of David that night.
And David realizes he's not going to go home.
And So what do we ask? What does he have to do?
The only choice in his mind is murder.
Now, did David take a sword and kill him?
No. But.
The orders he gave be clear about this.
David was the one who caused his execution, and that's what it
was. He told Joab, he says get him
out front and then have everyone retreat and he'll be out by
himself and be part of the text that we did not read is, is Joab
recounting exactly that taking place?
And what happens after that takes place?
Well, it ends up that Uriah does die.
He dies violently in battle, but dies nonetheless.
So now. Uriah is out of the picture.
So we have the carrying out, we have the covering up, but then
we see the completion. Those are the last two verses
that we read. And when the wife of Uriah heard
that Uriah, her husband was dead, she mourned that her
husband was dead. I'm sorry.
She mourned for her husband. And when the mourning was
passed, David sat and fetched her to his house, and she became
his wife and bare him a son. But the thing that David had
done. Displeased the Lord that last.
Sentence is the most important, isn't it?
In the completion, David has this thought process.
I did it. In fact, I would submit to you
that both David and Bathsheba have thought they'd gotten away
with one. But why is that?
David has now acquired this wife, this woman, Bathsheba.
And no one will ever know when that child is born that the
child is his. They'll just assume.
Well, they will know, but they will know.
But it's because they're married now.
That's that's what is. They won't know of the adultery
that took place before. And for a Bathsheba, she went
from becoming adulterous to becoming a queen.
They both got everything they wanted.
It's like they got one over on God.
But can I remind you this evening that the God of all
heaven knows all, sees all. He knows your innermost
thoughts. You can't pull the wool over his
eyes. Listen, He created the wool, and
his eyes look to and fro, the Bible says, over the whole
earth. There's nothing that you can do.
There's nothing that you can say.
There's nothing that you can think that you can pull the wool
over God's eyes. And David, as powerful as he
was, he thinks I've gotten to the place where now Uriah is out
of the picture. She belongs to me.
No one will know that the baby of mine was committed.
It was was conceived in the midst of adultery.
They won't know what took place. Nobody would know.
But there's one entity that did, and that's God.
And God knew. And listen, you can hide your
sin from the entire world, but you can't hide your sin from
God. You can hide your sin from your
church, but you can't hide your sin from God.
You can hide your sin from your from your spouse, but you can't
hide your sin from God. You can hide your sin from your
children, but you can't hide your sin from God.
You can hide your sin listen from society because it seems
like a lot of our sin society doesn't even care about.
But you can't hide it from God. God sees, God knows, and God
judges sin. So that gets me to the place
where we look at David's greatest nemesis tonight.
And I think it's no surprise to you who greatest, David's
greatest nemesis is. But I do think when you think
about it, it does cause a little bit of of wonderment.
Because you might think at first, if maybe we weren't
looking at this text and you would say just in general, who
do you think David's greatest nemesis was?
A lot of people would say Goliath.
I think a lot of people would say that they didn't know the
text. They didn't know where they were
reading. You just said, look from David's
life. Who is David's greatest
opponent? They'd say, well, Goliath.
Was it Goliath? Oh, it must have been Saul.
Well, it wasn't Saul. Maybe they take a deeper cut and
they say was it Ishbashaf? No.
Was it Abner? No.
Maybe some of you were wondering this evening, was it Bathsheba?
And the answer is no. But David's greatest nemesis, it
was David, your greatest nemesis.
And my greatest nemesis is the one that looks us in the mirror.
Pastor What about the devil? What about the devil?
Pastor Well, the devil is powerful.
There's no doubt the devil is not weak and the devil is
powerful. But I will also say this.
He's not omnipresent as God is. You know, God is everywhere at
all times. Can you hide from God?
Can you go somewhere where God is not?
Does Satan have that capability? Is Satan omnipresent?
Is he everywhere at all times? I think the Bible makes it clear
that is not the case about Satan.
But do you know who I have to live with 24 hours a day, seven
days a week? Myself?
And this flesh. And you know what this flesh
wants to do? This flesh.
Wants to sin, say Pastor, but I'm saved now.
And the answer to that is Amen. Praise the Lord that you're
saved. Praise the Lord for the day that
you trusted Jesus Christ your Savior.
Thank the Lord for even today. Someone here passing from death
unto life. We remarkable.
It's remarkable the day that you got saved.
But wouldn't it be great if the day you got saved was the day
you stopped struggling with sin? Sometimes it seems like the
struggle is more hot once you get saved.
You know why? Because before you just gave
into it. You didn't think about it, you
didn't care. You just went headlong into sin.
But now that you're saved, the Holy Spirit lives inside it and
He won't let you sin. Why?
Because he's a holy God. You know, I would say when He
won't let you sin, He's not going to constrain you or
restrain you from it, but He won't let you have the pleasure
that you once did. Because now all of a sudden, as
you're in the midst of sin, what does the Holy Spirit say?
Don't do that. You shouldn't do that.
Don't get involved in that. So now all of a sudden the
pleasure that you had before diminishes greatly because the
Holy Spirit inside, he won't let you sin without talking to you
about it. Read Hebrews chapter 12.
You have any questions about that?
You belong part of the family. He's going to chasten those who
are part of the family. And he said, well, he didn't
chasten me. I got saved.
He never chastens me. Well, the Bible says that you're
not part of the family. Because he chastens his own, he
corrects his own. That's something to be proud of.
In fact, that's something that I would worry about your
situation. No, no, I'm not trying to
question you this evening, but I'm just saying this is that he
loves you so much that when you're saved, he's telling you
don't do that. I want you to live.
A better way, a different way, and avail yourself to the Spirit
lives inside of you. If you have any questions about
this, I'll give you some homework tonight.
Go home and read Romans chapter 6, Romans Chapter 7, and Romans
chapter 8. And read what it says about
mortifying the flesh and being dead unto sin, but alive unto
God. This is what we are called to be
as believers today. That that we are no longer to
live unto sin, but rather we're to live unto the very
righteousness of God. That we have a not just a new
home in heaven, but that we have a new way of living the day we
got saved. And as God's people, we must do
better than to be saved people living as we did.
Before we got saved, God wants so much for you.
He wants so much better for you. And as I've told you before,
there are people who say, well, God loves me just the way I am.
And while that certainly is true, God loves you far too much
to leave you that way. He wants you to be right with
Him. Ephesians 21 and through three
says this. And you hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins.
We're in time past. You walked according to the
course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now working on the children with
disobedience, among whom also we had our conversation in times
past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature the children
of wrath, even as others listen. We lived in the old life trying
to fulfill the lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh,
the desires of the mind. But he says this.
You have a new calling now. You have a new way of living.
Don't live that old way. Now, let's be clear about
something this evening. David not going to battle was
not a wise thing. David should have gone to
battle. There's no doubt in my mind that
would have. Been the case, but even if David
had gone to battle, he was already in a very, very
precarious place in his life. Why is that?
We are expecting David to act with sexual purity here, but
we're also looking at a man who had decided many years ago that
he was going to have more than one wife.
You know that David has already has more wives than God has told
anyone to have. You know a husband should have
one. That's plenty.
Amen. They came out in a way I didn't
mean it to be OK. 1 is what is wonderful.
What is wonderful? Yes, she's taking her glasses
off to look at me. All right?
1 is a wonderful thing. But listen in David's life.
If one woman wasn't going to be enough, listen, none were going
to be enough. I'll say that again.
If one woman wouldn't be enough, there will be no number that
will be enough. You know who illustrated this?
His son. His son 1000 wives and
concubines and he writes the book of Ecclesiastes and he says
this, what's the point of it all?
I can acquire, I can have, I can take whatever I want and it's
all folly. It's all foolishness, it's all
vanity. What's the point of it all?
You know, Proverbs 27, verse 20 says this hell and destruction
are never full. So the eyes of man are never
satisfied. Listen, if you want to fulfill
the lust of the flesh, it will never fulfill you.
You'll need more and you'll need more.
And by the way, we're not just talking about adultery.
We're talking about anything that is contrary to God and His
Word. If you think that you can take
it into your life and it will be enough, it won't be enough.
A little. Bit of gossip will never be
enough. A little bit of lying will never
be enough. A little bit of theft will never
be enough. A little bit of pride will never
be enough. A little bit of arrogance will
never be enough. A little bit of sin will never
be enough. You'll need more and more and
more, and the more you consume, the more you'll want.
That's why it says in Proverbs 30 verses 15 and 16 the horse
Leech have two daughters crying give give.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible and probably one of the
most obscure verses in the Bible.
The horse Leech has two daughters crying out give give
the horse Leech. Now if you know anything about
leeches, well they are blood sucking creatures.
I have encountered leeches before.
I remember when I lived in Missouri and I went fishing once
and I didn't realize that when people go into a pond they use
waders to go in the pond and I didn't catch a lot of fish that
day. Actually, that seems a common
theme for my stories today. I.
Didn't catch a lot of fish, but I caught something else.
Leeches on the legs. And I'll tell you this, that
helped me realize waders are good.
Not just going into the water and just stand in there.
Yeah, have some protection on your legs because those leeches,
I had to fry them off of me. And how awful and gross that
was. But you know what's amazing
about this horse Leech? And you can go home and study
the horse Leech. You can look it up online.
A horse Leech is a specific type of Leech that will get into the
nostrils of livestock. And the horse Leech will start
to draw blood inside the nostrils of the livestock.
But it has two daughters. The Bible says that's really the
two suckers that it's talking about, that both will take of
the blood, and as it does so, it gorges itself.
And. Science shows us that that horse
Leech can get to two to three times its original size as it
continues to take blood from the cow, from the horse.
But as it does so and it cries, give, give meaning.
I want more. I want more, I want more, I want
more. As it continues to grow and grow
and grow, it grows so large that those suckers can't actually
hold on to the horse anymore. So it drops to the ground and
it's. Trampled by the horse, but its
appetite was so great that it wanted more and more and more.
And it was that very appetite that led to its downfall.
You know what sin does? It never says, hey, just take a
little bit and you'll be fine. It's like the old potato chip
commercial, but you can't eat just one.
Eat a little bit more and a little bit more.
But we're not talking about adding a little bit to our
waistline. We're talking about your
destruction, not your soul being taken away.
No, no, Satan has no power to take away your salvation.
But I will say this, He will take away your joy.
He'll take away your effectiveness.
He'll take away your testimony. He'll take away your ability to
be able to witness. To those family and friends who
saw Christ in you, but now they see you in the throes of sin,
the very sin that you're telling them that they should get out
of. No, no, What do you need to do?
Abstain. Stay away.
Don't be part of it. Realize that if the Bible says
don't do it, don't do it. Because if you do it, you keep
going and going and going and like the horse Leech, the very
thing you consume will be your destruction, David said.
One more wife can't hurt. One more woman can't hurt.
A little bit more fun won't. Hurt.
Then what happened? Well, before he knew it, it was
too late and the damage had been done.
As I mentioned a few moments ago, the danger with a message
like this is that if you're not careful, you could just tune out
because you say, well, Pastor, adultery and murder.
I'm not adulterous and I haven't murdered.
So a message like this doesn't matter to me.
But as I mentioned to you a few moments ago, David just didn't
wake up desiring Bathsheba. There were things that took
place far before that ever took place.
You know, Judas didn't just wake up one day and desire to betray
Jesus. There were a lot of small
decisions that got taken place before that ever happened.
Ananias and Sapphira didn't just wake up one day and said, hey,
you know what we ought to do? We ought to lie to the church
about how much money we gave the church.
You know, there were some decisions that they had made
about truthfulness and about God's church and their heart far
before that day when both of them died because of what they
said. Joseph brothers didn't just wake
up one day and say, yeah, you know what we should do for
recreation today? Throw a brother in a pit.
Hatred had built up. And by the way, their
ungodliness had built up over time, and they were ungodly men.
And that brought them to the place where they decided, yeah,
we're going to throw them in a pit.
Samson didn't just wake up one day and say, you know what I
want to do? I want to spend time with a
prostitute. I don't even talk about Delilah.
I'm talking about far before when he went to Gaza and took a
prostitute. And I heard this recently, this
idea that Samson took 56,250 steps to get him to the place of
where he spent time with that prostitute.
You say 56,250 steps. How does that make sense?
Well, the 25 miles that he would have walked to be able to get to
Gaza, every single step brought him closer to that prostitute.
I'm not trying to be course or crude this evening, but I will
say this. She didn't just jump in his bed
that he made a decision that I am going to do this because this
is what I want to do. And God had such great plans for
Samson, his life, but he kept running afoul of those plans
over and over again until the greatest day of victory in
Samson's life was the day that he took his own life.
Was that ever God's plan for him?
Now, did God know that's what would happen?
Yes. And God's omnipotence, he knew
exactly what Samson's decisions would be.
But did God have much greater plans for Samson?
You better believe it. There's some steps that we need
to make sure we don't take. Oh no, we may not be in adultery
or murder, but isn't it interesting that we look at
adultery and murder here in Second Samuel Chapter 11?
And what are the two sins that Jesus talks about in the Sermon
on the Mount of which we say, well, it's not like I killed
anyone. Well, it's not like I've stepped
out and cheated on anyone. And he says, have you had hatred
in your heart? Have you lusted in your heart
and equates that with the steps of murder and adultery?
Do you think that's a coincidence?
I don't think it is because it's very easy for us to cast those
off to the side, say, well, I don't deal with that.
It's not a big deal. And what Jesus is saying,
listen, if you had the opportunity, you would if you
harbor those thoughts in your heart.
So don't even harbor those thoughts in your heart.
It's not about the ACT. It's about thinking about the
act and being willing to act upon the ACT if you had the
opportunity to do so. David, Judas, Ananias, Sapphira,
Joseph's brothers, Samson. They didn't just wake up and do
those things. But I would also say this Nobody
just wakes up and decides to split a church.
Nobody just wakes up and decides to.
Ruin a marriage. Nobody wakes up and decides to
partake in harmful substances. Nobody just wakes up and decides
to push away a godly friend. No one just wakes up and decides
to gossip. No one just wakes up.
And that's why we use these weird terms like, well, he just
fell into sin. No, no, he didn't fall into sin.
He was tracking it and he jumped right in.
You know how I know that? Because that's what I've done in
my life. And let's be honest, that's what
you've done in your life. When you've made the decisions
you know you ought not to. It wasn't just what?
But, Your Honor, I had no idea that I wasn't supposed to.
No, you knew exactly what you were doing and I knew exactly
what I was doing. Eyes wide open, What do we do?
Our greatest nemesis looks us in the mirror.
You want to take those steps? He says, don't take those steps.
Follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
That's the steps that you need to take, and that's what I need
to do. Where does this all start?
It starts in the heart. Proverbs 423 says this.
Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it come
the issues of life here in Easton.
A few years ago, probably about three or four years ago, they
detected some harmful chemicals in the water.
And Easton's always had great water over the years.
In fact, I it's one of the things that people told us when
they moved here. One of Easton's claim to fame
was the public water is so great.
And being from Florida where the water tasted like sand, all the
water tasted really great here, to be quite honest with you.
But there were some harmful chemicals that were in our water
supposedly. And so Easton had to build a new
filtration system from the ground up.
Because the old. Filtration system did not get
all these chemicals out and so they had to build something new
to make sure the water could go through so that it would be
helpful and it would be exactly what it was supposed to be.
You realize that your filtration system in your heart should be
the blood of Jesus Christ. That is your filtration system.
To realize, is this something that Jesus Christ died for, that
I shouldn't partake in it? He doesn't want us to be
involved in sexual immorality. Listen, don't watch things
online that you know you ought not to watch.
Don't look at things online that you know you ought not not to
look at. If you wouldn't participate in
the ACT, don't watch someone else doing it.
Don't have any part in it. God has called us to sexual
purity. He has said that God's plan is
for one man and one woman for one lifetime.
That's His plan, and we are not to be able to alter that or
change that whatsoever. It's not popular in the world
today, but it doesn't matter if it's popular in the world today,
because it's God's Word. He, he says that this that that
that sexual relations are to be found within the confines of
marriage and that we're not to step out from among that.
And don't take the steps to go that direction.
And if you're going that direction, take the steps to
filter it out through the blood of Jesus Christ, because it
won't end there. If you have such blatant
disregard for God's word, listen.
When will you stop? You'll never stop so confess it
by the blood of Jesus Christ, whether it's alcohol,
cigarettes, harmful substances, all of these these intoxicating
substances that are out there today.
Friend, be wise, but with the Bible says your body being the
temple of the holy. Ghost don't partake in it don't
don't partake it the things that are out there today even with
with the dangers of nicotine and and all of these things that are
proliferating everywhere you know Fred get.
Away from it, don't partake in it.
Well, listen, pastor, it's not like I'm smoking.
It's just a pack of nicotine. So if you don't care for your
body and the way that God has told you to, will it just stop
there or will it go to something else and it's something else?
Well, I gamble, but it's not like it's a lot of money,
pastor. And gambling has exploded in our
state, in our country the last few years.
Pastor, we're not talking about big money.
Well, it's not big money today, but if you're OK with it today,
what's stopping you for it to be bigger money tomorrow?
And it's really the issue whether how much money we put on
the sports, big gambling or on the Lotto or whatever it is or
the issue really, this God doesn't want me to do this.
It doesn't matter how much it is, whether it's a penny or a
$30 scratch. Off.
Did you know, out of the 50 states of the Union, you can
look this up later, Massachusetts spends more per
capita on the Lotto and Lotto related activities than any
other state in the Union. That's not something to be proud
of. That's money that people are
just giving away to the government that we should have
in our own pockets instead of gambling it away hoping to get
something for free, some free money.
It's not free. You've lost a whole lot more
than you gained a whole lot more than you've gained.
Pastor. Why are you preaching all this
is Was this just hot button issue night, Pastor?
No, it's this sin is grotesque and we need to look at it as
grotesque. We don't need to try to make it
look pretty. We don't try to make it look
beautiful. Listen, Bathsheba was beautiful,
but the sin was gross. And all David will see is this
beautiful woman, the allure of beautiful woman.
But if he could have seen the unanticipated pregnancy, if he
could have seen the dead baby, if he could have seen his
daughter raped by his son, if he could have seen his son trying
to take over his Kingdom, if he could have seen that the sword
never left his house. Those are the words we're going
to see in Second Samuel chapter 12.
If he could have seen it, do you think she would have looked so
beautiful? In fact, I would say that she
would have looked further grotesque if he had known what
was to come. And that's really what this
comes down to. I mentioned there was that
there, there was the carrying out, there was the covering up,
there was the completion. But there was also one thing
that I didn't mention, the consequences.
The consequences start in the very last sentence.
But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord #3223
says this. Be sure your sins will find you
out. You can choose your sin, but you
cannot choose your consequences. You can choose your sin.
You cannot choose your consequences.
Say, Pastor, are you angry at all of us tonight?
And the answer is, I am very angry at all of you tonight.
That's absolutely true. I'm so angry at you.
No, I'm not angry at you. I'm passionate about the fact
that sin harms homes, it breaks up marriages, it destroys
churches, it takes children who should be growing up in the
nurture of admonition the Lord and turns them against God.
It ruins societies. It's the downfall of nations.
My passion tonight is this. Don't allow your own self to be
taken in by what the Bible calls the deceitfulness of sin.
Don't allow your own. Don't allow yourself to become
your own greatest nemesis. Listen, David's flesh did what
Goliath couldn't do. David's flesh did what Saul
couldn't do. David's flesh did what all of
these heights, the Amorites and the Hittites and all.
He did what they couldn't do. He did it to himself and in the
end he had to pay for it the rest of his life.
I leave you with hope though. Is there forgiveness in Jesus
Christ? Yes.
There's forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
We don't deserve it. But He gives it nonetheless.
If you've been taking some steps down the wrong Rd. you know what
you need to do tonight. Don't wait till you get to the
end of the road and then try to fix it, because you don't know
where that road ends. You think you know, but you
don't know. You come down to the altar
tonight. Say, Lord, I haven't acted on
this outwardly, but I know it's in my heart and that alone that
I've harbored this thought as a sin, that I'm harboring it.
I'm thinking about it, I'm dwelling on it.
It's not right. I just ask you to forgive me
because it will come up at the worst time possible if you don't
confess it before the Lord says. The secret and deadly power lies
hidden beneath the ground of Belgium's Flanders Field, one of
the bloodiest battlefields of World War One.
Unexploded artillery shells are surfacing there more than 80
years after they are fired. Still unexploded, many are
capable of killing. Some 3000 shells are unearthed
each year by farmers and construction workers, while
others simply work their way up through the soil.
The problem is immense. Dozens of full time workers
cannot keep up with it. Even worse, thousands of these
projectiles contain poison gas. It is so prevalent, they even
have a term that they use for it that every spring and every
fall, as the soil gets turned, they call it the iron harvest
because so many of these projectiles unexploded, keep
coming up all of these years later.
Listen, when it comes to your sin, you can try to push it down
and push it down and hope nobody ever sees it.
But I will tell you this, you're not going to pull the wool over
God's eyes. Confess it.
He will not just forgive you, but He will help give you
victory over that sin. David, his life will never be
the same, but I will tell you this, God still used them.
We don't have time to look at it tonight, but God gave him Psalm
51, a Psalm of hope and redemption after sin and God can
use. You even if you.
Were at a place where you've taken steps you ought not to
stake, but do this first. Confess him before the Lord and
allow him to use you before the consequences become dire.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.