Notes:

Our Only Refuge Is Jesus    See Session Slides Here

• The soul that thirsted for God lusted for Bathsheba. David was about 50 and had several wives. He was a father and king. We’re not immune to sin the older we get. Flesh remains flesh. Let’s not judge, but learn.
• 2 Sam.11:1-2. Had he been fighting the Lord’s battles he would not have been in the place of temptation.
• He should have withdrawn after the first look. But his curiosity got the better of him (2 Sam.11:3). God put a ‘stop’ sign in front of him: ‘She’s married!’ But he drove through the ‘stop’ sign and crashed.
• Never underestimate sin. If we open the door it comes in as guest, then takes over as master (Gen.4:6-7)
• Sin makes you think you are in control, but you’re not. When Bathsheba became pregnant David sought to cover his tracks. He began to be activated by Satan instead of led by the Spirit. Scheming with Uriah, twice. But he could not control Uriah. David even used the loyalty and bravery of Uriah to kill him.
• By coveting, lying, adultery and murder he broke 4 commandments. Adultery was a crime of passion, but murder was calculated, premeditated (1 Kings 15:5).
• David fell backwards. He was unrepentant for 1 year. A miserable year! Sin is deceptive. Stolen waters may be sweet for a moment (Prov.20:17), but it never delivers what it promises.

• We have seen what David did. What did God do? God has been misjudged regarding how He reacts to sin.
• God is misrepresented to people when they are struggling with sin.
• Some think that fear-manipulation will keep people out of sin. But they just go underground and pretend.
• The Church has not created an environment where people can feel comfortable about confessing to failure, (Jas.5:16). We have learned to develop defence mechanisms. The Christian’s only refuge is Jesus.
• The thing which David did displeased the Lord. Yet He didn’t send an army after him but a prophet.
• God may allow His people to fall into sin but not to stay in it.

• Nathan entrapped David to pronounce judgment on himself. ‘Thou art the man!’
• 2 Sam.12:8. As abundant as his blessings were, God would have blessed him even more. David forgot the goodness of God.
• ‘So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die’ (2 Sam.12:13).

• The question is not, ‘Will I fall?’ but, ‘If you fall, which way will you fall – backwards or forwards?’
• Falling backwards is to believe that you are falling into God’s anger and judgment. You will run from Him.
• Falling forward is to run to God and fall into the arms of His mercy and grace.
• When we sin we sin against the law. When we despair we sin against grace. Be humbled but not dejected.
• Psa.37:23-24. A righteous man doesn’t just make one mistake, but many.
• Don’t underestimate the mercy of God. Where sin abounds grace abounds much more. Sin is an inlet to grace. Grace shines against a backdrop of sin. We don’t fall into sin but into grace.
• God allows us to fall into sin to break the back of it by bringing us into grace, (Psa.32:5-6).
• ‘Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow’ (Psa.51:7). Purge is from the word ‘sin’ (chata); to make a sin offering; un-sin me (Luther). To bear the blame for, and then cleanse or make free from, by removing or taking away.

• 2 Sam.12:14. ‘However’. God forgives but there are consequences. The sword did not depart from his household and his concubines were violated. Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah were all slain. This was all included in the covenant. If there were no painful consequences to sin we would live irresponsibly.

• David, when he learned the child would not be healed, washed himself and changed his clothes. A sign of a new beginning (2 Sam.12:20). See also Gen.35:2; Ex.19:10; Gen.41:14.
• The wife of Uriah is mentioned in the ancestry of Jesus, along with Tamar, Rahab and Ruth.
• ‘Solomon’ means ‘peace’. ‘Jedidiah’ means ‘loved by the Lord’.