Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 11, Session 5

© 2019 LifeWay Christian Resources.

Permission granted to reproduce and distribute within the license agreement with purchaser.

Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A., Sept. 2022.

Summary and Goal

On our own, none of us has the power to resist sin, let alone overcome it.

This truth is tragically displayed through the life of King David.

David had made great progress as Israel’s king.

He had demonstrated wisdom and kindness in his reign.

However, even this great king was not immune to temptation and to sin, so he too was in need of divine mercy and forgiveness.

Like David, we are subject to and enslaved by sin and in need of divine mercy and forgiveness from the perfect King who is without sin and who grants us mercy and forgiveness when we cry out in confession and repentance.

Session Outline

++The King’s Captivity to Sin (2 Sam.

11:1-5, Sin Enslaves)

++The King’s Compounding of Sin (2 Sam.

11:8-9,13-17, Sin Breeds sin)

++The King’s Confession of Sin (Ps.

51:4-10, Surrender Liberates)

Session in a Sentence

God is gracious to forgive the sins of His people when they repent.

++When you feel trapped by your sins which then breed more sin, turn and surrender to God who alone can, and will always free you.

Christ Connection

Even David, the greatest of Israel’s kings and the man after God’s own heart, was a sinner who needed to repent and be redeemed.

In the story of David, we recognize that we all need forgiveness through the sacrifice of the perfect King who would take upon Himself the punishment our sins deserve.

DDG (p.

75)

We all wrestle with the following reality from time to time, and probably more often than we care to admit: We know what is right, and we desire what is right, but we fail to do what is right.

Our knowledge and will are not powerful enough to overcome the failure.

The apostle Paul stated the problem this way in the Book of Romans:

“For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Rom.

7:19).

In this sentence he captured the essence of the common human experience, even for those who have trusted in Christ.

But why?

Why have we all felt this tension before?

Why do we fail despite what we know and want?

The Bible answers these questions with a single word—sin.

We are all sinners, and because of this, we all willfully break God’s laws and disobey Him, doing what we know is not right and failing to do what we know to be right, time and time again.

We can’t be good because we aren’t good (see Jer. 17:9; Mark 10:18).

Only a relationship with Christ can change who we are and what we do.

Ask:

How does the biblical truth that people aren’t good compare with the world’s understanding of the nature of people?

(the world often sees people as basically good; the world limits the designation of “evil” to a relatively small group of people throughout history; when people do something wrong, it is because they made a mistake or were forced into it by their circumstances)

Summarize: On our own, none of us has the power to resist sin, let alone overcome it.

In this session, we will see this truth tragically displayed through the life of King David.

David had made great progress as Israel’s king.

He had demonstrated wisdom and kindness in his reign.

However, even this great king was not immune to temptation and to sin, so he too was in need of divine mercy and forgiveness.

Like David, we are subject to sin and in need of a better king, the perfect King who is without sin and who grants us mercy and forgiveness when we cry out in confession and repentance.

Point 1: The King’s Captivity to Sin (2 Sam.

11:1-5, Sin Enslaves)

For all the ways David gives us a faithful example to follow, challenging our faith and making us yearn for more of God, he also reminds us that no one is immune to the pull of temptation and the allure of sin.

Thus far, we have seen David win victory after victory for the Lord and Israel.

But now we will see one of the most gut-wrenching stories in all of the Old Testament.

Read 2 Samuel 11:1-5 (DDG p. 76).

1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel.

And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.

But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

3 And David sent and inquired about the woman.

And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.

(Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.)

Then she returned to her house.

5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

DDG (p.

76)

This story, when we read it with humility, should awaken us to the reality of our sinfulness and help keep us sober-minded and watchful as we seek to put sin to death through the power of the gospel.

While David mastered sin on many occasions, in this instance, he was unable or unwilling to subdue its power against him, so sin became king and David its servant (see Gen. 4:7).

David became comfortable and he fell before his sin like his enemies had fallen before him.

· There are twenty chapters between David’s anointing as king (1 Sam.

16) and the time when he was finally installed as king (2 Sam. 5).

But it only took 6 chapters for him to commit adultery (2 Sam.

11:2-4).

Some would argue that this all transpired because David refrained from the battle, he was no longer fighting for the cause of His God.

Whatever the case, what began as a peaceful evening stroll on a rooftop ended in adultery, and later deception and murder.

Clearly the first verse, regarding David’s remaining in Jerusalem during a season when kings typically marched out to war, was intended by the author to give us a window into David’s situation.

What is not clear, however, is the meaning behind the author’s inclusion of this scene-setting verse.

Some scholars argue that this is an indictment against David for remaining in Jerusalem and not going to war like the other kings.

Others say it’s simply a timestamp, noting David had not always attended Israel’s battles (10:7).

Whatever the meaning, one thing is evident: David was comfortable; his army was out fighting his battles while he was at home taking naps and evening walks on the roof.

The Challenge

++Sin is often most appealing when we are most comfortable.

++Comfort can be an anesthetic to our dependence on God.

When we feel safe, well cared for, and successful, we tend to drift away from God into other things.

Comfort can be an anesthetic to our dependence on God.

The comforts and pleasures of this life, which are incredible gifts to enjoy, often lead us away from dependence on God and into places we never intended to go.

We have to realize that our victories can be just as dangerous to our souls as our defeats, perhaps more so (Consider Elijah on Mount Carmel).

Our comforts provide just as many temptations to sin as our calamities, if not more.

The Bible constantly warns us to be sober-minded and awake because sin wants us to be comfortable (1 Thess.

5:6; 1 Pet.

5:8).

Ask:

Can you think of examples when victories could lead to temptation and sin?

· Examples:

A promotion at work leads to an urge to celebrate with excessive partying.

Acing a test makes one feel entitled to spend way too money as a reward.

Life going well in general can create a mind-set of coasting, allowing your guard to slip.

DDG (p.

76)

Sleeping with Bathsheba had been a momentary indiscretion for the king, a fling.

His night of giving in to his passions was supposed to be forgotten—by him, by his guards, and certainly by Bathsheba—and no one else was supposed to know of it.

But that plan unraveled with news of the pregnancy.

Now he felt compelled to take matters into his own hands and figure out a way to cover up his affair.

· Nothing in this text suggests that David wanted to have a meaningful, monogamous relationship with Bathsheba; she was someone else’s wife, after all.

Instead, it seems he intended to use her for his own pleasure and agenda.

It’s not too far of a stretch to think that when David sent her back to her home, he had no plans to see her again.

For him, he had gotten what he wanted, and the whole matter was behind him as soon as she left the palace, or so he thought.