The Progress of Sin

Taken from II Samuel xi, the famous account of David and Bathsheeba...

1. A door is opened for temptation to enter.

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab...But David remained in Jerusalem.

David sends his army off to war but remains idle at home. This creates the opportunity for sin to enter. In itself, it is not sinful. Often times, our sin begins in something seemingly harmless that gives sin access to our hearts. Look at your life! Do you flee not just temptation, but the opportunity for temptation to strike? This is humility.

2. Desire meets with its object.

From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful.

David does not go out on the roof to look for beautiful women. But when he sees one, his desire is aroused. The sin in him sees what it desires and he is tempted. Still, he has not yet fallen into sin. But he has placed himself into a position where is strength is tested. Now, God has promised strength for us to turn away from all temptation. But David has willingly brought himself to the place of temptation.

Do you think you have the strength to resist temptation? By the grace of God, you do...but it is a grievous sin to presume on the grace of God. Who knows how you will respond to such temptation? Most of us resist sin only because we do not have the power to act on it. This is the grace of God, not our strength!

3. Desire takes its object

Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her.

David acts to satisfy his desire. He thinks no further then the immediate future. This is the act of passion, coming from the disorder of our desires and the mastery sin has over us.

God knows the power of our sin, better than all of us do. We tend to underestimate its strength and overestimate our power. In fact, but for the grace of God our sin would have immediate mastery over us, plunging us into a flood of sin such as which consumed the antediluvian world. There is a hedge around you which restrains your sin! And also the Holy Spirit is at work in you, if you are in Christ.

This moment of sin is perhaps the least serious of all that happens. Don't get me wrong, it is gravely serious! But it is what leads up to it and proceeds from it that causes David problems.

4. Covering it.

David calls for the woman's husband, hoping he will sleep with her and cover up his sin.

The moment of passion gone, the immediacy of sin over. Now David is left only with the consequences of his sin. Note that at each stage, David has a choice. Here, his choice is to confess his sin, seek forgiveness from God, etc. Instead, he acts to cover and hide his sin. He employs deception and lies.

What is your first reaction to your sin? To hide it? To move quickly through it? We don't know what was going on internally for David. Perhaps he was wracked with guilt, shame, etc. Perhaps he urgently pleaded with God for forgiveness. But we see his actions. They show a man who is concerned only with the consequences of his sin.

5. Willful sin

In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line were the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."

David moves from what John Owen calls "being surprised by sin," into a willful, planned sin. This is far more serious and far more damaging. No matter what distance David tries to maintain, he kills Uriah here to hide his sin. And he does so in a deliberate, planned way. This is where we become hardened in our sin. It is dangerous, dangerous.

6. Hardened complacency

After the time of mourning, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

Was David troubled in his heart? Perhaps, perhaps not. But he arrives at a complacent state. He knew his sin intellectually. But it was over, and he seemed to be at peace. Here is the spot where God is free to leave us, if he should choose. I have been here.

It makes me cry to remember the mercy of God in not leaving me here! Praise his grace and mercy!

The chapter ends on this ominous note: But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.