The Book of 2nd Samuel Interim John Kane

So welcome to Faith Bible Church. We're glad you're here and all of you that are remote. We send our blessings your way and hope that and trust and pray that God is showing himself to you daily. And we're, I was going to say we made it past the election.

We sort of did, but sort of not. But God is, as we said last week, he's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So we're, God is not moved an inch. He's exactly where he is to be and where we are to be as well.

So I saw a yard sign that said, in the red, white, and blue kind of thing, it said Jesus 2020. So I think that's appropriate. So let's remember that. And that's really what we need. Forget about the parties.

That's what we need as a country. So it's, this is a good time, an important time to gather. I was going to share, I remembered, women's Bible study is next Saturday at 10 o 'clock. So ladies, 10 o 'clock next Saturday.

And I guess if you need to know what the study is covering, you can call Barb. She'd be happy to share that with you. But next Saturday at 10 o 'clock here at the church. I wanted to share a little bit briefly about our pastoral search.

And we're still, you know, we said waiting on the Lord. Well, you got an emphasis on the wait, okay? And we need to wait patiently. He is growing us through this time. And God is working. And, you know, about a month or so ago, we invited the Filipino church.

And that was, through that process, it was clear for them and for us that that was not the Lord's will. And that's what we want. We want it to be clear. And we don't want shades of gray. This is, we want it to be one way or the other.

It was very evident that that was not what God wanted for us. At the same time, God is bringing forward another opportunity that we're not quite prepared to share, but we're waiting there again to see as another congregation may consider folding into us.

But don't want to get ahead of that either, because it's, it can become an emotional rollercoaster as we go through these things. So we want it to be solid as we come forward. So please be patient with us as well.

We're needing that right now. So keep it in your prayers for that. And I think that's it for announcements. Any other announcements, anyone that we're missing? Okay. All right. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Okay. Our dear heavenly Father, we are humbled to be here this morning, Father, that we have the ability and the means in this country that you've allowed us to be in, Father, to worship together, to proclaim our faith, to express our love of you, Father.

Father, I pray that you would be in our midst, Lord, that we would allow the Holy Spirit to move us in a way that will open our ears and our eyes and our hearts to the truth of the gospel. We pray for Pastor John this morning, that you would bear upon his heart, Lord, and allow him to freely share the truth with us, and that that would change our lives, Father, that we would be further advanced in sharing your word with those around us, that, Father, we would be a light to this dark world, that we would be strengthened in our own faith so that we might not be bashful, that we would be bold and be solid in what we believe and what we know is to be true, Father.

So we thank you for that, Father. We pray that you would just bless our service this morning, that would be an expression of our love for you, and that you would be glorified in all of it, Father. So we commit our service to you today.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I was going back over some old notes from talking about worship and what worship is, and one of the questions that came up was, what are we to do when we gather? I don't know if you've ever asked yourself that question, what do we do when we gather?

Well, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3 18, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

You remember when Moses on the mountain saw God's glory and he came back radiating the glory of God. That was really a temporal thing. It was a momentary thing for that time, but as believers in Christ, we have that in us.

When we come to Christ, we can immediately begin to radiate that magnificence of Christ, but it's done in little steps in our sanctification process. So let's remember that that as we begin to look at what we behold, we begin to portray God's glory.

So think about that as we're worshiping in song and in prayer and in hearing the word. So let's stand together.

We're going to sing first all hail the power of Jesus name. We're going to sing there is a we know who that is. Please be seated. Good morning. The scripture this morning is 2 Samuel.

Chapter 1 verses 1 through 12. 2 Samuel 1 verses 1 through 12. Now it came to pass after the death of Saul when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and David had stayed two days in Ziklag.

On the third day, behold, it happened that a man came from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. So it was when he came to David that he fell to the ground and prostrated himself. And David said to him, where have you come from?

So he said to him, I have escaped from the camp of Israel. Then David said to him, how did the matter go? Please tell me. And he answered, the people have fled from the battle. Many of the people are fallen and dead and Saul and Jonathan, his son are dead also.

So David said to the young man who told him, how do you know that Saul and Jonathan, his son are dead? And the young man who told him said, as I happened by chance to be on Mount Gaboa, there was Saul leaning on a spear.

And indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. Now, when he had looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, here I am. And he said to me, who are you? So I answered him, I am an Amalekite.

He said to me again, please stand over me and kill me for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me. So I stood over him and killed him because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen.

And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm and I brought them here to my Lord. Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them. And so did all the men who were with him.

And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan, his son, for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. Well, praise the Lord.

We had a nice trip down South and we were able to be a part of laying Janet's dad to rest. All right. Well, we want to go to the Lord now and pray. Father, how thankful we are. Lord, we don't want to take it for granted that in our country, we can gather together on this day as believers to worship you.

God, when you founded and allowed this country to be discovered and founded, God, you wrote into our constitution this right that we have as Americans to gather together when we want to worship the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

Father, you know what is going on in our country is beyond really our ability to wrap our minds around and understand. Father, whether we're talking about the election or covid or job losses, we just don't even know where to start.

But God, we know that we serve a risen Lord that is king of kings, that is Lord of Lord, that is the same yesterday, today and forever. We thank you that as Christians, our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

God, thank you that we can bring our needs to you, our fears, our concerns. Father God, we thank you that you are sovereign, all powerful, all knowing. So we pray, Father, for the leaders of our country.

We pray, Father, for your will to be done. Lord, we pray for the grace to accept that. We know, God, we can trust you with all of our heart. We know, Lord, that we see through the glass dimly. Now we see we don't understand so much of what's going on, God, but we can trust in you.

And that's what you've told us to do. So, Lord, we think of families that are represented here that are dealing with the loss of loved ones and just all of those things. Even in our own church, a dear lady went home to be with the Lord just a week or so ago and all that her family is going through because of that.

Lord, we lift up these things to you, praying for wisdom for our leaders, God, as they deal with various issues. Pray, God, for their salvation. Most first and foremost, God, that you might be pleased to draw these men to Christ, to put people in their lives, God, that might share the gospel with them.

And, Lord, we think of unsaved loved ones, people that we dearly love, neighbors and family members that don't know Jesus Christ. They are not born again. They are not saved, God. Pray that you might be pleased, Father, to draw them to Christ, to put Christians in their lives that would share the gospel with them, put gospel tracts in their hands.

As we head now into the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, Lord, we know as Harold just shared, our true hope, our true hope is Jesus Christ. The only hope for our country and our world is the gospel.

So, help us to be faithful, Father, in proclaiming that and sharing that and living it out. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen? Amen.

With all that's gone on this week, I think that to meditate on these words is so important and to have that in the back of your mind and with all that's gone on around us and continues to go on.

Around us, meditate on the words, okay? Let's stand together. The Lord is my salvation. Great singing. All I have is Christ. Please be seated. If you have your Bibles, turn with me. We're going to.

Be in 2 Samuel, but if you don't mind, let's start in Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Yeah, you're very upset that we have to start in Psalm 51, right? And that's because I left my, it's right in the middle of the Bible.

Psalm 51, right in the middle. You'd be lucky because originally I was going to start with Micah, Jim, and then you would have been. Yeah, happiness is sitting next to somebody that can find the book of Micah.

I'll tell you this is one of those sermons that as a pastor that has to teach it or preach it, it just you can't even, you can't even imagine. You might have your sermon notes out as well. So Saul has died and you know with all that's going on in the world right now in our country and just in the sovereignty and the timing of God, we're going to be looking at some lessons from a king who God described twice in his word was a man after his own heart.

Just think about that kind of testimony to be a person, a man or a woman to be described by God himself as a man after his own heart. And I don't know about anybody else, but see when I am confronted with that standard of righteousness, to be described that way, it's like I'm being gut punched, doubled over in pain knowing how short I fall in that regard.

And see Psalm 51 here is really it's a Psalm of David and it's written sometime after he's confronted by Nathan the prophet for a sin. You just think as a married man, right? He had an adulterous affair with a married woman by the name of Bathsheba and God sends Nathan the prophet to confront him about that sin.

He even goes so far as to have Bathsheba's husband killed. Notice how the Psalm begins. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.

That is the cry of a man or a woman after God's own heart. But see the verse I want to call our attention to is verse 17. And I want you to very carefully consider verse 17 and think about it. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.

These, O God, you will not despise. Just take a moment and meditate on that verse. Think about how it might apply to you. The word broken here in the Hebrew literally means, and I hope you can get this picture, shattered like a glass dropped to a concrete floor.

And last two weeks ago, I was all excited. Maybe three weeks ago, I was going to school and I had a bottle of that Martinelli's apple cider, the sparkling apple cider, which is very tasty, right? And I'm carrying all this stuff to school.

It's like every time I go to school, it's like I'm moving, right? I have to load the car, three trips, go to the school, and I'm walking across the parking lot. And what did I do with that bottle of Martinelli's?

Dropped it right in the middle of the parking lot, shattered into a million pieces. Where all the cars and all the kids go, so what do I have to do? I've got all my books, I've got my lunch, my salad, my briefcase, and I'm like this, and here it is.

So, I have to go over to the office, set everything down, then I have to go sweep up all that glass, right? That's shattered. David is saying that our sacrifice to God is not the singing that we do on Sunday morning, not our tithes and offerings, not all the things we do for Him.

Our sacrifice is a shattered spirit and a bruised heart. Someone once said that it isn't until the pride of our heart is shattered that we will begin to understand the deep things of God. I put a quote from John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, in your notes.

I am persuaded a broken and a contrite spirit, a conviction of our vileness and nothingness connected with a cordial acceptance of Jesus as revealed in the gospel, is the highest attainment that we can reach in this life.

Micah 6 .8 says that the Lord has shown His people what is good and what He requires of His people, but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. And we can go through the scripture, and there are similar lessons about kingdom living under the kingship of God, under the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we can find these same lessons echoed all the way from Genesis to Revelation.

Now, let's go to 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel. And in a moment we'll be in 2 Samuel 4. I'll tell you something, this is literally, this book, had I done what I started out to do as I began to prepare this message, it was expanding into three Sundays.

There are so many lessons that we can find about the Christian life in 2 Samuel. Twenty-four chapters, and we're running into these great books of history. We're going to be in 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and they are just, it's like going to the Versailles Museum of the Bible.

Okay? I mean, you just can't get through that museum. You can't get through the Smithsonian in a day. It just is impossible. Ever been to the Smithsonian? It's like five museums, right? One of them, now you've got to drive out of town, out to the airport.

I hope one day to take my kids there. But, as you go through this book, I would say that the single most amazing and convicting and profound lesson to be gotten from this book is to embrace the present and eternal value of having a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

The key lesson, if you remember 1 Samuel, is that what? God should be king and men should, men, what? Come on, say it with me, lead. Right? Men? God should be king and men should lead. And the key lesson to take away from 2 Samuel is to embrace having a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

In fact, Jesus Himself, in effect, sums up the entirety of the Christian life in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 when He starts with, blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

The poor in spirit, beloved. The shattered in spirit. The broken in spirit. Then He says in verse 5, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The low. Dear friends, I want to encourage us to learn together today as we look at the rise of David to be the third king of Israel and his fall, his rise and his fall, to learn together the value of embracing and welcoming a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Let's pray. Father, thank You for this day, this wonderful, wonderful opportunity to gather together to study Your Word. We know, Lord, that it is the Holy Spirit that is our teacher this morning. We ask, Father God, plead with You that the Holy Spirit might indeed open our eyes of understanding, our hearts to receive the truths of Your Word, that You might be glorified, Father, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. So, the central human figure in 2 Samuel is David. And like I said, it took a lot of work, a lot of sweat and blood, sweat, and tears to condense this down into one single Sunday. And there's really three main aspects of David's life that highlight and point to this vital truth of embracing a contrite heart and a broken, or I'm sorry, a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

And the first one, if you want to follow along in your notes, is the first one is to review David's triumphs. So, one door that is going to open our way into looking at this truth of having a broken spirit and a contrite heart is to review David's triumphs, his rise to power, to the pinnacle of his ministry as a king over Israel.

And you're going to find the bulk of this in verses, in chapters 1 -10. To begin with, before David is king over all of Israel he has a number of military type triumphs. Remember he defeated who? Goliath.

Right, very good. Wow. So, he defeats Goliath. He has some others. Remember he kills a lion coming after the sheep. He has these triumphs. And he rises to being a kind of vassal king over only one area of Israel which is over the tribe of Judah, his tribe at Hebron.

And you can read about that in chapters 1 -5. So, David does not become the third king of Israel. Remember there are three kings over a united Israel, Saul, David, and then David's son, Solomon. And then the kingdom divides under Solomon.

And then it gets very confusing. And that's going to be the big challenge when we get into 1 and 2 Kings, and we get into 1 and 2 Chronicles. As all these kings, these 40 kings, because the average Christian the first time they are confronted with all these kings kind of goes, ah.

Can I just go back to the Gospel of Matthew and read that? And you just don't understand how many lessons are embedded in all the things that are going on with these kings. You don't have to understand and remember every single name of every single king, and how long they ruled.

One ruled for like three months. You don't have to know all that. But you have to have a general sense of the flow of all this because it's so important to living out the Christian life. How God dealt with Israel and the kinds of things that His chosen people in the Old Testament did, and how that applies to our lives today, so rich and so valuable.

So, David does not become the third king over Israel, over all 12 tribes right away. And that's because, this may sound a little familiar, the people they basically want Saul's son to be king, Ish-bosheth, so he rules.

But in the meantime David is ruling here and getting a following down in Hebron. So, after seven and a half years David is going to move the capital to Jerusalem. But before that happens Saul's son, Ish-bosheth, who was king over the other 11 tribes is murdered.

So, people that were loyal to Saul, is this beginning to sound any familiar? The people that are loyal to Saul crown Ish-bosheth, his son, king over Israel. But here in chapter 4, so 2 Samuel 4 we find in verse 5 Ish-bosheth taking a nap.

It's the heat of the day and these men come to the house of Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, he's lying on his bed at noon taking his daily nap. Verse 6, And they came there all the way into the house as though to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach.

Then Rechab and Baana, his brother, escaped. For when they came into the house he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, and they struck him and killed him. They beheaded him. They took his head and were all night escaping through the plain.

They were running for their very lives. And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul your enemy who sought your life.

And the Lord has avenged my lord, the king this day of Saul and his descendants. And I was so thankful one of the ladies came up and said she read 2 Samuel. So, if you had three weeks basically to read this book, so you have another week to read this for yourself.

I had to cut a ton of stuff that I was going to read out in order to fit it into this Sunday. So, basically what we're talking about here is militarily and politically the last hurdle for David to become king is out of the way with the death of Ish-bosheth.

Now, at the same time Jerusalem which was to be the political and spiritual capital of Israel was not under the control of the Israelites. It was under the control of the Jebusites. Now, follow this, the Jebusites were descendants of the Canaanites.

That means they're what? Pagan. Now, remember the Canaanites were one of the pagan nations that God told Israel you need to destroy these people. Kill every man, woman, boy, and girl. Get rid of their gold and silver.

Burn it up. Don't keep anything lest they what? Corrupt you and turn your hearts away from Me, which is exactly what happened, right? So, Jerusalem was part of Israel's inheritance. It's part of the Promised Land.

It's right up the road from Jericho. And yet, they did not conquer it. So, David does what the Israelites should have done all from the beginning. He goes up there and he conquers the Jebusites. Jerusalem falls.

David, the elders of Israel, the military, so on, and they move in. Jerusalem becomes the new capital and making it the political and soon to be religious center of the nation. Now, go to chapter 6. So, David's triumphs, right?

Once the political power is established in Jerusalem it was to become the center of Israel's worship. If Jerusalem was to become the center of Israel's worship what had to happen? You had to have what?

You had to have the Ark, right? Because that was in the center of the tabernacle all those years going through the wilderness, right? The Holy of Holies. All of this is central to Israel's worship. 2 Samuel 6.

The problem is this Ark. It's about 10 miles, Hebron. It's in Hebron. It's about 10 miles, just a simple little drive, right? For us, 10 miles to the west of Jerusalem. Now, look at chapter 6. Again, David gathered all the choice men of Israel, 30 ,000.

And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baal, Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name, the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim.

So, they set the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Anibbadad which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Anibbadad drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Anibbadad which was on the hill accompanying the Ark of God.

And Ahio went out before the Ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of firwood, and on harps, and on string instruments, tambourines, cistrons, and on cymbals.

Now, look carefully. If you had read 1 Samuel, if you had read 2 Samuel you would know there's a big problem coming on right now. And when they came to Nacon's threshing floor Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it for the oxen stumbled.

Now, anybody that's ever put anything on a cart that's heavy, which the Ark of the Covenant was very heavy, you know something about this, right? Because it's unsteady. And the oxen stumbles. And I mean I've done this too many times.

You know you have that warning you put everything on the cart. We just had to replace our dishwasher. We got a deal. Man, God was good to us. Open box. Scratch and den. Where's the scratches and den? I can't find them.

Anyway, to take the old dishwasher out one of my daughters and I we put it on a cart and it's balancing on this little cart as you wheel it out, right? This is what's going on. So, it's about to fall.

So, Uzzah reaches out and touches it. Do you know what's going on here? What's the Ark of God doing on the back of a cart being pulled by an oxen? Wrong. Fail. That's not how God told him. God had given Israel very specific instructions how they were to move the Ark every single time.

And they had done that all the way through the wilderness. Every time the tabernacle moved they did it the same way. David knew about it. Saul knew about it, right? Only the Levites were to move it, number one.

Number two before they even attempted to move it they had to consecrate themselves. Number three there were rings on the side of the Ark and very special poles had to go through the rings and the Levites were to carry the Ark.

That's how God wanted it done. And God specifically said, listen, God specifically said no one is to ever touch the Ark. Uzzah. Oh, I'm just trying to steady it. Boom goes Uzzah. See, all of these rules and regulations are help Israel and us to understand God's holiness.

God is holy. There is nothing. We can never be good enough. Only Jesus. This is all meant to help us to understand the value of the gospel of what God did. So one route to embracing a broken spirit and a contrite heart is to keep in mind, church, that God is holy and we're not.

Having a shattered spirit means remembering that God's ways, there's God's ways and there's man's ways. And see people that are after God's own heart want to do things God's way. Look what happens next.

Verse seven, then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah and God struck him there for his error and he died there by the Ark of God. And here's how human David was. David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah.

God strikes Uzzah dead because he is holy and righteous and just. Church, please listen. It is appointed unto men once to die and after this, the judgment. Hebrews 9 .27. No one is going to escape the judgment seat of Christ.

Not Uzzah, not Ananias and Sapphira who were struck dead in front of the church for withholding money from the Lord. God's holiness and his righteousness and the vital, vital importance of fully, not partially, but fully and completely obeying God's command.

God had lovingly and carefully for his own purposes and his own glory given Israel these very specific instructions on how they were to move the Ark. And they didn't follow those instructions. They did for many, many years, but not this time.

Don't miss the kingdom living lesson, the principle found here. God's work must be done in God's way. Embracing a broken spirit and a contrite heart means knowing that in much of life there's God's way and there's man's way.

And God's work must be done in God's way. God gave the Israelites specific instructions on how to move the Ark. And that was how it was to be moved. They don't. They didn't. And there were serious consequences.

God told the Israelites to conquer the land and all the nations of the land. They didn't do it. And there were consequences, serious consequences for generations. So, in the various experiences and events of a given day, I even chatted with somebody about this very thing this week.

Are we moving the Ark our way or are we moving it God's way? Amen? Oh, I'm doing it God's way. Really? They thought they were doing it God's way. One last item. I just don't have the time. Chapter 7. Most Bibles have a heading there, God's covenant with David.

We need to touch briefly as we talk about David's triumphs and this rise to power, to being king over all of Israel. We come to the Davidic covenant. And I can't emphasize enough how important covenants are to God.

How important God made a covenant with Abraham. He made a covenant with Moses. There's the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. These things are very, very important. And we could spend all morning on the Davidic covenant.

But one of the most important parts of it, if you're in chapter 7 verse 12, God is talking to David, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom.

Now, is that easy to understand? We're talking about a child, right? Right. Everybody got that? Just shake your head. Say, yeah, I'm with you, John. OK. He, this obviously a son, not a girl, right? He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chase him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed before you and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you.

Your throne shall be established forever. Now, David's son Solomon built the temple, but he's not the seed in verse 12. How do we know that? Because Solomon's kingdoms, I'm sorry, Solomon's kingdom ended.

Old Testament, what? Promises made. New Testament, promises kept. Only King Jesus' kingdom will last forever. And dealing with the importance of the Davidic covenant and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, we'll have to wait.

I probably, if God gives me the time, one day we'll do a whole message on covenants, OK? Just so we can get a better perspective on that. So, the first 10 chapters of 2 Samuel record some of David's triumphs, his rise to power from being this sort of vassal king over Hebron alone and Judah, to being the supreme ruler over all 12 tribes and over all of Israel.

And then in the second part of the book, we are going to learn about David's incredible sin with Bathsheba. And we come to this turning part in the book where we come to David's gradual fall from power, OK?

So, now number two, the second motivation to understanding the value of embracing a broken spirit and a contrite heart that we learn in 2 Samuel is through looking at some of the key lessons from David's life that we can apply to our lives.

A second way to embrace a broken spirit and a contrite heart is to remember a couple of key lessons about living under the kingship of God that are found in 2 Samuel. Now, in this book, chapters 11 and 12 are the fulcrum.

And if you read through the book, you'll see it. There is this turning point, sort of the top of the orbit or the top of the launch trajectory of this book are chapter 11 and 12. It kind of pivots on 11 and 12 because the book moves from telling the story of David's rise to power to recording the beginning of his gradual fall from power.

And there are three compelling lessons. There are many, many more. I just picked three because they are a little bit more clear. Lesson number one, the majority of time believers don't just accidentally fall into sin.

The majority of the time believers aren't just walking along and accidentally trip and fall into sin. I trip a lot. I went early this morning, I almost fell over walking up here to help Johanna with the music stand.

She said, I got it, Dad. Boom. See we live in a fallen world, right? And we need to understand that sin is ever crouching at our door. But true believers do not sin in a vacuum. For example, James chapter one says before we are before we sin, we are tempted.

We are first drawn away by our own desires and we're enticed. And one of the things we want to understand about David's sin with Bathsheba is it wasn't done in a vacuum. David did not just wake up one day and wind up with Bathsheba and fall into this terrible sin.

So, lesson number one, we don't just fall into sin. Lesson number two, be on guard against compromise. You see we can learn as we read in 2 Samuel about David, the danger and the consequences of compromise in a child of God's life.

David's compromise was his partial obedience to God instead of complete obedience. His little sins led to bigger sins. For example, and again I had to take a lot of this out to fit this in. I want to move on.

We've got Thanksgiving coming. We have Christmas. I have the blessing of Victor and Harold to do some messages on Christmas. I can't wait on the birth of Christ, even though we know He wasn't born on Christmas Day.

Does everybody know that? Jesus was not born on December 25th, trust me, okay? In Deuteronomy 17 God specifically says that kings are not to have more than one wife. David failed again, right? David compromised.

He didn't fully follow these commands. 2 Samuel illustrates in graphic and sobering detail that a sure path away from having a contrite heart and a broken spirit is to not fully obey God, to compromise.

And then lesson number three, be on guard against complacency. David's compromise, his little sins led to bigger sins. And also David was complacent. For example, just one, when David should have been out leading battle, which was his role as a king, he remained in Jerusalem.

Earlier in 2 Samuel, you'll see it for yourself if you read through it. It's not a hard read. It goes quick. Earlier in 2 Samuel we read that God had given David arrest from all his enemies. So his guard was down and he was complacent regarding his role as king in the military and also how his wealth was affecting him.