The Slippery Slope of Sin — E.A. Johnston

There was an American pastor who was allowed into an underground church in China to preach, and this man preached solid for about two hours, and when he was through his Chinese hearers began to sing a song, and it went like this, they sang, We don't listen to sermons.

We don't listen to sermons. And while they sang, this pastor thought to himself, I just preached for two hours. What do they mean they don't listen to sermons? Just then the Chinese believers sang the next chorus.

We don't listen to sermons. We live the sermons. We live the sermons. And it is my prayer, friends, that you today won't just hear another sermon, but rather it's my prayer that you will live the sermon by asking the Holy Spirit to make it a practical reality in your life.

The Slippery Slope of Sin and David's Spiritual Bankruptcy

My sermon is on sin. I know we don't hear many sermons today on sin, because if you preach on sin, then you need to preach man's duty of repentance, and if you do that, then you have to warn folks about the terrors of a burning hell, and if you preach like that, why, you're going to upset the good deacons, but my message today is on sin, and the title of my message is The Slippery Slope of Sin, and my text can be found in 2 Samuel, in chapter 11.

And chapter 11 of 2 Samuel speaks of King David's spiritual bankruptcy. It paints a vivid picture against the deceitfulness of sin, and it paints a picture of sin and its blackness and its consequences.

Sin has a slippery slope, and all it takes is the first step into sin, and down you go. Listen to me, friends. Sin will take you further than you want to go. It'll keep you there longer than you want to stay, and it'll cost you more than you ever realized.

Sin begins with a step, and I want to discuss these three steps into sin today. I will read us our passage of Scripture at this time, and it is my prayer that the Spirit of God will be pleased to attend the reading of His Holy Word.

And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah.

David's Neglect and the Danger of Spiritual Relaxation

But David tarried still at Jerusalem. I will pause here, friends. David was resting when he should have been out fighting the Lord's battles, and every believer is a target of the devil, and the devil has his greatest successes against the people of God, when he catches them resting and relaxing, when they should be praying and witnessing.

Here we see that David's fighting armor is off of him, and his guard is down as he faces his fiercest enemy, which is Satan in the guise of pleasure, and self-gratification and sin. Let me continue in our text.

David's First Step Into Sin: Looking, Lingering, and Lusting

And it came to pass, in an evening tide—I will pause here again, friend. Think of yourself now, and be honest. Are you tempted to sin more at night than when you're exhausted and weary? So it's the evening tide that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of a king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

Let me pause here again, friends. The first step of David's downward slope is that he looked, he lingered, he lusted. The woman was naked, and very beautiful to look upon, our text says. David is already a married man, and his adulterous eyes betray his backslidden heart.

You see, friends, David is just like us. We can resist sin better when we are in a red-hot love relationship with Jesus. But when we go cold on him by being preoccupied with the world and the things of this world, then our hearts grow hard, and it's easier to give in to sin.

David's actions reveal how he has left his first love. David was resting upon his past successes for God, without making the present sacrifice of going deeper with God. Notice how quickly David fuels his burning desire for Bathsheba, by sending messengers from the palace to go out and fetch her back to him, to be brought back into his bedchamber.

The text says, he took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her. And that brings us to our first step of sin, and that is sin will take you further than you want to go. Think of your own life, friend, how at times you just thought you were going to put your toes in the water, so to speak, and before you know it, you're up to your neck in the deep waters of sin.

Sin is a slippery slope. All it takes is the first step, and down the slope you go until you hit rock bottom. Bathsheba gets pregnant with David's child, and he enters into the next step of sin, the downgrade into deeper sin, and that is my second point.

Sin will leave you there longer than you want to stay. David's adultery turns into the unthinkable. He becomes a murderer. He has Uriah killed on the front line of the battlefield, where the fighting is the fiercest and the most dangerous.

He tries to cover his murder by making it look like an accident. David's response to Uriah's death is, the sword devoureth one as well as the other. And King David stayed in this unrepentant state for a period of about nine months.

He still kept on his kingly duties, his religious actions, but his heart was far away from God. He kept his sin away from God longer than he wanted. And that leads us to the third aspect, the sin step, friend, and that is sin will cost you more than you ever realized.

The Cost of Sin and David's Family Consequences

You see, friends, our text declares, but the thing David did displeased the Lord. When we sin, we sin against God. David says this very thing in Psalm 51 in a broken heart and a repentant heart. After this incident, he says, against the only have I sinned.

Sin cost David more than he ever realized, for it tore his family all apart. If you don't believe me, friends, just finish reading 2 Samuel and see the consequences of sin in the life of his family. This chapter ends with David's grief of his aching heart for his favorite son, Absalom, my son, my son.

A Personal Warning About Adultery and Ruined Testimony

I had a friend whom I once looked up to, but now that friend is my biggest warning. When I would have lunch with this friend, all he wanted to talk about was Jesus. He had a happy home and a loving wife and several children.

Then one day he got a new secretary, and it wasn't long. He was in an adulterous affair. His sin took him further than he wanted to go. It cost him more than he ever realized, for his family ended in divorce.

His teenage daughter's life became a train wreck, and this man's adultery also ruined his Christian testimony because he was a leader in his church. Oh, friends, the ruin of sin, the slippery slope of sin, how it will cost you.

Fleeing Presumptuous Sin and Seeking Repentance

Those of you here within the sound of my voice, if you are contemplating willful, presumptuous sin, turn now and flee and seek God and His grace. If you are already on a downward spiral of sin, beg God, friend, for the grace of repentance.

Satan is nothing but a liar. Satan is nothing but a deceiver, and Satan is a cheat. He will entice you to sin by wrapping it in a pretty package with a bow on top, and then when you fall, he will accuse you before God because he is the accuser of the brethren.

Turn from your sin, friend, and turn back to God. My Bible declares, if we confess our sins, he is just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Be like the Chinese believers, friend, and live the sermon.

Let us pray.