WEDNESDAY NIGHT DEVOTION

Psalm 51 is a prayer from the broken, sad heart of one of the greatest characters in the Bible. It points to David's tragic sin.

THE BACKLASH OF BACKSLIDING

Psalm 51 is a prayer from the broken, sad heart of one of the greatest characters in the Bible. It points to David's tragic sin.

There have been so many sermons preached on this sin of David that we hardly think it is necessary to quote the Scriptures, but we simply refer you to 2f Samuel, chapters 11, 12 and 13.

It is not the story of a bad man. No one could accuse David of being a bad man.

Did you ever stop to think how much difference it makes just by the mere statement of a fact? Suppose we say David was a man after God's own heart. He wrote many beautiful psalms, did many great deeds, had great faith; but David committed adultery and murder.

Now let us turn that same sentence around. David committed adultery and murder, but he was a man after God's own heart. He wrote many beautiful psalms, did many great deeds, had great faith. So don't judge a person by one or two acts of his life. The good that David did so vastly overbalanced this great evil that we must admit that he was a marvelous man.

This story of his sin teaches us to guard ourselves during leisure hours, for this tragic sin of David occurred when kings go forth to battle. David was home, leisurely enjoying its comforts, while the husband of the woman with whom he sinned was away in the army.

Our leisure and lonesome hours we must watch and guard most carefully. More sins are committed Saturday night and Sunday than the rest of the week combined. Vacation time often proves anything but vacation time in the matter of sin.

The one who would guard his spiritual well-being, his social purity and his moral life must hedge very carefully his vacations, his leisure hours and other periods of relaxation.

I. A Look Started It All

“And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon” (2 Samuel 11:2).

The sight of this beautiful woman aroused in David unholy emotions so that he made inquiries concerning her and then ultimately stooped to the sin of immorality with her.

No wonder the Bible admonishes “that women adorn themselves in modest apparel” (1 Timothy 2:9). The human body is attractive. The sight of it stimulates impulses and emotions which we are admonished to keep under strict control. Fashion has led to the downfall of many young women and many young men.

It is quite common during hot summer months to see young women walk about the streets with most of the back exposed and with shorts so abbreviated that most of the body is exposed. It is quite common for men and women to swim together dressed in bathing suits that expose most of the body. This is constantly indulged in, not only by the unbelieving world but by many church people, including ministers and special religious leaders. Personally, I do not see how anyone who really wants to be consecrated to the LORD and wants to see others consecrated to the LORD can defend, let alone indulge in, such a mode of dress and association.

I do not deny that there are great numbers of people who participate in mixed swimming and who dress about their home and on the street after the fashion that I indicated, who have never had immoral relations with the other sex. However, I am not sure by any means that they are guiltless when measured by the standards of Matthew 5:28.

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. “

II. A Leap to Greater Trouble

The woman was very beautiful to look upon, and we read that when David beheld her beauty, he then inquired as to who she was. Learning that she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite who was away in the army, David committed adultery with her.

When, after the passing of time, she sent David word that their sin was to be found out, David then proceeded to try to cover up his sin.

He called the husband from the army and decreed that he should have a furlough, thinking that during his stay at home on furlough he would cover up David’s sin. When this attempt failed, David made the man drunk. He knew what every sensible man knows that strong drink sets fire to fleshly impulses; thus, in an effort to cover his sin of adultery, David went against God's command in Habakkuk 2:15:

"Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!"

But again David's plan went astray, whereupon he sent Uriah back to the army with a letter to Joab, saying:

"Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die” (2 Samuel11:15).

This plan of David's did succeed.

"And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were. And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also” (2 Samuel 11:16, 17).

And so at the death of Uriah, David sent for Bathsheba, fetched her to his house, and she became his wife.

Little did David think when first he looked upon this beautiful woman that he would ultimately murder her husband and take her for a wife. But that is where sin led him. And that is where sin has led a good many others. Their name is legion.

Ill. The License of a Preacher

"But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. "

"And the LORD sent Nathan unto David."

Through all the years it has been God's policy to rebuke sin through the human instrumentality of His prophets, and quite frequently they must get personal in that rebuke.

- Samuel was called upon to rebuke King Saul. - Nathan was called upon to rebuke King David. - Elijah was called upon to rebuke wicked Ahab. - John the Baptist rebuked Herod and Herodias. - Paul rebuked Felix and Drusilla. Moreover, Timothy commanded:

"I charge thee . . . Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Timothy 4:1, 2).

It is no pleasant task, and because of the unpleasantness of it, altogether too many ministers shirk their responsibilities.

America's greatest need today is ministers in the pulpit with backbone up their shirttails instead of sweet potato vines, with courage in their hearts, with consecration to God, who will rebuke the "prominent" transgressors in their audiences.

IV. The Lethargy Sin Brings to a Christian Life

Thank God for a man who has courage enough when he is rebuked of his sin to acknowledge his wrong, confess that sin and forsake it.

When Nathan said, "Thou art the man," David did not set about to destroy Nathan. Rather, he admitted his guilt and uttered Psalm 51 as a prayer, and in that psalm, we find this confession and plea:

"Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness" (vss. 12-14).

David had paid very dearly for his sin. So far as we know, he had not lost by it financially, he had not lost by it socially, he had not lost by it domestically, but he had lost two vital things in a believer's life: the joy of his salvation and his soul-winning power.

I am persuaded that the greatest weakness in our churches is right at this point. Church members have lost the joy of their salvation, and they have lost soulwinning power. Their sins have not made them moral outcasts, branded them as criminals, caused them to be excluded from church membership, nor even brought public disfavor upon them. But they have neutralized the joy of being a Christian; they have paralyzed their power to win souls; Our churches are filled with unhappy Christians and with powerless Christians.

There is but one way for an unhappy and a powerless Christian to obtain happiness and power; and that is to confess his sin, renew his covenant with the LORD, and clear up his backsliding.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1 :9).

V. The Law of the Harvest

Another lesson that needs to be pointed out in connection with this study of David's sin is the lesson of the law of the harvest. Even though God forgives our sin, inevitable results must follow. He does not promise not to rebuke us openly for that sin, or not to let us see the result of that sin.

"And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die" (2 Samuel 12:13, 14).

We are told in Galatians 6:7, 8:

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

"For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sowetlt to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

David's experience is a vivid example of this law of the harvest.

God forgave David, but David reaped the harvest of his evil sowing.

God forgave Adam and Eve, but Cain killed Abel just the same. They had sown the seed of rebellion in the garden; the harvest was produced in the life of Cain.

God forgave Jacob, but his sons deceived him by showing the bloody coat of Joseph and saying that a wild beast had slain their brother, when in reality they had sold Joseph into Egypt.

Now Jacob had sown the seeds of deception when he stole the blessing from Esau. That was the harvest.

God forgave David, but chapter 13 of Second Samuel says David's three children produced the harvest of David's evil sowing.

Amnon ravished and ruined his own half-sister, Tamar, and in turn was murdered by his brother Absalom.

David sowed the seed when he crossed the threshold of another man's home, robbed it of its purity and killed the husband. He reaped the harvest when his own children produced similar fruit.

God forgives, but God does not repeal or abrogate the law of the harvest. If you do not want evil consequences of the flesh to grow in your life, then don't sow the seeds.

People frequently say to me, "I can't understand. Here are Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so. I never knew better people, yet they have some of the meanest children!"

Well, good neighbor, I never try to explain it because I don't know what kind of life those people lived thirty or forty years ago.

VI. Heaven Alone Can Mend the Breaks

"And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me" (2 Samuel 12:15, 18, 23).

The most heartbreaking feature of David's backsliding is perhaps the pungent grief brought by the death of the little child. When it was learned that the child was sick, David wept and fasted and prayed for seven days. But his weeping and fasting and praying were of no avail. God smote the child that it died.

Then to the astonishment of David's servants, David arose, washed, anointed himself, changed his apparel, came into the house of the LORD and worshiped.

He didn't get rebellious in heart and stubborn and turn into deeper sins, quit going to church and forget God. He had learned his lesson. He brought this upon himself by getting away from God once, and though he could not bring back the baby, he could look forward to reunion with the baby.

Two observations in conclusion: Dear reader, if you have backslidden and gotten away from God, repent and renew your covenants lest your backslidings produce a terrible harvest in your children.

It is somebody's business whether or not you live right. Moreover, if you have beautiful little children in your home whom you love and adore, by all means live for God lest He feel that you are unworthy to rear them and take them from you as He took this child from David.

On the other hand, if you have lost a lovely, beautiful child, don't be rebellious against God, stay away from church and spend your time grieving and moaning; but, like David, go to church, worship God, and let your heart be encouraged by the fact that there is coming a day of reunion.

- Dr. Sam Morris [1900-1988].

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