Congregational Reading: Psalm 32:1-6- Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.

NOTES:

• Rabbah, also known as Rabbath-Ammon, was the capital city of the Ammonites in the ancient Near East. It was located east of the Jordan River, in what is now modern-day Amman, the capital of Jordan. Rabbah was a significant city in the region due to its strategic location and resources.
• It’s a mistake to believe that this incident was the start of the series of choices that led David to adultery and murder. David had shown a disregard for God’s design for marriage years earlier when he took multiple wives (1 Samuel 25:42-43; 2 Samuel 3:2-5). By adding wives, David revealed a lack of sexual restraint and an indulgence of his desires. This corrupt seed, planted long before, was left unchecked and eventually produced bitter consequences.
• This did not happen all at once. This matter of Bathsheba was simply the climax of something that had been going on in his life for twenty years.

Point 1: Are you Preparing to Remain?

1. David sent Joab... but David stayed behind in Jerusalem: David should have been at the battlefront, yet he chose to remain in Jerusalem. In 2 Samuel 10, Joab and the army of mighty men were protected in their fight against the Arameans and Ammonites, but they didn’t secure a final victory. The decisive victory only came when David himself led the army at the end of 2 Samuel 10. By both tradition and experience, God had shown David, "You need to be at the battle." But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
   1. Sometimes we too remain in the wrong place.
   2. If you’re not in the right place, you are in the wrong place
2. Illustration: The story of Ignatius, when you have bad news, you should always be ready to share good news. Remaining in Christ doesn’t mean being in a good place, it means being in the RIGHT place.
3. John 15:4-5 - Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.
   1. Remaining is not unmoving. To remain in Christ is to move WITH Christ.
   2. Galatians 5:16 holds true: "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh."
4. Colossians 2:6-7 - Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
5. 1 John 2:24 - As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain^[a] in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

Point 2: Prepared for failure

1. A heart not remaining is a heart preparing for failure.
   1. 1 Corinthians 10:13 - No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it
   2. James 4:7 - So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you.
2. David looked at Bathsheba and said “beauty” but God saw this as ugly. The hoped-for pleasures of sin deceive us like the bait hides the hook. We must call it what God calls it – sin. We want to say “affair” but God says “adultery.” We want to say “love” but God says “lust.” We want to say “sexy” but God says “sin.” We want to say “romantic” but God says “ruin.” We want to say “destiny” but God says “destruction.”
3. Illustration: relationship with brother
   1. We change our language to accommodate our desire.
   2. Matthew 5:28 - But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
   3. James 1:14-15 - But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.
4. Romans 6:21-23 - So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
5. Galatians 6:7-8 - Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
6. Encounters, pursues, embraces – a sin cycle

Point 3: Prepared to Cover up

1. Psalm 32:3 - When I refused to confess my sin, my whole body wasted away,
2. 1 John 2:28 - "And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back."
   1. Illustration: Cave diving. Is it deep enough?
3. Studies show that up to 88% of individuals who regularly view pornography begin to escalate to more extreme content to achieve the same levels of stimulation, potentially leading to unhealthy, distorted views of sex an Neuroscientific research shows that repeated exposure to pornography can rewire the brain’s reward pathways, similar to the effects of substance addiction, making it difficult for users to break the habit without support. relationships.
4. The real question for us all is: Are we prepared to face sin? Not to discuss someone else’s sin, but to face our own.