2 Samuel #20: an exposition of 2 Samuel 18:1-33. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist on Sunday evening, August 4, 2013.
Intro:
We make a great mistake when we talk of faith in personal, private ways. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that faith is not a personal matter. It most certainly is but it is not private. It is not just your faith. The mantra of our day is about “my faith” and “my spirituality” as if I can do my thing while you do yours. My life does not affect yours and yours has nothing to do with mine. The problem is we do not believe or sin in isolation. My choices do impact your life and yours mine. This is why the Bible places such an emphasis on our life together. We are part of the body of Christ. We are part of something greater than ourselves. Remember Paul, writing the Corinthian believers, said when part of the body suffers the whole body suffers. You may think that your involvement in quiet, secret sin is your own business but you must understand the unintended consequences of your yielding to temptation. It began with a lustful look that became a gaze, that give birth to desire, that lead to passion that culminated in adultery. It was a moment of weakness. It was over. No one ever needs to know. Except she was now pregnant. Which led to an attempted cover up, which eventually resulted in the murder of her husband. It then became a public scandal. In its wake we find a dead baby, a rapist son, a ruined daughter, a murdered son and a rebel child intent on overthrowing the kingdom! So much for the notion that my personal life is my business and does not affect anyone else. Our text this evening is found in the 18th chapter of 2 Samuel.
Text: 2 Samuel 18:1-33
The dominant note throughout this section is the devastating consequences of sin. Sin destroys. Sin ruins lives. David, the rightful king, is on the run. As an old man he is hiding in the same hills he frequented while on the run from king Saul. The nation is divided. A family is torn apart. It is all due to sin.
As we work our way through the chapter we find that…
Thesis: 2 Samuel 18 reminds us of how profoundly sin impacts our lives and relationships.
There are three things I want to point out along the way.
- Sin leads to divided loyalties and complicated relationships. (18:1-6)
- Sin’s consequences prove to be deadly. (18:7-18)
- In this sin-cursed world even our joys are tempered with sorrow. (18:19-33)
Conclusion:
Passages such as this cause us to long for the day when we leave this world of sin and enter into that land where no sorrow will enter in. Where there will be no more death, no mourning, no pain. Only joy and life forever more.
Ever since that moment in the Garden when Adam rebelled sin has had its say. But there is coming a day when sin and its sorrow will be no more because of Christ. The longer I live, the more pain I experience – the easier I cry, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”