Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20021027.htm

1 AND 2 SAMUEL: GOD'S SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS IN OVERSIGHT
Part XLIX: Learning As Elevated Leaders Of Our Accountable To The Lord
(2 Samuel 11:5-12:1a)
  1. Introduction
    1. The higher in oversight position God elevates a believer, the fewer are the human parties to whom he must give an account. That fact creates a tendency for such a believer to feel less accountable even to God, a very lethal thing in one's walk with the Lord.
    2. David's position made it relatively easy for him to think he could "cover up" his adultery with Bathsheba. After all, he was a very successful king, so he felt he could maneuver matters around him quite well.
    3. However, David could not remove himself from his accountability to God, and we do well to learn of our own accountability to the Lord no matter what advance in position we are granted by God (as follows):
  2. Learning As Elevated Leaders Of Our Accountability To The Lord, 2 Samuel 11:5-12:1a.
    1. When David's act of adultery with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba resulted in her becoming pregnant, David took extensive steps to use his position as Israel's monarch to cover up his sin, 2 Samuel 11:5-27a.
      1. Following David's evening with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, she sent word to David that she was with child through the event, 2 Samuel 11:5.
      2. David immediately made plans to cover his sin by trying to get Uriah to cohabit with Bathsheba so her the unborn child would appear to be Uriah's son, 2 Samuel 11:6-8: David sent word to his commander, Joab to relieve Uriah of his military duties so he could have a conjugal visit with his wife, 11:6-8.
      3. However, when the godly Uriah chose not to go home out of dedication to his ministry task of fighting the Lord's battles, David tried to manipulate Uriah to go home by getting him drunk, 2 Sam. 11:9-13a.
      4. When Uriah still failed to return to his wife out of dedication to his God-assigned calling, David took steps to have Uriah put to death in war so he could marry Bathsheba and appear to be the baby's father with complete innocence, 2 Samuel 11:13b-27a:
        1. After David failed to get Uriah to go home even upon getting him drunk, David sent Uriah back to the war effort with a message for Joab to have Uriah exposed to the enemy to his fall, 11:13b-15.
        2. Joab obeyed David, and Uriah died at the hands of the Ammonites in accord with the plan, 11:16-17
        3. Since he was involved in the plot with David, Joab knew David would not mind about hearing of a temporary military setback including the death of several of his men were it to have included Uriah's death, so he sent word of the event to David for his information, 2 Samuel 11:18-21.
        4. The messenger did as Joab asked, and, sure enough, David's response to the military setback, including the death of several men, was mild when instructed Uriah had died in the effort, 11:22-25.
        5. David then took Bathsheba, Uriah's widow to be his wife to make it appear that the son born to her was his legitimate son, and that no adultery had occurred between Bathsheba and David, 11:26-27a.
    2. However, David's actions were known to the Lord, and He was displeased with them, 2 Sam. 11:27b.
    3. Accordingly, God did two things to reveal David's need to sense his accountability to the Lord:
      1. We learn from Psalm 51, the psalm David wrote in connection with this sin, that God's Holy Spirit had caused David to be very uncomfortable with conviction both day and night:
        1. The introductory notes to Psalm 51 which are part of the Hebrew psalm's text reveal this work was written following the arrival of God's prophet, Nathan, to speak to David of his adultery.
        2. As such, the psalm reveals the Holy Spirit had convicted David for some time about his sin, 51:3, 8.
      2. God also told His prophet, Nathan of the sin, and sent him to David with a convicting message, 12:1a.
Lesson: Though David had been elevated by God to rule over Israel, and IN that elevation, he had begun to experience extensive success, David tended to view his increasing lack of accountability to other people around him as a lack of accountability to God, and errantly tried to cover up his adultery.

Application: Though God elevates us in oversight in some capacity, we must ALWAYS recall our accountability to GOD, if ANYTHING, is INCREASED, cf. Luke 12:47-48. Hence, we must FACE our sins and REPENT, no matter how important we become in the eyes of MAN, or even OURSELVES!