Peter Barnes | 2 Samuel 11:1-13
SERMON NOTES
ONE SIN UPON ANOTHER
2 Samuel 11:1-13
Calvin says that this story should ‘make our hair stand straight up on end’. John Owen: ‘Many conquerors have been ruined by their carelessness after a victory.’
1. We must always guard our hearts.
– 11:1-5; Job 31:1. In general terms, men ought to be careful about what they see; women ought to be careful about what they show.
– Uriah was well-known to David – 1 Chron.11:41; 2 Sam.23:39. ‘Uriah’ means ‘Yahweh is light’.
– James 1:14-15. Spurgeon tells us to kill the serpent while it is still in the eggshell, not wait until it is fully grown.
– 1 Corinthians 6:18; 10:12; Psalm 139:23-24. Walter Chantry: ‘Perhaps the Lord intends to disabuse us of a “star” mentality in Christendom.’
– Mark 7:21-23.
2. Sin is insidious in the way it entangles us.
– 11:6-13; Keil and Delitzsch think that Uriah guessed the truth, but it is more likely that Uriah is a noble soul.
3. To try to cover sin is to increase it.
– there is no rest for the wicked (Isa.48:22; 57:21). We know what he should have done, before he sinned – Ps.119:9-11.
– When we sin, we have two options – Prov.28:13.