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STEPPING INTO SIN "And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. 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. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child." (II Sam. 11:1-5) You know the story, so I'm not dealing with the entire text, but rather with what led to this sin in the first place. The sin of adultery is committed here and later the sin of murder, all because some righteous discipline was not practiced by both parties right here. There can be many steps that lead to sin, but I want to focus on a few things in this particular story today. Let me pass on to you five things that I believe led to these great sins . . . I. IDLENESS It says there in verse one that David remained at home while the others went off to war. This is a man who was accustomed to battle and staying busy, but now he's idle. He rises from bed during the night and instead of finding something productive to do, he walks outdoors and sees this woman, and then sin begins to unfold. The devil saw to it that the old adage played out perfectly: "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." There's nothing particularly wrong with taking some deserved time off or with walking outdoors, but a man needs to know his weaknesses and guard himself from them. God chose to contrast David's staying at home with the other men going off to battle, so there must be something about David's idleness that God wants us to acknowledge, something weak, something that could have and should have been avoided by making a better use of time. I don't profess to know what it is, but there's something there where the Holy Spirit is warning us to NOT BE IDLE, but to be productive by making wise use of our time. Paul said in I Timothy 5:13-15, "And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan." See that? He replaced idleness with marrying, bearing children and guiding the house. Stay busy! Stay productive! In the parable of the labourers, Jesus has the householder saying, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" (Mat. 20:6) Then he put them to work. Apparently, David would have fared better to just have gone off to battle with everyone else, but his idleness gave place to the devil. II. CARELESSNESS Perhaps both parties could have been more careful, but it does seem that the woman here was the most careless. David didn't know who this woman was, but everyone knows the king and everyone knows where the king lives. It is very doubtful that this woman was bathing in full ignorance of the location of the king's palace and the view that one could enjoy from the king's palace roof. If she could see him, then he could see her, simple as that, and she had probably seen him numerous times and knew very well that he could possibly see her bathing, and maybe even wanted him to see her. We can't be sure about that, but we can be sure that a woman bathing either outdoors or with a window open is just plain carelessness. Had she exercised better judgment, this sin would have never happened. People usually sin because they WANT to sin, and when you want to sin, then you don't guard yourself. Paul said in Romans 13:14, "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." If you don't want to drink, then keep the booze out of your house. If you don't want to smoke, then keep the cigarettes out of your house. If you don't want to lust after women in bikinis, then don't go to the beach and don't watch women playing beach volleyball. If you don't want someone to see you naked, then stay indoors and close the curtain. Carelessness can often lead to great sin. III. WILLINGNESS David was obviously willing, because he sent for the woman. Instead, he could have sent a messenger telling her to do her bathing in private, but he sent for her. He was willing to sin. Then we know that she was also willing to sin, because she offered no resistance. One might argue that she could not have resisted the king, but she could have said or done something, yet we read nothing of her doing anything other than complying with his every wish. She had a willingness to sin. Perhaps she and her husband were having problems. Perhaps that's part of the reason why he didn't go home to her when he had the opportunity, but we don't know. What we do know is that both David and Bathsheba were willing to sin against God and they did. Being WILLING to sin is at least half the sin. Jesus said that a man commits adultery when he THINKS about it (Mat. 5:28), and Proverbs 23:7 says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he . . ." A man or a woman who is willing to sin almost always WILL sin when given the opportunity. Every believer should spend sufficient time in the word of God and in prayer and in the regular fellowship of a good church, building himself up and building up his immunity to sin. God can make us UNWILLING to sin, if we'll let him, but the choice is ours. IV. PRAYERLESSNESS Jesus said, "Pray that ye enter not into temptation." (Luke 22:40) I Corinthians 10:13 says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Every sin has an escape, so we should seek it. David should have knelt and prayed the moment he saw that woman, yet there is no mention of prayer at all. He prays later, thank God, but he should have prayed and found strength to get victory over the sin. Prayer before sin tells God that we love him and want to be faithful to him, so he's obviously moved to help us, and he says that he WILL help us, but too often our desire to sin outweighs our desire to please God, so we become prayerless and sinful. Jesus said we ought to always pray and not faint (Luke 18:1). Prayer was absent, so both David and Bathsheba fainted. V. THOUGHTLESNESS Both David and Bathsheba should have thought about the future and their testimonies, but sin is blinding and powerful, so they only thought about the present. To this day, when King David's name is mentioned, people also remember that sin. To this day, when you hear the name Bathsheba, you don't think about the mother of the great king Solomon; you think about a great sin. Why is that? It's because two people didn't THINK about their testimonies and their future. Before Ammon raped Tamar, she appealed to his reason and tried to get him to THINK: "Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly. And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel." (II Sam. 13:12-13) See that? She said "SHALT BE." She told him to THINK about the future and his testimony, yet he ignored her and had his way. Today, 3,000 years later, he's remembered as Amnon, the fool who raped his sister. A good testimony can take many years to build up and establish, yet it can be destroyed in only a few minutes. You can't lose your salvation, but you can most definitely lose your testimony, and sin is a sure way to do it. God help us to walk in righteousness by arming ourselves heavily with the word of God and prayer, and God help us to avoid the steps that lead to sin.