For fifteen years Ross had the Midas Touch. Every business venture, every deal he closed, every store he opened, turned into pure gold. His name was synonymous with success in his small community. But the day Ross entered his pastor's office, he looked like a broken man. A few weeks earlier a part of his world had come tumbling down. His wife had discovered he had an affair with an employee and she confronted him with it. Now, here he stood, not really knowing how to make things right again. He told his pastor everything…how it all started.
When he was finished, his pastor said, "Ross, you've been in church for many years and you know what the Bible teaches. Did you see what you did as wrong?"
Ross stared straight ahead and then said, "At first I didn't. I justified it all in my mind. I was almost free of guilt for a while. But now I see my mistake."
Ross decided to get help in counseling. For weeks he went to a counselor and appreciated the help he was receiving. But something was missing. There was still this emptiness. Ross was mending things at home. He understood the hurt he had caused his wife, children, and friends. He told them so. Still, he had this terrible emptiness inside. He kept saying he knew he had made a terrible mistake.
Then the pastor asked Ross a very pointed question, "Ross, have you thought about the difference between making a mistake and committing a sin?
Ross looked shocked. "What do you, mean, pastor?"
"I mean, yours was not merely a mistake, like a simple mathematical miscalculation. You knowingly broke your wedding promise to your wife and transgressed the limits God set for your marriage. You acted as if you were immune from the command to be faithful. You thought you were above God's wisdom. You sinned against your wife, family, and God. (1)

The emptiness in Ross' heart was one that we all experience at one time or another when we have turned from God's ways and committed sin. However, we try to convince ourselves that sin really isn't that bad. Like Ross, we think of it more as a mistake that maybe we can correct by simply saying "I'm sorry." We don't like to be called a sinner. That seems too harsh. We think of sinners as people who commit crimes, who end up in the papers and on the news and in the prisons. So we actually tell ourselves we can't be put in the same category as those folks. So we begin to believe some lies that keep us from really fitting into that category of "sinner."

The first lie we tell ourselves is: We aren't really sinners. We are good people who make occasional mistakes.

That's the trap Ross fell into. He didn't see his sin, because he didn't think it was that big. He treated it like a mistake that should be erased with a few weeks of counseling and telling his wife and family he was sorry. But sin isn't just a mistake. It is an act of willingful disobedience to God. When we sin, we act like we are above God, knowing better than God. We think we can satisfy our own desires, regardless of what God has commanded us. We take our lives into our own hands and do what we please. And for a little while, we just loose sight of God altogether. It's total disrespect of God.

Look at King David. Here was a man chosen by God for his heart that sought God, served God, and surrendered to God. Yet, one Spring, David made a decision to take a furlough and stay home from the battlefront. He was tired of being a warrior and trusted his Chief Commander Joab to lead the battle against the Philistines. David would take a retreat. This could have been a time of renewal - time with God, time with family. But David didn't plan his retreat very well. Instead, one evening when he couldn't sleep instead of getting on his knees to pray, David went out and walked around on the roof of the palace. He looked out over his kingdom that had greatly expanded. He begin to think to himself, "Look at all this. All of this is mine. I have won all this through my battles. The people have made me the King. The kingdom is mine." He didn't think about where he had come from or who had given him his kingship and kingdom. In his pride, he saw it as His. Then he saw Bathsheba, bathing on the roof. It was night and no one should have been looking. But David was and in his prideful mood, he reconciled in his mind that he could have anything in this kingdom he wanted - including another man's wife. After all, HE WAS THE KING! So he had her brought to him and they committed adultery. But that wasn't all. They also conceived a child.
Bathsheba became pregnant.

When David receives this news, do we see him getting on his knees and crying out to God? Do we hear him confessing? No….not at all. What do we see him doing. We see him looking at the whole thing as a mistake. The good king has made a boo-boo.
So he started thinking about what he can do about his mistake to take care of it.

This is the first trap David falls into and that we fall into when we sin. Sin is not just a mistake that we can somehow erase. It is much deeper and much more serious.

"Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (James 4:17)

Don't be deceived. Sin is more serious than a mistake and you can't erase it.

BEWARE: The heart on furlough wanders into sin.

When we take a vacation from God, we can count on Satan being close by to draw our hearts into sin.

2. Once we have sinned, we also begin to try convince ourselves that we're not really accountable for it. There are other factors involved and other people. Sometimes we even convince ourselves that we couldn't control our actions. We blame our actions on something or someone else.

Although we don't see this per se in the story of David and Bathsheba, we can hear David's thoughts and maybe some discussions with Bathsheba following the announcement that she was pregnant. "Why were you bathing where I could see you?" "Why did you entice me?" Suddenly we're back in the Garden of Eden again with those discussions between Adam and Eve. Can't you hear Adam, "Eve, why did you make me do that? Why did you have to offer me that Apple?"

Thus enters LIE #2: I am not totally responsible for my sin.

Listen to how the conversation in the Garden of Eden plays out after Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the tree that God commanded them not to eat of:

Genesis 3:6-12

Adam passes the blame…but the sin is still his - he admits it - I ATE IT. But he doesn't take full responsibility for his sin. He is not totally accountable. There are other factors God, beyond my control here!

Adam is basically saying that he can't resist temptation, so therefore he can't resist sinning. But Adam is wrong. He acted on the temptation of his own will. He wants to blame, just as we do. But the reality is he had the option to walk away from the offer of the fruit and he didn't. David had the option to turn his eyes from Bathsheba, but he didn't.

Adam and David fell into the trap of believing that because they were tempted, they had already sinned. But that's not true.

BEWARE: Temptation is not sin, ACTING UPON TEMPTATION IS SIN.

David acted upon his temptation and he sinned. He was totally responsible for his sin.

3. But David still doesn't turn to God. He believes he can cover up this problem he has caused and no one will ever know. So he brings home Bathsheeba's husband from the battle and hopes he will go home to his wife and lie with her. But he is just too dedicated. He can't be with his wife when all his buddies are out fighting and sleeping on the ground without their wives. So David gets him drunk and tries hopes that will do the trick. But Uriah still doesn't go home. He just won't go home to Bathsheba. So David sends him back to the battle with a note. He commands Joab to put Urriah right up in the front - in the heat of the battle so he will be killed. Then at least he won't have to deal with him any longer.

Wow - Does this sound like any other situations we've heard about lately -

J.F. Kennedy - Marilyn Monroe
Bill Clinton - Monica Lewinski
Jimmy Swaggert - Jessica Hahn

They all believed a lie:

LIE #3: I Can Hide My Sin.

We may can hide our sin from some, but you can never hide your sin from everyone.

Illustration: Karen and her sister, Jackie. Jackie had affair and confided in Karen.
Thought she could hide her affair.

Even if we think we can hide our sin and no one knows - it won't be that way forever…

Jesus said, "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known." - Luke 12:2

God knows our sin. It can't be hidden and won't stay hidden.

Hiding Sin only leads to serious consequences. For David it led to the destruction of his household, rebellion of his children, death of his children.

4. David thought time would take care of the problem. Over time it wouldn't matter that Urriah was dead. Joab would just Urriah as one more casualty among his men lost in battle. The community would honor Urriah's service and grieve his death, but the pain would pass. Even Bathsheba would get over him. Everything would be O.K. and laid to rest. David would then marry her and the baby would be born in the palace. Everything was going to be O.K.!!

Right? Wrong!! Everything was not O.K. with God. David's pleasure led to God's displeasure. 1 Samuel 11:27 - "But the thing David had done displeased the Lord."

David killed a man in cold blood - a man that was faithful to him, faithful to God, faithful to his country, and faithful to his wife.

Urriah's faithfulness cannot be dismissed. It is in stark contrast to David's unfaithfulness. David took everything Urriah had from him. Everything is not good here. It will not be simply dismissed by God.

Enter Lie #4 : Sin will go away over time. Just forget it and move on.

Sin doesn't just go away. Unforgiven sin leads to death…

Romans 6:12: "For the wages of sin is death"

Ross's problem and David's problem are the same. They believed that their mistakes would take care of themselves over time. But they won't.

Both Ross and David had to do the same…they had to understand that their mistakes weren't mistakes….they were sins that don't go away. They will leave a huge burden in your heart….a huge chasm between the sinner and God.
There is only one way that that separation can be repaired…and that is through true confession and receiving the atonement of Christ for sin.

Ross confessed that day to the pastor. ..but more importantly he confessed to God.

When Nathan confronted David with his sin, he confessed as well. His confession is in Psalm 51 - (Read)

BEWARE: Sin will not fade away without confession and atonement.

The good news is we can have forgiveness if we can confess.