Second Samuel 11, I'll read just the first verse, starting in verse six, down to verse 27, but I'll read verse six. Then David sent Joab saying, send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. One of the reasons why I respect my father, is how he has shown me different ways how he is willing to change his life if he sees a deficiency in his life in regards to scripture. And one of those early memories I have of him is I was probably six or seven years old, and I remember my father, he would give us a kiss as he would go off to work. My dad was a dentist. And his breath always smelt really bad because he was a smoker. He smoked cigarettes a lot. And his breath just carried that and before he would go to work he would smoke a cigarette. I have this memory early on. him smoking. He picked up smoking in college. He was trying to get into medical school. Eventually he would go to dental school. He was stressed out with the studies. And then during dental school, he picked it up as a more firm habit. And he smoked for 20 years. It was very much a part of his life and at that time it became more and more clear and much more public and well documented that smoking was destructive, physically destructive, at least certainly that level of smoking. And it bothered his conscience. He thought about the example he was having with his kids and also just the fact that he might be shortening his life. And he quit. You just pretty much, cold turkey, just stop smoking cigarettes. And I share this with you because it, in a sense, captures the whole message, my whole message for you. In the same way that smoking in that nature is destructive physically, sin is destructive. It's destructive. It's not just that it leads to death. We looked at that a few chapters ago in 2 Samuel, but it is now detrimental to your spiritual health. And there's one answer to sin, and it's to turn from it. It's to repent. We come to this passage of Scripture, and we are if not a little bit embarrassed, we're certainly depressed. This is one of the most depressing chapters. It's even hard to read. David commits this terrible sin. He seems to be very much blind to it. In verse 6, we come to a transition where we, if you're not familiar with the story, you kind of hope maybe things would improve, but things get worse. David has a decision to make. What's he going to do? He makes a bad decision. From this we see the destructive nature of sin. We learn the following lesson. Christians ought to repent because their sin cannot be hidden. Their sin dulls the conscience. It hurts innocent people. And it quenches godly habits. So we learn. Christians ought to repent of their sin for a lot of reasons, but in this passage of scripture, specifically because it cannot be hidden. It dulls the conscience, it hurts innocent people, and it quenches godly habits. Look with me, starting in verse six, the idea that sin cannot be hidden. There are several ways in which David attempts to hide his sin. Verses six and seven he calls for Uriah and he engages in the epitome of small talk. He's trying to cover up really what his intention is. He's trying to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so his sin is not exposed. And he of course doesn't tell Uriah that. He has small talk. He asks about how Joab's doing. He's trying to hide his sin. He tells Uriah to go wash his feet, clean up, go down to your house and he even sends a gift, a celebratory gift most likely to Uriah. And of course the intention is that he would lie with his wife and Uriah picks up on that in verse 11. He even attempts to get Uriah drunk. Verses 12 and 13. And the idea is that he would back off on his commitment to, in a sense, be, you know, Uriah is a mighty man. We learn that in 2 Samuel 23. He's aware that there's still a war going on, that his brothers, as it were, are still in the field. And he's not going to do this. It's not honorable to him. And so David says, okay, well, I'm gonna get you drunk. What is David doing? David's trying to hide his sin. The one thing he needs to do, he's not doing. He's trying to hide it. In verse 26 as well, the deed has been done. Uriah has been killed. And time is kind of the essence here. In case you're not aware, women typically give birth nine, ten months after conception. And David's He doesn't have a lot of time on his hands. So he wastes no time. This appears to be a brief time of mourning. And then the mourning time was over. David sent and brought her to his house. She became his wife. What's he doing? Think about it. How is he responding to his sin? He's trying to hide it. He should have taken heed to the psalm that he wrote, Psalm 139. Psalm 139, the first section of it reminds us that God knows what we're doing. He knows even our thoughts. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought far off. You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all of my ways. Numbers 32, 23. But if you do not do so, this is Moses speaking to the tribes who are thinking about not going forward and continuing to fight with the other tribes to conquer the land. Then take note, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. David's trying to hide his sin, but he cannot. You'll notice at the very end of the chapter, No one knows what's going on except a few servants close to David and Bathsheba. No one knows except God. God knows. The very end of this chapter it says, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. And there are many reasons why you and I should repent of our sin. One of the reasons is because it's the way to forgiveness. Forgiveness is not earned, but it's the way God has established for us to receive Christ and His forgiveness. Trust in Him and repent. In this passage of Scripture, we're not looking at that specifically. There's another reason to repent. And that is because it simply cannot be hidden. And this is one of the possible options for you that you'll consider when you're wrestling with your sin. You'll think, well, maybe I can just ignore what's going on. My father could have just ignored the facts about smoking and how destructive it was. He could have just kind of ignored it, pretend like he wasn't smoking. But he didn't do that. And I want you to just first recognize that this is not a viable option. That's one of the reasons why you should repent. The rest of this passage is also useful in showing us how sin is destructive now. It's not just that it leads to sin and judgment if someone never repents and never actually trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, but that sin now is detrimental to us. We see that in three ways. First, unrepentant sin dulls the conscience. It dulls the conscience. Verse 14, a very powerful verse here. I want you to think about this for a moment. Verse 14 says, In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab. and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter saying, set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retreat from him that he may be struck down and die. This is really, really bad. Really bad. It shows us how sin, unrepentant sin, dulls the conscience. Think of how evil this was. Now Uriah is David's friend. We know that from the conversation they have. We know that from 2 Samuel 23. He's listed as one of the mighty men that had been with David. And here's a man who writes a note. And he gives this note to the man who's gonna take it to Joab, and the note says, kill Uriah. Can you imagine the conscience throbbing as he hands that note to Uriah? The fact of the matter is the conscience apparently wasn't. That's the whole point. It was numb. It was dulled. Now I want you to think about the conscience for a moment. The conscience is something that you have. It's something that unbelievers have. Romans chapter 2. We all have it because we're made in the image of God. Romans chapter 2 verse 14 and 15. Part of what it means to be human. Dogs don't have a conscience because dogs don't sin. Dogs aren't spiritual beings. They're not moral beings. Listen to this, Romans 2 verse 14 through 15. who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law. These, although not having the law, are a law to themselves. How are they a law to themselves? Verse 15, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. Listen, you don't have to tell an unbeliever or even some aborigine, some islander who's not connected to civilization that murder is wrong. They know it. They know it. It's their conscience. But that conscience can be dull. We see that in 1 Timothy 4, 1-2-2. Just one example. It can be dulled, it can be numbed. Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. Another way of speaking of being numbed. Sin's scary, because if it just goes on in your life and it's not repented of, It's destructive in the sense that it dulls the conscience. It leads to more sin in that specific way. You're no longer struck by, what am I doing? And you start handing off death notes like David. Paul Brand was a missionary, a medical missionary in the 50s to India. son Siebert and I were reading a little snippet about his life and he tells this story where he's in India and he's dealing with leopards. Lepers. Okay, people who begin to lose their feet and fingers. Do you know why they lose their feet and their fingers? At least in some cases. In this case, I'm going to tell you about. He sees this eight-year-old boy comes to his clinic in India. And he sees this boy, he's bleeding. His feet are bleeding. And he said, you know, are you okay? What's going on? And he said, well, I heard that you could heal my feet. He says, well, you know, do they not hurt? What are you doing? Where have you come from? He had walked for many days to see Paul Brand. And he did not know, he did not know that his feet were being chewed up. He walked barefoot. He couldn't feel them. He was numb. One of the scary things about unrepentant sin is it dulls your conscience. It makes you do things that should prick you. But as we see here, David's not paying attention. Sin has dulled his conscience. Tonight's passage of scripture is discouraging in a sense. It's a heavy passage. This is what sin does. Now I want you to know that. I want you to think about that. Sin is something not to mess around with. It dulls the conscience. My third point tonight, another reason that sin shows its destructive nature. Look with me at verse 16. Sin hurts innocent people. When I say innocent, of course, I don't mean absolutely. We're sinners from birth and we rightly deserve death. But I mean it conditionally. But nonetheless, we see here how sin hurts innocent people. It's part of how it demonstrates its destructive nature. Verse 16 reads this. So it was while Joab besieged the city that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. So he's carrying out David's orders. And of course, David just said, I want you to take out Uriah, just one man. Verse 17, then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite died also. See, Joab, who's proven himself to be a man who's willing to murder, realizes that I can't really just kill Uriah without making it look very obvious. I've got to kind of let a whole platoon, as it were, a whole group of men die. David didn't plan that. David didn't say he wanted that to happen, but that's what happened. There was some men who died. David didn't want that to happen. He didn't think it would happen, but it did. But also, if you just back up from this chapter and you think about, you know, the effect it had on this family, this marriage, the effect that it had on the nation. David's the king. This is going to weaken the nation, the integrity of David's reign. Amen and Absalom, sons of David. One struggled with sexual sin. Absalom wanted to kill his father. David was a very poor example to his own sons. The effects it has on other people. Something to think about. Now, sin hurts innocent people generically. One example of that would be a drunk driver can hit someone kill them or seriously injure them. But it's especially something to think about for leaders. It's especially something to think about for those who are in responsibility. Their sin trickles down. Family, okay, in the church, and of course in the government. We see that here, we have it mentioned in scripture as well, Isaiah 9, 16. For the leaders of this people, cause them to err, The leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. Micah 3.5, thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray, who chant peace while they chew with their teeth. Prophets were saying peace and there was no peace. And they were making the people go astray. You have perhaps in your life even now something going on in your Struggling with what to do. I want you to think about this aspect. We see here innocent people being hurt. Fathers, church leaders. Sin has a negative effect on other people. And it's something we should think about. This is a warning to us. It's a heavy thing. It's not just our life and our well-being. It's also those who are trusted to our care. Last, look with me at verse 18 through 25. The last thing I want you to think about in regards to the destructive nature of sin. Unrepentant sin quenches godly habits. Unrepentant sin quenches godly habits. Verse 18, you have Joab counting what he wants his messenger to say and of course these men have died and he's anticipating David's wrath and he tells the messenger what to say to include the fact that Uriah has died and we learn a lot about this really just in verse 25. All that information is to set us up for how David's going to respond. I want you to think about David and how he's changing. Okay, sin quenches godly habits. Was David a man who was sensitive to bloodshed? Okay, did he kill Saul? Did David kill Saul? David didn't kill Saul. He was aware that he was the anointed one. He didn't take that into his own hand. He was upset when those two men came with the head of Ish-bosheth. It was wrong for those men to kill Ish-bosheth. He was upset with bloodshed. There's other examples of that. What happens here? David's not upset. He hears that these men have died. In verse 25 he says, Thus you shall say to Joab, Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. David is starting to lose this godly habit of caring about his soldiers. He's no longer really concerned about needless bloodshed. Look at the end of verse 25. It says, strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it. So encourage him. Here's a man who is not walking with the Lord. And he has no, he presumes the Lord's with him. I mean, here's an attack, they lose this battle. He's not thinking, well, maybe the Lord is not with me. Something interesting to point out, Uriah says in verse 11, that the ark in Israel and Judah are all dwelling in tents. There's reasons to believe that David is not really in the spirit as it were. He's not worshiping regularly because the ark is not in Jerusalem. He's not spiritually minded. What happens when Christians don't pray? and they don't read the scriptures, they do bad things, their godly habits, their love for the lost, their compassion for the lost, their zeal for the glory of God, and their love for the church wanes. That's what we see here. He says, strengthen your attack against this city. He doesn't pray. He doesn't seek guidance. That was his custom. Was that not David's custom? Second Samuel, chapter five. You'll see this when the Philistines arise. Verse 17 of 2 Samuel chapter 5. When the Philistines heard that they had anointed King David over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. In verse 18 it says, So David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Are you with me? I don't want to go anywhere if you're not with me. Now that's a godly habit, is it not? To pray, to wait upon the Lord. And David is being presumptive. He's presuming. And it's a habit that's being quenched. This is what sin does. Unrepentant sin does over time. It quenches godly habits. Take for example, the godly habit of praying. 1 Peter 3, 7. It's an interesting verse related to husbands. Husbands likewise, this is referring to the wife, husbands likewise dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life. Why? That your prayers may not be hindered. A husband who does not honor his wife and love her, his prayers are hindered. Well, he's quenched the spirit. He's not doing something that God wants him to do. He's not loving his wife, and he's having a hard time praying. You see, the godly habit. Or Ephesians 4, verse 30, reference to words, the mouth, saying unwholesome things. Ephesians 4, verse 29, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification. that it may impart grace to the hearers, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." Our sin grieves God's Spirit, the Spirit that gives us love, the Spirit that gives us joy, the Spirit that gives us peace. This is part of the destructive nature of unrepentant sin. The more and the longer it goes, the unrepentant of, these things are dulled and they're quenched. You start to not care about the church, you start to not care about unbelievers, and all these godly habits start to lower down, just as we've seen in the life of David. You have to ask yourself the question, why this chapter? Why this chapter? God wants you to think about these heavy things. He wants you to be clear about sin. It's not pretty. Sin shows its sinfulness in this chapter. I want you to feel the weight of it. Christians ought to repent of their sin because it cannot be hidden. It dulls the conscience. It hurts innocent people and it quenches godly hungers. I also want to tell you this. As I told you last Sunday night, you don't have to be David. You don't have to be David. Let's say you're here tonight, and you have unrepentant sin in your life. Sin that, it's not that you struggle with, you're not dealing with. And you're starting to become aware of it. I wanna give you hope. Not only does God forgive you when you repent, because of Christ. But those consequences, those consequences, they can be lessened. Proverbs 28, 13. I want to conclude with this message, this word from Proverbs 28, 13. There's a sense in which this whole message is summed up in this verse. It's the gospel. the Old Testament. He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Will have mercy. You're in a situation where you're not repenting of sin and you're hiding it What you need to do is go to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess to Him. Acknowledge your sin. David says in Psalm 51, against you and you only have I sinned. Acknowledge your sin. Confess it. Turn from it. He'll have mercy upon you. He'll have mercy upon you. These destructive things that may be happening to you, you'll have mercy. You'll have mercy. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we come to you in prayer again and we thank you that your son the Lord Jesus Christ has died for all of our sins. The little ones as well as the big ones. Father we come to you asking that you would enable us to learn from this passage of scripture. That you would give us a firm awareness of the sinfulness of sin and its destructive nature. You would give us sensitive consciences, that you would inflame our will and our desire to do godly things, to have godly habits. Father, that we would think twice about our unrepentant sin in regard to how it would affect other people. Father, we pray that you would give us the grace of repentance, that you would help us to not think that we can hide it. We lift all these things up to you in the name of Christ. Amen.