Don't put out the Spirit's fire - 8 June 03 PM_2
PART TWO : DAVID – SPIRITUAL BUT SINNING
The Story is told in 2 Samuel Chapters 11 and 12 and Psalm 51
I Samuel 16 v 13
13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.
The mark of this man is his spiritual life. There is no questioning his faith and his bravery and his wisdom.
He was accepting of a long period in exile, wise in victory, and able to take God’s refusal to him regarding the building of a temple-
BUT he sinned most seriously in the matter of Uriah the Hittite and his wife Bathsheba.
If Saul was a DISAPPOINTMENT
David was a DELIGHT
A man after God’s own heart. – But still a man – and he forgot in that moment of considered disobedience when on his rooftop looking down, and when confronted with the consequences of his passion that the very best men are liable to fall.
As SAMUEL came to Saul – so NATHAN came to David
And the Holy Spirit through His prophet applied the Word to David’s heart : a story guaranteed to stir the heart of so sensitive a man of God.
The difference here lies in his reaction -- REPENTANCE
But the root causes of his failure – and his putting out the Spirit’s flame lay in the sequence of sensual sin:
1. An unguarded moment
If David teaches us anything in his extinguishing moment – it is the dangers of those relaxed moments when idleness and the absence of duty expose us to such great temptations.
2. A strong physical desire
He also teaches us that our human passions are frequently at the root of setting aside value systems that we have long come to cherish.
If David had known what lay ahead – how the behaviour of the honourable foreigner Uriah would provoke him to such excess – he would not have stifled the voice of conscience or put out the Spirit’s flame.
3. An astonishing plan to cover his tracks
In stead he set about a complex plot ideally suited to a man of his campaigning skills.
But he forgot that it was seen – and if not by the closer members of his court – then by GOD HIMSELF.
If the appeal to sin in Saul was STATUS and KNOWING BETTER
In David it was UNGUARDED EASE
PHYSICAL DESIRE and
A CONSPIRACY WHICH SHOWS A TOTAL DISREGARD FOR GOD
BUT he repented
and Psalm 51 10 -12 shows us how HE FACED UP TO PUTTING OUT THE SPIRIT’S FIRE
Psalm 51:10-12 (NIV)
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Unlike SAUL and the man we consider next – David knew the value of the Holy Spirit’s work.
He could not bear the possibility that the Holy Spirit be taken away.
He knows that after forgiveness and cleansing
the Holy Spirit guarantees
the restoring of the joy of his salvation
“GIVE ME A WILLING SPIRIT TO SUSTAIN ME.”
Despite the awfulness of his sin – God’s grace triumphs – he regains a consciousness of the Spirit’s power and message – and most of all he applies it in
PENITENCE
and FAITH