Free files for youth pastors:

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (mp3)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (fillout sheet)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (ppt)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (Scripture)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (Outline)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (order of service)

I remember being over at a buddy’s house when I heard he and his brother whispering.  I heard my friend saying, “Don’t do it.  It’s not worth it.”  But his brother left, and my friend was left there hanging his head.  Apparently, not only was my buddy’s brother a state-wide, all-star athlete and a straight “A” student, but he also could have any girl he wanted.  What they were whispering about was that a female friend of his called and asked him to come over because she was lonely and her parents weren’t home.  

2 Samuel 11 is a very similar scene with King David.  Just after being included in God’s eternal covenant of His kingdom and winning many war victories, David goes out on his roof and looks over the kingdom God has given him.  He spots a woman bathing, and keeps checking her out.  He asks some dude who she is, and he tells David her name, her father’s name, and her husband’s name.  David sends someone to get her like a lonely teenage guy texting a girl he’s been thinking about.  This is an OT “booty call”! They had sex together and both committed adultery on their spouses.  She went home and told David soon thereafter that she was pregnant by him.  Notice David’s deep sin right after God covenants with him.  David had others help him in his sin.  David is in deep!  

David’s sin kept getting deeper whenever he tried to fix it or cover it up himself.  He literally called Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, back from war to make it look like Uriah had gotten her pregnant.  Uriah is such a noble warrior for King David that he won’t even go home and be with his wife during his short time back.  While Uriah is relentlessly faithful to David in war, David has been sinfully unfaithful to Uriah at home.  Finally after Uriah won’t go to Bathsheba, David sends him back to war, puts him on the frontline of battle, and commands his death.  In a matter of weeks, David has not only become a lying adulterer, but also a murderer.  Sin can pounce on us so quickly that if we’re not careful, we can become the kind of person we always swore we’d never be. 

While all of David’s friends wouldn’t confront him on his sin, God sends His prophet to confront the anointed king of Israel.  Nathan calls out David on his sin very creatively as he made up a story about a rich man taking a poor man’s only lamb.  David yells in his anger that the rich man must die for being such an unjust man in his kingdom.  Nathan then points his long, boney finger at David and tells him that God sent him to rebuke David of his sin.  David’s friends should have done this from the start!  Do you love Jesus enough that you’d confront your Christian friends on their sin?  Do you surround yourself with Christian friends who rebuke you for yours?  Confrontation and rebuke are empowered tools by the Holy Spirit to lead us to repentance (Gal 6:1).

After realizing that his sin had been fully revealed and his guilt exposed, David confessed his sin against the Lord.  God fully forgave him, but his consequences for the sin was that his child with Bathsheba would die.  The big picture of this passage is an anointed king over Israel being unfaithful in marriage.  The true King of Israel, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, is perfectly faithful to His bride, the church, at all times.  We serve a King who is lovingly faithful to us and to everything that He has given to us.  As we are called to be like Christ, we must learn from stories like David.  We must relentlessly live out the gospel by constantly confessing and repenting of our sin through our faith in Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection which conquered our sin.  Ask God to forgive your sins through Jesus, ask others whom you’ve sinned against to forgive you, lovingly rebuke others when they sin, receive rebukes from others, and continue to be transformed into Christ’s image as you grow in purity and holiness.  Teens, don’t only be faithful to your gf or bf, but also be relentlessly faithful to Christ in your relationships!