2 SAMUEL 11:1-17; 26, 27; 12:1-7

The St. Petersburg times carried a news item about a hungry thief who grabbed some sausages in a meat market, only to find they were part of a string 45 feet long. Tripping over them, he was hindered in his getaway, and the police found him collapsed in a tangle of fresh sausages. What irony! The very loot this culprit tried to take became the loop that trapped him. A man had a caged Myna bird in his office which was trained to answer, "Here I am!" when his name was called. One morning a young man came into the office on business and the man left his office for a few minutes. When he returned, the cage was empty. He asked, "where is licorice?" "Licorice? I don't know where he went!" said the young man. "He was in his cage when I left; where has he gone?" The young man persisted in denial. So the bird's owner called out, "Licorice!" And from under the young man's coat came the reply, "Here I am!" The boy had tried to steal the bird but the truth was soon known. His misdeed was clearly revealed. A woman was married to two men at the same time! They both ended up in the same hospital at the same time! The woman visited them both, but was dressed up in a red wig and flamboyant clothing for one husband (he was used to her changing her appearance regularly) and she visited the other husband in her normal hair and clothing. A doctor got onto the game. He decided to say nothing at first, but when the hospital was going to put both men into the same room, he spoke to the resident surgeon. They confronted the woman who said she'd deal with it. She disappeared for 2 days during which time one husband got angry with her for not being there with him. She returned to the hospital to confess her misdeed. She walked into the first husband's room and he was angry with her so he lashed out at her, "You weren't here when I needed you! You can just get out of my life!" She tried to explain but he wouldn't listen. So she went to the other husband, not going to say anything since the problem seemed to be solved. But when she and he were getting onto the elevator, hubby #1 came up to her to apologize. When he called her "Honey," hubby #2 wanted to know why! She was trapped. Her sins found her out! And that's the point: your sins will find you out! That's what Moses said to the sons of Gad and Reuben concerning a promise they made to help the other tribes settle Canaan land. Numbers 32:23 "But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out." We are all guilty of sin. Hopefully we will recognize that, loathe the sin and deliberately repent of it. Some, however, try to excuse it, or rationalize it, or hide it, or minimize it, or indulge it, or dignify it. But mark it, if we continue in known wrong, be sure your sins will find you out!

1. BECAUSE THERE ARE UNFORSEEN COMPLICATIONS ARISING:

1. Think back to King David; he had an affair with Bathsheba, she was pregnant and David thought to cover it up by bringing her husband Uriah home from battle. What he didn't foresee was the integrity of Uriah! He wouldn't sleep with his wife while his fellows were on the battle field! What a monkey wrench in the works!
2. There are always those unforseen complications: 
1. A dented fender when we've snuck out with the folks' car.
2. Failing to remove the lipstick from our collar.
3. Running into someone we never expected to meet while we were doing that illicit thing.
4. Getting one lie tangled up in another as we try to cover our wrongdoing.
5. Memorizing a list of stolen answers to a test only to find that the professor changed the questions at the last minute.
3. Robert Burns correctly wrote: "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry!"
4. Someone else said, "Man proposes, but God disposes." 

2. BECAUSE THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES ATTACHED:

1. David thought to have himself a fling; a little sensual pleasure; he didn't think of the consequences. What consequences attached to his lustful passion? 
1. A pregnancy. The woman was found to be with child.
2. The infant born to them died.
3. God's hand was heavy on David to bring him to repentance. In the Psalm David admitted as much: "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer." Psalms 32:3-4.
2. There are, in this life, and in the life to come, definite consequences to our actions. Every action causes a reaction.
1. It may be some physical illness: a sexually transmitted disease, or sickness caused by destruction of our body through substance abuse. No, not all illnesses are the direct result of sin, but sin will cause physical ailments.
2. It may be a wrecked relationship: a lost friend, a ruined marriage, loss of the respect of your children.
3. It may be children who go astray because of the example we have set before them.
4. It may be a jail sentence and a criminal record that follows us all the rest of our lives.
5. It may be loss of trust when people discover our word isn't worth a bucket of donkey sweat.
6. It may be forfeited opportunity: 
1. one man lost a promotion because his boss saw him do something unethical.
2. a student was expelled from one of our Bible Colleges for submitting a paper someone else wrote.
7. It may be a conscience that won't give us relief. We can't sleep, our appetite suffers, and we experience depression and despair. Like Lord Byron after a life of self-indulgence and debauchery we may say, "My life is in the yellow leaf, the worm, the canker and the grief are mine alone."
3. Beyond all these temporal and earthly consequences is the "biggie" for God's word says, 
1. "The soul who sins will die." Ezekiel 18:4.
2. "For the wages of sin is death, ..." Romans 6:23.
4. Someone summed up the consequences of sin in this way: "Sin will take you further than you want to go. Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay. And sin will cost you more than you want to pay." There are always consequences!

3. BECAUSE GOD SEES AND COMPREHENDS ALL:

1. David thought he'd covered his tracks; Uriah was dead in battle and he was home clear. Not!
2. Along came Nathan with his parable. There is always that one who sees through our disguise and reveals our duplicity.
1. Psalm 90:8 "Thou hast placed our iniquities before Thee, Our secret sins in the light of Thy presence."
2. Proverbs 5:21 "For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He watches all his paths."
3. Proverbs 15:3 "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good."
4. Proverbs 21:2 "Every man's way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts."
5. Jeremiah 2:22 "'Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me,' declares the Lord GOD. "
6. Jeremiah 16:17 "For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes."
7. Ecclesiastes 12:14 "For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil."
8. Hebrews 4:13 "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
3. There is an old saying, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can never fool God at any time!"
4. And the great problem is, that when we try to fool God, the only one we end up fooling is ourselves. Be sure: Your sin will find you out!

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