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A turning point in Israel’s history occurred at Shittim.  Shittim was close to Mt. Peor. The Bible says, “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab” (Numbers 25:1).  Later, we discover that Balaam instigated this evil in order to defeat the Israelites through idolatry and sexual sin.  Numbers 31:16 reveals, “Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.”
Baalim was not a prophet of God.  He was hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to speak a curse against Israel.  When Baalim attempted this, God intervened and Baalim was only able to speak a blessing to Israel.  However, God did use Baalim to speak for Him (Num. 24:2).  Baalim was not Israel’s friend.  Baalim took the “rewards of divination” from Moab and Midian to do evil against Israel (Num. 22:7).  He failed to pronounce the curse.  But, he succeeded in seducing the Israelites into idolatry and sexual sin.
The fertility religions at this time were idolatrous.  Baal-peor was god of the Moabite mountains.  He was worshipped with sexual rites. As a local Baal, it was believed that he controled fertility in agriculture, beasts and mankind.  Fertility is a gift of God’s grace.  In making sex a mysterious ritual (the seed of your body in exchange for the multiplication of your crops), the fertility religions revived Satan’s rivalry with heaven.  Therefore, God did not, could not, tolerate what happend at Shittim (see John White, Eros Redeemed, pp. 44-45).  John White observes, “Sexual sin always involves the presentation of one’s body (and therefore also of our whole selves) to the dark powers that wish to control it” (Eros Redeemed, p. 45).  The Bible actually says that Israel “joined” itself to Baalpeor (Num. 25:3).  Commenting on the power of sexual sin to enslave, White declares, “Sexual sin enslaves us to the “gods” to whom (in our case) we unwittingly yield ourselves.  Every time we sin by misuing the sexual parts of our bodies, or by indulging in sexual fantasy, by pursuing pornography or paying for time on erotic phone numbers, their power over our behavior increases.  Sexual sin is sin because it is idolatry” (Eros Redeemed, p. 45).
Idolatry is false worship.  It is worship given to something or someone that belongs to God.  True worship arises when we hear God’s Word and respond to it with trust and obedience to God.  False worship is when we hear the words of darkness and act upon them thus presenting our bodies and spirits to the powers of darkness in devotion to them.  The sacrifices of pagans were offered to demons, not to God (I Cor. 10:20).  Listen to Paul’s words, “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.”  While the actual object of an idol is “nothing” (I Cor. 8:4), there is something significant about the powers of darkness that stand behind the idol.  Charles Hodge notes, “Men of the world do not intend to serve Satan, when they break the laws of God in the pursuit of their objects of desire.  Still in so doing they are really obeying the will of the great adversary, yielding to his impulses, and fulfiling his designs.  He is therefore said to be the god of this world.  To him all sin is an offering and an homage. We are shut up to the necessity of worshipping God or Satan; for all refusing or neglecting to worship the true God, or giving to any other the worship which is due to him alone, is the worshipping of Satan and his angels” (Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 193).  All sin is a form of idolatry.  Sexual sin is a form of idolatry.  It takes what rightfully belongs to God and gives it to another.  Let us heed the words of John, “Little children,keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (I John 5:21).
One final thought.  If the church fails to keep herself sexually pure, she will lose her moral vigor and fail at her mission to take the gospel to all of the nations of the world.  “Sexual philandering by church members accounts in good measure for the impotence of the church’s gospel presentation” (Eros Redeemed, p. 52). When we worship Satan through sexual sin, we lose our desire to fulfill the Great Commission.  Sexual sin among Christians is a distraction, a sin and idolatry.  We must eliminate it and other sins in order to regain our moral integrity as the people of God and march to convert the world to Jesus Christ.

In II Samuel 12, one of the most dramatic moments in the life of David is revealed to us.  David is confronted by the prophet, Nathan, regarding his sin with Bathsheba.  David comes face to face with himself, with God’s judgment, with God’s grace and with God’s glory.
Face to Face With Yourself
Facing the truth about yourself is most troubling.  Many avoid it entirely.  The lies we tell ourselves are attempts to conceal the truth about ourselves.  Some questions we must consider are: “Who do you think you are?”  and “Who do you think God is?”  David was the champion of Israel, her greatest warrior, Israel’s most illustrious king, and author of many of the Psalms.  Yet, he was a sinner.  David’s fall began with an indecent thought about another man’s wife.  It grew with site of her unclothed (II Sam. 12:2-4) and it blossomed into lust that concluded in sexual sin.  It developed further in lies and murder.  His sin was accomplished “secretly” as far as men were concerned, but “openly” as far as God was concerned. Nathan was sent by God to confront David about his sin.  God knows all things including the secret things of man. Nathan tells a short story about a man who took another man’s only lamb.  David immediately perceives the injustice of the act and condemned it.  Then, Nathan tells David, “Thou art the man.”  This stunning revelation to David pierced through the lies David had told himself and exposed the truth about him.  This is strong medicine.  But, its design is to save the soul.  David confesses his sin (II Sam. 12:13, Psa. 51:4).  He comes face to face with the truth about himself.  Sin is a great leveler.  David now occupies common ground.  His need for redemption is shared with all others who have succombed to temptation’s power.
Face To Face With God’s Judgment
When Nathan delivers God’s message to David, it contains God’s judgment.  God, through Nathan, rehearses all of the blessings he had given to David.  God gave David everything he needed and more.  He said that, if that were not enough, He would have given him even more.  David’s sin involved ingratitude for all that God had given him.  David was not content.  He desired what God had forbidden. God’s justice rains down hard on David.  God said that the sword would never depart from David’s house.  He told David that He would raise  up adversity against him from his own house.  God would take his wives and give them to his neighbor before all Israel.  Finally, God told David that the child conceived with Bathsheba would die (II Sam. 12:14).
Face To Face With God’s Grace
David confessed his sin (II Sam. 12:13).  Honesty with self shatters pride.  He pleads for mercy, cleansing and grace (Psa. 51).  God answers his plea and pardons his sin (II Sam. 12:14).  God told David, “I have put away thy sin.  You will not die, but the child conceived between you and Bathsheba will die.”  All of the consequences of sin are not erased by God’s forgiveness.
Face to Face With God’s Glory
The Lord struck the child so that it became very ill (II Sam. 12:15).  David pleads for the child’s life.  He prays and fasts.  He lays prostrate on the ground all night.  On the seventh day, the child dies.  David arose, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes and went to the house of the LORD and worshiped.  This moment deserves a long pause for thought.  While many curse God or attack God and turn away from Him after facing similar dilemmas, David in a moment of deep humility and profound reverence, enters into God’s presence and worships.  He enters into the presence of God and contemplates His glory.  There are times in the human experience, when we must let God be God!  David’s loss is great.  His heart is heavy.  His humility before God stays any anger and he quietly draws near to God.  In this act of deep devotion, he reveals his utter dependence upon God (II Sam. 12:16-23).  Here is the man later described as “a man after God’s own heart.”
Before the child died, David hoped in God’s providential will.  He states, “Who can tell whether the child may live?”  David knew God’s revealed will.  But, he hopes in God’s provdential will.  Once the child dies, David knows that God’s revealed will and His providential will are one.  There was no going back.  He must go forward.  Yet, he continues to hope in God’s revealed will–the resurrection of the dead.  David says, “he will not come to me, but I will go to him.”  All is resolved by absolute trust in God.
David’s Journey and Ours
Every person must come face to face with the truth about himself/herself.  Every person must come face to face with God and know His judgment, His grace and His glory.  This is the pathway of redemption.  Everyone who desires to see God and be with Him in eternity must walk it.