Sins of the Flesh and Sins of the Spirit

If I were to ask you, “What was King David’s greatest sin?”  How would you respond?  You may respond by saying that his greatest sin was committing adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband killed in battle in order to cover up his sin. Most certainly both adultery and murder along with deceit would be high on the list.

But actually, David committed another sin that had even greater consequences. Because of David’s adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11), four person’s died – Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband), the baby that was born as a result of the adultery, Amnon (David’s son who raped his half sister, Tamar - 2 Sam. 13), and Absalom (David’s other son). These were tragic results stemming from David’s adultery with Bathsheba.

But checked this out: David’s other sin which was the numbering the people against the will of God (1 Chron. 21), which stemmed from pride, cost the life of 70,000 of his own people (v. 14)!  In fact, once David knew that he had done wrong, he confessed, “I have sinned greatly” (v. 8). 

Listen carefully.  How was it that God punished David for his sin of numbering the people greater than his sin of adultery and murder?

There are two types of sins we often commit:

1.   Sins of the flesh – adultery, murder, drunkenness, stealing, etc.

2.   Sins of the spirit – pride, envy, bitterness, rebellion, etc.

God laid a greater punishment on David’s sin of the spirit than He did on David’s sin of the flesh.

Now in our churches, where do we often place more emphasis on – the sins of the flesh or of the spirit?  We go after and looked down upon those who commit sins of the flesh because such sins are external. But we look the other way over sins of the spirit because such sins are internal.

Sins of the flesh are visible manifestations of sins of the spirit. Don’t just deal with the sins of the flesh and ignore the root cause – sins of the spirit. In God’s eyes, sins of the flesh reveal the spiritual and moral condition of the heart.  And while man’s look on the outward appearance, God examines the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).