What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas
Slide
We have been talking about Urban legends these past several weeks and we have been examining urban legends in the culture even as we talk about Spiritual Urban Legends.
One that we started to look at that looked too unbelievable at first has really taken on some steam. We saw video these past 2 weeks of a cell phone popping popcorn. We saw it occur not only in America, but also in Japan. I didn’t show it but there was also a video of this happening in France or Germany.
Well, it has moved beyond popcorn now and in my research I have discovered a video that shows a cell phone cooking a steak. This is really unbelievable.
Take a look
Video
Slide after video
Now that is powerful. It not only cooked the steak but it made mashed potatoes and beans.
Unbelievable.
Now the reality is, is that those cell phones didn’t really cook that steak.
I am sure you know that.
And the reality is, is that the cell phones did not really pop popcorn. It is only an urban legend. It was actually a part of a viral marketing campaign for Cardo systems, the makers of Bluetooth headsets.
They dropped in already popped popcorn and digitally removed the kernals.
Tried this at Home
On a side note, when I first saw this a year or so ago, we actually tried this at home with the kids and some of their friends.
Most people don’t have 2 cell phones like all of the people in the video so we had a number of people and we were calling on some cell phones and our house phone and a neighbor’s house phone. I was using the neighbors house phone but I had to stand outside the house for the cordless phone to reach their base.
As we did that, and I was outside, everyone inside yells like it worked and I come rushing in to the whole group laughing at me.
It was quite funny and it was fun to try and debunk this urban legend, but it just goes to show that urban legends often appear to be true on the face of it.
Spiritual Urban Legends
Not only do we face urban legends in our society, but these past several weeks we have been talking about Spiritual Urban legends and seeking to debunk these legends with the truth of God’s word.
This morning we are going to be finishing up this series in a message entitled
What Happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Slide
In 2003, the city of Las Vegas abandoned their campaign to advertise Las Vegas as a Family Friendly resort area and returned to an adult theme in its advertising.
The result was the slogan “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
It was designed to imply that you can come to Vegas and do whatever you want and no one will know about it and it will have no consequences in your life.
When you leave Vegas and all that you did, it would just stay there.
While not too many of us overtly believe that, we do act sometimes in ways that would appear that we believe it.
There are certain sins that have a pulling temptation for us that we think, if people did not know or would not find out about, I would do it and if no one found out, it wouldn’t have any impact.
This is exactly what this advertising campaign is playing to.
It is a mentality that believes if I can keep things that I have done from others, or at least from certain people, everything will be just fine. Those actions, decisions, will have no consequence in our life.
Well the reality is, is that is a lie of Satan.
He wants us to believe that if sins remain private, they will not effect us.
The reality is that our actions in private, that are against what God would want us to do, do have affect, more affect than we realize sometimes.
The sins we commit that nobody knows about are not harmless events that have no affect or consequence outside of the spot they happened.
What happens in Vegas, does not stay in Vegas. That is an urban legend that we are going to debunk today and see the affects of secret sins have in many places.
To do that, we are going to take a look at a man who committed a sin that he wanted to “stay in Vegas” or at least within his palace, but had many effects that he did not anticipate when he was engaging in this sin.
This man’s name is David. Turn with me to 2 Samuel 11:1.
Slide
We are going to look at David’s sin with Bathsheba today and see the effects that occurred all around David and see how we might refute this legend in our own lives so we don’t end up making the same mistakes.
2 Samuel 11:1-12:19 - In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."
6 So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?"
11 Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"
12 Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ’Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ’Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’"
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."
25 David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: ’Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab."
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
2 Samuel 12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ’I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 "This is what the LORD says: ’Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’"
13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."
19 David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked.
"Yes," they replied, "he is dead."
Pray
This certainly did not turn out the way David had anticipated. He thought he would enjoy the pleasure of a beautiful young woman and paid no regard to the sin that it was and did not think about any of the possible consequences of this sin.
It was something
that he thought he could engage in with little repercussion.
that He thought if it happened in private, it would stay private
that he thought would have no consequences.
He believed the “if it happens in Vegas, it stays in Vegas” urban legend.
Well the reality is that what happens in Vegas, does not stay in Vegas. It has effects far and wide.
Let’s look at some of the effects of David’s sin that he did not anticipate and after we have seen all of the effects this had on David and those around him, we are going to consider some of the things we do or are tempted to do because we think that they will have no effect if no one finds out about it.
First, we see in this situation with David that
What Happens in Vegas…
Impacts our Neighbors
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When I say neighbor, I mean it in the sense that Jesus talked about who are neighbor is, not necessarily the person who lives next door to us, but people in general that we have the ability to impact.
David’s sin had effects far and wide on the people around David.
It was not something that just affected him. It affected others.
Let’s consider the ultimate effects of what David did on his “neighbors.”
David’s sin impacted Bathsheba.
You might say that she was a willing participant so it was her sin too. But she could have very well felt like she had no choice at all. He had the ability to have people put to death if he wanted. She could have felt like she did not have a choice. His decision to do this led her into sin as well.
David’s sin impacted Uriah
David may not have been thinking about Uriah, but he should have been. David’s sin affected Uriah by taking what was rightfully his and then by having Uriah killed to cover up this sin.
Uriah was not someone that David did not know. He was one of David’s 30 might men, someone who had risked life and limb for David.
I am sure that David had not planned this turn of events, but that is what happens when our secret sins are threatened to be revealed. We do things that we would not have anticipated.
David’s sin affected others in the Army
Because he sought to have Uriah die in battle, others died too.
2 Samuel 11:17 - “When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.”
Not only Uriah was killed but those who were fighting alongside him. David’s sin led to him wanting to have Uriah killed which meant that more than just Uriah would die.
What happened in David’s chambers, certainly did not stay in David’s chambers. It had very serious impact on other people.
Our sins, no matter how private, don’t stay private. They have impact on our neighbors.
David’s sin not only affect his neighbors, but we find that
What happens in Vegas also
Impacts our Relationship with the Lord
Slide
Look at 2 Samuel 11:27b - But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
The Lord was displeased with David’s actions and it hindered his relationship with the Lord.
Now understand, this sin had been sitting out there from probably a year or more.
Initially, david probably thought he got away with it.
“A little fun with a beautiful woman. I am the king. I work hard. Aren’t I entitled to a little fun?”
But a month or so goes by and David finds out that Bathsheba is pregnant.
“Ok, I’ll have Uriah come home on furlough and he will sleep with his wife and it will all be good.”
Well Uriah turns out to be a loyal and principled man who won’t enjoy himself with his wife while his fellow soldiers and the Ark of God are out in battle.
So, David sends Uriah to the front lines and has his men pull back. At least several months have gone by now.
Bathsheba mourns for a while and David brings her into his palace and she has the baby.
It is probably close to a year, at least 9 months, since the sin has been committed initially and all the sin of the cover up. And David probably thinks it is all over.
But then Nathan shows up and tells David a story. David is probably not even thinking about this situation anymore, but God is.
You see, no matter if we have successfully kept something secret from others and truly hidden a sin and kept it covered up for years, the Lord knows.
Numbers 32:23 says, “you may be sure that your sin will find you out.”
You can never hide your sin from the Lord, because he knows all, He is present all the time.
Psalm 139 tells us (Psalm 139:7-8, 11-12)
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
We can never hide from the Lord and we cannot keep secrets from the Lord. And ultimately any sin we commit, hidden or not, is against the Lord.
Listen to what David wrote after he was confronted by Nathan.
Psalm 51:4a - Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight
When we have sinned, even if it has remained secret, the Lord knows, and He is going to burden us until we confess and repent, because sin, even when it is secret, impacts our relationship with the Lord.
Well, what “happens in Vegas, not only impacts our neighbors and our relationship with the Lord, but it also
Impacts Our family
Slide
David’s sin just didn’t impact other people that he may not have that close of a relationship with or even just his own relationship with the Lord, but it also affects his family.
Because David sinned, the David’s child born to Bathsheba died. His sin bore consequences to his family.
It brought hardship and suffering to Bathsheba
This sin would also impact his other children as we will talk about in a minute.
But think about this. David just wanted what he thought was a little fun. But David knew what he was doing was wrong.
If God has given us His wisdom for something, it is not so we don’t enjoy life. It is so we don’t ruin our lives and the lives of others.
So many lives were affected by this one act of David.
If it happened in Vegas, he thought it would stay in Vegas.
Don’t believe this urban Legend. When we do things that we know that God would not have us do, it has effects and consequences we don’t anticipate.
But it not only had impact on all of these areas, but we see that
What happens in Vegas, also
Impacts our Future
Slide
David’s sin impacted his future.
Secret sins, which are really not secret to the Lord, impact your future.
We see that the Lord told David that one of his own sons would do what he did with Bathsheba with some of his wives.
2 Samuel 12:11 - "This is what the LORD says: ’Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
Just 4 chapters later, we read about Absalom, one of David’s sons, lying with David’s concubines.
2 Samuel 16:22 - So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
David’s sin here caused consequences later in his life. David would have told you that none of this was worth it.
This sin impacted David and so many others in so many ways that he did not anticipate.
Application
In what area of our life are we believing What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas?
Slide
Affair
There may be some out here who are having an affair or thinking of having an affair.
I want to tell you that it will not make your life better. It is only going to bring hardship to so many.
Sin hardly ever stays secret from people and it never stays secret from God.
This is something that will have effects on your wife, your kids, your relationship with God, and your future.
Instead, invest time in your family. Work at your marriage to make it better. Ensure a better life for your family by following what the Lord wants for you.
Premarital sex
Or maybe you say, I am not married, so I my engaging in a physical relationship with someone else is not going to hurt my family.
So many young people fall for this and it brings so much hardship into their lives.
Teenagers, this is for you.
Premarital sex may seem like something that is going to just bring pleasure, but how many girls find themselves pregnant.
Families are impacted. Futures are impacted. You had plans for college and a career. Now you will be having the responsibilities of parenthood.
And you find yourself in a spot considering what you would have never thought you would. On this day that we remember the over 40 million lives that have been taken through abortion, we wonder how could someone do such a thing? It is because we find ourselves in places we never intended and it causes us to consider things we never would.
I am sure David never thought he would have one of his mighty men murdered.
I saw a movie this weekend called “To Save a Life.” I recommend this for High School kids and their parents to see. But one of the subplots of the movie is this kid gets his girlfriend pregnant and some of the things they go through dealing with that.
Do not believe the lie that what happens that what happens in the basement or the backseat stays there. It does not. Your choices have consequences and put you in bad spots.
Pornography
Maybe you think, I don’t want to do that, I’ll just view pornography. That is harmless if nobody knows about it, right?
Wrong.
“Who is it harming”
It is harming many of our neighbors
It is harming those in those pictures and videos. Those who frequent pornographic sites are creating a demand for this that is helping to keep people locked in the chains of sin and depravity.
It is harming the future generations by helping to keep these things readily available so these temptations will always be there.
Well maybe Satan is not tempting you with sexual sin, but it is something else.
Shoplifting
Maybe during these hard economic times, it is difficult to make ends meet and as you are in a store, you think I will just help myself to a few small items. What’s the harm? These stores charge enormous prices anyway. It’s not like robbing a bank.
It is estimated that shoplifting costs companies about $16B each year.
http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/criminal_law/shoplifting/effects.html
That is more than 20 times what was taken by bank robbers in 2006
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/bcs/bcs2006/bank_crime_2006.htm
Shoplifting effects the prices others pay for merchandise. It affects all of our privacy as stores take precautions against shoplifting by installing video cameras, and hire security personnel.
It is estimated that 1/3 of new businesses fail because of shoplifting affecting workers and families of proprietors across the nation.
What happens when someone shoplifts does not stay in the store, it affects people across the nation.
And when you eventually get caught, it is going to affect your family and your future because you will have a criminal record, not to mention your relationship with God.
Drugs and alcohol
Or maybe you are secretly drinking or using drugs you should not be using.
“Hey this isn’t hurting anyone else but me, and I need this to get through life.”
It does hurt other though.
Alcohol related fatalities totaled nearly 12,000 in 2008 in the United States. Families lost fathers, mothers, children due to drunk driving fatalities.
I am sure that most of those people never considered what the effects of their drunkenness could have on others.
Those who are taking drugs or even taking prescription drugs that they should not be taking are having effects that they don’t intend.
Lies told to spouses, money spent that could be used for other things, futures affected, relationships with God damaged.
What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas, no matter what Satan whispers in our ear.
Psalm 90:8 - You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
Conclusion
It is my hope that this message is a help to you in refuting the lies of Satan that tell you that nobody will know, this is not going to hurt anybody, just do it.
Be strengthened to overcome by the power of the Lord.
But maybe, you are here today and you are already living this lie. You are having an affair, you are engaging in a sexual relationship outside of marriage, you are viewing pornography or have found yourself shoplifting or concealing your use of drugs or alcohol.
Maybe nobody has even found out about it yet.
There is hope. You can overcome this by being honest with yourself and others.
Begin by confessing and repenting of your sin and taking steps to overcome.
Then confide in a friend for some accountability.
I will tell you that, while it may be humbling, it will bring about a cleansing in your life that only the Lord can give.
This forgiveness and cleansing is only available to those who are in a relationship with the living God of the Universe through His Son, Jesus.
If you have never entered into that relationship by receiving Jesus as your Savior, won’t you do that this morning so that you can experience cleansing if you need it and have His strength through His Spirit to stand strong against Satan.
If you need to receive Jesus, then just do what the Bible says.
Romans 10:9 - confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If you have never done that, then do that now. Let’s pray.
We are going to close in worship this morning. If you have other prayer needs, we will have people at the front after this closing song to pray with you or to tell you more about who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
Let’s worship the One God who offers forgiveness and strength to overcome.
