Thesis: Sexual sin can be avoided by being content with "the wife of your youth."
Intro.:
1. < Begin by reading ... >
a. Prov. 5:15-20: "Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer--may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?"
b. The Bible is not prudish when it comes to the topic of sex.
1) Says much--consistently says sex outside of marriage brings disaster.
2) Prov. 6:27-29: "Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished."
2. That's why the story of David and Bathsheba is so tragic--David should have known better!
a. But I suppose that could be said of anyone who falls into this trap.
b. Let's read David's story in 2 Samuel 11.
I. DAVID'S ADULTERY WITH BATHSHEBA. < Read and comment ... >
A. After Verse One:
1. David was not where he should have been!
2. Adultery often begins because people are "out of position."
a. Working late at office with few around.
b. Possibilities for companionship on business trip (with co- workers or others).
c. Alone in a house/car with someone at a vulnerable time.
B. After Verse Two:
1. David probably looked more than once!
2. What about Bathsheba? Didn't she seduce David? Aren't males turned on visually? Shouldn't she have been more careful?
a. Story not about Bathsheba's seduction--David's lustful heart.
b. Illust. Bathsheba was simply doing what most women of her time and social status did at that time of day. In late afternoon the water in the rooftop rain barrels was at its warmest. Men were usually away from the living quarters at that time of day--or should have been! It was the the best time of day for a woman to take a bath.
C. After Verse Fifteen:
1. This is exactly what happened.
a. Word reaches David and he says: < read verse 25 >.
b. Bathsheba mourns Uriah; becomes David's wife--apparently close enough to conception that the deed would be hidden.
c. But notice the last phrase of the chapter!
2. Illust. Lynn Anderson in his book on David says: "No, David! How could you be that nonchalant? The nerve structure of his conscience had been so traumatized by sin and guilt that he had lost feeling for anything precious. Most of us at some moment in our lives have been dangerously close to that. How could you do this to Uriah? To history? To me? Couldn't you see the consequences? Couldn't your bright mind, your poetic gifts, your God-sensitive soul read the downward spiral and halt it? Lust. Adultery. Hypocrisy. Lies. Drunkenness. Betrayal. Murder. Callousness. Oh, my David! Oh, my God! Look at this truth in the eye, my friend. Mark it down for the centuries: Most adulterers, at some moment, have considered the death of someone. Things sure would be better if my mate were dead and I could have my lover; or, If this forbidden lover, whom I cannot resist, would be dead, this thing would be over with; or, I wish I could die and be out of this; or more commonly, We'll murder the unborn child and thus escape the consequences. These are murderous thoughts. David is not alone. Not alone." (Lynn Anderson, Finding the Heart to Go On, San Bernadino, CA: Here's Life Publishers, 1992, pp. 127-128.)
II. THREE TRUTHS ABOUT ADULTERY.
A. Adultery is always wrong.
1. Never right ... never helpful ... never excusable ... never overlooked by God.
2. Adultery can never be justified under any circumstance. It's a sin!
B. Adultery is always ruinous.
1. You wouldn't think so the way adultery is glamorized in novels, TV, and movies. ("affairs," "relationships")
2. Talk to people whose lives have been affected by it--the script in real life reads a little different!
3. Illust. That's why God places limits on our sexuality. It's for our own good. Mike Cope tells of a rabbit named "Hoppy" his family kept for a pet. Kept him in a rabbit cage in back yard. Hoppy wanted out! Lunge against the wire mesh for all he was worth. But Hoppy couldn't see things Mike could see-- cats!--anyone of which would be happy to make Hoppy a mid-morning snack!
C. Adultery can be repented of.
1. Sexual sin is not the unpardonable sin! (No worse than any other sin, although the consequences are often worse.)
2. You have not committed a sexual sin so bad that it cannot be forgiven if you repent of it!
3. David repented.
a. Nathan confronts him and David declares, "I have sinned!"
b. David was God's man before and after his sin; there were consequences for his sin, but he was not rejected by God.
Conclusion:
1. Why did David do what he did?
a. Many answers--the one God gives is in 2 Samuel 12:7b-9a.
b. David was not content! (Caused the chain reaction)
2. Men: Be content with the wife of your youth!; Women: Be content with the husband of your youth!
a. If you have committed adultery you know how bad it can be!
b. You also need to know you can repent of it and be forgiven!
