2 Sam 11:1-4
1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
I want to preach to you, "Sleeping With Another Man's Wife."
Not all marriages fail for the same reason. Nor is there usually one reason for the breakdown of a particular marriage. An organization of lawyers, called the American Academy of Matrimonial Marriages, listed the five top reasons that they hear for divorce. They are:
Poor communication
Financial problems
A lack of commitment to the marriage
A dramatic change in priorities
Infidelity
The Academy went on to say, "Many of the causes listed often would not, by themselves, lead to divorce, or even happen in the first place, or would get remedied by the couple, were it were not for 'A lack of commitment to the marriage'."
Adultery is the willful violation of the marriage covenant by either of the parties through the sexual act with a third party. God's divine provision was that the husband and wife should become "one flesh," each being held sacred to the other.
Adultery is, and always has been, held in the eyes of God as a terrible act.
Job 31:11
11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
The law had recorded the punishment of adultery in…
Deut 22:22
22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
And even though there was a severe penalty prescribed by God, nowhere in the Bible do we find the penalty being carried out. And even though I am sure that the act of adultery was common in the life of Israel, the first instance of adultery in the Bible that I find recorded is with the scripture that we opened up with this morning. We do find instances of fornication, such as with Lot and his daughters, and Judah and his daughter in law playing the prostitute, but I believe that this is the first case of adultery that is written down for us to read about.
Adultery reached epidemic proportions in Jeremiah's time. The prophet repeatedly spoke out against this and other sins
Jer 23:14-15
14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
In the book of Job, adultery is spoken about in
Job 24:15
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
In another place in Job, it describes men who waits at their neighbors' doors - Job 31:9.
When God robed Himself in shoe leather and walked upon this earth, He included in His Sermon on the Mount the warning of adultery. Yet, Jesus wanted to make it clear that whether the act was accomplished, or if you were fantasying about it in your heart, (the "waiting at your neighbor's door"), it was still adultery.
Paul gives us a list of things that can keep us out of Heaven in 1 Cor 6:9-10 and includes adultery as one of the items. Many of us know the terrible consequences that adultery can bring, not only into a family, but also into a person's judgment on the Judgment Day.
But if I would ask you this morning "Have you been sleeping with another man's wife?" what would the first thing that enters into your mind?
I understand that I am speaking to a mixed crowd this morning, so some of you could automatically dismiss my question as not being serious. Some of you may respond, "Pastor, I am a woman; that would be despicable. Only lesbians do that." If you are a married man in this congregation this morning, your response may be, "I have always been faithful to my wife." If you are single, you might be thinking of your pastor just trying to rile your cage this morning. But the Lord spoke to me this week and told me to ask the people of this congregation if you have been sleeping with another man's wife. If it would mean being a lesbian, then the implications of doing so would follow you this morning. If you are either married or single, the implications still follow.
I am not here to cast stones this morning. Jesus, very tactfully, showed that no man has the right to judge. Matter of fact, it was only if the man and woman was caught in the very act could the death sentence be carried out. That is why the men that tried to tempt Jesus with breaking the law of Moses needed to catch the woman that they brought to Him in the very act of adultery. Are there any eye witnesses today? No. But law of Moses did describe a method to use if someone was suspicious but with no solid evidence.
In the case of a mere suspicion on the part of the husband, not substantiated by legal evidence, the woman is compelled by the law in Num 5:11-30 to submit to an ordeal, or God's judgment, which consists in her drinking the water of bitterness. The water of bitterness is holy water that is mixed with the dust from the floor of the tabernacle and with, evidently, the ink from a page that is sworn to by the woman, and is blotted out by the priest, and seemingly caught into this cup. If the drink makes her sick, then it proves that she committed adultery. If it does not make her sick, then she is free to go.
It is amazing what words can do to the inside of us.
Heb 4:12-13
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
The Word of God is able to get down into our very soul to either heal or to kill.
Jer 29:11-13
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Let me break down my title for you this morning. "Sleeping With Another Man's Wife." I am not here to be kinky or perverted this morning.
Rev 21:9
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
Rev 21:24-27
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Six times in the New Testament is the word "bride" is used. In every instance, it is used to refer to the church of Jesus Christ. We are the bride. We are in with Jesus' bride today. There is no question whatsoever that as you entered into the fellowship of a gathered together assembly this morning that you are with the bride of Christ. And as Rev. 21:9 says it, the Lamb's wife.
The question this morning, is not, "Are you with the wife of Jesus Christ?" But instead, the true question of this sermon is this, "Have you been sleeping with Jesus' bride?" Again, I am not trying to be kinky or perverted. Are you spiritually sleeping???
Mark 13:35-37
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
Matt 13:24-25
24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Matt 25:5 The ten virgins.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Strong's 2518 katheudo (kath-yoo'-do); from 2596 and heudo (to sleep); to lie down to rest, i.e. (by implication) to fall asleep (literally or figuratively):
Webster's College Dictionary defines sleep as this: 1. to take the rest afforded by a suspension of voluntary bodily functions and the natural suspension, complete or partial, of consciousness; to cease being awake. 2. to assume, esp. at night, a state similar to the sleep of animals, marked by closing of petals, leaves, etc. (folding of the hands in worship… Are you sleeping with Jesus' Bride?) 3. to be dormant, quiescent, or inactive, as faculties. (One might say, "Well, you know, I just am not very expressive in worship, but I really do love Jesus." How would that go over in a marriage if there was never any activity, but "I still love you.") 4. to allow one's alertness or attentiveness to lie dormant. 5. to lie in death.
As I opened this message, I purposefully took you down a road of thinking that would make you think "affair" when I said "sleeping with"… I wanted you to be thinking of the consequences and the repugnancy of adultery. But you don't have to be messing around with, and serving, another god in order for Jesus to be upset with you. When you spiritually shut down from your "bodily functions" and lie dormant in your relationship with Jesus Christ, then you are cheating Jesus Christ. It is not, "You are cheating on Jesus Christ." But, "You are cheating Jesus Christ."
Another characteristic of sleeping it this: You can be dormant and inactive in sleep, yet still have dreams that excite you. Again, Webster's College Dictionary defines dream as: 1. a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep. 2. a particular sequence of such images, thoughts, or feelings.
Dreams often are thoughts that will never come true, yet have you in a role, sometimes of a superhero, doing fantastic achievements and accomplishments, yet, when the dream is over, nothing, in reality, has been accomplished. Dreams can stir and titillate your ego, but it means nothing in the real world. Have you ever had someone wake up from a dream and they are all excited and they want to tell you all about the dream. They are all excited, but after they take all that time and tell you about the dream, they wonder why you aren't as excited about it as they are. Why?
When you figure out the answer to that, then you will also know why when someone has a calling on their life, when they have been given dreams by God, but if it is only that fluff in their heart and mind, but there is not action, other people don't get real excited. It's like saying, "Let me tell you about what God wants to do in my life, and about the things I am capable of doing in my heart." But no action. That may put a whole new perspective on the scripture:
Acts 2:17
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Rom 13:11-14
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
1 Cor 15:34
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
Eph 5:14-17
14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
