The Cost of Cheating!
Let me tell you a story. It all started with a man; figures doesn¡¦t it? He wasn¡¦t just any man he was the most powerful man in the nation, top political dog. He was it, he had arrived, he had it made and he was on the top of the heap. But he hadn¡¦t done it by himself, he had a little help, you know what they say, ¡§Behind ever great man is a greater woman and a surprised mother in law.¡¨ This guy had a wife with political connections and political smarts, some might even say that she was the reason that he had gotten where he had. And that made it all the worse, because this story is a story of betrayal, a story of how a man betrayed his wife, his beliefs and ultimately his country. And some people were outraged and others, well he was doing a great job of running the country, so what¡¦s a little hanky panky on the side. I¡¦m sure you are familiar with the story, it¡¦s pretty well known. A lot of people have talked about it, and it¡¦s been the topic of a lot of sermons. I¡¦m sure this guy wished that it would just go away. And you know if he had of just been Joe Blow off the street then maybe it would have, but that wasn¡¦t who the story happened to, and if you are going to venture into public life and then play in the dirt you gotta expect people to take notice.
Here¡¦s a picture of the scoundrel here. Well actually it¡¦s not a picture because they didn¡¦t have cameras 3000 years ago. That¡¦s right, it was King David. Who were you thinking about? No! What could possibly have made you think of Bill Clinton?
The story is found in the book of 2 Samuel. A little background. 2 Samuel is the 10th book of the bible and it was originally combined with 1 Samuel as one book. Although Samuel has been mentioned in the titles for three thousand years authorship was never attributed to him and the actual author remains a mystery. Scholars estimate that the books were written around 900 BC shortly after Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdom. Why was 1 Samuel written? It continues the history of the Israelites, connecting the time of the Judges to the time of the Kings.
So back to the story which we find in 1 Samuel 11, part of which Heather read this morning. Here¡¦s what happened, it was the spring of the year. Now you and I know what spring means. It¡¦s time to do yard work, clean up the property, maybe do a little painting, a little raking, I¡¦ve got some burning to do this year. Those are spring things. But in a different time and a different place, well it was different. We read in 2 Samuel 11:1 The following spring, the time of year when kings go to war, Ah, spring when the robins come back, the bulbs come up and kings go to war. Why spring? I don¡¦t know, maybe in the winter it was too cold to go to war and in the summer everyone was at the beach.
Anyway here¡¦s the story. It¡¦s the spring of the year and the nation of Israel is at war with a couple of different factions, but the King, that would be David is not there. He¡¦s at home, in Jerusalem. His troops are fighting the Ammonites in Rabbah and David¡¦s in Jerusalem. Now today that might not seem all that strange, after all the heads of states only start the wars and keep them going, they don¡¦t actually fight in them, and in most cases they don¡¦t even send their children to fight in them, but that¡¦s a different story. In David¡¦s day and age Kings went to war, they lead the troops, but not David, not this time. This time he¡¦s home and one afternoon just after he had gotten up, honest that¡¦s what the Bible says: 2 Samuel 11:2 Late one afternoon David got out of bed after taking a nap and went for a stroll on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. So he gets ups from his afternoon nap, must be nice to be a king, and he¡¦s taking a stroll around the flat roof of his palace and he looks over and this lady is out in her back yard taking a bath. And she¡¦s not just any lady the Bible says that she was a woman of unusual beauty.
Now I¡¦m not saying that she ought not to be bathing in the back yard starkers, but I would think that when you neighbour¡¦s house is much taller then yours that the thought might possibly cross your mind, ¡§Hey this might not be such a good idea.¡¨ Regardless as the story goes David sends a messenger to fetch Bathsheba, and she arrives at the palace.
Now I don¡¦t know why David invited her up in the first place, it might very well have been an innocent gesture. Maybe he wanted to warn her about the dangers of bathing in her back yard, or maybe he wanted to compliment her on her beauty, maybe he wanted to ask her about her husband because by this time David already knew that she was the wife of one of his troops, or maybe he wanted to show her his etchings. I don¡¦t know. What I do know is that what ended up happening. The NLT says that ¡§He slept with her¡¨, but there must have been more going on then sleeping because in the very next verse she discovers that she¡¦s pregnant and sends news to David of the consequences of their actions.
Now I want to diverge here for just a minute. You have to put this into perspective to understand why Bathsheba got pregnant; I mean other then the obvious. The Bible tells us that that reason Bathsheba was bathing was that her religion required it. Huh? I know the ladies in the church all attend a shower together occasionally but that is different. Listen to what the Bible actually says in 2 Samuel 11:4 Then David sent for her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. (She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period.) Then she returned home.
In the book of Leviticus laws are laid down for practically every facet of life in the Jewish community, in chapter 15 there is an entire section concerning women¡¦s menstrual cycle. After a woman¡¦s period ended she was considered unclean for another seven days, during which time she could not enter into sexual relations with her husband, after that seven days she went through a ritual cleaning process with involved ceremonial baths, and then the couple was free to do whatever it is that couples do. Now to us this seems a little strange, and not a just a little restrictive. But there was method to their madness. Unlike this generation that is obsessive about stopping pregnancies Israel was trying to become a great nation and to become a great nation you need people.
You understand what the time frame here does don¡¦t you? When a couple can resume lovemaking the woman would be in her most fertile period. Had either David or Bathsheba logged onto babycentre.com and used the ovulation calculator then he wouldn¡¦t have asked and she wouldn¡¦t have accepted. But what was done, the die was cast so to speak, and a baby was on it¡¦s way.
Well David was no dummy, well at least not after the fact. And so he sent for Bathsheba¡¦s husband Uriah, who was fighting David¡¦s battle. The thought being that Uriah having been away from home for a while would be anxious to sleep with his wife, and would think he was the father, maybe they couldn¡¦t count to nine back then. Anyways Uriah comes home, David the king greets him in person and says ¡§Hey guy you¡¦re doing a great job, why not go home get cleaned up and enjoy yourself, nod, nod wink, wink.¡¨ The king then sent a lovely dinner over to Uriah¡¦s house, but Uriah didn¡¦t go home, he slept outside. The King called him in and asked ¡§am I missing something here?¡¨ And Uriah responded by saying, ¡§How could I possibly go home to a nice warm meal, a soft bed and a beautiful wife when my troops are still in the field?¡¨
So it was on to plan ¡§B¡¨, which was where David invited Uriah to a meal at the palace, obliviously an offer you can¡¦t turn down. While he was there David proceeded to get Uriah drunk, and then sent him home. But instead, Uriah bedded down outside once again, proving that he was a better man drunk then the king was sober.
Well it was on to plan ¡§C¡¨ which was where David sent Uriah with a note for his commander. If Uriah had of peeked at the note this is what he would have read
ƒÃƒäƒÑƒäƒÙƒßƒÞƒnƒÅƒâƒÙƒÑƒØƒnƒßƒÞƒnƒäƒØƒÕƒnƒÖƒâƒßƒÞƒäƒnƒÜƒÙƒÞƒÕƒãƒnƒçƒØƒÕƒâƒÕƒnƒäƒØƒÕƒnƒÒƒÑƒäƒäƒÜƒÕƒnƒÙƒãƒnƒÖƒÙƒÕƒâƒÓƒÕƒãƒäƒ|ƒnƒÄƒØƒÕƒÞƒnƒàƒåƒÜƒÜƒnƒÒƒÑƒÓƒÛƒnƒãƒßƒnƒäƒØƒÑƒäƒnƒØƒÕƒnƒçƒÙƒÜƒÜƒnƒÒƒÕƒnƒÛƒÙƒÜƒÜƒÕƒÔƒ|„E
Which doesn¡¦t make a whole lot of sense to us, but if we could read it in English it said 2 Samuel 11:15 The letter instructed Joab, ¡§Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.¡¨
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But Uriah obviously didn¡¦t read it because he was killed in the battle, I¡¦m sure that David must have been thinking ¡§I love it when a plan comes together¡¨ And I¡¦m sure that he thought that he had gotten away with it and listen to what the hypocrite had the nerve to tell Joab, who was Uriah¡¦s commander 2 Samuel 11:25 ¡§Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,¡¨ David said. ¡§The sword kills one as well as another! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!¡¨
Following Uriah¡¦s death, Bathsheba spent the appropriate amount of time grieving and then Married David.
Now at this point we need to tell you that David was subsequently confronted about his sin by the prophet Nathan and consequently he repented, was forgiven and wrote Psalm 51. But that is a different story for a different sermon.
So what do we learn from this story. Well probably the most important thing is the Seventh Commandment, which by the way was known by both David and Bathsheba. The major lesson of this story is that 1) Adultery has a cost and there are consequences. God didn¡¦t put this commandment in to be a spoil sport; he put it in for a reason. God isn¡¦t against Sex, you remember he created man and woman, and he created sex.
It didn¡¦t take David long to discover the consequences of his acts and there were not simply limited to that particular time frame they had long reaching implications. And he¡¦s pretty lucky he wasn¡¦t married to Loretta Lynn because she said ¡§My attitude toward men who mess around is simple: If you find ’em, kill ’em.¡¨ Just looking at the book of 2 Samuel we discover that this covers 33 years of David¡¦s life. The First half is a story of multiple triumphs. Chapters 1 to 5 deal with David¡¦s Political triumphs, 6-7 his spiritual Triumphs and 8 ¡V 10 his Military triumphs. His life comes to this high point in chapter 11 where he is literally on top of the world and it¡¦s here that he has the affair with Bathsheba. What happens from there? You don¡¦t have to read very far to discover the trouble that happened in David¡¦s house. Chapters 12-13 chronicle the trouble that David had with his home.
The son of David and Bathsheba died as an infant, David¡¦s daughter Tamar was raped by her half brother, who was killed by Tamar¡¦s brother. Later David¡¦s son Absalom attempted to overthrow his father and died in the attempt. The last eleven chapters of the book detail the political turmoil that almost tore his kingdom apart.
The first thing that David had to deal with was the a) Spiritual Consequences David discovered what every one of us as a Christian knows, and that is sin will put a barrier between you and God. Isaiah 59:2 But there is a problem¡Xyour sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.
If you are living in disobedience to God¡¦s commandments then you are playing with fire.
Listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 I love scriptures that you can read without comment, listen up people 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Don¡¦t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don¡¦t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers¡Xnone of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God.
b) Emotional Consequences Here is the reality of life; you¡¦ll never be able to undo the emotional damage done by an affair. If your marriage stays together there will always be an element of suspicion. Will they do it again? Why did they do it the first time? Every time you¡¦re unexpected late or have an unexpected or unexplained absence there will be doubt. You say, ¡§That¡¦s just not right, they ought to get on with life, they need to learn to trust me.¡¨ Not! It¡¦s neat how quickly the person who did the victimizing becomes the victim when it serves their purpose. So understand if your spouse no longer trusts you perhaps it¡¦s because you¡¦ve proved yourself untrustworthy.
On the other hand, if the marriage doesn¡¦t survive, if you actually end up with the person you had an affair with do you think they will trust you? I mean after all they¡¦ve already seen first hand how trustworthy you are and it¡¦s because you cheated with them that they¡¦ll never be sure that you won¡¦t cheat on them. And this doesn¡¦t even get into the guilt that you will carry around concerning what you have done.
c) Physical Consequences In the story of David and Bathsheba the physical consequence was pregnancy and that is a life-changing event. If you choose to take the pregnancy to term your life will never be the same, to paraphrase Great Big Sea, it¡¦ll be the end of the world as you knew it, if you choose to end the pregnancy, then you will live with the guilt of knowing what you have done. In this day and age pregnancy might very well be the least of your worries. What would have happened if instead of saying ¡§Oh by the way David I¡¦m pregnant¡¨ Bathsheba had of said ¡§Oh by the way David, I¡¦m HIV positive¡¨? Aids is no laughing matter, and regardless of what they tell you about safe sex the only safe sex happens between two people who are completely faithful to one another. And Aids is just the worst of a bad bunch.
And then there are the d) Generational Consequences I told you a little bit about what happened in David¡¦s family after his affair. Do you think you will fare better? Do you think that Children will trust someone who cheated on their mother or father? Someone who had no qualms about lying to their spouse? About betraying their marriage vows? And not only that, understand that children learn from what they see. Remember more is caught then taught. If than a normal marriage is one where Adultery is the norm then they will perpetuate that model. That¡¦s a no brainer.
Bottom line is summed up in Proverbs 6:27-29, which by the way was written by David and Bathsheba¡¦s second son, Can a man scoop fire into his lap and not be burned? Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? Those are rhetorical questions, no answers are expected. So it is with the man who sleeps with another man¡¦s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.
So don¡¦t think you will. I keep telling you: Sin will always take you further then you want to go, it will always cost you more then you want to pay and it will always keep you longer then you want to stay. You think you will be in control but it will be sin that is in control.
Adultery is used as a simile throughout the Bible for disobedience to God¡¦s will and God¡¦s word. You may not be cheating on your spouse but you still might be cheating on your God. So where you at this morning? If Nathan confronted you would he say ¡§You are that man!¡¨ or ¡§You are that woman!¡¨?
David had to confess his sin to God and ask for forgiveness for it, and it¡¦s no different today.
Hope you enjoyed this message, PowerPoint for this and Denn’s other messages are available at www.powerpoint4preaching.com
