Sleeping With Another Man's Wife

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 . The problem was so rampant that even the other prophets of Jerusalem were guilty of it, and Jeremiah predicted God's judgment on them.

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?