THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Samuel: God's Shift Of Israel From Apostasy Under The Judges To David's Reign

II. 2 Samuel: The Reign Of David Over Israel

M. Learning From David's Adultery How To Avoid Sinning

(2 Samuel 11:1-4)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Though John in 1 John 2:1 KJV claimed he had written to believers "that ye sin not," in the verse right before that, at 1 John 1:10 KJV, he asserted, "If we say that we (believers) have not sinned, we make him (God) a liar, and his word is not in us." We are not supposed to sin, but all of us have failed here, and the world sure fails here:

(1) Ben Lambert's story, "Documents detail allegations of misconduct, police investigation" (Register-Citizen, May 5, 2017, p. 1A) told how "Mayor Elinor Carbone Wednesday vowed to change the culture of the city street and parks departments" following "the arrest of former Superintendent of Streets Robert Lizotte and Parks & Recreation employee David Sarasin" for "first-degree larceny and the sale of narcotics, respectively . . ."

(2) Some sins are even culturally sanctified today: the story, "'Morning Joe' hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski engaged" reported how the show's co-hosts had had "'a crackling on-air chemistry, and a crackling off-air chemistry, too,'" but then it added that "(t)his would be 54-year-old Scarborough's third marriage" and that the "the 50-year-old Brzezinski" had divorced her former husband "after 23 years of marriage." The Bible claims divorce or divorce and remarriage is adultery (Matthew 5:31-32; Mark 10:11-12), but from this story, you would never know it!

(3) However, many who profess to know Christ as Savior struggle with immorality today: I read an ad in a Christian magazine some years ago that claimed a high percent of evangelical men have yielded to the lure of online pornography, what Jesus in Matthew 5:28 called adultery, and we regularly hear of divorces among believing couples.

Need: Accordingly, we ask, "How can I avoid falling for temptation in order to fulfill God's call that I NOT sin?"

I. 2 Samuel 11:1-4 briefly reports that king David to whom God had promised the great Davidic Covenant in blessing his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:4-17) committed adultery with another man's wife.

II. This sin was an awful violation of God's Word in several ways:

A. Under the Mosaic Law, adultery was prohibited (Exodus 20:14) as a capital offense (Leviticus 20:10).

B. The woman Bathsheba with whom David sinned was wed to the godly Uriah the Hittite, 2 Samuel 11:3:

1. One nation God had promised Abraham that His descendants would dispossess in the Promised Land was the Hittites, one of the vile, immoral nations that inhabited Canaan, Genesis 15:18-21; Leviticus 18:1-30.

2. As a Hittite, then, Uriah had converted out of a vile, immoral, Canaanite background to Israel's God, a giant step for him, and his name in Hebrew means "my Light is Jahweh" (B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 22), or "my Light Is the I AM," a testimony to his great devotion to the Lord.

C. Besides, Uriah was one of David's best fighting men (2 Samuel 23:8-39, esp. v. 39), devoted to David himself!

D. Also, Bathsheba's father, Eliam, was another of David's top warriors, devoted to David (2 Sam. 11:4; 23:8-39, esp. 34), and his name in Hebrew means "God is Kinsman" (Ibid., p. 45) in highlighting fellowship with God!

E. Thus, David's adultery wronged a husband who had repudiated immorality to become very dedicated to God and to David himself besides a father and another great warrior devoted to the Lord and to David himself!

III. If we study 2 Samuel 11:1-4 in its extended context, we note the causes behind David's sin (as follows):

A. David left himself vulnerable for temptation by failing to stay involved with God's assigned calling for him:

1. 2 Samuel 11:1 NIV, ESV opens with the claim that in the spring of the year, kings would typically go forth to war, what certainly had been God's will for David in his career as Israel's king, 2 Sam. 8:1-18; 10:1-19.

2. Yet, David failed to keep involved with that calling, staying home while others went to war, 2 Sam. 11:1c.

3. This lapse in staying involved in God's will put him in the environment where he would face temptation.

B. David left himself idle, lounging in bed, leaving himself relaxed and vulnerable to temptation, 2 Sam. 11:2a.

C. David then put himself in the path of temptation, rising from bed to walk about on his roof at evening when he could look down and see a beautiful, disrobed woman bathing herself in a nearby courtyard, 2 Samuel 11:2b.

D. When he saw Bathsheba naked and bathing in ceremonial cleansing after her period, David knew she was both beautiful and available, and dwelling on these facts fueled his lust, 2 Sam. 11:4b NIV; B. K. C., O. T., p. 467.

E. David had left himself even more vulnerable to the temptation of adultery by failing to overcome his past sins:

1. Though Deuteronomy 17:17 forbade Israel's kings from marrying many women, David had often violated this call, marrying many women, 2 Sam. 3:1-5; 5:13; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 2 Sam. 5:13.

2. These Scripture violations had made it even easier for David to convert the lust he felt upon seeing the disrobed and bathing Bathsheba into the actual act of taking her to commit adultery with her.

F. David's past disobedience to God in taking many wives was itself caused by the sin of unbelief in God:

1. The practice of taking more wives in one's harem was typical of Ancient Near Eastern kings who sought by this practice to strengthen and elevate their thrones, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 459, 461.

2. However, God in Deuteronomy 17:18-20a, 20b had already promised that were Israel's king to obey the Lord by living by faith in His promised help, God would establish his throne and dynasty for him!

3. Thus, David's failure to trust God to strengthen his rule led to his disobeying God in taking many wives!

G. David's past record in defeating the Aramean helpers of Ammon so that he had gained control of land as far north as the Euphrates (2 Sam. 10:15-19) lured him to become proud and complacent so that he would decide to stay home and send Joab and the army to finish off the Ammonites, 2 Samuel 11:1; 10:1-19.

Lesson: Though he was anointed of God to be king, empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord well (1 Samuel 16:13), and though he had accomplished much by God's power in conquering nations that had plagued Israel, David left himself vulnerable to the heinous temptation of adultery with Uriah's wife by (1) failing to stay engaged with God's calling, (2) leaving himself idle in poor time management, (3) putting himself in the path of temptation, (4) dwelling on the temptation when it arrived so as to enhance his lust to sin, (5) not repenting of a past sin that left him even more susceptible to his current temptation, (6) failing to live by faith in God and (7) becoming falsely proud and complacent due to God's past blessings.

Application: To overcome temptation, (1) may we trust in Christ for salvation to become a child of God and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, John 3:16; Romans 8:9b. (2) Then, may we rely on the Holy Spirit's power to avoid living by means of our sin nature (Galatians 5:16) so as to (a) stay involved in God's assigned calling, (b) stay constructively occupied in the use our time, (c) avoid obvious environments of temptation, (d) flee from and not mentally dwell on temptation when it arises, (e) confess and turn from past sins to minimize the power of future temptations, (f) live by faith in God (g) and resist turning proud and complacent over God's past blessings.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

The web site www.sermonillustrations.com hosts a series of sermon illustrations on the subject of "Temptation," and one of them illustrates the need to repent of past sins and sinful lusts that leave us more susceptible to falling for current temptations. We observe that illustration as follows:

Westerners have found the ringtailed monkey in Africa to be a difficult animal to capture for their zoos. These monkeys are smart and wary of humans, making the effort to capture them a huge task.

However, the African Zulu people have long been able to capture these monkeys by utilizing the ringtailed monkey's enormous lust for melon seeds! The Zulus accordingly cut a relatively small hole into a melon that is still connected to its tough vine so that when a ringtailed monkey passes by, it can reach into the melon's hole and excitedly grab a big bunch of melon seeds located in the heart of the melon. However, with its hand full of seeds, the monkey cannot pull its hand out, but his lust for the seeds inside the melon is so great that he doesn't want to let the seeds go, so he will fight for hours, trying to pull his hand filled with melon seeds out of the melon! When the Zulus see the monkey is preoccupied in trying to get its hand out of the melon, they sneak up behind it and capture it!

If we could communicate to the ringtailed monkey with its hand caught in the melon, we would ask it, "What's more important to you right now -- the melon seeds or your freedom and life as a monkey?", the monkey might see the wisdom of letting go of that particular batch of melon seeds to acquire some somewhere else. However, the monkey is too captivated by its own lust for the seeds to see the importance of letting go of the seeds, so it is captured.

By way of application, we can discern from this illustration how important it is that we confess past sins and sinful lusts that they not captivate us for spiritual defeat when the devil drills a little hole in some melon of future temptation, wooing us to reach in and grab a bunch of seeds and hang onto them unto our destruction! To avoid future sinful disaster with future temptations, we need to repent of past sins and sinful lusts!

To overcome temptations, may we trust in Christ to be equipped by the Holy Spirit to live an upright life. Then, may we rely on the Spirit to stay engaged with fulfilling God's calling, stay constructively occupied in the use of our time, steer clear of obvious environments of temptation, flee from and not dwell on temptation if it arises, confess past sins and turn from them to minimize their influence in future temptations, live by faith in God and stay humbly appreciative of God's blessings instead of becoming proud and complacent over them. The Lord will then richly bless us.