Now we'll be in many other places,
and let me say that I subtitled our message today, The Power
of Lust, The Power of Lust, The Sin of Bathsheba. Let's look
at this text and read it and then go from there. 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 in Jerusalem. Now watch to and
following. And it came to pass in an even
tide that David arose from off of his bed, 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. 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? 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.
And the woman conceived and sent and told David and said, I am
with child. Now, perhaps our subject ought
to be the sins of David and Bathsheba. Because as we have read, it involved
a consensual act of adultery on the part of them both. David the king of Israel and
Bathsheba the wife of the soldier Uriah. Still when we fall upon
this portion of the scripture and consider it, it is most often
the case, it most often turns out, that we focus largely and
almost exclusively upon the sin of David. And they were great.
And they were several in number. They were vile. We have preached
upon them before. lust conceived in David's heart,
and it led to an act of adultery with a faithful and loyal subordinates,
one and only wife. David, instead of repenting immediately,
tries to cover his sins by the contrivings of his sinful and
wicked heart. And when that fails, He places
her husband in a place of imminent danger where he was sure to be
killed by the enemy in battle. And David goes for a time unrepentant
of this sin that he has initiated and committed. Furthermore, we're
told something else by the record of the sacred scripture. Here
are some things that we notice in this passage of the scripture. Number one, that it was David
himself that took the lead in the things that led to the sinful
tryst that we read about this morning. Notice what it said.
He saw, he desired, he inquired, he sent for her, he lay with
her. David took the lead in the sin. Secondly, God dealt directly
with David after and because of these sins. He sent the prophet
Nathan not to confront Bathsheba, but to confront and rebuke and
exhort David and impose a particular and a special chastisement upon
his house forever. A sword, the prophet said, that
would never depart from his house. That's in chapter 12. On top
of that, he is told that the child that was conceived and
born of their union was to become sick and was to die. Still, in spite of that, Bathsheba
is not without blame and might have had a part in avoiding this
awful sin. So we ask ourselves the question
then, if we want to speak on the sins of Bathsheba, what then
can we lay to her charge? What is it that we can lay before
Bathsheba? Because we notice here, she was
not forced. As we read in verse 4, she came
in unto him, she came, came to his dwelling, and then came into
his sleeping chamber. I think we may find her guilty
or accusable upon at least three counts, and I want you to consider
them this morning. Number one, first of all, for
exposing herself in such a way as to be seen by the wandering
eyes of David. Now while I said that, Methinks
that it is unfair to consider that Bathsheba did this. in any
kind of way as an exhibitionist behavior on her part. Not at
all. Not intentionally done. If perhaps
carelessly done, and it was carelessly done, not intentionally, every
caution not taken to be unseen by a wandering eye. Now we're told in the second
verse, look at it again of our text, she was washing herself,
she was bathing herself, and of course undressed or in some
stage of undress. Some expositors have wondered
if this was a ceremonial washing that Bathsheba was participating
in. See what we read in verse 9 of
this chapter, I believe it is. She was purified from her uncleanliness. Or is it in verse 4? I'm sorry. It is in verse 4 that
she was purified from her uncleanliness. Notice the phrase then that goes
before that. He lay with her for she was purified
from her uncleanness." Now, I don't want to get on a rabbit trail
and be taken off of our subject here, but for a part of the ceremonial
law that regulated this, read sometime at your pleasure from
Leviticus chapter 15, verse 19 through verse 33. There was a
very meticulous law regarding the time of a woman's uncleanness. Now we repeat, Bathsheba is most
likely not purposely making herself an object of desire, but I want
you to look at the effect it had upon the wandering, idle
eye of old King David. Let me say this, see what a fire
it kindled. Look at the fire that was kindled
by this seemingly incidental act. We'll say more about that
later. I want to share something with
you. I found it very interesting. I don't know what your opinion
of it will be. You know, they say everything
there is, is out on the Internet. Whatever the subject, whatever
you might want to look up, just go to the Internet and type it
in and there you will find it. Well, I just thought, I'll go
and I'll Google on the Internet. And so I did and I typed in the
words, the sins of Bathsheba. Not expecting really anything
to come up, but just to see if there had been anything posted
there that would come up and that might be interesting. Now,
to my surprise, there were several articles that popped up. Several
is not the word. There were many that popped up,
and I didn't take time to read them all, discussing this very
issue of Bathsheba being seen in a state of undress by David. And the discussers And the commenters
seemed to be mostly women. Most of them were women. And
they were going back and forth discussing the effect of the
way that women dress in certain and revealing clothing has upon
men who see them. And it was reasonable, and I
think honest and true, much of it unto the Scripture. Most of
them recognizing that it certainly does have an effect upon men. I want to tell you one other
thing. One night last summer, the news was on, and I was just
about half watching it. And the news came on, and the
station ran a story about, quote, a slut walk," unquote. Not my words. Those are the words
that were used by the TV station. And this was put on by women. And the purpose of it, they said,
was to show that women could dress any way they pleased in
public, and that it is nobody's business, nobody's business at
all, and no one should criticize them or take them for task for
doing so, and that any kind of manner of dress was in no way
to blame or any kind of sexual violence or unwanted advances. Now secondly, another aspect,
I think, of the sin of Bathsheba is simply her act of lying carnally
with a man that was not her lawful husband. And the same, of course,
is true of David. David had multiple wives, we
read in the Scripture, to whom he could have gone, and yet Bathsheba
also might have steadfastly refused the advances of the king, much
like Vashti did in the book of Esther, chapter 1, verse 10 and
verse 12, when her husband in a drunken party wanted to put
her beauty on display, and she refused. And so might Bathsheba
have refused, even the king, and whatever the consequences
might have been. Thirdly, I lay before you the
violation of her marriage unto her husband Uriah, his only wife,
the prophet Nathan, in referring to her in 2 Samuel chapter 12
and verse 3 calls her one little ewe lamb. One little lamb is
all the man had. She, yea, both her and David,
violated the commandment of God, thou shalt not commit adultery,
Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14. Thus, in 2 Samuel chapter 12
and verse 9, He is charged with despising
the commandment of the Lord. God said to David, you have despised
the commandment of the Lord. You have violated the word of
our God. I'll not turn there, but in 1
Corinthians 7, verses 2 through 5, Paul gives good counsel concerning
the state of marriage and a man and his wife. And according to
Nathan, The behavior of David with Bathsheba, 2 Samuel 12 and
verse 14, had given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme religion and blaspheme God. You know the story, you've
heard it over and over, how when a preacher falls into some sin,
often it is adultery, some great scandal. Then we see the world
and unbelievers saying, what hypocrites these professing Christians
be. It gives scandal to the name
of our God and the name of our Christ. Now getting to our subject,
there are three main actors in this drama that we will consider
this morning. One is David, two is Bathsheba,
and the third is Uriah. As the curtain opens upon this
scene in the scripture, David is in Jerusalem, He is in the
king's house, evidently, just arising from some rest or nap
off of his bed, and in his idleness he goes walking upon his roof
and he looks around over the surrounding area. He looks out,
he looks down upon the surrounding, and his eyes come upon, according
to verse 2, a woman washing herself, bathing, no doubt, as we said,
in some state of being unclothed. Also, in verse 2, we have another
fact. And the woman was very beautiful
to look upon. I was reading Matthew Henry on
this chapter of the scripture. He wrote a short but powerful
statement when he said when David saw her, quote, lust immediately
conceived," unquote, due to the two things that are mentioned,
the sight of her bathing and an exceptional physical beauty. John Gill, one of my favorite
authors, said on this beauty, she was of a fine shape and complexion
and a calmly countenance. And no doubt that is true in
what the scripture is telling us. By the way, The Scriptures
have quite a bit to say about beauty, especially in the Proverbs,
if you look at that and read it. For example, in Genesis 24
and 16, Rachel was very fair to look upon the margin, actually
has it in King James, of a good countenance. You can see again
in Genesis 26 and verse 7. We hear Solomon warns against
being smitten by beauty, that one falls into a snare and being
ruined by the wiles of a beautiful but a devious woman. We find
that in Proverbs 5 and 6 and 7. We'll look at that later.
David then found out who this woman was, the wife of a soldier
in his army. Still he sent for her, still
he lay conjugly with her. Verse 4, David took her, though
not by force. She came in unto him, and he
lay with her. They lay in the bed of adultery,
and a child was conceived of that union. Now, here's another
thing that Matthew Henry wrote on this chapter, and I think
we find it to be true. That is, that Scripture is faithful
in declaring the sins of the servants of God. It does not
cover them up, does not gloss them over, and does not excuse
them. It tells they're false, and they're
false, and we find them in Noah, Abraham, Elisha, the apostle
Peter, even in Moses. And here is this, the man after
God's very own heart that we are reading about this morning.
If not, if God's people cannot fall into sin, then what are
we to think that sinless perfection is the way of reaching eternal
and everlasting life? Now, we subtitle the message,
The Power of Lust. And we recall again what Matthew
Henry observed, that when David looked upon her, lust immediately
conceived in his heart, probably upon the two accounts that we
have already mentioned. Now we can see there is more
so in the New Testament both a good and a bad sense of lust,
or lusting, or desire, or coveting, or craving. They have all the
same meaning. There is a good lusting or craving
or coveting. For example, in 1 Corinthians
12 and 31, earnestly covet, that's this word, the best gift. 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 1,
desire, covet, lust after or crave spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians
14, And verse 39, covet to prophesy, desire, crave to prophesy. But then there is this word that
is used also in a bad sense, of sensuous lust or desire. As in Proverbs 6 and verse 25,
when Solomon said to the young man, lust not after her beauty
in your heart. We have the words of our Lord,
Matthew 5, verse 28, part of the Sermon on the Mount. Whoso
looks upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart. When we take that in its context,
we see that Jesus is making a contrast or making a correction between
the teaching of the Pharisees and actual Word of God and spiritual
truth. We know that the Jews, the Pharisees,
so many of them, they taught against adultery, but they taught
that only actual adultery broke the law. And let me say that
again. They taught that only actual adultery broke the law. I'll say it another way as modestly
as I can. That only a consummated physical
union broke the law of God concerning adultery. But the Lord taught
that unlawful desire and lust also broke the law, that even
the secret desire, even the unexpressed longing is itself a sinful act
in the heart. For example, when does a thief
become a thief? Is it not until he puts his hand
forth and takes that which belongs to someone else? Is it when thievery
is conceived in his heart and he decides to do so? On the other
hand, when is a murderer a murderer? Not until they actually commit
the deed. The Bible says that one can be
guilty of murder even in the heart. Now, concerning our subject
and what we are interested in, we need to recognize a truth
from Scripture, from history, from experience, whatever, that
men especially in an unregenerate state are lustful creatures. And the fires of lust are easily
kindled within such people and can quickly be fanned into a
burning flame. James says something interesting. Behold, what a great matter,
a little fire kindleth, and can quickly be fanned. James says
something else. Behold, what a great matter,
a little fire kindleth. You know, a single little match
struck, ignited, can burn down an entire forest or a row of
houses. One little match ignited. James said, Lust, when it is
conceived, bringeth forth sin. Whatever kind of lust it might
be, when it is conceived in the heart and takes root there, it
brings forth sin. Now, let's press the point that
we just have made, that so many men, especially in the unregenerate
state, are lustful and the fires of lust are somewhat easily kindled
in them and are constantly, as it were, burning. Now, I'm going
to take time to prove that point. I don't see how it can be denied. My point is this. to prove that
point. That is, just look, if you would,
at all of the sexual crimes that are committed daily and constantly
in our society. I'll name some. Sexual assaults. pedophiles who are so perverted,
so degenerate that they collect child pornography and they read
and they watch pornography, many of them on their computers at
work. These are all not low-life bums. These are businessmen. These
are executives, judges, doctors, policemen, preachers, politicians,
school teachers, all of what we might refer to as professional
people. Here a while back, the head of
Metro was suspended from his job for a certain time for watching
pornography on his computer at work. And the only thing that
saved him that he wasn't fired is the fact that he was a liberal
Democrat. Now, hardly a day passes, but
we hear of some man arrested or being sought for some manner
of sexual abuse of a young child, often his own child, or a stepchild,
or a relative's child, or his girlfriend's daughter, all kinds
of deviant, behavior is committed by, and then we want to make
them sick, you know, and send them to the psychiatrist. Hardly
a week or a month passes, but then we hear of a schoolteacher,
a professional person, if you will, a schoolteacher arrested
for having sexual relationship with a teenage student. And you
know the thing that fascinates me about it is that there are
about as many female teachers arrested for this crime as they
are male. Women teachers, some married,
some of them with children of their own, being intimate with
boys students ages 13 through 16 years of age. losing all by their foolish and
stupid behavior, even going to prison for years for their conduct. How many have? How many are? How many will be unfaithful and
break up their marriage because of lust and because of adultery? Ours is a society that has become
absolutely obsessed with everything sexual. Everything today has
to be, quote, Sexy, unquote. We hear it advertised that way. Not just clothes and not just
hair, but my goodness, we're told that furniture and cars
and shoes and food and watches and all of those things ought
to meet the criteria of sexy. Even preachers are treading where
they ought not, I think, on this subject, rather than staying
with the Scripture. I wonder if you happened to see
what I saw. I think it was on Nightline a
couple, three weeks ago, a preacher, a pastor of a large church up
around Dallas and his wife on the roof of the church in bed
and calling a news conference. And I can't tell you the rest
of that story. Consider how many powerful have
fallen by or because and through their sexual sins. Look at the shame upon David.
Look at the chastisement from God's hand after his tryst with
another man's wife. Nowadays, leaders professional
people, politicians, and you name it, have fallen and lost
their offices after an adulterous scandal, whether hetero or homosexual,
has come to light. Among them, we must name governors,
senators, congresspersons. And we know of the infidelity
of several of our presidents past. We now know. And because
men are lustful, it is both wrong and dangerous for women to deliberately
do things to draw forth and to feed that lust, whether to dress
or to talk or to move or to act in a seductive manner meant to
entice and arouse someone's thoughts or total strangers to the women
They do not even know them. What is the victory, I would
ask, in being looked upon by lustful eyes? Did not our Lord
say, whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery already in his heart? This is, of course, a part of
what we call the sermon on the mount. And on this text in Matthew
chapter 5, A.W. Pink, in his large volume, The
Sermon on the Mount, wrote something that I've not seen in other expositions
of the Sermon on the Mount. He said, and I want you to see
whether or not this rings true, A.W. Pink, quote, If lustful
looking be so grievous a sin, then those who dress and expose
themselves with desires to be looked at and lusted after are
not without their guilt." End of quote. What a picture Solomon
paints. I said we'd mention it in Proverbs
chapter 7. Here he gives us the picture
of a young man void of judgment, he said, or understanding, lacking
understanding. And this young man goes strolling
down the street. And in verse 10 of that chapter
7 of Proverbs, there met him a woman. A Jezebel woman dressed
out, Solomon said, in the attire of a harlot. One version has
it like this, quote, dressed like a prostitute with crafty
intent. To make a long story short, she
seduced the young man for, as stated, she had a devious intent. She sees a coming her way, a
simpleton, a young fool, an easy prey. And with her beauty and
her gaudy and revealing garment and her brazen and forward behavior
and her erotic words, She said to him, my bed awaits. The good
man, her husband, is away and won't return until a certain
time. And she promised him a night
of ecstasy. And in verse 13, she put her
arms around him and she kissed him. There is Solomon's account
of a foolish young man. Verse 21, with her much fair
speech she caused him to yield. Look at that. With her flattering
lips, she forced him. Again, one version has it, she
seduced him with her smooth, smooth talk. See how easily it
is that such a woman, acting in such a way, dressed for the
occasion, using erotic words and languages, can seduce a man
by playing the lust card and appealing unto the lust in the
heart." Unfortunately, this young man did not have the good sense
and the godly conviction of the godly Joseph in Genesis chapter
39. In Genesis chapter 39, his mistress
tempted Joseph day by day, but he fled the seductive advances of Potiphar's
wife, counting it a sin against God Almighty. This would be a
sin, he said, against my God. You have the record in Genesis
39 and verses 7 through verse 12. Her inviting him, her making
herself available, saying to him one day after another, come
lie with me again and again. Now we must admit that a woman's
sexuality, the possession of sexual attraction, is a powerful
force for a woman, and lust is one of the sins that is more
easily aroused. Thus a way that one might do
so if she is so inclined. By the way, as I looked at this
passage in 2 Samuel 11, A thought came, a question rather, came
into my heart. Just food for thoughts you might
think upon that would go on our way. But do you ever wonder,
have you ever thought why in the world would Uriah lay all
night on the porch of the ground at the king's door when he had
been given leave by the king to go to his private house? He could have been with his wife,
who is described as very beautiful to look upon. And I begin to
wonder, could it be that God put that in the heart of this
man in order to frustrate David's devious attempt to cover up his
own sin with Bathsheba, to cause Uriah to desire to be loyal to
the king and to lay at his door all night, to cause that desire
to be stronger than the desire to be in his private house and
with his wife. Scripture exhorts the women,
Christian women, to 1 Timothy 2 and verse 9, adorn themselves
in modest apparel. The NIV has it, I also want women
to dress modestly with decency and propriety, unquote. The NASB has it, adorn themselves
with proper clothing modestly and discreetly, unquote. By the way, I just thought of
this the other day. Did you notice, have you noticed,
you should notice that the baggy pants style, though it caught
on with the boys, it did not catch on with the girls the way
that it did with the boys. Girls don't want their clothes
seven times too large that they have to hold them up by one hand
while they walk and walk like they have a case of hemorrhoids. Girls like their clothes about
two sizes too small, so the style really didn't catch on. But too
often, they dress as a temptress or as an exhibitionist. Too scant,
too revealing, too much skin showing, yet so many women still
pretend not to know what effect this has upon men who see them,
and even to deny that they dress in such a way to provoke the
opposite sex, or to be looked upon as sexy. What makes them
feel good about themselves, they say, is why they do it, it expresses
their in a person, it enhances their appearance or so forth,
it makes a good impression. Yes, but the effect like David,
the effect and the fire that is Kendall. You notice something
else? The older women become, the more
modest they become, the less they dress. Immodest and they
worry the way their daughters dress like they used to dress
when they were teenagers. You're going to worry about your
daughter when she gets to be a teenager and she starts dressing
the way you used to dress. How many parents and mothers
have said to a teenage daughter, you're not going out in public
wearing that. Go back and change your clothes. Only to have their daughters
loudly moan and complain and cry. Everybody else is wearing
it. It's the style. I'll feel like
an old fogey if I can't dress in style. So the question is,
why dress scantily and then pretend to be offended when some old
codger vocals you? Why dress scantily, then pretend
to be offended when some old codger ogles you, or when some
young guys make lewd comments and vulgar suggestions and then
come on to you in a way very uncomfortable? Seeing on the
news last week, 6 o'clock, the proms are just around the corner.
A story on the news about schools trying to hold the line on the
way the girls dress for the prom. Worried about what to do. Always
have somebody that crosses the line. and is sent home, and they
know the rule, they know what's allowed, and yet they deliberately
cross over the line. How silly of so many young girls
today sending pictures of themselves in the nude. to their boyfriends
on these things that they do all this with. And the next day,
it's out on the internet. It's on YouTube for the whole
world to see. So they were trying to set some
bounds about the prom dresses that the girls would wear because
they know they will cross over the line. Paul cautions in 1
Timothy 5 and verse 2, he says, and he says this to a preacher,
and it's very relevant to our subject today. He said in 1 Timothy
5 and 2, treat the elder women as mothers. In the congregation,
look upon them as mothers, as mentors with great and deep respect. But listen, and the younger women
as sisters, and he adds three words, with all purity. This is to Timothy, who was a
young man. Timothy was a young man at this
time, and Paul gives him a caution. The young women in the assembly
where you minister, treat them as sisters, but with all purity. No indecency, no crossing the
line, no immodest behavior with them. Now, I close by saying
that lust spares none, and to paraphrase the scripture, has
slain its thousands. Oh, that we might see in David
the sin and the danger of giving in, what it can cause, the harm
the sin, the trouble, the misery that it can bring upon one to
succumb to this powerful, powerful part of the depravity that dwells
within us.