But whatever you have to do get away from the source of the temptation.

Transcription

1 This devotional is the 19 th in a series as the ministry is in this time of transition. Be blessed as you support this ministry during this critical time of change. Here's an important new change. Rev Greg Moser has created a "digital" version that you can listen to online. If you want us to automatically send you the link to the digital version to your iphone or computer address, e- mail your request to enews@mykairos.org Here's the link to the digital edition: Here's this week's devotional: 2 Samuel 11:1-27 Question - What do King David, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton have in common? They all at one time entered "THE SPIN ZONE." The "Spin Zone" is when you enter into God's "No Sin Zone" out of a lust for power, sex, influence or money which causes you to sin which you then try to cover up. In the Garden of Eden God warned Adam and Eve about His "No Sin Zone" and they refused to listen, they entered into "The Spin Zone" and you know the rest of the story. Nixon had his Watergate, Clinton had his Monica-gate and David had his Bathsheba-gate all because they entered "The Spin Zone". If you were to ask the average person, "What do you remember most about King David?" Children would quickly answer, "Goliath." Adults would quickly answer, "Bathsheba." These were the two greatest personalities in the life and rein of King David. Goliath reminds us of David's greatest victory; Bathsheba reminds us of David's greatest defeat. No single sin outside of the sin that Adam and Eve committed in the Garden of Eden has received more press coverage than the sin of David with Bathsheba. Can you imagine the field day that newspapers and television shows would have had with this soap-opera? A king has a one night stand with another man's wife, gets her pregnant, then has the other man murdered to cover up his deed? This story had it all - sex, murder, intrigue, cover-up. You can see the headlines now in USA Today and the New York Times, "King's Spring Fling Uncovered." It would have been on The Drudge Report, Good Morning Jerusalem, and CSI Israel. Jay Leno and David Letterman would have been joking about it for months. The incredible thing is, in one sense, you would have never expected II Samuel 11 to be a chapter in David's life. Up until this time in his life, basically everything David had touched had turned to gold. As one man put it, "If you were a betting man, David seemed a sure thing to finish 'in the money'". When you read the first ten chapters of II Samuel, David batted a thousand. He is never defeated in battle. He is never wrong in his judgment. He is a compassionate, conservative in the truest sense and his approval rating is one-hundred percent. In every way imaginable - financially, economically, militarily, and the country is at an all-time high. 1

2 So what happened? David is now about 50 years old, has been on the throne approximately 20 years, and has so many titles that he can't keep them all on one wall. He is the nation s number one song writer, number one soldier, the undisputed leader of the God's people, a man after God's own heart, and the most admired person in all of Israel. As we look at this part of David's life, understand that you are not looking at a sexual pervert or someone going through a mid-life crisis. Yet, had you examined David's life closely, you would have realized that there were chinks in David's armor. There were cracks in the foundation of his life. In Deuteronomy 17 God laid down three specific rules for anyone who would be the king. He said, "...he shall not multiply horses for himself...he shall not multiply wives for himself or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself." (Deuteronomy 17:16-17, NASB) David was faithful in the first and third commandment, but he failed miserably in the second, because six chapters earlier, we read these words..."meanwhile David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron." (II Samuel 5:13, NASB) Even though David had multiple wives and multiple concubines, he still wanted another man's wife, which teaches us something about lust and that is - lust will never be satisfied by more sex with more people. It is simply increased. David had eight wives and at least ten concubines, so both lust and polygamy was the crack in David's armor. As we go through this epic of the life of David we leave the stage of triumph and tenderness and we now enter into the stage of tragedy and trouble. We can learn from David, that when we are tempted what not to do by what David did do, and hopefully avoid "The Spin Zone." Flee Temptation Don't Fight It. We learn immediately that David was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead of being in bed, he should have been in battle. All that is necessary to enter "The Spin Zone" is to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong person and then do the wrong thing. It is spring, the rainy season is over, the weather is gorgeous outside, but David was not where he should be. The simple truth is if David had been where he belonged, as the Commander in Chief with his army, then Bathsheba-gate would never have taken place. After taking an afternoon nap, he wakes up and decides to walk outside. Kings frequently built their bedrooms on the second story of the palace and could walk 2

3 out into what you and I today would describe as a patio roof. It is then that we read these words, "Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance." (II Samuel 11:2, NASB) The Hebrew word for beautiful literally means "smoking hot." She was simply doing what most of the women in her day would do - that is in the late afternoon, she would use the water in the rooftop rain barrels, because it would be the warmest at that time of day (and men were usually out working anyway) and she would bathe. At this point if David had just simply turned and walked back into his palace, everything would have been fine, but we read these words, "So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" (II Samuel 11:3, NASB) Now don't miss the significance of that statement to David. Some servant, in a very subtle and respectful way was trying to give David a wise word of warning. Normally in Israel, the identity of a person would be given without any relation to their spouse. If you asked who someone was, they would either be referred to as "the son of someone" or "the daughter of someone", but this servant makes a point of saying, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah." In other words, what the servant was saying to King David was, "Back off Bubba. She's married!" It was at that moment that David began to say, "No" to all the things he should have said, "Yes" to and "Yes" to all the things he should have said, "No" to. Ever been there? How about lately? There was an old song from the 70's that I remember and it had a phrase in it, "Just one look - that's all it took." So many times that is how it is - one look of lust and you are headed for "The Spin Zone." How could this happen so quickly? Bathsheba was simply the culmination of something that had been going on in David's life for 20 years. David didn't just wake up that spring morning and say, "I've got a great idea. I think today I will destroy my whole life by committing adultery with another man's wife." This event was simply the capstone of a downward spiral that had been going on in David's life for two decades. I will show you in a moment what I mean. It is right here in this part of the story where you want to stop the tape and you want to scream at the top of your lungs, "David don't do this! Stop and think! Run! Take a cold shower." But David didn't see what we see now. He didn't see that this one night would cause four of his children to die. He didn't see that this one night would split his kingdom in half. He didn't see that this one night would make him a first degree murderer. 3

4 That is why the Bible teaches us that in times of temptation, there is only one thing to do - run! Remember this - When you are tempted to do wrong, if you fight you lose; if you run you win. The great philosopher, Barney Fife, used to say, "Nip it in the bud" and that is exactly what you have to do when you face temptation. Whatever it means and it may mean different things - Get on the bus, Gus Make a new plan, Stan Drop off the key, Lee And get yourself free. But whatever you have to do get away from the source of the temptation. Confess Sin Don't Conceal It. David goes back to bed that night having sent Bathsheba home thinking it was just a harmless one-night stand that brought pleasure to both of them - big mistake! David was about to learn that a one-night stand can turn into a lifetime of misery. Everything was cool for a few weeks until there was a knock on the palace door and we read these words, "The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant." (II Samuel 11:5, NASB) Three words made David's heart sink, his head hurt and his knees buckle, "I am pregnant." Once again - stop the tape. If David at that moment had confessed his sin, confessed to God, to Bathsheba, and to her husband Uriah, the bleeding would have stopped. The problem would have been contained to adultery and a pregnancy out of wedlock. Most likely the marriage could have been rebuilt, lives could have been saved, and relationships could have been restored. So faced with a choice, rather than confessing his sin, falling on his face before God and admitting his adultery, he chooses another route. He comes up with a creative idea that backfires on him miserably. He continues in the dreaded "Spin Zone." From what has been only originally a desire for a discreet evening of adultery is about to turn into betrayal, murder and a cover-up that would make Watergate look like a Sunday school picnic. David made the age old mistake of thinking that deception can cover disobedience, but it doesn't work that way. Deception never covers disobedience; it just makes the disobedience worse. Is that a stunning picture of how one drop of sin can turn into a tidal wave of misery? For twenty years, David had been driving in the fast lane on the freeway 4

5 called sexual pleasure. One night, he decided to take the exit marked, "Adultery", but instead he took the off ramp of "Murder." So, as we read, the deed is done. "So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David's servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war." (II Samuel 11:16-18, NASB) You notice it wasn't just Uriah who died, but other soldiers died as well. A lot of innocent people paid the price for David's sin on that battlefield which is why sin is so terrible. It never hurts just one person. The problem with the tangled web of deception is that it always gets untangled. You cannot win the game of sin. If only David had remembered what his son, Solomon, wrote many years later. "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." (Proverbs 28:13, NASB) Whenever you commit sin, you immediately are faced with one of two choices: Confess the sin Conceal the sin You can either push the confess button or the conceal button. One button digs you out of a hole; the other button puts you deeper. Let me put it to you this way - When you tell one lie, it leads to another. So you tell two lies to try to cover. Then you tell three lies and oh brother! You are in trouble up to your ears. As Walter Scott put it, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." As we all now know today, David's cover-up was uncovered. In fact, we are talking about it today, thousands of years after it happened. It was recorded in God's word for millions of people to read over the last three thousand years. Remember this - Cover-up always costs more than confession. If you don't believe that ask David. Ask Richard Nixon. Ask Bill Clinton. So Seek Forgiveness Don't Shun It! There is one statement at the end of this chapter that tells us why the entire chapter was not only unnecessary, but totally futile. "Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she 5

6 mourned for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD." (II Samuel 11:26-27, NASB) God had seen the whole thing. In the world we live in we know now the capacity of computers to record and retrieve the most personal details of our lives. We now have video cameras when we check into motels, DNA to identify anywhere we have been, satellites that photograph the earth with such precision that they can show the hair on our heads. How much more does God see and know all that we do? Things would be all right if the Lord didn't see them, yea right, but the Lord always sees them. Dan Rather interviewed Bill Clinton after his Presidency and asked him why he got involved with Monica Lewinsky. Do you know what his answer was? "Just because I could." Clinton went on to say, "I think that is the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything...when you do something just because you could." David could have sought forgiveness and David could have found forgiveness because God is always willing to forgive. But remember this - God is always willing to forgive and forget, but He will not forget until He forgives. David went twelve months and refused to seek forgiveness. He had managed to knock off six of the Ten Commandments. He had coveted another man's wife, committed adultery, killed her husband, stolen his wife and lied about it, and he had dishonored his family. David had learned the hard way that the grass on the other side of the fence may start off green, but it usually ends up brown. Seventy-five to eighty-five percent of all men who have had an affair end up staying with or returning to their wives and of those who do divorce only 15% marry the woman with whom they had the marriage-wrecking affair. Fast forward to the next chapter and listen to what David finally said to his good friend, Nathan, who confronted him with the sin. "Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the LORD' And Nathan said to David, 'The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.'" (II Samuel 12:13, NASB) That could have been the beginning of a new beginning for David - right after the night with Bathsheba. He still would have had to suffer the consequences of his sin, but at least he would have been a forgiven man. Now where are you? - Internet Porn 6

7 - An in appropriate flirtatious relationship - A full blown adulterous affair - Embezzling money - Cheating in Business - A drug or alcohol problem Are you cheating on God? If you are at the beginning stage of the temptation-get an internet filter; enlist an accountability partner; end the inappropriate relationship; ask for financial safeguards; stay away from the bars and those who indulge in drugs or alcohol. If you have already fallen into the "Spin Zone" confess your sin to God and then go to the people who have been directly affected and confess to them, trusting God with the consequences. It may be to your pastor, your spouse, your boss or your kids but end the concealment now. Realize that God specializes in forgiveness and because of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross you can be instantly and completely forgiven of all of your sin and you can leave the "Spin Zone" now! Talking about FREEDOM! 7