David and Bathsheba V: The Issue of Lust

I. Introduction
A. The story of David and Bathsheba has a lot to say about sexual lust.
B. And it’s obvious that in our day lust has become mainstream. And it's getting worse fast.
C. The Bible knows about living in an immoral, sexually-charged society. In Corinth the problem was worse than in modern America.
D. I agree with those who say that the church needs to talk more about this kind of stuff. This morning I’m trying to help open the conversation.
E. I know for some this is very awkward. And I’m sorry about that.
II. The Bible recognizes the battle of lust
A. First of all, the Greek word translated lust in the NT simply means desire, yearn, crave. The word is not always used in a negative sense. E.g. Galatians 5:17 “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would.” (The word is translated as desire here, and only used once. Literally, the Greek says, “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and [those] of the Spirit are against the flesh.”)
1. It is the word used when the NT quotes the 10th commandment, Do not covet, which has sexual connotations in the “Do not covet your neighbor’s wife” but hopefully not in the “Do not covet your neighbor’s ox” part.
B. Here are some other verses which use this word and recognize, like Gal.5:17 above, the struggle we have with these fleshly desires:
1. 2Timothy 2:22 “So flee youthful PASSIONS and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
2. 1Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the PASSIONS of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
C. Is this battle going on in you? You’re not alone. This is something we all struggle with.
III. The Bible also recognizes the power of a visual image.
A. Matthew 6:22–23 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
B. 2Sam.11:2 “It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.”
C. Matt.5:27-28 Jesus warned against looking at a woman with lust in your heart.
D. We see the power of the visual image even in the first sin: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)
E. God made the human body beautiful and He made sex beautiful. But there’s power in beauty. And power can be used for evil. Some beauties we are not supposed to see.
F. Sexual temptation, it seems, is unique in that it is enjoyable by itself. We aren’t tempted to look through food magazines to lust after delicious desserts we don’t have any intention of eating. But the same is not true with sexual temptation.
G. What this means is that turning off the flow of visual images is an important step in drying up the temptation.
H. David’s problem began with his walking on the roof and surfing the neighborhood to see what he could see.
1. You can’t avoid every image, but you can avoid lingering on that image, staring at that image. As it has often been said, you can’t prevent a bird from landing on your head, but you can prevent it from building a nest.
IV. The Bible recognizes the reality of imagination and fantasy.
A. In the Bible sexual sin is not just a physical act.
B. Matt.5:27-28 Jesus warned against looking at a woman with lust in your heart.
C. The words of Job 31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?”
D. God has given us the amazing ability to imagine. And this helps us in many ways. The problem is that this can also be used for evil. It means we have the ability to live in a fantasy world. And in particular, it means we have the ability to live in our own sexual fantasy world completely detached from the actual world around us.
E. And pornography makes this so much easier. For instance, a man sees an image of a woman who is saying with her words or actions or facial expression that she sexually desires him. But it’s not true. Really she’s an actor being paid for doing that. And even if the man knows this, he can imagine that her lie is true.
V. The Bible acknowledges that there is a special appeal in what is forbidden.
A. David had multiple wives; he had plenty of sexual outlet. But that didn’t make him immune from this temptation.
B. There is special power in what is prohibited.
C. As Proverbs 9:17 says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” And this is said in the context of sexual temptation.
D. I think this is because Satan adds his support to the natural pleasure to increase the power of the appeal.
VI. The Bible clearly shows the incompatibility of sexual sin and Christ.
A. How can we reconcile Christ with something that celebrates and glorifies immorality?
B. Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”
C. As in an arm wrestling match, there may be a time when it looks like neither competitor will win, but in the end, there will be one winner and one loser.
VII. The Bible warns about the consequences of sexual sin.
A. We have talked about David’s consequences already (2Sam.12:10-12, 14 and the rest of 2Samuel).
B. The consequences of sexual sin are obvious.
1. There is the guilt and shame.
2. There is the addiction: the waste of time and energy, the distraction.
3. There is the paving of the path of escape from pain which will return later in times of pain.
4. There is the damage to relationships, e.g. present or future marriages.
5. There is the loss of joy and closeness to the Lord.
6. There is the paralysis re: witness and ministry.
C. The consequences are vividly depicted in the descriptions of the seductive woman in:
1. Proverbs 5:3–5 “For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.”
2. Proverbs 7:21–27 “With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its entrails; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths; for many a victim has she laid low; yea, all her slain are a mighty host. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.”
VIII. The Bible recommends itself as having a crucial role in fighting the battle of lust.
A. Psalm 119:9 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word.”
B. All of us — and I urge young people especially to hear this — need to develop a good relationship with Bible: We’re going to need it.
IX. The Bible sees sexual lust and sin as a problem of not loving our neighbor.
A. David saw this beautiful woman and had no regard for her as a person: her welfare, her place in the eyes of God. He lusted after her and failed to love her.
B. This is a temptation for each one of us: to view another person with only your own pleasures in mind.
C. One of the big problems with lust is that you see a body not a person. It involves looking at someone as a sexual object through which one might gain pleasure instead of looking at the person as a soul God made in His image, someone in need of Christ.
D. David had the power to watch her and take advantage of the view for his own pleasure like Ham, and the power to turn away out of respect like Shem. (Genesis 9:20-25)
E. This connection between sexual sin/lust and not loving our neighbor can be seen in 1Thessalonians 4:3–8, one of the most important passages on sexual in the Bible: “This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; THAT NO ONE TRANSGRESS AND WRONG HIS BROTHER IN THIS MATTER, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”
1. It's all about loving your neighbor as yourself! It’s all about viewing others according to who they are before God!
F. Think about the way Jesus treated women, even women who had been sexually immoral.
1. A number of the women Jesus interacted with had sordid sexual pasts:
a. The woman at the well in John 4
b. The woman caught in adultery in John 7
c. The sinful woman at Simon’s house in Luke 7:36–50
2. But Jesus didn’t view them as bodies from which He might gain pleasure. He viewed them with love and compassion and grace, as those who had been made in God image and who were the objects of His mercy.
G. Can we commit ourselves to treating all people with love and respect and then fantasize about fornicating with them or even raping them? Can we love God's law and then fantasize about it being untrue? Can we be committed to marriage but then secretly fantasize about adultery?
X. One of the ripple effects of all this in our society is that it has become common even among Christian young people to talk about being and aspiring to be hot.
A. I would urge us to ask ourselves: Is ‘hot’ a worthy goal?
1. Young men and women with sculpted bodies from working out
a. Now there’s nothing wrong with working out. Exercise is a worthy thing, though it’s value is limited (1Timothy 4:8 “For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”)
b. But working out or health value is different from working out to sculpt one’s body into a more sexually appealing form.
2. There are two passages in the NT which talk about the danger of being preoccupied with how you look, and then go on to urge people to be more concerned about how they act and who they are inside, having a spirit reflective of Christ and being people of love.
a. 1Peter 3:3–4 “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”
b. 1Timothy 2:9–10 “Women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.”
3. In these two passages the great apostles Peter and Paul were concerned about what rules our hearts. What do we give our time, our attention, our effort, our money to?
a. It is making a display of oneself that they object to. It is presenting ourselves in a way that communicates a different impression than godliness that they have a problem with.
b. They want Christians to present themselves in such a way that does not give the impression that attractiveness or attention is what they’re all about.
c. They want the people who rub shoulders with us to think that Christ is what we’re all about.
4. If this is what’s important, should we be striving to look hot?
5. Years ago on television a political pundit was explaining presidential candidate Jack Kemp’s popularity among women, saying something euphemistic like: “They’d love to leave their slippers at the side of his bed.” A married pastor friend I was with said something about not minding if that we true about him.
a. There’s some of that in all of us, isn’t there? But it doesn’t really make sense!
b. Do you want to commit adultery? Or do you just want to wish you could commit adultery but not actually do it? Why would we want people lusting after us? What good does that produce?
B. You send a message by how you present yourself.
1. What do we want to say with our appearance?
2. God made people beautiful so that He might be honored. But like many other things, beauty can be made an idol, being used against God instead of for God.
3. We ought to send a godly message by how we adorn ourselves and carry ourselves.
4. Messages a Christian should want to send:
a. I want to protect my sexual purity. I believe in the sanctity of sexuality.
b. I am a child of the heavenly Father and my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor.6:12-21).
c. The most important thing in the world to me is my Lord Jesus Christ, He is my life & my all in all.
5. And there are messages you don’t want to send:
a. I don’t care much about my purity, I am desperate to be noticed.
b. I think I am the center of the universe.
c. I have worked very hard to look like this.
d. The most important thing to me is looking hot.
6. I’m not wanting us to get hung up about modesty here. I’m talking about motivation.
XI. Conclusion
A. We're all in this together. Even if you have never even been tempted in these ways you are very much tempted in similar ways: using others, viewing others only for what they can do for you and forgetting that they are creatures made in God's image.
1. clerks
2. trash men
3. politicians
4. referees
5. sweat shop workers
6. Customers/clients
7. Longing for someone’s affirmation instead of longing for their edification
8. As I contemplated this, I though of the times when I sit down to a meal with others and just focus on the food. Sometimes my wife has to remind me that there are others present. It’s easy to see a meal as merely a bodily activity. But there's something much bigger going on. It's communion with others. And it's worship.
B. The incident with Bathsheba is not mentioned in the NT.
1. David is mentioned many times. And many parts of his story are referred to. But there’s not one mention of the Bathsheba incident.
2. Adam and Eve’s sin is mentioned, as is Cain’s sin, Esau’s sin, Joseph’s brothers’ sin, the sins of the Israelites in the wilderness
3. David is not known by his sin. David’s sin did not define him.
4. Why? Because of God’s grace. Because David repented.
5. C.S. Lewis reminds us that when we get dirty we can’t just get upset about, we have to get into the shower and take the soap and get cleansed. We shouldn’t just mourn over our sin; we must repent and come to Christ and be cleansed of our sin.