Welcome to Wednesday, July 21st!
This episode of The 7-Minute Cross Talk Bible Study is titled:
Taking A Second Look!
For this Bible Study, we are considering the words of this week’s Old Testament Lesson - 2 Samuel 11:1-15.
If you desire further information, it may be requested from [email protected].
If the link to download the worksheet is not present within your podcast feed it may be downloaded at: https://servingjesuschrist.libsyn.com/
Scripture Quotations: New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995).
* * * * *
Welcome to the Wednesday, July 21st Cross Talk 7-Minute Bible Study.
Today's study is titled:
Taking A Second Look
This is Pastor Warren.
Would you please pause the audio and download and print the 7-Minute Work Sheet before continuing?
The link is located right below this audio player.
For this Midweek Bible Study, we are considering the words of this week's Old Testament Lesson: Samuel 11:1-15.
Hopefully, these studies encourage you to engage in a deeper study of the current passage and even more importantly, I hope these studies deepen your love for the Word of God.
Let's begin:
The Old Testament Lesson for this week is one of the more recognizable stories found in the Old Testament - the well-known example of David and Bathsheba.
In this lesson, we come face to face with just how dangerous and seductive sin is in our lives.
If you want to read about David's restoration before continuing, we find his plea for restoration in Psalm 51, which illustrates the end result of the most graphic example of a temptation turned into full-blown sin we find in Scripture.
Follow along as I read this week's Old Testament Lesson found in:
2 Samuel 11:1-15 NAS95
Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. [2] 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. [3] 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?" [4] David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. [5] The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant." [6] Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. [7] When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. [8] Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. [9] But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. [10] Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" [11] Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing." [12] Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. [13] Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord's servants, but he did not go down to his house. [14] Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. [15] He had written in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die."
Every one of us understands the title of this Bible study: Taking A Second Look.
How many times have you faced a temptation in which if you had walked away at the moment of temptation, you would have been saved yourself a mountain of grief?
You took a second look, and you were hooked. Years ago, I shared a message titled: The Day The Devil Discovered Fishing. It referenced Genesis chapter 3.
In this chapter, Satan found a sport that could satisfy every urge that he had. He found that it gave him more satisfaction and joy than anything else. He just loved getting his fishing gear ready, and he still does today. He loved picking out just the right hook, and he still does today.
But, the most significant part of fishing for Satan was and is picking out the bait. Since that day of discovery, fishing has been become his obsession.
Satan dangled a bait of plausible lies in front of Eve, and she acted upon them. Can you imagine the hook biting into the top of Eve's mouth?
If we had a clear picture before us, at the moment of temptation, of the whole range of consequences that are involved in yielding to it, we would certainly pause and not give in.
If we fully knew what would happen to us if we killed an individual, committed that sexual sin, or went through with a shady financial deal, would we be apt to do it? I don't think so.
Sin suppresses the facts, just like fishing. The bait looks tremendously inviting to the fish. Nothing is seen or told of the sharp barbs which are hidden. All the fish sees are the worm's seductive wiggles, and all we see is something we don't possess or have not tried.
When we encounter temptation, and when escape is still possible, we often continue to look at the object and see its great desirous qualities. Then the next moment, when the sin is done, unable to be undone, we look back and see that it was something quite hideous and disgusting.
What was not told to you concerning the consequences is now completely known.
King David looks down or across to another roof and sees a beautiful nude woman taking her evening bath.
When he sees her, he says to himself, "That is one beautiful woman." So -King David was okay up to this point.
A temptation had flashed through his mind, "I wonder . . ." but that is as far as it had gone.
David probably began to walk away when the visual picture of this gorgeous woman flashed through his mind again. He hesitates for a moment - turns around, and goes back for a second look.
David does not realize it yet, but the downward spiral is about to begin at this point.
David has the woman brought to his quarters. Because he is king, she obeys him, and he ends up having sexual relations with her.
She goes home and, in the next month or so, sends word to David that she is pregnant.
Can you imagine the thoughts that run through King David's mind? God had blessed him earlier with the Davidic Covenant. He had blessed him in battle. David had openly acknowledged that he followed God.
But now, a woman is pregnant who is not his wife.
Here's where we see the full nature of sin taking hold of King David.
He invites Bathsheba's husband Uriah home from the battlefield to spend some time with his wife. I imagine David thought that if he could arrange for Uriah to sleep with her, Uriah would believe he caused the pregnancy.
Though the baby would come early, that could be blamed on just an early birth.
Uriah being a noble man would not enjoy the comforts of home while his men were still on the battlefield.
David was so desperate to cover up his sin that he arranges for Uriah's death.
2 Samuel 11:14-15 NAS95
Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. [15] He had written in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die."
Uriah carried his own death warrant back to the battlefield. David's sin spiral was increasing in speed.
2 Samuel 11:16-17 NAS95
So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. [17] 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.
Other men who were sent with Uriah to this dangerous spot next to the wall were also killed.
After Uriah was killed, King David plays the hero by swooping in and marrying the pregnant Bathsheba. His people probably commended him for doing so. Little did they know what had gone on.
As far as his people know, David is one peach of a guy!
2 Samuel 11:26-27 NAS95
Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. [27] 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.
Is it our intent to get caught in a set of events that takes us to the brink of destruction?
Like I could answer for King David, I can answer for all of us - an emphatic "No!"
Temptation is not sin.
Every one of us experiences it.
God gave you a brain with which to reason. Quit putting yourself into situations that tempt you. Stay away from things and people who can and will lead you down a path to hell.
If you are in the middle of something at the moment that you should not be involved in, remember that Jesus Christ died and rose to provide a different outcome to Satan's fishing expeditions. Jesus Christ suffered, died, and rose again that you might have forgiveness of your sins.
Let's Pray,
Gracious Heavenly Father,
May we be aware of our adversary's fishing expeditions into our lives.
Help us to resist the temptations that so often enter into our lives.
Help us to remember that our sins are forgiven and that we now only serve You.
Strengthen our hearts and minds this day.
In the Name of Jesus,
Amen!
