Uriah The Valiant Resolved Even Unto Death

We'll turn to 2 Samuel 11. I was thinking about Father's Day. You could say this message definitely has some application to us men. We need to be men who are determined and have resolve. That's very important. To consistently have that throughout our lives. Obviously, one of the great failures of leading as a father is passivity, is losing resolve, is losing some sort of determination. Even if you have a good stretch of that under your belt, in any area in the Christian life, consistency and perseverance is vital. And I was even thinking about the comment people have even said to me, Happy Father's Day. And I'm grateful I can say I'm happy to be a father. I'm thankful to have children. But, it's interesting in the Proverbs, it mentions there are children that actually bring shame to their father and their mother. And you could even say Happy Father's Day because it's a weighty thing being a father. And a few weeks ago, we were actually in the same section of 2 Samuel, and we were considering David. We're not going to primarily consider David right now, but we considered David. And one of the things I tried to emphasize, which actually kind of connects to this day of Father's Day, is we saw that David's adultery and murder, very shortly after he committed those sins, what happened? His sons were doing what? The exact same thing. He introduced those sins into the palace. And that was a very sobering reality that we saw. But today, we're primarily going to consider the resolve, the dedication, and the persistent determination of one man that he had for righteousness. And in this chapter, it's not going to be David. I wish it was. For most of David's life, you could really look for him to see that reality. David, in this chapter, is actually going to be on the other end. He's going to have an unwavering commitment for unrighteousness in the midst of this chapter in 2 Samuel 11 that we're going to read in a moment. And the man to imitate, Uriah, is a man full of integrity, and he dies in his integrity. And at the end of this message, I'm going to draw some parallels even to Uriah and Christ. Because there's different ways that Uriah conducts himself in this chapter that it should bring your mind to Christ. And Christ is the example of someone who lived in his integrity with resolve and determination his entire life. And because of that, it got him killed. Same thing with Uriah. Someone might say that Uriah was too good for his own good. Can you be too good for your own good? If someone says that you're too good for your own good, what do you think of that? I mean, it's almost like they're saying you should be less good and more unrighteous. But being a man of integrity is not being too good for your own good even if it kills you. Uriah dies and Christ dies, and they kept their integrity. And you know what? It's better to be that than compromising as we're going to see sadly that David does in this chapter. And so these men's conduct as we read this are both going to serve an example to every one of us here. Even if you're not a man, women, child, all of us are going to see characteristics. We're going to see conduct of how to act and how not to act. And this is important because any one of us could be like David and at some point in our lives end up declining to the point that he does in this chapter. And so we should read it with sobriety and a prayer to the Lord that He would keep us from falling into this. Did Uriah ever end up being a father? He's a married man. Is there anything in the Bible that this man ever had a child? There's nothing. And I was thinking, what prevented him from ever enjoying that blessing? A righteous man taking his wife, and this man never got to enjoy the joy of being a father. And I think that's a relevant point for days like today. Because there are some of you here who don't enjoy the blessings of fatherhood because sin is in this world. And sin has destroyed some relationship, destroyed some possibility. And we find great sympathy with Uriah here in this chapter. And we also find, again, this is the darkest period in King David's life. And what a window into this man's life. So let's read 2 Samuel 11. And as we read, since I primarily want to think about Uriah, I am going to make a few passing comments about David here. I don't want to take it for granted that everyone is as familiar with this chapter as most of us in this church, I trust, are. 2 Samuel 11. And Father, Lord, I do pray before we read that You would bless the reading of Your Word. Lord, even as I read these verses that Your Spirit has put here in this book, Your Bible before us, Lord, You can use just the reading of Your Word more than everything I'm going to say after I read this chapter. Lord, You can change someone. You could change me. Lord, You could help me to see something as we read this chapter that I didn't see all week in the study. And so, Lord, I just pray You'd open our eyes. And Lord, as was commented in the first hour, Lord, I do pray You'd poke us and prod us where we need it. We commit this time to You in Christ's name. Amen. 2 Samuel 11, verse 1, In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. He thought it wasn't worthwhile. He misused his time. He doesn't go to war. That's the beginning of his sin right here. At least part of it. Verse 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. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said to David, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Elium, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? So David finds out, this man who's got multiple wives, David, because polygamy is practiced, he finds out this woman belongs to another man. His soldiers tell him that and that doesn't persuade him. So he's just getting deeper here. Verse 4, So David sent messengers and took her. So he's using his royal power in a horrible way. There's a horrible example of following his lust. And he lay with her. Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanliness. Then she returned to her house, and the woman conceived, and she sent David and said, I am pregnant. So David sent word to Joab, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. So you can tell here, David's just trying to save face, save his reputation. He's having this little chit-chat here, but he totally has ulterior motives. Verse 8, Then David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. And you know, wash your feet, they believe is a euphemism for go and lay with your wife. And Uriah went out of the king's house and there followed him a present from the king. So David's even adding a present here. Maybe a bunch of meat or something some would believe for Uriah. Verse 9, But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord. He didn't go down to his house. So David's plan is starting to get foiled right here of Uriah going and laying with his wife and it looks like Uriah got her pregnant. That's what he's trying to do. He's trying to save his reputation. Verse 10, When they told David, Uriah didn't 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? Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah, they dwell in Booth. 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? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. Then David said to Uriah, Remain here today also and tomorrow I will send you back. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now if you're David, your plan of doing a cover-up is starting to get foiled. This is a really good opportunity to expose yourself. To get it all in the light. Does David do that? He doesn't. He decides to plunge deeper into darkness. Verse 13, And Uriah in all of this is being a man of resolve. And David invited him and he ate in his presence and drank, and then look at this, so that he made him drunk. Puts responsibility for Uriah's drunkenness upon David. And in the evening, he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord. But he did not go down to his house. In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And the letter he wrote, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting. And then draw back from him that he may be struck down and die. And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city, they came out, they fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. And he instructed the messenger, when you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then if the king's anger rises, his infamy says to you, why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech, the son of Jehubibesh? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebes? Why did you go so near to the wall? Then you shall say, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. The messenger said to David, the men gained an advantage over us. They came out against us in the field. And we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants are dead. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. Notice here, it wasn't just Uriah who died. Others died. When you practice deceit, you think there's just going to be a certain amount of consequence. Certain people are going to die. More people die than you expect. Verse 25, David said to the messenger, Thus shall you say to Joab, Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now and now another. David was like, what are you saying, David? Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it. It's almost like he chalks it up to the providence of God. Something he was doing. And he kind of excuses it as if this is God's work here and God is entirely responsible. Verse 26, when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. And when the morning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Well, amen. That's the reading of God's Word. What a section of Scripture. And often, I think we do think about David. And there's many reasons to do that. And I know years ago I did a sermon on the misuse of David's time, thinking something wasn't worthwhile and how it led to all of this. But right now, I want us to think about a person who I trust you saw is a very good model for all of us in many ways to imitate, and that is the man Uriah. And clearly, we have at least one Uriah in the church. You guys named your kid Uriah? I mean, there's a reason. There's something noble about this man right here. And I hope after I'm done, you're going to all the more be convinced of that. And all the more, I hope you're convinced just in reading God's Word. The terrifying reality of the stubborn resolve that David fell into, it's like he had a massive tumor that started to grow and he just kept feeding it. It just kept getting bigger and bigger and uglier and uglier. And what eventually brought David out of his stupor? If you don't know, the very next chapter for those who are new to the Scriptures, the very next chapter, God actually sends a prophet and He gives this illustration and it convicts David. And David basically says, go punish the man. And then Nathan says to David, thou art the man. And so all of a sudden, what David could never see, there's now this emotional jolt and he comes to realize certain Scriptures that he didn't apply to himself actually apply to himself. And David repents. God forget this man who did all of this, all this willful, rebellious sin. He's forgiven and in heaven. That is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for you. So, let's think about Uriah though. First, who is Uriah? Seven times, the Scripture says what about Uriah? Uriah who? The Hittite. Now we could pass that over, but let's think of that for a moment. Where else do you think about Hittites? Is this a Jew? It's not a Jew. He's a Gentile. In Genesis, Esau took a Hittite wife. How did that go for Isaac and Rebekah? The Hittite wife. Do you remember how it fared for them? It says Rebekah's life became bitter. She loathed her life because Esau took a Hittite woman. In 1 Kings, we see clearly the Hittites, they're not Jews, they're foreigners. This conduct of Uriah is from a foreigner, a Gentile, not a Jew. This is really important as we compare him to David. It just makes it all the more shocking. In 1 Kings 11, it says Solomon loved many foreign women. Moabite, Ammonite, and Hittite. You see? And he said don't marry these women. Why? Because the fear was if you married these women, they will turn your heart away after their gods. Now clearly these Hittites, they're different than Uriah. Right? They're Gentiles who are truer Jews than a Jew because their heart has been circumcised and changed and they truly want to honor the Lord. And then we read in 2 Samuel 23 that Uriah was one of David's mighty men. It says these are the names of David's mighty men in 2 Samuel 23 verse 39. It ends with Uriah the Hittite. And it says 37 in all. So Uriah is a Hittite. He's a non-Jew. Some would even call him a mercenary who's on David's squad here. And we see his character compared to David, the man after God's own heart. Now, Uriah wasn't a normal Hittite. Was he turning anyone's heart away from the true God? What do you actually find happening? Who's trying to turn whose heart away in the chapter? David. David was trying to turn Uriah's heart away from his resolve. The Hittite women made Rebekah loathe her life. Was Uriah causing anyone to loathe their life? Yeah. Who was loathing their life because of Uriah's conduct? David. It was a good type of loathing his life. In Psalm 32, he records how his bones were wasting away through his groaning all day long. So Uriah's a really good type of Hittite here. He's actually benefiting David except in this situation, David doesn't view it for his benefit because he's trying to cover up his sin. So first, when we think about Uriah, this man that we see has a determination and resolve, we see this is a non-Jew. This is a Gentile foreigner. His character is being contrasted in the chapter with the very King of Israel. And by the end of the chapter, you stand in awe, not of David's character. You stand in awe of Uriah's character and his resolve. The foreigner is faithful and loyal to a king who's being unfaithful to this foreigner in taking his wife. That's shocking. But you know what it does show? Like I said, it shows the power of God at work even in a Gentile's life. And we see that all the more now in our generation where the day of the Gentile has come. I mean, who here is even a Jew physically? We're all Jews through circumcision of the heart. And so this king, think of this, brother. The king is pursuing one of the mighty men's wives. David knows where Uriah's at. Where's Uriah? Out at battle. And who's Uriah out at battle fighting for? For David. And David is at home taking the man's wife. This is unbelievable. David is unable to abstain from immorality. And what happens when Uriah comes back? He has a legitimate relationship with his wife and he still abstains from that for what cause? To be faithful to serve David and go right back to war. This is just absolutely shocking. In the whole chapter, you just see David being drained of his qualities. Brethren, that can happen to you or to me. How can this be? Any one of us can decline as David did in the compromise. You get one little leak in the bucket, and you might see all this nice quality that's in there. It can start draining out at a rapid pace through one little leak. It doesn't matter what your religious upbringing was. David had the religious upbringing. Uriah didn't. It doesn't matter what your position is. David had the position Uriah didn't. It doesn't matter what past success you had. David killed Goliath. David was very sensitive in his conscience at many points in the past. Whatever past success you and I have is no guarantee of present holiness in our lives. I mean, here a Hittite man surpasses the King of Israel in his integrity. It's absolutely a shocking reality to me. So that's the first thing about Uriah. He was a Hittite. Here, the second thing is, why did he not go down to his house? Why did he not? I think there's a little more to the reason than what's just right there on the surface. Look at 2 Samuel 11-11 again. Uriah said to David, so here David asks, have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go? Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, 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 drink and to lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. So, I mean, the main reason is his companionship and determination and resolve to see Israel have victory in that battle, and Uriah doesn't want to have anything distracting him from the mission that is right in front of him. I mean, he is determined. My fellow soldiers are camping, even if the king himself is inviting me to take a rest, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to be determined to do what I have been called to do and not take a rest. I mean, talk about a man bearing the burdens of his soldiers. That's Uriah. He goes right outside and he doesn't go home and he sleeps with the other men outside. It reminds me of 2 Timothy 2:4. What did Paul say there? No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the One who enlisted him. Brethren, that's Uriah right here. He's not getting entangled. And the shocking thing is the very one trying to get him entangled in civilian pursuits is who? The king! The very one that he's fighting for. I mean, imagine having the most respected, revered leader who's influenced you for 20 years or whatever, they're now opposing you, and like Peter, telling Christ to not go and suffer. You've got to be able to, even in that situation, like Jesus said to Peter, get behind Me, Satan. You're setting your mind on things of the earth and not on things above. And so Uriah's got this determination even in view of David. He knows those men could have an attack at any moment. Imagine those men getting an attack and Uriah's not there for the battle because he went home to eat all the free meat David gave him and go to lay with his wife. Uriah can't go do that with a clear conscience. Maybe think about a lot of these viral videos on the Internet. A lot of them, a constant stream, is these surprise videos of soldiers coming home to be with their family. Right? You've got the girl at school and the dad coming up. She has no idea he came back from Afghanistan and he comes and taps his daughter on the shoulder and you have all these surprise videos. And we can relate to that. Wouldn't the thing you want to do when you get home from war is go see your wife? Wouldn't you expect your wife would be right there waiting for you? I mean, have any of you heard of a soldier who he got home and he didn't even go see his wife? He went right to the Pentagon, reported for duty, then goes back to the airport and sleeps there waiting for his return ticket back to Afghanistan? Have you ever heard of anyone doing that? We just read about him. Uriah. Commitment to this cause. And yet the very one, the king he's fighting for, is back at home taking this man's wife. And he's clueless to all of this. This is absolutely heartbreaking. Brethren, sin is heartbreaking. People betray you. Even those who are so close to you, they might stab you in the back. And it's shocking that it's David here. This isn't Judas betraying Christ. This is a true believer in a dark season in their life sinning against a man who's full of resolve in Uriah. Uriah, he says right there in v. 11, I will not do this thing. I'm not going to enjoy rest while others are not. I'm not. I've come back. I've got to get back to war. So he had a real sense of duty. And there's another thing to think about here for a moment about why he didn't go home. As you read through some of these laws in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy, you know what you find? The Bible describes that a man upon even legitimately enjoying his wife, he enters a period of having some uncleanliness that needs to be washed and cleaned before he can go back to war. In 1 Samuel, the priest answered David, I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves from women. He's not saying if they kept themselves from adultery. In Deuteronomy, if any man among you becomes unclean, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp. Why is this? Deuteronomy 23, 14. Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies before you in battle. Therefore, your camp must be holy so that He may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. So part of me actually believes that Uriah, this is part of his motivation. He realizes if he goes home and enjoys his wife, not only is it not being sympathetic to the soldiers out there on war, he then has to enter into a season of cleaning himself prior to even going back to war. And right now, the army is in camp. The ark is there. The last thing that's going to enter Uriah's mind is this is a time to rest and much less possibly delay my ability to go back. And we saw in Deuteronomy, who's the ultimate one who delivers Israel in battle? God. And the Lord is looking at the camp to see if there's any indecency among them. The ark is there. The ark, a tangible representation of a spiritual reality of God's presence as a divine warrior for His people. And Uriah has a sense of sobriety going back into that situation. And he knows of these laws it would seem, and he's not enjoying a liberty with his wife because he wants to go back there and fight for his God and for his King. So one brother, I think rightly put it, Uriah's sense of propriety and his concern for ritual purity is greatly contrasted with the impurity of David. You see this? David is committing adultery with another man's wife that deserves death. Uriah over here is not going and laying with his wife a legitimate liberty and possibly one of the reasons he knows the purity laws and he's wanting to be ready for battle. Who's taking war and holiness more seriously here? Uriah or David? Who's the one to imitate with this resolve? It's Uriah. Uriah. Another brother said, a Gentile Hittite honored the ritual chastity of the other Hebrew fighting men. This is a Gentile. This is a Gentile taking more seriously these ritual laws of purity than the very King of Israel who's in the midst of an adulterous relationship. Oh, how the righteous have fallen! And that again, it could be any one of us. It all began with David not going to war. That's the shocking reality, brethren. So, Uriah, he was a man determined, resolved. He had a particular goal in action and sadly, David was resolved to cover it up. And he just kept adding one more wrong to one more of Uriah's rites. And so, let's think here. Consider how Uriah was resolved, and this is something we need in our day and age. Uriah was resolved that even when the king commanded differently, Uriah believed it is better to obey God than to obey man. Isn't that what Peter said in Acts 4:29? He was told to stop teaching and Peter's perspective is, you know what? I need to honor the government, but not in this. Uriah had that same mindset. David says, go home and lay with your wife. Uriah, he didn't do that. This man had some radical resolve. Here, David, he's sent for another man's wife. But here, Uriah, when sent back and told by the king to go and lay with his own wife, he refuses. And it's just shocking the resolve of this man. Brethren, you know what even gives me hope as a Gentile Christian? The power of God can be at work in your life to give the same self-control and resolve and determination as we're seeing here with Uriah. We're made of the same cloth as this man. God can give you the grace to be a soldier of Christ Jesus in a similar way. And are we as Gentile recruits being loyal in the area of waging war with a clear conscience? Is your conscience clear? Or is something getting in the way? So, it's better to obey God than man. Even if the king himself says to tone it down. Uriah, you're taking it too serious. Just go home and spend time with your wife. Here all this meat is. Here these things are. What did Uriah do? He was a man who was determined. Secondly, he had to be doubly resolved. Because what happens after he doesn't go the first time? What's David do? David makes him drunk, the text says. And what does Uriah then do at that point? He's now intoxicated. David's led him into this. And where does David find him the next morning? Still laying outside. And so, there's enough resolve here that even when drunk by the king leading him into that, this man still had enough resolve in that state to not go home. Absolutely incredible here. God is empowering Uriah to not do the very thing David wants in order to cover himself up. Because God cares for David and knows David is eventually going to have to be exposed for this. The Lord might give you great grace, Christian, to expose someone else's hypocrisy, and you think, why did I have all this power in my life in those few weeks of my life? Well, the Lord might have another child of God that He's needing you to be a means of convicting them, making them get to a point of groveling at their sin and repenting of it. So Uriah, this man is just committed to the other soldiers to not indulge in something that he can't partake in. He's bearing their burdens. As Hebrews 13 says, he's acting as if he's in prison with them. That's what we're called to do with those who are suffering. He wants to be ready to re-engage in war. And here David was, not at war, asleep on the couch, and he got up and he couldn't say no. Shocking. Very shocking. Do you maintain your character in a consistent manner when you face multiple temptations to compromise? That's what Uriah's facing. And Uriah is facing it not from the lost, onlooking world. He's facing it from a physical and religious leader more famous than anyone else in his generation. That's the one trying to lead this man off a certain path and resolve. And guess what? David fails and Uriah is resolved. But David, he's not going to allow himself to be stopped by these difficulties. He keeps persisting. It's so sad. And Uriah at the same time keeps persisting. This is a positive thing. Well, another thing to think about here. Consider how you and I should be resolved to be trustworthy. What makes you say Uriah is trustworthy from this chapter? When we read it here, what stands out to you where you say, you know what, this man was really trustworthy? What did he do? What did David give him? He gave him a letter. And what was contained in that letter? Yeah, the orders to have you killed. What's that show about David's perspective on Uriah? I mean, imagine Uriah gets outside the town. He's like, well, I'm going to open this thing up. He's like, oh, they're going to have me killed. And he goes and gives that to the news organization. And I mean, next thing you know, David's really in trouble. And you don't think David wouldn't have thought of that. In some ways, he's abusing this man's trust by giving him the letter, which all the more would kind of affirm to Uriah that oh, David doesn't have anything up his sleeve. I mean, we have no idea if Uriah was smelling something was going on and all of this. It doesn't say. But he gets sent to the front lines with the very letter containing the instructions for his death. I mean, David, David, how calloused can you become? Maybe, you know, Uriah is a good soldier. Whatever false assumptions he had coming in his mind about David and he just love-believes all things and he just believed the best. I mean, I don't know what was going on in his mind. We won't find out. But his honesty throughout this chapter, it foils the wickedness of the king on one hand, but on another hand, his honesty helps King David live out his plans. Brethren, you know, it's not just Uriah who's trustworthy in this chapter. Who else, when you read 2 Samuel 11, do you come away saying, this is a trustworthy person? Their name's nowhere, well, maybe, yeah, it is mentioned, I guess. Who else? You know who else I read this chapter and think they're trustworthy? God. Why would I read 2 Samuel 11 and think how trustworthy God is? Is this chapter about how trustworthy God is? In some way, it is. In some way, it is. As one brother said, in the fearless march of providence, we see many a proof of the courage of God by keeping this chapter right here. It is God alone that could have the fortitude to place in the holy book this foul story of sin and shame. He only could deliberately encounter the scorn which it has drawn down from every generation of ungodly men. The only wise God who sees the end from the beginning, who can rise high above all fears and objections of short-sighted men. You see that? Look at how trustworthy God is. He didn't sweep this under the rug. David is trying to sweep something under the rug. God isn't. He put it right here for you and me. If you've got any doubt of the Lord that He's trying to present Himself in a way that is not accurate, brethren, He kept this in here. A man after his own heart. This should all the more validate to us that God is trustworthy. His Word is trustworthy. God never lies. He's not trying to hide these things from us. Well, another thing to think about with Uriah, people who are resolved and honest and have clear consciences and they're maintaining their integrity, they end up being very bold and courageous. David was like that at one point in his life when he slayed Goliath. Uriah. He got put at the place in the battle where the valiant warriors were at. He got put in the most dangerous place in the battle. And what did Uriah do? Did he shrink back? No. He went forward into the battle even though it cost him his life. And isn't that a contrast? Uriah's out there dying for David while David is back sleeping on his couch, not with a clear conscience. Brethren, again, it's just shocking how much the righteous have fallen right here. So, brethren, integrity and a clear conscience gives you boldness to go forward that God is with you. Uriah had that boldness. David did in the past. What if your lack of boldness right now in something you're facing, Christian, is based on some moral compromise in your life that's grieved the Spirit and has stripped you of the boldness and the courage that you used to have? In all of this, Uriah is rejecting the very life that David is presently leading rather than getting pulled into it. You almost get the sense David did not consider that his deceit and lies would be thwarted by Uriah's integrity and honesty. And brethren, you and I could do the same thing. And you know where we see that happen? At work. Right? Some of you have been in places at work where you're maintaining your integrity. The company's using illegal software. People are lying on their hours. Whatever. Fill in the blank. And you have integrity. You're not there trying to rat everyone out, but just that integrity itself convicts those who are trying to go around the system. And you're going to face some sort of persecution maybe just like Uriah is facing from David. You're not being too good for your own good. Even if you lose the job because of your integrity, it is better to lose the job and your integrity than keep the job by compromising. Have you ever had that happen in your life? Someone's righteousness just rebukes you? Have you ever had that happen? You're starting to struggle and you get around someone else who's really taking the things of God seriously and it's a rebuke to you. It cuts you to the heart. We need that in our life. We need people driving us into such conviction. Well, remember, when David was a youth, remember when he took his food to his brothers? When he stood before Goliath and the Philistines? He wanted to be there so bad, his brothers almost had to get security basically to remove him from the battlefield. Where's that resolve now? David, what happened? What happened to you? To me? If we've lost any resolve? If we've lost any determination? This David, his conscience? What was one of the things that David's conscience has convicted him of in the past? What did he do? Anyone remember? He cut Saul's garment! And his conscience strikes him. You'd almost think we're reading about a different guy with the same name of David here in this chapter. But we're not. Brethren, this shows us how frail we are. It's not Saul here trying to kill David as it was back then. It's David here trying to kill Uriah. You just can't believe this. It should sober all of us up. And yet, it should be an example of Uriah's resolve. David's swelling tumor is growing more and more on his head. But Uriah is more and more being resolved. Think of this again. I've already kind of mentioned this. But the leader, King David, is trying to remove Uriah's sobriety of mind in the midst of a season of war. You see that? A spiritual leader who mostly gave good and sound counsel to Uriah, assuming that from the years prior to David's fall, this man is now opposing Uriah. Right? Just like Peter opposed Christ, even though he had a lot of positive things to say at one moment, the same thing could happen to us. Someone, a good Christian, can say something to you or me to try to tone the zeal down. And it's not something that we should respond to. We're actually on the right path. But we might question it. We might wonder if we've taken things too far. And are there times we take things too far? Sure. But you've got to look and see what it is. The situation that you're facing. And obviously, it's easy for David to encourage Uriah to remain and just feed the flesh. Of course that's easy for David to do because that's what he's been doing. That just shows the negative influence you or I could have if we're in a season of compromise in our lives. May the Lord help us. You know, was David's intention ever to marry Uriah? Or to marry Bathsheba? No, it wasn't. Right? He tried to get it looking like Uriah got his wife pregnant. He wasn't trying to kill Uriah eventually. He had to kill Uriah because Uriah was too resolved and didn't go to his house. This shows David is suffering the consequences of this momentary lapse of character. And maybe it wasn't even momentary. You could argue even in his 50s here, there were other things leading to this point. And here are these consequences. You know what it says in 2 Timothy? Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness. Uriah is doing that. Uriah is not sitting around like David. Uriah is actively pursuing righteousness. And that in itself is a defense that keeps him from immorality. So brethren, what in your life could you be like Uriah in and need to say as he says right there, I will not do this thing? Uriah says, I won't do this thing. I won't go home and take this liberty and lay with my wife. I need to be ready for combat. I need to be ready to go back to war. Is there something in your own life you've said that, Lord, I'm not going to do this liberty. But maybe you weren't doubly resolved. Maybe you got an attack again the next week. And maybe it's something God's really given you a liberty to do. But you know at this season in your life as a Christian or on that day, the spiritual battle is so intense. And there the enemy is trying to get you to dull the edge a little. Right? Not go to war. Not take it that seriously. May the Lord help us to discern if any of that's happening in our own hearts. Because your resolve and my resolve, it can disintegrate. There might be something you were convinced about last week and something right now in your life is trying to whittle away and disintegrate your confidence. Maybe it's in the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Maybe the enemy is trying to convince you that God's Word has errors. I don't know what it is, but we've got an enemy and he's constantly on the attack. So you see in all of this, your riot was resolved. And in the face of David opposing him. I mean, think of the difficulty of that. The very man you're looking up to, the very man as a spiritual leader is opposing you at this point in his life. That is very, very difficult. Well, lastly here, in all of this, I just want to thank God for the Gospel. We have a small window into Uriah's resolve. But who's the person we have a very large window into their life and their resolve? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 9, when the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem. You hear that? He set His face. He was resolved. That's what I get from Uriah. This is a man who He set His face and He was resolved. And I want you to think here, consider David. Maybe let me ask you this first. Who in the New Testament, a wicked man, is David having similar conduct to and how he's treating the righteous Uriah? If you think of anyone, not a lost man in the New Testament. Think about Pilate. Think about Pilate here. David is conducting himself with Uriah in a similar way that Pilate conducted himself with Christ. So think of this for a moment here. This is going to point us back to the cross and to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, what led Pilate to have Christ killed? He wanted to preserve His place, His position, right? He was seeking to save His reputation. Same thing with David, right? David's trying to cover this up in order to save his reputation. Did David want Uriah initially killed? No, he didn't. But because of Uriah's righteousness, David eventually had him killed. Same thing with Pilate. Did Pilate want Christ to be killed in the beginning? No, no, he didn't. He actually sent Christ away. Matthew 27, he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up. So David, he knew why Uriah was there. It was because of him. And Pilate knew why Christ was there. What does David and what does Pilate do? They seek to save face, to save their position. David's eyes were on escaping the present negative consequences of his actions. So it was with Pilate. He wanted to satisfy the crowds. Pilate had many unrighteous people oppose the righteous Christ. And so it is with Uriah. Many unrighteous people like Joab, they took part in Uriah's death. It wasn't just David. He got others involved in it. And they were aware of this righteous man going to die. Same thing with the Lord Jesus Christ. Both Pilate and David, they sought to keep the innocent alive, but they just couldn't. There was too much pressure that was coming upon them. You know what Pilate and David both did as well? They both ignored the warnings. Pilate's wife, she had a dream. It had nothing to do with this righteous man. Pilate had even sent Jesus to Herod. Same thing with David. Uriah doesn't go and lay with his wife. You've got a lot of reasons right now to stop what you're doing, David. But David and Pilate, they both ignored the warnings. Matthew Henry, he said, that innocent, that valiant and gallant man who is ready to die for his prince's honor must die by his prince's hand. You know, that made me think of the Gospel. Right here too. And brethren, the innocent and the valiant Christ who was resolved in His whole life, He went and He died for us sinners. He knowingly went to the cross. He despised the shame. He suffered the fate that we deserve. And it wasn't by the prince's hand unknowingly. Uriah died by the king's order and he didn't know it. That's not what happened with Christ. God the Father and His Son, they were in it together. Him going to the cross to die. The Lord Jesus was fully aware of what His Father had sent Him to do and to accomplish. And think of this, David kills Uriah to cover up his own sin. Well, guess what? Christ died to cover up sin. Not in the same way. Not cover up sin like He did, but to cover our sins. To purge us of all of our sins. So here Uriah is carrying the letter for his death and he didn't know it. And Christ went forward carrying the letter for His death from His Father and He knew it. And He was aware of what was happening. And courageously, He went to that cross. David, he couldn't find any fault in Uriah. Just as Pilate couldn't with Christ. The only fault in Uriah was the convicting power of his resolve and his character and the decisions he made. He was exposing David's sin and David's wickedness, thus he had to die. In the same manner, the Lord Jesus' life, His one perfect life, it exposed men's sins and in the same way, they wanted Him dead. They didn't want to have their sin exposed. Christ though, He rose from the dead. He had victory. For Uriah, he didn't rise, at least not yet. He will in the final resurrection. But Nathan did come and he brought into the light what was in the darkness. And the Lord came to David, removed him from the darkness, and forgave David of his sin. Just remarkable that David is a forgiven man. You'd almost think we're reading about a Judas and an unbeliever here, but we're not. You know what that shows? Saul of Tarsus was a murderer and was involved in Christians being killed and he's in heaven. David had Uriah killed and David's in heaven. So the Lord forgave two murderers, Saul and David. You know what that means for you if you're here today and you're not a Christian? It doesn't matter what you've done, Christ can and He will save you. If you confess your sin, He is faithful and just to forgive you of all of your sins. And the Lord Jesus really did take that letter from His own Father and He went to that wall and on that cross and He died valiantly for us that all of our sins could be pardoned. And as I was talking to someone beforehand, it's not just the sins being legally removed. He changes your nature. He gives you a new heart. He gives you a new wander inside that heart where 1 John 5, 3, it says, this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are no longer a burden. You see, the Christians have been regenerated. They've made new. And even a regenerated person who has the Spirit like David because Psalm 51, He said, take not thy Holy Spirit away from Me. We should walk in fear and trembling lest we too compromise morally in any subtle way and end up like him. We want to be like Uriah. Resolved. Determined. To look at things in our lives where we've said I'm not going to do this thing. And to stick to it. Stick to it at that season of war in our life. To be faithful to our King. And He's going to come back one day. So, brethren, may the Lord help us. Here you had these two men. Two men resolved. And I just plead with anyone here, if you're resolved like David is, and you're actually going against the grain, against the conviction, against God trying to expose something in your life, look where it ends up. Don't just surrender. Confess your sins. He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins. Don't go on like this. This is terrifying. There's plenty of opportunity, and there has been, to stop everything where it is right now. I'd say that even for the lost. Maybe you were convicted two years ago. I need to repent. You put it off. You procrastinate. Why keep making excuses? This Christ is willing. With the holes in His hands, He's willing to embrace you, forgive you, and make you His own. Let's pray. Father, Lord, we thank You that before the foundation of the world, You chose us in Him. Lord, there's so much that we don't know. There's so many letters, so to speak, that we don't know what's going on. But Lord, You do. You're ruling and reigning. And Lord, I pray You'd help us to be resolved like Uriah. Lord, I pray You'd help us to stand firm in righteousness. Lord, even when we're mocked because we're honoring something and not embracing some liberty, Lord, that we wouldn't lose resolve even if the attack comes two times and even if the attack comes from a well-known, respected preacher like David in a way. Father, help us to be resolved, to honor You. And Lord, I pray that You would help us as fathers to lead our families in such a way of resolve. And yet, Lord, we feel sorrow over Uriah and everything that happened in his life. And Lord, I pray You'd give us the discernment as leaders in our families and homes. Lord, to pick up on things, to be aware of things. If the enemy wages his attacks upon us, Lord, that we wouldn't deteriorate. Lord, help us if there's any hole in the bucket of our soul, of our character. Lord, we don't want to see everything drained out. And Lord, help us to go to war. Father, we don't want to be like David and remain when we shouldn't. Lord, if we should be in the battle and the spiritual war, Lord, help us to do that very thing. Help us to fight. Lord, I thank You for these saints. And Lord, I just pray You'd bless the remainder of our day and the different fellowship we have and times different people have with their fathers. And Lord, those who are here and their father has passed away, or they never knew that father, Lord, I just pray that You would be the God of all comfort and comfort those people. And Lord, be with the fathers who've lost children. And Lord, they grieve not having that child there on this day. And Lord, as was mentioned, we thank You for being our Father. Lord, we heard about it last Sunday that You're a Father who disciplines those who You love. And Lord, we thank You for the ways that You discipline us that we might share in godliness. Lord, thank You for not leaving us to ourselves. And Lord, we want to be children of God who don't bring rot to Your bones. Lord, we want to be children who bring You joy. And so, Lord, help us to respond to the rot of Your reproof when it strikes us. Lord, please, help us not be the fool who a hundred blows and he doesn't turn. Lord, we don't want to be like that. And so, Lord, we just commit ourselves to You. You're a good, faithful God. And Lord, we thank You for Your goodness. We pray all of this in Christ's name, Amen.