Faithful Uriah
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 100 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Uriah the Hittite (the faithful man: to his wife, to his king, to his commander, to his God) David (the fallen man)
Uriah:
How he lived was faithful
How he looked was foolish!
The wife he was faithful to cheated on him, the king who he was faithful to ordered his death, the commander he stood behind had him murdered
Before going any further, isn’t it awesome that we serve a God who is full of mercy and grace!
Even knowing the fact that David would commit this sin, God called him a man after His own heart.
Jesus the Messiah would be born out of the house of David!
What mercy and grace that was shown!
God’s blood covers all sin.
There is nothing you can ever do to lose the right and privilege to be saved!
No sin you can commit to cause you to lose your salvation.
God says what sins are you talking about?
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, And passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, Because he delighteth in mercy.
As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
David was not where he was supposed to be. He was supposed to be at war.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time
Wrong Place, Wrong Time
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 at Jerusalem.
“But David tarried still at Jerusalem.”
The Devil finds work for idle hands to do and we should therefore be warned of the danger of having nothing in particular to do.
Sin started leads to more sin to hide it.
Where are you tarrying?
It may be the lake on a Sunday Morning, a basketball game on a Wednesday night, or your couch during outreach.
Four teenagers were arrested in the parking lot of a large mall in Lakeland, Fla., just before Christmas when, attempting to steal an automobile at random, they tried to break into a police van containing three officers on a stakeout.
Although we may laugh at that we should be mindful of the importance of our decisions.
A boy was known to be a good kid.
Never did anything stupid like breaking the law, etc.
However he got caught up in the wrong crowd and started experimenting with alcohol.
One night he was invited to drink with some friend. After night was spent, the kid came home.
Since he did not want his parents what he had been up to, he decided to crawl into the house through a window.
However, since he was intoxicated this young boy did not realize that this particular house was not his house.
When the owner of the house found this young man sneaking into his house he shot him.
All it took was one time of drinking for the boy to lose his life. Real story. Caleb Gordley; Saturday night early Sunday morning in March 2013
Tonight Let us look at three qualities of Uriah’s Faithfulness
Faithful Because of Grace
Faithful Because of Grace
He is not even an Israelite, he is a proselyte.
He shouldn’t even have married Bathsheeba, served in David’s army, served God but SOMEWHERE he found grace.
A professional violinist had a huge concert. He played all his pieces each one surpassing the next in difficulty!
After his last piece the entire crowd rose to their feet and gave him a standing ovation.
He bowed a couple times with this uncomfortable look in his face. After his bow he went offstage.
The crowd was still roaring with applause.
Someone backstage almost having to yell over the cacophony of the clapping said to the violinist, "go back out there and take another bow! They loved you!"
The violinist sternly said, "that performance did not deserve this kind of response."
The other, kind of perplexed, asked, "what are you talking about? You did outstanding! Look at that crowd (pointing to the mob clapping in adoration of his performance)"
Then the violinist said, "you see, you don't understand... Do you see that one man sitting in the front row? The man that is not standing up with his arms crossed and a disappointed look on his face."
The other said, "yes, I do."
The violinist said, "that is my teacher. If he is not pleased with my performance then I am not pleased with my performance."
It doesn't matter who you please if you fail to please Jesus. If you don't please Jesus, it really doesn't matter who you do please.
I’m sure you have had coworkers, who were the laziest person you’d ever met but when the boss comes by and may start asking questions like, “what have you guys gotten done so far?” or “What have you been doing all day?”
They were speechless and maybe tried to make up something... We all will give an account to the Lord.
We as Christians should have the desire to do our very best for the Lord.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
God has done so much for us! It is the least we can do to simply live for him.
Is there anything more reasonable than that a child should obey the father on whom he is dependent for everything?
God’s service is a reasonable service; the slave of sin and Satan is the most unreasonable of all beings.
Faithful in Spite of Grief
Faithful in Spite of Grief
All the grief that Uriah experienced came because of others
He died without hearing (Bathsheeba’s affair)
David heard a lot of terrible things (the news of the baby’s death)
He died without hating (with a clean record)
He died without halting
Followed orders right to his death
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
There may be some folks here tonight who are great Christians and in church every time the doors are open when God is blessing them and everything is going well.
But will turn their backs on God and fail to do the basic Christian duties when hard trials come.
I’m not trying to make light your trial and say toughen up you because I am sure you may be going through a lot.
But what I am trying to say is that we have the privilege to go through the storms with the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator of the universe.
Paul went through major persecution and yet he called all of a light affliction, temporal, but for a moment.
Uriah lived this out as well: no matter how much he went through he probably said I am just gonna do what is right, I am going to be faithful.
How about you?
How His Faithfulness is Remembered by God
How His Faithfulness is Remembered by God
He was one of David’s mighty men
Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.
Genealogy in the New Testament
And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
He doesn’t belong in a Jewish Genealogy
Thomas Lipton finished his life as a wealthy and successful businessman, best known for the tea company that bears his name, but he started out as a poor boy working hard to make a living.
Late in his life he reflected on some of the lessons he had learned in his early days.
Lipton heard a young man who worked for him mention that he couldn’t afford a new coat and decided to help.
He said, “I thought the matter over and then took a sovereign from my carefully hoarded savings and bought the boy a stout warm suit of blue cloth.
He was so grateful that I felt repaid for my sacrifice.
But the next day he didn’t come to work.
I met his mother on the street and asked her the reason.
‘Why, Mr. Lipton,’ she said, curtsying, ‘Jimmie looks so respectable, thanks to you, sir, that I thought I would send him around town today to see if he couldn’t get a better job!’”
There is a real temptation for us, especially after we have been saved for a number of years, to lose the deep sense of gratitude that we should have for God’s mercy.
We deserve nothing from God except judgment for our sins.
Yet in His love He offers forgiveness for sins and membership in His family.
All of the benefits we receive as Christians were purchased with the precious blood of Jesus.
We should live each day full of gratitude and rejoicing, but too often we take for granted what we have received and act as though we should get more.
Uriah means “My Light is Yahweh”
He is a picture of Jesus
Forsaken at his death,
Died to cover someone’s sins
I’m sure Uriah got hear God say, “Well done!”
Conclusion
Conclusion
I’m sure Uriah was dead set on being faithful to God.
We was not going to waver, he was going to stand fast.
If you were to talk to him he would probably say...
I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed.
I have stepped over the line.
The decision has been made.
I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.
My past is redeemed, my future is secure.
I’m finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity.
I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, live by prayer and labor by His power.
My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable and my mission clear.
I cannot be bought, deluded or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up and preached up for the cause of Christ.
I am a a disciple of Jesus.
I must go ‘till He comes, give ‘till I drop, preach ‘till all know and work ‘till He stops me.
And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.
Isn’t it about time we start acting like that.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
When we love the world and its sin we are to God what Bathsheba was to Uriah.
If you are not saved tonight, not on your way to heaven please make the decision tonight.
Former President Ronald Reagan says he learned the need for decision-making early in life.
An aunt had taken him to a cobbler to have a pair of shoes made for him.
The shoemaker asked young Ronald Reagan, “Do you want a square toe or a round toe?”
Reagan hemmed and hawed. So the cobbler said, “Come back in a day or two and let me know what you want.”
A few days later the shoemaker saw Reagan on the street and asked what he had decided about the shoes.
“I still haven’t made up my mind,” the boy answered. “Very well,” said the cobbler.
When Reagan received the shoes, he was shocked to see that one shoe had a square toe and the other a round toe.
“Looking at those shoes every day taught me a lesson,” said Reagan years later. “If you don’t make your own decisions, somebody else will make them for you!”
“Some people are very decisive when it comes to avoiding decisions.”— Brendan Francis
Growing up we lived in a small house. We didn’t have a whole lot of land but it seemed like every square inch produced weeds.
How do you eliminate weeds?
Manual labor! Back then my name was manual and my brother’s was labor.
There may be weeds your life that you need to decide to pull they won’t go away on their own it takes work.
