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2 Samuel chapter 11, we have the famous story of David and Bathsheba, it's really a sad story to see the downfall of such a great man and this story is going to set in motion a course of events that is going to pretty much destroy David's family in the coming years as God punishes him for committing this major sin. Now it's interesting when you put it in perspective with the rest of the book of 2 Samuel is that David had gone through so many trials and tribulations back in the book of 1 Samuel when he's being hunted by Saul and so many bad things are happening to him. Then in the beginning of 2 Samuel he's made king and he becomes established as king and if you remember the last few chapters have been very positive about David. For example look back at chapter 7 verse 1, it says, and it came to pass when the king sat in his house and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies. And look at chapter 8 verse 1, and after this it came to pass that David smote the Philistines and subdued them. So it's just victory after victory, God's given him rest, he's winning all the battles and then in chapter 9 it says in verse 1, and David said is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake. And then in chapter 10 he wants to show kindness unto his allies and he basically wins that battle as well and ends up conquering the Syrians and conquering them. Just victory after victory, God is blessing David, he's doing the right things, he's showing the kindness of the Lord unto friend and foe alike and God is blessing him but we see the downfall in chapter 11. Everything's going great up to this point, everything would have continued to go great and after this story we're going to see a series of tragedies that are a direct result of the choices that David makes in this chapter. But look at verse number 1 of chapter 11, 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 them and all Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah but David tarried still at Jerusalem. Now obviously nothing in the Bible is incidental, coincidental or accidental and God's bringing up for a reason that this is the time when kings go forth to battle. Why did the children of Israel even choose a king in the first place? God had told them that he wanted them to be under the judges and that's the system that they had for about 400 years but they said we want a king to do battle for us, you know, to go out and come in before us and to lead us in battle. That's the king's job but he's sitting on the sidelines and sending his lieutenant Joab to go fight the battles and it says at the time when kings go forth to battle he tarried still at Jerusalem and sends Joab to do it. Look at verse 2, and it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. Now notice very carefully here that it says in the evening tide David arose from off his bed. Now in order to arise from off your bed you must have already been in bed at that point. Now think about it, why would you go to bed and then get up out of bed and go walking around on the roof because you can't, right? And that's what happens sometimes, you've probably been there, where you go to bed at night and you can't sleep and you get frustrated and finally you're just like, that's it, I'm just going to get up and find something to do because this is just pointless, you know, I'm not falling asleep, I'm too riled up or whatever. Now that's what we see here with David. David is going to bed at night and cannot sleep, so he gets up and just goes walking around just looking for whatever. And this is when we get into trouble when we're idle like this, okay, when we're not doing our job, we're not doing the things that we should be doing, so we have all this extra free time, all this extra energy and we're sitting around and bored, that's when we're going to get into trouble in our lives. If we stay busy doing the right things and fighting the right battles, then we wouldn't fall into these kind of sins. Now why is it that people can't sleep? Well, the Bible says that the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. And when you can't sleep at night, I'll tell you a big part of that is probably just that you have not been physically active enough. And today we live in a society where we've become very sedentary and slothful and sluggish and therefore more and more people struggle to go to sleep at night. Why? Because they're not working hard, they're not doing anything, and so of course they're not going to be able to go to sleep. You know, if you go out and work, the Bible says the sleep of a laboring man, it says whether he eat little or eat much, his sleep will be sweet. And you know that when you've gone out and physically worked hard, it feels good to get in that bed. You're not looking to go walking around on the roof. You know why you're walking around on the roof is because you didn't do any work. Now you say, well that's not fair, Pastor Anderson, because my job requires me to just work on a computer. And a lot of people today have jobs like that. And I've spent days working on the computer, but if that's you, you need to find a way to get physically active, just for the sake of your health. Because honestly, you'll destroy your body living a sedentary life. God did not design us to sit in a chair all day, and your body will decay and atrophy. So if you have a job where you are sitting at a computer all day, sitting at a desk all day, you need to get out and do something physically active just in order to keep your body from going to pot. And here's the thing, maybe you have a really hard working job, well then in your free time you could do something more relaxing, because you've already labored hard. But look, you need to find some hobbies that are not relaxing if you are somebody who has a white collar type job where you don't actually physically work by the sweat of your face. Because otherwise, you're going to destroy your health and you're not going to be able to sleep at night, because it's labor that makes you sleep. Now another tip for helping you go to sleep at night is not to watch TV or be on the computer right before bed. Because these are things that will stop, now first of all just don't ever watch TV anyway because it's all a bunch of garbage that's on there. Well I watch the preachers on there, well that's the worst thing you could be watching on TV. Any preacher that's on TV is a phony preacher, he wouldn't be on TV. Only the phonies are allowed on TV, okay? You say, well I've seen you on TV, yeah but that was different because I wasn't on there preaching okay? I was on there being attacked. So the bottom line is that computer screens and TV screens, they make it hard for you to sleep. Video games, things like this right before bed. A lot of people say, oh I have insomnia, I can't go to sleep. But a lot of it is lifestyle. Not being physically active and then being on a computer or in front of a screen right before bed. So here's a tip, if you have trouble sleeping at night, obviously work hard, but number two is just have a cut off time where you just get off the computer at a certain time and honestly reading, reading a physical, oh my Kindle reader, no, reading a physical book will actually help you go to sleep at night. I find that if I read right before bed, that'll help me fall asleep at night. Not only that, sometimes if I go to bed and I'm having trouble sleeping and I'm worked up, then sometimes I'll just get up and read for a little while and then you'll start getting drowsy and that will help you go to sleep. You say, why are you explaining this? Well, because I don't want you to end up like David where you get into trouble because you can't sleep and because you're bored and because you're idle. And if we want to keep our kids out of trouble, we need to make our kids work and keep them busy and working physically and doing something. And if we want to keep ourselves out of trouble, we need to stay busy, working, being productive. Look, go out soul winning, go to church, read your Bible, go out and work your job and work extra and do stuff with your family, but don't just have these huge blocks of time where you just have nothing going on. Well, I just hate being busy. Yeah, but at least being busy keeps you out of trouble. And that's where David failed. He failed to go to battle. Not only that, but you know, fighting a battle keeps you out of trouble. See, we as human beings, especially as men, let's talk about just the men right now. We as men are designed to basically want to go out and fight something or conquer something or achieve something or accomplish, you know, we want to do something big with our lives. This is a desire that is within man. We want to create some great project or, or fight some great cause or whatever. Now when we as men don't have an outlet for that natural desire, that natural aggression or that natural ambition, whatever you want to call it, just that masculine force. When we don't have a proper outlet for that, then what's going to happen is that energy is going to be channeled into sinful things. So what we need to do is take our energies and take our, our aggression and point it toward a godly battle, you know, a godly work and go out and do something great for the Lord. Otherwise what's going to happen is we'll go out and, and our great accomplishment is going to be to go out and commit adultery or our great accomplishment as a young single man will be to go out and fornicate or to go out and do whatever sinful activity, whatever it is, even just besides adultery, fornication, just other sins. And this is why it concerns me when you see preachers that don't fight anything. They're just like, Oh, I don't want to go to battle. I don't want to fight anything. The positive only preachers of this world, they're kind of setting themselves up to become a David and commit adultery or murder because of the fact that they're not fighting the legitimate battle. That, you know, there's a time when Kings are going forth to war, pastors are supposed to be fighting the good fight and then they don't want to fight anything. They want to just have peace, peace, peace. When there is no peace and you know, they're set up for this kind of an event to take place in their lives. I mean, this is a horrible sin now. He got up off his bed, walked upon the roof of his house and sees a woman washing herself. And the woman was very beautiful to look upon. Now, I don't know that that's what he expected to see. There's nothing in the Bible here that tells us that he was trying to be a peeping Tom, you know, that he was trying to find out, you know, if he could spy someone. He might have just gone up there and just been walking around and just saw this other man's wife there, okay. And at first, he looked at it and sometimes you can't help what you see. You see things and you can't necessarily help it. But then he chose to basically take a second look. But then further than that, he goes and asks, you know, who is this woman? It says in verse number three, and David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliim, the wife of Uriah, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Now that right there should have just been, whoa, I'm done thinking about or looking at this woman in any way. This is another man's wife, period, end of story, off limits. Not to mention the fact that this is one of his followers, one of his mighty men, one of his greatest warriors, it's his wife. But even if it weren't a wife of a good friend, just the fact that she's anybody's wife, okay. Just by looking upon her to lust after her, he is committing adultery with her in his heart. To just say, wait, this is totally, now, keep in mind, folks, it's not like David doesn't have multiple wives of his own, and God even talks about this. When God rebukes him through Nathan the prophet, he brings up the fact just how wicked it is that he already has multiple wives. And here he is, not satisfied with already too much, already in an overabundance, he is lusting after another man's wife. You know what that shows me is, like the Bible says, the eyes of man are never satisfied. And the Bible talks about, in Habakkuk chapter one, it says, Moreover, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied. The Bible talks about wicked people just always wanting more, it's never enough, they always want more. If you think that committing fornication, or committing adultery, or having multiple wives is somehow going to satisfy, it's not, because Paul said, I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer and eat, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And so Paul learned to be content. And there are people who learn to be content with what they have, and then there are other people who are never going to be satisfied. So it's not a question of, oh, if I just got more, I'd be satisfied. Well, David has multiple wives, he already has a bunch of beautiful wives. That's not enough for him. He just wants more, more, more. Just the one that he can't have. Why? Because of wickedness in his heart. And just like people who covet money that they don't have. And well, if I could just get a little more, I'll be happy. Nope, because you'll just want more and more and more and more. The Bible says he that loveth silver should not be satisfied with silver. You know, you're just going to want more. And so sin is something that will just suck us in and consume us and take us so much further than we ever thought we would go because we just want more, more, more. It's not enough. It's not enough. Another reason why, and I'm dwelling on these first few verses because I think it's important to figure out why David committed this sin. I mean, here's a great man, greater than any of us. And yet he went down this path that leads him to commit adultery with another man's wife and then kill her husband. I mean, it's horrific, adultery, murder, major sins. What is it that caused him to get there? Because we need to take heed, lest we fall. The Bible says, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest we fall. So some of the lessons that we've already learned are stay busy, do the work that God wants to do. Not only that, fight the battles that God wants us to fight and make sure that we're going to bed and sleeping at night and that we're not just idle and lazy and sedentary. These are all things that are going to lead us into sin, okay? And that's what it did to David. But not only that, David did not have a proper marriage in the first place because one of the greatest things that could prevent you from committing adultery is having a proper relationship with your own wife. Because when the Bible talks about in Proverbs chapter five, her breasts satisfying thee at all times, then it says, why wilt thou my son embrace the bosom of a stranger? If you're satisfied with what you have, there's no reason to desire embracing the bosom of a stranger because you're already satisfied with her breasts at all times. That's what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter five. So when we see people having a horrible marriage or a bad relationship with their spouse, well then they're basically opened up now to temptation. That's why the Bible says, defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. So Satan will tempt those who do not have a proper relationship with their spouse. And so you say, well, David though, I mean, he's got these multiple wives. Yeah, but he didn't really, here's the thing, it's better to have one wife that you actually love and have a good relationship with than to have a bunch of wives that you don't really love or care about. And that's what we see in David's life. You don't see David having a wife that he loves and cherishes and keeps himself only unto her. Just the fact that he has multiple wives shows that that's not the case. And even when his friend Jonathan died, he flat out says that Jonathan was a better friend than any woman that he'd ever known. And so that doesn't, you know, that wouldn't be a very nice thing to say if you had a great relationship with your wife to say, well, you know, my love for this male friend was greater than any love that I ever had with my wife. I mean, that shows because I believe that our greatest relationship should be with our spouse. That should be the best relationship. So we see David lacking something in that area in his life. And now he's looking for fulfillment in the wrong place, in another man's wife. And so we see this tragedy take place. It says in verse number four, he already knows that this is Uriah's wife. David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived and sent and told David and said, I am with child. And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did and how the people did and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and went not down to his house. And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down unto thy house? Now, it doesn't really make sense what Uriah does here, because here's David telling him, Go home to your house. David's the boss. He should want to go home to see his wife that he hasn't seen because he's been away battling for weeks or months. And so if the boss is telling you, Look, here's some special food. Here's a mess of meat from the king. I'm sending this to your house. Go home to your house. And he just refuses to do it. And then a second time he's going to be told, and he's going to refuse to do it. Now, why did he refuse to do it? I think everything in this story points to the fact that God is just making sure that David's sin finds him out, because it could have gone differently. First of all, what are the chances that she becomes pregnant just from this one encounter? Well, most days that this type of a relationship would take place do not lend themselves toward a woman getting pregnant. There are only several days or a week each month when that could even take place. And so the chances are that just that one sin produces a pregnancy. And by the way, you say, Oh, well, oh, well, maybe then I'll go out and take my chance. You know what? Oh, that young man, God could do the same thing to you that he did to David, where it'll just take one time for you to produce that pregnancy. That's what he did to David. Why? Because the Bible says, Be sure your sin will find you out. And then not only that, he tries to cover it up by sending Uriah home to be with his wife saying, Oh, well, then she'll just think or not, she'll think she knows, but people will think that that's just Uriah's child. And that's what Uriah will think, because he'll be like, Oh, yeah, I went to my house and now she's pregnant makes perfect sense. And I believe that God is at work here. That's why Uriah has this strange reaction of not wanting to go home, just to make sure that David's sin will find him out. And that's what God will do in our lives. It says in verse number 11, and Uriah said unto David, the ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents, and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife, as thou livest and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. And David said to Uriah, Terry here today also, and tomorrow I'll let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day and the morrow. And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him and he made him drunk. And even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his Lord, but when not done and tried to get him drunk and then told him, go home now, go home, figuring that if he's drunk, he'll be more impressionable and he'll be easier to, to, to send to his house. And of course he still doesn't go to his house. So David is panicking now, he doesn't know what to do. And it came to pass in the morning, verse 14, that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter saying, set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retire ye from him that he may be smitten and die. And it came to pass when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were. And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab and there fell some of the people of the servants of David and Uriah the Hittite died also. Now the Bible is not really explicit here whether Joab followed David's instructions exactly or not. Because David is telling Joab to do a very wicked thing. Put him in the hottest part of the battle and then everybody back off and just leave him there alone to die, to get slaughtered. Now the Bible doesn't say that that's what Joab did. The Bible just says that Joab put him in a place where he knew that valiant men were. He puts him in a hard part of the battle, a part where he's likely to be killed. But it doesn't say that he withdrew the troops from him. So we don't really know whether Joab followed that part of the instruction. But we do know this, that God later, when Nathan confronts David, is going to pin this on David and say, you slew Uriah the Hittite. You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the children of Ammon. So God blames David. Why? Because David says, kill Uriah pretty much. And so you say, well but David didn't actually commit murder because it was someone else who actually pulled the trigger as it were. But actually God considers that David killed Uriah. Now there's another example of this in the Bible with the Jews. Because of course, people will try to say, oh the Jews didn't kill Jesus. It was the Romans who killed Jesus. And if you say that the Jews killed Jesus, well you're just anti-Semitic if you say that. And you must just be the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler if you say that. But actually the Bible says repeatedly, over and over again, that the Jews killed Jesus. Now you say, well I thought it was a Roman centurion that nailed him to the cross. How can you say that it was the Jews? Well because the Jews were the ones who were shouting, crucify him. And that's why the apostles, over and over again in the book of Acts, look at the Jews and say, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree, you killed the prince of life. And in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 it says, For ye, brethren, have also suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they pleased not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway, for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. So why is it that over and over again, the Bible says the Jews killed Jesus, and you don't see any type of an emphasis of, hey it was the Romans that did it, no it was the Jews who did it, why? Because they're the ones who compelled the Roman pilot to do it. And they said, crucify him, and he said, shall I crucify your king? We have no king but Caesar. I'm free from the blood of this just person, is what Pilate said. And they said what? His blood be on us and on our children. That's why they get that rap in the Bible over and over again as being the ones who killed Jesus. And so again, that shows that even if you're not the one who physically does it, if you hire a hit man, you're a murderer, okay? And that's why we can apply this in a bunch of ways to modern day, how you could participate in murder and be guilty in the sight of God. If David was guilty in the sight of God for saying, hey, put him in a rough part of the battle and then withdraw from him. If the Jews were guilty of murder for saying, crucify Jesus, then wouldn't someone be guilty of murder for telling the doctor, abort my child? That would make the woman who has an abortion a murderer. Because she, well, the doctor is the murderer, but they're both committing murder. You know, the hit man and the one who hired him are both committing murder. But not only that, I'll take it even a step further. When you support politicians who you know are pro-abortion, which is nothing more than pro-death, pro-murder, and you just knowingly get behind these people and support these people knowing that that's what they stand for, you know, I'd say that that's conspiracy to commit murder. Knowing that they're, look, listen to me, voting for Barack Obama is conspiracy to commit murder. Why? Because Barack Obama is taking government money and using it to abort babies in Africa. He's taking government money and he's giving it to Planned Parenthood at home. And so voting for Barack Obama or anyone like him, knowing that that's what they stand for, is conspiracy to commit murder. And you're guilty in the sight of God. And the Bible says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. And so we need to just be careful supporting wickedness and wicked people because we're getting caught up in major sin and we're going to get caught up in the punishment as well if we get caught up in the participation of the actual sin. And so murder is something that doesn't have to be done directly. But when you give your assent unto it and when you say, hey, go ahead and do it, then that makes you guilty of murder when you want to kill innocent babies and whatever else, whatever other murders that you want to participate. Or you know what? How about the guy who says, hey, let's drop a nuclear bomb on civilians? I mean, is that guy guilty of killing civilians? Well, he's not the one who actually flew the plane and dropped the bomb. Yeah, but what about the guy who issues the order and says, hey, let's go ahead and fire bomb Dresden, Germany. Let's fire bomb Tokyo. Let's go ahead and nuke Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even though it's just women, children, civilians. That's murder. The Bible doesn't condone that. The Bible doesn't teach that. And so it's murder. We shouldn't want to have anything to do with things like that and stay away from things like that. You know, the big one is abortion and the statistics on how many women have an abortion in the United States boggle the mind. What is it, like one in four women have already had an abortion in America. It's ridiculous. It's crazy how they just so flippantly commit murder. And then I used to always wonder when I'd read the book of James where it says, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all. For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the law. And I remember looking at that and thinking like, man, committing adultery and murder, you'd think that murder would be something that people would be less likely to commit. You know, you'd think that there'd be more people committing adultery than murder, right? Wouldn't you guess that there's more adultery going on than murder? But then when you factor in abortion, you realize, wow, murder is really common. Obviously murder is taking place at a rate that would be similar to abortion. I'm sorry, adultery. It's a similar thing. So there are a lot of women that commit no adultery yet they kill when they have an abortion. What a wicked sin to kill an unborn baby or to kill a newborn baby or just to kill an innocent child. It's sick. And the fact that we don't think it's sick in many sectors of American society just show how far our society has gone to think that that's normal. But back to the story at hand here, we see that David calls for Uriah to be killed, says in verse 18, then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war and charged the messenger saying, when thou has made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king and if so be that the king's wrath arise and he said unto thee, wherefore approach ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? Knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? Who smote Abimelech, the son of Jerubasheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebes? Why went ye nigh of the wall? Then say thou thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. So Joab has lost the battle and he doesn't want the king mad at him for losing. So he says, well, if the king gets mad, just tell him that Uriah the Hittite's dead because he knew that that would cheer up King David because he knew that that was what David wanted, Uriah dead. And he predicts, Joab predicts that David might bring up this Bible story about Abimelech being slain by a woman casting a piece of a millstone upon him. Now what's funny about that Bible story is it's found back in the book of Judges and when you read that story back in Judges, Abimelech the son of Jerubasheth, Jerubasheth is another name for Gideon because if you remember, Gideon's name was changed by his father to Jerubael, okay? His given name was Gideon, but his name was changed to Jerubael because of the fact that he threw down the altar of Baal. So Jerubael had to do with the fact that he was one that had fought against Baal, you know, and thrown down Baal's altar. Now this is the only time in the Bible he's called Jerubasheth, but you can see that the beginning there is the same as Jerubael, Jerubasheth, and you know, it seems that this word means he's one who's fighting against confusion, you know, as opposed to fighting against Baal. But you know, that's what Gideon was known, I mean what a great name to be given. The one who basically fights the devil because that's who Baal is, right? You know, the one who fights against and stands in opposition and his dad gave him that name because when he destroyed the altar of Baal, they all wanted to kill Gideon. And Gideon's dad, who was a Baal worshiper, stood up and defended his son and said, well, if Baal's really God, then why doesn't Baal defend himself? I mean, why do we need to defend Baal? So whoever's going to stand up for Baal, you know, okay, well, let him be put to death anyone who's going to stand up for Baal because Baal must be a false god. And he called his son's name Jerubael, okay, at that time. So Abimelech was his wicked son and Abimelech was such a wicked man that he actually killed all of his own brethren, all of the sons of Gideon except one that escaped. He had them all put to death because he wanted to be a king and he actually was a king because, you know, we think of Saul as being the first king of Israel. You know, that was the first one that was anointed king by the Lord but actually they had a king there for three years in the book of Judges. And they're supposed to be out of the system of the judges and they even told Gideon. They said, Gideon, reign over us. And he said, no, the Lord will reign over you because he said, no, God is your king. And Gideon refused to become king but his son thought to himself, hmm, I'd like to become king. So he kills all of his own brethren because he didn't want them to compete with him for that position. What a wicked person that would kill your own family just in order to have that power. One of the sons, of course, escapes but he kills three score and ten persons, 70 people. Obviously Jerubel had multiple wives. And so he kills all the sons of Gideon. And Abimelech, this wicked king, obviously God's not going to bless him. God's not going to give him prosperity and so his reign only lasts for three years. He reigns as king for three years. And Abimelech is putting down a rebellion where people are rebelling against him after three years. God sends a spirit amongst his people that want to rebel against him. And so as he's fighting this battle, he chases the enemy into a tower and when he's coming against that tower to besiege it, a woman throws a millstone, the Bible says, casts a piece of a millstone out of the tower and it lands on his head. Now it doesn't kill him but it wounds him horribly to where he doesn't believe that he can survive. It cracks his skull and he's basically dying. So he says to his armor bearer, he says, thrust me through that it be not said of me a woman slew him. So he's like, I don't want people to say a woman killed him. He didn't want to go down in history being killed by a woman. So his armor bearer obliges him and kills him so that he would not be killed by a woman. But ironically, here they are saying that he was killed by a woman. I mean, here's Joab knowing that he didn't want anybody to say that he was killed by a woman and lo and behold, they're saying what? Who slew Bimalek? His armor bearer? No, they're saying that woman that threw the millstone out of the thing and killed him. And so that shows we shouldn't lean upon our own understanding. He should not have committed suicide or an assisted suicide. He should have trusted in the Lord and whatever. But obviously, he just didn't want to go down in history that way and he went down in history that way anyway. So there's no point. But anyway, so why did you go so high to the wall? See, if you're attacking a building, they have the advantage. Whoever's on the higher ground, they can throw things down and if you get too close, it's really easy for them to shoot at you and throw things at you and dump things on you. So he's saying, you know, this Bible story might be brought out from judges. You know, David might bring that out because, you know, David was obviously known as being somebody who knew the Word of God and talked about the Bible and he used Bible illustrations. So Joab's saying, you know, this is something he'll probably bring up. Well, here's what you're going to say. Uriah's dead and that should fix everything. So the messenger went, verse 22, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for and the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us and came out unto us into the field and we were upon them even under the entering of the gate and the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants and some of the king's servants be dead and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. So he doesn't even wait for David to get mad. He just figures, I'm just going to just preempt this and just tell him that Uriah is dead so that I don't have to hear the Abimelech story rehashed again. And it says in verse 25, Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another, and make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it, and encourage thou him. And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when the morning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. And he got away with it. I mean such a genius, such a smart plan, kill the husband, take her to wife, it's your kid, you know, everything makes sense. But look at the last phrase though, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. I mean even without that we would have already known that. I mean do you think anybody thought for a second that God approved of this? No, God just spells out, look, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. And no matter how smart you think you are, you know, if God displeases, is displeased with what you do, he can punish you, and he can bring it around to get you. Now it's interesting because it says here, you know, David's saying, hey encourage him. You know and we have so many preachers today that they don't want to fight any battles but they're wonderful encouragers. They love to encourage. Now look, it's great to be an encouragement, and I hope that my sermons encourage you, and I hope that I personally have encouraged you from time to time and will continue to encourage you. But when we're all encouragement and no fight, there's a problem. And that's what we see here in David's life. All of a sudden he just gets real positive about everything, doesn't have anything negative to say, doesn't have any battles to fight, he just sits at home and walks around on the roof and just encourages people and everything's so wonderful. But you know what, God has called us to fight. The Bible says fight the good fight. And you know, even the name in the story, Jerubasheth, Jerubail, had to do with someone being a fighter. That's why, I mean he had a name that said, I fight against. Because that's what his name even meant. I'm fighting against Baal. I'm standing against Baal. Baal is against me. And Baal is my enemy, okay? And Baal is of course, Baal, Beelzebub, it's the devil. And so we need to be careful that we don't become like David, where there's no fight and there's no struggle and everything's easy. And I just want to show you one last verse tonight, Jeremiah chapter five, because we all go through struggles in our life. And sometimes we might wonder why it is that we go through struggles. And why there always has to be a battle. You wish that you could just go through life and have it easy. And we all feel like someday we're going to get to that point where our finances are all straightened out and our job is going smoothly and our finances are going smooth and our health is going good and family's good and church is good and everything's great and we can just enjoy life. And we always feel like maybe that's just around the corner. And then just as soon as we get one thing fixed, we get the finances straight and then the health goes bad. And then you get the health straight and then the finances go bad. And then you get the health and the finances good and then church goes bad. Or then your relationships go bad and your kids go bad. It's just like it's always something. Why can't I just live the perfect life? But part of the reason why is that if God knows that if we have it too easy and we're not struggling and we're not fighting, we will go into sin. David has all this rest and he can relax. He's trained the army so well. He just sits back and lets them fight the battles. He just sets it in motion. It's like a well oiled machine. But just when we get real comfortable like that, we can often get bored and idle and all of a sudden we're pursuing sin. And look at the Bible. I mean, there's this one place we can turn a lot of places to show this in the Bible, this concept. But here's one place, verse number six of Jeremiah five, it says, wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them. And remember the devil is like a roaring lion. Seeking whom we may devour and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them. A leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone that go without them shall be torn in pieces because their transgressions are many and their backslidings are increased. And that's a term that we use a lot to describe Christians who are not living for the Lord as they once were their backslidden. And it says, how shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery. Now do you see that? When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses. They were as fed horses in the morning. Everyone nayed after his neighbor's wife. So here we see adultery, lusting after your neighbor's wife, like an animal that has no concept of being faithful to your spouse and respecting someone else's spouse. But here we see that when they were fed to the full, they're like fed horses, just lazy and just idle. And look, that's what the Bible says was the sin of Sodom. It says that they had abundance of idleness, fullness of bread, and then it says, therefore they committed abomination before me. Now a lot of people will just say, well, you know, the Bible says it had nothing to do with sodomy. It was just Ezekiel 16, you know, it just said it was just because they didn't strengthen the poor and because they had idleness and fullness of bread. Yeah, but they forget the N where it says, therefore they committed abomination. That's when they went after strange flesh. They gave themselves over to fornication, going after strange flesh. We see when there is prosperity and abundance of idleness, the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. And we see an abundance of adultery when there's too much comfort in people's lives where they're no more of a fight. And so we need to understand that the struggles that God has put in our life are there for a reason. And we can't just sit there and just be down that, you know, our life's not perfect and it's always a struggle and it's always a battle. And you know, you might be a wife today that says, oh man, taking care of the kids is just a constant struggle. But what did the Bible say about the women who don't have kids? That they learn to be idle. And it says some are already turned aside after Satan. Why? Because that's what idleness will do. So as men and as women, okay, it's important that you stay busy doing the right things so that you don't get tempted to commit the wrong things. And that's where David went wrong with parts of order per father, we thank you so much for this warning, Lord, this this story about a man who's greater than any of us who committed these two major sins of adultery and murder. Lord, help us not to make the same mistake. Help us to work hard and stay busy and fight the good fight and not be tempted of Satan. And in Jesus name we pray. Amen.