Jentezen Franklin - Loyalty and Love
I'm gonna give you one verse of scripture tonight and I'm just gonna teach what I feel the Lord has laid on my heart, let it speak to you. "Because David did what was right", verse five, "Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite". He did everything right in the eyes of the Lord, he turned not aside from anything the He commanded him all the days of his life except this matter of Uriah, the Hittite.
I wanna talk about that for a few minutes and how it concerns you and your marriage. Uriah, the Hittite was one of David's mighty men, he's listed in 2 Samuel 23 as being a mighty man of warfare and valor. He's mentioned 11 times in the scriptures, in Old Testament, or 11 times combined in the Old Testament and he even shows up in the New Testament. He so impressed God he so got the attention and eye of God that God could not get over him. This particular text was written 150 years after he was dead. And when God spoke of David He could not get over somebody named, Uriah, the Hittite. He stood out to God. Who was he? In 2 Samuel 12:15 it says this, "And Nathan departed from the house and God struck the child", listen to this, "of Uriah's wife the he bore unto David and it was very sick".
I'll tell you and explain this, but this is a pretty amazing verse "the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare," But wait a minute. Uriah was dead in the story, when this text was recorded. And Uriah, David had had murdered to cover up his sin. And yet God said, "he's still Uriah's wife". She had married David. David had had an affair with her, had tried to get him to come home and sleep with his wife, and I'll explain it in a minute. And so that he could say that they had a oops and she got pregnant. And that would have covered up his affair but it didn't work that way. He wouldn't go home, he wouldn't go to his wife and so David puts him out on the field to get killed, and has the orders to pull back and let him get killed. And when the prophet goes in this text to confront David the Bible said under the old covenant, thank God for mercy, but the Bible said, "the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife," no David's wife, Uriah's wife.
Is it possible to be involved in a marriage that's recognized on earth but ignored in Heaven? I realize tonight I'm on very thin ice, but we need to be committed to our marriages. When we make a covenant before God it is not a play thing that is determined by our emotions or our feelings. But can I take a moment to preach to younger couples. The way that I was brought up to approach marriage was, this is not a try and see play house and see how it goes and if it doesn't feel happy, happy, goodie, goodie all the time just trade that one in for a newer version. That is not in this Book. And when you start eliminating all the options you'll get serious about getting in a place and getting a good marriage going on because for us it's one marriage. One marriage.
And if you have started over and this is new for you then start in the marriage that you are in, begin to approach it like I'm preaching right now that, "The one I'm in is the only one I'm going to be in". C'mon, and give me a big amen right there. Alright, let's go. Are you ready? You ready to go? I didn't wanna preach this, I got another one in here, it's brand new and I liked it, but I'll preach that whenever. But this is what the Lord said today when I was walking in the woods. When Jesus was asked about divorce He took them back to Genesis and He made this comment, When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees about divorce He said, "Did He not make them one flesh". Everybody say, "One Flesh". And then He starts quoting the scripture. "For is it not written that a man his father and his mother," That's a public ceremony. "and cleave to his wife," That is a joining together. "and the two shall become one flesh".
That is the consummation of the marriage. The physical honeymoon night. It is a covenant that takes place. "And they will be joined together," Jesus said. And the word join means to stick like glue. No separation. To stick like glue. Watch what Jesus said. Verse two: "The Pharisees came and asked Him, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?'" Testing Him. Cause there are people who are going through things in this room, all of us, and we must eliminate that filthy word called divorce. It is not an option in Jesus' name. There is a clause, there is a fornication clause, I believe it's in Matthew 19:9, if somebody has been unfaithful then you can choose. But it's not necessarily what ought to be done and what has to be done. What about grace? That's where grace needs to come in. Whew. It's tight, but it's right.
"The Pharisees came and said, 'Is it lawful for us to get'", you know some people are like attorneys, the look for loopholes. When they read the Bible they're not looking for what the text and the Spirit of the verse is saying, they're looking for a loophole. "How can I get outta this"? "The Pharisees came", I can't get past this verse, "And the Pharisees came, asked Him, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' And He answered and said unto them, 'What did Moses command?' They said, 'Moses permitted a man,'" This is New Testament, "'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.' And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning'". Here He goes again, back to one. Everybody say, "One. One. One. One".
He made them one. Watch Him. Watch Him. This is Jesus, this is God in the flesh. This is Jesus. This is how He feels right now. "And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning, of the creation, God made them male and female.'" That's important. "'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the,'" everybody say it out loud, "'and the two shall become one flesh;' so then they are no longer two, but one flesh". Verse nine: "Therefore," "Well, what if God didn't put us together"? If you got married and you said your vows, God just put you together.
"Therefore what God has joined together," you mighta met him in the club or in the Red Roof inn, in a bedroom, I don't know where you met him, but when you said, "God, will you please bless this marriage, we give it and we sign the commit, we publicly celebrate, we leave, we cleave, we're joined, we're one". God said, "It's sanctified, it's Holy, it's under the blood, I surround it with angels and I put my favor on it"! Let's see, is there any more? Oh yeah, it does get, oh, I almost missed this goodie part. You're not gon' believe, y'all would not come to hear Jesus, you would not come to hear Him preach on marriage. "Therefore what God has joined together," In Holy matrimony. "Let no man separate". Verse ten: "In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter".
Okay, they thought Jesus would sweeten it up a little bit, watch this. "He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces'", Equal rights, "'And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, he commits adultery'". In one place it says, "If the person marries the person who"... Did it not say that? This is the Bible. That it's possible to be in a marriage that's acknowledged on Earth but ignored in Heaven? Now I'm gon' really mess you up. Go to Matthew chapter one. God could not get over Uriah. Why? Because he was so loyal, y'all. He was so loyal. That when David sent for him, you know, he committed adultery, he walked out on the balcony, and he saw a UFO, an unclothed female object, taking a shower, or taking a bath, I don't guess they had showers, but had a bath and he got to lusting after.
And the Bible says, when the kings went to war he stayed home, he had civilian spirit when he should have had a warfare spirit. He's unconcerned, let somebody else fight, let somebody else be spiritual. And he walked out on the balcony and he saw that neighbor taking a bath and he inquired of her. That's what the scripture said, "Who is she"? Well, first-of-all I wanna say, "Who are you? You forgot, you're married. Why are you inquiring"? You know, if you listen to the Holy Spirit He'll tell you, "Don't even mess. Don't even get around that. Don't even flirt with that. Don't even. Don't even dare open a... You go the opposite direction, you stay away from that". Does anybody still believe in the conviction of the Holy Spirit? You have no business inquiring. Going on Facebook, "Well I wanna see how my old lovers doing".
I tell you they're doing, they're looking for trouble. Say, amen somebody. And David sins for her, commits adultery with her, gets her pregnant, they tell him that she's pregnant and he send for Uriah, brings him back, brings him back to the city, during warfare, when the war is going on out in the battlefield. And your Bible said, Uriah was so loyal. David didn't care about his loyalty, he was loyal to his leader, he was loyal to his king, he was loyal to his comrades that when he said, "Hey, I'm going you a leave of absence. Just go home, you been such a great warrior, you're one of my mighty men and I just wanted you to... You need a rest, I'll sent you back. Go in and have a wonderful night with your wife". And the Bible said, "He went home and sat down on the front porch and said, 'How can I do that? How can I go in and be with my wife and sleep with my wife, and have a wonderful night when my buddies are getting ripped and cut, and fighting all of hell out there, I can't do that'".
I wanna ask you a question. Where did he learn that loyalty from? Do you know that the Bible said in 2 Samuel 23 that when David was thirsty he said, "Oh that I have a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem". And the Bible said two of his mighty men said, "If my king wants a cup of water", and the Philistines controlled that whole area, "If my king wants a cup of water, if that's what he just wishes he had I'm gon' run through a troop and over a wall and I'm gonna get a cup", and they fought their way to that well, dipped the cup, came back and took the cup to the king. And when the kind heard what these mighty men, we're not told their name but I got a sneaky, my sermon, I can preach it like I want to.
And I got a sneaky suspicion one of them was Uriah! Because he watched the king who could have drank that water but instead he said, "I can't drink it now", I never understood this, it would a ticked me off to be, you know, fight all the way, get a cup of water, come back, risk my life, and now he, "No, I'm not gon' drink it". But he was pouring it out unto the Lord and there was something about that spirit of loyalty that got in Uriah. And when he could have went into his wife he said, "I can't do it". And then David had a plan, the next night he had a feast and got him drunk. Uriah had more convictions drunk than most Christians have sober. Cause even when he was drunk the next night he went home and he thought, "I ought to go in there, my flesh wants to".
But there was something in his spirit that said, "Even if you aren't smart right now I can keep you". I don't know who I'm preaching to but you're real issue is you need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit, because He can keep you from things even... when you don't feel like you're in control. And let me show you what happened. He was loyal on the battlefield, he was loyal in the bedroom, he was so loyal that, there's a picture, I looked it up, I meant to give it to them but I didn't know I was gon' preach this till I got up here, so. But there's a picture, it's a very famous picture of king David giving the letter to Uriah to take to Joab the commander of the armies of Israel. And it was a sealed letter, your Bibles days this happened. That the king, when he couldn't get him to sleep with his wife to cover his tracks, so that David wouldn't look like he had committed adultery and gotten her pregnant, he said, "I'mma have to kill him".
It started with a look, just a look, and then he kept on looking. When the look voice is louder than the don't look voice there's, at some point, it's not a sin to look, but then you need to turn around and start pleading the blood of Jesus and Lord, and flee, get outta there. Quit looking. Not look and keep looking and keep looking. And the Bible said that Uriah was called by David, and David said, "Take this letter to the front line and give it to Joab the commander of the army of Israel". In the letter, think about this. In the letter was the instructions, "Put Uriah on the front line and get him so far out on the battlefield and then have all of his comrades withdraw and abandon him, and leave him to die".
And it was so, he knew, think about it. He didn't say, "Let me send somebody else, let me send Jonathan, my son, with this message". He called Uriah to carry his own death warrant, because he knew he's so loyal he won't read it. He won't break the seal, he's a loyal man. And even through David, the king didn't notice it God 150 years later said, "I am so impressed with that man, that when I think of David," in 1 Kings 15, "He was good in all of his ways except for the matter", 150 years later God says, "it still bugs me how he did Uriah the Hittite".
Now let me show you one thing that's gon' bless you. You ready? Matthew chapter one, and this is the Book of the genealogy of Jesus, verse one, "Son of David," And they start going "Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat," Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. There's a lot of begetting going on. There needs to be a lot of begetting going on, amen. Say Amen. If you married it's good to have some begetting going on. "Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king", watch, watch, "and David the king begat Solomon by her who had been wife of Uriah".
It's like God said, "I'mma give Uriah credit". Not really he wasn't really in the blood line but God said, "He's so loyal I'mma put him in the bloodline". And you can have another year, another year of frustrating differed dreams. You know, some people think, "Well, you know, we gon' cross our fingers and hope things get better". It's not gon' get better. "We just gon' see what happens". It's not gon' get better! But when you make up your mind, "You are the only one I'll ever be married to in this life. This is it. And so we can make each other miserable or we can absolutely, not out of duty, not out of a contract, not out of a marriage license, not out of... cause we're pastors and we need to look, really, really, really good in front of the... but because I love that woman and she loves this man"!
Does that make sense? It's real! C'mon, somebody. It's real! It's real! It's not perfect, it'll never be perfect but it's real! You're real uncomfortable. You been uncomfortable this whole sermon and some of you are, "Oh God, what's he going to do next"? I don't care. Do you understand that? I don't care what people think. When I end this life I'mma put my teeth in the little glass and I'mma reach over and I'mma grab Cherise's hand and I'mma say, "Gimme a sugar, I'm going to Heaven". Till death do us part. Shout it! "Till death do us", shout it! "Till we are one flesh"! Shout it! C'mon get up on your feet! We are one flesh! Say, "God's gonna have a godly seed, in our house, in our children and our children - they will not grow up without dad, without mom".