13¹ø±Û		Returning to the Front Line by Rev. Mike Norris		2006-02-13		3286°Ç Á¶È¸
Returning to the Front Line By Rev.Mike Norris Pastor of Franklin Road Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, Tennessee “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. “And it came to pass in an eveningtide, 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. “And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? [They tried to stop him here.] “And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him.” “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 [he had some witnesses here], 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 thine house? ”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 mine 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, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will 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 at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.”—II Sam. 11:1–4,6–13. This is the sad, sad story of the sin of King David. To make a long story short, David told Joab to put Uriah in the heat of the battle with all the valiant men, then withdraw from him. The shooters shot off the wall, and Uriah the Hittite was killed; in actuality, he was murdered by a government cover-up. “And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”—Vs. 27. David told Uriah to go home for the night, but Uriah said, “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 mine 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.” I want to talk about the reasons we have for returning to the front lines. God gives us a helmet of salvation, a breastplate of righteousness, a shield of faith and a sword because we are in a war. I encourage you to return to the front line if you have left. I encourage more to get on the front line if you have never been there. King David, a fine Bible character, is ordinarily cast in a good light. In this passage, David had sinned by committing immorality with a woman named Bathsheba. Because she was a married woman, he attempted to cover up his sin by plotting the murder of her husband. David, however, did not take into consideration the strong, godly character of this young officer. He showed up in the list of thirty-plus men who were David’s mighty men. Though David was guilty of murder, he still had the heart to list Uriah there because Uriah was a hardened soldier, a mighty man of valor. Being a Hittite, he had obviously turned his back on the false gods of his father to serve the one and only true God, Jehovah God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Uriah married a beautiful young Jewish girl named Bathsheba. He joined the army and moved up quickly through the ranks to the place of prosperity and promise. His house was in the same development with the king’s. You have read the story. His conversion experience was such a life-changing decision that he became a red-hot patriot, anxious to fight the battles of his king and for his country. To Uriah’s surprise, David, for ulterior motives, offered this valiant soldier what most every soldier dreams of in the heat of the battle—a leave from the front line with full benefits and pay. David said, “Good to see you, old buddy! How’s it going out there? Just want to give you a little break. Come home to your family for a while. Thought you might like to spend some time with your dear wife.” It all sounded so innocent to Uriah. David said, “I’ve arranged to have a big meal catered to your house. Don’t worry about the war, son; just enjoy yourself.” I like what Uriah said: “As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.” Thank God for the tenacity of a man who saw something bigger than even the king saw. Uriah realized that a battle was raging. He wanted to return to the front line. He desired to be where the battle was hot. Ladies and gentlemen, a battle is still raging in our world. Satan is as alive as he has ever been. He is fighting as hard as he has ever fought. In fact, he has turned up the heat, realizing he has but a short time. As fundamental, Bible-believing Christians, we are in the fight of our lives. Casualties are mounting as we fail to reproduce ourselves even in our own children. Folks are quitting on God right in the middle of the battle. Some are tired, some are apathetic, some have wrong priorities, and some are even switching sides! We’re in a mess! Fundamental Christians now, more than ever before, are needed on the front line, needed in the fight. We need more Sunday school teachers! more bus workers! more nursery workers! more soul winners! more preachers! more evangelists! We need more men like the old-time, leather-lunged evangelists who came in, stirred up your church, then went to another church to do the same thing. They would shake you, stir you, get you to thinking about proper priorities. We need more church planters. We don’t think about mission fields like Miami, New York City, New Orleans, Denver and Seattle. The preachers on the West Coast are begging for folks to come and plant churches in the country that is “one Nation under God.” It is not time to retreat! It is time to return to the front line! We need more Christian school teachers, more choir members and more tithers. God knows we need godly moms and dads who are willing to teach children the old-time religion instead of what is popular. We need parents who will teach little girls to be little girls, and little boys to be little boys. We need preachers who will rise up and oppose the worldliness that is creeping into the churches. And we need deacons who will back up the preacher! You say, “Preacher, I get tired of being the bad guy all the time. I get tired of being a square peg in a round hole down at work. I get tired of being called the ‘religious right.’ I have too much at stake to be outspoken.” You have too much at stake not to be outspoken! You have too much at stake not to return to the front line. I am right now extending to you a call to return to the front line. You say, “Why should I risk my popularity? I’m saved. I’m on my way to Heaven. Give me one good reason why I should give up my free time to serve God. Give me a good reason why I should demand that my family be at church every time the doors are open.” I’ll do better than that; I’ll give you five. I. Our Faith Is Under Attack When you realize that your faith is being attacked, you will return to the front line. Uriah said, ‘The ark is out there.’ May I remind you that the ark was not just a symbol of God but a place of God’s abode at that time. God put His mark on that ark, and they took it to war. Uriah said, ‘As long as the ark of God is out there, I will not sit back, eat, drink and be merry. God is out there; we’re in a battle; so I’m not about to retreat!’ Our faith is being attacked in our country. Because of that, I can’t stay home. The government is after our church. Hollywood is after our kids. Sodomites are after the pure lifestyles of our country. The media is trying to make us look like idiots. Humanists are trying to steal the very heart and soul of America. Evolutionists are after the Creator who created the heavens, the earth and man. Jesse Ventura, Minnesota’s former governor, shouldn’t have said it, but he did: “Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.” He further stated, “I choose to live by the Golden Rule: Treat others as you want them to treat you.” (Wonder where he got that?) Then he said, “The religious right wants to tell people how to live.” Ladies and gentlemen, he was talking about you and me! Since the world and the Devil are attacking our faith, it is not time for us to sit around with our mouths closed. We have the truth, and it is time to take a stand once again! It is time we return to the front line! Our Bible, our morals and our freedom of worship are being attacked. The truth is, if it gets to where in America they can come into our homes and get our guns, they’ll come someday and get our Bibles! We would not be the first nation that has fallen. Colt is going out of the gun business. But it is not the guns that are killing people. America has lost her heart and soul, and it is the sinner behind the gun who is killing people. The same thing that closed the doors and churches in other countries will close them in this country if people don’t return to the front line. We have liberty in America because men have bled and died on the battlefield. We also have our spiritual liberty because godly teachers, preachers, deacons and Christian workers who lived before this generation carried the torch high. They have lived and died, sweat and bled, to give us what we have today. I’m not going to drop my sails just because I’m of the generation that has taken the ball right now. Some others of my generation feel the same way, and I praise God for every one of them. May their tribe increase! “Preacher, give me one good reason why I should return to the front line.” Because the thing that you hold near and dear as a Christian—your very faith—is being attacked every day! II. Our Nation Is Under Attack Uriah said, ‘The ark and Israel are out there.’ What was he talking about? His nation was being attacked. We’re at war in America! Some of that war is being waged inside our border. Twenty years ago it was illegal to burn a flag. Twenty-five years ago a communist was a communist; now they have access to the Pentagon! Twenty-five years ago the sodomites were not in office, or if they were, you didn’t know about it. Thirty-five years ago people valued human life, and abortion was illegal. Now we kill babies and sell their tissue for profit and research! God help us! Don’t tell me we’re not in a holy war! Twenty-five years ago the youth of America had values; now drive-by shootings and other crimes rule our streets. I read an article about a judge in the juvenile court, just retired, who said, “Thirty years ago, our detention center occupants were truce breakers; now they are murderers.” I heard this just last night: “Every twenty-three seconds a car is stolen in America.” One of our missionaries with Rock of Ages Prison Ministry called me this morning. (He visits in the prisons in the state of Tennessee all the time.) He said, “Right now there are over two million in prisons and jails in America.” And the news media just told us the other day that crimes were “down.” He also said that in the West Memphis, Tennessee prison, a prison for the gang members of Memphis, the average age of the 2,500 inmates is eighteen. He stated, “Right now, there are no fewer than eight young boys who are either fourteen or fifteen years old and who are in there for murder.” “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.” That’s our country I’m talking about. Don’ t tell me we’re not in a battle! When you can teach the Bible in a Russian school but cannot even pray in an American school, when the bullets are flying at your head, there is something badly wrong! Somebody had better be returning to the front line before this whole thing called America sinks! III. Our Family Is Under Attack Uriah said, ‘The ark is out there. My nation Israel is out there. Judah is out there.’ Uriah was a Hittite, but he married a Jewish girl, Bathsheba. Look on down through the passage, and you will see that he married into the family of Judah. When he said, ‘Judah is out there,’ he was saying, “I’ve brothers-in-law, uncles and relatives out there. David, you have just called me back from fighting alongside my family. I will not do this thing!” His family was under attack. You may not think it is your job to defend and fight for the Bible nor to fight for your church by serving God in some ministry nor to fight for your country’s sake. It is your fight, though I may not be able to convince you that it is. I cannot understand why God’s people will leave the front line of serving God and fighting the good fight just to sit around, when the spiritual welfare of their little boys and little girls is on the line! I love my wife; I love our teenage son. I wonder what kind of America Joel is going to grow up in. We have the freedoms we have right now because men fought, bled and died. We’re able to worship here and say what we’re saying because men held the line! Yet folks are drifting off, going off into wild things. New Evangelicalism says, “Here’s your doctrine, but forget your separation.” Charismatic televangelists are filling up auditoriums all over America. There are those who say, “Well, whatever will be, will be.” I have always been taught that blood runs thicker than water. I was trained to fight for my family. I’m going to do my part to make a way for my family to serve and worship God until Jesus comes. Would to God that others would help me! As the world sees the front line of the church weaken, your family will suffer persecution. I don’ t think the way you educate your children is really a question anymore! I’m going to be really candid with you. If you listen to some conservatives right now—I don’t think all of them are born-again believers—you will say, “They’re right! They’re right!” But when the preacher gets up to preach, do you back him up like you should? We listen to some charismatic and say, “Man, that guy can preach! Man, he is tearing it up!” He says enough right things to make you enjoy it, but it only takes one percent of arsenic to kill you! When your preacher tells you right things, do you say, “Amen!” and back him up by your lifestyle? Some of these folks are saying that the educational system is corrupt. Let me add right here: I thank God for every Christian teacher in the public school system. May their tribe also increase. We had a family in our church in West Virginia who homeschooled their four kids. Because their test scores were not where the state department of education thought they should be, they threatened to take the kids out of the home. The family thought they were joking around. I shall never forget the look on their faces when they knocked on my door one night. There stood this mama and daddy on my front porch crying, “Preacher, they came and got our kids!” We dealt with the state and got them back. I’m saying we are in a war! This is serious business. As the world sees the front line of the church weaken, your family will suffer persecution. I want my son to be able to have freedom. I don’t want him to have to visit his daddy in jail. IV. Our Leaders Are Under Attack You say, “Give me one good reason why I should take a stand.” “Give me one good reason why I should cut my hair.” “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t put on a miniskirt.” “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t smoke or drink beer.” “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t play the lottery.” “Give me one good reason why I should teach my kids to hold the line.” “Give me one good reason why I should make my kids come to church and why they should be involved in some Christian club at the church.” The ark is out there! Israel is out there! Judah is out there! Joab is out there! Joab was the leader. I say to you, the pastor of your church is out there. Does anybody care? If I were a member of your church, one of the many reasons why I would toe the line, stay on the front line and be faithful to soul winning and bus visitation is that I would have so much love and respect for my preacher that I wouldn’t do anything to be disloyal to him. We need a church full of people like that. Fundamental, God-fearing, Bible-believing pastors are not found everywhere. ‘Joab is out there!’ Whoever your preacher is, if he is a man of God, you ought to love him. V. Our Fellow Christians Are Under Attack Then Uriah said, ‘The servants of God are out there,’ the people in the church. I love God’s people and enjoy being around them. I have the time of my life fellowshiping with the people at God’s house. Uriah said they were “encamped in the open fields.” The enemy in this case had a walled city, but God’s people were in an open field. In our generation, evil is protected, and we have to fight for righteousness. Isaiah said: ”Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”—Isa. 5:20. Picture yourself standing in the open field of slaughter compared to Satan’s enormous army. The truth is, we have always been a minority. There was a time in the ’70s when we thought we were the “moral majority,” but if we are now, you surely can’t tell it. Maybe we’re the “silent majority.” We stand in an open field as immorality on television shoots like a machine gun. Christians say, “It’s harmless.” Yet it mows them down in the open field, deceiving them and stripping away their values. Our young people stand in an open field of drugs and alcohol, the number-one killer among teenagers today. Satan deceives them into thinking it is harmless. “You won’t get hooked,” he says. Yet we laugh at the beer commercials on television and think they’re funny. They’re not funny! We’re standing in an open field. Our young ladies stand unprotected in the open field of promiscuity. They are mowed down with the lie, “Everyone is doing it.” Everyone is not doing it! I sat in a restaurant two nights ago with my wife and son. The couple sitting next to us had a ten- year-old son. I listened to their conversation. The boy had been to a dance the night before at his elementary school. Daddy and Mama were laughing because he got his first kiss! Awhile back Newsweek magazine ran an article called “Tweens.” It talked about the way our young girls—ten, eleven, twelve years old—feel they have to dress in order to attract young boys. When I was ten years old, I was still running from girls! You say, “That’s old-fashioned.” Amen! We’re standing in an open field, and you know it’s true! Our elementary children innocently stand in an open field of humanism and anti-God, anti-Bible teaching. It comes at them so fast, they don’t even know what hit them. The day of temptation comes from those higher up or from family. “Oh, go on back home! You all down at that church take things too seriously! Lighten up a little! God wants you to be happy. Loosen up!” The day of temptation comes. “Preacher, do you have to put it quite like that? Can’t you be just a little more positive and a little less negative?” Yes! I am positive that I can be more negative! Jesus said, “Ye generation of vipers”! That was not a very positive appellation. When the temptation comes, the pressure comes. “Stay at home,” when it’s time for church. “Eat, drink, be merry.” “A football game is on tonight!” “Hey, are you going to the races? Let’s spend $500 this weekend and forget about our tithe.” The pressure comes. “Oh, we don’t need to be out there soul winning. Nobody is doing that now.” Yes, some still are. The pressure comes. “Oh, you fundamentalists! Don’t you know everybody now is going evangelical?” No, not everybody! A Christian still ought to live like a Christian. A Christian still ought to dress like a Christian. When the pressure comes, we need somebody to stand up and say, “The ark of God is out there! My country is out there! My family is out there! My pastor is out there! My friends are out there! As I live, I will not do this thing!” It seems kind of crazy to want to return to the front line, but I’m having the time of my life on the front line. I love what I do. I love being a Christian. You say, “Well, let someone else do it.” No! You do it! If you are on the front line serving God, stay there! If you have left the front line for one reason or another, I beg you, come back. There are teenagers sitting in here who need to enlist for duty. Some young men need to say, “I’ ll be a preacher. I’ll go to Miami. I’ll learn Spanish if I have to. I’ll go to California. I’ ll go to the Northeast. I’ll go!” Some of you young people need to walk down this aisle and say, “I’ll keep myself pure.” Some of you young ladies need to say, “I want to marry a preacher.” Some dads need to say, “I’ll jerk the knot on the end of the rope and stop the slide that my kids are on right now.” My dad was saying it long before I ever heard anybody else say it: “I’ll nip it in the bud!” It is time to return to the front line. You know what I’m talking about. I’m going to sing my own invitation song: I am on the battlefield for my Lord; I am on the battlefield for my Lord. And I promised Him that I would serve Him ’til I die. I’m on the battlefield for my Lord. I trust a host of you will decide now to return to the front line.
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