IF YOU RIDE WITH AN OUTLAW, YOU DIE WITH AN OUTLAW
Numbers 32:23
23 But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.
Believe it or not, there just is not much to watch on television today. I guess, and we have talked about this in the past, I have become one of those relics that lives in the OLD WEST. I don’t know if it was my fascination as a child with my pony Cochise, or if it was the fact that there were only three television channels and as kids if it had a horse in it, we were watching. Believe this or not and it sounds so old-fashioned, I grew up in a time where families did things together, including watching television. It’s okay, just take a deep breath, and you will not faint.
My sister and I grew up in the DARK AGES. There was only one television in our house, and we all watched television as a family, and we watched what our parents said we were watching. I hear the gasps throughout the building. ONLY ONE TELEVISION!!!!!!! As I grew older I really started noticing that these OLD WEST shows had some clear lines drawn. For instance, if you went into Dodge and wronged Miss Kitty, Matt Dillion was going to shoot you dead.
For instance, if you tried to harm the Ponderosa, the Cartwright family would be on you in a heartbeat. Just watch a John Wayne western and you will quickly learn the meaning of “That’ll be the day.” Every time Lonesome Dove comes on television, it almost forces you to watch it. Surely you have heard, “I won’t abide rude behavior in a man.” One of my favorite lines comes from this movie.
If you have watched Lonesome Dove, you know it is based on the exploits of three Texas Rangers, Augustus McRae, Woodrow Call, and Jake Spoon. They decide to leave Texas with a herd of cattle and to drive those cattle to Montana. Well somewhere along the journey, Jake leaves the trail drive, and he falls in with a band of outlaws. Augustus and Woodrow set out to find the outlaws that were terrorizing the countryside not realizing that Jake had fallen in with them. Well, when Augustus and Woodrow catch up to the outlaws, they see that Jake is part of the gang. As the Rangers carry out true western justice, which means they were stretching the outlaws’ necks from a tall tree with a short rope, Augustus looks at Jake and says, “If you ride with the Outlaws, you die with the outlaws.”
Today, I want us to biblically explore the phrase IF YOU RIDE WITH THE OUTLAWS, YOU DIE WITH THE OUTLAWS.
1. Outlaw named Desire.
Outlaws can affect Christians and non-Christians alike and outlaws have all kinds of names. From dark barren wastes in an area known as the Badlands there was an outlaw named DESIRE. We find what this outlaw can do in the Bible.
Look at 2 Samuel 11: 2-5.
2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
I believe, as soon as David arose out of bed that night, Outlaw Desire, and he quickly turned into a dangerous threat to David’s relationship with God. Don’t forget, the Bible says that David was a man after God’s own heart. The point is that if David can be led to join an outlaw, so can we. But back to David and Desire. David walked out on the patio and saw Bathsheba, and he desired her. Notice in verse 5, David’s servant tried to warn him. The servant told David that Bathsheba was Uriah’s wife. David ignored the warning and as result of the actions of David and his outlaw partner, DESIRE, Bathsheba became pregnant.
2. Outlaw named Deception.
David was not through. As an outlaw, as you ride the highways, other outlaws usually join you. David and his outlaw partner, Desire are joined on the trail, by an outlaw named Deception. I can see the wanted posters in Matt Dillon’s office now. WANTED: DAVID, DESIRE, AND DECEPTION.
Look at 2 Samuel 11: 6-11
6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. 10 So when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11 And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
I can see this scene playing out around the campfire. Three desperados, DESIRE, DECEPTION, and DAVID trying to come with a plan to escape God’s posse that was going to come after them. David lured Uriah home. David and Deception asked Uriah how the battle went, how the people were doing, and how Joab had performed. This entire conversation was just part of the plan that Deception had concocted for David. David did not care, at this point about anything, except covering his actions with DESIRE.
After hearing Uriah’s report, David urges the brave warrior to go home and be with his wife. He basically tells Uriah in verse 8 to eat, drink, and be merry. David, Desire, and Deception are shocked when they discover Uriah did not do as they told. He slept outside David’s door (Verse 9).
The TRIPLE D GANG, as they are now known, demand an explanation. Look at Uriah’s eloquent words in verse 11. “I will not do this thing. My brothers, Israel, and the ARK are abiding in tents and camping in the open. I will not yield to DESIRE.” David, Desire, and Deception are now concerned. WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO?
3. Outlaws named Desperation and Destruction.
As the three desperate Outlaws are warming by the fire, they hear hoof beats. Could it be the posse? Could it be Uriah? Had he found out what David had done? David, Desire, and Deception start cutting their eyes back and forth just like the scene in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but they breathe a sigh of relief when they realize that two more outlaws had come to join their gang. DESPERATION AND DESTRUCTION were their names.
So now we have, DAVID, DESIRE, DECEPTION, DESPERATION, AND DESTRUCTION. What a vivacious gang of bandits. Look at 2 SAMUEL 11: 14-27
14 In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.” 16 So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, 19 and charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king, 20 if it happens that the king’s wrath rises, and he says to you: ‘Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ” 22 So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him. 23 And the messenger said to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. 24 The archers shot from the wall at your servants; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 25 Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ So encourage him.” 26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
David sends messenger with a note to Joab at the battle front. The note contains important instructions detailed by Desperation. Joab was to place Uriah at the sight of the fiercest fighting. David, Desire, Deception, Desperation, and Destruction are hopeful that this will solve and eliminate their problem completely. As you see in Verse 17, Uriah is killed but not only Uriah, many men died that day. This did not concern David. He and his gang of Outlaws knew their problems were over. I can see David, Desire, Deception, Desperation, and Destruction high fiving each other. They might have even Ric Flair strutted around the campground. If you listen closely, you might hear WOOOOOO!!!!!!
David did not waste any time. As soon as the allotted time of mourning past (VERSE 27), David brought Bathsheba to his house, and he and she had a son. BUT THE POSSE WAS ON THE WAY. Look at verse 27. “THE THING DISPLEASED THE LORD.”
The marshal in charge of justice in Israel was GOD. GOD appointed a Deputy Marshal named Nathan to hunt down David and his gang of D Desperados to confront them about their actions. Remember our first scripture, “BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT.” Deputy Marshall Nathan tracked David down. David and his gang were the only ones or so they thought that knew of their actions, but Marshal GOD and Deputy Nathan were fully aware. Look at 2 Samuel 12: 5-14.
5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ” 13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”
Nathan tells David a story and the events of the story angered David. Unknowingly, in verse 5, David pronounces judgement on himself and his gang of D Desperados. “THE MAN SHALL SURELY DIE.” David had gotten so arrogant that he thought he had gotten completely away with his actions. He even says in verse 6, it shall be restored fourfold. Can you imagine David’s shock when Deputy Nathan tells him in verse 6, “David, you are the man.”
Marshal GOD would tell you and I today there is no escaping justice. “Be sure your sins will find you out.” In a note of forgiveness, in verse 13, David repented. He admitted his sin, but his sin had found him out. You might wonder about David’s consequences for his sins:
(1) Bathsheba’s child died.
(2) David’s family was broken.
(3) David’s son, Amnon raped his sister, Tamar.
(4) David’s son, Absalom, murdered Amnon.
(5) Absalom led a rebellion against David.
(6) Absalom was caught by his hair in a tree and was murdered by one of David’s servants.
As you can see the D Gang of Desire, Deception, Desperation, and Destruction still affected David’s family. There are many outlaws lurking today. Outlaws such as GREED, ADDICTION, ADULTERY, IMMORALITY, VANITY, and IDOLATRY. These outlaws are vicious and will rob both Christians and non-Christians of the life that God intends for us. My desire and advice for you is simple, unless you want Marshal GOD tracking you down, do as David did.
David said, “I HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD.” That admission has sin instantly taken away. If you are riding with some of these outlaws, it is time, before the Marshal sets out for you, to admit I HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD!!!!
That is my TV Western take on the story of David, Bathsheba, Uriah, Nathan, and God. Thanks for taking the time to read it, and hopefully God will speak to you through it.
I would like to invite you to Beech Grove Baptist Church for our Salvation Summit which runs August 17-19 beginning at 6:30 nightly. I will be speaking on the 17th, Nathe Ozment will be speaking on the 18th, and Charles McKendree will be speaking on the 19th. Please join us if you can as we share Christ. Our homecoming service will be August 21st with services beginning at 10:00.
All of our services, including the Salvation Summit, will be and are streamed live on beechgrovebruceville.org and Facebook Live at Beechgrove Baptist Church. Please leave any questions or comments in the comments section of my blog.