Sermon
You May Get What You Want…But You May Not Want What You Get
December 4-5, 1999
Pastor Donald Sheley

This sermon started 51 years ago. I was 17-years of age. I was getting ready to replace my first car which was a 1931 model A Ford with a rumble seat. Remember that brother? And as I was looking in the used car lot I noticed this 1934 Ford Phantom, that's a four-door sedan convertible, and I'll tell you 50 years ago when you drove down the street in a four-door sedan convertible, you were the cat's meow. (congregation laughs) I decided I wanted that car. It was $275.00 and so I took my father with me, and my father gave me some advice. He said, now Son, he said you won't like this car. He said it's a convertible. It will rattle, and he said on rainy days it will never keep you dry. You'll always have to wear rain gear inside. And he said on sunny days it's too hot here in Chico, it sometimes gets 115, he said you won't want the top down. And he said really it's not practical Son and he said; you may get what you want, but you may not want what you get. 

Well I was stubborn. I was rebellious in the sense that I ignored good advice and I bought that car. The first time it rained I wore rain gear, had canvass covering my legs, the top was up, I mean wind was blowing everyplace, and it was a mess. I thought when I got that thing back in the garage, you may get what you want, but you may not want what you get. And every time I got in that pile of junk I regretted that I did not pay attention in making a decision based upon wisdom. I did it because I wanted it. And isn't it true we spend most of our lives pursuing things we want, and sometimes to the disrespect of those who give us good advise, sometimes to the absolute ignoring of evidence that shows that what we're doing is wrong. Yet because of our heart and our tenacity and our stubbornness we get our way. 

Some of you sit here today and think with me, we look back over life and some of us still today live with decisions we would to God we would not have made them 20 years ago. My father was a very simple man. He only went to the fourth grade, but he preached to me simple one-sentence sermons, and this is one of them. You may get what you want, but you may not want what you get. Another one was this, he said Son, life is like driving nails into wood, with your decisions you drive the nails. And sometimes you can take the nails out, in fact, most of the time, but you never can take out the nail holes. And he said it's like that, you can make decisions and sin and God can forgive you by pulling out the nail, but He never pulls out the nail hole. It's true isn't? 

We today, many of us, live with nails we drove that God has been gracious enough to forgive us, but every day we're reminded of the nail hole. You may get what you want, but you may not want what you get. Now that's the sermon, one sentence long. The rest of what I tell you is simply an illustration that enforces the sermon, and there are a thousand of them in this book (Bible). Let's go to one. Join with me in your Bible in 2 Samuel chapter 11. It's the story of David, and verse 1 of chapter 11 begins the story this morning. It's just like reading the newspaper today. You'll find the similarities. It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab (now Joab is his commander) and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Why? Well he did something all good kings never do. 

In ancient days springtime was the time where kings would go and sack the village or the town next door and take their spoils, and that's the way they spent their springtimes. And no king ever sent his army without joining them. No king would do that. Now David's lazy. He's negligent, so he sends Joab and his armies out to take Rabbah. He says see you fellows later. He stays home. Gets himself into a mess of problems. Look at verse 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.

In the eastern countries houses are built with flat roofs, and that becomes a place where you entertain. It becomes a place of fellowship. David's up there in the evening time, sees a beautiful woman, and so what he says, verse 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?" 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. A few days later David gets a message, David, I'm with child. Now he's cornered. Uriah the Hittite is out fighting the battle, David has disgraced his wife, brought her to the palace and violated her marriage, and now he gets the news he's going to be a dad. 

Well he's got to cover up this thing so look what he does. Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David. Remember Uriah is out there fighting for David. David's violating his wife. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. He hasn't got the slightest interest in those subjects. 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. 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. Why? Because he was a good soldier, and good soldiers never came home, to go home to their wives when men were out dying on the battlefield and old Uriah was godly enough to say king, I don't care what you say, a good soldier never goes home when the war is on. And now you're asking me to violate the loyalty of a good soldier. I'm not going to do it. 

So when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house." You see David wanted to send Uriah down to the house when the baby was born, he said O yea, Uriah came back from the battle that night. He's the daddy. David said to Uriah, "Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" 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 our soul lives, I will not do this thing." He defies the king. He said I'm not going to violate the character of a good soldier. Well old David said, well you wait here today and tomorrow while I think of another scheme. That's Sheley's paraphrasing. "Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. David thought well if I can't send him home sober, I'll send him home drunk. Couldn't get him drunk enough. Because at evening time he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to this house. 

David's got a problem. The man won't go home so, in the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, you put Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and then everybody back away and let him take a pot shot, let him be killed by the enemies. And he's got the gall enough to have Uriah personally carry his death note to the commander. That's low, but that's David. So it was, verse 16, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. 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. He's taken defiled a woman, she's now with child, to cover up his sin he kills the husband so now he can bring her to his house. 

Look at verse 26. When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 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. Next chapter. Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. That's the prophet, old Nathan the prophet. And he came to him and he said David, I've got a story I want to tell you. You listen to me. "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him." And a traveler came to the rich man's house and he refused to go take from his own flocks and herds to prepare for his guest. He took the poor man's lamb and he prepared it for the man who had come to him. Well old 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!" He pronounced his own death sentence. And he adds to it. He says, "And he shall restore fourfold." He'll pay for that lamb four times. Because he did this thing and because he had no pity. 

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. '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!" David, how much do you want? Why? 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 you have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. '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.' "Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Mark that well. 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. In other words, he says you did this secretly, but I will do this before all Israel and before the public. 

David, you took advantage of one lady. The day is coming when all of your wives are going to be marched onto the housetop and sinned against openly. So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And if we had time we could put right in that place Psalm 51, that's the prayer that he must have prayed. So Nathan says to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin." In other words, you've repented David, God's forgiven you. He's pulled out the nail, but you're going to live with the nail hole. "However, because 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." Then Nathan departed to his house. 

David pronounced his own judgment. He got forgiven and didn't have to die, but he's going to now have to pay for that sin four times. Payment number one. Look the next verse. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became ill. David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. Verse 18, then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. Payment number one. David's got to build a little coffin, prepare a funeral service, and sit in a funeral parlor. The death of someone who was innocent. 

I don't know about you, I've been in the ministry for 50 years, but I'll tell you the hardest thing in the world for me to do as a pastor is to conduct a funeral service for a baby. I don't like, I don't like little coffins, they hurt. See old David sitting there in the funeral parlor staring at a coffin of his son. Payment number one. 

Comes time for payment number two. Go with me to chapter 13. You must realize that in those days men had multiple wives and so in a house there would be a number of children from each wife, and so the children would be half-brothers and half-sisters. You'd have multiple wives with children from each wife. So here's the story. After this Absalom, now that's one of the sons of David, he had a lovely sister; whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. So a half-brother falls in love with his half-sister. Got the picture? 

What old Amnon did he knew that according to the custom it would be improper for him to pursue Tamar, so he talks to old Jonadab his cunning, crafty friend. And old Jonadab says, hey, Amnon, what are you so thin about? Well I'm lovesick. That's what it says there. And old Jonadab said well, listen, he said you can fix that. He said set up a deal where you get Tamar to be in your bedroom and then when everybody else is gone, you attack her. So Amnon he plays like he's sick and his dad, King David, came in and said, Son, why are you sick? I don't know. Is there something I can do for you? I think if you have Tamar come and bake me some of her little cakes and bring them to me I think that will make me well. So David says to Tamar, honey, go bake some cakes for your sick brother and take them to him. 

Look at verse 11. Now when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, "Come, lie with me, my sister." But she answered him, "No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! "And I, where could I take my shame? And as for you; you would be like one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you." In other words, he's king, he could set aside maybe some of the regulations and if you want me, maybe he could arrange a marriage, but at least talk to dad about it. 

Verse 14, however, he would not heed her voice; and being stronger than she, he raped her. Now what happened in those days when a girl's virginity was violated she lost that cloak, that beautiful garment that she wore, that always said I'm available for marriage, and now she puts on the garment of shame, and she's forever to live her life marked by shame. Payment number two, shame enters the palace. Well old Absalom he's not going to put up with his brother violating his sister so he says, I'll get that guy. And old Absalom plans a party down on the field and gets everybody there, and when everybody's drunk he gets his men to kill Amnon for violating his sister Tamar. 

David's been to a funeral, shame now fills his house, and now one son murders another son. That's enough to break any dad's heart. I've dealt with situations where murder has torn apart families. It's hurtful, and I think when old David attended the funeral to his son he probably sat there, I got what I wanted, but O, the price I'm paying. It's time for payment number 4. When Absalom learns that his dad is angry about him slaying brother Amnon, old Absalom takes off for Geshur, which is a town far away, and he's gone for three years, three years. Finally the pressure around Jerusalem got so tight that Joab was saying, hey David, everybody's talking. Your son is gone and you're doing nothing to reach out to him, and why don't you go bring him back home. So they manipulated a deal and finally Joab goes and brings Absalom back to Jerusalem, but David said I don't want him in my house. He can come to the city, but I don't want him in my house.

For two years, two years, Absalom's kicking around Jerusalem, but his dad won't let him come home. David's too hurt. Now some of you know the anguish of living in a household that's split with family feuds. So Absalom then finally gets back into David's graces, but no sooner than he did that than the rascal goes out and sits at the city gate and when people would come to see his dad, David, he'd divert their attention to him. And for years he'd sit there, and over the years he stole the hearts of all the people of Israel and he turned them against his father. This is Absalom. Remember old Nathan says there will be adversity within your family? And so as a result when time comes when Absalom makes up his mind, I'm going to put together an army and I'm going to come back and kill my dad, steal his throne, and live in his palace. So he said to his dad one day, dad, I'm going up to Hebron for a spiritual retreat. I've got some offerings to make. I'll be back soon. 

He didn't go there for a spiritual retreat. He went there to mobilize his army. When he's starting back down from Hebron David hears about it and David said look at, we've got to get out of here. Absalom my son is coming after us and he's going to kill us and take over the throne. So you see David and his little group hurrying out across down through Jericho and across the Jordan heading for the wilderness because they're running from Absalom. And old Absalom arrives in Jerusalem, and I mean he's ready to take over, and the first thing he did was just exactly what Nathan said. He went up on the rooftop, built a tent, lined up all David's wives and took them in the tent and disgraced them, in the face, in public view of all the people of Jerusalem. The Bible says be sure your sins will find you out. What you do in the closet will be shouted from the housetops. Now Absalom has shamed the kingdom. He shamed his father. He's disgraced the family and he takes across and he's heading out there over to the wilderness after his dad, and he's a handsome guy. He's got this big head of hair. In fact, they weighed his hair every year. They cut it off and I mean it really was, he must have just had a massive head of hair. And he's riding his mule and he's taking it across and it goes under a tree and his hair get caught in the tree and the mule goes on and here he is hanging between heaven and earth. His hair caught in the tree and he can't get down. And old Joab has been told, David says look at if you find Absalom don't do him any personal harm. Don't hurt my son. I mean take him alive, but don't kill him. And old Joab he saw Absalom hanging there in the tree. He gets out his arrows and boy he puts three of them right through the heart of old Absalom and kills him. 

It's time for payment number four. Go with me to the eighteenth chapter now and verse 33. Isn't that a fascinating story? Absolutely fascinating. David has heard that his son is dead, verse 33 chapter 18. Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. Have you noticed how many times he's cried? You see ladies and gentlemen sin always has a payday. And the dividends are always deadly because the wages of sin is death. And David is sitting there crying, but then listen to his wail. "O my son Absalom – my son, my son Absalom – if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!" my son. A wail that has never ended for centuries. David was it worth sinning? Stealing Bathsheba, breaking up a family, causing murder? David. And I'm sure his answer would be, I got my Bathsheba, but I lived with tears the rest of my life. You may get what you want, but you may not want what you get. 

Old Solomon got wealth. I mean he was the richest man alive. Read his book of Ecclesiastes. With his pockets full and houses galore, and money to burn, and gold to throw away he tells us a very, very open statement; vanity, vanity the whole thing is vanity. And Paul writes to Timothy and says you may long for money, but the love for money has shot many through with arrows of sorrow. You may get your fortune, but you may lose your soul. And I've known men in my lifetime who have devoted themselves in their business, they've lost their families, they've lost everything that's valuable. They may end up with a bank account, but a terribly empty life. Ask old Pilate. Pilate wanted the acceptance of the crowd, and Mark tells us that in order to please the crowd, he let them take Jesus and crucify Him. Why? Because he wanted the crowd's acceptance. And you know what history tells us and tradition? It wasn't very many months afterwards that the note came from Rome to take old Pilate exile him and they did. He lost everything and became insane, and he spent the rest of his life wringing his hands. He got what he wanted, public acceptance, but he died insane, gave up everything that was valuable. 

There are many who sit here in this congregation today who say, Pastor; I know exactly what you're talking about. I made decisions years ago I would to God I could go back and change them. Last night sitting right over here was a young man. I watched him as I preached. He sat on the edge of his chair and finally when it was all over he came up and he said, Preacher, you preached to me tonight. I was raised with Christian values, but I chose to violate those and I went out in a life of sin, and tonight I'm dying of an incurable disease caused by my sin. I know what you're saying. You may get your Bathsheba, but the road to her house is the road to hell, just ask Solomon, and it end in death. 

Is there a positive side? Yes. Ask Paul. Paul would say, I got what I wanted. I wanted more than anything else, Philippians 3:7, I counted everything but loss so I could gain Jesus. And history tells us that in order to qualify to be a Sanhedrin he was a married man, but because he followed Christ as an orthodox family his wife and his family, his dad and his mom forsook him. Paul gave up everything to be a follower of Christ, but he made the right choice, because then he writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 6; I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Now when old Paul closed his eyes in death, he marched through the portals of heaven and I think every angel sang the welcome song. 

He got what he wanted. He wanted Jesus. He wanted to make decisions that counted for eternity, that gave God glory and Christ praise, and as the result tonight or today he rejoices in heaven. Here's my message, we make decisions every day that affect us, our families, our Christian testimony, and I tell you pray about every one of them. Say, God, God, I need Your wisdom and I need Your help. I need Your strength because I want to do what pleases You. You may get what you want and what I want more than anything else, I want Jesus just like Paul, and I want when my race is finished, and it's not very far from the end, I want to arrive in the courts of heaven and hear Jesus say to me, well done thou good and faithful servant. Then I'll get what I've always wanted, His approval.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus Your word is so clear. The truth is so evident. You let us have our way when in reality You could stop us, but You created us a people that have the ability to choose. You put up a lot of roadblocks a lot of hurdles, and yet in our rebellion, in our stubbornness, in our sin, we kick them all down and You let us. And then we live with the nail holes. Would You help us to be men and women of godly wisdom to make choices that honor You and will count for eternity? Please help us dear Jesus, and everybody said, amen. God bless you.