David: A Flawed Hero Of The Faith Series

Introduction

We are concluding our five-week sermon series on Hebrews 11 that I am calling, “Flawed: Heroes of the Faith.”

So far, we have examined the lives of Sarah, Moses, and Jacob.

Today, I am concluding our study by examining the life of David. He is one of the greatest believers in the entire Bible. In fact, God said of David, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will” (Acts 13:22). David certainly should be listed as one of those in “The Bible’s Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11.

But, as we shall see, David’s life was stained by incredible moral failure. He was a massively flawed hero of the faith.

Yet, despite his sin and failure, we shall also see God’s grace at work in David’s life.

And that should give all of us great hope.

Scripture

As we learn about David, a flawed hero of faith, I would like to read two passages of Scripture for today’s lesson.

The first Scripture passage I would like to read is Hebrews 11:32-34:

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

The second Scripture passage is about the great moral failure in David’s life. It is found in 2 Samuel 11:1-12:14. However, for the sake of time, I will read selected portions from this section. Let’s begin with 2 Samuel 11:1-5:

1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

David then sent for her husband, Uriah, who was at the battlefront. He tried to get Uriah to go home to his wife. But Uriah would not do so. Let’s pick up the narrative in verse 14:

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” 16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.

Joab sent word back to David that Uriah had been killed. Let’s pick up the narrative in verse 26:

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the 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.

1 And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”