Sermon

2 Samuel 14 (Part 1) Bible Study | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  1. Second Samuel. Chapter 14.

    2 Samuel 14 chapter mention

  2. And as you're turning there. I can't help but share what I

  3. read in my own personal reading. This week, I'm in the Book of

  4. Job And there's a part where job describes the Majesty of God.

  5. and at the end of his, His displaying of the glories of

  6. God. He says something that humbled

  7. me tremendously, and I pray that it will humble.

  8. You not just humble you, but that it would excite you.

  9. I encourage you your own time to read job 26.

  10. But at the end of twenty sixth chapter 26, you have to turn

  11. there, just listen to what job has to say.

  12. He says, in verse 14 of that chapter behold, these are but

  13. the outskirts of his ways. And how small a whisper, do we

  14. hear of him? And how small a whisper, do we

  15. hear of him? Everything.

  16. You know about God, everything that you see concerning God, his

  17. character, his power, his wisdom is but a whisper just a whisper

  18. just a breath. Maybe think Lord, I Want More

  19. Than A Whisper. And it made me realize that

  20. there's a day coming where it'll be louder than a whisper where

  21. we going to have his glory full force and he will give us the

  22. necessary mind and body and heart and ability to register

  23. all that he is. So everything that you discover

  24. week by week day by day, you're seeing through a glass dimly.

  25. There is a Time coming where you and I are going to see it

  26. face-to-face. See him face to face.

  27. And so as we come to this chapter and second Samuel, let

  28. us discover The Whispers of God's wisdom, his love.

  29. His power has might his grace his compassion, his Justice.

  30. And Lord we pray but we pray again, this is this is our

  31. desire that we may know you. Lord you are our Shield, you are

  32. our glory and you are the lifter of our heads.

  33. And God, you give us more joy than they when their grain and

  34. wine. Abound, your word is our gold.

  35. It is our silver, they are Jewels more precious than all of

  36. these things and we ask for that.

  37. As we come to this chapter, there will be a special Grace.

  38. On the delivery of this word and to be a special Grace upon the

  39. study of it, for every heart that is here.

  40. Open to receive what you have to say.

  41. We give you all glory and honor in Jesus name.

  42. Amen. You might be wondering why?

  43. I'm not down there and why I'm up here.

  44. Just a brief technical thing before we move on.

  45. We want to figure out how to handle that.

  46. Mike probably every week you hear something from Bible study.

  47. But you also hear me say something about buzzing, right?

  48. So I don't want to keep repeating myself.

  49. So we're going to try to get to that buzzing issue.

  50. And until then, we're just Going to be up here for a bit.

  51. Let's come to second Samuel. 14 in one chapter spanning over two

  52. years in real time. You and I have witnessed the

  53. lives of three of David's children.

  54. Never be the same drastically and dramatically being altered

  55. forever, really Tamar or Tamar David's daughter.

  56. Was violated tragically raped and was robbed of her innocence

  57. David's, eldest, son. We studied him and we examine

  58. his life and realized that he was the one Who violated his

  59. sister and was then murdered for his actions.

  60. And then from Tamar to eminent we come and we were introduced

  61. to a man named Absalom and we looked at him and we realized it

  62. Absalom was the one who premeditated the assassination

  63. of his half-brother and then and then fled into Exile hoping to

  64. escape. Justice.

  65. And when we come to this chapter, we have to understand.

  66. According to second, Samuel 1338, three more years have

  67. passed since Emmons death, that's a long time. but we will

  68. realize at the opening of this chapter is that though three

  69. years have gone by David's, heart is still disoriented It is

  70. damaged. It is caught up in different

  71. meditations imaginations. What ifs.

  72. And so this man is in shambles just as much as his home is.

  73. And so this is a dysfunctional family and it's only going to

  74. get worse, unfortunately. And we get the impression of

  75. David's condition here in the first verse of chapter 14, I

  76. don't want us to read it together.

  77. Now, joab, the son of zero. I knew that the king's heart

  78. went out to Absalom. This is the essence of the

  79. disturbance of a of David's heart.

  80. Rather it is for his son, Absalom.

  81. It is going out to him. there's a yearning for his son, there's

  82. a longing for his son, and it makes you wonder that even

  83. though this atrocious Act was committed time does, in fact

  84. heal It does help us forget the weight and the sting of certain

  85. actions. And so David is really in a

  86. place of discomfort and there's a level of of longing for

  87. someone that is a part of him though is not with him anymore

  88. and he wants to see some level of reconciliation happen.

  89. He wants to see some kind of restoration happen.

  90. He wants his boy back in his presence.

  91. And if you think about it, if this is what this man wants,

  92. this father Longs for, he has every authority to be able to

  93. send out Messengers and call for Absalom to return from guest

  94. Shore. And to, to be brought back and

  95. to be brought back into the home, and brought back into his

  96. daily activities, and to just move on from life, he has every

  97. ability to reassure him that he will Embrace him.

  98. And that he will bring him to the place where we can make this

  99. as normal as possible. But he doesn't.

  100. And the question is why and this is where the Dilemma lies

  101. because David here is not just a father who has natural

  102. affections for his son. He is also a king who is called

  103. to uphold Justice. And to not play favorites and to

  104. pledge his Allegiance in his loyalty to God and His law above

  105. all and above everyone else. This is the struggle of the man.

  106. And though, David is in a very unique position, who is

  107. upholding a very unique responsibility, this is a

  108. portrait of David's life, in our study of second Samuel, that

  109. will teach us, and remind us how it is often very difficult to do

  110. the right thing. If you want to know what we're

  111. going to be studying tonight, it is that an honest look in the

  112. scriptures of how the Holy Spirit reminds us and prepares

  113. us that it's not always easy to do that, which is right. and

  114. more than just telling us that because many of us understand

  115. that already, The holy spirit will also through this text,

  116. equip us to know how we can avoid the ensnarement and The

  117. Traps, that will try to keep us from pursuing that, which is

  118. god-honoring and will help us avoid mistakes, that we will

  119. later regret because we fell into some form of deception,

  120. that persuaded us to do that, which was wrong thinking, that

  121. it would bring about better results.

  122. Isn't it difficult to do that? Which we know is right in some

  123. cases. There's family Dynamics, there's

  124. loyalty there is possible, future altering things that if

  125. you do that which is right, it could potentially make you lose

  126. on so many fronts. And so there are many times

  127. where we come to intersections moments where we try to come up

  128. with a plan where we can come as close as possible to that which

  129. God demands of us at the same time, Rising as many

  130. consequences that would come about from doing that which God

  131. calls us to do. It's a Temptation that you will

  132. know if you want to follow Jesus and abide by his word, it will

  133. eventually come in one way or another.

  134. And in David's case he is sitting on his throne day after

  135. day night after night. Struggling.

  136. Of how to go about this. Do I execute Justice?

  137. Against my son. Or do I ignore Justice?

  138. And embrace my son. And we are told here.

  139. That Joe I picked up on this dilemma Joe.

  140. I've was a companion, a very close companion to David.

  141. He was his nephew, he was his confidante, he was someone that

  142. was in close proximity. David 24/7, really?

  143. And he was able to discern that David could not make a decision.

  144. And that he felt stuck. And he was in a very sticky

  145. situation. And so after learning about

  146. this, David is going to be introduced to a different

  147. person. And it's really a plan that job

  148. is going to come up with. Let's read verse 2 and jobs sent

  149. to Toccoa and brought from there.

  150. A wise woman and said to her pretend to be a mourner and put

  151. on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil

  152. but behave like a woman who has been morning, many days for the

  153. dead, go to the king and speak thus to him.

  154. So joab, put the words in her mouth.

  155. If you feel nervous, that job is orchestrating, something you're

  156. justified in feeling a little uneasy.

  157. Because we know job enough to realize that he's not the most

  158. spiritual among the roster of Israel's Mighty Men.

  159. Job was intensely loyal to David.

  160. He loved David. He loved supporting and he loved

  161. working for him, but at the same time, this man was viciously

  162. motivated by self-interest. And when you see job make

  163. certain decisions you can't put your finger on it.

  164. You don't really know what's going on through his mind all

  165. the time. But we've seen again enough to

  166. realize that when Joy feels like something could potentially

  167. threaten him, he's willing to make dramatic decisions.

  168. And in this case, here, we see that this man who does not have

  169. a high regard for the law. He already killed two people,

  170. rather one, at least that we know of, and he's going to going

  171. to kill somebody else very soon. Without a Cause.

  172. And now we come here and we realize that he is speaking to a

  173. woman with no name no identity and is putting words in her

  174. mouth. What is he going to have her say

  175. on his behalf? Why is he even doing all of

  176. this? Well, one thing's for certain

  177. knowing job, whatever is about to be shared.

  178. From this woman is not going to be in, accordance to God's word

  179. and we're going to learn that very quickly.

  180. We have reason to be suspicious and our suspicions will be

  181. proven true. So if God's honor is not going

  182. to be the aim of job scheme here again, why is he doing this?

  183. And here's the thing, we are not told it's not explicitly.

  184. Clear why job is going to Great Lengths to now send somebody to

  185. send a message to David that has to do, obviously, based on first

  186. one with Absalom. Could it be that job understood

  187. that there is Judgment looming his over his own head?

  188. He has blood on his own hands and maybe he's trying to and

  189. some Way project through this situation, some kind of

  190. conviction on David so that he would not return Justice on him.

  191. It could be, we don't know this job for see.

  192. Something with Absalom being far away potentially Brewing up some

  193. trouble and wanting to avoid something.

  194. And so he wants to try to bring about reconciliation as soon as

  195. possible. We already learned that Absalom

  196. took his time, it's usually not a good thing because he's

  197. brewing. Something could that be the

  198. case? Here?

  199. Again, we do not know why job is doing this, but as we will see

  200. this man does not have the scriptures as a standard does

  201. not have God's law in mind and he's going to try to convince

  202. David to do the same. So what's going to happen here?

  203. Well, before we look at the conversation between this woman

  204. and David, we have to understand that job is smart.

  205. He is intelligent. I mean, he is the commander over

  206. the army. So he has some ability to

  207. strategize does this this Ploy of having somebody come to

  208. David? to deal with a certain issue

  209. with a story because now she's about to present a story, remind

  210. you of a past, confrontation, that David experienced Think

  211. about it. What kind of messenger came to

  212. David, at one point to try to provoke?

  213. Some kind of pronounced judgment on something.

  214. Nathan, the prophet Nathan the prophet at one point came to

  215. David and he had this story that would try to invoke some kind of

  216. emotion and then from there pronounced some kind of judgment

  217. some kind of charge and that is precisely.

  218. What is about to happen. Nathan was successful in that

  219. perhaps job realized that Nathan Was able to get something out of

  220. David, through that method. And so he wants to now utilize

  221. the same tactic. I'm going to have a woman and we

  222. were told you that she was very wise, right?

  223. She's a wise woman, I'm going to dress her up in a certain way.

  224. I'm going to give her a script and let's just see if something

  225. will happen to David's heart where he will be able to convict

  226. himself like he did when Nathan approach them.

  227. And this is a lesson already, the fact that job is imitating

  228. Nathan and some way is instructive for us.

  229. Concerning how We Face spiritual warfare in some way.

  230. What do you mean? Well, the prophet again came to

  231. David with a parable and that would produce some kind of sense

  232. of justice for him to make some kind of a statement, right?

  233. But here we see that job. On the other hand will use such

  234. a familiar means, but not to bring about righteousness.

  235. It is to bring them to a point where he actually dismisses the

  236. law. Instead, of coming to the law,

  237. this is now going to encourage him to overshadow that which God

  238. commands and to use a different kind of standard to make his

  239. decision, concerning Absalom. And if that is true, then this

  240. is what we have to learn that the enemy, our enemy, the enemy

  241. of your soul and mine. He often disguises himself and

  242. imitates. What God has done or what God

  243. can do in order to disarm us in a way that would do pus in one

  244. way or another. So this is a call for

  245. discernment at the sermon that David would unfortunately, lack

  246. you. And I have to understand that

  247. this woman was described again as wise and depending on the

  248. context that can be a good thing or a bad thing.

  249. You know, what is the last time or where the last time we were

  250. told someone was wise. It was Jonah Dad.

  251. We're told that he was a crafty man in 2nd Samuel 13.

  252. It's the same word used here, cunning deceptive.

  253. Persuasive. Convincing.

  254. Job knew exactly who to find to do the job.

  255. And you, and I have to understand that.

  256. We cannot be fooled by the way. Something or someone is packaged

  257. We have to look beyond the surface, we must be able to

  258. develop discernment through the truth of God's word and His holy

  259. spirit in us. And so, here's the, here's the

  260. understanding just because somebody quotes a few verses out

  261. of context, it doesn't mean they're right.

  262. Just because they hold a Bible. Just because their demeanor

  263. seems gentle and kind and compassionate soft.

  264. It doesn't matter what kind of testimonies they even provide to

  265. try to validate their counsel, or their belief, It doesn't mean

  266. they are from God. It doesn't mean it is, right?

  267. And so here we see something, very familiar, a righteous man

  268. did this at one point but now we have an unrighteous man

  269. borrowing the tactics of someone who was of God and is now going

  270. to persuade someone through very similar.

  271. Tactics to draw, somebody away from God, be very careful.

  272. The devil doesn't come to your front door with horns and a

  273. pitchfork and a tail. He can have his own Evangelistic

  274. Show on satellite television. He can have awesome podcast that

  275. reaches the world. They can come to our church and

  276. sit in our pews and amen. Bible studies and sing.

  277. The same songs, be very careful. Unfortunately, David is not

  278. careful. With a pretender.

  279. She is a pretender. So now here's what we're going

  280. to do. The next set of verses will show

  281. us the elements or at least some elements of deception that we

  282. must be aware of. Because Unfortunately, they are

  283. the very things that will direct a divided, heart to make the

  284. wrong decision. Let's read from verse for you,

  285. with me verse 4, when the woman of Tekoa came to the king, she

  286. fell on her face to the ground. And paid homage and said, Save

  287. Me O King. And the King said to her.

  288. What is your trouble? She answered a last time, a

  289. widow. My husband is dead and your

  290. servant had two sons and they quarreled with one another.

  291. In the field. There is no one to separate them

  292. and one struck the other and killed him.

  293. And now the whole clan other translations would say, the

  294. whole family has risen against your servant and they say, give

  295. up the man who struck his brother that we may put him to

  296. death for the life of his brother whom he He killed, so

  297. they would destroy the are also, thus, they would quench my coal.

  298. That is left and leave to my husband.

  299. Neither name nor Remnant on the face of the Earth.

  300. Again. Like Nathan's.

  301. Parable job is very clever and here's how he's clever.

  302. He is fabricating a story to be close enough to David's

  303. predicament. So that when he does pronounce a

  304. judgment, he would indict himself yet.

  305. He makes it different enough for David.

  306. Not to be aroused in his suspicions.

  307. But instead of Suspicion there would be sympathy, that would be

  308. stimulated based on the content of the case that is being

  309. presented. And so I want your base on the

  310. verses that we just read. I'm actually asking you and I'm

  311. going to hear your answers will hear together.

  312. Based on this. Remember, the strategy is let's

  313. come as close as possible to the real event that happened a few

  314. years ago. But let's let's separate

  315. ourselves enough. So that David can't catch on.

  316. What are some differences? We see the similarities, right?

  317. But what are the differences here that are important to point

  318. out and I'll tell you why they're important in a moment.

  319. What do you see here? You would have to have come the

  320. past few weeks to know what the real event was.

  321. But for those who have been here or know the story, well, look at

  322. these three verses that we just read and think What is

  323. different? Yeah, so we have the whole

  324. family asking for the one who slayed, the brother to be put to

  325. Justice, right? We don't have any indication

  326. that that was happening in David's family. well, in the

  327. real event where their two brothers, I conflict Now, the

  328. way this woman presents, it was that there was a spontaneous

  329. combustion. Of some kind of tension and one

  330. brother killed. The other on the spot is that

  331. what happened in real life? What happened in real life, It

  332. was premeditated. That's important.

  333. So the woman already here is trying to soften the crime by

  334. making it seem as though it was. It was just the Heat of the

  335. Moment, the Heat of the Moment, right?

  336. Somebody had their hand up. Yes.

  337. Yeah, interesting. Right.

  338. There were no witnesses. There is nobody who can

  339. intervene there was no one who could step in sure.

  340. What's the heartbreaking? Part of all the story apart from

  341. the murder. She's a widow.

  342. She's a widow. She doesn't have a husband.

  343. So, our only means of support are her sons.

  344. One, son is gone. She has one son left.

  345. And if they were to perform this execution, if capital punishment

  346. were to be done, she would lose her other son and she would be

  347. left alone destitute and in danger.

  348. That's an interesting difference.

  349. And she even strategically uses the word.

  350. Are I think that's the strike a chord and David's heart as well.

  351. Who will be the are my husband's name will disappear old vanish

  352. from the remnant of the Earth. And so here, we see something

  353. that may be similar a real murder took place, but it's

  354. vastly different than what David had to deal with.

  355. Was Absalom David's only son. Was his only son left?

  356. No, he had several Sons. So was David's Kingdom in

  357. Jeopardy, was his dynasty going to go extinct even if Absalom

  358. was dealt with according to the law.

  359. No. But in this story it's it's a

  360. pretty serious dilemma but that dilemma is not parallel to the

  361. real thing and yet it's being presented for a reason.

  362. And here's the thing I was reading this, I was looking at

  363. this, I was studying this. I thought here's how you can

  364. summarize the strategy of this woman at this point in one word.

  365. Exaggeration. Exaggeration.

  366. She knows very well with David is dealing with job.

  367. Made it known to her. And yet, they blow it out of

  368. proportion that the fake stories blown out of proportion.

  369. And that is for a reason. She is making David's problems.

  370. Seem larger and more drastic than it really is.

  371. And when she comes to do this, she is doing so in order to sway

  372. his heart. And to convince him.

  373. That if he does, make the wrong decision in the estimation of

  374. job, then it will cost him very much.

  375. And so, this is a, this is a deliberate way of trying to

  376. overcome David with something that is not true.

  377. It's partly true but it's not completely true and we could

  378. even say that she is softening. The brother's murder as

  379. something again. I spontaneous when the facts are

  380. Absalom thought about it, for two years from the moment that

  381. he heard that Tamar Tamar was hurt.

  382. He knew he went into that mode of planning something to

  383. eliminate his brother. And here's the thing that you

  384. and I have to understand with this, some people exaggerate

  385. innocently, right? There are just prone to perceive

  386. things and to not recall them according to the actual

  387. proportion of the issues, And then, there are other people who

  388. do so intentionally. And those who do it,

  389. intentionally usually do. So in order to accomplish a

  390. selfish ambition that would require deceit in order to

  391. arrive there. And that goal can be anything

  392. from seeking sympathy from others.

  393. Or praise from others. So they decorate something in

  394. order to pull on the heartstrings a little bit more

  395. or excite people a little bit more. and that may seem innocent

  396. to us but it can go from there to anything as Extreme as what

  397. we see here to try to persuade those in authority to make a

  398. judgment that will be in their favor even if it Makes others

  399. pay a high price. Embellishing the truth, may seem

  400. harmless, but it can be deadly to the undiscerning.

  401. And it happens more often than we think, doesn't it?

  402. We may be caught ourselves doing it.

  403. One of the ways that I've seen it throughout the years of

  404. ministry, this is probably the most common way.

  405. I've personally seen it. Maybe you would not agree with

  406. me but this is just me is that when a case is presented or

  407. there's some issue or whatever is going on, it's usually backed

  408. up or it's usually introduced with the following so many said

  409. or saw or heard the same thing. The majority agree.

  410. There is a consensus. and then when you ask well, okay, who you

  411. get half a name out of the so many out of the so many that are

  412. affected by in. So many that are disturbed by in

  413. so many that have seen it. Then you just investigate a

  414. little bit and it's really barely anybody.

  415. And so we if we're not careful, we can go into that place.

  416. Where we try to make something seem more serious more

  417. threatening or maybe more successful.

  418. More popular than it really is. When in fact that's not the case

  419. at all. And this is the thing that you

  420. have to understand. That if we're not careful, we

  421. can allow others stretch something.

  422. To Cloud our judgment, the second element here, apart from

  423. exaggeration, is something that you.

  424. And I have to very much Take into consideration.

  425. Let's go back to the introduction when she first

  426. stepped into the throne room. She said, Save Me O King and

  427. before that she fell on her face to the ground.

  428. Now, how did she look based on the first few verses that we

  429. read that she come dressed up? They should come with perfume

  430. with makeup. No, she didn't everything.

  431. But she was a mourner. She had morning garments.

  432. She didn't anoint yourself with oil.

  433. She was a mess. This is a costume, right?

  434. And with the costume, came a character, she comes in and she

  435. just falls to the ground. She's an older woman and this is

  436. supposed to from the beginning, cause David to be alarmed and to

  437. be shook. And the way she paints her

  438. words, the way she colors her circumstance is very, very

  439. telling. I mean, look down here at verse

  440. 7 again, and notice how she talks about her her future the

  441. bleakness of her future. he says here, thus they would quench my

  442. coal that is left like so poetic So desperate, my life has been

  443. reduced to one little call and it is ready to be extinguished

  444. and lets you O King intervened on my behalf.

  445. That's good. That's really good.

  446. And so David is his having his heart stirred by the site, by

  447. The Sound, by the actions, by the presentation.

  448. And so, what's happening here? Well, we talked about

  449. exaggeration and now we see that this woman is obviously trying

  450. to engage the emotions. To engage the emotions.

  451. You realize how powerful your feelings are, do you not?

  452. And I am not among those who condemn emotions they came from

  453. a good God, for good pleasure. They are a gift.

  454. They I they add Dimension to life, they accompany things.

  455. Right? But like any good gift that

  456. comes from our heavenly father it can be abused.

  457. If it is not managed or supervised carefully.

  458. And that is exactly what is going to take place in David.

  459. The woman is exciting, the faculties of his feelings so

  460. that he can do. What make a conclusion based on

  461. his emotion, while dismissing the facts of the matter.

  462. Ignore the facts, David. The facts are as what we see

  463. here. That she says concerning the

  464. clan, the clan tan, accordance to the law, have the right to

  465. demand for the brother, who killed his brother to be put to

  466. death. That's that's the fact, that's

  467. the truth. But it was coded.

  468. And it was surrounded with this appeal to sentiment.

  469. And to compassion and to all these different things.

  470. So that he can ignore the facts. Ignore what is demanded. and I

  471. think about, How? This is an operation today, if

  472. you really are honest, you know that when it comes to evil being

  473. tolerated, It often requires emotions to be manipulated.

  474. When evil wants to be tolerated, it often requires emotions to be

  475. manipulated. Think about all the wicked

  476. agendas that are being pushed on our culture today.

  477. It just listen closely. Listen closely, and you'll

  478. realize that they are baseless arguments.

  479. They're not found in logic, they're not found in reason.

  480. They're not found in facts, not found in data.

  481. It's emotional reasoning. Has no legs to stand on. and

  482. yeah, it is working with so many and when you get people to think

  483. by what they feel, you can actually bring them to the point

  484. where they dismiss what is real. Get them to think by what they

  485. feel and they can even disregard.

  486. What is real? What is true?

  487. What is scientific? What is obvious?

  488. What is common sense? You think it what's happening in

  489. our world? Why are we seeing what we're

  490. seeing? Yeah, it's a great delusion

  491. according to Romans 1. We're at the bottom of the

  492. barrel, curling, according to God's passive.

  493. Judgment sure. But in a practical sense, what

  494. we're seeing is the fruit of making your convictions based on

  495. your emotions. And depending on who is affected

  496. by that, it can have disastrous consequences.

  497. And in this case, I mean, I hope you realize how serious this is

  498. because depending on what David does, it will affect the future

  499. of the nation. And so, we see that this woman

  500. is persuading him. Persuading him, with

  501. exaggeration persuading him with emotional manipulation.

  502. And if you and I are not careful to discern that these same

  503. tactics can be utilized on us. On a microscopic level or on a

  504. macro level, then we are bound to make silly decisions like

  505. David does. What will he end up doing after

  506. this? Facade verse 8, then the king

  507. said to the woman, go to your house and I will give orders

  508. concerning you. Without hesitation.

  509. He assures the woman that her guilty son will not be punished.

  510. Now, here's the thing we learned earlier that this woman was

  511. crafty. And so she would not be

  512. satisfied with this general statement because this is what

  513. he's essentially saying, okay? Just go home and I'll let you

  514. know what I'm going to do. Not happening.

  515. So she persist for David to make his settlement more accurate.

  516. Look at verse 9 in the woman of Tekoa is set to the King on me.

  517. Be the guilt, my Lord, the king, and on my father's house, let

  518. the king and his throne be Guiltless.

  519. The king said in verse 10, if anyone says anything to you,

  520. bring him to me and he shall never touch you again.

  521. So she's not satisfied. David gives a more defined

  522. resolution and verse 10. And she's still not satisfied.

  523. I'm not leaving with that. I'm not going back.

  524. I need something more concrete. And so again, look at verse 11,

  525. then she said, please let the king invoke the Lord your God.

  526. That the Avenger of blood kill no more.

  527. And my son be not destroyed. It's like I need you now to make

  528. an oath. I'm appealing to a higher Court,

  529. a Heavenly court, and I'm asking you now to invoke the name of

  530. the Lord. Because there's nothing more

  531. binding than that and to, to let me know for certain that my son

  532. will not be handed over to the law.

  533. What is the ruler Israel do? he said, as the Lord lives, not

  534. one hair of your sons shall fall to the ground.

  535. David you're in trouble. Without him realizing he

  536. compounded his conviction. His own conviction, his own

  537. condemnation. And he backed himself up in a

  538. corner and guess what, he won't be able to escape, unless he's

  539. willing to be Blasphemous and dishonor his oath to God.

  540. He stuck, he can't go anywhere from here especially because,

  541. the lord's name is now involved. And once the woman saw that

  542. David was committed to this case, she turns the table and

  543. like Nathan, who at the right time said you are the man.

  544. She is now going to reveal what this is really all about.

  545. So look at verse 12, then the woman said, please let your

  546. servant speak a word to my Lord. The king.

  547. He said speak, I'd be nervous. And the woman said, why then

  548. have you planned such a thing against the people of God?

  549. For in giving this decision the king convicts himself in as much

  550. as the king, does not bring his banished one home again.

  551. You want to find. So disturbing about this.

  552. because, as much as this is the woman whose Standing and facing

  553. off with David, it's really joab.

  554. And what I find. So disturbing about this whole

  555. ordeal is that job is going to Great Lengths to make sure that

  556. David is convicted. Like, wouldn't you think you

  557. would do that with Absalom instead who's the real guilty

  558. one and all of this? It's Absalom and up to this

  559. point, three years have gone by, there's no repentance, No

  560. Remorse, no regret, no shame, no embarrassment, nothing.

  561. This man is hiding away in his pride, waiting for a red carpet

  562. to roll out for him to come back into his Palace.

  563. And yet job is doing all of this to make an innocent man.

  564. In this situation feel guilty, And to repent so to speak.

  565. And when you see this, you have to understand that we should not

  566. expect anything more from somebody who does not have a

  567. submission to the scriptures. When you do not view the world,

  568. the way God calls you to view the world.

  569. You will have. A distorted understanding of

  570. what is right? And what is wrong?

  571. Is that not true? And when I looked at this, when

  572. I looked at jobs, Behavior, I thought of the verse that is

  573. there before Proverbs Chapter 30, the last verse of Proverbs

    Proverbs 30 chapter mention

  574. 29 reads this An unjust man is an Abomination to the righteous.

  575. But one, whose way is straight is an Abomination to the wicked.

  576. An unjust man. Somebody who's guilty, somebody

  577. who's a sinner, somebody who's a rebel that kind of a person is

  578. an Abomination to the righteous. But the one whose way is

  579. straight and honorable and on the Narrow Path and In Perpetual

  580. agreement to the word of God is actually an Abomination to the

  581. wicked. So that same righteous

  582. indignation that you sense, concerning sin and Injustice and

  583. Corruption those same feelings though.

  584. Justify our experience in the hearts of those who are evil

  585. towards those who are right. There's such a perversion that

  586. occurs when we abandoned God. Everything gets messed up.

  587. Enjoy a proving to be such a man.

  588. He can look at somebody like David and instead of encouraging

  589. to do right challenge him to do wrong and then to even indict

  590. him if he doesn't So David is, is hearing this from this

  591. messenger, this actress this lady with no name and how do you

  592. know that job based on the verses were that were just read?

  593. How do you know that joab is not a person who has regard for the

  594. scriptures? Look carefully, specifically,

  595. Everest 13? What stands out to you?

  596. What is the subject of David's guilt, apparently.

  597. But more specifically, it's right there in the wording of of

  598. the woman. Very good.

  599. Why have you planned such a thing against the people of God?

  600. You know what he should have said if it was true against the

  601. law of God, No, such thing. So in jobs, mine, here's a

  602. problem. David, if you do not bring

  603. Absalom back, this will affect the morale of the nation and

  604. potentially the future of this nation.

  605. And so, what is pumping through joab's, veins is purely

  606. political It's not about righteousness.

  607. It's not about God standard. It's not about what he asked for

  608. concerning us. It's about what will happen to

  609. the people. So this is not a person who has

  610. any mindfulness of God's demands.

  611. And that's where you get in trouble.

  612. Listen. Hey, do you want to be protected

  613. from being deceived? Do you want to be protected from

  614. making stupid decisions in life? Can I can I suggest something to

  615. you? Don't seek the counsel of people

  616. who don't tremble at God's word. I know that there are General

  617. things that you can seek even unbelieving people for when it

  618. comes to doing that, which is right.

  619. I I highly recommend not going to a person who does not ordain

  620. their lives under every precept found in this book from Genesis

  621. to revelation. Just throw that out there.

  622. What will happen to the people of God?

  623. Well, here's my main concern, what will happen to God and my

  624. relationship with God and his name in his honor.

  625. That's a righteous man. That's a righteous woman.

  626. That's somebody who will protect themselves from pitfalls in life

  627. that they could have easily skipping over.

  628. They had just trusted in the wisdom of God.

  629. And in verse 14, this woman goes from trying to point out the

  630. offense here, to Bringing objective observations into the

  631. whole predicament and this Is what she does.

  632. Look at verse 14. We must all die.

  633. She still talking to David. We are like water spilled on the

  634. ground. Which cannot be gathered up

  635. again, but God will not take away life.

  636. And he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an

  637. outcast. So she's continuing to make her

  638. case more convincing. She's trying to drive this thing

  639. home. And she says, three important

  640. things. Here's the first thing that she

  641. says, we must all die. We are like water spilled on the

  642. ground. What do you think she means by

  643. that? Kind of, but you're close.

  644. Life is short, David? Life is like spilling water and

  645. not only is it short. Once it's over, it's over.

  646. If I spill water here on the carpet, you would think I'm a

  647. Madman to try to put it back in the cup.

  648. And so it's a combination of not only his life short, it's end is

  649. unexpected. And once it's over, you can't

  650. redo what you need to redo or what you hope to redo and in the

  651. context. But she is suggesting is David

  652. reconcile before it's too late. Make sure you mend this thing

  653. before. The grave calls you are the

  654. great calls him and you look back and you think.

  655. I wish I had done something. And so, she's appealing to the

  656. brevity of life. And our unannounced, expiration

  657. date and how we should do, what we need to do to be able to make

  658. sure that we are at peace with all men and that when God does

  659. call us home, we don't look back and have any regrets.

  660. He has a powerful point. But then she says something

  661. else. The second thing is, God does

  662. not take away life. Consider the context but God

  663. will not take away life. What do you think she means by

  664. that? It's a little harder to

  665. interpret. Here's what I believe that it

  666. means that the Lord does not prefer judgement as his primary

  667. answer to wrong. The Lord does not.

  668. As his first step desire to execute, or to eliminate or to

  669. shut the door for Mercy to be experienced first.

  670. And in this case, what she's saying, in light of Absalom is

  671. listen, if God really wanted to punish Absalom, he would have

  672. done it already. He would have just struck him

  673. down. He would have sent the plague

  674. into his very body. He would have just had him

  675. killed but Absalom is still alive.

  676. And so up to this point, we have two arguments being with made

  677. right life is short, it's brief. Why don't you reconcile before?

  678. It's too late it could also mean this look in the same way that a

  679. cup is poured out into the dirt and you can't gather it up again

  680. Emmons dead. Engines gone.

  681. And so even if you do punish Absalom is that going to bring

  682. em back? It's not gonna bring in the back

  683. and God doesn't take away life. That's not his his primary

  684. desire as ambition and dealing with those who are in sin and

  685. that's closely tied into her final case, her final point

  686. being made and what is that? And he being God, devises means

  687. so that the banished one will not remain an outcast.

  688. That's a beautiful point. Is it not In other words, God

  689. has provided a system. A sacrificial system in order to

  690. give the sin and opportunity to experience forgiveness, and

  691. Grace and restoration instead of remaining banished and an exile

  692. from his presence. And so this final point is very

  693. clear. God has done what he could to

  694. initiate reconciliation. And to swing his arms, open wide

  695. for The Sinner to come. And if God David is willing to

  696. do that, why aren't you? Why aren't you?

  697. You can just imagine the weight, you can imagine the crushing

  698. conviction that this man is feeling.

  699. And so, all in all, this is also being said, so that David could

  700. urgently and mercifully bring Absalom home.

  701. I might disappoint you with this point but you have to stick

  702. around to see what I'm about to say, and prove it as kind and as

  703. compassionate as warm and fuzzy. All of this may seem there are a

  704. couple of things wrong with this picture of forgiveness.

  705. What are they? What would you say?

  706. What's that? There are consequences.

  707. Yes, no repentance that is one for certain.

  708. Well, let me ask it this way. Is to try to just steer Us in

  709. the right direction. Many have referenced.

  710. That verse verse 49, especially the last part as a gospel gem

  711. hidden and tucked in an old Covenant text, which is true

  712. because it points to God's altar means of bringing the banish one

  713. back to his presence. And that means is the man Christ

  714. Jesus. That's the foreshadowing here,

  715. there has been a device. There has been a plan that God

  716. has ordained from eternity past and it is that through the sun,

  717. those who have been pushed out because of their sin can now be

  718. brought back into fellowship with the Holy One.

  719. And as we look at this, we realize that's wonderful.

  720. That's true. That's a wonderful way of trying

  721. to persuade the hearts of those who are lost to realize they can

  722. be found. But here's the problem.

  723. This God compromised, his law in order to reconcile us He

  724. doesn't. And this is why this is

  725. important. This is a gospel truth.

  726. You have many people. Who believe the way God forgives

  727. is, that he just brushes things. Under the carpet, is the, you

  728. know what? I'm just going to take your sins

  729. and throw them in the sea of forgetfulness.

  730. We're not going to have to deal with it.

  731. Let me just wink. Let's just start over.

  732. Let's just turn over a new Leaf. Let's just forget it.

  733. Ever happened. That's not how God forgives and

  734. a popular preacher once said. And I looked it up just to make

  735. sure if it's still up there and it's still up there.

  736. So it's still a public thing and as pastors who specially deal

  737. with the truth and Have to protect people from those ideas

  738. that are not true. I have to tell you this, there's

  739. a popular Pastor. Maybe you've heard this who said

  740. something along the lines of that God broke his law.

  741. And the Name of Love. Did you hear it?

  742. God broke his law in the Name of Love.

  743. And the idea there is that I'm guessing because it wasn't

  744. clarified, so you're leaving me to speculate with such a strong,

  745. strong commentary of the Gospel that God performs, some kind of

  746. Injustice against the sun in order to find a way to forgive

  747. all of us and to restore us unto himself.

  748. God didn't break his law. To display his love, he

  749. satisfied the law, that's the gospel.

  750. The wisdom of the Cross is that Justice and mercy kissed, And

  751. that God could uphold his Holiness while at the same time,

  752. extend his mercy and neither of those attributes were ever

  753. compromised one bit. So God did not suspend his

  754. Justice in order to see more loving to sinners, no, he

  755. satisfied. His wrath in order for us to

  756. experience his loving kindness That's the idea.

  757. And so to hear what this woman has to say, is partly true that

  758. there has been a plan provided a means so that the banished one

  759. will not remain an outcast, but not at the expense of the law

  760. being ignored or neglected or Worse violated.

  761. And so we see here that no moral code was ever ever, ever deleted

  762. in order to win our pardon know. He was able to satisfy his

  763. Justice while swinging the door of Mercy, wide open for us to

  764. come right in But one might object and this is where I want

  765. you to be equipped. Well, that sounds nice.

  766. But is it really fair for the son of God?

  767. To be killed on behalf of those who have sinned themselves and

  768. have a record of their own to deal with.

  769. Is that really just forgot to send his son into place?

  770. The sin of the world from Adam up to the final person who will

  771. live before it all ends Can we say that?

  772. That is right? How would you answer that?

  773. Because that's a common question.

  774. Isn't that good? Can I tell you the reason?

  775. Can I tell you the answer? It's in one verse and it's one

  776. of my favorite statements that Jesus ever made while walking on

  777. the earth, John 10 verse 18, no one takes it from me.

    John 10:18

  778. But I lay it down of my own accord.

  779. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

  780. And then he goes on to say that he has the authority to lay down

  781. and he has the authority to bring it right up again.

  782. Glory to Jesus Christ. I volunteer my life.

  783. I willingly lay down my life. I like Isaac.

  784. Isaac, the greater Isaac carry the would willingly.

  785. Up to that mountain and lay myself down on that Altar and

  786. willingly opened myself up. To the dagger of God to pierce

  787. me so that atonement can be made.

  788. It realized that Isaac was not 9 years old when he was being led

  789. by the father to go up into those mountains of Moriah.

  790. He had to be old enough to carry the wood, and if he was old

  791. enough to carry the wood and have a conversation with his

  792. father, with important observation, how there's there's

  793. obviously sacrifice missing, then he also had the strength

  794. and the independence to roll off that altar.

  795. Once you realize that she is the sacrifice but he didn't.

  796. He silently and submissively stayed in place.

  797. That's Christ. Now, we can make a case that it

  798. is unjust for somebody to be kicking and screaming being

  799. pulled by a judge though, perfect to pay for those who are

  800. imperfect. But what do you do with somebody

  801. who says, A body, you have prepared for me.

  802. This is why I've come. I'm saying that I have come to

  803. be a ransom for many. Not to be served but to serve.

  804. What do you do when the sun enters into our world with the

  805. sole purpose of dying? And so we see here that there's

  806. something very questionable about how the mercy of God is

  807. interpreted. And secondly, we see something

  808. else and our brother mentioned it.

  809. There is no repentance in all of this.

  810. There is no call for Absalom to realize his wrong.

  811. And to admit, there's no confession, There's No Remorse.

  812. There is no conversation about this, there's no rebuke nothing.

  813. What job is say, just bring him back let's just avoid potential

  814. problems here. And just bring him back and

  815. let's just move on with all this.

  816. The longer he stays out there. The more things can come about

  817. and let's just cut it. And let's just just deal with

  818. this. And I deal with it the way that

  819. we should deal with it. There is no evidence from this

  820. moment on that Absalom ever does share.

  821. Any kind of sense of guilt. He's able to just move on, like,

  822. it's nothing and though, listen, you, and I are all called to

  823. forgive from the heart. You know that, right?

  824. Every single one of us are called to forgive from our

  825. heart, but reconciliation is contingent upon repentance.

  826. I know that might shock you but it is true.

  827. If you want New Testament evidence for that, go to Luke 17

  828. on your own time and realized that when Jesus talks about

  829. restoring a brother who sins multiple times a day, he

  830. includes a word that Luke really likes in his gospel account.

  831. It's a word repent. If somebody repents and you

  832. rebuke him. And he realizes wrong and vows

  833. to turn away from the wrong, then you can embrace them again.

  834. Do you know why repentance is important for reconciliation?

  835. There are many reasons why and here's one of them because

  836. someone who is in the wrong and wants to hold onto their wrong,

  837. must learn that they cannot enjoy holy relationships without

  838. forsaking corruption first. That is true for between two

  839. parties and that is true, even on a local church level.

  840. When somebody refuses to repent, The ultimate punishment of

  841. somebody refuses to repent and a local church setting is that

  842. they are excommunicated. Because in God's wisdom, he will

  843. not allow in his love for his child, to think that they can

  844. claim the Privileges of the Holy people of God.

  845. While placing your address in Satan's territory.

  846. Just can't you got to pick one or the other and in hoping that

  847. once they go out into the world and they are released into the

  848. world, realizing how cold and cruel and ugly.

  849. It really is, they would then come back in the church.

  850. Should be ready to embrace them again.

  851. So we do a disservice to the sanctification of people.

  852. If we are willing to continually reconcile with them void of

  853. repentance, it's actually more harmful than it is anything

  854. else. And what you see here is that

  855. reconciliation without repentance.

  856. Additionally is a recipe for repeated offense.

  857. Can I say that one more time? Reconciliation, without

  858. repentance is a recipe for repeated, not just repeat it.

  859. But even growing offense, And so there is a responsibility and

  860. not to satisfy a niche of the flesh because you and I believer

  861. have to be ready even multiple times a day.

  862. According to the words of Jesus that if somebody repents that

  863. you say I you have my, you have my love, you have my fellowship,

  864. you have my attention. at the same time, if someone refuses to

  865. Then you have an obligation to refrain.

  866. From giving access to that person the way they would want.

  867. While also wanting their sin. And here's a prime example, if

  868. we forsake that kind of wisdom it's in 2nd Samuel 14.

  869. Look at verse 33. Look at how this chapter ends.

  870. We're not gonna be able to, obviously finish this unless you

  871. want to stay feel like 11:30. We're not going to do that.

  872. And second Samuel 14:33. Notice what happens, then Joy

    2 Samuel 14:33

  873. have went to the king and told them and he summoned Absalom.

  874. So he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the

  875. ground before the king and the King kissed Absalom.

  876. That's a problem. That's a problem.

  877. This is extremely problematic because Absalom, with all of

  878. this was still in an unrepented State and the Father Here, gives

  879. them a kiss of approval, it kiss of Pardon really And that kiss

  880. permitted, Absalom to have full range, access to the world and

  881. the life that he knew before he was banished.

  882. And you know what, you see in a very few short verses after this

  883. happened, go to chapter 15 and look at verse 6.

  884. Thus Absalom did to all Israel. Who came to the king for a

  885. judgment. So, Absalom stole the hearts of

  886. the men of Israel. Do you know what happened?

  887. You know, what's going to happen?

  888. Civil War is going to break out. Civil War is going to break out

  889. and it had it happened because David was deceived and thinking

  890. that reconciliation, without rebuke reconciliation without

  891. repentance, would bring some kind of piece.

  892. You would think that this gesture would humble such a man.

  893. and overwhelm him, but instead, He's going to bring more harm

  894. than he ever did before and instead now only is he going to

  895. rip a nation? Into shreds, he's going to

  896. destroy himself. So you see we don't do people

  897. favors when we give them access to the fellowship.

  898. The Bible allows us to enjoy when we come together with the

  899. same cause and the same fight, we don't do people service when

  900. we say, you can hold onto your sin and still have all of this.

  901. Now, only are you going to bring more harm to the context of your

  902. life but to that very person that you're trying to help

  903. Because Absalom is going to end up dying unrepentant.

  904. So you see in the same way that God does not Bend Justice to

  905. bring us to himself, he also does not excuse unrepentant for

  906. reconciliation sake. So everything about what this

  907. woman of Tekoa, saying flags flags flags.

  908. It sounds good, it's very heart moving.

  909. But it's not completely true. And here's the problem.

  910. In verse 18, after she continues and concludes her whole spiel.

  911. Then the king answered the woman do not hide from me.

  912. Anything I asked you and the woman said, let my Lord the king

  913. speak then King said is the hand of job with you in all of this.

  914. So some kind of fog was lifted and he was able to realize makes

  915. you wanted. This is twice.

  916. Now it happened right? You had Nathan come with a

  917. parable like story and then you end up pulling something out of

  918. you and you get yourself in trouble and now this woman comes

  919. and sheep. He probably forgot.

  920. This is not fictitious most likely and so now he's wondering

  921. There's somebody behind the scenes here and he says his job

  922. behind all this. The woman answered and said uh

  923. sure Lea's you live the Lord, the king one cannot turn to the

  924. right hand or to the left. From anything that my Lord the

  925. King has said, it was your servant job.

  926. Who commanded me. It is he put all these words in

  927. the mouth of your servant. In order to change the course of

  928. things or serving job job did this but my Lord has wisdom like

  929. the wisdom of the angel of God, to know, all these things that

  930. are on the earth. I would say the same thing,

  931. probably if I realized that, although I got caught, you're

  932. like the angel of God. You're so wise, you're so

  933. amazing. Here's, here's the thing, we can

  934. praise David for his discernment but I can't do that.

  935. You know why? Because I think his questioning

  936. was too late. David, you should ask those

  937. questions before. You should have put aside your

  938. feelings, you should have put aside your subjective issues and

  939. reasonings and thoughts and investigated.

  940. And waited. I see you and I in this day, we

  941. are called to such wisdom. So happy that Pastor Daniel read

  942. about wisdom and Proverbs for, I think this is the beauty of

  943. Bible studies like this. It's extremely practical for

  944. day-to-day life. And we are living in a day of

  945. exaggeration. We are living in a day of an

  946. emotional. Tornado.

  947. And it's going to demand us to make decisions about our

  948. convictions about who we fellowship with about what,

  949. where we go, what we do, what we say, what we don't say.

  950. And we will get ourselves in trouble, unless we apply the

  951. wisdom of God's word, to be our shield.

  952. And to be our filter in this world, And so I look at David

  953. here and he asked the question, but he's already stuck.

  954. He can't get out of it. He invoked the name of God and

  955. so he has to go through with it. So be reminded believer in this

  956. place that stories like this have been given to preserve us

  957. from similar mistakes. And that when it does come to a

  958. point in life, where you have to make the right decision as

  959. difficult as it may seem realize that in those moments of dilemma

  960. where you are pondering, what I should do that, the enemy is

  961. right there to tempt you to make the wrong decision.

  962. He'll put fear in you. He'll convince you that God's

  963. law seems inconsiderate and overwhelming.

  964. He'll try to persuade you that. If you do it this way, which

  965. violates God's law, it will protect your future and it will

  966. cause Less Problems. And so in those moments just

  967. come to the word of God. And and in those moments where

  968. the word of God gives you the clear answer trust in what God

  969. had said. If David would have taken care

  970. of Absalom, there wouldn't have been a civil war.

  971. If David had taken care of absent if he had, at least

  972. confronted him potentially, there would have been repentance

  973. and in David wouldn't have to whoa himself.

  974. Absalom Absalom. Oh my son and wish that you had

  975. died instead of him perhaps because you have an idea of

  976. where he went after he died. So here's the final thought I'm

  977. giving to you on this Friday night at all times in

  978. everything. No matter how difficult it may

  979. seem to do that which is right, do it.

  980. God's word is true and the result of obedience is always

  981. better than what you think, might come.

  982. If you just do it your way, trust in the Lord, he will lead

  983. you. He will reward you, he will

  984. bless you in all things at all times.

  985. Amen, let's pray together. Lord, we humble ourselves

  986. tonight. I know there's so much meat in

  987. this chapter. We trust that what you desire to

  988. speak to our hearts has been accomplished Lord, with all of

  989. our weaknesses, we pray that what has been presented and

  990. studied and discussed together would indeed affect us.

  991. And there we even pray that. For those who will have to face

  992. difficulty in doing the right thing that this study, will come

  993. to mind this example in your Eternal Word with surface in the

  994. Forefront of our thinking. And that we would be encouraged

  995. to know and equipped to know. That this has happened before

  996. with many men and women of God. And you have prescribed us

  997. exactly what we need in order to avoid the worst outcomes.

  998. And Lord even though we can't see the outcome of our obedience

  999. help us believe you. And may your honor be our reward

  1000. more than anything else. What we ask for discernment in

  1001. this age, the sermon in our lives?

  1002. we ask that you even helped us not fall into the Trap of

  1003. decorating. Our truths with falsehood so

  1004. that it can be more appealing or convincing but we pray that we

  1005. would not give in to our emotions to determine what is

  1006. right and what is wrong. And we ask Lord that you would

  1007. give us the hunger for the word of God that would help us be

  1008. able to see past the surface of all the the Showmanship around

  1009. us. And so what we give you glory

  1010. tonight for this study we are moved to worship you because

  1011. this is your wisdom given to us. And we are privileged to be

  1012. adorned with these things that will help us glorify you

  1013. tomorrow. And the day after, for the rest

  1014. of our lives, Lord receive our praise because it will be a

  1015. praise of Thanksgiving for the feast that second, Samuel 14 has

  1016. been to us tonight. We bless you now.

  1017. In Jesus name we do. Amen.

  1018. Amen. Shall we stand?

  1019. And give God glory.