Beginning in verse 7 and remember
now that our our lesson last week was about how that Absalom
set a field on fire and Stood in the gate kissing hands kissing
cheeks. I guess whatever he kissed something
people that came and We talked about why, what he
was up to. And then look at verse 7 in 2
Samuel 15 verse 7. And it came to pass after 40
years that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me
go and pay my vow, which I vowed unto the Lord in Hebron. For
thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Gesher in Syria, saying,
if the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will
serve the Lord. Now when he was abiding in Gishur
in Syria, that's when he was in exile for having killed his
brother. You'll remember that. And then
the king said unto him, verse nine, go in peace. So he arose
and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout
all the tribes of Israel saying, as soon as you hear the sound
of the trumpet, then you shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron. Now he told his father he was
going to Hebron to conduct religious activities to pay his vow to
the Lord, to serve the Lord there. But he was really going there,
just like we've seen from the very moment he's been introduced.
The reason he killed his brother is because his brother was in
between him and the throne. And now he's working on his father.
So he's plotted over these years, even 40 years, it says, that
went by. And he never gave up his evil
ambition of usurping David's throne. Those two words in verse
10 are what Absalom has been about from the start. Since we
first see his name in scripture, this is what he's been wanting
to hear. Absalom reigneth. That's what he's all about. It
just so happens that's the problem with religion. He represents
Antichrist. David had been anointed of God
to reign and David had never done a single selfish, underhanded thing in
order to gain power. In fact, when David was in exile,
being wronged, Absalom was rightly in exile. David was in exile
because Saul hated him for no good reason. He served Saul well.
But David tried to kill him and he had to flee. And when David
had the perfect opportunity, as you'll remember, twice to
kill Saul, and was urged by his own men to do so and end their
exile, which would have probably looked pretty attractive at the
time, David refused to do it, saying, shall I put my hand to
the Lord's anointed? God made Saul king, and I'll
wait for God to make me king. God had already anointed David.
But he wasn't going to commit murder in order to get to the
throne. Absalom didn't have a problem
with that. David was promoted in the eyes of the people simply
by serving the king well at the time. God's king. Saul who had
been put on the throne by God. Absalom on the other hand plotted,
threatened with fire, bribed with kisses and promises.
He sent out spies, it says there in our text. He paid armed men
to run before him, verse one. He had mercenaries, you know,
always carrying that threat with him too. He's kissing everybody,
but all the while he's got soldiers with him, just in case the kisses
don't, you know, do their job. It says in verse 6 that he stole
the hearts of the people. He didn't win them. He stole
them. And all of the treachery and
hatred, deceit and evil had one goal. He wanted to hear the people
shout, Absalom reigneth. That's what it was all about.
And again, this is Antichrist. When we talk about Antichrist,
that's Satan. Satan's Antichrist. That's you
by nature. This is talking about the spirit
of Antichrist. Paul said that anybody who comes
along preaching another Christ, he's Antichrist. That's men and
we all are that way by nature. It's this world and it's the
false gospel of this world. So it's at least four things
just right off the top of my head, Antichrist. Paul said,
if anybody comes preaching another gospel to you, let him be accursed.
It's anti-Christ. And there's just two. There's
Christ and there's not Christ. There's everything else. That's
always important to remember. There's all these nuances of
different religions and different heresies and different, you know,
everybody has their doctrinal creeds and all that. You're either
Christ or you're not Christ. In your doctrine, in your spirit,
in your life. So that's what he represents
here. It's all of those things. We have to watch out now in all
of these areas. If you think about this, I wanna
talk about three in particular. This is our old nature. It's
false religion. And think about this. First of
all, when it comes to this world, this world is anti-Christ. They don't even want to hear
people that don't know Christ talk about Christ. Have you noticed
that? You ever see the tragedy of that?
Even people that don't even know who they're talking about, they're
saying Jesus this and Jesus that. And most of the world hates them.
And the ones that are saying that don't even know him. Everybody's
lost. It's just tragic, isn't it? It's
absolutely tragic. that this world is anti-Christ.
And our Lord said in Matthew 10, 16, behold, I send you forth
as sheep in the midst of wolves. Do you ever think about that?
That seems like something that we would think about if the Lord
said, you're a sheep in the middle of a wolf pack. That might be
something that we ought to give some consideration to every once
in a while, you reckon? Here's what he said about it.
Be ye therefore wise as serpents. and harmless as doves. And listen,
I want to read you the first part of the next verse. And I
want you to notice that it doesn't say, behold, I send you forth
as sheep in the midst of wolves, and so watch out for Satan. It
don't say that. Listen to it. It says, be you
therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves, I send you
forth as sheep among wolves. Verse 17, the very next verse,
beware of men. Men. For they will deliver you up
to the councils and so on. They will do everything they
can to put you out of business. Now we are warned of Satan, but
I want to point out now when he says I'm sending you forth
as sheep among wolves, he says watch out for men. They're the
problem. We are warned of Satan in 1 Peter
5, 8, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, he's
called in another place the accuser of the brethren. He's our adversary,
the devil. He walks about as a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour. Remember, he asked for Job. He
said, you take the hedge down that you've got around him for
a second, let me have him, and he'll curse you to your name.
Curse your name, curse you to your face. But of course, he
doesn't know anything about God or his people. Doesn't understand. But I don't want to minimize
or overlook the fact that we are warned to watch out for Satan.
But usually the way that Satan will seek to bring you down is
by men, by the words of men and the actions of men who serve
him. And they serve him whether they
know it or not. So we are exhorted by our Savior to be wise, harmless,
sober, vigilant Those aren't hard words to define we understand
what that means it means wake up and be aware Always and what's
that going to cause us to do now? all of those virtues Be
wise harmless sober and vigilant every one of those things is
going to point us to Christ and cause us to stay close to Christ
All of them now You think, well, yeah, okay, Christ is our wisdom. So yeah, absolutely. Be sober,
be aware. Don't be intoxicated by the wealth
of this world, the influence of this world, by your own foolishness
and flesh. And clearly Christ is the answer
to that. Be vigilant, watch and pray,
he said, in the garden. But what about harmless? Be harmless. That's going to keep me close
to Christ too. Because I guarantee you, if I don't stay close to
Him, if He doesn't keep me, I'll tear this place up. And you will
too. I'll hurt and harm everybody
I know. And people I don't know. So you
see in all those things what it's doing is he's gathering
us under his wing when he says things like that. I don't have
any wisdom without him. Paul said I was injurious. I was harmful before the Lord
saved me. And I'll be harmful again if
he doesn't keep me. So you see all these things.
He's gathering us under his wing. He wants us and He teaches us
and He forces us by His grace to cast all of our soul's care
upon Him. So with regard to this world,
beware of Antichrist. This world hates your God. They
hate His Son. And then with regard to the Word,
be careful now. We have to watch for and reject
Antichrist when it comes to the Word. Know your Bible, read, study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed. That's not just for preachers.
That's for everybody. And if somebody's not preaching
according to the prophecy of this book, God says it's because
there's no light in them. That's why they do that, because
the light of God is not in them. Paul warned those whom he had
preached to in Galatians 1.6, I marvel that you are so soon
removed from Him. He didn't say, I marvel you're
so soon removed from the doctrine. That's important too. But Him,
if you're removed from Him, you're not going to know any of the
teaching. If you're not removed from Him, you are going to acknowledge
and value and teach and be witnesses of the doctrine. So it revolves
around Him. And that's important now. Because
I know some folks that know a lot of doctrine. A lot of good doctrine.
A lot of sound doctrine. But they seem to be snakes. That's
what they seem like. Now that's just me. I don't know. That's between them and God.
They seem like snakes to me. I'm pretty sure. And I know for
a fact now you can know all of the doctrine. Satan does. and
many of his teachers do, followers, and not know Christ. But you
can't know Christ and not know the doctrines, the truth. So
I tell you what, my advice would be learn of him, seek him, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, he said. The doctrine is
everything that comes out of his mouth, not the mouths of
men. They like to organize things
and make little you know, nuances of things that aren't even revealed
and say, this is where we stand. Well, I tell you what, if you're
not standing on the rock, you better get on it. I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
and to another gospel, which is not another. It's not, it's
not an alternative. It's different. It's not this
gospel, but there's no other gospel. It's not good news. They just call it that. But there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. This is what I'm talking about.
Watch out for antichrist when it comes to the word. Don't you
hear from anybody. Don't you do it. Don't you listen to them. Would pervert the gospel of Christ,
but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you than that Which we have preached unto you let him be
accursed Paul said I don't know if I'm gonna preach the gospel
to you tomorrow or not I fully intend to but what I've been
preaching to you is Christ And if tomorrow I don't preach Christ
to you then may God put me in hell where I can do no more harm
That's what he said though. We are referring to himself or
even an angel from heaven. You know, angels from heaven
have spoken against God before, haven't they? And who knows? It doesn't matter who it is now.
If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before,
so say I now again. If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. Paul didn't
repeat himself much, but he did that time. Beware. Be sober, vigilant, wise, and
harmless. We preach God's anointed King. You see how this, now, what does
it mean? What is a perverted gospel? Well,
look in our text. What was the problem there? It
was rebellion against God's King. God's appointed, anointed King. We preach Christ the King and
there is no other. The Jesus of religion might have
died in a failed effort to save everybody, but he is an imposter.
He is Absalom. He is anti-Christ. The Son of
God gave his soul in offering for the sins of his people, and
he redeemed every single last one of them. He said, I've not
lost a single one. I lay down my life for the sheep,
he said. John 10, I lay down my life for
the sheep and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never
perish and they hear my voice and they follow me. Do you hear
any uncertainty in any of that? There ain't no up in the air,
make a decision, up to you, anything in that. If he laid down his
life for you, you are secure in about 10 different ways in
that, just in that chapter alone. Nobody's gonna pluck you out
of my hand, he said. I give eternal life to you and
you're not ever gonna perish. Who? Those I laid down my life
for. You read that chapter. Read the
whole, the whole Bible teaches it. Well, we better go to the
next one here. With regard to Antichrist, beware
of your own heart, your own wicked heart. Now, our old nature is
Antichrist. It still is. Jeremiah 17, 9,
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Now, it goes on in that chapter
to say God knows it, but you don't. You don't know your own
heart. Galatians 5 24 and they that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts Why because it's antichrist those
that are Christ's Can't follow their own heart anymore. They
follow him We renounce self and follow the Son of God Now we
know, though the flesh be crucified with him, yet we know that the
spirit is willing, but the flesh is still weak. And that's what
we've got to beware of. That's what he said to him in
the garden, watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Listen
to Paul's admonition to believers in 1st Corinthians 10.6. If you
want to flip over there, it's a pretty lengthy passage. I want
us to look at it now. 1st Corinthians 10.6. In the first part of this chapter
he talks about the Old Testament saints and he tells stories about
things that happened and how that some fell in their unbelief
in the Old Testament. And that's where he's coming
from in verse 6 of 1st Corinthians 10. Now these things were our
examples. The scriptures, the Old Testament
scriptures and the stories that the Lord told in them, these
things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after
evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as were
some of them. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in
one day three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed of the destroyer. Now all of these things happened
unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come, and that's us. Wherefore
let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Now you
see the context in which he says that. What's going to cause us
to fall? Our own lusts and evil desires and evil heart. Beware. And then I'm thankful for the
verse 13. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common
to man. But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able. If you're
his now. They're not going to let you
fall. You may stumble and you may fall for a while and you
may suffer for it. But he won't let you fall away
altogether if you're his. But will with the temptation
and that temptation is trial. It's not always something that,
you know, you think of temptation, you think of, you know, I kind
of think of, you know, like some kind of pie or something. But yeah, this is a trial, any
kind of troubles, tribulation. But will with that trial also
make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Antichrist is deceitful. We're
taught in Romans 12, 17 to provide things honest in the sight of
all men. We're not to be that way. Antichrist is all about
subterfuge and spies and things like that. I've heard believers
a long time ago, I know you're probably thinking, I wonder who
said that? I shouldn't say things like this. But saying, if you
want somebody to know, if you're trying to tell somebody something,
you know, rebuke them or something, you know, wait till there's a
group of people and then like say it like you're saying it
to somebody else and maybe they'll pick up on it. I'm like, you
know, just have the guts to just go talk to somebody, okay? Are
we brothers and sisters? We can talk to one another. Don't
be dishonest. Don't be subtle. I don't want
to have to read between the lines with you, okay? With the world,
you have to do that. I don't want that with you. And
you don't want that with me. That's just repulsive to me. Antichrist is deceitful. We're
to provide things honest in the sight. You got anything to hide?
Do you want to hurt anybody? Honestly now. Before God, I don't have anything
to hide. I don't want you to know my heart. I don't even know
it. But you know what I'm talking
about. Antichrist speaks of promises made to God. And I'm going to
keep my promise to God. That's what Absalom was talking
about. I made a vow to God and I'm going to go keep it. But
they don't speak of the promises of God. That's right there in
our text. In other words, Antichrist is
proud. It's all about self. I'm going
to do something for God. I'm going to go do something.
Father, I told God I'd do something for him and I'm going to go do
it. The success of the old covenant hinged upon man's promise to
God. Now this is key. This is basic,
basic doctrine. What is this Absalom? What does
he represent here making vows, making promises to God? I'm going
to go do something for God. and he's the biggest snake there
is. Anytime you hear somebody popping off about what they're
going to do for God, get away from them. I've had people, and there's,
you know, different levels of that and different circumstances,
but every time I hear somebody say, somebody will come in that
you hadn't seen in five years, and I'll say, Man, I know I got
to start coming. You're going to start seeing
more of me. I know before it even gets out of their mouth,
I'm never going to see them again. If you want to worship God, you
know what you do? You don't talk about it. You worship God. That's
what you do. That's how that works. But somebody's going to do something
for God. That's the old covenant now. Turn to Exodus 19. This is basic humanism. Verse 7 This is when God gave his law.
He sent Moses up into the mountain and gave Moses his law. And it
says in verse 7 of Exodus 19, and Moses came and called for
the elders of the people and laid before their faces all these
words which the Lord commanded him. You remember they said,
you go talk to God and then come tell us what he said. We don't
want to talk directly to him. They knew that they couldn't
do that, not without a mediator. And all the people answered together,
verse eight, and said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will
do. And Moses returned the words
of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses,
lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear
when I speak with thee and believe thee forever. And Moses told
the words of the people unto the Lord, everything you said,
Lord, we're going to do it. We kind of know how that turned
out, don't we? And God never gave the Old Covenant in order
for it to be a success. He deliberately gave his law,
it plainly teaches it in the New Testament. He gave his law
to show our guilt, to show our evil, to show our sinfulness,
not to make us better, not to show us how to live. And then look at Deuteronomy
chapter 5. Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy
chapter 5 Now this is a long passage and
I may skip along through some of it, but we got to get the
gist of this Because this is where, this is Absalom, this
is Antioch. It's all old covenant. That's
all it is. They're just two covenants, right? There's Cain and Abel.
Cain brought the work of it, the sweat of his brow, the work
of his hand. Abel brought a lamb. God had respect unto Abel and
his more excellent sacrifice. And he had not respect unto Cain
and his sacrifice, his offering. And it's the same now. It's Christ
and it's not Christ. And all religions under whatever
name they're under is all just old covenant. It's we're going
to do something for God. We're going to obey God. The gospel says believe on Christ.
I can do that. I believe. You can't do that. That's God's gift. That's God's
gift. You're talking about stuff you
don't even know what you're talking about. God says do this. God
says do that. I'm going to live the Christian
life. Really. People have been saying that
a long time. God's not fooled by it. God's not impressed with
the promises of men. We'll do everything you say.
Yeah, it turns out the same every time. It's a disaster. It's an absolute disaster. Look
at Deuteronomy 5.1. And as I said, we may have to
skip through some of this, but I want us to get the gist of
this. And Moses called all Israel and said unto them, Hear, O Israel,
the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day,
that you may learn them and keep and do them. The Lord our God
made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant
with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here
alive this day." Interesting that Horeb is mentioned again,
isn't it? I just now noticed that. I'll be honest with you.
That's where Absalom was going. I'm going to go to Horeb and
do something for God. Yeah, that's where the old covenant was given
in Horeb. Verse 4, the Lord talked with you face to face in the
mount out of the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord
and you at that time to show you the word of the Lord, for
you were afraid by reason of the fire and went not up into
the mount saying, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out
of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. And so then he starts reciting
again the law that God gave. So let's skip down a little bit,
because this is fairly long. Verse 12, keep the Sabbath day
still the same. Verse 13, but the seventh day
is the Sabbath of the Lord. That's part of the law too. And
remember, verse 15, and remember that thou wast a servant in the
land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence
through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. And how
did he do that? Because they did a bunch of good stuff and
he rewarded them? No. It was by the blood of the lamb
that they were brought out. That's why he keeps saying, remember
that. Remember that while you're remembering God's law. Remember
how sinners are released from bondage. It ain't on merit. It's by blood. Verse 16, honor thy father, thy
mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thy days
may be prolonged still the law, and I'm not skipping over this
because it's not important, but you know the law, you know the
Ten Commandments. I want us to see this now. Now
look at verse 22. These words the Lord spake unto
all your assembly in the mount of the out of the midst of the
fire of the cloud and of the thick darkness with a great voice
and he added no more and he wrote them in two tables of stone and
delivered them unto me and it came to pass when you heard the
voice Out of the midst of the darkness, for the mountain did
burn with fire, that you came near unto Me, even all the heads
of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Behold, the Lord
our God hath showed us His glory and His greatness, and we have
heard His voice. Out of the midst of the fire we have seen this
day that God doth talk with man, and He liveth. Now, therefore,
why should we die? For this great fire will consume
us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we
shall die. For who is there of all flesh
that hath heard the voice of the living God speak out of the
midst of the fire as we have and lived? Go thou near and hear
all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou unto us all
that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it
and do it. And the Lord heard the voice
of your words. This is recalling that. It's
talking about, remember when all that happened? Yeah, the
Lord heard you say you were going to do it. When you spake unto
me, and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the
words of this people which they have spoken unto thee, they have
well said all that they have spoken. That's a good answer,
I'll do it, isn't it, in a sense, because what are you going to
say, I'm not going to do it? You don't want to tell God that.
The desire is commendable. But look at the next verse. that
there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and would
keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them
and with their children forever. They're talking a good game,
but they don't have the heart to do it. That's what Paul is
saying, talking about his old nature in Romans chapter 7. I
want to do good, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. I find not. But I'll tell you
this, there is a heart and the desire is good. Paul said, I
love the law of God after the inward man. I want to honor God. I want to keep his word. Well
said, Paul, but you just don't have the heart to do it. You
don't have it. You have a heart that wants to
and would, but you've got an old heart that can't and won't. And nothing you do is ever absent
of that old nature. And so it can never measure up
to God. So what's the answer? Somebody got to do it for you.
It's that simple. Ain't no use beating around the
bushes. Somebody got to do it for you. You can't do it, you
cannot measure up. Romans 8, for what the law could
not do in that it was weak through my flesh, God sent his son to
do it. You read that passage and that's
what it says. God sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Condemned my sin and
did away with it. So here's the, Antichrist is,
I'm going to do something for God. I'm going to promise, I'll
do this and I'll do that. The New Covenant success stands
or falls on the promises of God to sinners. Now there ain't but
two. One of them is you telling God,
I'm going to do all that you want me to do. And the other
one is God saying, here's what I'm going to do. And you're living
one or the other right now. Here's God's promises to sinners
in the New Covenant, summarized by Paul in Hebrews 8. Finding
fault with them he saith with finding fault with those under
the old covenant because they Well, it says behold Lord said
behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not turn
over there with me. I know we've seen this a bunch
of times I'm gonna pretty much close with this and I want us
to see this now. This is Absalom. I'm gonna do something for God
and he he's He's anti-Christ. And that's
all that is. The gospel, you know what the
gospel of this world is? This religious world? You need
to do something for God. Isn't it? You need to make a
decision for Jesus. You need to live for Him. It's
anti-Christ. Listen to it now, Hebrews 8.8,
finding fault with them, and he's talking about those under
the old covenant, he saith, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Now, why do we
need a new one? What's wrong with the old one?
Because they continued not in my covenant. It's that simple. That's what's wrong with the
old one. You know what's wrong with the old covenant? You. You need to do something for
God. You can't do anything for God. Do you understand that?
What are you going to do for God? Do you even realize who
God is to think like that? What are you going to do for
God? Honestly now. Even if you could do something,
what would you do for God? The gospel is, you need God to
do something for you. This is not complicated. The whole old covenant was, we're
going to do what you said, God. And he said, no you didn't. What
did Simon Peter say when the Lord said, I'm going to the cross?
He said, let not your heart be troubled. The Lord's fixing to
go give himself a ransom for their souls. And you remember
what Peter said? The Lord said, all of you are going to forsake
me. It's sad, but that's just the way it is. He's going to
forsake me and Simon said, not me. I'll die with you. I'll go all the way with you.
I will never forsake you. The Lord said, you're not going
to die with me Peter. You can't do what you say you're
going to do. But I'm going to go do something
for you. That's the gospel now. That's the gospel. I'm fixing
to go do what's necessary. To prepare a place for you with
me forever. And then I'm going to come back
and get you. What you're going to do is sit there and watch
him do it. That's what we're doing tonight.
I'm watching him again. Save my wretched hide. I don't ever get tired of seeing
it. He's still saving me. They continued, not of course
they didn't. Do you think he thought they were going to? No. The law is written for those
that are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped so
that everybody will shut up and just say, I'm guilty before God. And I regarded them not. That's
the same kind of language where it says he had not respect unto
Cain and his offering. But for this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. It's not gonna be like the old one in that it depended
on you and you didn't measure up. Here's the new one. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. Not just gonna be on
table. The old covenant was written
on tables of stone and God said, do this and live. And they said,
okay, we'll do it. Now when God saves you, he writes
his law on your heart. And you know what? You still
can't do it. But you're sure going to want
to. It's in your heart now. Oh, I want to honor him. The
things that I would, I do not. But I would. By God, I would. And I will be to them a God.
And they shall be to me a people." Now think about that. In the
old covenant, he said, you do this and don't do that and I'll
be your God and you'll be my people. They said, okay. Problems. And by the way, when he gave
that law, he said, make a mercy seat so when you break it, You
can offer a lamb and bring its blood. My high priest who I consecrate
and choose and anoint will bring that blood in there once a year
and splash it on that mercy seat. And you get to live. Picturing
the new covenant even in the old. Picturing that even then when
he was giving them the do's and the don'ts that they weren't
going to do them or not do them. that they were going to need
the blood of the lamb. Just like we do now. I'm going to be your God. That's
the new covenant. I'm going to be your God and
you're my people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord. Now that doesn't mean we're not going to teach our children
to know the Lord. He's not saying that. What he's
saying is this. That's not going to be all it
is. You're not going to find out
about God from anybody, he said, but me. We do teach our children. We
are going to teach our neighbors as he gives us. But here's how
in the new covenant under the old covenant, you can't say it
good enough and they can't hear it good enough. But under the
new covenant, listen to this. For all shall know me. From the least to the greatest.
That's how you know God under the new covenant. He reveals
himself to you. Here's the perhaps the most precious
of all. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more. Do you hear any ifs there? Do
you hear any anything about you except your sins? Oh thank God for the new covenant
my friends. Absalom represents the old, I'm
going to do something for God. I'm going to go to Hebron. I'm
going to do something for God. No, you're not. You're not ever
going to do anything for God. Forget about that. Forget about
that. We're going to serve Him. We
love Him. We serve Him because we love Him. You ain't done nothing
for God. That's Him doing something for
you. All of it is. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. Not this do, this don't do, this
do and live. No. It's you haven't done what
I said do. You've done everything I said
not to do. But I'm going to have mercy on you anyway. And remember how that happens?
The Lord Jesus Christ held up that cup of wine at that last
supper and he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. That's how God's gonna have mercy.
That's how he's gonna change your heart to give you a new
heart. That's how he's gonna reveal himself to you in his
son. The Holy Spirit's gonna take
the things of Christ and show them to you. It's all wrapped
up in the blood of Christ. Christ crucified is the new covenant. All of his promises, our promises
to God, are evil. Before you even break them, they're
evil. His promises are yea and amen,
where? In Christ. Every one of them. And only there. No more. Your sins and your iniquities
will I remember no more. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood be glory. Antichrist, as we saw in last
week's lesson, he threatens, he bribes in order to manipulate
men and women. You still hear this in the preaching
of Antichrist today. All of the motivation is you're
going to go to hell now if you don't do this. Or, you know,
if you do this and that, not only will you go to heaven forever,
but you'll have lots of jewels in your crown and you'll have
the biggest mansion on the block. It's still the same nonsense,
isn't it? Antichrist also is all about who is on the throne. You see how perfectly Absalom
represents this? The spirit of Antichrist. It's
all about who's sitting on that throne. Those who by God's grace have
an interest in the new covenant and are saved, redeemed by Christ,
saved by God, They see David sitting on the throne, and they
say, hallelujah. God's anointed. And I'm talking
about David's son now, and David's Lord. They say, thank you, God. Thank
you for our king. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth,
and we're glad. God, in the true gospel of Christ,
is on the throne. Psalm 2, again, if you want to
read more about that. He saves whom he will. He accomplished
redemption for his people. Of course he did. He's God. In
Antichrist religion, man decides everything. Man must even make
effectual the very redemptive blood of Christ, which is the
highest of blasphemies. Man's anti-Christ free will religion
is insatiable in its appetite for the throne. You think about
this. God can elect me. They'll say,
oh, I believe in election. Well, what do you mean? What's
election to you? Well, God looked down into the
future to see who would believe on him, and he chose those that
believed on him. God can elect me, but he's got to look at me
and what I do and make his decision based on that. insatiable appetite
for the throne. Christ can redeem me, but I've
got to accept him and what he did or it's useless. Oh, blasphemy. You're a usurper of the very
throne of Christ. God can regenerate me and give
me life, but only if I let him. Antichrist. evil vile Antichrist
The true gospel is that salvation is of the Lord God purposed it
2nd Thessalonians 2 13 God purchased it with his own blood John chapter
10 the whole chapter God perpetrates it or in other words executes
and applies Salvation to and in the sinner Ephesians 2 8 and
9 and And God perpetuates it. That is, He preserves us by His
power through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time, 1 Peter 1, 5. There's just two, Christ and
Antichrist. Absalom perfectly represents
Antichrist. May God give us grace to bow
to His King, to bow to His will, to bow to His word. To bow to
Him in every way a sinner can bow. And hang upon His promises. Believers
don't make promises to God. They believe His promises. By
His grace. Let's pray.