Let's open our Bibles to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel. Chapter 20. Let's pray together. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
how comforting it is to be able to declare in song your sovereign
grace, to have your Holy Spirit comfort
our hearts with knowing that our salvation is all of grace
and that you are completely sovereign. Lord, we pray now that you would
open your word, pray that you would speak to our hearts, pray
that you would lead us to Christ and enable us to find our rest
in him. For it is in his name we pray.
Amen. 2 Samuel chapter 20. We've been
following the life of David now for several months, and the latest
event in the life of King David was the heartbreaking experience
that he had with his own son, Absalom, trying to take control
of the kingdom. And now Absalom is dead, and
David has returned to Jerusalem. And you would think that there
might be a little bit of a reprieve for David, some opportunity of
recovery, if you will. But it wasn't so. As soon as
David got back to Jerusalem, another rebellion was brewing. And David went from one difficulty,
one time of great trouble to another. I wonder if you can
identify. I know I can. Job put it like this, man that
is born of woman is of few days and full. of trouble. Now that's speaking of all men.
It's not just believers. All men are a few days and all
men's lives are full of trouble. For the believer though, we have
a hope in knowing what the first cause of that trouble is. We
just sang of it. We just sang to him about his
sovereignty. And what hope and what comfort
we have in knowing that whatever troubles, whatever troubles come
our way, they were sent to us by our sovereign God. And they were sent to us in order
that we might be made dependent upon him for all our sufficiency. That's the difference between
the trouble that the unbeliever goes through. They can find a
false hope and a false peace in some sort of power of positive
thinking or some sort of wishful hope that maybe all things are
gonna be, you know, you hear people talking about a cloud
with a silver lining and all that silly stuff. We have an omnipotent, sovereign
God who is controlling all things for our good. Mark, you read
it this morning in the men's study, Romans 8.28. And we know,
and we know that he works all things together for good for
them that love him and those that are called according to
his purpose. Now, what Job said is true of all men. It's the
same thing that the Lord tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, 13. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to all men. Matter of fact, the scripture
also says that the way of the wicked is hard, and God's restraining
grace For his children, I hope, will keep us out of some of the
trouble that the unbeliever might have to go through. But he tells
us that these things are common to all men. Let us never think
that the troubles that we're facing, and that's why I wanted
us to look at this passage this morning, divine comfort and encouragement
in David's experience. Let us never think that the troubles
that we experience are unique to us. That verse in 1 Corinthians 10,
13 goes on to say that God is faithful. He's faithful. And he will not suffer us to
be tempted above that which we are able. And you've heard it
said, I've heard it said, well, you know, God won't put more
on you than you can bear because they stopped the verse right
there. But that's not what that verse means at all. If God never
puts on us more than we can bear, then we need, we won't need him.
And if he puts our sin on us, then we have a burden that we
know that we cannot bear. We have a need. for a Savior
that goes beyond any hope that this world has to offer. God
is faithful. He will not suffer His children
to be tempted above that which they are able, but will with
the temptation provide the way of escape that they might be
able to bear it. So when the Lord puts these burdens
on His people, They are for the purpose of driving us to Christ
and finding our hope and our comfort in him. David hasn't even gotten home
good yet and And there's contention between
the tribes of Israel, the northern 10 tribes, and the two tribes
of Judah, the southern tribes. And the end of chapter 19, look at verse 43, and the men
of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, we have 10 parts
in the king, and we have also more right to David than you
do. There's more of us than there
is of you. Now the northern kingdom always
represents the apostate church and only Judah is where the perpetual
kingdom of God is seen in the lineage of David. And what we
experience today, well we, there's more of us than there is of you,
what makes you think you're right? That's what they were saying. Why then did you despise us?
Halfway through verse 43. Why then did you despise us?
That our advice should not be first in bringing back our king.
And the words of the men of Judah were stronger, more truthful
than were the words of the men of Israel. So there was a contention
between the 10 northern tribes and the two southern tribes And
the tribes of Judah were standing on the truth. And the argument
that they were able to give was indefensible by the tribes of
Israel. Isn't that where we are? The
argument that we give for the truth of the gospel is indefensible
by the apostate church, those who say they're believers but
they're not. And so the men of Israel, look
at verse one of the next chapter. And there happened to be there
a man of Belial. Belial translated means a worthless
one. One in whom there is no good
thing. A man of Belial whose name was
Sheba. Shiva translated means seven.
So this worthless one has a name that represents perpetuity, continuation. The number seven is the number
for completion. And what I see in this verse
is not only a conflict with the
world and with the false gospel, but a conflict within ourselves.
Where Paul said of his old man, that flesh, he said, in me that
is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's exactly what the
word belial means, a worthless one. And I'm in conflict with
this man every day and will be until the end of my life. We'll
be in conflict with the world, we'll be in conflict with the
false gospel, and we'll be in conflict with ourselves seven
times seven to the end of our lives in this world. We're never
gonna get away from it. The Lord's gonna keep us in that
place. For what reason? To show us his
glorious sovereignty and to show us our need for Christ. And he was a Benjamite. And he
blew a trumpet and said, we have no part in David, neither have
we any inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tent,
O Israel. So this Sheba called together
all the tribes of Israel and said, we're going to wage a civil
war against Judah and against the king. We're going to separate
ourselves. David has to get a mesa and joab
and put together an army and go right back to battle. He's
just come out of one of the most worst experiences of his life
and he's put right back into the heat of battle again. This was his life. It began as
a young man when he was keeping sheep and enjoying the tranquility
of that experience and then, in God's providence, had to fight
off the bear and the lion. And then still, as a very young
man, he finds himself in conflict with a giant, many times his
size and strength. And knows, everybody knows, there's
no way for him to defeat this giant except the Lord be on his
side. For years after that, he suffered
the undeserved jealousy and threats and assaults of King Saul. and went from having peace with
Saul to running from Saul. His whole life was this cycle,
if you will, of peace and comfort and conflict. This is where the Lord has all
of us, brethren. He's going to suffer the shame.
and sorrow of problems that he himself helped cause in his own
family. What a heartache it was for him
to experience the death of his son
Absalom, to know all the trials and troubles that his own children
went through. Trouble and tragedy. Count it all joy, my brethren,
when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your
faith worketh patience, and patience, when it is complete, will make
you perfect and entire, lacking nothing. There's only one place
to be found perfect and entire, lacking nothing, and that's to
be found in Christ. And so the Lord has designed
these things to drive us to Christ, that we might find him to be
sufficient in all our needs. God had promised David a successful
and never-ending kingdom, yet it would not come without rivalry
and without threats and without wars to fight in order to protect
it. We fight this fight of faith. It's the trials of life that
test our faith. Who are we going to believe? Turn with me to Psalm 3, if you
will, please, Psalm 3. Verse 1, Lord, how are they increased
that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against
me, many there be which say of my soul there is no help for
him in God. It's our sin, it's the accuser
of the brethren, it's our circumstances, it's all of these things that
come against us. But thou, O Lord, art a shield
for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice and he heard me. Out of His holy hill I laid me
down and slept, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. That's
why this life and this world is full of trouble. The Lord will sustain us. He
will be sufficient in this life and in the life to come. And
we will find Him to be all we need in the hour of our death only as we are able to find him
to be all that we need in the hours of our trials. He tries us, preparing us for
that time when there'll be no other one to help. Oh, but what
a help he'll be. We find great comfort, as did
Eli. You remember when Samuel was
given a word from God about the judgment that would come against
Eli and against his family, and Eli's response was, it's the
Lord. Let him do whatsoever seemeth
good. Whatever God does, will be good,
it'll be right. I can rest in knowing that my
God reigns, that he's on his throne, and that he's the first
cause. He is the first cause of all
things. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 45. Look at verse five. I am the Lord and there is none
else. There's none else. There's no
other place to go. Peter, will you lead me also? What did Peter
say? Lord, to whom shall we go? You
alone have the words of eternal life. We know and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Lord, you've
shut us up to yourself. We've got no place else to go.
Those other people, they can leave and find some other place
of comfort. We find no comfort except in
thee. I am the Lord and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I go to thee though thou
has not known me. You didn't come to know me by
your, by your will or by your works or by your effort, it is
not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, it is of God
that showeth mercy, that they may know from the rising of the
sun and from the west that there is none beside me, I am the Lord
and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Oh, wait a minute. Now, I'm not for a moment suggesting
that there aren't secondary causes that we need to be responsible
of. Never does the Bible say, well, never does God say to his
people, you know, your sin's okay because I ordained it. or
I know that you're nothing but flesh and so, you know, it's
fine. No, we bear responsibility for the second causes and we
ought to do what we can to be responsible in those causes.
Oftentimes we do too much, don't we? Oftentimes we look at the
secondary causes and we put our hand to it and try to fix it
and it only gets worse. Let us remember in whatever happens,
God is the first cause. He's sovereign in these things.
And we'll only discern what we should do in mitigating as we
are able the secondary causes, we'll only discern that ability
and that wisdom when we acknowledge that God's the first cause. This
is the Lord. And Lord, I know you're sovereign,
I know you ordained this, I know, This is going to be for my good
and for your glory now. From there, what would you have
me to do? Verse eight, drop down ye heavens
from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let
the earth open and let them bring forth salvation and let righteousness
spring together. I the Lord have created it. Let the heavens open, that's
what happened when the Lord Jesus came down. Let the earth open,
that's what happened when the Lord Jesus raised from the dead.
Righteousness has come forth. The greatest demonstration and
testimony of God bringing good from evil is the cross. God allowed man, he unrestrained,
he unfettered man's hatred for God and what did man do? He killed
him. And the greatest evil that ever
took place turned out to be the greatest good and glory that
we could have. There's our God. I create evil. I bring about light. I bring
about darkness. I do these things. Brethren,
let us not forget who The first cause of all things
is. We can rest there. We can rest. David said, I was dumb and I
opened not my mouth because thou didst it. Lord, who am I? Who am I to accuse
God? Who am I to rebel against God?
Who am I to murmur and complain? We do. And it's only a demonstration
of our unbelief. And why are we here and talking
about these things right now? To expose that unbelief and to
ask the Lord to help us to believe him. Has evil come to the city and
the Lord has not caused it? That's what the prophet said. The wrath of man shall praise
thee. Whatever God allows to happen,
whatever he removes his restraining grace in order to allow man to
do, It's going to be to his praise. And what he can't use to his
praise, the rest of that verse says, the remainder he will restrain. The only reason we don't see
more evil and the wrath of man in this world is because God's
restraining it. The Lord restrained me. There's
a son of Belial. There's a Sheba in my flesh. How dependent I am, Lord, for
you to restrain me. Very familiar passage, I want
us to read it this morning. If you'll turn with me to Daniel
chapter four. Daniel chapter four. You remember the story of Nebuchadnezzar?
Oh, he was so proud and self-sufficient And the Lord turned him into
a beast. And he's crawling around on the ground like an animal. And verse 34 says, and at the
end of days, when God was finished humbling him, and this is true
when God finishes through the trials and troubles that he has
sent to humble us, at the end of days, There will be a coming to ourselves. Look, at
the end of days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes unto heaven.
That's where it starts. Oh Lord, lift up my eyes. Cause
me to see that you reign on your throne and that you are the first
cause of all things. And when I lifted up my eyes
unto heaven, my understanding returned unto me. See, that's
why I say, when it comes to whatever responsibilities we have in mitigating
the secondary causes, particularly the ones that we're responsible
for, let us begin by looking up into heaven. Then our understanding
will return unto us. And God will give us wisdom to
know what we should do. and restrain us from doing too
much. And I blessed the most high,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion. There's never been a time when
God hasn't reigned over all things. The word everlasting, I remind
you, doesn't mean it starts now and lasts forever. It means it
never had a beginning, never had an end. That's who our God
is. He reigns sovereign. And his kingdom is from generation
to generation and the inhabitants of the Lord are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Then, at that time, at that same time,
my reason returned unto me. And the glory of my kingdom and
my honor and my brightness returned unto me and my counselors and
my lords sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom and
excellent majesty was added unto me. Oh, what a great comfort
it is to be brought through these trials to find ourselves seated
with Christ in heavenly places. I, if God before me who can be
against me, I can rest there. I can see, I can, I can be seated
right there. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise
and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are
truth and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is
able to abase. All of us can testify of that. Pride. Oh, that's our problem, isn't
it? Just look into self. It's an eye problem. Middle letter in the word pride
is the same letter in the middle letter in the word sin, isn't
it? And that's the, here's why, here's why the Lord does these
things. To show us, unlike anyone else in the world, the unbeliever
doesn't have this hope, they don't have this comfort. They
find a false hope, they find a false refuge. They'll trust
in their works. They'll believe that God somehow
is obligated to do for them because of what they've produced. And we bow before Him and say,
it's the Lord. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom. And we know that He has nothing
but good for His children. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, what Prophet Jeremiah said, thoughts of good. Thoughts
of good, not of evil. Why? to give you your expected
end. All these things are required.
God sees the beginning to the end. He knows what we need. And
each of us needs a little something different. The Lord Jesus said in this world,
you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer. Be of good
comfort. I have overcome the world. I got out of this world alive. And because I live, you shall
live also. I'm the firstborn among many brethren. These things
are given us to define our hope and our sufficiency and our dependence
in the Lord Jesus. He's the one who has overcome
the world. The promises of God are made
to those who overcome. How should we overcome? Well, the book of Revelation
tells us that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb. That's how we overcome. We don't overcome by our schemes
and devices and work. No, we overcome by the blood
of the Lamb. The Lord uses these things. You're in a place of rest and
no trouble, thank God for it, but you know, just like David,
One trial was over, and before he could really enjoy any peace
on his throne, another started. Another rebellion came right
up. Mark, I like what Brother Scott
used to say. God keeps his people in trouble,
going into trouble or coming out of trouble all the time. And it might be the circumstances
of providence, but it certainly is always the sin of our hearts,
the unbelief that is there all the time. And really, you think about it,
It's not our circumstances that really get us down, it's our
unbelief in the midst of those circumstances. Let's close with reading a passage
out of 1st Peter. Verse three of chapter one, blessed
be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy rather than these things are by God's
mercy. He, he, he delights in showing
mercy. And if the means by which he
shows us his mercy is trial, that's what Peter's gonna go
on to say. Look, let's read it together. He hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. And you for whom this has been
reserved, the Lord Jesus said, I go and prepare a place for
you. And he took his rightful place at the right hand of the
majesty on high and everything required for us to enter heaven
is found in him. We are kept by the power of God,
true faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. wherein you greatly rejoice,
yet we do rejoice and we long for and we look to, we rest in
that hope of being with him. But in the meantime, for a season, what a short season
it is, it's a very short season. If need be, as God sees the need
to be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations that the
trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that
perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found under
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. The Lord knows how hot to make the fire, how
often to apply the fire. What's he doing? A faith untried is a faith unproven. The Lord's proving our faith. And I remind you, the trials
that we go through are common to all men. Unbelievers experience
disease and death and divorce and all the troubles that we
go, they experience the same thing. But they don't find themselves
rejoicing in a God who is sovereign as the first cause of all those
things and depending upon him resting in him This is the work of faith. All right, let's take a break.