Thank you, Adam. That is a blessing, an encouragement to
be able to sing that with some understanding. We have a small, very, very small
piece, but a piece it is of Emmanuel's land right here. Emmanuel, God
with us. where two or three are gathered
together there, I am in the midst of them. And he's pleased to
show us glimpses of his glory. And in that day, in that day,
we'll see him as he is. 2 Samuel chapter 19. While you turn there, I mentioned
in the first hour that Jeanette Briggs had to go to the hospital
last night, and she's doing better this morning, but was having
some difficulties from her chemo last night. Lord enables you
to remember her in your prayers. And also Adam, who just led our
music, his father, Most of you all know Claire and
Annie. Claire's having some serious
health issues, and he's going to be having a biopsy, I think,
on the 4th of March. So Lord enables you to pray for
Claire. I know the family would greatly
appreciate that. And lastly, next Sunday, we'll
have lunch together after the services. So come prepared for
that. All right, you have your Bibles
open to 2 Samuel chapter 19. We've been in this book now for
several months and you know what's going on. David has suffered
the shame and exile of his own son, Absalom. leading a rebellion
against the king and forcing him off his throne. David has
fled to a city east of the Jordan out in the wilderness area and
a man by the name of, this is in 2 Samuel chapter 17, a man
by the name of Barzillai has provided for David in this time
of exile. Absalom is now dead and David
is coming back to Jerusalem. And this is where the story picks
up in verse 31 of 2 Samuel 19. And Barzillai the Gileadite came
down from Rogelem and went over Jordan with the king to conduct
him over Jordan. So Barzillai is accompanying
the king with I'm sure chariots and carts and whatever's necessary
in order to bring the king back to Jerusalem. Now Barzillai was
a very aged man, even four score years old, he was 80 years old.
And he had provided the king of substance while he lay in
Mahanaim. for he was a very great man and
that means that he was a man of great wealth. So he's old
and wealthy and the king was in need and he provided the sustenance
that the king, not only the king, but all those that fled with
the king needed in this time of exile. And the king said to
Barzillai, come thou over with me and I will feed thee with
me in Jerusalem. 2 Samuel chapter 19, verse 34. And Barzillai said to the king,
how long have I to live that I should go up with the king
unto Jerusalem? I am this day four score years
old. And can I discern between good
and evil? Now, what that means is, Barcilia
is not saying, I can't discern the moral quality of that which
is right and wrong. He's talking about his eyesight.
He didn't have glasses, 80 years old. He said, well, I look at
something, I can't tell if it's good or bad. And can thy servant taste what
I eat or what I drink? I can't see. and I can't taste
much anymore. Can I hear anymore the voice
of singing of men and singing of women? Wherefore then should
thy servant be yet a burden unto the Lord my King? I'm an old
man, I can't see, I can't hear, I can't taste. If I go with you,
I'll just be a burden to you. Thy servant will go a little
way over Jordan with the King. And why should the king recompensate
me with such a reward? Saying to David, you don't owe
me anything. I didn't do this for reconciliation or recompense. I didn't do it for that reason.
Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again that I may die
in mine own city and be buried by the grave of my father and
of my mother But behold thy servant Chimham, let him go over with
my Lord the King and do to him what shall seem good unto thee."
Chimham, we don't know if it was a descendant of Barzillai,
maybe one of his children or grandchildren or a servant of
Barzillai, but he is deferring the King's gifts to this man
Chimham. And the king answered, Chimham
shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem
good unto thee. And whatsoever thou shalt require
of me, that will I do for thee. David is saying to Barzillai,
yes, I'll take Chimham with me. and I'll do for him whatever
you want me to do for him." And all the people went over
Jordan, and when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai
and blessed him, and he returned unto his own place. Then the
king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him. and all the
people of Judah conducted the king, and also half the people
of Israel. The disciples once asked our
Lord, why, Lord, do you speak to them in parables? Much of
the Lord's teaching was done by storytelling. We call them parables. And the Lord said to the disciples,
because it is given unto you to know the mystery of the kingdom
of God, but unto them, it is not given. Now the Lord said
that right after he had given them the parable of the soils,
the four different soils and the and the man who was scattering
the seeds of the gospel and the soils representing the different
types of hearts of different men. But the disciples didn't
know what it meant. The Pharisees didn't know what
it meant. The disciples didn't know what
it meant. What made the difference? The disciples asked the Lord
what it meant and the Lord explained the parable to them. Now, the stories of the Old Testament,
the one like we just read, and the Bible is full of them, are
like parables. They're like parables. The mystery
of the kingdom of God is hidden in the story. And the hope that you and I have
is that the Lord will explain this story to us. and that he
will enable us to identify with the characters of this story
and to be blessed with the message of these stories. And that's
my hope and prayer this morning. There are three characters that
we find in the story. The first one is David. David
is dependent. And David is grateful. David has been forced out of
that place where he was able to provide for himself into the
wilderness where he was dependent upon someone else to provide
for him. May the Lord, as we look at David's
role in this story, enable us to be dependent upon his provisions
and to be grateful when he does provide. The second person we
see in this story is a man by the name of Barzillai. Barzillai
is discerning. When all of Israel had turned
against King David and sided with Absalom, Barzillai believed
that David was still God's king. And Barzillai risked his own
safety and his own life to take David in and to provide for him. Barzillai is also a picture of
generosity. He was glad to use what he had
to further the kingdom of God. And Barzillai is a picture of
faith. He wasn't interested in the rewards
of the king as they related to worldly things. His reward was
to go home and to die in peace, whereby he would receive the
reward that he's been waiting for all his life. And then we
have Chimham. We don't know exactly who he
is, but we know that he was undeserving of all the blessings that the
king gave him. And the only reason that David
lavished him with gifts and provided for him everything that he needed,
he's sort of like Mephibosheth. He's gonna sit at the king's
table the rest of his life and have You know, whatever the king
provides. And the reason why is because
he was recommended by another. What a picture. All three of
these men represent every one of God's people. David, in spite
of his position as king, in spite of the fact that he had in this
world great possessions and great power, he is driven by God to
a place of utter dependence. The things of this world cannot
help him now. Look back with me to chapter
17. Here's David fleeing now. In
verse 27, and it came to pass when David was come to Mahanaim,
that's where Barzillai lived. It's a city about 60 miles from
Jerusalem in the Eastern parts of Israel in a place of Gilead. that she'll be the son of Nahash
and Rabah of the children of Ammon. And Matre, the son of
Amil, you remember Matre and Amil? When David asked Ziba,
if there's anyone left from the household of Saul that I might
show him kindness for Jonathan's sake. Ziba told him that he's
in the house of Macher, the son of Amil in the land of Lodabar. So this is the same place where
Mephibosheth's hiding out. And Barzillai the Gileadite,
here's the character in our story. Barzillai. And these men brought for the
king. And the story's going to go on that David's going to divide
up the men that are with him into thousands. So this isn't
a small group of people. These are thousands of soldiers
that have fled Jerusalem. And these men brought beds and
basins and earthen vessels and wheat and barley and flour and
parts corn and beans and lentils and parts pulse and honey and
butter and sheep and cheese of kind. for David and for the people
that were with him to eat. And they said, the people is
hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness. Here's where this character of
David, we often see David representing the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the son of David. But here, I want you to see David
as a type of you, me. David beyond circumstances, circumstances
beyond his control, although, and here's a key part to this
story, child of God, though these circumstances were beyond David's
control, David contributed to these circumstances. Can you
relate to that? I'm in a straight. I'm in a hard
place. And my past actions have had
a lot to do with where I'm at. And I have no control over my
circumstances. God has put me in the wilderness. Well, here's the good word, brethren.
When God puts his children in the wilderness, he provides for
them in the wilderness. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. Here's
our hope. Verse 10, and I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ For the accuser
of our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them before our
God day and night. Now we see that pictured in the
story of Job. Job went before, Satan had to
go before God to make accusations against Job. And Satan could
only do that which God permitted him to do. Satan here is called
the accuser of the brethren. He accuses us to ourselves. He
uses the law to do it. He reminds us of our sin. And
in doing so, he's trying to get us to go back to the law to fix
the problem. That's his objective. Well, I can fix this. I can make
it better. I can clean this up. When the accusations of the accuser
of the brethren come... Don't run to the law to try to
fix the problem. Run to Christ. Run to Christ. Lord, I am guilty. I need...
Let's see how this works out. In verse
11, and they, that is those who were being accused by Satan,
the children of God, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. In other words, their answer
to the accusation was not, I'll go back to the law and I'll do
better and I'll try to fix this problem. Their answer to the
accusation was, the blood of the Lord Jesus has forgiven me
of this sin. This sin has been covered. God
cannot see this sin. It's been put away. And the greatest
The greatest motivation and inducement for recovery from sin and for
obedience to God is the forgiveness of sin. It's the grace of God. They overcame him, not by their
efforts and not by their works, but by the blood of the Lamb.
That's how they overcame him. And by the word of their testimony,
and they love not their lives unto death. by the word of God and by being
put to death to self again and again and again. That's a daily,
that's a daily work. It's a work of grace to die to
self. Paul said, well, I die daily. I die daily. I have to come again and again
and again and again to this glorious hope. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet it
be not, it's not I that lives, Christ that lives in me. The
life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me. And here's the, here's how we
overcome. Therefore rejoice ye heavens
and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the
earth and of the sea for the devil has come down unto you
having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time. And when the dragon saw that
he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought
forth the man-child." That's the church. The man-child is
Christ. The beginning of this chapter
talks about that. That Christ came into the world
through his church, that he's ascended back into glory now.
Satan is accusing the brethren. but he knows that his time is
short. You remember when the Lord cast the demons out of the
demoniac in the Gadarenes who was possessed with a legion of
demons? And they cried out and they said,
Jesus, thou son of God, has thou come here to torment us before
our appointed time? They know there's an appointed
time. They know it's time, their time's short. They were afraid
time had come. And to the woman, here's where
this story of David being forced into the wilderness, dependent
upon another to care for him, unable to provide for himself,
being put in a situation that God put him in, and yet the realization
of that situation being caused by he himself. and the shame
and the guilt associated with his problem. And to the woman were given two
wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place where she is nourished from time and times and a half
a time from the face of the serpent. Now that's apocalyptic language
referring to that sometimes it's called three and a half years,
sometimes it's given a number of days, but it all represents
that period of time between the first and second coming of Christ.
That's what Revelation 12 is. The Lord Jesus ascended back
into heaven, Satan has come, his time is short, He's persecuting
and making accusations against the people of God, knowing that
this is gonna be over. But the Lord has provided for
his bride, for this woman, a place in the wilderness. He provided
Barzillai for David. What's he provided for us? A
two-winged eagle. Much speculation has been made
about what the two wings represent. But if you just compare scripture
to scripture, you'll find that it's repeated in other symbols.
It's called the two witnesses. It's called the two pipes of
oil that feed the candlestick. And it's the spirit of God and
the word of God. It's that simple. That's the
two winged eagle. God provides for his people.
While they are persecuted in this wilderness, we walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, but we fear no evil for thou
art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they do comfort me. The
word of God and the spirit of God. The spirit of God is the
one who opens our hearts, opens the eyes of our understanding,
gives us faith to believe God's word, points us to Christ and
reveals Christ to us and makes Christ for us our all and all. Everything that we need. And the serpent, cast out of
his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood. The serpent sends a tidal
wave, a tsunami of circumstances in hopes of being able to drown
us and carry us off into the sea of forgetfulness. But what
does God do? What's God do? Here it is, the
earth helped the woman. God in his providence provides
everything that she needs. And he opens up the earth and
swallows up the waves. He calms the seas. The earth
opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon
cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with
the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,
which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of
Jesus Christ. God puts us in this place, what
a blessing it is. I know it doesn't feel like much
of a blessing when the waves of trouble are coming, when the
accuser of the brethren brings those doubts and fears within
and those circumstances without, but here's our promise, brethren,
just like God provided through Barzillai for David, all that
he needed to sustain him in the wilderness. So God provides for
all of his children. He provides for them his spirit,
he provides for them his word, and he works the circumstances
of their lives to swallow up the waves of wrath and judgment
so that we be not swept away. We might be tossed to and fro,
but we're not gonna be swept away. Let me show you that. Turn with me to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. We looked at this
Wednesday night. This is our God's promise. Oh,
this story of David and Barzillai and Chimham is a parable. It's a picture. of every believer's
life. Psalm 107, verse 23, that they go down to
the sea in ships and do business in great waters, turbulent seas. And these see the works of the
Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he, God, commandeth and raiseth
the stormy winds which lifteth up the waves thereof. This is
of the Lord. God sent David into that wilderness
place to make David dependent upon him. That's the reason, my brothers
and sisters, that's the reason why God sends the troubles. That's
the reason why he puts us in the storm. The way of the Lord
is through the seas. He's not going to, He's gonna
make, He's gonna bring us to our wits end. Look, look, here
it is. They mount up to the heavens.
They go down against the depths. Their soul is melted because
of their trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wits end. Then they cry. Can you relate to that? We don't really cry, not until
we get to our wits end. Lord, I've got no place else
to go. Coming to God is never a choice.
It's never a decision. It's the only option that we
have. When God in his loving, Merciful
providence puts us in that place. And we're gonna be there from
time to time and then we're gonna cry. And what happens? Then they
cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm so
that the waves thereof be still. Then are they glad because they
be quiet. Oh Lord, I need you to quiet
my heart. I need you to calm my fears.
I need you to open up the earth and swallow up these things that
are about to, this flood that would carry me away. And when is the greatest time
that we come to our wit's end? Is it not when we come to the
end of life? When all the circumstances of
this world don't really matter anymore? We have a need now that, you
know, money and time will fix every problem that we
have in this world. It will. You have enough money,
you can solve most of your problems. And the problems that can't be
solved with money, time will take care of it. because there's
going to come a time shortly when you're going to draw your
last breath and none of those things are going to matter anymore. Thank God that he reveals to
us a problem that no amount of money nor an eternity of time
can solve. You and I have a problem that
no amount of money and an eternity of time won't fix. And so whatever our temporal
circumstances might be, we have an eternal need. We have a sin
problem and we can't buy our way out of it. And separation
from God and the devil's hell for all eternity will not pay
for it. There's only one solution, only
one solution. I need a sin bearer. I need a
substitute. I need one who can stand before
God in my stead and take my shame and guilt and satisfy God's justice
and put my sin away. And so our troubles in this world
may seem like waves of the sea up and down. The trouble of sin and that's
really that, you know, even in the What do you think was bothering
David the most when he was exiled? You think it was the lack of
comfort that he had back in Jerusalem in the king's palace or do you
think it was the conscience that bothered him knowing that where
he was, yes God had put him there but he had contributed to it,
it was his It was the accusation, it was the accuser of the brethren
that was bothering him the most. How can we overcome him by the
blood of the Lamb? What I'm saying is that even
in the most greatest trial of life, it's our sin that I mean,
that's the real problem. And here's where the eagle comes
in. Here's where the Spirit of God
takes the Word of God and speaks peace to the hearts of God's
people, pointing them to Christ and calming the sea and enabling
them to rest in the midst of their trouble. David's name translated means
beloved. Beloved. I have loved you with
an everlasting love. Perfect love casteth out fear. Is there any way that God's love
could possibly change based on what I've done or what I haven't
done? God doesn't love like we love. Our love is determined by, in
much of the ways, by the actions of the person we're loving. Not
so with God's love. He loves us with a perfect love. And nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Here's David and here's
every child of God. cast out in the wilderness, put in a situation where they
can't provide for themselves, at their wits end, crying out
to the Lord for help, and he sends a calm. Now, does that
mean that he stops all the trouble? Maybe, maybe not. And if he does, you can be sure
of this, another trouble's coming. But it does mean that he calms
the heart when God-given faith is able to rest in Christ. Barzillai. He wasn't interested in the king's
reward. He was looking for the reward
that God could only give him. When the Lord said to Abram,
Abram, I am thy shield and I am thine exceeding great reward. To have hope in Christ for life
eternal. He's our reward. Barzillai wasn't afraid of death.
He just wanted to go back home and be laid to rest by his mother
and his father and receive the same reward that they had received. He knew that the power of the
grave had been broken. Barzillai's name means iron. Iron. And Barzillai knew that the iron
gates of hell could not prevail against the grace of God. That
God had, like Samson, taken down the gates of the city of the
Philistines and carry them off into Gaza, that stronghold, and
opened up the gates of hell. And the Lord Jesus said, Simon
Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but
my father, which is in heaven. He's the one that's revealed
it unto you. Revealed what? That thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. And the gates of hell shall not
be able to prevail against this. That was Barzillai's hope. His hope was that I don't have
to fear judgment. I don't have to fear hell. God
has given me faith to look to Christ who bore the wrath of
God for me. He suffered the full judgment
of God. He put away my sin. This is life
eternal. If I've got eternal life, if
I've got hope for life eternal, then what do I have to fear?
If God before me, who can be against me? He was, as all believers are,
watching, waiting, looking with a sure hope. I was talking to
an unbeliever recently about my hope in Christ and he said,
well, yeah, that's all it is, just a hope. I said, no, wait
a minute. When I talk about hope, I'm not talking about, you know,
I hope my team's gonna win or I hope it's gonna rain tomorrow.
When the Bible speaks of hope, it's talking about a certain
expectation. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I have a sheer hope. This isn't
well, maybe it'll work out, maybe it won't. Maybe I've done enough,
maybe I haven't. No, I'm confident. that he did
everything that God requires for my salvation. He is my hope. Barzillai was not interested
in earthly rewards. He said, who am I? The Lord Jesus said when the
sheep stand before him on the day of judgment and he says unto
them, I was hungry and you fed me and
I was naked and you clothed me and I was a stranger and you
took me in and I was in prison and you visited me. And he rewards
them for their good works. They say to him, Lord, when did
we do those things? That's what Barzillai is saying
to David. Barzillai was very generous and
very faithful and very discerning in what he did but he wasn't
expecting a reward for it. He said, I'll just weigh you
down, who am I that you should reward me? Give it to Chimham. No, we're not expecting. heaven because of something we
did. We're expecting to go home with
the king and sit at his table because another who deserved
the reward recommended us to the king. Let me show you a verse of scripture.
Turn with me to Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Verse five, the Lord is the portion
of my inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The Lord's the one that I'm looking
to. We sang this hymn, Adam, you
led us in this hymn at the beginning of the service. The Lord's the
one I'm looking to, not to the glory of heaven, but to the Lord
of heaven. He's the one I'm looking to.
He is the portion of my inheritance. And he is the one who fills my
cup. Psalm 23, my cup is full, overflowing. And he's the one who maintains
my lot. He feeds me with the food that's
convenient for me. Whatever He gives me in this
life is right. Whatever He ordains for me will
be to His glory and it'll be to my good. The Lord's my portion. What David's saying in this psalm
is if we have Christ, we have everything. And if we have everything
that this world has to offer and have not Christ, we have
nothing. We have nothing. I love the story. You remember
when Jacob is coming back to be reconciled to Esau and David
is afraid that Esau is going to take revenge and I'm sorry,
Jacob. Jacob's coming back to be reconciled
to Esau. He's been gone for 20 years.
He's afraid Esau is still going to exact punishment and Jacob
divides up his family and he wrestles with God at the River
Jabbok and the Lord Jesus humbles him and gives him a limp in his
hip that he carries the rest of his life. And the Lord reveals
to him his new name, Israel. And finally, Jacob sends gifts
ahead of himself in hoping that it will appease Esau. And when
finally they meet face to face, Esau says to Jacob, Esau's a
picture of the unbeliever and Jacob's a picture of the child
of God. And Esau says to Jacob, what are all these gifts, brother?
And Esau says to Jacob, I have enough. I don't need this. And in our English Bibles, Jacob
insists that Esau take the gifts. And Jacob says back to Esau the
same thing that Esau said in our English Bibles, I have enough. But if you look up the word enough
that Esau uses and the word enough that Jacob uses, they're two
different words in the original language. The word that Esau
uses for enough is I have plenty. The word that Jacob uses for
enough is I have everything. Everything. Brother, you take these gifts.
You got plenty, I got everything. That's what Barzillai is saying.
David, give your gifts to another. I didn't do this for reward.
My reward is to go home. I'm 80 years old, can't see,
can't hear, can't taste anymore. I'll just be a burden to you.
My hope is to lie down in rest and see my Redeemer. It's a parable. All these stories
are parables. I pray the Holy Spirit will explain
the parable to us and reveal to us His mercy and His grace
and enable us to identify with David, Barsilai, and Shemhem. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your mercy, for your salvation. Open our hearts. Teach us. Give us grace to rest in Christ. For it's in his name we pray. Adam. 228, number 228.