Let's look at 2 Samuel chapter
20 tonight. This is an unusual chapter and
pray the Lord will meet with us and teach us tonight. 2 Samuel
chapter 20, and there happened to be there a man of Belial,
whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri of Benjamin. And he
blew a trumpet and said, we have no part in David, neither have
we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents,
O Israel. So every man of Israel went up
from after David and followed Sheba, the son of Bichri. But
the men of Judah clave unto their king from Jordan even to Jerusalem. And David came to his house at
Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines,
whom he had left to keep the house, put them in ward, and
fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto
the day of their death, living in widowhood. Then said the king
to Amasa, assemble me, the men of Judah, within three days,
and be thou here present. So Amasa went to assemble the
men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the set time which
he had appointed him. And David said to Abishai, now
shall Sheba, the son of Bichri, do us more harm than did Absalom. Take thou thy lord's servants
and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities and escape
us. And there went out after him
Joab's men, and the Cherithites, and Pellethites, and all the
mighty men. And they went out of Jerusalem
to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. When they were at
the great stone, which is in Gibe, and a mesa went before
them, and Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto
him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins,
and the sheath thereof. And as he went forth, It fell
out, and Joab said to Amasa, art thou in health, my brother?
And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand.
So he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his
bowels to the ground, and struck him not again, and he died. So
Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued after Sheba, the son
of Bichri. And one of Joab's men stood by him and said, he
that favoreth Joab and he that is for David, let him go after
Joab. And Amasa wallowed in blood in
the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all
the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into
the field and cast a cloth upon him when he saw that everyone
that came by him stood still. When he was removed out of the
highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue after
Sheba, the son of Bichri. And he went through all the tribes
of Israel, and to Abel, and to Bethmaica, and all the Berites. And they were gathered together
and went also after him. And they came and besieged him
in Abel of Bethmaica. And they cast up a bank against
the city, and it stood in the trench. And all the people that
were with Joab battered the wall to thaw it down. Then cried a
wise woman out of the city, here, here, say, I pray you unto Joab,
come near hither that I may speak with thee. And when he was come
near unto her, the woman said, art thou Joab? And he answered,
I am he. And then she said unto him, hear
the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. And
then she spake, saying, they were wont to speak in old times,
saying, they shall surely ask counsel at Abel. And so they
ended the matter. I am one of them that are peaceable
and faithful in Israel. Thou seekest to destroy a city
and a mother in Israel. Why wilt thou swallow up the
inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, far
be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy.
The matter is not so. But a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba
the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the
king, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will
depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab,
Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. Then the
woman went unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off
the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab,
and he blew a trumpet. And they retired from the city,
every man to his tent, and Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the
king. Now, Joab was over all the host of Israel. And Benaiah,
the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherithites and over the
Pelethites. And Hadorim was over the tribute. And Jehoshaphat,
the son of Ehilud, was recorder. And Sheva was scribe. And Zadok
and Abiathar were the priests. And Ira, also the Jairite, was
a chief ruler about David. Interesting chapter. I believe
the Lord has some teaching for us tonight. Let's pray. Thank
you, gracious Father, for your word, and I pray that, Lord,
we'd be attentive, our hearts would be attentive to your truth.
Tonight, we would see your justice, Lord, satisfied in Christ, that
we might find our refuge tonight in him alone. and find ourselves
secure, safe from your wrath and justice. May we rejoice in
our Savior tonight in his precious name. Amen. You remember we looked at verses
one and two last time. There was a great, a great rebellion
again already after David had enjoyed just a little time of
triumph and Returning to the throne But this first verse is key now
to this chapter look at the first verse again chapter 20 There
happened to be there a man of Belial whose name was Sheba the
son of Bikri And The trouble that this man
caused is what we see in this whole chapter. I Everything bad
that happened all the bloodshed and the betrayal and The evil
that we see in this chapter Was because this one man stood up
blew a trumpet Got the attention of the people and he was a man
of Belial He wasn't the only one that had spoken up in the
last verses of chapter 19. We saw that there was a There was some rebellion and
some were offended that they hadn't been consulted in bringing
David back to Jerusalem and things like that. The pride of man entered
in and of course that always causes discord. But this man
carried it farther and because he did, many followed him. The term man of Belial is equivalent
to calling, we've seen this before in the scripture, it means a
man of the devil. It's just the equivalent of calling
somebody a son of the devil or a man of the devil. It means
evil, wickedness, but also it means worthless. And that's interesting
that it would mean both of those things because they kinda go
together when it comes to rebellion against God. It's those who,
who caused problems and have a problem with the way things
are. Everything was fine. David was back. He's on the throne.
Everybody that wanted to honor him came and honored him. But
people had a problem with that. Some did. And the other ones
are saying, how could you have a problem with that? You remember
from last lesson, how could you have a problem with that? He's
one of us. We came and honored him. How
could you possibly have a problem with that? But they did. And
it's the ones, though, that have a problem with the way things
are that don't have anything to do with the way things are.
They're worthless. They haven't done anything. They
haven't contributed anything to anybody. And so that goes
along with evil and wickedness, doesn't it? Discontent and worthlessness,
they go together. And Satan understands well. He's
a man of the devil. And that's appropriate here because
Satan understands very well pride, rebellion in the hearts of sinners.
He's pretty good at stirring it up. He's real good at that. And that's what he did here.
He used a man to stir that up and look at all
the misery in the discord caused primarily by this one man in
this chapter. And notice that again, worthlessness
and evil go together. That's always true, it seems
like. The word belial. What was the
essential, and again, when you're looking at the scripture, look
what happened. The language can get confusing sometimes. There's
words that we don't use. Just look what happened. It was
pretty simple. It was separation from David, wasn't it? All of
the problem was caused by we have no part with David, and
they went from David. was the language there. Look
at verse 2, it's disloyalty to David. So, every man of Israel
went up from after David. That's the problem. You're either
with Christ or you're not with Christ. If you're not, if you
go up from after Christ, and we saw that in the New Testament
so many times, haven't we, in our studies, they walked no more
with him. They picked up stones to stone
him. He said, what good work are you stoning me for? They
went up from after David. That's the problem. You're with
God's king or you're not with God's king. All the rest of it
is just details. And so soon after David puts
down one rebellion, another is started, and the very ones who
claimed that their problem was that they had a greater part
in David than those who had honored him, they deserved a greater
part in David, they showed that they didn't really care about
David at all anyway. Isn't that the way it is? It's hypocrisy, isn't it? Well,
you know, we should have been this and that. You don't want
to be involved anyway, and you make that clear all the time.
People that cause trouble, don't they? They just want to get recognition. They don't want to do what it
takes to honor David, but they want the credit for honoring
David. It don't work like that. Honoring David costs, doesn't
it? Look at the men that helped him.
It took something. It took some courage. It took,
in some cases, money. That one man that helped him
out so much with all those provisions and things. People sacrificed
in order to honor David. These people didn't, and they
were the problem. And they showed they didn't care
anything about David. That was the issue. If they had,
they would have been there to honor him on the day that he
returned. Nobody could have stopped them.
As we mentioned last time, the man who cursed David to his face
showed up to honor him that day. And these men of Israel said
that they were slighted somehow. How? Who? By who? Who stopped
you from coming and praising David and honoring him and making
him king? Who stopped you? The difference between these
men, look at the last part, but the men of Judah claim unto their
king. The difference is David. It always is, isn't it? It's
God's authority, God's king, God's exalted one. He's the difference
between men. Everything else flows out of
that. Everything that happened in this chapter flows from that.
There are those that go from Christ, and there are those that
cleave to him. No matter the adversity, there's
problems, there's issues, there's trouble, there's cost, there's
risk. But it's David, though. We're
just gonna stick with him, how about that? That's the grace
of God. That takes grace. Everybody fits into one of those
groups you go up up from away from David or from after David
or you cleave to him you hang on You lay hold of him and you
don't let go Everybody fits one of those two groups You remember
John 6 verse 60 He taught them of his sovereignty. He said nobody
can come to me except my father bring him to me. I And many went
and walked no more with him. And he said to the 12, are you
going with them? Will you leave too? And they
said, to whom shall we go? They clave unto David. Why? You have the words of eternal
life. Life comes out of your mouth.
Where are we going to go? Well, you either know that or
you don't. You either see him as he is or you don't. He's either
precious to you or he ain't. And that passage of Scripture,
if you want to, it's John 6, 60 through 71. It applies to
our text in several ways. Let's look at it real quick.
We won't read the whole thing, but just glance over there. Mark our chapter, because we'll
have to come back to it too. But John chapter 6, I wanted
to show you something else about that, that applies to our text. Verse 60, about his teaching
and how they didn't much care for it. It was, it was scandalous. They said, it's a hard say to
them. And then he said in verse 64,
there's some of you that believe not. And he knew who they were
in verse 66 from that You notice the word time is in italics. They did it at that time, but
it was from that. It was from his teaching that
they went away. It was from what he had said. He had said, you
can't come to me except my father draw you. And many of his disciples went
back and walked no more with him. And Jesus said unto the
12, will you go away also? And Peter answered, Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we
believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the
living God. And you know what the Lord said?
I've chosen y'all. That's why you stayed. He not
only taught, you can't come to me unless my father brings you.
But he showed it to him. He showed him that. The reason
you're here with me still now and you're not going with them,
I've chosen you. But one of you is a devil. That's
our text too, isn't it? One of them was a devil. And
he stirred up many of the others. Look at verse three back in our
text. We'll have to move through it. But, and David came to his
house at Jerusalem and the king took the 10 women, his concubines,
whom he had left to keep the house and put them in ward and
fed them, but went not in unto them. You remember, these are
the 10 that had, that he had left behind to keep his house
while he was gone. Absalom, the wretched reprobate
that he was, he defiled David's wives. Of course, it was a consequence
of David's sin. The Lord said to David that it
would happen. told him because of his sin with
Bathsheba that his own wives would suffer this humiliation
and David took care of them for the rest of their lives. He took good care of them but
they were shut up until the day of their death and lived in widowhood
because it was a continual shame to him what had happened to them. It was his fault and he knew
it. And it was a reminder, I'm sure, all the time of his own
pride and rebellion and unfaithfulness. And you remember
now, he was unfaithful and committed adultery. But God
said, you've refused me. You've forgotten me. That's what
you did. You forgot me. And that was what his great sin
was. But it was also a reminder that
the Lord had mercy on him, don't you reckon? It was also a constant
reminder that the Lord didn't kill him, didn't put him in hell
like he deserved. And we have constant reminders
like that too in our lives, don't we? Well, verse four, and then
said the king to Amasa, assemble me the men of Judah within three
days and be thou here present. So Amasa went. But it took him
too long. He didn't show up, David told
him. You come back in three days with the men. He didn't show
up. Now think about this. David was evidently, where's
Joab? Joab's the captain of the hub. He's David's guy, right? But Joab had deliberately disobeyed
David in the matter of Absalom. David made Absalom swear. He
said, now you promised me you're gonna be gentle with Absalom
for my sake. Joab wasn't gentle with Absalom,
but he thrust him through with spears when he found him caught
in that tree. And so it's not hard to figure
out why Joab is not first on David's list right here. So David
talks to this man of Mesa though, and Mesa's apparently not loyal
to David. Anxious to put down this rebellion
before it even gets started good He calls on a Mesa to gather
the men, but he was angry with Joab for disobeying his direct
order and he did disobeyed But a Mesa apparently is sympathetic
with the rebellion He's with Sheba or he wouldn't have tarried
he got either that or he's got something else up his sleeve
and He doesn't show up when he's supposed to with the men. And
so David resumes his business with another man in the next
verse. Look at verse six. And David said to Abishai, there's
a name you might recognize. Abishai is the one that wanted
to kill Shimei when he cursed David. You remember? He said,
let me go and take his head off. I kind of like Abishai. Because
he was loyal to David, he was jealous for David's honor. And
he's also the one, if you'll remember way back in 1 Samuel,
I think I wrote it down here somewhere, 26, 1 Samuel chapter
26, the second time that David stumbles upon Saul, and Saul's
very life is given into David's hand, Abishai is the one that
said, let me take his own spear. Saul's spear was sitting there
in the ground. He said, let me thrust him through with his own
spear. He said, it'll just take one shot. I'll pin him to the
ground and it'll be over. He said, the Lord's delivered
him into your hand. And he had, hadn't he? Sure enough,
he had. But David said, no, he's the
Lord's anointed until God says otherwise. And so we won't do
that. like Abishai, he's loyal to David.
So, he calls on Abishai. David said to Abishai, now shall
Sheba the son of Bichri, that's the one that blew the trumpet
and caused all this rebellion, he'll do us more harm than did
Absalom. Take thou thy Lord's servants and pursue after him
lest he get him fenced cities and escape us. You see David
is doing the thing. That's what Absalom's advisor told him to
do. He said, you pursue David now
before he has a chance to really organize his troops. Let's go pursue him now and end
this thing quick. But God had determined to defeat
the wise counsel of Ahithophel. And he did. So the one that David
sent back said, no, let's wait. Let's wait a while. That was
the wrong thing to do. David's doing the right thing. Let's
go get this done now. And so, he calls on Abishai now to lead
the army, who is Joab's brother. But still, he's resisting Joab. Still. look at verse 7, And there went
out after him Joab's men, and the Cherithites, and the Pelethites,
and all the mighty men. And they went out of Jerusalem
to pursue after Sheba the son of Bikri. So, Joab has been conspicuous
in the absence of his name so far. Where in the world, you
know, He's the one that should have been doing this all along,
but though he was conspicuous for not being mentioned in the
first several verses of this chapter, now he's mentioned.
And though David's been avoiding Joab, Joab is still loyal to
David. And Joab and his men still fight
for David. And there's a Gospel lesson here,
we're going to see it. Let's look at verse 8 again.
When they were at the Great Stone, which is in Gibeon, a mesa went
before them, and Joab's garment that he had put on was girded
unto him, and it was upon a girdle. We won't read the rest of it,
but you remember when we read it a while ago. He had his garment
rigged in such a way that his sword was easily accessible.
It just fell out into his hand, and he takes hold of the mesa
as though he's greeting him as a friend. Stabs him between the
ribs. and kills him in a horrible way.
And it makes you cringe a little bit, doesn't it? The way that
the description, pretty graphic there. But Emesa is AWOL. He's absent without leave. He's
abandoned David. And Joab has always, if you remember,
he's always represented the strict justice of God. He is the sword. He is the sword of God's justice
now. And he represents that well here. When Joab killed Absalom, though
David had made him promise to be gentle with Absalom now. There
is an earthly story. There is a human drama there
too. And you feel for David and all
that. But Absalom needed to die. If anybody ever needed to die
Absalom did. And here's the thing about this
now. Here's the Gospel lesson. All of God's love and mercy and
kindness and gentleness and grace for sinners is in Christ. If
you're against Christ, there's not any mercy for you. And for
Joab, are you loyal to David? No? Then you're a goner. You're a goner. I don't care
who you are. You would think David would have profited absolum
something, being his dad. But it wasn't so. And the way
I said that may remind you of a scripture in the New Testament,
Galatians 5.1. Listen to this. Stand fast, Paul
said, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold,
I, Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, if you keep
the law in order to please God, in order to establish your righteousness
before God, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole
law. You're gonna have to do business with Joab if you reject
Christ. If you rebel against David now,
you're gonna have to do business with Joab. David will profit
you nothing. I don't care what you call him.
I don't care if you call him Daddy. I don't care if you call
him the Lord Jesus. I don't care what you call him.
I don't care what you say your relationship with it is. If you
stand before God outside of Christ, you gotta do business with Joab.
It's not gonna end well for you. Christ will profit you nothing.
You can use his name, you can sing, oh, how I love Jesus. Joab
doesn't care. It's are you loyal to David?
Have you submitted to David? Are you bowing to David? Do you
believe in David or not? Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You're
falling from grace. There's only one way that you
make Joab happy with you, and that's you bow to David. I like
Joab. Joab gets a lot of criticism,
and he was a cruel man. There's no doubt about it. But
if you didn't have a problem with David, you didn't have a
problem with Joab. Remember that. It might be difficult to see
this picture now a little bit, but think about it. Absalom,
no matter the physical relationship with David, no matter the outward
advantages of growing up in David's house and being taught, no doubt,
to honor the Lord. Absalom was taught to honor God.
He had many outward advantages growing up in David's house,
despite every imaginable benefit of the doubt. An outward advantage,
he rejected God's king. And that's what it means to be
circumcised, to keep the law in order to please God. You've
rejected God's king, God's son, God's sacrifice, God's righteousness. You have not submitted yourself
to the righteousness of God in Christ. And you're gonna have
to deal with Joab. It is to choose yourself and
your own imagined goodness over Christ. And just as Absalom's
relationship with David profited him nothing in the face of justice,
your religious affiliation with Christ, you may go by his name,
but it will profit you nothing. The strict justice of God will
have its way with you if you reject Christ as righteousness
and sin offering. If you reject him as the sovereign
savior, he'll profit you nothing. And the Mesa went the way of
Absalom. The same way, the sword of Joab. Maybe there's more, you know,
to being an Israelite than simple loyalty to David. That was the
attitude. You know, David, all these, the men of Judah are loyal
to David. I don't know about that. Well,
you better know about that. Or you better look for Joab,
because he's coming. You got to go now. It is that
simple. Loyalty to David, it's that simple.
That's what it is to be an Israelite. You bow to David. Christ is all. The simplicity,
the all-inclusiveness that's in Christ. There is no other
way. There is no other refuge. Notice
it says, a mesa took no heed to the sword. I like that language
there. Verse 10, Joab is coming, he
took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But
Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand. That's
the sinner who insists upon standing in his own righteousness before
God. You better take heed to the sword. You better pay attention
to the sword now. Paul said, you that would be
under the law, don't you hear the law? You better look for
the sword. You better respect the sword. God's justice must be satisfied
and you can't cut it. The only way you satisfy joy
is by bowing to David. Galatians 4.19, my little children. of whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you." Paul clearly loved these Galatian
believers. He said, I desire and long, I
travail in birth, it gives me agony to watch and to wait until
Christ be formed in you. And now to change my voice, for
I stand in doubt. If you tell me you that desire
to be under the law, don't you hear the law? Once Christ is
formed in you, you're not under the law anymore. You're under
his grace. You think that you and the justice
of God are buddies because you're religious? Because you use the
name Jesus? Because you think your good outweighs
your bad? But you take no heed to the sword.
God's justice demands perfection. God's justice demands obedience
and loyalty and submission to Christ. That's what Joab's looking
for. Apart from that, you better look
for the sword. That sword is for everyone who
loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, believes not on him, trusts in
themselves, Paul said, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be accursed. In verse 11 in our text, and
one of Joab's men stood by him and said, he that favoreth Joab
and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. You see that? It's the same thing. It's the
same thing. As far as Joab's concerned, it's
the same thing. And a mesa wallowed in blood
in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that, all
the people stood still. He removed the mesa out of the
highway. Everybody was stopping and looking at a mesa. And they're
thinking, man, Joab, I don't know about this Joab. He's a
cruel man. I don't know if I want anything
to do with him or not. He put him out of the highway
into the field and cast a cloth upon him. And when he saw that
everyone that came by him stood still, he was removed out of
the highway. And all the people went on after Joab to pursue
after Sheba, the son of Bichri. So say what you want about Joab.
Joab was loyal to David. Everyone was afraid of Joab,
and for good reason. Are you afraid of God? You might
want to think about that before you say no. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said, fear him who has the authority to kill you and put you in hell
if he wants to. He said, I say unto you, fear
him. And then he turned around and said to them, fear not. But we have reason to fear the
justice of God, don't we? And the only reason we have,
it's a real good one, the only reason we have not to fear the
justice of God is we've bowed to Christ, we've bowed to David,
We love David, we follow David. But loyalty to David was loyalty
to Joab. Did you see that there? If you're
for David, then follow me, follow Joab. We'll get along just fine,
as long as you're for David. Oh, isn't that a beautiful picture?
Listen and think about the spiritual lesson here now, how simple it
is. If you loved and were for David, if you bowed to David
and followed David, then you had no reason to fear Joab. But
look, oh, look what he did. Are you for David? Then the proclamation's
been made, then come after Joab. You'll be fine. Likewise, the
consequences of sin are terrible. The justice of God is an awesome
and fearsome thing. But there's just one simple issue.
How do you feel about David? How do you feel about David? Remember that now, verse 11,
that's a key verse, isn't it? If you're for David, that word
for is key, isn't it? Are you for David? Then you've
got no problem with Joab and he's got no problem with you.
Verse 14, and he went through all the tribes of Israel unto
Abel. He's searching now for this idiot
Sheba. He went through all the, unto
Abel, that's one of the towns, and all the Berites and they
were gathered together and went also after him and they came
and besieged him. You notice the last verse 13
that they were pursuing after Sheba the son of Bichri. And
then that's what it's talking about in verse 15 there, they
besieged him, Sheba the rebel, the son of Belal, the man of
the devil. And they cast up a bank against
the city and it stood in the trench and all the people that
were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. There's no
place to hide from God's justice. You can build up your walls of
religion and good works and all that. Joab will batter them down.
They're not gonna stand. He's coming and nothing's gonna
stop him. God's justice demands satisfaction. You're gonna answer to your rebellion
against David. One way or the other now. You're
either gonna bow to him or you're gonna answer. Sheba is the man of Goliath who
started all this rebellion and death. Joab's gonna pursue him
until it's over. Pretty clear he ain't giving
up, is he? God's justice don't go away till
he's satisfied. You can throw up your walls of
religious works. He'll batter them down. You can
build a righteousness of your own, but as long as you snub
God's king, as long as you rebel against God's king, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and refuse to submit to God's righteousness in him,
you will be pursued. You will be overtaken. You will
be destroyed. And then the story takes a turn
in verse 16. Let's look at that. Then cried a wise woman out of
the city, here, here, say, I pray you, unto Joab, come near hither,
that I may speak with thee. And when he was come near unto
her, the woman said, are you Joab? And he answered, I'm he.
And then she said unto him, hear the words of thine handmaid.
And he answered, I do hear. What have you got to say to the
justice of God? What are you going to say? He's
fixing to wipe out that whole city, and she knows it, doesn't
she? Everybody's going down. And she said unto him, hear the
words of thine handmaid. And he said, I do, I hear you.
Then she spake, saying, they were wont to speak in old times,
saying, they shall surely ask counsel at Abel. That was the
city she lived in. She said, you know, back in the
day, people used to say, let's go to Abel. Let's ask. Let's
ask for counsel. And she said, and so they ended
the matter. We would tell them what to do,
and it was right. We gave good advice. Wise, wisdom,
wisdom speaks now. And what does wisdom say? I am one of them that are peaceable
and faithful in Israel. Thou seekest to destroy a city
and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the inheritance
of the Lord? And Joab said, I'm not going
to do that. If you are at peace with the king, and you're faithful
to him, you're gonna be fine. And Joab answered and said, far
be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy.
And that's the only thing now she can say that's gonna stop
him. I'm peaceable, in fact, there's
no rebellion against David here. We've got no problem with him.
We're for him. And then Joab said, look, the
matter is not so, but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba, the son
of Bikri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king,
even against David. There is somebody here that's
against David and he's not getting away. Deliver him only and I
will depart from the city and the woman said unto Joab behold
his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall Is there any rebellion in you You better throw it over the
wall you better do away with it And they cut off the head of
Sheba the son of bickering and cast it out to Joab and he blew
a trumpet It's interesting that Sheba blew
a trumpet didn't need to start this rebellion When Joab ended
it he blew a trumpet God's trumpet trumps your trumpet It ain't over till God says it's
over And they retired from the city every man to his ten and
Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king There ain't never any
doubt about who Joab's working for Now, the more direct spiritual
lesson here is that this wise woman, she didn't want any part
in any rebellion against David. If you say there's somebody in
our midst that's against David, we'll throw his head over the
wall. And she did. She saw that it was done. She
would not harbor a rebel against God's king. And this is the saved
sinner's position. This is when the Lord saves you. We're not gonna countenance any
rebellion against Him, are we? How can we? He's our King. Lord, see if there be any wicked
way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Put it down. If there's any rebellion in my
heart, put it down. And we do have within us a rebellion. But by God's grace, we're at
peace with God's king and we're faithful to him. And to him only. And so we throw
the head of the man of Bilal that is within us all over the
wall. You see the symbolism there,
that's clear. That's the direct lesson there.
Paul said, they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with
the affections and the lusts. That's what that is. You kill
yourself. The head's gotta go over the
wall, doesn't it? If you're gonna be loyal to him. But there's
also a shadow here of Christ. And even though it's just a shadow,
it's worth looking at, isn't it? Because look at what happened
when you consider the general facts here of what took place.
Justice came to be satisfied. Can justice be satisfied with
the death of one and everybody else go free? That's what happened
here, and that's exactly what happened at Calvary. You might
think Sheba makes a terrible picture of Christ, and in a sense,
he definitely does, because he was indeed a man of Belial, and
Christ had no sin. There was no gall found in his
mouth. But he took the place, this is the place that Christ
took for us. He took our place. Under the wrath of God, under
our sin, though he himself knew no sin, he bore our sins in his
own body on the tree. And justice demanded satisfaction
by the death of Christ. And everybody that's at peace
with God because of him, being in him, found in him, not having
our own righteousness, which is of the law. But that which
is by the obedience of Christ unto death, even the death of
the cross, we go free and justice is satisfied. Justice strikes where sin is
found. And the Lord Jesus Christ bore
our sins in his own body on that tree. And so though he was always
eternally the sinless son of God, he was also the sin bearer. And justice was satisfied with
many for his sake, all who were chosen in him, all for whom he
died. And in our story, some had to
die with Sheba. Mesa there, we don't know if
he was loyal to Sheba or if he had something else going on,
but everybody that rebels has got to go. Some, Some did not. Those who
were loyal to David, who were at peace with David and faithful
to the throne, to the crown, protected by the justice of God.
And everybody else had to be put to the sword. Now look at
verse 23. Now Joab was over all the host
of Israel. David comes around now finally
doesn't he we see David the man in this too Joe abs over everything now God's
justice now he Everything God does is going to honor his justice
Even in the saving of sinners especially in the saving of sinners
God's justice is satisfied And look at this passage, the
last few verses of this. It seems out of place doesn't
it? It kind of seems out of place. Look how simple and kind of almost
mundane it is. It's just talking about some
people's names and the jobs that they did in the Kingdom of David. Joab was over all the host of
Israel. He had a real important job didn't he? Benaiah the son
of Jehoiada was over the Cherithites and over the Pelethites for some
reason that was a different A different faction there. And Adorum was
over the tribute. He had something to do with the
finances. And Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud,
was recorder. He was some kind of a record
keeper. Sheva was scribe. That also had something to do
with the keeping of records. Maybe it was anything that God
said was written down. I don't know. So that may have
been his job. And Zadok and Abiathar were the
priests. And Ira, also the jarrah, was
a chief ruler. Two key words right here about
David. That's what all of this is. That's
what all of it is. Now this passage may seem out
of place in this chapter of rebellion and death and lots of graphic
things happening, but these last two words show what this passage
has in common with all the rest of the chapter. It's about David. These men were listed here in
these final verses because of their relationship to David,
because of what they did for David, what they were to him. They were about David. And this
whole chapter tells about what happened to everybody that's
mentioned in it as a result of their relationship to David,
whether good or bad. And this is what all of life
is about. Where do you fit in this chapter? Some of these people just wrote
stuff down. Others engaged in combat. Some had great responsibility,
others not so much. But they were all about David. And that's what we are here.
That's what we are here. And we have no other ambition
than that. Whatever he gives us to do, right? Whatever he gives us to do. I thought about these verses
of scripture, Romans 1.1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called
to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. James 1.1, James, a servant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting. Second Peter 1.1, Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. To them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jude, verse one. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. Brother of James to them that
are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ
and called Some are called and serve in
different capacities than others and Have different gifts and
various measures of grace were taught that clearly in the New
Testament But it's all about Christ And what an honor to be called
his servant in whatever capacity. I'm honest with you about that.
What other ambition do you have in all the world than to be a
servant of God's King? What an honor. Let's pray.