So 2 Samuel chapter 3, you remember
last Wednesday night, we just looked at verse 1. It says, now
there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of
David. But David waxed stronger and
stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. And this, of course, is the war. between the spirit and the flesh. The war was between those who
were loyal to God's King, Christ, David, David's son, David's Lord,
and those who rebelled against God's King. There's only two
religions. There's Christ and Antichrist.
Christ and not Christ. That's what it boils down to
now. And we see that in this. It's just very simple. And there's
war, great war. There's bloodshed. There's bitter,
bitter enmity. And this is the natural man and
their enmity against God. I will not have this man to reign
over me. And it's the flesh inside of
each believer raging against the spirit and the spirit raging
against the flesh. So Let's read a few verses, let's
just read down to verse 5. And unto David were sons born
in Hebron, and his firstborn was Amnon of Ahinoam, the Jezreelites,
and his second, Chaliab of Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite,
and the third, Absalom, the son of Maica, the daughter of Talmai,
king of Gesher. And the fourth, Adonijah, the
son of Haggith. And the fifth, Shephetiah, the
son of Abital. And the sixth, Ithrium, by Eglah,
David's wife. These were born to David in Hebrew. And let's just read verse six
and it came to pass while there was war between the house of
Saul and the house of David. I just wanted to read that phrase
right there because these are key phrases in this chapter.
There was long war between the house of Saul and the house of
David and you remember in verse one we saw that it wasn't the
house of David that grew stronger, that won, that
was victorious. It was David. We don't win the
war with the flesh. Our Lord does. Our Lord keeps
us and strengthens us in spite. He causes us to grow in grace
and in his knowledge in spite of the flesh. He wins and we
benefit. But also, this is a key phrase,
while there was war between the two, between flesh and spirit. The war again that rages in the
heart of every believer and also the war that rages in the hearts
of unbelievers against God. We see this physical war that's
taking place in this chapter and in chapter two, but also
we see the war in David's heart. throughout this chapter we're
going to see that David is battling his flesh and the flesh seems
to gain some ground because again it's not we can't overcome we
can't fight Satan we can't conquer our own spirit who can even tame
his tongue God said it's a little member but you can't tame it
the Lord's got to win the victory and just give it to us so we
depend upon him to do that and we cry to him to do that but
we've seen David struggle with the flesh before and some of
the foolish things that he's done and the consequences of
him following his own heart as we saw I believe in chapter 17
I can't remember but it's a long war those are the two key phrases
in this whole chapter long war and while there was war this
is what we're seeing the battle And we're going to see it. There's
trouble, bad decisions, heartache, sin, death. We see all of that
in David's life and some of it in this chapter. In verses two
through five there, we read about David's wives and children by
those wives. And we know some of the heartache
that's caused later by these children. Maybe Absalom rung
a bell with you. Absalom is going to break, literally,
break David's heart now. And his family was a disaster. And it's his own fault. The Scriptures
talks about him not restraining his children and the results
of that. And clearly his decisions about having multiple wives here,
there's earthly, temporal consequences for that. There's chastisement
from the Lord when we sin. It's temporal. It's not us suffering
for our sin. We've talked about that. We don't
know what sin is if we think temporal chastisements are us
suffering for sin. We don't know who God is if we
think that. But there are consequences. In the beginning, God made man
male and female. Hopefully we can learn some things
from David here, through David, from God, He made, God made one
man and one woman and ordained that a man shall leave his father
and mother and cleave unto his wife and they twain shall be
one flesh before God. We know from the New Testament
that the purpose of all of that is to picture and to glorify
Christ and his church in his relationship to his church. That
has never changed. It's been that way from the beginning.
God ordained it from the start that way. Just because men had
more than one wife in the Old Testament doesn't mean God allowed
it. People say, well, God just kind of allowed that to happen.
Well, if you mean by He allowed it that He didn't kill everybody
and put them straight in hell when they married a second wife,
then you could say, I guess, in some sense, He allowed it.
But if you mean by that He sort of winked at it and just kind
of said, well, that's OK for now, then He didn't do that.
That's not right. There's a lot of sin that is
common practice that God doesn't kill people and put them directly
in hell for committing. And that was one of them. It doesn't mean it's right or
that God allows it in the sense that some seem to intimate that
it's sort of okay, you know, at some time or another. No,
it was never okay. And it's not now. It wasn't okay
for Israel to reject God as their king. and to make demands regarding
how they would be ruled. But God, you might say he allowed
that. He gave them a king. But that
doesn't mean he said it was OK. He deliberately, specifically
said it was not OK and told them that they would
suffer for it. And then he overruled it all for their good and used
the whole experience to teach them and us the difference between
flesh and spirit. Between man's will and God's
will. Between man's way and God's way. Saul versus David. The great lesson of 1 Samuel
and 2 Samuel. This is what God's teaching us.
God's commandment regarding marriage has never been unclear. And David
is going to suffer a lot because of his disregard for that. But
while there was war. While David did some terrible
and stupid things because of his flesh, because of the war.
Because of the flesh raging against the spirit. He also did some
wonderful and said some wonderful things didn't he? Because the
spirit does rage against the flesh. He was killing Goliath
one day. But not today. Not in our text
now. There aren't any good guys in
this chapter. David now was a good guy. But you're not going to
see it in this chapter. He was a good guy because he
was God's guy. And that's the only reason and
the only sense in which he was good. And that's what the Lord
shows us. We are not in and of ourselves Nothing to boast of. And yet, God was overruling all
of this while there was war. And it was ugly. This is a sordid,
disgusting bunch of politics. You'll see. We'll look at it. Just terrible. But through David's sinfulness,
God caused his son to be born into this world as prophesied
through the lineage of David. In spite of David, in spite of
all of us, God's purpose moves forward exactly on schedule to
the desired foreordained end. Exactly the way he purposed it
and his purpose is to save his people That's what he's going
to do and he raised up his King David to do that Christ That's
the picture here and nothing's going to change that our evil
my evil your evil all of our evil put together the world's
evil Nothing's going to change it God's going to use all of
it to bring it to pass We're going to mean it for evil and
God is is going to mean it for good. To save much people alive. Now let's read verses 6 through
21 and this is just not a pleasant, you'll see why I didn't read
this. I don't think it would have helped us to read this to
start the service with. We wouldn't have remembered most
of it and I think it's better just to look at it right now
and make a few comments on it. Verse six, and it came to pass
while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of
David, that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul.
Abner's the flesh, Saul was the flesh, Abner is the captain of
Saul's army, his right hand man, Saul's right hand man, he's the
flesh. While there was war, we're looking at the war right here.
The flesh versus the spirit. Abner made himself strong for
the house of Saul and Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah
the daughter of Aiah and Ishbosheth said to Abner wherefore hast
thou gone into my father's concubine? Now Ishbosheth you remember is
the puppet king that Abner set up because he didn't want David
to rule he's rejecting God just like Israel has for years Ishbosheth
said God's king is not my king. I'm going to make my own king
and that's what he did and that's Ishbosheth. Why have you gone
into my father's concubine? Then was Abner very wroth for
the words of Ishbosheth and said am I a dog's head which against
Judah do show kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father?
to his brethren and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into
the hand of David, that thou chargest me today with a fault
concerning this woman." So Ishbosheth says, what are you doing going
in with my father's concubine? And it makes Abner mad. He said,
what are you talking about? After all I've done for you,
you're going to throw this in my face? Look at verse 9, so do God to
Abner and more also, except as the Lord has sworn to David,
even so I do to him. In other words, that was a common
way you've seen in the scripture before, the Lord do so unto me
and more. In other words, it's not going
to happen. Here's what is going to happen,
he said. As the Lord has sworn to David, as God promised David,
and ordained David as his king, so am I going to swear to David.
Verse 10, to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul and to
set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan
even to Beersheba. I'm gonna make David king. Now
I made you king and now just by my say so, David's gonna be
king of all of the nation of Israel now. You see, Ish-bosheth
made, Abner made Ish-bosheth king, but not because he wanted
a king, he wanted to be king. He doesn't want the title, he
just wants to make the decisions. A lot of lessons in this. Alright, let's read all of it
and then we'll look at verse 11. And he could not, Ish-bosheth
could not answer Abner a word again because he feared him.
Ish-bosheth, he's just a puppet, he's not a king. And Abner knew
that. Abner deliberately chose Ish-bosheth,
knowing he was a weakling and wouldn't ever be able to lead. Abner intended
all along to call the shots. Just like those in religion who
say, oh Jesus is my Lord. They don't want a king. They're
calling the shots and that's the way they like it. They want
a puppet. They want somebody with the name,
but they don't want him violating their will. They've made their
own king. They don't like the king, God's true king, because
he calls the shots. And that's the clear picture
here. Verse 12, and Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf,
saying, whose is the land? Saying also, make thy league
with me, and behold, my hand shall be with thee to bring about
all Israel unto thee. So he's sucking up to David now.
And he said, well, I will make a league with thee. This is David
talking now, and this is a shame. I'll make a league with thee,
but one thing I require of thee, that is, thou shalt not see my
face, except thou first bring Michael, Saul's daughter, when
thou comest to see my face. You remember Michael, he, she's
the one that, well, we'll see in the language here. Verse 14,
and David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul's son, saying,
deliver me my wife, Michael, which I espoused to me for 104
skins of the Philistines. And Ishbosheth sent and took
her from her husband, even from Phaltiel. the son of Laish. And her husband went with her
along, weeping behind her, to Behurim. Then said Abner unto
him, go, return. And he returned. And Abner had
communication with the elders of Israel, saying, you sought
for David in times past to be king over you. Now then do it. For the Lord has spoken of David,
saying, by the hand of my servant David, I will save my people
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. and out of the hand
of all their enemies. And Abner also spake in the ears
of Benjamin, and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David
and Hebron, all that seemed good to Israel, and that seemed good
to the whole house of Benjamin. So Abner came to David and to
Hebron, and twenty men with him, and David made Abner and the
men that were with him a feast. And Abner said unto David, I
will arise and go, and will gather all Israel unto my Lord the King,
that they may make a league with thee, that thou mayest reign
over all that thine heart desireth. And David sent Abner away and
he went in peace. So there's a lot in there. And
again, it's the picture, it's the war. While there was war,
that's the name of the message now. While there was war. This
is the flesh against the spirit and this is, there's a lot of
flesh in that. Remember that Abner, Saul's right
hand man, he pictures the one that we war with, the flesh,
the part of us that will not bow. And he pictures mankind
that will not bow, the world of unbelievers that will not
bow to God's king. They set up a king, but they
make a king that accommodates them being in charge, just like
Abner did here. So Abner takes Saul's concubine. Ishmael, the puppet king, takes
issue with that and confronts Abner. That makes Abner mad and
he basically says, how can you deny me this when I'm the reason
you're king? And all I've got to do is say
the word and you won't be king anymore. That's the pride of
natural man that we make the decision. The decision, it's
up to us. We make Jesus Lord. Oh boy. So now the truth comes out here.
Abner is our flesh, the same flesh that unbelievers are. It's
the same thing, isn't it? The old man and an unbeliever,
same thing. And the flesh manufactures a
king, not God's anointed, will not bow to God's anointed. But
notice that they call him the king of God's people. Who's the
king of Israel? Ish-bosheth, according to Abner.
That's God's king. This is God's people, Israel,
and there's their king. That's God's king. No, but he's
not. And Abner knew that. And Ishbasheth
knew that. The only reason that religion
has a king at all is because they think they're king and they
can tell this king that they prop up what to do. And by propping up Ishbasheth,
Abner could say he was loyal to God's king, the king of God's
people, while really maintaining control himself. pretty clear. You can tell a fake Christ what
to do but not God's Christ. David was a real king and so people prefer the fake
one because they can manipulate him. He has no hands but their
hands and no feet but their feet. That's why they like him. They can say to him, that's not
fair. Here's what you can do and what
you can't do. That's what people say to God. They're God. And they can still call him Jesus.
That's the picture here. They can still call him the king. And notice in verse 11 that Abner's
king feared Abner. In God's kingdom it's just the
opposite. The people fear the king. The Jesus of religion is afraid
to offend anybody. Just listen to him and tell about
him. It's clear. He doesn't want to offend anybody.
He doesn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. And that's ishbosheth
here. He's afraid to even cross Abner
any further because he's spineless. He's impotent. That's the Jesus
of religion. He wants everybody to love Him.
And He caters to their desires. Whatever it is. You want a contemporary
service? We have that. You want an old-fashioned
service? We have one of those too. Just a different type. You
don't like getting up too early? We have a late service. We've got an early service and
a late service. You can even sin, just make sure you come
to this little booth every once in a while. You know, religion
just caters to the false Christ of religion. Whatever you want,
it's fine. Our Lord ran people off with
his message. You think he was surprised? When
he preached his electing power and grace and the crowd walked
away and didn't want to hear it anymore, you reckon that surprised
him? Or do you think he did that deliberately? Not much question about it. He
ran people off with his message and then he turned to the ones
that didn't go away and said, aren't you going with them? We see in the New Testament that
the Pharisees were afraid of the people. They wanted to kill
the Lord Jesus Christ, didn't they? And they weren't able to
do it because they were afraid of the people. And some of his
disciples they wanted to kill. They feared the people. In God's
kingdom, the people fear God. And really only God. Once you fear God, David said,
the Lord's my rock, of whom shall I fear? Who else am I going to
be afraid of? So Abner switches allegiance
because he is completely motivated by selfishness. He's willing
to pretend to be loyal to David if that gets him what he wants.
And again, this is a religious man. He's religious. Oh, we want
a king. We want to call him Jesus. But
he can't violate my free will now. That just goes without saying.
And it's all about everything in religion is about selfishness.
Why give? Because God will give you more
back. Well, duh. It's an investment. That's not
giving. That's investing. Why serve him at all? Well, because
we're going to go to heaven when we die. Heaven? What's that?
Oh man, there's pearly gates. There's streets of gold up there.
We're going to have a mansion on the hilltop. It's all selfishness. Forget about worshiping the Lamb
forever. That doesn't even really enter
into it, does it? Forget God's justice, the holiness
of God being satisfied. His glory This is the flesh and especially
fleshly religion. There is nothing more fleshly
in this world than religion. There's nothing more cruel and
selfish and shameful than religious man. The harlots and the gamblers
and the drug dealers and all that, not even close. The Lord didn't go around rebuking
them, did he? He rebuked the Pharisees, the
Sadducees. He said it's going to be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah. Their loyalty is divided. They
go back and forth between the flat out just manifestly false
and the true. They'll say some true things because
it suits them sometimes to do that. But that's the key to it. It's
as it suits them. Look again at verses 17 and 18.
Verses 17 and 18. Abner had communication with
the elders of Israel saying You sought for David in times past
to be king over you Boy, you know when he killed Goliath,
and he was slaying Philistines by the thousands you saying that
he slayed him by the 10,000 that might have been an exaggeration,
but boy everybody loved David Must make him you know He's God's
anointed if you heard that God anointed him king. He might make
a better king than Saul, but then The tide sort of turned, didn't
it? And God didn't put David on the throne right away and
Saul was established still. And Saul is the one that had
the army of Israel behind him. And all of a sudden it wasn't
real popular to sing about David anymore because it made Saul
mad. There might be consequences. We better not sing about David
anymore. But Abner said, there was a time
when you wanted David to be king, now then do it. For the Lord
hath spoken. And boy, look at what he said
God said. I believe he's right about this.
It may not have been word for word what God said, but look,
it's a beautiful message. By the hand of my servant David,
I will save my people Israel. That's the gospel. You know,
Christ is called David in the scriptures. Because he was of
the lineage of David. He's David's son and David's
Lord. He's our spiritual David. Out of the hand of the Philistines
and out of the hand of all, they're enemies. That's how God's going
to save his people. By the hand of his son, his king,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Abner's quoting God now, all
of a sudden. Not long before, knowing what
he just said, he didn't just figure this out. He knew this
all along, that God made David king. He knew that when he was
making Ishmael king instead. But now, because it suits him,
because things weren't going the way he wanted them to, now
he's quoting God. The word of God didn't mean that
much to him when he was rebelling against God's king and setting
up Ish-bosheth as king, but now he's a believer all of a sudden.
I believe what God said. David's the king. Things didn't go his way and
now he loves God. That's religious man. That's
not new. That's not unique to Abner. That's
all of us by nature. Abner reduced the word of God
to a political ploy, a political maneuver, just something to use to accommodate
and to promote his own selfish interests, and that is the religion
to a T. And sadly we see that David's
still at war with his flesh, isn't he? While there was war.
He makes a deal with Abner. He wants the wife that Saul took
from him a while back. You remember he earned that wife. He said, I killed a hundred Philistines
for her. I'm going to have her. Saul gave his daughter Michael
to David when he killed a hundred Philistines. But then when David
was banished from Israel, Michael married somebody else and David
clearly never quite got over that. It was a question of pride
to him. Pretty strong evidence in the
scriptures that it had nothing to do with love. He didn't say here, don't you
come before me unless you bring Michael because I love her. No,
he said you bring her because I killed 100 Philistines for
her. That's not love. That's pride. That's what that
is. I earned her. He mentions what he did in order
to earn, Michael, and the flesh always thinks that it earned
what it gets, what it should have. When the simple truth that God
had proved and shown to David over and over is that everything
that David had was a free gift from Him. Even when David messed
up and lost it, God gave it back to him. in spite of him. But David forgot. We forget. He got away from that. He got away from that kind of
thinking. And that's what happens while there is war with the flesh. We get away from that. We get away from right thinking.
We get away from the clear truth of God's grace. We drift Hebrews 2 1 God knows us pretty
well Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the
things which we have heard David take heed to yourself the things
that God has said to you and shown you and taught you Don't
forget lest at any time we should let them slip. You know what
that word means? Drift away. Let them glide by. It's like a boat that's tied
to the dock but the rope comes loose and it slips away. That's what happens while there's
war between the flesh and the spirit. David didn't care about
Michael. It was simply a matter of pride
with him and his marriage to Michael was a disaster. And we'll see that as we go through
this study. He sends her away eventually. He can't stand her.
Sends her away. Nothing but grief. But Michael's
husband in this chapter, the man who married her in the meantime
while David was banished from Israel. He loved her very much. And how we're taught here what
a horrible thing pride is. It causes us not to care about
the consequences of our sin. You saw where we read that and
we'll look at it again in a minute. Her husband followed her when
they took her from him and they're taking her to David, he's following
along weeping. David doesn't care about that.
He wants what he earned. And this foreshadows another
case that in which David's desire and pride caused great suffering
and he didn't care until he was found out. Turn with me to 2
Samuel 12, just a few pages over to chapter 12. We'll look at
this in some more detail, but this is good to remember right
here because what a picture. David says, I want Michael. I
earned her. I killed a hundred Philistines
and I deserve to have Michael. Bring her. And her husband is
brokenhearted. Listen, the story that Nathan
tells David in order to illustrate David's own sin is also heartbreaking. 2 Samuel 12, verse 1, And the
Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him, and said
unto him, There were two men in one city, one rich and the
other poor. And the rich man had exceeding
many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one
little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with
him and with his children and it did eat of his own meat and
drink of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him
as a daughter now. This is arguing from the lesser
to the greater. This is showing something horrible
enough, but compared to what David did, killing a man's precious
little lamb is nothing compared to what David did. You know the
story of what he did. He sent Uriah the Hittite to
the front lines of the battle that was raging, knowing he would
likely be killed, and so he could have Uriah's wife, Bathsheba.
And this is the illustration, the story that God's prophet
Nathan is telling David. Talking about David, but David
doesn't know it. He said this man, this poor man,
had a little ewe lamb. He had one little ewe lamb. He
didn't have anything else. That's all he had. He had nothing
save one little you lamb verse 3 which he had bought and nourished
up and it grew up together with him and with his children and
did eat of his own meat and drink of his own cup and lay in his
bosom and was unto him as a daughter. Some of us can relate to that.
That's Clark. He's like one of my children. But again this is nothing. This
is nothing. But it's a picture. And there came a traveler unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock. He's got
a huge flock. He's rich. He's got everything.
But he didn't want to use one of his own herd to dress for
the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's
lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's
anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan,
as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely
die. Now think about this. Why did
God not just confront him with what he had done? Why did he
tell this story? Because think about it. Think about the evil,
horrible sin of pride. Here David had murdered a man,
deliberately murdered him and taken his wife, stolen his wife.
And yet he has a problem with somebody that killed somebody's
little lamb. We're messed up. And this is
what this is teaching us. We are horrible wretches. That's all of it. Nathan said,
David, you're the man. And guess what? You are too.
I am too. I'm the man. I'm the wretch. I'm the sinner. I'm the one that
ought to die. I'm the one that richly deserves
hell. Hell is begging to swallow me
up. Thou art the man. And here in
our text we see the same, that same pride that disregards the
consequences. Who is this idiot that's following
along behind her weeping, crying for his wife? That's my wife. She's going to be another one
of my wives now. The scriptures don't pull any
punches, do they? One of the finest men that ever lived was
a total piece of garbage. That's just the truth. He was
a piece of garbage. This is flesh and spirit now.
The flesh. We see the same thing in verses
14 through 16. Let's look at it again. David
sent messengers to Ish-bosheth Saul's son saying deliver me
my wife Michael which I have espoused to me for a hundred
forths. It didn't mention love. It didn't
mention boy I sure do miss Michael. No. I deserve. I earned. She belongs to me. And Ish-bosheth sent and took
her from her husband even from Phalthiel the son of Laish and
her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Behurim. And then said Abner unto him,
go return. Abner ran him off. Of course
the flesh didn't care. And that's David's flesh now.
Abner pictures David's flesh, your flesh, my flesh. David's
flesh pictures David's flesh. But so does Abner. They don't
care about him. They don't care about her. They
just want what they want. And literally, this is not me
just being crude, literally to hell with everybody else. That's
our attitude. We don't care if everybody else
goes to hell. What's that to us? No regard for the consequences
of our sin. And again, this is the lesser
to the greater. We now have God's Son to the
cross. And laughed at him while he bled
out. Because we didn't want him ruling
over us. We didn't like God's king. We
like our king better. The one we can manipulate. The
one that caters to us. One final thought in all of this.
There's a lot more we'll see in the next lesson. There's a
lot in this. But think of this, David the man, the old man, he's
not any better than Abner. Wretched, absolutely. To say he was worthless would
have been a compliment. I'll say it again, if all of
us were just worthless, the world would be a better place. You
know that's right, don't you? If everybody was just worthless,
the world would improve. Overnight But God kills Abner in verse 27 spoiler
alert Abner's going down, and he's going down hard He was a
wretch and he deserved to die and God killed him and everybody
says well hallelujah, and just there's it there is some justice
in the world and No, hallelujah, God didn't kill David. That's
the hallelujah right there. Praise the Lord. David was just
as big a wretch as Abner was. But you know what God did to
David? He had mercy on him. That's why David said what he
did as he lay dying. Although it be not so with my
house and it wasn't because of David's sin. No. David's house was a disaster
because of David. And because of the enemy. We're
all disasters by our own right. I know that. Yet God has made with me an everlasting
covenant. Ordered in all things ensure.
And that's all my salvation and all my desire. God killed Abner. But David, or not David to have
died? I mean this is bad and then it
just, you know, what happened with Bathsheba and Uriah the
Hittite? Even he himself said, didn't
know he was talking about himself, did he? It's easy for people
to say, well, you know, God ought to put people in hell. As long
as they're not talking about themselves. But when the Spirit teaches us
the true spiritual nature of the law and what we are before
God, it's, oh, woe is me. Woe unto
me. Ought not David to die for what
he did to Uriah and Bathsheba? He thought so, but what did God
say? David condemned himself, didn't he? That man surely shall
die. But you know what God said? Thou
shalt not die. Word for word. Word for word. And that's grace. In both cases,
when God brings us to the place where we say, we ought to die. And when God says to us, you
shall not die. In 2 Samuel 12, 13, David said
unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto
David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not
die. David said, kill him. Kill him. He's going to die. And God said,
no he's not. What mercy. What mercy. David was as much a wretch as
Abner and everybody you could name. The only reason that we
do not die eternally for our sin is because Christ has died
in our place. Because of that covenant that
God made with David and the Lord Jesus Christ is the messenger
of that covenant and his blood is the blood of that covenant. He said, take this cup. This
cup is the new covenant in my blood. Drink all of it. I bet
they did too. That's our hope. That's salvation. The cup of salvation. If Christ died for you, you shall
not die. Is that simple enough? That's
heresy in most places, but not here, by God's grace. That's
the gospel. You know, that's right. You say,
well that, you know, heresy. Yeah, that's exactly right. You
tell people that your decision doesn't add anything to that,
nothing you've ever done, will do, don't do, have, do, ever
will, none of it. adds to or takes away anything.
If Christ died for you, you shall not die. Period. That's the gospel. You ought
to. And when God reveals the truth to
you, you'll agree that you ought to. You ought to die in every
sense of the word. Spiritually, eternally, hell. But there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And what Abner
said to the rulers of Israel, to the elders in Israel, although
he didn't realize it, is the gospel whereby we shall not die. The Lord has spoken of David. By the hand of my servant David
I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines
and out of the hand of all their enemies. He said I will and he
did. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins and he did. And
when he did he said he finished. I did it. It's perfect. And that's why we don't die. Because of the love and grace
and mercy and blood of God. Let's pray.