Returning to 2 Samuel chapter 8, 2 Samuel 8, the last chapter we saw the blessed experience that the Lord led David through in laying on his heart a desire to build the house of the Lord and He speaks to Nathan, and Nathan says, go and do it, the Lord's with thee. And then that night, the Lord spoke to Nathan words that he would have him speak to David concerning his desire and the will and purpose of God in it. David was blessed of God to hear that word, to receive that word in a blessed manner, a blessed spirit. And rather than be upset or offended or shamed in any of it, he rejoiced in the Lord and he thanked the Lord. And the Lord is clearly with David to establish David's kingdom. It's a sweet communion there.

that we saw in the last chapter, and it's just the Lord just establishing that work there with David as king. And so now, this chapter, it details all this conquering that David does. And if you read it, you might think, wow, David's really harsh there and diligent in what he's doing there. When we see what this is speaking of, it's a testimony, it reveals to us a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done as our Christ, as our Lord and Savior, as our King. You see that these are a beautiful picture of what he has accomplished as the Christ and what he works in his people.

And so we're gonna note seven acts. seven acts in particular. We're not going to look at every verse, but we're going to see what our Lord has accomplished in some of these acts and what He is and does accomplish in His people, what He works in His people to the glory of His name. So let's begin in verse 1, just read verse 1, and after this, It came to pass that David smote the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Methagama out of the hands of the Philistines."

So this city, Methagama, really, it was a It seems to signal a chief city, something that had control or power or sway over others. And perhaps it was a forward settlement. Some people think it might have been Gath, but it probably was a forward settlement of the Philistines penetrating into Israel. probably set up during the time of Saul and after Saul's defeat for sure, and the name Methagema means the bridle of Ammah. bridle. And what do you use a bridle for? Well, like a bit and a bridle in a horse's mouth is there to turn that great animal whithersoever you want to go. You put that bit and bridle in its mouth and now you're controlling it. And so the sense there is that this city was there as a power of control over the people of Israel.

so that they now weren't subject to the king, but to the Philistines' king. They were under the power, the sway, and the control of the Philistines. They were troubled by them, and so what David does here is he takes out the head of the snake. He takes out the head of the snake. He removes their ability to control and influence Israel, and in doing so, he removes their fear of the Philistines, right? Okay, David, you're king, but what about these people? They're going to come and punish us. They're going to destroy us. Well, he took that away, right? He subdued them and brought them into subjection so that they could now serve their God and the interests of their king.

So this first act here, it pictures one of the victories of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was, when he came, it was to destroy the works of the devil. That was one of the things that Christ came and accomplished in his coming. He did this when he was on the cross. redeeming his people, purchasing them with his shed blood to obtain the forgiveness of their sins by putting them away and satisfying God by the death of himself. Well, at the same time, he bruised, he crushed the head of the serpent, Satan, the devil, that old serpent. He crushed the head of that wicked one who deceived Eve in the garden.

At that time, the Lord made a promise. He promised And in our hearing, he told the devil, he said, this seed of woman, it shall bruise thy head. It shall crush your head, and thou shalt bruise or strike his heel. And what that means, what that is saying there is he was creating, God, by that word of promise, created an expectation, a fearful expectation in the serpent to know there's coming a day. and your head will be crushed. It even has a sense of a gaping wound so that the blow has been dealt and he's just bleeding out. He's already conquered. He's defeated. He's beat. And so our Lord did this. He delivered the crushing blow against the head of our enemy. so that now we are free from that oppressive control of the devil.

What does it say over in Ephesians? Ephesians chapter 2, picking up in verse 2, when it describes you and I by nature, Ephesians 2.2, wherein in time past Ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, that methagama, that head of the serpent, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, and the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, even when we were under that oppressive hand of the devil, he sent his darling son according to promise and dealt the crushing blow to the head of the serpent to deliver us, brethren.

And I'll read this also from Hebrews 2. This is showing us that the fear of his power is removed from us, that we might serve our God and the interests of our King. Hebrews 2, 14 and 15, saying, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

All right, methagema is destroyed. David, our spiritual David, has taken it out.

Next, We read in verse 2, 2 Sam, you can hold your place in the New Testament because we'll come back there in a moment, but verse 2, and he smote Moab, right? So first he goes for the Philistines, now he smites Moab and measured them with a line. casting them down to the ground, even with two lines measured he to put to death, one full line to keep alive, and so the Moabites became David's servants and brought gifts.

Now, it's widely believed here that what David did here was in fulfillment of that prophet, a false prophet, but this was true. What he said here, he was a wicked man, but it was Balaam. And when Balaam was hired by Barak or Balak, and anyway, in Numbers 24, he said this, there shall come a star out of Jacob. and a scepter, right, a king's scepter. A king shall come out of Jacob, shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth. And that term Sheth means tumult. So all the children of tumult, all the children of war and of warfare who fight against the people of God, who fight against the truth of God, that these are the people of God. And so those who warred against him, those that made trouble and constantly coming against the truth, David subdued them. David went after them and put them down. And they must have been a severe trouble to God's people because David took severe measures in humbling them, in subduing them, by making two lines. And depending on which line you were in, one was put to death and the other kept alive. to serve David. He greatly reduced their numbers in half.

And so we see there a distinction being made between the people. In one sense, we see it shows the power of a sovereign king to do as he pleases, as he sees fit and good. And in the hands of an earthly king, that's a terrifying thing. Because man is unjust, man is sinful, man is wicked, man can be bribed, man can be persuaded to keep alive that which is wicked and put to death that which is innocent. But in the hands of the true and living God, we know that what he does is just and righteous and holy.

But this second act here, it pictures a number of accomplishments that our Lord has done and accomplished arising out of the cross. Not only is he the triumphant sovereign king implementing and executing his will in the earth, but we also see here a picture of his sovereign good pleasure. to save whom he will in Christ, to choose whom he will, and to save by grace versus those that he leads to themselves in their death. To not hear, to not believe the truth of God in Christ.

Turn over to Ephesians chapter one, and we see this here. We see that salvation, my salvation, your salvation, is not the choice of man. It's not our will that saves us. It's not what we do or say that determines our life. David didn't ask them what they thought. He just lined them up in two lines. One was put to death and one lived. We don't have a say in our salvation, but we see this first in Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5. It says, According as God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his will."

Not my will. It's not my will that saves me. It's the will of my God who chose me and would be gracious to me in choosing Christ and choosing me in Christ, giving me to him. according to his life. Look down at verse 11, Ephesians 1, 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Just as David did this according to his will without asking the Moabites what they thought, so it is that our Lord saves us according to his good pleasure and will.

Turn over now to Romans 9. Romans 9, this is well known, but I go here to drive home this point that God is sovereign. He's the sovereign king, and his grace is distinguishing between those whom he saves, those whom he reveals himself graciously, mercifully in Christ, and those who are left in death. this left in death. He says Romans 9 15 in verse 16, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that willeth. It's not my fleshly decision that chooses whether I live or die. It is God's choice, His will, His will. Nor is it of Him that runneth, right? It's not my works that save me, but of God that showeth mercy. As David showed mercy to that one line, so our Lord shows mercy to that one line, that one lineage, the seed of Christ and all in Him.

Next we read, back in our text, in verse 4, we'll pick up now, 2 Samuel 8, 4, David smote a king named Hadadezer of Zobah. He was king of Zobah. And verse 4 says, David took from him a thousand chariots and 700 horsemen and 20,000 footmen, and David huffed. all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots."

And this huffing of the horses, I think in American English it's huffing, in Britain it might be hawk, yeah hawk, something like that. It might be pronounced something like that, hawking or hawk. but for us it's huffing, I believe, so it means to hamstring. They hamstrung the horses. 900 of the horses they hamstrung and basically what that means is that those horses were taken out of being able to do any warfare, any damage. They couldn't be used by the enemy against Israel, nor could Israel use them against the enemy. They were removed from the warfare there altogether.

And what David did was, according to the law, Joshua spoke of this. He told Israel to do the same thing when they came into the land. And it comes especially from the law in Deuteronomy 17, which details a few laws which were very specific to a king, when a king would be made in Israel. And it says that the king should not multiply horses to himself. It does seem to leave some room for some horses, but not so many as to have a distinct tactical advantage in warfare against your enemies. nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses. For as much as the Lord hath said unto you, ye shall henceforth return no more that way. That way.

Now, this is the third act that we're looking at here, and it speaks to what our, the leading of the Lord. It speaks to what he teaches us concerning our warfare, that it's not of the flesh. It's not carnal. These are not carnal weapons. And it teaches us how the Lord leads us by his spirit, how he leads and teaches his people.

And so Paul, For one example, Paul, when writing to the Church, shows that our warfare is not according to the flesh. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 10, picking up in verse 3, He was constantly being challenged by people who turned to fleshly tactics and manners to separate and divide the people from Paul to themselves. And he said, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, and these horses and chariots pictured the carnal wisdom and carnal strength and carnal works of man.

But mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, there's our strength in weakness, as our Lord accomplished the greatest salvation and redemption ever in history through weakness and by his death on the cross? Well, so it is that we see the mighty hand of God in trusting him and not turning to fleshly tactics and fleshly ways to accomplish that which we know is right, but to trust the Lord. just as the Lord saved us and worked a miracle in our heart. Through love, through the truth, through patience, through mercy, through kindness, through gentleness, just as he turned our hearts, that's how he turns the hearts of others. And that's how we deal with one another in all things. You can trust God to do what is right, whether he's turning your heart or another person's heart. You can trust him to do what's right. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. You don't have to make things happen just to make something happen. You can trust God to pull down strongholds.

Verse five there says, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Our Lord is saying, I've saved you. I've brought you out of Israel, which is often a picture of this world and the darkness that this world is under. I've brought you out. You are not to return back that way. Don't turn back to the flesh. It's an ugly that does not look good on the people of God. Don't do that. Don't resort to the works of the flesh to deal with conflicts, to deal with people, to deal with anything.

And Paul, in another place, in Galatians 5, he detailed many of the works of the flesh, right? And you can see people do this all the time. They turn to adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, which is very shameful things. All those have to do with sexual sins. And then he says, don't turn to idolatry or witchcraft. Don't turn to voodoo or casting spells or whatever it is that you think is going to turn someone's heart or get them to agree with you. Don't turn to hatred and variance. Variance is contentions or raising up discord among the people. Don't do that. If there's something wrong, you don't need to do that and play those games. Don't turn to emulations, which is jealousies. Don't be jealous and envious of another person's influence or the Lord blessing them. You don't need to be jealous of them. Look at what the Lord has done for you.

Don't turn to wrath, which is anger. Don't whip up strife that is causing factions and disputes, or seditions, which is divisions, or heresies, which is getting into cliques in different parties and separating like that, or envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. what the children of God are to turn to, to drown out their problems, or fix their problems, or persuade, or win, or whatever it is, that's not gonna work the works of God. You can trust the Lord, trusting Him, believing Him. We're given the Spirit of Christ to serve and minister God in our most holy calling.

Now, back in our text. Coming to the middle verses here, David had defeated this Hadadezer king of Zobah, and there were some armies that came down from Syria to try and help Hadadezer. They were, I guess, in league with him, and David defeated them also. He beat them, and because of this, there was a king that had been at war with Hadadezer himself, And so now he wanted to make peace with David. He couldn't defeat him. And he saw, well, David did defeat him. And so he sought peace with David and submission to David, just of his own volition there. He came to him there. And verse 10 says, his name is Toai. And Toai sent Joram, his son, unto King David to salute him. And to bless him, he came with gifts in his hand, because he had fought against Hadadezer and Smittenham, because they had wars. And so Joram brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass, which also King David did dedicate unto the Lord. with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he subdued. And so here we see these precious metals of silver and gold were laid up by David for the building of the temple that Solomon his son would build. He did that, and Solomon does tell us over in 1 Kings 7, verse 15, he said, when all the work was ended, that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord, Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, even the silver and the gold and the vessels did he put among the treasures of the house of the Lord.

And so this fourth act here, it speaks of what our Lord teaches his people in terms of the true treasure and inheritance, right? We have the spirit of Christ. which convinces us that this is not our lasting home. This is not all that there is. People say, well, you only live once, and so they go and do silly and ridiculous things, or they spend and do things for this world with no thought for the kingdom of God in any regard, but we by the Spirit of Christ happily labor and forsake various pursuits and various desires of the flesh or various experiences or various things like this or that, that's not what's important to us.

And so we'll sacrifice those things that the world does regularly and say, I'd rather give to the Lord, or I'd rather give my time to the Lord, or this is a distraction. This is now weighing me down and taking all my time, and I'd rather have my time free for for worshiping the Lord, right? It's things like that. The Lord puts that on our hearts. It's the Lord that gives you that desire. And that's not the desire that the world has. That's the desire that he gives to his child.

Paul, when writing to Timothy, said, I'm appointed a preacher, an apostle, to speak the things of God. And he said, and because of that, I suffer these various things, these people that hate me and hate the truth. If I just spoke, if I just preached the law, if I just spoke works, if I just puffed up the flesh, I'd have plenty of friends, but because I don't, I'm persecuted. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. And all the sacrifices I'm making and I don't have anything to speak of, but I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Paul laid up the silver and gold of this world as it were just trusting. You know what? I have a better lasting inheritance in heaven and and I can forgo these things I can give up these things and the Lord doesn't ask us to to strip down and walk around in, you know, nothing. He gives us things. He helps. He does provide for us, right? We do have comfortable lives. We do have very wealthy lives, actually, but there's so much that he stirs, that he does put on our heart, that we gladly lay down and sacrifice because We don't need it. We don't need it. Lord, I have enough and I want to serve you.

And our Lord encourages us in this as well in Matthew 6, 19 and 21 through 21, saying, lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

And what delights my heart about that is the thought that what we have in Christ It's eternal and will never be taken away from you. It'll never wear thin. It'll never wear out. It'll never run dry. It'll never come to an end. No one can put their hand on it and take it from you. It is yours in Christ forever. And when you think of it in that terms, it's wonderful. It's wonderful to think that, Lord, I trust you and whatever, whatever, it is that we have in your presence, it's enough, it's efficient, and it's forever, forever and ever.

All right, now back in verse 13. It says, and David got him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians, right, because it was from Syria that they came down to help this Hadadizur king, and he smoked them from the Syrians in the Valley of Salt. So David, doing this, was greatly esteemed in the eyes of his countrymen. They saw his battles. They saw him crush the head of the Philistines, take care of the Moabites, take care of Hadadizer, take care of the Assyrians that came down. and by his wisdom, and his accomplishments, and his skill, and he's a man of war, and they saw what he did, and they honored him, they esteemed him in their hearts.

Well, this fifth act here, it describes that love and adoration that is formed in our hearts. As our brother prayed before the service that, or earlier that, that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that, Lord, you're teaching us these things.

Well, as he teaches us Christ, as he shows us the preciousness of Christ, as he shows us that this word is speaking of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, throughout that this is him who was spoken of in the beginning of the book. In the volume of the book, it's written of me to do thy will, O God. And it's all throughout from beginning to end. And it delights our hearts to see him. It delights our hearts.

And in doing that, what happens? He's getting the esteem, the honor, the praise in our hearts thank him for those things. And as we see his tokens of grace and mercy in our lives, we thank him for those things and he gets more esteem in our hearts. And it's all deserved, not because I say, hey, you should love Christ. I don't have to say that. You do love Christ because you see his mercies, his kindnesses, his care, his giving things in just measure so as to remove us from loving this world and finding a hope and a heart and love that's true, right? Not manufactured, not religious, right? Not stoked up by stained glass windows and lighting candles and going through ceremonies and incenses and stuff like that.

No, it's Lord, you are my God. And I don't know why you think of me, but you are kind to me and merciful. And Lord, I see how you've delivered me from this, and you've delivered me from that foe, and you delivered me from that foolish step, and you've delivered me from that pit. Lord, thank you."

And he gets the esteem in our hearts, that which men can't see, but he knows, because he's precious to us. and were made precious to him by his grace and power. And that's why we see sinners drawn to the mighty Savior.

Then drew near to him all the publicans and sinners, which made the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees envious and angry that they could come to him and sit and eat with him. And they complained about it. rather than rejoicing in the grace and mercy of God. And so our Lord tells us, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And so we that are sinners, we're the ones that are satisfied with the Savior of sinners. He's a merciful Savior.

Regarding this glorious salvation for his people, it says in verse 14, And he put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants. And the Lord preserved David, whithersoever he went.

Now, Edom means red. Adam, the name Adam, Edom, Adam, it means red man, because he was formed from the red dust of the earth. It's that red dust. And David put garrisons in Edom, throughout Edom there to ensure peace, and obedience and cooperation there with David's rules, David's law, with David. And that's what a king would do. He would place garrisons in the land that he had subdued and conquered. Why? To shut down any insurrections right away, to shut down the rebellions, to keep them from seditions and causing trouble. He puts a garrison out there. That's what a wise king would do.

Well, This sixth act describes something of why our Lord gives us the Holy Ghost. Why? He gives us the Holy Ghost. He gives us the Holy Ghost to give life to a dead sinner. We're spiritually dead by nature. He gives the Holy Ghost to give us life and to give us, to wash us in the blood of Christ and to bear the fruits of righteousness in us, being connected to the vine. And so he's the one that makes us obedient to the faith of God. The giving of the Spirit, that garrison as it were, is what works obedience, true obedience in our hearts. So that this faith, this love, this hope that we have is not of the flesh. It is not of the flesh, it is of the Spirit. It's the fruit of the Spirit in you that believes. It's the fruit of the Spirit in you that worships Christ. It's that inner man of his work, of his design.

And so this picture of the garrison in Edom refers to this flesh, because this flesh is a wily creature that disobeys, that is rebellious, that does not comply, that would secede and cause rebellions and seditions. But he gives us a garrison. in love and kindness toward us to protect us from the rebellion of this flesh. And so we're overcome by him, not overcome by the flesh. And when the flesh acts up and when the flesh rises up, it's the grace of God that delivers us. It's the grace of God that preserves us, that preserves our spiritual David in us and in withersoever of his brethren."

It preserves David, our spiritual David, the Lord Jesus Christ, in us. That's why Paul prayed over in Ephesians chapter 3, in Ephesians 3.16, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God."

And so that knowledge and understanding serves us well, brethren. It rejoices the heart, it rejoices the new man, and it puts down the rebellion of this flesh and brings it into obedience to the things of Christ, as it were, at least to be silent. in the face of Christ. And so it's by this gracious gift of God in Christ that we live and gladly serve our God.

Paul said this over in Romans 8, 13 and 14, for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So He gives His Spirit as our, as a garrison for us, to protect us, to keep us, and to keep us ever looking to Christ and serving Him. And when this flesh rises up to fight and rebel, it's by His grace and power that that Christ is preserved in us and kept in us. Then finally, in verse 15, it says, David reigned over all Israel, and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people. Now this seventh act of the triumphant reign of David gives us a beautiful picture of the gracious and mighty reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me read first from Jeremiah, why don't you turn there, in Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, and we're going to look at verse 5 and 6. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness.

This Jesus of Nazareth, he is the righteous branch that rules and executes judgment and justice unto the people. Turn over to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. Verse one. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law."

So our Savior is the faithful, righteous, glorious King and Savior. Believe Him. Trust Him. There's nothing in Him to be ashamed of. He shall not be ashamed trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. believing him, trusting him, to work his will, his grace, his power in you, you shall not come short of that which you seek, because he is able. He is, as David is seen here, he's the conquering king, he's the faithful king, he's able, he's able to do everything necessary to save his people to the uttermost, so I pray that bless your hearts, brother.