Learn with me to 2 Samuel chapter
3. In this chapter, there's a lot
of lessons that can be gleaned from going through this slowly
and carefully about the church and the various lessons that
she will learn in this world as a church and as a people,
as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is teaching
us many things, and we see many things in this chapter. And I
would say, you know that verse in Galatians 3.22 that says that
the scripture hath concluded all under sin. And the purpose
for that is that we would all be here and be brought to faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That we might be established
by faith, but this chapter is a compounding of sin upon sin
upon sin. Things get sticky and messy in
life. And it's hard to unravel things
and go back to the beginning of things. And it's because there's
just so much sin that just piles on top of things. And there's
sin at the root of everything. There's sin at the root because
of what we are an atom. It's in us by nature. because
of Adam's transgression. And so it just comes out here.
And so we're going to begin in this chapter and just go through
it slowly and carefully, not the whole thing. But I just want
to begin looking at these lessons. I just want to begin us to see
these lessons that are in this chapter here. And the first lesson
that we see, it concerns the spiritual nature of the believer
and that warfare. in that that exists in a believer,
particularly only in a believer, uniquely in a believer, between
the flesh and the spirit. And that's the first lesson that
we'll see here tonight. So we begin in verse 1, 2 Samuel
3, 1, and it says, 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. We are told that in addition
to those vagabonds and those people that were not happy in
the land, that owed taxes, that people that were in trouble,
that were just bitter and disillusioned with things, that they had joined
themselves to David. But now there's more and more
coming over to David. before he even gets to Hebron,
before he's even anointed king, we're told that there are more
and more thousands of men defecting from the ranks of Saul that were
coming over to David, so that back in the end of 1 Samuel,
when David was dismissed by the Philistine lords, they said,
you're not going to battle with us, lest we lose our heads. If
you turn on us, so you're not coming with us." And he went
back to Ziklag. Remember, it was burned with
fire. Well, there was others that had been joining David and
went with David, and those men that lost their wives and children,
that went with him to recover the wives and the children from
the Amalekites. And so there's thousands of people
that are starting to come to David. And I'm just going to
read two verses from 1 Chronicles. It is a repeat of many of these
things in the books of the kings. And so 1 Chronicles 12. Verse
21 and 22, there were told they helped David against the band
of the rovers, meaning the Amalekites who took their wives and children,
for they were all mighty men of valor and were captains in
the host. Listen to this, for at that time,
day by day, there came to David to help him until it was a great
host like the host of God. And when you read that chapter
from 1 Chronicles 12, it's breaking down things that aren't in 1
and 2 Samuel. It's breaking down there the
numbers of the thousands of men from the different tribes that
were joining David and defecting from Saul. And you know that
after that battle between Joab and Abner, The fact that the
Lord gave the victory to Joab in that, even though it was relatively
small, but it was a decisive victory chalked up to Joab and
the men with David, so that more and more would just keep on defecting
over to David and all of that. And yet, for some reason, there
was long war, long war between the house of Saul and the house
of David. Now I want us to consider that
in a spiritual sense. You consider that in a spiritual
sense. David's house was in the right. David's house was in the right.
We know that David is the rightful king. He was in the right. God had sent his servant Samuel
to anoint David, to be the successor of Saul when God would finally
remove Saul. It would be rent from Saul, it
wouldn't pass to his posterity, it would go to David, a man after
God's own heart. One better than Saul was showing
himself to be. And so David was aligned with
the will of God in this. He was in the right. He was aligned
with the will of God in this, and all Israel knew it. All Israel
knew that he was in the right. Just let's look down at verse
17 and 18 of this chapter, chapter three here. Look at this. of
what it says about, or what Abner says when he finally himself
leaves Ish-bosheth and leaves the house of Saul and he's now
going around you know, putting out this narrative, I mean a
true narrative, but telling the people, hey, let's get behind
David. And he said, verse 17, Abner
had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, Ye sought
for David in times past to be king over you. Now then, do it. for the Lord hath 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 so, they knew it. All Israel knew it. Abner knew
it. Everybody knew that David was the rightful king, and yet,
the Lord allowed a long war between the house of Saul and the house
of David to take place. And so what this is teaching
you, my brethren, and me, what we're learning here in this is
it adds context and an understanding to us of the long war that we
go through here. This is not a mystery. You're
not forsaken. It doesn't mean that you're wrong.
Whatever it is that you're thinking, I don't understand, Lord. Why
is it so hard? Why is there such opposition?
Why do I struggle so much? And faith trusting you and serving
you, Lord, why are things so opposed to the truth? Well, we
see here, this is the will of God in the matter. He, as right
as David was, and you know David was right, we have the scriptures
telling us David is right, and yet, it pleased the Lord that
there be long war between the house of David in the house of
Saul there. Now, God is sovereign. It's not
because he's not sovereign and not able to bring to pass what
he would bring to pass. That is certainly not it. God
is sovereign, able to do whatsoever he pleases. King Nebuchadnezzar, one of the
most powerful men in the world to ever live, was made to know
this truth. When he said in Daniel 4, when
the Lord took his humanity, that human nature that we have of
some semblance of civility and normalcy and society, he took
that from him and this man became an animal. in the wilderness,
grew hairs even. I mean, it just changed his nature. And when the Lord restored him,
what he said in Daniel 4.35 is that all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. They're regarded as nothing.
It's nothing for the Lord to do as he pleases. He can easily
do it. We are like the way you would
treat an ant in your yard when you don't want them there. It's
that easy for the Lord to dismiss us. And Nebuchadnezzar, one of
the most powerful men ever to live in all the world, said,
The inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he,
God Almighty, doeth according to his will. His will, and the
army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? And so, God chose an anointed
David. God then, in the course of time,
as it pleased Him, He takes the life of Saul in battle, and yet
it pleased God for a long war to continue. It continued a long
time. So what does it tell us? Well,
it tells us that our God, for wise and holy purposes, according
to His wisdom and His purpose, known unto God, he chose to prolong
this conflict. It pleased him to do so. He chose
to do it this way, and this would have a cause, an impact upon
David to walk by faith during that time, knowing the Word of
God, knowing the promises of God, knowing he was anointed
by Samuel, and yet he had to walk by faith all this time in
the wilderness and even when he came to Hebron and waited
for the Lord to give the whole kingdom to him. And so you can
imagine that with that length of time, David's patience was
being tried. His patience was being tried.
His faith was being tried. And then you think of how greatly
encouraged he was when the Lord finally brought the kingdom under
his hand. How genuinely thankful he was
when the Lord brought it to pass, when the Lord brought his word
to pass there and established Israel under him as the king. And you can imagine, he was a
faithful king. It helped him in his role there. He was a faithful king. You can
imagine, he took nothing for granted. He was thankful to the
Lord every day for the blessings that he had, and he was learning
through that to trust the Lord in all things, learning that
God does keep his word. He gives his word, and he keeps
his word. He follows through. He doesn't
forget, like you and I. He follows through on his promises. If you can trust anyone, it's
the Lord. We don't even trust ourselves, but we know we can
trust him, even though he tarries long with us. Let's turn over
to Hebrews 10. I'm going to show you a couple
of passages here on this. In Hebrews 10, And we're going to go to the
end of that chapter, picking up in verse 35. And this is relevant
to encourage you that are continuing in that long warfare between
the house of David and the house of Saul within you. That spiritual household of David,
which is speaks of Christ and His kingdom set up in our hearts.
Now verse 35 there, cast not away therefore your confidence,
which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience,
that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the
promise. You know, how close David was,
and we saw at the end of 1 Samuel, I think it was chapter 29, 28-29,
where David almost went to war against Saul and against Israel.
That would have been a casting away. But the Lord delivered. He plucked David out of that
and delivered David from that. The Lord did that, and that's
the thing to see here is that we don't bring the will of God
to pass. We think very highly of ourselves,
but we don't bring the will of God to pass, nor do we prevent
the will of God from coming to pass, as we'll see. Rather, we
walk in the light of God's revealed will. We're to walk in that light
by faith, trusting the Lord. We see his word, we have his
word, we have the one whom he whom he has exalted above every
name, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are to continue walking
in that faith, trusting him through the various providences and the
various time unfolding before us, we walk in the light of God's
word, in the light of God's countenance by faith, trusting him to bring
to pass his will for yet a little while, verse 37, and he that
shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall
live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have
no pleasure in him. Again, you think of how near
David was to going to war against Saul and Israel, and that would
not have been good. but the Lord delivered him from
that. He plucked him out. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul, so that we only have God to give thanks and glory
to for all that he brings to pass. for what he does. We give thanks to him and trust
him. Now, the length was long, but
the Lord's hand was seen in it. David waxed stronger and stronger,
and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. Let's turn to one
more passage in Romans, Romans chapter 5. Let's go to Romans
5. And we're going to begin in verse
1. All right. It begins there, therefore
being justified. We are justified by the Lord
Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of Christ, who faithfully came
in the flesh, being sent of the Father to fulfill all righteousness
for his people. And he went to the cross and
sacrificed himself to God, shedding his blood for the remission.
of the sins of his people and to deliver us from the hand of
justice and give us life in himself. And so we're justified in him
who was raised from the dead. We know it because he's raised
from the dead. By faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And so while our faith may not
be any bigger than the size of a mustard seed. Our faith may
be no bigger than a mustard-sized faith there, yet by it we see
the wonderful works of God being accomplished. We see his hand
in what he does and how he provides for us and cares for us and brings
his word to pass just as he said that he would. And so this is
going all about as we see it come to pass in the experience
of the believer. Your heart being settled. you
being taught and instructed by the Lord. Him feeding you good
things that turn your eyes from you and devouring yourself or
devouring one another to instead feed upon Christ and grow in
the new man in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. So listen to this
verse three, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations
also. Thinking of David here, we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope. And so with
David, this spiritual fruit of tribulation here is borne out
over a vast period of time. It was a long time, as it pleased
the Lord, before the kingdom was entirely established under
David's hand. But it wasn't because the Lord
was angry with David. It wasn't because David wasn't
getting it, or fixing his life, or sanctifying himself, or kept
failing and just not understanding what the Lord was trying to show
him. None of that. That's never brought out in the
Scriptures. That's not why the Lord delayed it. It's the Lord
was teaching David patience. He was exercising him in the
faith that he had given to him, proving that faith, showing forth
that faith, bringing forth that faith more purely in trusting
his God. Not because he was angry with
David, because he loved David. And you can think about this,
appropriate those same things to yourselves. It's not that
you're not getting it. It's not that you're not understanding,
it's that this is how the Lord does teach you, and instruct
you, and correct you, and brings forth that faith which he has
given to you freely. more purely, more perfectly,
to bring it forth in your understanding of Him. And then you gain patience
in that, in trusting the Lord, waiting on Him who's doing incredible
things in the world, moving everything. You can see the complexity of
life just when you finally read this whole chapter, you'll see
the complexity. I mean, just look at your own
life. You know, and there's things just coming in from every direction,
you know, and you just, it's anything. There's torpedoes all
around blowing things up, and you're falling over tripwires,
and just, you know, everything's going to pot. But it's, but the
Lord, it's not out of His control, and He's bringing all things
to pass. And so He teaches us patience, and then we learn experience
in that patience, and out of that experience we have hope.
in the God who keeps his word and brings all things to pass,
as it pleases him. And so we see that there, and
we see that in the long war between Saul's house and David's house.
But David's tribulations were sanctified to him by the Lord,
who gave it to David for his good while he was accomplishing
these things in the earth. It was for David's good. And
so hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. And so
that's a good description of the life of the believer. It
begins small. Things begin small on a very
small scale at first. And it begins in what? Our weakness. When the Lord comes to us, we
are made to know our weakness. We're brought low in ourselves.
And then we see our need of him. were being stripped of vain fleshly
things. We're being taught to not trust
the flesh because that's all we've known our whole lives.
And so the Lord is teaching us in these things. He makes us
small in ourselves. And we learn as Nebuchadnezzar
that those, and this is what he said at the end of chapter
four in Daniel, he said, those that walk in pride, he is able
to abase. And I can tell you from my own
experience, that is true. The Lord is able to knock a man
down. The Lord is able to strip a man
of his pride, his confidence, his arrogance, his need of worldly
things. The Lord is able to deal with
his child in such a way for our good and to make us glad for
it and thankful for it. He's able, brethren. The grace
of God in Christ, once we're rooted in Christ, begins to grow
in us and increase in us in the manifold blessings by which it
reveals Christ to us and spreads forth in us. and growing unto
greater and greater, a greater and greater tree. As that mustard
seed, the Lord, even on a personal level, it's true in the church's
sense, in the kingdom of God, in the local church, and in the
experience of each believer, that faith bears forth much fruit,
as it pleases the Lord. You think of your smallness,
well, think of how the Lord came. That's how he came, right? In
his humiliation, he came in weakness, submitting himself to the will
of the Father, submitting himself under the law to fulfill all
righteousness for his people. And that's why it says there
in Romans 5, 6, for when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. And so his death, in humiliation,
in weakness wrought much good. Much good came out of that. And
that's why he says, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. And so that's what he's doing
in the believer. That's what he's working in David,
bringing David low in himself for good purposes. That David
would be a man after God's own heart, because God made him that
way. God gave him his spirit. God
wrought that fruit in David. And it wasn't just in a snap
of a finger. It was through much tribulation. A long war. that went on. And that's what I'm saying with
regards to each of you and myself. That's why you see the long war,
the warfare between the flesh and the spirit. and that struggle,
all the while the Lord teaching you, and instructing you, and
keeping you. And so this description of the
long war between the house of Saul and the house of David describes
the work of our Lord in us, as a picture in the believer. Think of what, by nature, when
the Lord came to us, when he found us, We 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. We were walking in 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 what changed? What made the
difference? because we started fixing ourselves, because we
repented, or because the Lord sovereignly, wondrously, mercifully
broke in upon us, made a breach upon us, and delivered us out
of the strongman's house, knocked the door down, and delivered
us off the wall of the strongman. brought us out of that death
and destruction and ruin and gave us life in the house of
Christ and so here it says that in Ephesians 2 for but God who
is rich in mercy For his great love wherewith he loved us, it
begins with him, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. So that it's his
work that he brings forth effectually in us, in us, giving us life
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And so it's the work of the Lord
that has established us, and it's the work of your God that
continues to grow you in Christ, in Him. It's the riches of his
grace given to us in Christ Jesus. And so this is how the truth
of this statement from our text, but David waxed stronger and
stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. This
is how it's witnessed in us, in you, in you that believe him. This flesh doesn't improve. It
doesn't improve. It weakens. It dies. It gets
stripped. It gets broken. It's what the
Lord does, in grace and in mercy, because He must increase, and
I must decrease. And He does it. We know it, but
how to do it, we have no idea. We don't know how to bring these
things to pass. But He knows, and He's the one that does it.
According to the Scriptures, it all declares what He has done. We learn from the Scriptures
what we ought to do, But it's always the Lord who does it,
because we can't bring it to pass. He'll give the desire,
but how to perform that, we don't know. We struggle. We set goals. We think we can fix things. And we see them often go undone
and fall apart. But not with the Lord. When the
Lord does it, it's done. It's brought to pass. By His grace working mightily
in us, we see these things. We ourselves grown within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. While
we wait on Him, walking by faith, we see the expansion of His grace
in us, because we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. It's ordained of Him. He's bringing
it to pass. It is Christ in you that grows
stronger and stronger, making you wise unto salvation in the
mystery of God. Peter tells us, grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, you do because His grace
works effectually in you. It is the Lord's work. He reveals
these things to stir us, our hearts, to cry out to him, Lord,
you say this in your word, Lord, do this for me. Lord, bring this
to pass. Lord, keep me faithful. Lord,
teach me. Lord, help me. Lord, keep me.
And he does, he brings it to pass. He's God, not you and I. He is the Lord, and so these
battles that we call trials, by which we're exercised, they
serve to prove that grace brought in us by Christ. Which he does,
if you have the spirit of Christ, and all God's children are given
the spirit, he does these, he works this in you. And he gives
you that hunger and thirst for righteousness. And so this is
the promise of his word toward us, that as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Therefore, you show forth the
fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the
glory and praise of him. And Job tells us on this The
righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean
hands shall be made, or shall be, stronger and stronger." Right
as David, because it's the work of the Lord, waxing stronger
and stronger in you. It's his work. It's his effectual
grace. It's what he gives you in Christ
Jesus, so that in all things we are more than conquerors through
him. That loved us. And so this long
war, as we see here with David, we know that in a spiritual sense. You that are his, you that believe
Christ, know and have experienced this long war between the house
of Saul and the house of David. This nature of Adam being the
house of Saul. The new man born of Christ being
the house of David. And He has the victory. He's
in the right. He has all power and authority
given to Him, and He shall lose none of them which are given
to Him of His Father. And the way you know if you're
given to Christ, it's because He reveals faith in you. He gives
you faith. and draws you out of this world,
out of self, out of vain self-confidence is to find your all, your hope
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so stand firm in Christ,
brethren. Stand in Him because it's His
gift to you. It's His grace. He's planted
His flag in your hearts. Trust Him and rejoice in Him
always.