Second Samuel 18, now go back
there with me. Christ is all—Colossians 3.11
says Christ is all and in all. Christ is all and in all the
Scriptures. All the Scriptures. Christ is
the purpose of the Scriptures. Christ is the reason for creation. You know that? Our Lord said of Scripture, these
are they which testify of me, didn't he? To him give all the
prophets witness. If we don't see Christ in the
Scriptures, wherever we're reading, we've missed the meaning, we've
missed the purpose, we've missed the gospel. Psalm 19 speaks of
creation. It says, all these things God
created, and it says, in the firmament he set a tabernacle
for the sun. to display the Son, which is
as a bridegroom rejoicing to run a race. That's Christ. This
scripture, the Bible, is a tabernacle for the Son, to display the Son
of God. That's why this was written.
It was written to point sinners to Christ. His very name is the
word, isn't it? So we miss the meaning of Scripture,
the purpose for which it was written, we miss a blessing,
we miss the gospel if we do not see Christ in the Scripture.
And I mean Christ and him crucified. Absalom was the son of David. That is what Christ has called
him, the son of David. See you today. Absalom was well
loved. It's clear that David loved Absalom
greatly, his beloved son. He mourned greatly his death.
His name means, Peace of the Father. Abba Shalom. Peace of the Father. Christ,
the Son of David, is our peace with the Father, hidden, and
made peace, how? By His blood. Now, I'm going
to go ahead and tell you the meaning of this whole story if
you haven't seen it already. There was a war about to be fought,
a battle about to be fought. There was no peace until the
sun was slammed and the battle was over. And
all Israel was united. That's the meaning of this story.
That's it. When Absalom was hanged in a
tree and his blood was shed, there was peace. Now do you know
the meaning of this story? What a picture. Christ crucified.
The son of David was hanged in a tree and slain. Look at verse
9. Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode upon a mule. Do
you remember when our Lord came riding into Jerusalem on a colt,
the foal of the ass, right before he went to Calvary to hang on
a tree? He rode this colt into the town. He said, Hosanna unto the Son
of David. Well, they said, Hosanna for a while, but then they all
killed him. It's like this story. He went under the thick boughs
of a great oak, and his head, his head was cut, cut up. He was taken up between
heaven and earth, hanging in a tree, the head, between heaven
and earth, the king's son. I hope that isn't a picture of
Christ crucified. I've never seen one. It was, who did this? Who did
this to Absalom? God did. God did this. God hung David's son in this
tree and had him slammed. Now the real story is Absalom
was a rebel, wasn't he? Absalom was a bad son. He was a rebel against God. That's
the real story. But the anti-type is Christ is the obedient son,
the altogether beloved son, the well-beloved son, the obedient
son. He did nothing wrong. He was not accused of treason. Everybody else was. Our Lord
was the faithful one. But God pleased God to do this
to his son. God made him to be us, rebels. Made him to be sin. As God had
hung his Son on a cross, do you know why Christ was hanged on
a tree? You need to know that. Look at
Deuteronomy 21. You need to know where this is
written. Deuteronomy 21, and also Galatians. Let's see here. Deuteronomy 21. You need to know this. The world
doesn't know this. If you know this, you care. We
must, we do know, we must know and understand why Christ was
crucified hung on a tree. Look at Deuteronomy 21, verse
18. Now read all of this because
it's all good. If a man have a stubborn and
rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father
or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened
him will not hearken unto them. Then shall his father and his
mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his
city, and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say unto
the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious,
he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard."
Isn't that what they accused our Lord of? They took up stones
to stone him. They said, for what good work
do you stone him? They said, for no good work do we stone
you, but you're just a man. You make yourself to be God.
They would have stoned him. All the men of his city shall
stone this rebellious song of stones that he died. So shalt
thou put evil away from among you. Christ is the stone that took our punishment. And all Israel shall hear in
fear. If a man hath committed a sin
worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, thou and thou
hang him on a tree. His body shall not remain all
night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that
day. For he that is hanged is accursed
of God. You see that? He that is hanged
on a tree. Now, Galatians, nobody Galatians
with me, but Galatians, this explains this to us, what it
just said. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3, now look at verse
10. People, this is vital. We've got to know this. We've
got to know why Christ died. We've got to know why Christ
died on a tree. God couldn't have killed him
any other way. He had to do this to fulfill
Scripture. Verse 10, For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. It's written, Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. All of us have broken God's
law. We're all rebellious sons and
daughters. And by the deeds of the law,
no flesh will be justified. In fact, what the law says to
us is guilty. You're to be stoned. You're to be hung on a tree.
To be hanged is to make a spectacle out of that person. For all to
see, look at this thief, look at this murderer, look at this...
The person accused of treason. Look at this. They deserve the
worst kind of death. Look at this. For all to behold.
See, hanging was a spectacle. I kind of wish they still did
some hangings today. So verse 11 says that no man
is justified by the law on the side of God. It's evident that
just to live by faith. Whose faith? Christ's faith.
Faith in Christ, the faith of Christ. The law is not a faith
that man that doeth them shall live in them. But Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us, made sin, made to be the guilty one. And it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. You see that? Christ hath to hang on a tree
and be crucified. It was the most shameful death
of all. It was reserved for the worst criminals. For all to say,
look, look at that rebel, he's getting what he deserves. Well,
Christ did not get what he deserved. Christ was not getting what he
deserved. They stripped him naked. But
he was not ashamed. But God put him to shame. Scripture
says he thought nothing of the shame, for the joy set before
him. Endured the cross, despised the shame. That should have been
us. That's what this is all about.
God should make a spectacle of us. Look at these worthless,
unthankful, ungrateful, rebellious servants of mine, kings, guilty
of treason all their life. No, but God sent His Son to be
the He said, take their place. He made a curse, Christ, for
us to look upon. To look and see Christ on the
cross. What you see on the cross is
the holiness of God. Not the love of God first. The
holiness of God. This is what God thinks about
sin. This is what God will do to a
sinner that's not in Christ. He will punish sin. That's what
we look and see. The spectacle of the cross is
God's wrath and God's holiness, God's justice against sin. And
then we see the mercy and the grace. We look to Christ as the
mercy of God, the grace of God, the love of God, the forgiveness
of God, the pardon of God. It's one way. It says in verse 9 of our text,
it says, He was hung between heaven and earth. hung between
heaven and the earth. Christ hung on the cross between
heaven and the earth. Why? Because he's the only mediator
between God and man. Jacob saw him when he saw that
ladder from heaven to earth. That's Christ crucified. The only way to God. Not the
works of the law. Not your doing anything. It's
not you doing anything. It's him bringing us to God. The only way for God to be just
and justifier is, and for God to curse us and bless us, for
God to kill us according to the law, yet make us alive, is Christ
crucified. That's it. That's the purpose of the story.
That's why this happened. Look at verse, down in verse
14, Joab and his men, Joab took three darts and thrust them into
the heart of Absalom. I'm not sure what that represents,
but it's sin, death, and hell, justice, wrath, the heart of God, of Christ.
Ten young men compassed him about. This is cruel, isn't it? I don't
care how guilty Absalom was, it's cruel. These ten men, Absalom
killed him in cold blood. The king said, don't you touch
him. But he did it anyway. Evil men. Who did this? Who did
all this? God did this. Who hung Jesus
Christ on the cross? The Jews? God did. Peter stood up at Pentecost and
said, you with wicked hands have taken and crucified the Lord
of glory, but you did what God determined before to be done.
Harried, punished, piled, all the people, the Jews, the Gentiles
took it. They did what God purposed to be done. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. The land of God, behold
the land of God, taketh away the sin of the world. These evil
men killed him, but it was God that did it. Well, look at verse
10. A certain man saw it. There was a man standing by there,
and he saw it. He saw the king's son, the father's
son, hanging in a tree. A certain man. Who is it? It doesn't tell his
name. I know who it is. Cushite. You see, his name is
not important, but what he saw and what he was sent to tell
is. Because down in verse 21, Joab
said to Cushi, go tell the king what you saw. And this was Cushi. It's not important that you know
the preacher's name. It's important that you know
the one he preaches, the Lord Jesus Christ. They came to John
the Baptist and said, what's your name? What are your credentials?
He said, you don't need to know my name. But there standeth one
among you whom you don't know, and you need to know it. Here
it is. He must increase, I must decrease.
But this certain young man saw this and told Joab. It was his
testimony, a certain young man. A certain man saw the king's
son hanging on a tree. And certain centers chosen by
God, that's what God chose all of his certain elect people,
all of them. See, Christ, say, behold, Christ
crucified. That is salvation. Not an experience. It's not turning over a new leaf.
It's not doing this or doing that. It's seeing Christ. And
how you see that is a man preaching this message. Tidings of the
Son. That's what I've got tonight.
Tidings of the Son hanging on a tree. And what that means to
all Israel. Somebody with me? There you are. Who wrote this book? If all the men in the world got
together and said, let's try to, you know, over a period of
1,500 years, and to write the same story, some of them didn't
collaborate, and tell the exact same story of the same person.
God wrote this book. You see, this young, this man
saw the sun hanging in a tree, and so after seeing the sun hanging
there, he was his testimony. He was his conversation. He was
the one he was taking up. This was the tidings he was to
tell. It's what he saw, and it's what he marveled at, and it's
what he told everybody who came across. Joanne, I saw the sun
hanging. John said, We beheld His glory
as of the only begotten of the Son. Peter said, We were eyewitnesses
of His majesty. They said, Peter, don't preach
this message. He said, We can't help but speak
the things we've seen and heard. Why don't men preach Christ all
the time? They haven't seen Him. They haven't heard His voice. They haven't been sent. They
don't have tight ends. You see the meaning of this story?
How do you know a man sent by God, chosen of God? He's seen
Christ hanging on the cross, and if he has, he's like Paul
the Apostle. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. I'm determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. I will not glory
save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
is crucified unto me and I unto the world. That's how you know
a man's seen Christ on the cross. He'll preach Christ every time. See, Christ is all. When you find that out, He's
all you'll preach. When you find that out, when
you hear that, He's all you'll want to hear from. Well, there was a tumult. There
was two men with tied ends and a tumult. Look at verse, as I
said, there's a war going on, a fight in it. And when they
heard that Absalom was slain, when everyone heard that Absalom
was slain, it caused a great stir. It caused a tumult in history. Everybody was affected by it.
And when Christ was crucified on the cross, the whole world
shook. That's what the Scripture says.
The earth shook. Not an earthquake. The whole
globe shook. God shook it. People got up out of the graves
and walked into Jerusalem. What were they talking about?
Him who died on the cross. What's religion talking about?
The tumult, the goings-on, the excitement. Look at this, verse
19, Ahimeaz, the son of Zadok, he's the son of a priest. His
father was a preacher. Well, that doesn't mean a thing.
So he's religious. He's going to be a priest. Maybe
he already was. He says, Let me run and bear the king tithing,
how the Lord hath avenged him of his enemy. And Joab said unto
him, Thou shalt not bear tithings this day, thou shalt bear tithings
another day, but this day thou shalt bear no tithing, for the
king's son is dead. He didn't have tidings. Why?
He didn't see the sun hanging on a tree. Are you with me? He didn't see this. He saw the
goings-on. He saw the tumult. He saw the
excitement. He heard the excitement. He heard all's going on. People
were saying, it's over, it's over. And he was so excited.
Everybody's happy and happy, happy, happy. Everything's good. He did not see the sun hanging
in a tree. And he didn't have tactics. He
didn't have anything to say what was said. Are you with me? Look at verse
21. Then Joab said to Cushi, Go tell
the king what thou hast said. He called this man. He sent this
man. And Hamas wasn't called and wasn't
sent, but he wanted to run away. Oh, how many so-called preachers
there are that God has not called, has not sent. It's clear because
they don't have tithing. They don't have the message.
They're not preaching pride every time. They might slip up every
now and then. But Cushiah was called. Cushiah was sent. Go tell the
king what thou hast seen. And Cushiah bowed himself under
the Joab. He was humble. Meek and amazed
that he was called, and he ran. Ran. Why'd he run? Both these
men were running. Why'd they run? Well, this is
an urgent message. Urgent message. You just can't
wait. Today is a day of salvation. Then said, I, Hymie, as the son
of Zadok, yet again to Joab, let me run. Let me run. I want
to preach. There's been so many false prophets
that have gone out. Many want to run, haven't been
called. You can go online. You know,
you can go online and get you a degree and Master's of Theology
and Doctor of Divinity, and you can get your ordination papers
without even being called. You can apply for the job. No
prophet, no apostle ever applied for the job. Not one did ever
say, let me run, let me go. Isaiah did it after the Lord
spoke to him, told him. Then he was willing. But no prophet
applied for the job. God came and called them and
sent them with one message. Every man we know was that preaches
the gospel. Every grace preacher we know
was working out in the world. Like, oh, Elisha was plowing
out 12-year-old oxen. You know, Moses was a shepherd,
and on and on it goes. They were working men. They were
common, ordinary men, and God revealed himself to them and
called them to do one thing, preach Christ. And they did. Not today. Many false prophets. Our Lord said many false prophets
have gone out into the world, and how you know them is they
don't have title. They don't have the message. I'll give you several examples.
My dad was a false preacher. And, you know, he was a preacher.
Just because he's my dad doesn't mean my other brother's not a
preacher. He hates the truth. It's our basis of the Lord. It's
whom he chooses. So is the call to preach and
the ability. But my dad was pastor of the
largest Southern Baptist church in eastern Kentucky, over a thousand
members. God sent an evangelist named
Walt Barnard from Winston-Salem and tore that playhouse up. Just
tore that Southern Baptist place wide open. And several families
left there and formed another church, and my dad started preaching
the gospel. He finally heard and saw the
sound through a preacher of the gospel. Don Bell was a charismatic
Pentecostal preacher. I'm talking peep-hopping, chandelier-swinging,
tongue-talking. I'm telling you the truth. Marvin Stoniker was pastor of
a Southern Baptist Armenian church. David Edmondson, listen to this. David Edmondson was in a Baptist
church when he was ten years old. They had him stand up and
preach. He's so ashamed of that now.
I talked to him today about it. His name was in a leading national
magazine by E.J. Daniels. E.J. Daniels, he was
called the million soul man because he won a million souls in Christ.
He's a false prophet. My mother worked for him. She
was his secretary when she was in false religion. And they put David's name in
this national magazine all over because he won ten souls to Jesus. A ten-year-old boy. David pledging. Now look at verse 20. This is something
I didn't see the first time I ever looked at this. I've alluded
to all this, but look at verse 20. Joab said, Thou shalt not
bear tithings this day, but thou shalt bear tithings another day. God, in great mercy, sometimes
takes a false preacher, and there's not many, it's a very rare occurrence,
takes a false preacher and reveals the truth to him and sends him
out with the truth. So he's able, he has a wonderful,
merciful, gracious opportunity to renounce everything he said
before. That's what Saul of Tarsus did. Listen to this, this is wonderful. In Galatians, Paul said, they
heard that he which persecuted us in times past now preaches
the faith that he wants to show. And so Paul said, I got one message
here from here on out. I hated this way. I spoke against
it. I told people lies. Now I get
to tell them the truth. So I'm going to encompass sin
and land to tell them the truth. Oh, I could tell you so many
examples of this, but Simon Peter denied him. Do you remember?
He denied him. Went out and wept bitterly. For
the Lord said, Go call Simon Peter. Now Simon, go out and
pray. And so they beat him to a pulp,
and he rejoiced. They beat him to the pulp for
preaching Christ, and he rejoiced that he was counted worthy to
suffer shame for his name, because he was ashamed of denying him
the first time. What mercy. Not today, but you
will. Isn't that wonderful? Kushyaw was called and sent with
tidings. He had one message. So here they came. In verse 24, David sat between
the two gates and the man came running alone. You know, if you're
going to be a preacher, you're going to be alone. If you're
going to preach the truth, you're going to stand alone. Like Martin
Luther, here I stand, stood against the whole world. But you're not running alone.
If God sent you, you're not running alone. Look at verse 26, that
Watchman saw another man running, and Porter said, another man
coming, and King said, he also brings tithing. Verse 27, we
think of the running of the foremost like the running of Hymaz. Now,
Hymaz ran ahead of Cushat. He outran him. He's more gifted. God doesn't use your gifts. No, sir. It's not by might, not
by power, but how? By my Spirit, says the Lord.
God doesn't use our natural gifts and our personality and our charisma
and our ability to win friends and influence people. No, sir.
The gospel is the power of God Himself. No flesh is going to
glory. Oh, no, no, no, no. If a man
preaches a gospel, he's got a gift. He's a gifted man. If he can
preach Christ crucified clearly, plainly, with authority, with
power, he's a gifted man. It's not our ability to say things.
Not our impressive intellect. Paul said, I don't use wisdom
of words or speech. No, sir, the defense of the cross
will be made of no effect. You'd be impressed with the preacher.
You don't need to go away impressed with the preacher. You need to
be impressed with Jesus Christ, impressed into the kingdom. Hold
that, and you might be impressed to know him, and win pride in
being found in him, not the preacher. So he outran Cushi, big deal. Cushi had the message, didn't
he? And why everyone need to hear the one the king demanded
to hear. But look at verse 27. This is
interesting. It says, watchmen may think that the running of
the foremost is Hymen, the son of Zadok. He's the son of a preacher.
He's a good man. He's good tidings. And he did. He came down in verse 28 and
said, all is well. Peace, peace. You read the margin? Did you read the margin? Did you? It says, peace, peace. That's what he said. Isn't that
what false preachers say? When there is no peace. He's a good man. Have you ever
heard these false preachers say some good things? Ah. Darvin Pruitt and I heard
Jimmy Swaggart one time bring a message on God being just and
justifying. We were both amazed. We couldn't
believe it was coming out of his mouth. We both heard the
message. Why is that? And nobody's saved
under a false prophet. No, no, no, no, no, no. Why is
that? So men will be held accountable
for the truth. So that all men everywhere will
hear the truth, even if it's from an ass. Bail on them. All men will be accountable.
Nobody's saved under a false prophet. But everybody's accountable
because they've heard the truth. We heard Billy Graham one time,
and I said, maybe come here and listen to this. I was watching
him on TV, and he said, listen to this. And we both listened. Can't believe he said that. He
would agree with everything he said. Until the end. And then he undid everything
he said. What did he say? Now it's up
to you. That's what they all say. Christ
did this, Christ did that, God's sovereign and all this. But in
the end, they say, it's up to you. What are you going to do
with Jesus? That is a lie. That's Satan's
lie. Nobody's saved under that message.
People are saved under the message, it's done. Not what you do. What you do with him is what
he has done for us and with us. He's a good man. He says some
good things. Is it the truth? The whole truth. And nothing but the truth. No
truths of a lie, no lies of a truth, John said. There's no lies in
the truth. There's no subtleness, no gray areas in the truth. Right? God's either God or he's
not. Man is either dead or he's not. God either elected a people
and only they will be saved or they're not. Christ's blood put
away sin or He didn't. This Holy Spirit's completely
powerful and saves whom He will or He doesn't except the man.
And all that Christ died for and God saved will be saved eternally
or they won't. It can't be both. You can't preach part of the
truth and preach the truth. He's a good man. He said some
good things. Don't be deluded. God sends strong delusion that
people will believe a lie. You can't find anything wrong
with what Balaam said. He preached Christ. Are you hearing
me? I didn't come up with this. I
didn't learn this today. I learned this from the Word,
from a faithful preacher in all these years of reading it. No,
no. God sends strong delusion. God
sends lying spirits to make people believe a lie sometimes, because
they won't believe the truth. That's what Scripture says. He's
a good man. He says a good thing. Not in
God's eyes he's not a good man. He may be to men, but he's an
abomination to God if he doesn't preach right. Well, Hymas came, and he said
in verse 29, I saw a great multitude, but I didn't know what was going
on. King said, Is the young man Absalom's
sake? Well, he said to Hymas, What
about my son? Here he comes with tidings. Tidings,
my Lord the King, blessed be the Lord, blessed be the name
of Jesus. What about my son? I don't know. I didn't set aside.
Stand over there. You don't have anything to say.
I don't want to hear you. That's what he said. And here
comes Cushiah. Tidings, my Lord the King, verse
31. The Lord hath avenged this day of all them that rose up
against him. The king said, Is the young man Absalom saved?
What about my son? Is the young man Absalom saved?
Here's the question that all need to be asked. What think
ye of Christ? Here's the question every man
needs to be asked. Did Christ save or did he not? Is salvation of the Lord or is
it not? Did Christ say, put away sin
on Calvary Street, or did He not? What about it? Is salvation in your hands or
in the Son? Don't holler, preacher. Never!
I'm going to holler. Lift up my voice. Can you hear
me? Loud and clear, preacher. Salvation's of the Lord. Period! Not you and Him. Not what He
does and you accept it. No! It's what He did and God
accepted it. You've heard this a thousand
times. Well, bless His Holy Name. You're so blessed. So blessed. Because there's one message of
Scripture and God says, where am I? My son! It's the whole
purpose of creation. It's the purpose of this battle.
It's the reason you exist. And if you don't glorify his
son, don't believe his son, God says, step aside. You're not
in my kingdom. You have nothing to say, nothing
I want to hear. Get out of the way. And cush I answer. The enemies of my Lord the King
And all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be ye, as that
young man is, dead. Did Christ put away sin or did
he not? Yes, he did. Christ died. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. Period. It's what Christ did, he said.
Sin's put away, the enemy's of God, the devil's not. Hal Lindsay
wrote a book years ago, The Devil's Alive and Well on Planet Earth.
No, he's not! He's in one chain! And he knows
his time is short. Why? Because he's in the hand,
that chain's in the hand of Jesus Christ, and he knows it. No,
sin was put away, the law was kept, The sins of God's people,
all the sins of all of God's people were punished and put
away in Christ on the cross. All the enemies of God are being
as that man is, put away, dead. Christ was forsaken. Sin was
put away. A fit man took the sins of God's
people in the body on a tree and carried them away, separated
them from us as far as the east is going to go. As he is, so are we. And it's worth it. Crucified
with Christ. Buried, risen again to walk in
newness of life. Now that's the tidings. That's
the purpose of this message, and every other message. Okay, stand with me.