opportunity to read through 2
Samuel 19. There's a lot there. I'm sure
you can see that. And as we're always reminded
as we go through the scriptures, this history, these are the history
books here, that everything that was written here was written
for our admonition, for our teaching and our learning, our encouragement.
And everything that's written here ultimately points us back
to the Lord Jesus Christ, points sinners to Christ. And I want
to show you that in a great picture here, a great illustration that
pictures a glorious reconciliation. And as I told you, that's what
I've entitled this message, glorious reconciliation. And what you
see mainly here in picture is you see the people of Judah,
specifically here, and later on you'll see the other ten tribes,
the people of Israel, brought back to the king, reconciled
to the king. Many of them had left, many of
them had rebelled and followed his rebellious son Absalom. But
now Absalom is dead. The victory has been won. David
is going to be restored to his throne as king. And the ground
of that reconciliation, we can say it this way, even the reconciliation
of David to his people and the reconciliation of the people
to David is one and the same ground, and that's the death
of Absalom. the victory that David won, and
in that we see a great picture of our spiritual, eternal reconciliation
under God. For the way God is reconciled
to his elect people, his people, sinners, and the way sinners
are reconciled under God is one and the same, and that is the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. who had our sins charged to him. He was made sin. That's what
that 2 Corinthians 5 passage is all about. It's about reconciliation,
how peace is made between God and sinners. Now you see, David
and his mighty men had been at war with his own people. And
the Bible teaches us that while we were yet enemies, Christ died
for the ungodly. And it also says that we were
enemies in our mind and alienated in our minds by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled us. And he did it by the death of
his cross. And in time, the Holy Spirit sends us, sends a preacher,
and puts us under the preaching of the gospel. That's what Paul
defined in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 as the word of reconciliation. It's the word of peace to reconcile
parties that are at odds, or in a war, or there's a matter
that keeps them from coming together. Well, what kept God from his
people and his people from him is sin. And that's what Christ
did. It's the death of Christ is our
peace. That's how God has reconciled
the sinners, and that's how sinners are reconciled to God. We have
an illustration of that here. But let's start in on this passage.
In the first part here, as I read back in chapter 18, verse 33,
and then on through the first eight verses of chapter 19, we
see David's excessive grief, his sorrow and grief over his
son Absalom. But we also see something that
may seem a little strange to you. We see Joab, the captain
of the army of David, the captain of the host, we see Joab rebuking
the king. And you know what? In this instance,
Joab is right. We're going to see a lot more
about Joab as we conclude this study of the life of David as
we go through. And you'll see some more strange
things about him. I believe that when we're through
we'll have no doubt about Joab's state and what he really is. But here he's right. He rebuked
the king. Now it opens here, David, oh
my son Absalom, oh my son Absalom, my son, my son. You can just
hear the sorrow and the pain flowing from the heart of this
father. And David's grief is understandable
in that he saw, and one of the things that I believe David's
grieving over here is not just the death of his son, but I believe
he's grieving over the fact that he even sees himself as responsible
for it, for he knows that it was because of the sin that he
committed, that public scandalous sin with Bathsheba and all the
cover-up and all the other sin that he committed in trying to
keep this thing quiet, that God told him the sword would not
leave your house. Your family would always be afflicted
with conflict, even death of the sword. And David sees himself
as responsible for the plight of Absalom. But we know also
that Absalom himself is fully responsible, for every man will
stand before God, either upon his own merits, which we have
done, or in Christ. And so Absalom is responsible.
And David here, he was under the great chastisement of God
over his sin, and Absalom was a victim of that. But Absalom,
as I said, he was the one who bore responsibility for his unbelief,
for his pride, for his rebellion, and ultimately for his own death. And here's the bottom line to
it all. And this is it. God's justice will always prevail. It will always prevail. It doesn't
matter who it is. In any way, even in our salvation,
God's justice prevails. For God did not pervert justice
to bring us to himself, to be reconciled to us, and to bring
us to be reconciled to him. Justice was fully satisfied.
in the person and work of our dear substitute and Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that all who are without
Christ will receive the justice of God without fail. And God
will do no wrong. He's no respecter of persons.
He will always do that which is right. David made this comment
back in verse 33 of chapter 18. He said, Would God I had died
for thee. What David is saying there is
that I wish it had been me instead of you, Absalom, that had died.
You know, we're so thankful that we who are saved by God's grace
had one who did die in our place, who willingly died in our place,
who lovingly died in our place, and who powerfully died in our
place. And I think about those passages where the Lord said,
when He said, I laid down my life for the sheep, He said,
no man takes it from me. He said, I have power to lay
it down and to take it up again. He did it willingly. He wasn't
murdered, even though murder was in our hearts. Wicked hands,
you see. But he gave himself. And David
is saying, I would willingly give myself for my son Absalom. Well, the problem with that is
this. A sinner cannot die for another
sinner. The one who is sinless who is
God in human flesh, he who knew no sin, we read there in verse
21 of 2 Corinthians 5, he can and he did die for sinners and
he satisfied the justice of God fully in our place. But we go
on in chapter 19 and we learn here that David's excessive grief,
it killed the joy and the victory of the people. in their victory
for the glory of God and the good of Israel. They had fought
for David. These mighty men had fought for
David. But David is wishing here that
he were dead. He said, oh, I wish it could
have been me that died instead of Absalom. And so instead of
returning to Jerusalem and returning to the kingdom victoriously with
praise to God in worship and with joy They had to sneak back
into the country, into Jerusalem. They had to sneak back as if
they had failed. Instead of joy, there was shame.
That's what this means in verse 3. It says, and the people get
them by stealth. You know what stealth is? It's
a military term. It means you sneak in. That's
what that means. And that's what they had to do.
Instead of coming in, in a parade of victory, For their king and
the victory that God had given them over Absalom and the enemies,
they had to come in like they were ashamed. And that's not
right, you see. This is not the way it should
be. And the problem here in this excessive grief, now again, I'm
not telling you that David should not have grieved over this situation. I know there are people who talk
about the sovereignty of God as if when somebody, a loved
one, dies, that you're not supposed to grieve, that it's unbelief.
And that's not right. Now, we're human, and David's
human too. But there is such a thing as
excessive grief and sorrow. You see, Paul dealt with that
in the church at Thessalonica. He said, we grieve and we sorrow
over those who have gone on, but we don't grieve as those
who have no hope. And we don't grieve also as those
who don't recognize the glory of God in all things. That's
so. So I'm not telling you that David
should not have grieved. But he was also God's appointed
king. David was also a leader of the
people. David was also a believer. He
was a sinner saved by the grace of God. He had a hope. His hope
was in Christ, the one who was promised. And this kind of excessive
grief expressed by David here, in which he wished himself dead
instead of Absalom, was nothing more than unbelief. Now you imagine
that. Now think about it. Who put David on the throne? God did. And what was the covenant
that God made with David? Look over at 2 Samuel 7. Look back there. 2 Samuel 7,
this is the Davidic covenant, the royal covenant. Covenant
God made with David. And the first thing that is said
in this covenant, as God commands David and He instructs David
and He commissions David, He says in verse 12, And when thy
days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, He said,
I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out
of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. Whose kingdom? David's seed. Whose David's seed? Christ. When is that going to
take place? How is God going to accomplish
that now? Look at it again, verse 12. And when thy day be fulfilled,
and thou shalt sleep with thy father. David was not going to
be thrown off of his cross. He wasn't going to be killed.
He was going to fulfill all his days until his death and remain
upon the throne of Israel. And so the very fact that he
says, well, I wish I were dead and Absalom was dead, well, what
would have happened if David had died and Absalom had ascended
the throne? Here's what you've got on the
throne, an unbelieving, rebellious, God-hating, self-righteous heretic
on the throne. What does that do to God's promise?
What does that do to God's plan? Well, that would thwart it all.
We know that cannot happen, and it didn't happen. But what's
happening here is David, in his grief, he's denying the promise
of God. He's showing unbelief. The promise
of the Messiah was to be filled through David's full and complete
reign. And that's not done yet. He's
close to the end of it. He's around 60, between 60 and
70 years old here, and he didn't live to be, I think, more than
70 or a little bit above that. But he fulfilled his full reign. And the Messiah that was promised
was to come through God, working all of these things after the
counsel of his own will, according to that covenant that he made
with David. Not through an ungodly, rebellious man, but it was going
to come through Solomon, and we know that. But here, David,
in this grief, he's grieving as one who had no hope. But you
see, his hope was not in absolute, thank God. His hope was in the
glory and the grace and the power of God to preserve him and to
preserve that kingdom of which it was said even before the law
was given, the scepter would not depart from Judah until Shiloh
come. And ultimately be fulfilled in
the promise of the coming of the Messiah, Christ to come.
Well, what happens here? Well, Joab, the captain of David's
army, he rightfully rebukes David. David has shamed all his people,
he's shamed his family. And I'll tell you what, now in
that, David is certainly not picturing our Savior, is he?
That's a personal problem of David. You know, as we've gone
through these passages, we have to separate David personally
from David the type. It's a personal problem for David.
He's just like us. He's a weak vessel. He's a sinner
saved by grace. And we don't have anything to
brag about or be proud over, David, because we have our moments,
too. You know, O Lord, if thou, Lord,
shouldst mark iniquities, who would stand? So David's certainly
not picturing Christ here, because I'll tell you one thing, and
this is so, Christ has never, nor will never, give his people
a reason to be ashamed. That's so, isn't it? He that
believeth shall never be ashamed. I've heard people say, well,
I can't have any assurance because I don't doubt Christ, I doubt
myself. Well, when did the gospel ever
command you to trust yourself? That's not a command of the gospel.
You're never to trust yourself, you see. So if you're trusting
yourself, you ought to be ashamed. If I'm trusting myself, I ought
to be ashamed. But I'm trusting Christ, and
He's one of whom we'll never be ashamed. He's never given
us a reason to be ashamed of Him. And we'll never stand before
God in shame if we stand there in Christ, washed in His blood
and clothed in His righteousness. And that's what David should
have been picturing here in his life, in his attitude. He grieved
as one who had no hope. Israel now, as David is restored
to the throne now, Israel has not yet been reunited under David. Look at verse 7 of chapter 19.
It says, Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably.
Now if you've got a concordance there, it may say something like
this, Speak to the heart of thy servants. Kings speak to their
hearts. That's what he wanted to do. He wanted Joab to say, woo them
with this joy and this victory and this promise and turn them
to God. That's what he's saying. And
that's what Christ does to his people. He speaks to our hearts.
He doesn't just speak to the physical ear. He speaks to the
spiritual ear. He sends his Spirit. to give
us a new heart, to transform us, and to bring us, not only
just to hear what's being said, but to love it, and to rejoice
in it, and to have assurance and peace in it, because it's
the gospel of God's gracing Christ. And I always think, when I think
about things like that, I think about those servants on the road
to Emmaus, those disciples, and the Lord began to speak to them,
and he taught them out of Moses in the law. And when he left,
they said, didn't our hearts burn within us? We were on fire
to hear the Word of God. We just wanted to hear more.
Preach more to us. And he says, Joab says in verse
7, he says, For I swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there
will not tarry one with thee this night. There's not one of
your servants who will wait for you this night. If you keep this
up, that's what he's saying. And that will be worse unto thee
than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now.
Now you think about that. You know that's so? It's almost
like Joab, and I'm sure he doesn't realize what he's saying here
in a spiritual way, I mean, as a spiritual application. Because
I believe Joab was a man, he was loyal to the king, but his
loyalty was for selfish reasons. It was for his own power and
his own place. He wanted to make sure he kept
his place and his power, and we'll see that in just a moment.
But he's speaking here, He says, it'll be worse than anything
you've ever gone through, David. You think you've gone through
a lot. Well, this will be worse. And he's right. And I make that
application this way. He that believeth not shall be
ashamed. You know, a man once told me
one time, he was talking about hell. Talking about heaven and
hell. I asked him, I said, well, do
you want to go to heaven, or do you want to go to hell? And
he made this statement to me. He said, well, I've already gone
through hell here on earth. And I told him, I said, you have
no inkling of an idea of what you're talking about. David may
have felt like he'd gone through some hard, hard times, and he
had, really. But Joab's telling him, he said,
look, he said, if you don't lead the people in this victory, and
speak to their hearts and have them reconciled unto you, it's
going to be the worst thing that ever happened to you. And Joab
was right. Joab was right. You see, David must unite the
people in victory and with encouragement. That's how he would be the godly
king of Israel. That's how he would be the type
of the Lord Jesus Christ because, you see, that's what Christ does.
He unites his people in his victory, his victory on the cross. And
in his victories all through our lives, isn't that right?
Daily victories. He unites us in these victories.
Not only does God save us by his grace, but he keeps us by
his grace. And all the evils and the troubles
that we go through in this life cannot supplant what Christ has
accomplished in His victory. And He keeps us under the gospel.
He speaks to our hearts day in and day out. Not just when we're
mad here. This is a good place to do that.
He speaks to our hearts tonight. He'll speak to your hearts Sunday
when Brother Ron gets up to preach and Sunday night when Brother
Aaron gets up to preach. And when the Sunday school teachers
teach, He'll speak to your hearts if that's what He means to do.
But it's a daily thing, isn't it? Because it never leaves you.
I mean, you don't leave it. I hope you don't leave it at
the door and then walk out and forget about it. It's your life. And that's what David's to do.
Look at verse 8. It says, Then the king arose and sat in the
gate, that is, the gate of the city. And they told unto all
the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And
all the people came before the king, for Israel had fled every
man to his tent. You see, David, first of all,
he received Joab's rebuke here, and that's David acting in wisdom. But you see, this is what the
people needed to see. They needed to see the king sitting
in the place of authority, at the gate, the public place of
authority, declaring himself the victor, you see, because
this is what God has given him. And without him doing that, it
says, Israel had fled every man to his tent, separated. going
off in every different direction, not united, you see. It's only
the King who can unite the people under His victory. And that's
a great illustration of how it's only under Christ and His victory
that His people can be united in fellowship together. Look
at it, it says, this told them when they saw David, when they
saw David sitting in the place of authority, it told them that
it was all well worth it. David would continue to reign.
God's promise has not been broken, has not been hindered. What Absalom
did, it may have looked like that everything that God had
promised was just going out the window. Because here's David,
he had to flee Jerusalem, had to flee his throne. Absalom was
there. But no, just hold on, wait on
the Lord. In His good time, He'll do what
He plans to do and what He promises to do. And so they They say it's
all worth it. Now, you think about that. All
that we go through in this life, and you know, I mean, there are
varying degrees of trials and troubles that we go through.
And sometimes we want to just throw up our hands and go to
our own tent, don't we? Just like these folks here. Just
withdraw ourselves within our own tent. I know folks like that
now. I know one of my best friends is like that right now. He just
wants to withdraw within himself. Go to his own tent. Don't talk
to anybody. Don't see anybody. Nobody knows the troubles I've
seen, you know, all that kind of junk. Let me tell you something.
When we unite together under Christ and He brings us through
by His power and His providence and His grace and His mercy,
You're going to find out, and you already know, but you're
going to find out by experience when we see him as he is, sitting
at the gate in the place of authority, the Eastern Gate, his return,
coming again, or when we go to meet him, it's all worth it. You say, well, I put up with
a lot. You haven't put up with anything,
and neither have I. But whatever it is we put up
with, it's all worth it. It's all worth it. So don't go
off and draw off into your own tent. Don't become a false Christian,
as I say. Unite with the people of God.
Rejoice with them. Yeah, we'll disappoint you. You'll
disappoint me. We'll all disappoint each other.
But our hope is in the King, sitting in the place of authority,
declaring his victory for our joy and our peace. They came
before the King. Do you see that? And all the
people, verse 8, all the people came before the king. That's
where we need to be, right there, at the feet of the king. All
say sinners come before Christ, the king of kings, and bow at
his feet. But now, the rest of this part, from verse 9 to verse
15, shows Judah's return to David. And this is that glorious reconciliation. This picture is our glorious
reconciliation unto God. And I want you to notice some
of the details here. Read verse 9. Now it says, And all the people
were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel. So there
was division among the people. And this is a time when it's
understandable there's division. It's not justified now. It's
not right. But we can certainly understand
it. Because they don't know what David's going to do. He's up
there grieving, wishing he were dead, and Absalom was alive.
At this time, they hadn't yet seen him at the gate. They're
going to, but they were in strife. And they said, the king saved
us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the
hand of the blisting. This is David's past history
now. And now he's fled out of the land for Absalom. They didn't
know that David had been brought back. This is the tribes of Israel
now. So they're out there scattered
like lost sheep. And that's what we are by nature, isn't it? All
we like sheep have gone astray. We're like sheep that have no
shepherd. That's in our minds now. Out there in the hinterlands,
out there in our ignorance, out there in that darkness. And it
says in verse 10, in Absalom, whom we anointed over us, they
said we sold ourselves out to Absalom the rebel. That's what
we did by nature, isn't it? Children of Satan by nature,
children of the devil, children of the world, children of disobedience.
And it says, and he's dead in battle. Absalom's dead. Now, therefore, why speak ye
not a word of bringing the king back? How come somebody's not
talking about bringing the king back now, you see? I hadn't thought
of that. David has won the battle. But
the kingdom was not yet restored to him and united. These are
people that are out on the wilderness, out away from. They don't know
what's going on. They didn't have telephones and
cell phones like we have. And the news hadn't reached them
yet. So look at verse 11. and King
David sent Zadok and to Abiathar, sent to Zadok and to Abiathar
the priest, now he sends messengers here, he sends a message to the
priest and he said speak ye, speak unto the elders of Judah
he told Zadok and Abiathar, these two priests to speak unto the
elders of Judah saying why are you the last to bring the king
back to his house? What you're beginning to see
here is the seed of division that comes later on after Solomon's
death. Between Israel, you hear him
mention Israel, that's the ten tribes. And then Judah. And Judah with Judah, I believe
with Benjamin. So you're seeing a little division
here. And so David is asking his own tribe, his own people. He was of the tribe of Judah.
Remember, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, it's the kingly
tribe. And the ten tribes are out there called Israel. They're
out there talking about, well, why hadn't anybody spoke of bringing
the king back? Judah hasn't said a word that got to David there.
And he says, why are you the last to bring the king back to
his house? Seeing the speech of all Israels
come to the king, even to his house. Why hadn't Judah done
this? Why have you not sought to bring
the true king back? Now, you consider the Jews who've
been so blessed. in the old covenant, but who
rejected the Messiah. I believe that's what you have
a picture here. His close kin, our Savior was born of the seed
of David according to the flesh. He was a Jew physically in his
humanity. And yet his own nation rejected
him. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. And then consider also that Christ
came to the Jews first. David here coming to Judah first.
Doesn't mean that he wasn't going to save his sheep out of the
Gentile nation, he was, he did. But he came first in time according
to God's plan and purpose to the Jews, to the house of Israel. And so he talks about his victory
here, look at verse 12, well first of all he says, you are
my brethren, talking to Judah, this is David talking to Judah,
you're my brethren, you're my bones, you're my flesh, Wherefore
then are you the last to bring back the king? Now, we think
about, as we said, David has won the victory, but all his
people are not yet brought back to him. And we can say the same
thing about our Savior, the Lord. He's won the victory. But all
his people have not yet all been brought back to him, have they?
You and I know that. But he's still, he's still not
come again. He's still not returned. When
that last topstone is laid, that's when the Lord's coming back.
Don't know when it'll be, what time it'll be, but that's when
it will be, when the last topstone is laid. So he sends messengers
to tell them the King's been brought back. The King is sitting
at the gate. And that's a great picture of
how Christ sends out his preachers to preach the gospel, telling
them the King is victorious. The Savior has done his work.
Look back at 2 Corinthians 5 that we read. This is the gospel ministry
right here. He says back up in verse 17, Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation, literally. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Now, he's talking about reconciliation.
He's not talking about regeneration here. And the reason I say that
is because we have to understand that in regeneration, the new
birth, we cannot say literally that all things are passed away
and all things are become new. Because we still have fallen
human nature to deal with. That's not passed away. And this
is past tense here. This is not a process of passing
away. It means it's gone. Well, what
old things are gone? And what all has been made new?
Well, he's talking about how we are considered in Christ before
God. That's what we are. The church
is a new man in Christ. And we stand before God complete,
as complete as we can be, as perfect as we can be in Him. You see, not in ourselves, but
in Him. And so he says in verse 18, And
all things, these all things that are become new, are of God,
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. You see, God
is already reconciled to his people by Jesus Christ. He's already reconciled. God
chose us from the foundation of the world and gave us to Christ.
He set up Christ to be our surety before this world was ever created.
And He had in mind all that time the blood of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ. And He says, "...hath given us
to us the ministry of reconciliation to win." Now here's what it is.
God was in Christ. What does that mean? That means
God engaged everything that He is. as Father, as Son, as Holy
Spirit, every attribute of his nature, every glorious thing
about God, was engaged in the person of Christ to save his
people from their sin. God was in Christ. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in
him. In Christ you'll see the fullness of the Father, the Son,
and the Spirit as revealed to us in that great transaction
that took place on Calvary, how God can be just and justify the
ungodly. And he goes on, he says, not
imputing to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, God has a people all over this world, Not just
Jews, not just Gentiles, but his sheep. Who are they? Well,
it says, not imputing their trespasses unto them. That means God doesn't
charge them with their sin. He doesn't lay it to their account.
He's put it to someone else's account. His son. and has committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. So we have the ministry of reconciliation
and we have the word of reconciliation. That's the gospel. Now here it
is, verse 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. We represent
a higher authority. We preach his word, not our own.
As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead be ye reconciled to God. God reconciled to his people
in Christ. Now, Every one of you that are
His people, every one of us that are His people, you be reconciled
to Him. Now, how do you do that? By believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ. By coming before the King, bowing
at His feet and begging for mercy. And upon what ground is God reconciled
to sinners and sinners to God? Verse 21, God made Him to be
sin. For us, Christ who knew no sin,
our sins were imputed to Christ, charged to Him, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him, that we might stand
before God in Christ, complete, whole, righteous, before His
justice." That's the message of the messengers of peace, the
messengers of reconciliation. And back here in 2 Samuel 19,
that's what David is telling Zadok and Abiathar to tell the
elders of Judah, The King is back. The King has won. Victory has been won. And he
says in verse 12, you're my brethren, you're my bones and my flesh.
Wherefore then are you the last to bring back the King? Turn
to Hebrews chapter 2. He says, you're my brethren.
Well, that's a picture of Christ. Who is our elder brother. And
who calls all his people brethren. Verse 10. Hebrews 2 for it became
him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through suffering that means Christ completed and finished
the work that he was sent to do by his sufferings and the
death for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are
sanctified are all one for which cause he is not ashamed to call
them brethren now We can certainly understand how we have no reason
to be ashamed to call him our elder brother, our savior, our
redeemer, our king. But boy, isn't it something to
think about him calling me his brother, or you his brother or
his sister. And that's why he says over here
in verse 14 of Hebrews 2, 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. You see, David's
looking at Jude and says, you're bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh. Christ is the same of his sheep. We're his brethren. And he's not ashamed of that.
And you know why he's not ashamed? In Him, we're righteous. In Him,
we're righteous. I mean, really righteous, not
fake righteous. In Him, we are righteous before
God. In Him, God doesn't remember
our sins. That means God doesn't lay them
to our account. Him put it in the Christ. He laid it in the
Christ's account. He can't charge us. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? God that justifies. Who can condemn
us from Christ to die? In Him, we're complete. In Him, we are what we ought
to be. Now, in myself, I'm not what
I ought to be. But in Him, I am. You say, well,
that boggles the mind. Again, join the club. That's
grace. Look back at 2 Samuel 19 again.
All right, he says in verse 13, David said, And say ye to Amasa,
and remember, Amasa was the one that Absalom made captain of
his army. He was a relative of David, blood
relative. David said to Zadok and Abiathar,
you tell the elders of Judah, say ye to Amasa, or you go and
say to Amasa, art thou not of my bone and of my flesh? You
are a blood relative. God do so to me and more also
if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in
the room of Joab. Now think about what he did there.
He demoted Joab and he put Amasa his enemy. Well, there's certainly
something we can identify there. Christ died for us when we were
his enemies. He takes his enemies and he makes
them his friends by his grace and his power through the blood
of Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit. But Joab
was replaced. Now, I don't know, there's nothing
said here about how David thought of Joab. As I've told you before,
Joab was a loyal man to David. But I think David is beginning
to see through Joab here. Later on, Joab, being jealous
and upset about this move, actually kills Emesa. And that proves
out to show him for what he is. Joab was loyal to David, but
it was for the purpose of self-promotion. And that's the problem. You know,
there are a lot of people who can say, and Joab said some right
things here. You know, back here when he told
David, he says, your grief is bringing the people down. You're
not doing right here. And Joab was right. You know,
a man can say a lot of right things from a pulpit in the name
of Christ and still be in it for self. And that's what I think
you have there in Joab. But look on verse 14. He says,
and he bowed the heart or bowed the heart of all the men of Judah."
There's a lot of conflicting commentators over who the he
refers to there. I'll tell you who I believe it
refers to. It refers to God. Remember what David said there
in verse 13, "'God, do so to me, and more also, if thou be
not captain of the host before me, continue in the room of Joab.'
And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah." even as the
heart of one man, so that they sent this word unto the king,
Return thou and all thy servants." You see, he turned his enemies
into his subjects. He turned the rebels, the lost
sheep, and the sheep who were found. He bowed the heart of
all the men of Judah. You know how God saves us and
brings us to be reconciled to him? Ezekiel says it in Ezekiel
36, verse 26, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, that hard, rebellious, unbelieving,
dark heart. And I will give you a heart of
flesh, a heart pliable to the things of God, a believing heart.
And that's what happened here. He bowed the heart of all the
men of Judah, all of his brethren. You know, that's what Christ
does to all of his lost sheep. He bows their hearts by the power
of his Spirit in the preaching of the gospel. And even as the
heart of one man, he unites them as one man, the new creation,
under him. And then they hear the word,
return thou and all thy servants, return unto me. They come to
him in faith. and repentance. And verse 15
says, So the king returned and came to Jordan and Judah came
to Gilgal to go meet the king to conduct the king over Jordan.
You know what Gilgal is. If you if you if you forgotten
back before Joshua brought the people of Israel across the Jordan
River into the promised land, they encamped at a place at a
place And this is recorded. We won't turn there because I'm
running out of time. But you read it in Joshua chapter 5.
I believe, Brother Joe, you read that passage last week, didn't
you, in the study, Joshua chapter 5. And the place was called Gilgal. And that word Gilgal means to
roll away. And what he said there in Joshua
chapter 5 is that at this time, here they are in camp, waiting
to go across into the Promised Land, And it says, the reproach
and the shame of Israel was rolled away and the favor of the Lord
was shown upon the people. The reproach of Egypt, they said,
that bondage and the grace and favor of God was rolled away. And I believe that's what's being
pictured here. There's a way to be reconciled
to the King. And it's the way of Gilgal. It's
the way of rolling away. All our shame, all our sin, all
that bars our way to God has been rolled away, completely
rolled away by the work of Christ on the cross. And as a result,
by the work of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel
and the power of the Spirit, all that bars us in our own minds
is rolled away and the King and his people are brought together. That's the glorious reconciliation.
And it's all upon, it's by grace, all by grace. It's not by our
will or our way or our works or our notions or our religion.
It's all by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright.