Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of 2 Samuel chapter 16. The title of the message is really
taken from the passage that Brother Doug read. Christ cursed in our
stead. were Christ cursed for us. Speaking of his substitutionary
work on the cross of Calvary, as he was made a curse for us. And we see a picture of that
in 2 Samuel chapter 16. Now David, King David, at this
point in time is about 60 years old. His family was falling apart. He'd been forced off of his throne
and out of the city of God, out of Jerusalem, by his own son
Absalom in a successful rebellion. David is again the outcast. Absalom
is usurping the throne of God's appointed king. And you know
how much that had to break David's heart. We can just think of our
own children and how much we love them how much we desire
that they love us and respect us. David, though, had been established
well in the revelation and the record of the scripture to be
a sinner saved by the grace of God, God's grace based on the
promise of God to send a Redeemer, a Redeemer to die in David's
place. to become cursed in David's place
as he would for all his sheep. And that is none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ. David was a picture of Christ
in many ways in his kingship. We're going to see that in this
passage. David had been freely and fully
already justified by the blood of Christ which was to be shed
in the future. At God's promissory note, to
all the Old Testament saints. I believe that. I believe that
every Old Testament saint was justified equally by the blood
of Christ, just like we are today looking back at the cross. Because
that work on the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection is the
center point, the focal point of all redemptive history. The
Lord himself spoke of it. He said, Abraham rejoiced to
see my day, and he saw it, and he was glad." When you look back
at the cross of our Savior, our Redeemer, are you glad? If you
are, if you believe it, then you're of the same spiritual
family of Abraham. Our Lord said, Moses wrote of
me. He pointed sinners to Christ.
That's what he did. The law that was given to Israel
through Moses was a law that exposed their sinfulness and
depravity, but it didn't leave them in despair. And as old Bunyan
said, the pool of despondency, despond. But it drove them to
Christ, those who believed. It drove them to Christ for salvation,
for righteousness, and for life. David spoke of Christ, and he
was a sinner saved by grace. He was freely and fully forgiven
of all his sins. But he's now in his lifetime,
as a 60-year-old man, continuing to face the consequences of his
own sin on earth. And here it's over, it's under
the line of the sin and the rebellion of Absalom. But here it comes
through three different men in chapter 16. It comes through
a man named Ziba. You remember Ziba, he was the
servant of Mephibosheth. And then secondly, it comes through
a man named Shimei. Shimei was a servant of King
Saul. And then it comes through a man
named Ahithophel. Now, Ahithophel was one of David's
wisest and closest advisors before. But Ahithophel, he rebelled against
David and he went with Absalom. He was a traitor. So let's just
read these verses and go through and bring out some of these thoughts. First of all, in the first four
verses, we have here a picture of the sin and fall of man. And
it's in Ziba. It says, And when David was a
little past the top of the hill, now he's on his way to Mount
Olivet. He's in sorrow. He's in mourning.
When David was a little past the top of the hill, Behold,
Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth," you remember Mephibosheth, he
was the son of Jonathan. Remember when David asked, is
there anyone in Saul's house whom I can show mercy for Jonathan's
sake? And he went and fetched Mephibosheth.
And it says, the servant, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met
him with a couple of asses saddled and upon them 200 loaves of bread
and 100 bunches of raisins. and a hundred of summer fruits,
and a bottle of wine." He's bearing all these magnificent gifts to
the king, to David. And the king said unto Ziba,
what meanest thou by these? Why are you bringing these gifts?
And Ziba said, the asses be for the king's household to ride
on, and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat,
and the wine that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.
And the king said, and where is thy master's son? And Zibas
said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem. He's talking
about Mephibosheth. Now he's telling a lie here.
Mephibosheth was not in Jerusalem. He abideth at Jerusalem, for
he said, Today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom
of my father. There's another lie. Zibas telling
him that Mephibosheth is hoping to be restored as king, as a
grandson of Saul. And it says in verse 4, Then
said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertain unto
Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech
thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king."
Now this is what's happening. This is Ziba's wicked attempt
to get the property that belonged to Mephibosheth. That's what
he wanted. And he tries to take advantage
of David's situation and even David's sorrow. Here's David
cast out of the kingdom. He's cast out of Jerusalem. He's
in sorrow. He's mourning. He's in repentance. And so Ziba intends to take advantage
of him. Here's David on Mount Olivet
in repentance over his own sin and in mourning over Absalom.
And what Ziba's trying to do here by telling these lies on
Mephibosheth, he's trying to take for himself what does not
belong to him. by deceptive means. Now, who
does that remind you of? Well, it could remind you of
a lot of people. But it reminds me of Satan, who
sought in the garden to do the same thing, he sought even before
the garden to do the same thing in his own fall. He sought to
lift himself up and take the authority and the possessions
that only belong to God, the glory that only belong to God,
And then he did it in the Garden of Eden, when he tried to take
possession of the earth, and he brought about the fall of
man, the sin and fall of man in Adam. And then he tried to
do it again on the Mount of Temptation, where he tried to get the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, none other than our
Savior, to deny his Father and bow down and worship him, trying
to take that which belongs only to God. Now in the Garden of
Eden, he brought down the whole human race and brought us under
the curse of sin and death. And just as David, David here
in this fourth verse, he said, Then said the king to Ziba, Behold,
thine are all that pertain unto Mephibosheth. David gave it to
him. David gave Ziba all that pertain, all that belong to Mephibosheth. And just as David gave all the
things that belong to Mephibosheth to this deceiver, I want you
to notice how God allowed Satan to usurp authority over this
world, and he became the prince of this world. In essence, in
a sense, this world then belonged to him, but only for a time,
only for a while. It is temporary. You remember
God had already given dominion over the earth to Adam. He told
Adam, he said, you have dominion over the earth. Adam was only
subject to God. In essence, all the earth belonged
to Adam. And Adam was only subject to
God, but all of it was given into the hands of the deceiver
for a little while. Just for a little while. This
world, that's why we're not of this world. We're not of Satan,
we're of Christ. And just like I said, when he
brings all this stuff to light, we're going to see that Satan's
defeat is imminent. He's already been defeated. He's
already been defeated by the victory that Christ gained on
the cross. But ultimately, all this that he thinks he owns,
all this usurped authority, will be given to God. Now look at
verses 5 now. Now here we see an illustration,
a type of Christ as our substitute Redeemer. And this is the meat
of the message. I want you to see this. Now man, by nature,
fallen, is cursed. We saw that in what Brother Doug
read. Cursed is everyone that continues, not in all things
that are written in the book of the law. But that curse can
only be removed by the substitute, by the Redeemer, by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen to this in verse 5. It
says, And when King David came to the Hurom, Behold, thence
came out a man from the family of the house of Saul, that's
the house of the fallen king, whose name was Shimei, the son
of Gerak. He came forth and cursed still
as he came. And he cast stones at David,
and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and
all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And
thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody
man, or man of blood, you're a murderer, that's what he's
saying, come out you murderer. And thou man of Belial, that's
a son of Satan, an idolater, this is what Shimei is saying.
And why did he call, now David did have Uriah murdered, but
why did Shimei call him a murderer? He says in verse 8, the Lord
hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in
whose stead thou hast reigned, and the Lord hath delivered the
kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son and behold thou art taken
in thy mischief because thou art a bloody man." Shimei cursing
the king. Now Shimei's accusations were
lies. They were lies. Just as all of
man's accusations against our Savior were lies. It wasn't that
David himself was not a sinner, he was. It wasn't that David
himself was not a murderer, he was. But the accusations that
this man brings against him, that he murdered Saul and brought
Saul off the throne, that was a lie. David didn't do that.
You remember David, he bowed to the will of the Lord in that
matter. He had ample opportunity to kill Saul and bring him off
the throne, but David wouldn't do it. He wouldn't touch God's
anointing. So these accusations against David are a lie. So look
at verse 9. It says, Vincent Abishai, now
you remember Abishai, David's nephew, the son of Zeruiah, under
the king. Why should this dead dog curse
my lord the king? How can you let this go on? Let
me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. Now you remember
Abishai, you know, he's the man of blood, he's the man of action.
Why are you putting up with that, David? Let me just go over, and
I'll make short work of this fellow. I'll just lop off his
head, and that'll be it. Stop his tongue. Well, look at
verse 10. I want you to notice this. This
is amazing. You talk about the grace of God.
This is amazing. The king said, verse 10, the
king said, What have I to do with you, you son of Zeruiah? In other words, he's saying to
Zeruiah, I'm not with you in this. Now, in your attitude and
your thinking and how to solve this problem, he says about Shimei,
so let him curse. Let Shimei curse. Listen to this. Because the Lord hath said unto
him, curse David. What? The Lord said to this man,
Shimei, curse David? He says, who shall then save?
Wherefore hast thou done so? Or why have you done this? Verse
11. David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold my
son, which came forth of my vows, seeketh my life. That's Absalom.
How much more now may this Benjamite do it? Shimei was a Benjamite
of the house of Saul. Let him alone and let him curse,
listen to it now, for the Lord hath bidden him. The Lord told
him to curse David. How did David know that? Well,
I'll tell you exactly how he knew. He knew it by revelation
from God. I don't think he got and had a council with Shimeon
and said, now, what's the Lord told you to do? Here's this man
cursing. God bid him to do it. He says in verse 12, he says,
it may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction and that
the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. Underscore
that verse. And as David and his men went
by the way, Shimei went along on the hillside over against
him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast
dust, threw rocks at David. And the king and all the people
that were with him came weary, and refreshed themselves there."
Isn't that something? My friend, that's a picture of
our Savior right there. Now let me show you how. Here's
Abishai. He's saying, now, this ought
not be. He's cursing the king. He's throwing rocks at the king.
Let me go over and kill him. But David saw things differently.
David saw something here that man by nature will not admit,
especially when the accusations are false. And that's this, David
knew that he justly deserved whatever he was getting within
the will of God. That's right. He knew he was
a sinner. And that if God were to judge
him based upon his best efforts, not alone, not his best efforts
alone, but based upon his sin, he'd be damned. That's why he
wrote, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand?
And then David knew that underlying the lies of this man Shimei,
who was an ungodly unbeliever, he knew that underlying those
lies was the justly deserved discipline that he was receiving
from the Lord God because of his sin. And he's resigned to
what has happened as being in the hand of God through this
wicked man. And yet he would not accuse God
of sin. He would not accuse God of being
unfair. He wouldn't accuse God of being
unjust. It kind of reminds you of Job.
Look over at the book of Job chapter 1. You remember when
God brought, allowed Satan to bring tragedy and harm to Job. It says in verse 20 of Job chapter
1, listen to the words of Job. It says Job arose, Job 120, Job
arose and rent his mantle, he tore his robe, shaved his head,
that's sorrow. And he says, and fell down upon
the ground and worshipped, he worshipped God. And he said,
naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return
thither. The Lord gave, the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this Job sinned not. nor charge God foolishly." Now
Job was a sinner, but what he's saying here in this specific
instant, Job did not accuse God of sin or of evil or of injustice. And then look over at Job chapter
2. Look at Job chapter 2 and look
at verse 9. After Job went through some more
harsh losses, testings and trials. It says, Then said his wife unto
him, this is Job's wife speaking, Dost thou still retain thine
integrity, curse God, and die? Now that's the natural man. That's,
you know, the natural man. If David had not had the grace
of God in his life and in his heart, that's what he would have
done. God, why are you putting me through this? Curse God and
die. But it says in verse 10, But Job said unto her, Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speakest. What? Shall we receive good at
the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this
did not Job sin with his lips. He didn't accuse God. Now, many
things there that people say, well, we can't understand all
that. And that's right. But you see David back here in
2 Samuel 16, he voluntarily submitted to God in whatever God had for
him. Now David's humiliation here
is a great picture of the willing humiliation of our Savior. The Bible says in Philippians
chapter 2 that he humbled himself, humbled himself. He wasn't forced
down. He wasn't beat down unwillingly,
but of his own will he humbled himself to be obedient even unto
the death of the cross. Willing and voluntary submission
in all that was necessary for the glory of God. For what? For
our salvation. The Bible in Isaiah 53 and verse
7 says, He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth. He willingly, submissively received
all that rejection. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, an innocent lamb to the slaughter. In himself he
did not deserve the punishment that he was going through. And
so he was as a sheep before his shears is done, so openeth not
he his mouth. Over in the record of his trial,
and his crucifixion in Matthew chapter 26, when they brought
him up on charges. And all their charges were false,
just like Shimei's charges unto David, they were all false. It
says, the high priest arose and said unto him, Answerest thou
nothing? What is it which these witnesses
against thee? And it says, but Jesus held his
peace. He wouldn't even answer those
false charges. In another place it says he was accused of the
chief priest and elders, and he answered nothing. And it said
Pilate said unto him, hearst thou not how many things they
witness against thee, the charges they're bringing against you?
And he answered him never a word, insomuch that the governor, Pilate,
marveled greatly. Pilate was amazed that he wouldn't
open his mouth and answer those charges. The Bible in 1 Peter
2 and verse 22 says, Christ did no sin, neither was guile found
in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself unto him, his father, that judgeth
righteously. That's what David's doing back
here. You see, he was not only our appointed Savior, our able
Savior, but he was also our willing Savior. Turn to Isaiah chapter
50 with me. He was willing. You know, I said
before this, in order for the substitute to do his work and
be successful, in order for the Redeemer to do his work and be
successful, three things were required. Number one, he had
to be chosen of God, appointed. Christ was chosen. Just like
David was chosen to be king. Christ was chosen to be the Redeemer,
to be the king. He's called God's elect in Isaiah
chapter 42. Secondly, he had to be able to
do the work. And Christ as God's man, God
in human flesh, was able to save all his people to the uttermost
that come unto the Father by him. Thirdly, he had to be willing. He had to be willing to do it,
and he was willing. Look at Isaiah chapter 50. Look
at verse 4 of Isaiah 50. It says, The Lord God hath given
me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak
a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning
by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The
Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebased. This is
Christ. Neither turned away back. I gave
my back to the smiters." Now you notice there, what he said,
I gave it to them. They didn't force him. He said, my cheeks
to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from
shame and spitting. And you can go on and on with
it. Look at John chapter 10. And this is an amazing thing.
This gives every sinner who has pledged to Christ for salvation,
for righteousness, for life, and assurance and peace that
none other can really have. Look at verse 14 of John chapter
10. He says in John chapter 10 verse 14, he says, I am the good
shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known of mine. Now back
up in verse 11, he said, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd
what? giveth his life for the sheep. He gave it. Look at verse
15. He says, As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. He
said, Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth
my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father." I think about our Savior when
he was in the garden, and Judas brought the soldiers. And he
come out, and he said, whom do you seek? And they said, we seek
Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And you remember
what happened? They fell backwards. You see,
they couldn't have taken, they couldn't have laid a hand on
him, a finger on him, except they had permission from Him.
You know, when we die, it's something we can't control. It's not our
choice. It's appointed by God. But when
Christ died, it was His choice. In the book of Luke chapter 23
and verse 46 it says, when he died, when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,
and having said this, it says, he gave up the ghost. He gave
it up. We don't just give it up, we'll
fight tooth and nail to live as long as we can live, but he
gave it up. Now back here in 2 Samuel chapter
16, David knew that even though Shimei was a wicked liar and
deserved judgment for his sin, that he also knew that it was
God's will for him to go through this cursing. And just like our
Lord, now you think about it, our Lord was slain by wicked
humanity. Wicked humanity. But it was all
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And I know you've read
these verses many times, but I want you to look at them again.
Look at Acts chapter 2. And look at verse 22. And listen to me. The fact, and
I know people, like I said, I know people don't understand this.
They'll deny the sovereignty of God over it. They say, well,
now how can God hold Shimei responsible? He does. Because Shimei meant
it for evil. God meant it for good. That's
what Joseph told his brethren. You meant it for good. What you
did in kidnapping Joseph and selling him into slavery, hoping
that they'd never see him again, they meant it for good. God meant
it for good. God overrules the sin and wickedness
of men. If he didn't, listen to this,
if he didn't, there'd be no salvation. Look at verse 22. Peter preaching
at Pentecost. He says, you men of Israel, hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know,
him being delivered," how? By the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. He was delivered to the cross
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And he
said, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
And then look over at Acts chapter 4, and look at verse 26. People today, they argue over
who was responsible for the death of Jesus of Nazareth? Who was responsible? Well, the
Bible says that wicked men, wicked humanity was responsible. We
hated him without a cause, the scripture says. My wicked hands
have crucified and slain the Lord of Glory." But ultimately
it was the will of God. The Bible in Isaiah 53 and verse
10 says, it pleased the Lord to do what? To bruise him. It
was an act of God. And it says here in Acts chapter
4 and verse 26, listen to this, the kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles." Somebody said, well the Jews were responsible.
Oh no, the Gentiles too. Fallen humanity. He says, and
the people of Israel were gathered together. I didn't leave anybody
out. Not even you and me. That's right. We weren't there personally,
but we were there in fallen humanity. Look at verse 28. It says, for
to do whatsoever thy hand, God's hand, and God's counsel determined
before it to be done. God meant it for good. To save
much people, as Joseph said, and yet we're responsible for
our sins. Back in 2 Samuel 16, David knew
that he was innocent of the charges that Shimei brought against him.
He knew that. He knew he'd done nothing. to
bring Saul off the throne and to bring about Saul's murder,
Saul's death rather. Yet David knew this, he knew
he deserved to be cursed. He called David, Shimei called
David the man of Belial, the son of the devil. Well let me
show you how that fits with our Savior. Our Lord was totally,
listen to me, He was totally innocent of all the charges that
men could have brought and did bring against him. They had to
hire people to lie. He was totally innocent in himself.
He knew no sin. He did no sin. They called him
the son of Belial. They called Christ the son of
Belial. They called him a wine-bibber.
They called him a sinner. They called him a blasphemer.
It was all untrue. As I said, we hated him without
a cause. Pilate, Pontius Pilate, said
three times, he said, I find no fault in this man. He's the
innocent lamb. He did no sin. He knew no sin. Yet, listen to me, when he was
upon that cross, he was justly cursed of God. Justly. When it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, God did no injustice against him. He was innocent of all the
charges that men could bring. But when God bruised him upon
that cross, when the wrath of God was poured down upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, the innocent substitute, God did no injustice. God did right. Now how? We'll
go to Galatians chapter 3. God did right. How is that possible? And here it is. he was made sin
the scripture says he was made a curse for us look at it Galatians
chapter 3 verse 13 Christ hath redeemed us his people his sheep
remember he said I laid down my life for the sheep he hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for
us. He was made a curse. He in himself
didn't deserve to be cursed, but he was made a curse. Just
in the same way in 2 Corinthians 5.21, he was made sin. How? By imputation. By the sins of
his people, all the demerit of the sins of God's elect, all
the demerit of the sin, all the guilt And all of the cursedness
that came with the sins of his sheep, they were laid on him. He was made fully accountable
for all those sins. He was made a curse. And this
was real. This is God making Christ responsible
for our sins. And it's all by imputation, substitution. He stood in our place. The Lord
in Isaiah 53 said this way, the Lord laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Now, that doesn't mean that God
picked up a substance called sin and lifted it off of here
and laid it over here. That's not what that's talking
about at all. It's talking about a legal transaction in the mind
of a just and holy God whereby He looked upon His Son, His innocent
Son, as being responsible for all the sins of all His people.
And in that sense, He was made a curse. The Bible says there
that curse it is everyone. that hangeth on a tree," that's
talking about the crucifixion. In other words, in himself, Christ
did not deserve to die. But as our substitute, as our
redeemer, as our surety, having our sins laid, imputed, charged,
accounted to him, he deserved everything he got on that cross. And that's what it says. Cursed
is everyone that hangs on a tree. They deserve to be there. God
bruised him. And God does nothing unjustly. And here's our Savior on that
cross. God always judges according to
the truth. You see, the imputation of sin
to Christ is a real transaction. It's not a legal fiction or some
kind of a play-like. It's nothing. plays like he has
sinned when he's really not. No, he was made sin. He owed
the debt that I worked up. My debt, he took it. It's his.
He said, put it on my account. God did it. And it was real. The imputation of righteousness
to us is just and real. Turn to 1 Peter 2. Listen to this. Verse 20. Peter here's talking about how
we are tried and tested, sometimes chastised for our sins, and he
says that we are to be sure that when we're persecuted it's not
for our own selfishness, our own sins, but it's for righteousness
sake, for the gospel, our identification with Christ. He says in verse
20, for what glory is it if when you're buffeted, when you suffer,
when you're under the rod of chastisement for your faults,
you shall take it patiently. But if when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For even hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his
steps, Christ who did no sin, neither was guile found in his
mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered
he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously."
He committed himself unto the Father. Look at verse 24. "...who
his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that
we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes you were healed." He bore our sins in his own body.
What that means is this. As God meant, God in human flesh,
he bore our sins to the cross. And he drank damnation dry. He
was made a curse for us. Christ had to suffer for our
sins. He said to Peter, when Peter
cut that fellow's ear off when they come to get him, he said
to Peter and the disciples, he said, put up thy sword into the
sheath. The cup which thy father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? He had to die. And listen, if
he bears my sins, if he takes my debt, if he becomes responsible
for all the transgressions that I am by nature and by practice,
then he must bear the curse. And that's what's being illustrated
back here in 2 Samuel 16, David being cursed. Look at verse 12
of 2 Samuel 16. David says here, it may be that
the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite
me good for his cursing this day. Over there in Galatians 3 it
says Christ was made a curse for us, for cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. He bore that curse. And He did
it that we might receive the blessing of Abraham. Now what
is the blessing of Abraham? That's salvation by God's grace
through the blood and righteousness of Christ. That's the gift of
eternal life. It's the gift of righteousness.
It's the gift of glory. It's the gift of life by the
Spirit. Where are you going to find that? Where are you going
to find life? I'll tell you where. At the place
of His cursing. At the cross. And also, you know, David, he
did get back to his throne. Absalom was eventually defeated,
and David won back the hearts of the people. Look at verse
14 of 2 Samuel 16. It says, And the king and all
the people that were with him came weary and refreshed themselves
there. Where are we going to find refreshing?
At the cross, the place of his cursing. Not only the place of
his cursing, but the place of his victory, for it's there that
he finished the transgression, made an end of sin, and brought
in everlasting righteousness, established it. Christ purged
our sins, and he sat down, and he arose again, and went unto
his Father, and he's seated right now at the right hand of his
Father, making intercession for us. And as a result, he brings
refreshing to all his people. He brings life. He brings salvation. justification, sanctification,
new birth, all spiritual blessings flow from the blood of the cross. And then the Lord orders our
steps. You know, there are many things we go through, but ultimately
all our steps are ordered by the Lord. And that's what David's
saying here, how everything is working toward its purposed goal,
purposed by God for the salvation and deliverance of his people.
We'll finish this chapter out in another time. That's the substitutionary
work of the Lord Jesus Christ who was made a curse for us.
Somebody says, did he deserve to be cursed? Not for his own
sins, but for ours, he did. He was, and you know what? He
removed the curse by his death. He drank damnation dry. He fully
measured out the wrath of God upon himself so that we could
live and live and live forever.