Alright, let's turn in our Bibles
to the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 15. We're going to begin our
message tonight at verse 24. And the title of this message
is, Submission to God. Submission to God. Now, as you
know, David had been well established as the king of all Israel. And
as the king, he was set forth to guide the people in the ways
of God. He was set forth and commissioned
of God by covenant promise to be a type of the Lord Jesus Christ
and is through David, according to the flesh, that the Messiah
would come. And so David was to be a leader in the worship
of God. He was to be a leader in the
way of God. He was to be a leader in the
wisdom of God. The king was the supreme authority
over the land, except for one, and that is God. He is to recognize,
he was to recognize that God was the supreme head of all things,
even the king. And so the king was commanded
and guided to submit to God and that submission. Now, sometimes
David led valiantly in that task. Sometimes he failed. But here
he is established as the king over all Israel. Now, every individual
believer, now think about this, in our lives as believers, this
would refer back to the Old Testament believers, New Testament believers
today, everything in our lives is to somehow be used to reflect
the glory of God in Christ, the way of God. the will of God,
the wisdom of God, the worship of God, faith in Christ. We're
to be living proofs of the grace of God in Christ, how God saves
sinners. and how God keeps us and preserves
us. And therefore, everything in
our lives is to be to the glory and the praise of His grace,
to the glory of God. Now, we know, as we see in our
daily lives, we fail so miserably so many times. And we know that
if God didn't keep us, if God didn't preserve us, that we would
never last until the end. We'd never make it to glory on
our own. That's salvation, salvations
of the Lord from the beginning to final culmination. But everything
in our lives, we're to recognize that, and we're to be aware of
that, and we're to reflect godly sorrow over sin and repentance
when we fail to do it. But by the grace of God, we are
what we are. And that also applies to our
relationships, the relationships that God has set us forth. For
example, You'll read in the book of Ephesians chapter 5 about
the relationship in the home, the husband and the wife. And
he tells the wives to submit to their husbands as unto the
Lord. And he tells the husband to love
his wife as Christ loved the church. That's an established
order. And whenever you have an established
order set forth by God, there has to be a representative head. In the home, it's the husband.
And there has to be submission. And in the home, that's the wife.
I'm not going to go into all the details of that tonight.
But here's why he says that. And think about this too. The
home is to be a picture, a living picture in this world of the
relationship of Christ and his church. And he tells them that
in the book of Ephesians. He said, I'm talking about Christ
and the church. Christ is the head of the church. He's the husband, the scripture
says. The bridegroom until the marriage, and then the husband.
And the church is his bride, his wife. And he has all the
responsibility for saving her, for paying her debt, for caring
for her, and that's what Christ did in our salvation, in our
redemption. The Bible says he redeemed his
church by his blood. He paid our sin debt to God's
law and justice in full. He robed us with his perfect
righteousness whereby we stand complete and perfect in the sight
of God. And not only that, he cares for
his church throughout, just like a husband is to care for his
wife and take care of her. He's not to be a slave driver. He's not to be a hard taskmaster. He's to love her as Christ loved
the church, and that's a reflection. But there's got to be that order,
and there's got to be submission. Now that you can see that in
your jobs, you have a boss, you're to submit to his authority as
your boss. You see that in the civil authorities.
We've just been studying that in Romans chapter 13, where he
tells believers to submit, to be respectful and submit to the
powers that be for the good of society. And another place we
see it, and most assuredly, is in the church. In the church
of the living God. Christ is the head of the church.
But he set forth a particular order. He set up pastors and
elders. He set up teachers and evangelists. And there to be submission there,
number one, to Christ himself and submission to the men whom
Christ has placed in authority. The woman is not to take that
place of authority in the Bible. I know that's unpopular today.
I know that many will kick against that truth, but I'll tell you
exactly why that happens. It's in every area of life. Submission
is not in us by nature. It's just not in us by nature.
And when Adam rebelled in the garden and brought the whole
human race into sin and damnation, that's exactly what the problem
was. He did not want to submit to God's way, to God's will,
to God's sovereign authority. He did not want to submit to
God's wisdom. He wanted to stand on his own
two feet, make his own decisions as if he knew more and knew better
than God. As if he was wiser than God.
And you know what? We've been doing it ever since.
Man and woman. We don't like to submit to God's
authority. But you see here in 2 Samuel
15, you see a classic example of that. Here's David. He's established
as the king. God put him on the throne. He
was not to be removed from that throne by any man. It was up
to God to put him there and it was up to God to remove him.
And God is the one who appointed David's successor to the throne.
But David had a rebellious son. He had this son named Absalom.
And Absalom was a politician. And he was a conniver. And he
was a good looking man. And he drew people to himself. and tried to get them against
David, and he was successful with much of the nation. So here
we see Absalom in rebellion against God's authority, in rebelling
against King David, drawing people away, drawing most of the nation
away to himself and against David. And here's David, God's appointed
king, the type of the Lord Jesus Christ, having to flee his kingdom. He's having to flee his throne.
He's having to flee Jerusalem. Now David's not fleeing because
he's a coward. He's not fleeing for his own
safety. He's fleeing Jerusalem for the safety of the people.
And there we have a picture of Christ who went to the cross.
He didn't flee from his home in heaven. He left it willingly.
And he came down to this earth, not for his own safety and his
own salvation, but for the salvation of his people. But here's David
fleeing the city. And look at verse 24. It says,
a man named Zadok. Lo, Zadok also. Now, Zadok was
a priest. I don't know if he was the high
priest here, but he was a priest. And it says, Lo, Zadok also.
And all the Levites. That's the priests that were
with him. The tribe of Levi. With him. Bearing the Ark of
the Covenant of God. Now, you remember the Ark of
the Covenant. That was in the tabernacle. That ark was that
box that was made of shinim wood and overlaid with gold, which
contained the broken law covered by the mercy seat, which was
made of the same wood and covered with gold, where the cherubims
were over there. And it was placed in the holiest
of all, the very holy of holies. And you remember how the high
priest on the Day of Atonement, one time a year, the high priest
went in for the whole nation, the people of Israel, with the
blood of a lamb, and he sprinkled that blood over the mercy seat
on the day of atonement. And all that was a picture of
what? A picture of our atonement by the blood of Christ, our great
high priest, our altar, our sacrificial lamb. It's by the blood of Christ
that we're redeemed, that we're saved, that we're justified,
that we're blessed, that we're preserved, and that we'll enter
glory. And so that Ark of the Covenant.
So what's happening here is that as David's leaving the city,
and Zadok and the priests that were with him, the priests of
Levi, they grabbed the Ark. And they were going to take the
Ark out. And look at verse 24. It says, And they set down the
Ark of God. And Abiathar went up until all
the people had done passing out of the city. And the king, David,
said unto Zadok, Carry back the Ark of God into the city. Don't
bring it with you. Take that back. If I shall find
favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show
me both it and his habitation." In other words, he's saying if
it's God's will for me to return, he'll bring me back, and he'll
show me this city, this place, and this ark. We'll see it again.
But you leave the ark where it is. And it says in verse 26,
"...but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, In other
words, if God, if He's pleased to punish David, He says, Behold,
here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him. Let God
do what seems good to God. You put the ark back. And look
at verse 27. The king said also unto Zadok
the priest, Art thou not a seer? Aren't you a prophet? Apparently
this Zadok was a prophet too. And he says, Return into the
city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and
Jonathan the son of Abiathar. And see, I will tarry in the
plain of the wilderness until there come word from you to certify
me." So he's wanting Zadok and these priests to stay there.
Absalom's going to come into that city, but David wants a
report on what's going on. And he says in verse 29, Zadok,
therefore, and Abiathar, carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem. And they tarried there. And David
went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet. He went up the hill to
Mount Olivet, and wept as he went, and had his head covered,
and he went barefoot. All this is a sign of mourning
and sorrow. And all the people that was with
him covered every man his head, and they went up weeping as they
went up." Now, what you see in this is David's submission to
God in several ways. First of all, the Ark of the
Covenant represents David's respect and regard unto God. God alone is to be glorified.
God's way, whatever it is, is the only right way. And then
that Ark, when you see a picture of salvation, in other words,
when we first come to submit to God, not on our own now, we
won't do it on our own. Not by the power of our own goodness
or our own free will, but by the power of God who makes us
willing in the day of His power. Where and who do we submit to?
We'll look over Romans chapter 10 with me. And that's what this
ark represents. God's way of salvation for the
people. All that typifies Christ and Him crucified and risen again. And how God can save sinners
only in a way that satisfies His law and justice. Let's read
back up in Romans chapter 9 and verse 30 to get the context here.
He's talking about salvation of the will of God. Salvation
is not by the will of man. It's not by the works of man.
It's of the Lord. And he says in verse 30, what
shall we say then? What are we going to conclude
on this? He says in verse 30 of Romans 9, that the Gentiles,
which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith." Now, what he's
talking about there, he's not talking about every Gentile without
exception. He's certainly not saying that.
He's talking about the Gentile believers. He's talking about
sinners saved by the grace of God, those who have come to Christ.
And he said they followed not after righteousness. Now, what
does that mean? Well, the context will tell us. But what he's simply
saying is if you compared the Jews and the Gentiles, the Jews
had the Law of Moses. That's the Law of Righteousness.
It's not a Law of Righteousness by works because the Law of Moses
never commanded or guided or directed any sinner to seek salvation
from God by their works. Moses didn't teach that. The
Ten Commandments never taught that. You see, there is no law
given by God to man whereby man can work his way into God's favor
by keeping that law. Why was the law given? Well,
the scripture tells us in several passages that the law was given
to expose our disease, our sin. our depravity, our ruination
in Adam, and our sins of our own making, so that we know two
things. Number one, we deserve nothing
but condemnation from God. And secondly, we cannot be justified
or made righteous before God by our works. By deeds of law
shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. Romans 3 and
verse 20. So the Gentiles didn't have the
law of Moses. Now, they had some laws. They
had the law of conscience. They had laws of society, but
they weren't seeking the righteousness of the law by the law of Moses. But it says they've attained
to righteousness. They attained righteousness.
Now how did they do it? The righteousness which is of
faith. Now what is the righteousness
which is of faith? Well, hold on to that thought.
Look at verse 31. We'll answer that question in
a moment. But Israel. which followed after the law
of righteousness," meaning they had the law of Moses now, "...hath
not attained to the law of righteousness." They were seeking righteousness
by the law. They didn't make it. Verse 32
says, "...wherefore," that means why. Why didn't they make it?
Because they sought it not by faith. Now, what is it to seek
righteousness by faith? Well, the opposite is this, but
as it were by the works of the law. They sought to be righteous.
They sought to be justified before God by their works of the law. Now, if you know anything about
the law of Moses, you have the Ten Commandments, as I said,
which expose our sins, but then you have the ceremonial law.
That would include the law of the tabernacle or the temple,
which was built to house what? The Ark of the Covenant. You
have the law of the priesthood. You have the law of the sacrifice.
You have the ceremonial laws. Every bit of that was to show
them, as a tutor, a schoolmaster, that their only hope of salvation
was not by their works, but in the work, the obedience unto
death of one who was promised, one who was to come, typified
in all of that. And so what it says here, they
didn't seek it by faith. They didn't look to the future.
They didn't look to the Messiah. That's what it is to seek it
by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. Now look
at verse 32, the last part, for they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. And what is that stumbling stone? Well, that's taken from
Isaiah 8 and Isaiah 28, prophecy of Christ. As it is written,
behold, I lay in Zion, a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. It was the same gospel in the
Old Testament as it is today in the New Testament times. Hasn't
changed. That's what David was looking
to. That's what David, as king of Israel, was pointing to. And
when Absalom rejected his father's king and rebelled against his
father's king, Absalom was rejecting God's way of salvation. He was
rejecting God's Christ, the future king to come, the Messiah. He
would not submit. Well, what is it to submit? Well,
look at verse 1 of chapter 10 of Romans. Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. Now, what does that tell you? It tells you they're lost.
Because anybody who seeks righteousness by works of the law, seeks salvation
by works, is lost. They don't know the way. If you
think the way is salvation by your works, you don't know the
way. Christ said, I'm the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh
under the father, but by me. And so he says in verse two,
by bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. They're religious. They're doing
their best to be moral. They pray. They read their Bibles. They tithe. They do all the things
that religion says to do. But what have they missed? They've
missed Christ. They've missed the blood of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ, the grace of God. And he says,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, now listen to this, have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now, what
is it to submit to the righteousness of God? We'll read verse four.
For Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing of the law. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. When
you believe in Christ, you submit to him. You submit to God's way
of salvation. That's what Absalom was missing
here. That's what David was having respect to in his submission. to God. You see, David back here,
when he tells Zadok to take the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem
and leave it there, you know what he's doing? He's trusting
the Lord. You see, David fleeing the city,
but he had no instructions from God to move that Ark. Somebody
said, well, he should have taken it with him because there's power
in that Ark and he could have defeated all of them. Now listen,
this is not Raiders of the Lost Ark. This is the Scripture. This
is true. And that ark, listen, the only power that that ark
had is as it spiritually represented and typified the power of God
in salvation by Christ. It wasn't an electric conductor
or anything like that. It was a type of Christ. And the ark was not just for
David and his safety, but it was for the kingdom, it was for
the people, it was for Jerusalem. And that's the way Christ is.
He's not just for me, the pastor, or the preacher, or the elders,
or the deacons. He's not just for any one group.
He's for all His people. All of God's elect are equally
saved by the blood of Christ. All of His sheep are equally
redeemed by His blood, equally justified by His righteousness
imputed. Christ is the Savior of His people,
and He'll remain with them forever. Even though the Ark was going
to remain in Jerusalem, Christ didn't leave David. He said,
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. He'll never forsake
us. And this was David's submission. And notice here also, you have
David's submission not only to God's way of salvation, but to
the worship of God. He recognized that that Ark had
to be in the city of God, in Jerusalem, where the priests
were, where the people of God were to worship him on the Day
of Atonement. You can't worship and serve and pray to God acceptably
apart from Christ. Nobody can. We're sinners. And
our only right, our only title, our only fitness to come to God
and commune with God and worship God and pray to God and serve
God is the crucified and resurrected Christ. And that's it. He's our
only worthiness. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. But notice also here, David's
submission to God's providence. It's tough. Think what he said
there. Look back at verse 25 of 2 Samuel
15. The king said unto Zadok, carry
back the ark of God into the city. If I shall find favor in
the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again and show me both
it, that is the ark, and his habitation, if it's God's will. But if he thus say, I have no
delight in thee, behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seemeth
good unto him. Now, David, and I want you to
see this, in this particular instance, in being submitted
to the providence of God, and you know what providence is.
You know, we use that term sometimes loosely. Providence means God's
in control. Providence is God's government
of everything. God governs everything. If he
didn't, I heard a preacher on TV say that. He said many Christians
mess up and are unhappy in their lives because he said they believe
a lie that I believed for so many years. And he said the lie
was that God is in control. I heard him say that on television
about three weeks ago. And I thought, what? And you
know, I mean, if God were, I mean, God could just snuff that little
ant out just like that. Listen, if you don't believe
God's in control of all things, sovereignly in control, in providence,
in government, salvation, everything, then don't ever quote Romans
8, 28 again. Because you don't believe, you
can't believe it. All things work together for good to them
that love God according to His purpose. Think about it, who
are they called according to His purpose? Think about that. Only God can do that. Now, I
know there's a lot of things about providence we can't understand.
There's a lot of things about God's sovereignty and man's responsibility
we cannot understand. How can God? Listen, God did
not create evil. He's not the author of sin. There's
nothing in God that is evil. Everything is good, yet He's
in control of it. That's what the Scripture says.
And David's recognizing that right here. David was a man of
God. He was a man after God's own
heart. He was a sinner, sinner saved by grace. He messed up
royally, literally royally, didn't he? He messed up. And he's recognizing
here that God is in control in Providence, but specifically
in his own chastisement. That's what he's talking about.
David eternally had already found favor in the eyes of God, and
he couldn't lose it. Because if you're in Christ,
you cannot lose the favor of God eternally. But as far as
his life here on earth, he was suffering under the consequences
of his own sin, even Absalom rebelling against him. The Lord
told him, as a consequence of your sin, the sword will not
leave your house. Your household will be your own
enemies. Here's Absalom lifting himself up against his father
to get him off the throne. David knew God would never fail
to keep His promise to him, but he also knew that God dealt with
him righteously in whatever God did to him or with him. Whatever
God does is right. That's what David's saying here.
Do you believe that? I do. I may not like it at the
moment. I may do a lot of complaining,
but whatever God does and the way He does it and however He
does it, that's the right way. That's the wise way. That's submission. That's what the Bible talks about
when it talks about meekness, submission to God's way. And
so he sent back the priest with the ark. He said, if God's pleased,
I'll see it again. I'll be there. And then in verse
30 here, it says he went to the Mount of Olives. You remember,
as I told you last time, that was the mount where Christ went
after he passed over the brook Kidron, just like David passed
over the brook Kidron. That place of darkness, that
place of sorrow, that's what Kidron means. In John 18, it
talks about our Lord going across that brook into the Mount of
Olives, into where? The Garden of Gethsemane, the
way of suffering, the way of sorrow, the way of darkness,
because He was on His way to the cross. Well, David was on
his way in sorrow, typifying our Lord. We see Him as a type
of Christ, the suffering King of Israel. Christ, the suffering
King of spiritual Israel. David went up, his head covered,
he went up barefoot. That was emblems of mourning
and suffering and shame. And this kind of repentance and
sorrow and suffering shows David to be a redeemed man, a justified
sinner. This kind of sorrow and suffering
that our Lord went through when He was on His way to the cross
showed Him to be the Redeemer of men. suffering servant, the
man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And there he is. But now
look back at verse 31. Now, we're going to see some
things here just briefly. You know, when the trials of
life reveal something about us, about our faith or lack thereof. And here's a contrast between
David and his rebellious son Absalom. And it's shown by this. David is in submission to God,
and we know that's by the power of the Holy Spirit. David, a
sinner saved by grace, mercy. But now here's Absalom, David's
son, a rebellious, unbelieving, arrogant, proud, ambitious man. And that's the difference. Absalom
was a man whom God left to himself, to his own way. But look what
it says here. Look at verse 31. One told David,
one of the priests, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with
Absalom. Now, Ahithophel was one of the
wise men in Israel, one of David's closest advisors. He was known to be a wise man,
endowed with wisdom to advise and counsel the king. But this
Ahithophel, he betrayed David, and he went over to be a conspirator
with Absalom. It says, And David said, O LORD,
I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Turn his wisdom into foolishness.
And it came to pass that when David was come to the top of
the mount where he worshiped God, David was going to worship
God even in the light of this knowledge that broke his heart
about Ahithophel. Behold, Hushai, the archite,
came to meet him with his coat rent torn and earth upon his
head. He was grieving. unto whom David
said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden
unto me. But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom,
I will be thy servant, O king, as I have been thy father's servant
hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant. Then mayest thou
for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel." So David is putting
this man named Hushai back into Jerusalem to be his spy, to find
out what he needs to find out. What does Ahithophel tell Absalom? And hast thou not there with
thee, Zadok, and Abiathar the priest? They'll be there. Therefore
it shall be, that what thing soever thou shalt hear out of
the king's house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar
the priest. And behold, they have there with
them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's
son. And by them you shall send unto
me everything that you can hear. So Hushai, David's friend, came
into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem. What you have
there is David in submission to the wisdom of God. But Absalom
depends only upon his own wisdom. You have the classic battle,
the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of man. We'll turn to
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Where does the wisdom of man
stand in comparison to the wisdom of God? Look at verse 18. And here it is in a nutshell
as it relates to God's will, God's way, God's sovereign purpose
in salvation through Christ. It says in verse 18 of 1 Corinthians
1, for the preaching of the cross, the finished work of Christ for
our salvation, is to them that perish foolishness. But unto
us which are saved, it is the power of God. It's not foolishness,
it's God's power. Where it's written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent, the great thinkers. Where is the wise? This is God.
He's saying, where is the wise? Where are they? Where is the
scribe, that is, the interpreters of the Word? Where is the disputer
of this world, the debaters? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Absalom's wisdom was foolishness,
trying to take down God's King. He says in verse 20, And for
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, that
is, human wisdom, knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believed. Preaching of the cross.
God's wisdom in Christ. He is our wisdom. He is our righteousness. He's our holiness. He's our redemption. Verse 22, the Jews require a
sign. They're religious. Oh, give me
a sign, God. The Word of God is not enough to them, you see.
They've got to have a sign. And the Greeks seek after wisdom,
human wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified,
the finished work of Christ, the blood and righteousness of
Christ. Under the Jews, a stumbling block. They're trying to be saved
by their works. Under the Greeks, foolishness.
They are trying to be saved by their knowledge. But unto them
which are called, called of God by His Spirit through the preaching
of the cross, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
That is where it stands. My friend, without Christ, what
are we? We are fools. Isn't that right? Without God's
way of saying it. That's the way Absalom was. Follow
Absalom. Ahithophel, David's wise counselor,
turned into a fool when he rejected God's appointed king. That's
the way it is with every sinner who rejects Christ. And you notice
there at the end of that passage in 2 Samuel 15, it says that
Absalom entered the city. Do you remember when David first
entered the city of Jerusalem? He had conquered Goliath. That
was God who did it through him. He could have come into the city
arrogantly. He could have come in and said,
now that crones mine, Saul, get off. But he didn't do that. He came in and took his place
as the humble servant of Saul. You remember that? And he was
content to remain that humble servant of King Saul. Saul, who
was a wicked king. He was content to remain the
humble servant of King Saul until God was pleased to remove Saul.
And then, later on, David came back as the conquering king when
God brought him in. You remember when our Lord entered
Jerusalem the first time? He came in riding an ass. And
they were shouting, Hosanna! Hosanna! But he didn't go to
the throne in Jerusalem and say, now, here, you get off. That's
my place. No, that's not his throne. My king is not of this
world, he said. But he came as the humble servant to save his
people from their sins, to do the great work that God in his
wisdom and power sent him to do. And he did it. But now consider
how Christ will come again into this world. He'll come as the
conquering king. He'll come as the Lord of glory,
the judge of all the earth, to do two things. To gather his
people, his church, unto himself. And to conquer his enemies. Every knee will bow and every
tongue will confess. Now that's the wisdom of God.
That's the way of God. And the wisdom and way of men
are not even to be compared to him.