All right, let's look at 2 Samuel
chapter 10. 2 Samuel chapter 10. Good in God's sight, as our Lord
said in Matthew 11, our reading. I took that title from verse
12 of 2 Samuel chapter 10, and these words are spoken by unlikely
character, Joab, David's captain, the captain of David's host,
his army. Joab was a valiant soldier. He
was a bloody man. And he speaks here before he's
about to go into battle with the Ammonites. He says in verse
12, Be of good courage and let us play the men for our people
and for the cities of our God. And the Lord do that which seemeth
him good. And that's where I took this
title from. Now, this chapter, before we get to that, this chapter
begins with David, King David, seeking to show kindness to a
man named Hunan, who was the king of Ammon at this time because
his father had passed away. His father had died. Hanun, his
son, reigned in his stead. Verse 1, it says, And David sent
his servants, to console this man named Hanun, who was now
king of the Ammonites, king in Ammon. We don't know, there's
no biblical record of any truce or treaty or friendship between
this man's father and David, but there must have been one.
But it says in verse 1, and it came to pass after this that
the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun, his son, reigned
in his stead. Then said David, I will show
kindness unto Haman, the son of Nahash, as his father showed
kindness unto me. So there's what it says in the
scriptures. But it didn't tell us what happened
there between Nahash and David. But he said he showed kindness
unto me. And David sent to comfort him
by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants
came into the land of the children of Ammon. So David sent servants
to show kindness. Well, Hanun, the king of Ammon,
got some bad advice from some evil, wicked, suspicious advisors
in these next verses. And as a result, he listened
to them, and he treated David's servants with contempt and with
cruelty. Look at verse 3. The princes
of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Thinkest
thou that David doth honor thy father? that he hath sent comforters
unto thee, hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee to
search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?" Planting
that seed of suspicion, accusation, you see. That's one of the great
sins of the tongue, isn't it? All you've got to do is plant
the seed, and you never think the same, you never look at people
the same, you never think of people the same. That's why James
has a lot to say about the sins of the tongue. That little member
that causes so much problem. And so these advisors tell Hanun
this, in verse 4 it says, Wherefore Hanun took David's servants,
and shaved off the one half of their beards. Now you think about
that. They must have looked weird,
you know. But just think about it, somebody just shaved off
half your beard. But you know, back then in that culture, the
beard was a symbol of strength and manhood and honor. And what
he was trying to do was humiliate these men, showing his contempt
for David and that whole nation. So he cut off one half of their
beard, and it says, and cut off their garments in the middle,
even to their buttocks, and sent them away. Now you can imagine
what a sight that was. Here's David's princes, David's
servants. And this is how this man, Hanun,
treats them because of the suspicion that was sewn in his mind and
in his heart by these evil advisors. Well, David received and helped
his men. Look at verse 5. When they told
it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly
ashamed. The king said, Wait or tarry at Jericho until your
beards be grown, and then return. They were so shameful, you see.
He said, You just wait over there, and then you come home when your
beards have grown back. And then the Ammonites They saw
that they had stirred David's anger, and they sought to get
help from another idolatrous nation, the enemy of Israel,
called the Syrians. It says in verse 6, and when
the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David. And
that's just a Hebrew way of saying that they had earned David's
displeasure. It's like many times in the Scriptures
when we When God expresses his displeasure over the wrong sacrifice
or the wrong offerings, he says, it's a stench in my nostrils.
That's the way he would put it. And that's the Hebrew way of
saying that. They have earned David's displeasure, and they
saw that. And it says, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians
and Beth Rehob and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 footmen, of the king of Ma- and of king
Maaca a thousand men, and of Ishtab twelve thousand men."
This was a big army. And they had this huge army to
go against David. Well, what did David do? Well,
he sent out Joab. Now, Joab, his captain, his main
general, sent out Joab and the army. And basically, to make
a long story short, Joab fought him in one. But listen to what
he says here. It says in verse 7, when David heard of it, he
sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men. And the children
of Ammon came out and put the battle in array at the entering
in of the gate. And the Syrians of Zoba and of
Rehob and Ishtab and Meacah were by themselves in the field. And
when Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him
before and behind, they were divided. He chose of all the
choice men of Israel and put them in array against the Syrians."
So he went against them. And the rest of the people he
delivered into the hands of Abishai. You remember Abishai? He was
the one that went with David, wanted to kill Saul. His brother,
this Joab's brother, and both of them were David's nephews.
And he says that he might put them in array against the children
of Ammon. So Abishai goes against Ammon. And Joab goes against
the Syrians, and he said, if the Syrians, now listen, verse
11, he says, if the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou
shalt help me. But if the children of Ammon
be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. But
be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people and
for the cities of our God. And the Lord do that which seemeth
him good. What happened here, you can read
the rest of the chapter. David, as he sent these men out,
they fought and they won. Joab and Abishai won the battle. And then in the last verses of
this, there's a man who comes up again, whom David had defeated
back in chapter 8. He was named Hadadezer. You remember
him, maybe. Well, he tried to form a second
wave of attack by bringing in more of the Syrians, and once
again, Israel defeated them. God's people won by the power
of God. Now, the first thing I want you
to notice about this is the difference between 2 Samuel chapter 9 and
verse 1. Look back at 2 Samuel chapter
9 and verse 1. That's the chapter about Mephibosheth.
You remember Mephibosheth? I've got an article in the bulletin
coming up this Sunday entitled, Our Name is Mephibosheth. Because
he's a picture, a portrait of every sinners saved by the grace
of God. And we won't go over all that
again, but you know how it is. That's a beautiful, beautiful
picture of how God saves His people, His people who fell in
Adam, lame on their feet, dead as far as walking, dead in trespasses
and sins, and how He saves us by His grace. And notice there
it says in verse 1 of chapter 9, And David said, Is there yet
any that is left in the house of Saul? Remember, Saul was his
enemy now. Saul was the fallen king. that
I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake." Now, there's David. He
desires to show kindness for Jonathan's sake. And then look
at chapter 10 and verse 1. Or verse 2, rather. Chapter 10
and verse 2. It says, "...then said David,
I will show kindness unto Hanan the son of Nahan." Now, those
are the same words. Same Hebrew word. Kindness. Kindness. Anybody in the house of Saul,
kindness. And then Hanun, this king whose
father had been a friend and showed kindness to David, said,
I want to show kindness. Now, what's the difference? Well,
we know that Mephibosheth was a recipient of David's kindness. He received the benefits of that
kindness, didn't he? Because he was fetched out of
Lodibar, the land of no pasture, or some say the land of no bread,
Just say the land of nothing. That'd be all right. So here's
Mephibosheth dwelling in Lodibar. That's where we dwell by nature
spiritually in the land of no bread, the land of no pasture.
And God fetched us out by the power of His Spirit through Christ.
And that's what David did to Mephibosheth. He fetched him
out of there and brought him into the king's palace, set him
at the king's table, and he did eat bread at the king's table
continually. So, Mephibosheth was a recipient
of David's kindness, and he benefited from it. But what about Hanun?
David wanted to show kindness to Hanun. But Hanun was not a
recipient of David's kindness, and he didn't benefit from it.
Now, what's the difference? That's what I want you to focus
on. What's the difference here? I'll tell you. Three words are
the difference. And it's right there in verse
1 of chapter 9, the last three words of that verse. for Jonathan's
sake. That's the difference. You see,
David had no choice but to show kindness, merciful kindness,
covenant kindness to those who remained of the house of Saul
for Jonathan's sake. He had no choice because he'd
made a covenant. He'd made a promise. And that's
a great picture of how God chose the people in Christ, and He's
going to save them. He's not going to lose any of
them, for Christ's sake. That's His covenant kindness,
His loving kindness, the Scripture says, His merciful kindness to
His people. And we're all going to be fetched
out of spiritual death, spiritual barrenness. But now there's no,
for Jonathan's sake, here in verse 2 of chapter 10. And so
what this pictures is general kindness, not covenant kindness,
for Jonathan's sake. Covenant kindness is always received
by its object because they're made willing in the day of God's
power. Christ said it this way in John 6, 37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. They will. And him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. He said, and I, if I be
lifted up, will draw all unto me, all his people. He said,
Glorify me, Father, that I may give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given me. So all those covenant people
are going to be recipients and beneficiaries of the covenant
kindness of God for Christ's sake. But now there are many,
many, many, many in this world who are objects of kindness,
but in reality receive no eternal spiritual benefit from it. There's
God's general kindness to all. And what happens? Now listen,
man by nature, if left to ourselves, will always despise the kindness
of God. Despise the goodness of God.
Now why is that? I'll tell you why. Because the
goodness of God, the general goodness of God, does not feed
our pride and exalt our flesh. You see, the very fact that a
man or a woman is walking around on this earth taking a breath,
that's a person who's a recipient of the kindness of God in a physical
way. All the good things, everything
that's good comes from God. But you see, whenever a person
realizes that everything he has, he doesn't own anything. Doesn't
matter whether you're a believer or unbeliever. It's going to
be gone. You're going to be gone. And
when a person realizes that, that's a humbling thought. You
know, we like to think we earned it all. We own it all. My name's
on the deed. I worked hard for it. It's mine,
mine, mine. No, it's not. Ultimately, it's
not yours. You can't keep it. You can't
hold on to it. You may ride a whale, but that can be changed. It gets
you a good logger. That's all you have to do. And you usually end up fighting
over it anyway. But you see, man by nature despises
the goodness and the kindness of God. It exposes our sin and
our unworthiness. It offends our dignity. Think
about the goodness of the gospel. Turn to John chapter 3. Many hear the gospel and walk
away unaffected. Many hear the gospel, the good
news. And what an awesome privilege,
what an act of kindness it is. for God to put anybody within
earshot of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. And yet many
walk away in unbelief. Many walk away cold, unmoved. Think about it. Look at, and
why is that? Well, look at John chapter 3. Look at verse 19.
He's talking about condemnation here. Men by nature are condemned
in Adam. But he says in verse 19, and
this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. It's kind of like this, you know,
when you have a disease and the doctor goes through a procedure,
whether it's an x-ray or a CAT scan or an MRI and exposes the
disease, what are you going to do? Are you going to hate that
truth? Are you going to hate the doctor or are you going to seek
a cure? And men by nature hate the light because their deeds
are evil. Their deeds there are their efforts to make themselves
righteous before God. It's their efforts to save themselves
by their works. And he says in verse 24, everyone
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. Now the light, turning on the
light is the best thing that God can do for any sinner. It's
the best thing that God can do. And some say amen. That's right. Don't you say amen to that. Don't
you rejoice that God exposed you one day for who you really
are, for who we really are. That we're sinners who have no
hope, no way of salvation, no hope of righteousness, but by
His grace and mercy through Christ. That all our deeds put together,
all our best efforts put together, Cannot justify us before a holy
God. Cannot earn us one iota of God's
goodness and blessings. Aren't you glad? Don't you rejoice
when He showed you that? If you don't rejoice in that,
that means you hate the light. That's exactly right. And then
look over at Matthew chapter 5. Consider how the enemies of
Christ respond to God's goodness in the Gospel. Matthew chapter
5 and verse 10. It's set down in God's providence
in such a way that he has to teach his people the very wisdom
of God that's revealed in these persecutions. Look at it. Verse
10, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness
sake. That's the gospel. He said, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." What prophets? Every prophet of God
in the past. Samuel, talk about Sam, talk
about Elijah, Elijah, go all the way up to Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Daniel, Malachi, the last, and John the Baptist. They persecuted
the prophets. Why? Because they preached the
goodness of God to sinners. But some sinners didn't see it
as goodness, and they hated the light. In the book of Matthew
chapter 21, you don't have to turn there, the parable of the
householder and the vineyard where he left those in charge
of his vineyard and they dropped the ball, as it were, and he
sent his servants to tell him and they killed his servants.
Then he sent his son as a symbol of Christ, a picture of Christ,
and they killed him. Christ went around doing nothing
but good. He never did an evil thing, never
had a sinful thought. He did nothing but good. And
what did we do? What did mankind by nature do?
We put him on a cross and crucified him. Look at Romans chapter 2. Paul is speaking here about the
goodness of God to the Jews under the old covenant. And they had
taken that goodness and perverted it and turned it into a self-righteous
system of religious works whereby they self-righteously exalted
themselves and self-righteously judged others." And he says in
verse 1 of Romans 2, "...therefore thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself." It's kind of like this. Think about
it this way. If I look at any person in this
world and say, now that person's going to hell because they're
a sinner, You know what I've just done? I've just condemned
myself. And you want to know why? Because I'm a sinner too.
I'm a sinner too. If we ever come to realize the
reality of God's grace and His mercy, we'll know that anything,
any sinner who does not go to hell, it's because of God's grace
in Christ. And that's it. No other claim,
no other plea. Has nothing to do with where
you were born, It has nothing to do with what you've done,
what you plan to do, what you've tried to do, what you've stopped
doing. It's all in Christ. And he says,
For thou that judgest doest the same things. You're a sinner.
But he says in verse 2, But we're sure that the judgment of God
is according to truth against them which commit such things.
And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such
things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment
of God? Now look at verse 4. or despisest thou the riches
of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." Now back
over here in 2 Samuel, when it came to Mephibosheth, the covenant kindness of David
for Jonathan's sake led Mephibosheth to repentance. He was the object
of covenant kindness and mercy. And how do you know it led him
to repentance? Well, look at verse 8 back here, or look back
at 2 Samuel 9 and look at verse 8. Look at verse 7. David said unto him, Fear not.
You see, Mephibosheth was afraid that David was going to kill
him because he was of the house of Saul. And that's the way we
are by nature. We fear God's wrath until God
speaks His word of goodness and kindness to this sinner's ear.
And he said, Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for
Jonathan thy father's sake. You see, it's not because of
anything in Mephibosheth, it's because of the covenant. And
will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou
shalt eat bread at my table continually. And Mephibosheth bowed himself
and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog as I am? That's repentance. The goodness of God. The covenant
goodness of God, for Christ's sake, will always lead the object
of that goodness and kindness to repentance. But now in the
case of Hanan, over here in 2 Samuel 10, didn't lead him to repentance.
It wasn't the covenant kindness for Jonathan's sake, you see.
It was the general kindness and compassion of a man who sought
to return kindness from one who showed him kindness. And what
did it do for Hanan? Well, he listened to bad advisors.
And that's what happens to sinners when they hear the gospel and
they go get a second opinion from a false preacher or from
false believers or from family members who don't know Christ.
They listen to bad advice, suspicion. Don't listen to that preacher.
Oh, if I believed that, I'd just go out and sin as much as I wanted
to. Oh, they don't even believe that you have to believe the
gospel. They believe in that predestination over there. And
you can just hear them, their gums just flapping. And they
have no idea what they're talking about. And then the person either comes
back and hears more by the providence of God, or they just leave. And
that's what happened to Hainan. He listened to these bad advisors,
and he came up against David, and he got defeated. You see,
apart from God's invincible grace, we will not come to Christ. Without God's invincible goodness,
covenant goodness, we will not. But now, in light of that, look
back up here in 2 Samuel 10. There are several things, several
gospel truths that really are expressed by Joab. I'm not saying
that Joab had these gospel truths in his mind, but as we read the
Scripture and we see the glory of Christ, in which that's what
we're to look for when we read this Bible in any verse, we who
know Christ can surely see them. And the first thing about what
Joab said is humility. Number one, humility. Gospel
humility. Now, Joab knew that the Syrians
might be too strong for him. And he said that. He said, in
verse 11, he told Abishai, if the Syrians be too strong for
me, then thou shalt help me. But if the children of Ammon
be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. Either
way, he said, let the Lord do what seemeth good in his, or
not let him, but he said, either way, the Lord doeth that which
seemeth him good. You see, there's a humility expressed
there by Joab, because he wasn't sure of the battle. He wasn't
sure of the victory. He knew it was outnumbered. By
all practical purposes and what he could see in circumstances,
he could have been defeated. So he expresses that to Amishai. He said, we don't know what's
going to happen here, but the Lord's going to do that which
seems good to him, seemeth him good. So there is a humility. Well, now, when it comes to salvation,
How would you apply that? Well, first of all, we know when
the Holy Spirit convinces us of sin, when he shows us the
reality of our sin and our depravity and the wickedness of our best
deeds, our best efforts to save ourselves, we don't have to do
like Joab. Joab said, well, if the Syrians
be too strong for me, we know our enemy's too strong for us.
We know that sin and Satan and the world and the flesh are too
strong for us. We can't defeat them. Listen,
some of y'all have been saved for hot, over 50 years. Some
may be more. You can't defeat them tonight,
can you? You know that. You don't have to say if. We
know we cannot defeat them. You can't – Paul said it in Galatians
chapter 5 when he was talking about the warfare of the flesh
and the spirit. He said, the flesh lusteth against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that you cannot
do the things that you would or want to do. That is, you cannot
be perfectly conformed to Christ. You cannot atone for sin. You
cannot make satisfaction to God's law and justice. That battle's
too much for me and it's too much for you and all of us put
together. You cannot establish righteousness. You cannot work out one, because
we're sinners, you see. And how are we going to win this
battle? Well, Joab said, the Lord doeth that which seemeth
Him good. That's how we're going to win
the battle. That's how we've won the battle. The Lord did that
which seemeth Him good. He sent His Son in the fullness
of the time, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law. We didn't have the payment price
for redemption. Christ paid it all. We couldn't
atone for our sins. Christ made that atonement. We
couldn't satisfy God's justice. Christ satisfied it all. He drank
damnation dry on the cross. God did that which seemed good
in His sight, and it was good. And I'll tell you what, when
God ever shows us how great and glorious that act was, it'll
be good in our sight too, won't it? Because there we see every
attribute of God honored and magnified and revealed. How God
can be just and justify the ungodly. There on that cross we see our
righteousness established by the death of God the Son incarnate. And that's our victory. And I'll
tell you what a humbling experience it is to know that my, listen,
my best gets me nowhere but hell. But His best, that which seems
good to Him, to God, not only saves me but keeps me and will
bring me to glory forever and ever. And so realizing the grace
of God in Christ is our only victory. That's humility. And then the second thing that
I believe Joab expressed here has to do with brotherhood and
fellowship. He said this, he said, he said,
if the Syrians are too strong for me, Then thou shalt help
me. I might need your help. That's
what he told Old Abishah. Or you might need my help. And
I believe that brotherhood and fellowship in the church is the
most important thing in our lives on this earth as we seek to glorify
and honor God, as we seek to evangelize the world. You see,
there's so much division. There's so much I, me, mine going
on. There's so much I'll follow Paul. I'll follow Apollos. I'm of Peter. There's too much of that mentality. And my friend, we need to realize
that in brotherhood and fellowship in which the grace of God brings
us under Christ, under the same gospel, doesn't mean we're going
to agree on every little detail now. If it did, there'd be no
fellowship. There'd be no unity. But it does
mean this. We agree on who Christ is and
why he did it and what he did and where he is now. and that
he's coming again. It does mean that we agree on
how God justifies the ungodly through the blood and righteousness
of Christ. It does mean that we agree on the gospel, and it
establishes a bond of unity and fellowship that cannot be broken. Now, it really cannot be. I mean,
we might get mad at each other for a little while, but that
bond of brotherhood and fellowship cannot be broken. But you know,
I thought about this, too. Ultimately, All our help, even
though we're here to help each other, to encourage one another,
even to admonish one another, ultimately all our help comes
from the Lord, for He is my help. And not only is He our help,
He's our hope. Christ, the hope of glory. That's
what He is. You know what that means? Now
some people say, that says in Colossians, Christ in you, the
hope of glory. That's fine. Literally, it would
read Christ among you, the hope of glory, talking about the church
collectively. But that's all right. Christ
in you. How is he in us? By his spirit and by his word.
How is he my hope of glory? He's my certain expectation of
final glory. Doesn't depend on me. And I believe
that's expressed here by Joab. And then thirdly, there's the
truth of strength. He says here in verse 12, look
at it, he says, be of good courage and let us play the men for our
people. Now literally in the Hebrew that
would read this way, be strong and let us show ourselves strong.
Let's be strong. Let's be strong. Now that's good. Let's be strong. Now how are
we going to be strong? Well, you know what Paul said?
He said, when I'm weak, I'm what? I'm strong. That doesn't sound
right, does it? That sounds a little weird, doesn't
it? When I'm weak, I'm strong. What did he mean by that? What
could he be telling us? Well, he's telling us this. When
I recognize and acknowledge and know that I'm nothing and that
Christ is everything, then I'm the strongest. What does he say
in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10? Be strong in the might and
the power of the Lord. Christ is our strength. And so
when we hear the admonition, be strong, what does it simply
tell us? It tells us, look to Christ.
Rest in Him. Plead Him. More and more, rest
in Him. Think about this. Where is our
strength? A passage that some of you may be able to quote by
now because I've read it so much in Revelation 12. Turn over there. I love this passage because,
you know, you think about it. We've got a lot of enemies. I've
named them all. We've got the world's our enemy. Christ said, I've overcome the
world. And when he talked about us overcoming the world, he said,
even our faith. Now, how's our faith overcome? Because our faith looks to Christ
who overcame the world. And then we talk about the flesh. One of our greatest enemies is
ourselves. The warfare of the flesh and the spirit. How is
that battle won? Well, Paul said, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank my God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. That's how we're
going to win that battle, through Christ. And then we talk about
the devil. He's a strong enemy. How are
we going to turn him back? We'll look at verse 9 of Revelation
12, talking about the great dragon was cast out. Who is that great
dragon? That old serpent called the devil
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. Incidentally, that's
one of those passages where you can prove that the word world
in the scripture very rarely means everybody without exception.
He deceived the whole world. You know, people will quote John
3, 16 and say, world, that means here. But now go over here and
use that same kind of logic on this one. Now, we're deceived,
even believers are deceived for a while, but then God undeceives
them by his spirit, by leading them to Christ. They say he deceived
the whole world. He was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength."
You see there? Joab talked about, let's be strong
now. But he says, now has come salvation
and strength. Now what does that mean? Well,
that means they finally worked out at the gym. Got tough. No. No. The loud voice is going
to talk about salvation has come. Now, when does salvation come?
Go back to old Simeon's message in Luke chapter 2, when he held
the Christ child up and he said, mine eyes have seen what? Thy
salvation. And then strength has come and
the kingdom of our God has come. What Christ say, the kingdom
is now at hand. And the power of his Christ,
there it is. For the accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."
Now, look here. Look at verse 11. You want to
fight this battle? Here's how to do it. Here's your
weapons. Here's your strength. "...and they overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb." You see that? And then it goes on and
says, "...and by the word of their testimony, and they loved
not their lives unto the dead." What is the word of our testimony?
Christ and Him crucified and risen again. That's our strength. Old Joab, he's standing there
and he said, well, let's play the men for our people. Let's
be strong men for our people. And I'll tell you what, we can
just as well say that, but we need to know what it means. We
need to know how do we do it. I'll tell you how, I'll play
the strong man for you. When I get behind this pulpit
and I open this book, I'm going to point you to Christ as our
strength, our salvation. We're going to plead his blood
against Satan. We're going to plead his power
against the flesh. We're going to plead his victory
against the world. I'm not going to tell you to
follow me and my strength because we'll fail. We'll all fall in
the ditch together if I do that. Even Joab knew that it wasn't
of him. He said, the Lord do that which
seemeth him good. What seems good to God? What
is good in the estimation of God? He said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. He's our strength. And I'll tell
you what, we see our own weakness many times, but when we're weak,
we look to Him, we're strong. Look back at 2 Samuel 10, Joab
said this, he said in verse 12, he said, Be of good courage and
let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God. What he's saying is, is Abishai,
we're not here just to make a name for ourselves. We're not here
to get famous. We're not here to earn medals.
We're here for the people. We're here for the cities of
God. We're here for the glory of God and the good of his people. And I'll tell you, that's a gospel
truth if I've ever heard one right there. What are we here
for? What is this thing all about now? Is it about the preacher? Is it about building memorials
to men? Is it about bragging on men? Is that what this is
all about? Is it about little clubs here?
Have a little club here and a little club there? A little circle here
and back there? Is that what this is? If it is, not only are
we defeated, we're dead in the water. This whole thing is about
the glory of God and about His people. Not just one person. Not just a group. Not just an
elite. but all his people, his sheep. Christ said, Peter, do you love
me? He said, Lord, you know I feed my lambs. Peter, do you love
me? Lord, you know I feed my sheep.
Peter, do you love me? Lord, thou knowest, feed my sheep. Don't divide my sheep. Don't
poison their ears with suspicious words and accusations. Don't
send the flock flying astray. Sheep, when they get out there,
they don't look for the master. They just keep going more and
more astray. You never find a sheep going around, where do I find
my master? Where is he? No, sir. He's just out there wandering.
He'll wander farther and farther away. Don't do that to them.
Huh? Point them to Christ, the Great
Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd. That's what
this is for. That's what seems good in His
sight because that glorifies the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit. Christ did all things for the
glory of His Father and for His people. He said, I laid down
my life for the sheep. Which sheep do you think He's
talking about? Every one of them. From the least to the greatest.
And then He taught the least is the greatest and the greatest
is the least. Think about that. And then, lastly, here's what
Joab said. He's talking about here this
gospel truth, submission to God's sovereign purpose and his way
and his guidance. The Lord, verse 12, the Lord
do that which seemeth him good. Now, that's in all things. Am
I right? That's a hard truth for us to
see. because i i got to be honest
with you there's things that happened to me and things that
happen to other people that i just cannot in my limited view of
things say well that's a good thing that's a good thing especially
when some of our dearest brethren get sick and ill or when something
happens you know i i mean i'm not going to go out and say it's
a good thing you know i mean i'm talking about my limited
view but i do know this i do know this That it seems good in God's sight.
I know you're biting off a whole mouthful of the chew there when
you say that, but it seemed good in God's sight. Job believed
that. And Job didn't always act like
he believed that. He said it. He said, the Lord
giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And then he turned around and started justifying himself when
those old three miserable comforters come back and start accusing
him. Figuring this thing out on a human level, you know, on
a human level. You know what the human level
is, don't you? S-I-N. F-O-O-L. But you see, and I know it's
tough. It's not easy because of our
limited understanding. But it's true in all things.
But it's especially true in the salvation of a sinner. You see,
Christ is God's only way to salvation. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. None other
name given among men, whereby we must be saved." Christ is
the only way. Men by nature will not submit
to that. Paul wrote of his brethren, according
to the flesh, that they had a zeal of God but not according to knowledge.
They, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted. themselves
to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Submission to
Christ. But now he says the Lord's going
to do what seems good to him. Now Joab didn't know how it was
going to turn out. He knew this. He said whatever However, God
determined it to turn out. That's how it's going to turn
out. That's what he means by that. However, it seems good. Joab
is actually saying here. He's actually saying that if
if we get defeated and conquered. That's what seems good in God's
sight. But now we whip up on them, that seems good. The Lord
did do that which seemed good in his sight. Yeah, now let me
let me show you. Notice Joab, he's still. sought to use all
means for victory. He didn't take a fatalistic attitude
and say, well, it's going to turn out like the Lord wants
it. Let's just sit down over here and just... No! He said,
now look. He said, Abishai, you go over
here against the Ammonites. I'll go over here against the
Assyrians. I don't know if I can beat them,
but if I can't, you come and help me. I don't know if you
can beat the Ammonites, but if you can, I'll come over and help
you. And let's be of good courage. Let's play like men here. Let's
be strong like men for our people. But the outcome's up to God. Sounds like a Hebrew to me. Doesn't
sound like a Greek. Doesn't sound like an American.
In that sense, you see, with the Western thought, we've got
to fix it. Well, wait a minute. If God's sovereign, we're not
responsible. No, no, no. God's sovereign,
and we're responsible. And that's the answer. You say,
well, I can't figure that all out. Well, that's too bad. And
if you ever do, you'll be the first one who set foot on Earth.
But it's true. So, so Joab said, well, let's
do what we're supposed to do. Now it comes up to God. Now you
compare that to salvation. You know, in the Bible, sinners
are commanded to seek the Lord. Do you know that? Seek the Lord. While he may be found, call ye
upon him while he is near. Hebrews 11, 6, But without faith
it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently what? Seek him. That's a command. And yet we're told that men by
nature do not have faith and will not seek the Lord. That's
what we're told. Romans chapter 3, there's none
that doeth good, there's none righteous, no not one, there's
none that seeketh after God. You say, except me. No, not except you. And if you
think except you, I'll tell you exactly what that is, wear it
on your sleeve, self-righteousness. Listen. Back in Genesis chapter
six, when God surveyed the earth for our information, not for
his, he said, the imagination of man's heart was only evil
continually. Noah raised up and said, except
me, Lord. No, no, he says in verse eight, but Noah found grace
in the sight of the Lord. Not except Noah. Well, God, why
aren't you gracious to everybody? Seemed good in his sight. You
want another answer? I don't have one. Neither does
this book, and neither does any preacher in this world. It seemed
good in his sight. Is that good in your sight? If
you've seen what you are by nature, and seen the glory of Christ
it is. You see, what should our attitude be? Just like Joaz,
be of good courage, let us play the men for our people. I tell
you what, seek the Lord. You save Him. Now somebody made
this comment one time. They said, well, come to Christ.
I don't know if God will save you or not. No, no, no, no, no. You come to Christ, God saves
everybody who comes to Christ. Whosoever shall call upon His
name shall be saved. That's what the Scripture says.
He'll save all who come to Christ. And believers, as we live our
lives and go throughout this life and all the things that
we confront and the circumstances, We know the outcome's up to God.
We know we're securing Christ. We know we're washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness, and we know the time of our death
is set. Do you know the time of my death?
I believe it. I believe the time and the way and the means of
my death is set right now. You know what? I don't know it,
and I'm glad I don't. But I'm going to do everything
I can to have a healthy body. Well, I won't say everything
I can, I'll do some of the things I can. I want to step in line. To have a healthy body. If I
get sick, I'm going to go to the doctor. I know that the Lord
is going to do what seems good in his sight. But if I hurt,
I'm going to the doctor. How about you? Well, I know this. Any sinner who seeks the Lord
shall be saved. Are you seeking? The Lord do
that which is good. or seen him good.