Let's be turning now to 2 Samuel chapter 14. 2 Samuel 14 here. In this chapter, there is a setting of the stage for further chastening of David. It's not gonna happen in this chapter, but there's some things being laid here that are opening that up which is in accordance with the word spoken by the prophet of the Lord Nathan to David when he said, I will raise up evil.

The Lord saying, I will raise up evil against the out of thine own house and chastening of David for his sin with Bathsheba and the death slaying, slaying, having Uriah slain. The Lord told him by Nathan, he said, you despised me. You despised me in doing that. And those are very severe words. David was definitely worthy of death. And the Lord said, you despised me in doing that.

And similar to that, you'll actually notice something that Absalom does. I hope to show you this, that Absalom, you'll notice, really is despising the love of David. He despises the love of David. This man, Absalom, is not a broken man. He is a very proud and arrogant man, as we'll see.

And so, what we have here is David's outpouring of love for Absalom, but we find that love itself is insufficient to save. The love that you show to another, the outpouring of love that you give to others, that does not necessarily result in their salvation. Love alone doesn't save. And there's a challenge that's presented here in this chapter where David loves Absalom, and he wants to reconcile with Absalom, but he doesn't know how to do it justly. And that's where the difference is in God's love. loved us and secured salvation for us justly. And there's no justice in what's done here in David's love for Absalom.

So, seeing the heart that David had for Absalom, Joab notices this and he devises a way that he can bring about this reconciliation between David and Absalom, but it's for love's sake alone. It's a reconciliation based purely, solely upon emotion and feelings. That's all that there is. It's just a reconciliation. based on love alone. And it'll become clear as we go through, Lord willing, you'll see that Absalom's heart is not broken.

He is not a contrite man. He's not sorrowful for what he did. He feels justified in what he did, in slaying his brother, Adam. He feels justified, and every kindness that's shown to him, he treats it as though, well, of course, that's what you owe me. It's my due. You should treat me kindly. That's how he takes it. He's very entitled.

Now, the Lord does tell us in his scriptures that if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. But that does not mean that they're gonna love you in return. We should be kind and gracious and understanding. But they're not gonna love you back, necessarily. And for the word's sake, there will be persecution, and there will be afflictions and sorrows. But it's not love alone that saves. It takes the Lord's work. It requires the Lord to save his people.

And so we see in this chapter something of the false gospel, not a gospel we've all heard at some point in our lives, that focuses only on the love of God and emphasizes the love of God at the expense of the blood of Christ that was shed and what Christ has done and the resulting new creation of those who are in Christ Jesus. That's lacking. We'll see that is lacking here in Absalom. And so we don't go around just telling men, God loves you, because we don't know that. We don't know if God loves a sinner or not.

The scriptures do speak of God's love for his people. Out of the Jews and the Gentiles, he does have a people which he has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world because he loved them. The Father loves His people, and He chose them because He loves them and gave them to Christ in order to justly deliver them from their sins, to pay the penalty, to satisfy the debt that we accrued by our sin and what we did against the Lord. We know that God does have a people he loves, but we don't say that God loves every individual, every single individual ever created in the world.

That's why he said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. He did not show Esau grace, the grace and kindness that he showed to Jacob. He never gave Esau that mercy, that conquering grace that breaks through this hard, wicked heart and brings a light into the darkened mind that has no understanding.

But God makes it so in us. He delivers us. He triumphs over us and it's glorious. And we praise him for that. We're thankful for what he does in our hearts. And so when the Lord loves a sinner, There's going to be a testimony. There's going to be a witness in his people that the Lord has done this. There's going to be a witness of faith and following the Lord Jesus Christ and walking in that faith, that obedience of faith, following the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, you're not going to see that in Absalom. There's no repentance worked in his heart the way we saw it in David.

Yet by a false gospel, men are professing to be Christians. And I don't know if it's pity or what, but I've heard it. I grew up hearing the great emphasis on the love of God and trying to emotionally secure a profession from people based solely on the love of God. And what we find is, That doesn't bring about repentance. That doesn't bring about godly repentance. It doesn't bring about a godly profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's based only on emotion and pity sometimes, right? They pity God. Oh, well, he did this for me. I guess I could do that for him. No, it's not how it works.

It is a salvation that delivers us from the jaws of death, eternal death and spiritual darkness and deadness. So he's gonna give us a changed heart. And so, when the Lord saves a sinner, we're going to know that, yes, he loved us, but it was by a just sacrifice for sins, made for us by his Son, whom he has appointed to do all things for us, and given him the authority, and he came in power and glory and might, submitting himself to the Father, and obtained for us eternal redemption. by his obedience unto the Father in truth. And so our Lord satisfied the demands of the law, so that the law is nothing to say against you anymore who stand complete in the Lord Jesus Christ, because you are righteous. He has satisfied all righteousness for you, his people. And we, by faith, That is our righteousness by faith. By faith, we stand in that very righteousness, trusting, hoping, knowing that he is my righteousness. He's all my acceptance with the Father.

And so we'll see. I just want you to understand that as we look at this, that the Lord gives his people a broken heart for their sin and an understanding of what he's done for them. And you're not going to see that in Absalom. It's not going to happen. Now, let's read the first three verses here in this chapter. I don't think I'm going to read every verse. I think we'll skip a few.

But I do want you to have a sense of what's going on, because I had to read it a number of times. And I'm thankful for a few of the commentaries that just explained a few of the verses that I just didn't understand what's being said there. But it is very understandable. It's all there. It should be plain when the Lord blesses it.

So Joab, the son of Zeruiah, verse 1, perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom. He sees this. He knows he's mourning for Absalom now. I think it even says it there at the end of verse 13. Verse 39, and the soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom. And he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead. And so Joab sees this. He picks up on this. He wants to go to Absalom.

And Joab sent to Tekoa, and that is a place that's far away, so that when this lady's going to say, David can't say, well, how come I haven't heard about this? Well, you haven't heard about it because it's from far away. to a faraway place, Tekoa, and fetched thence, or from there, a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead.

So she's an actor. She's an actor, and she's a well-spoken woman. She's a wise woman, And she's able to weave a tale. She does a very good job of bringing David in so that he would hear what Joab is saying and agree with Joab. She wants to draw on his heart. And you're going to find she will not take no for an answer.

She's going to accomplish the purpose that Joab has sent her to do. to the king and speak on this matter unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth. And so this idea here is that Joab has the tale, he's given her the idea, and she's now, as an actress, she's going to speak it and sell it to David, right, and get him to see this point.

And some say this is just the way that they did things in the eastern countries then. Nathan did something very similar. Except, of course, he spoke the gospel, and he spoke by the Lord. And this woman is just doing it differently. Again, you can see little traces of the false gospel in here, of false preachers in here that are articulate and can preach in a very moving, emotional way. But again, it does nothing for the soul, nothing for the heart. It takes the power of God. It's the power of God that makes us new creatures. All right, verse four. And when the woman of Tekoa spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance and said, help, O king. And the king said unto her, what aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.

And thy handmaid had two sons. And they two strove together in the field. And there was none to part them, but the one smote the other and slew him. And behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid. And they said, deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew.

And so what she's saying there is that her family, the family of her husband, these members wanted to put to death the other son now. So she has only two boys, they fought, and one slew the other, and the family's saying, all right, now bring the one that slew their brother, bring him here, because we want him put to death. And she adds, and we will destroy the heir also. That's what they're saying. We're going to destroy the heir also.

Meaning that her relatives, who were demanding this, stood to inherit the property, the inheritance of her husband. It would be taken. A name would be extinguished in Israel now. And they would be the beneficiaries. It sounds like they have an ulterior motive in all of this. And so they shall quench my coal which is left and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth. Well, what's she doing here? Well, she's appealing to the law of inheritance in Israel.

That was an important thing that every family would receive an inheritance in Israel. In each tribe they would receive an inheritance and it was important that a man's name not be extinguished because then he would lose his inheritance. Even we read of, what was it, I think six daughters of one man as they were going in to the land of promise and they went to Moses and said, look, we're not gonna get anything because you're saying it's only to the men and our father had no sons. So we have no inheritance. And the Lord told Moses, what they're saying is right. You give them the inheritance of their father. It'll go to them.

And so what this does though, just even in this thing, it brings up the need for a kinsman redeemer. That's what that law of the kinsman redeemer was about and why a man, if his brother died before they had any children, the next son was to go in to his wife and raise up a seed. The first seed would go to his brother and that child would inherit his brother's inheritance. And then as I understand it, the next children would inherit his inheritance there.

But that's that beautiful picture that we see in what Boaz did with Ruth. We see that picture of the kinsman redeemer and what a gracious thing he did there. And we know that Boaz and Ruth are the great grandparents of David. So David would certainly know of how this works. He would be familiar with this because his grandfather did that, Boaz, with Ruth and raised up an inheritance there. with Obed and Jesse and David. But that above picture there of Boaz and Ruth is what?

A greater picture of our kinsmen redeemer, who we were banished and exiled from the Lord in Adam. We lost our inheritance, but Christ came, being sent of the Father, and he graciously redeemed us by his own blood, satisfying our debt, and purchased us so that in him now we have an eternal inheritance. We are made partakers of the inheritance of God in him, and it's eternal, and it'll never corrupt, and never corrode, and never be taken, and never rust, and never diminish. It's eternal. It's eternal in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so it's picturing that. Verse eight, and the king said unto the woman, go to thine house and I will give charge concerning thee. And so at this point, David isn't ready to make a judgment on it. He would likely appoint somebody and send them out there to see if these things are so. And the woman of Tekoa said unto the king, my lord, O king, iniquity be on me and on my father's house, and the king and his throne be guiltless. What she's saying is, make a decision now, Lord, and if it turns out that it was wrong, I'll bear the guilt. Me and my house will bear the guilt, but you will be guiltless. But please make a decision on this matter now.

Because she wants to know, and Joab wants to know, which way is David's heart leaning? Because there's similarities here to Absalom and Amnon. There's similarities. They want to know for sure which way is David's heart leaning on this. So she wants an answer now.

And the king, verse 10, said, whoever saith aught unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee anymore. All right, he's moving, he's getting a little more clear on it, he's moving towards her. Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the Lord thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy anymore, lest they destroy my son. And he said, as the Lord liveth. So now he's making a determination. As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth. Boom. Just made it plain there. He made a declaration there.

And so what he's saying is, even though this man has found that this man committed cold-blooded murder, he will not be put to death under the law. No, he will not die. He's not going to die. And so David agrees to spare him, even though it's cold-blooded murder and killing his brother.

And we know that's exactly what Absalom did. It was premeditated, cold-blooded murder of Amnon. So David is now excusing this boy Well, can't you now do it for Absalom? If you're excusing this widow's son, who in cold blood murdered his brother, why won't you do that for Absalom?

And that's where she's going to go here next. It is different, right? It is different. Absalom has other brothers. They're not all dead. There's other heirs that could take the throne. And it does appear, however, that Absalom is next in line for the throne. He slew his brother. Now he's next in line for the throne.

I know that Absalom is the third born, but we don't hear anything of this Chiliab, this second born son of David. So I don't know if he died at an early age. It's not really mentioned, but it does appear that Absalom is the next one to inherit David's throne. And Joab seems to recognize that. that Absalom is the most favored son by the kingdom and even by David that he's likely to be the next king after David dies. And David is getting up there in age now. David's starting to get up there in age.

And I don't know It's not clear to me, but they do seem to talk about a division in the country that some favored Absalom, and some wanted Absalom put to death because he killed Amnon. Whether they liked Amnon or not, or they liked Absalom or not, they wanted him dead, which would what? That would create, if David dies, there's a civil war brewing there, if you will. And so this seems to be what the woman brings up now in verse 12. Then the woman said, let thine handmaid I pray thee speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, say on. And the woman said, wherefore then?

How come thou hast thought such a thing against the people of God? The way my family is, the way I put it to you about my family wanting to put to death my son for killing his brother, how come you're thinking that about the people of God in your kingdom here? For the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished. She is now making application.

My case is your case, David, and Absalom, you've left him in exile, and you've not brought him back. Why? Why haven't you brought Absalom back? If you're willing to bring my son back and spare his life, why won't you bring your son back and spare his life also?

And she says, For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Neither doth God respect any person, yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. Now there's a beautiful picture here. There's a beautiful picture there of the gospel. Some believe that she is speaking of David as being the one that's dying, right? She says, for we must needs die. David, you're going to die. You're going to die any day now. You're getting up there in years.

Well, who's going to take your throne after you, David? Who's going to be the one to sit on your throne when you die? This will create turmoil in the nation. This could create a rivalry and a fight when it's clear that Absalom is the rightful heir to your throne. He's beloved. He's loved by you. You want him on the throne. But there could be a problem here. And that may be what she was saying. However, we have to realize that these words are touching on the gospel. They do speak of the gospel here.

Indeed, all of us here, we all must die. Every one of us must die. We're all sinners. We've all offended God, and therefore, none of us will escape the grave. His word tells us that the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And we're all guilty of sin. Each one of us is guilty of sin.

And as water spilt on the ground, if you've ever spilled water on the ground and you notice that dirt just sucks it right in there. It just goes on down. You can't retrieve it, you can't save it, you can't get it. It just slips right out of your hands and into the ground it goes and that's it. It's gone after that. Well, so it is with us when our lives are taken. And it'll come at an instant. And then once it goes, we can't recover it. We can't gather it back up. We can't deliver our loved ones from the grave.

And it must be that way because every one of us has sinned in Adam. We sinned in Adam. And then when we come forth, we show ourselves to be sinners. Just give us a little bit of time and we show that we are rebellious sinners, every one of us. And what do we learn in the scriptures?

In Adam, all die. In Adam, all die. In Christ shall all be made alive. Only those in Christ Jesus shall be made alive, but I'm getting ahead. But we all die, we're all banished in Him, living in exile from the fellowship that we had in Adam before the fall with God.

We don't have that fellowship now. We live in exile. And nothing we do can reconcile us to God. Nothing we do. Our works do not save us. We cannot work off our debt. We don't pay it down. We don't deliver ourselves. Nothing we do can please God and merit our salvation.

The scriptures are clear. All are under sin. We all come short of the glory of God and cannot cannot earn our salvation, yet, she says this beautiful thing, yet doth God devise means that his banished be not expelled from him. And indeed he has, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, he has provided a just means to deliver those that are banished into exile, that have no fellowship with him, he has satisfy justice in such a manner, such a glorious, sufficient, perfect, full manner that He is gracious to freely save us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's done that. He's provided that for us.

Our Lord being sent to the Father, willingly came, fulfilling all righteousness for his people, and then went to the cross, laying down his life as the Lamb of God, to put away the sins of his people so fully, so perfectly, that God is just to forgive us.

Now therefore, she says, that I am come to speak of this thing unto my Lord the King. It is because the people have made me afraid, And thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king. It may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.

And so she seems to be suggesting there that there is a rift brewing among the people because of this thing with Absalom, not there to suffer justice. And if he comes back, who's going to be the one? Who's going to be the one that takes this throne? There could be a civil war that brews. She seems to be suggesting something about that, which is probably something that Joab was worried about there. All right, so she goes on and says a few nice things about him.

And David draws a confession from her, back down in verse 18, saying, did Joab put you up to this thing? And he seems amused by it. He's not put off by it. He's not upset that he was tricked into this. And so he asked, did Joab do this? And she says, yes, you're wise. You understand. And the king, verse 21, and the king said unto Joab, Behold, now I have done this thing. Go, therefore, bring the young man Absalom again. And Joab was very thankful for that, because he brings this whole thing, and it seems like a good thing. He brings this reconciliation. It's like the false gospel. If you bring people in under a false gospel, if you bring them in, just speaking about the love of God, and there's no understanding that they're the sinner. that Christ laid down his life to pay their debt. And there's no other salvation. There's no other means of being retrieved and brought back from exile and our banishment. But through the Lord Jesus Christ, and there's no love there for him, there's no understanding.

Well, then you're just coming under a false pretense. And so just as Joab, he's really thankful. You think you've won a soul to Christ, and all you've done is just brought nothing. You didn't accomplish anything there. Nothing there. And it's just pictures.

It speaks to the emptiness of changing the gospel to just focus on the nice things that we think are nice, that people want to hear, but it doesn't bring any salvation. There's no life in it. There's no real reconciliation whatsoever between us and God under a false gospel.

And so going on here, Joab, he is thankful to the king that he accepted his words. But at the end, Joab goes, he gets him back from Geshur in verse 23, and he brings Absalom to Jerusalem. In verse 24, the king said, let Absalom turn to his own house and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house and saw not the king's face.

So this seems to be the extent of David's punishment. He's just shutting him out, really. And under a false gospel, we are really shut out from the true and living God. But, what David here, bringing it back to David here in Absalom, he makes no inquiry to speak with Absalom. He doesn't see if the Lord has done anything in Absalom's heart, if the Lord has worked any repentance or remorse for these things, to see if the Lord has broken his heart the way the Lord broke David's heart.

And he doesn't speak to him about these things. He doesn't even try to encourage him to go and seek the Lord about this. There's nothing really said about what he's done against his brother Abner. There's nothing said about that at all. And so we don't know.

It seems like nothing happened because David had no, David, this man who had been broken by the Lord and knew the Lord, had fellowship with the Lord, never went and spoke to him, to his son. the one man who might have been able to encourage him in the things of the Lord, at least. We know it's the Lord who must save him, but David didn't even try to do that.

Instead, what we read now is all the wrong things about Absalom, things that puff up, things about his outward beauty. Apparently, he's a very beautiful man, but inwardly, he's a ugly man. He's an ugly man. There's nothing good in Absalom at all. Verse 25, but in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty. From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. Isn't that just an odd thing to just say, to record, right? It goes from David didn't see him.

He goes to his own house, and then it talks about his beauty. And this is probably what attracted the nation to him. He was a pretty man with beautiful hair, and they admired that. And he probably was charismatic because he did, you know, I think in the next chapter we'll see that he has a great influence on the people's hearts. and turning them to him away from David.

And that's probably why it's brought up. And it speaks of him pulling his hair, which is cutting his hair. And it weighed like three to five pounds. That's how heavy it was with probably the oils and the dustings and things like that, that they would do them. And so, yeah, this man's very puffed up, very vain, very arrogant, very proud. Again, he thinks he's just in what he did. And he's a beautiful man to show it, and people love him, and he expects it. But it's a terrible thing for his soul. It's not good for his soul.

You that suffer, you that are troubled, you that have difficulties, and it brings you to the Lord, to the feet of the Lord, give God thanks for that. Because in this life, it's not your inheritance. But in that life, which is to come, you have a precious, eternal inheritance in the Lord. Be thankful for that, because this could be the opposite. You could have everything in this world. And it's only, what, 80 years about? Maybe 90? And soon it's all gone. Be thankful.

So Absalom, verse 28, dwelt two full years in Jerusalem and saw not the king's face. And this angered him. And this reveals his pride. He deserved better than this. He deserved much better than this. How dare this be the way? It's been two years. You bring me here. I was fine there in Gesher. And you bring me here, and this is how you're going to treat me? me, the prize son, the special son, the privileged son.

And so he calls for Joab and two times Joab doesn't come. Probably Joab is like, Because again, Joab is no dummy. He realizes David's the king, but David's getting up there in years. Who's the next king? Absalom. And so he's thinking, well, let me follow the king's lead on this for now. But I'm not going to show up and then not do what Absalom says, because he's the next in line. So let me just pretend I didn't get the news. I'll just ignore it for now and hope it all works out. That's kind of how he's playing it, to play ignorant.

So what happened was Absalom sets Joab's field on fire. He has a barley field next to his, and he has his servants light it up on fire. And so that got Joab's attention, because that was valuable at that time. And you can be sure Absalom didn't make any restitution for it, even though the law says if you do that, you're responsible to pay that person. You've damaged their things, but he doesn't do that. And so It tells us there in verse 31, Then Joab arose and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Why have your servants set my field on fire? And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Gesher? it had been good for me to have been there still.

Now, therefore, let me see the king's face. And if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me. Which Absalom, being the cocky man that he is, knows David loves me. He's not going to kill me. He's going to receive me. But he's forcing his hand. And so Joab now has to do something. And he knows if he doesn't do anything, it's going to be costly. Absalom's just gonna do more things, more damage to him.

So he goes to the king, verse 33. So Joab came to the king and told him, and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom. And that was it. David received him. David received him.

Justice was never satisfied. There was no justice satisfied in what he did. There's no broken spirit here. It's only love reconciling. It's just a reconciliation with love there, but that's not a picture of the gospel. That's not a picture of the gospel. It's not what God had taught David. The Lord dealt with David.

The Lord made David to know that he was worthy of death, but that he wasn't going to die. That the Lord had put away his sin, and the Lord taught David through chastening, and we saw how the Lord teaches us through chastening that it's just because we're chastened, and just because we're stripped, and just because we're brought low, it's actually good. It's a mercy of the Lord when it's bringing you to the feet of Christ, there's nothing to complain about. You can be thankful to the Lord for it, and you can confess your sins to the Lord, and you can appear before him knowing that the Lord has done this. Thank you, Lord, for not letting me go off into this world. You can thank the Lord for that.

And so here he is, nothing like that at all. And so if David's forgiveness of Absalom is based solely on love, and we were to compare that to the gospel, you'd say this is just a false gospel. There's nothing there. It's a false Gospel and it's true.

God the father does love his people He chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world and he provided for his people Putting us giving us to Christ. There was no better thing that he could do for us than to put us in Christ and To bring us through such a way so that we have a better inheritance than the angels because we are we share in our partakers in the inheritance of of the Son. I mean, just think of that. Just think of that. It's amazing that we have what we have by the hand of our God who has given us everything in Christ, which the angels don't have. They have a glorious being in the presence of God, but we are partakers in the inheritance of Christ with Him.

And so our Lord came, it's not just that love, it's that our Savior came, paid the price of our debt to satisfy the justice of God, to satisfy the law which was against us, what we couldn't figure out or deliver ourselves from because there was no law given that can make us righteous. We were trapped, we were in exile, we were banished, and frankly, we were happy to be there. being dead in trespasses and sins. But the Lord has shown us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sins. And so He sent the Son to justify us freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And that redemption is the shedding of His blood on the cross as the fit sacrifice unto the Father to satisfy Him and to put away our sins forever so that God is just to forgive us and just to receive us. It's a just thing. God didn't just wink and say, well, we'll let that go because I like you. No, that's what David did. The Lord put his son to death to deliver us, to satisfy justice. The father hath made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

He's done that. And because he's done that, his salvation doesn't just leave us as ignorant people in darkness. In His salvation, He is pleased to give us His Holy Spirit, who gives us a new birth to make us aware and to understand what he has done for us. He's done that for you, brethren. He's given you life and shined a light into the darkness of your heart and of your mind to show you his glory, to show you what he's done, to show you how great a thing he has done in delivering us who were banished and could not free ourselves from the grave. And that was it. But he provided a perfect way to redeem us and to restore us, not just to give us life, but to put us in the fellowship of God right here, right now, to know him, right now, to know the Lord, and to be able to pray to the Father, to speak to him, to lay out your cares before him, knowing that he careth for you, who has done all these things for you.

He's removed the enmity. He's delivered us from our exile and banishment. He's destroyed the works of the devil that were clearly there immediately in Adam and Eve, because as soon as they sinned and heard the voice of God walking in the cool of the day in the garden, they fled, because already the work of the devil had poisoned them, had corrupted them. They were already in enmity against God. But Christ came and delivered them, and he delivers us by the shedding of his blood. All pictured there in that, so that he gives his people a new heart, a new spirit to adore him for what he's done for us.

It's a blessed, blessed thing. But we don't see this in Absalom. We see only pride. We see a self-entitled wicked man who expects to be received and restored and have nothing happen to him. But if you are Christ's, then you know you're a sinner, and you are broken. And when you forget, he'll break you, and he'll chasten you, and he'll make you to know all for your good to restore you to him, to embrace him, to cause you to see what a fool you've been, to cling on to this world, which despises you, And though you despise the Lord, yet the Lord loved you and justly brings you to himself and gives you, turns that heart in true repentance from dead things and clinging to dead things to embrace him that lives and is and is wonderful in all his being and purpose. So we see in Christ, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Don't lose sight of the one of whom that speaks, because God doesn't lose sight of him. And we're not to lose sight of him. And you won't lose sight of him if the Lord has done this for you. And that's what he's done. That's why you have a heart for the Lord. If you have any heart for the Lord, it's because the Lord has done that for you in grace.

And so we see how our love is not sufficient to save but declare Christ and what he's done, him who loved us and gave himself for us, that we would have light and life and liberty in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the true gospel. What he does for us, he's redeemed us, restored us, reconciled us, and regenerated us so that we live, we live in him. To the praise, honor, and glory of his name, brethren.