Brotherhood, just read there in John 16, 25, where our Lord said, when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father, and I hope to show you our Father, our Father who loved us and sent his darling son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins, And we'll be in 2 Samuel chapter 15.

And I just want to look at the first six verses with you this evening. But sadly, what we see in Absalom, this is Absalom's rebellion. This is him forming that coup in order to overthrow his father off the throne and take his father's place. He was going to put his father to death and take his father's place as king of Israel. But what we see in Absalom is not the spirit, not the father, not the father, which is God, almighty sovereign God. But we see that his father is that one that our Lord revealed was the father of the Jews who rejected him and did not believe him.

And so we'll see that spirit here. in Absalom, but I show you these things in order to reveal to us what the Lord has done for us in salvation, what our God does for us. And so, from what we've seen so far, it would appear that Absalom stood to inherit his father's throne, that when David, who was getting up there in years, it seems like David had about another 10 years left in his service as king, about another 10 years. So David's getting up there in years, and it seems like Absalom would have, he would have made a strong case to be the king, to succeed his father. as the throne, but that would have obviously been contrary to God's will for sure for Solomon. It probably would have created a tense situation, a difficult situation there, especially because what we see here is that even though Absalom was in a good place to inherit the throne, We could see this man, that would have required him to be subordinate to his father, and he had no desire to do that. He wanted the supremacy of the throne for himself. You're going to see this is a very, very proud man. And the one thing to realize as we go into this is that whatever judgment you might lay against Absalom and recognize that this is a terrible man. This is a wicked, proud, awful man.

It really is a picture of the nature of man. This is a picture of our nature. This is a picture of our fallen and corrupt nature in Adam. It's what we inherited from Adam. And so, the first thing that we should recognize of ourselves as we look at Absalom here is By nature, we are very proud. We have no heart for the true and living God. We have no heart for his laws or to honor him. And the way Absalom goes about it, the way his pride manifests, you may think is different from how you are or be kind of different, but the reality is we all have a proud heart. We're all proud by nature. We're all, we get offended very easily. We're all very proud by nature.

Now the law was given to give us a knowledge, the knowledge of our sin. It was given not because we can keep the law and that by that we can make a righteousness for ourselves and come to God in that law. That's not why the law was given. That's not a righteousness. The law was given to show us that we are sinners. It was given to show us that we're sinners.

The laws were given, there's laws about the king. In Deuteronomy 17, there's laws that were given by Moses to instruct the king that they all knew, that Moses knew the Lord told him was going to come one day when Israel wanted to be like the nations around them. And these laws were given to humble the king. and to strip him of his pride and to show him his dependence upon the Lord our God. That's why these laws were given.

And this was spoken of, well, let's read verse one of our text here. And it came to pass after this that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses and 50 men to run before him. Now, these things were warned to Israel. Israel was warned about this by the judge Samuel when they said they wanted a king. And Samuel, by the leading of the Spirit of God, said in 1 Samuel 8, verse 10 and 11, Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you.

He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen. Your son, John, he's not gonna work out in the field for you. He's gonna go and serve the king. He's not gonna work on your land anymore. He's gonna serve the king.

And some shall run before his chariots. And the sense there is that The king, as he rides in, would send before him men to announce, the king is coming, the king is coming, and the people would then, if they were wise, would come out from their homes in the fields, and they would line up and wave as the king went by, or bow before the king, or something like that. They would show him honor and respect in that way, and so this is what Absalom's doing. He's doing this now.

And one of the first things that our Lord did when he brought Israel out of Egypt, one of the first things he did was to destroy the army of Egypt, was to destroy their chariots and horses, right? The horse and his rider is thrown into the sea. We know that song, and so that's what Moses summarized for the children of Israel. He said, he reminded them what God did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day.

Because the nations who have no God, who are idolaters and worship demons and false spirits, They trust in their might. They trust in the strength of a horse and a chariot. And so the Lord destroyed it because then whenever they came up to a nation to move them out of the land that the Lord was giving them, they would have chariots and horses and they would know, well, the Lord's destroyed them already. And so they put no confidence or faith in the strength of man.

And then the laws written for the kings in Deuteronomy 17 verse 16 says explicitly, he shall not multiply horses to himself nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply horses for as much as the Lord hath said unto you. Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. And in the Lord, this is in the Old Testament. You won't go back to Egypt.

Well, in Christ, it's a new and living way. We don't look to the ways of this world and the ways of flesh. It's a new and living way. We don't need the strength and the might of man. We need the strength and the might of the Lord. We need his grace. We need his spirit. And the Lord is sure to teach you, his people, your dependence on him. It's a mercy, because that means that we are brought low in ourselves to see our need of the Lord.

And so it's clear, as we're looking at these things, Absalom has no respect unto these things. He has no respect unto the Lord and to the Lord's people, and it's clear he had no intention of ruling Israel in a godly manner. He wanted this for himself. He showed no interest in God, no interest in the law. David knew the laws. David studied the laws to make sure that he was a just and equitable king to the people, but Absalom He didn't study these things. He had no interest or desire in these things. He's clearly a proud man by the way that he made use of the horses and chariots and sent men before him to announce his coming through. He rode on a chariot with horses while his father and his brothers rode on mules. It's kind of a different thing. One looks a little more awe-inspiring when you see someone show up on a big stallion as opposed to a mule or a donkey. It just doesn't look the same. And that's how our Lord came into Jerusalem, on a donkey, on the foal of a donkey, not even a full-grown donkey, the foal of a donkey.

And it testifies to his humility and condescension to come to us, to take upon him flesh, and to do all that we need by his grace and mercy. It shows his condescension toward us. So this is a proud Man, it's a proud man, it looks impressive to the people, it puffs up his pride, and it's meant to send a message to the people that when I'm your king, I am able to take you guys into the next century. I'm going to do this right, we're going to grow this kingdom, it's going to be a wonderful kingdom on par with others, if not better. And you think about it.

His grandfather is king of Gishur. That's who Absalom's grandfather is, king of Gishur. His mother was a princess. She was born of royalty that was wedded to David. So this boy thinks, I've got royal blood. My father, he's not from royalty. My mother is, but my father isn't. He was a sheep herder. And now he's king.

This man is just, there's so many things that we see here that puffs him up. But this speaks to the sin of our nature, of pride. They say that there's pride of race, there's pride of face, there's pride of place, there's pride of grace. We have all kinds of things whereby we think we're better than others, when in reality, we're all the same. We're all the same. We're sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, who need the salvation of our God, who need his spirit, who need his redemption and his regeneration to give us life and light and understanding of God and who we are before him. to know our need of his grace. And so if we're the Lord's, unlike what we see here with Absalom, if God is our father, he will humble us. He will strip us of our pride.

He's going to, if he's going to, and he'll do it as often as he needs to, but if he's going to use a man, he's going to humble that man. He's going to bring that man low. If he's gonna use him, he'll bring that man low so that when the Lord blesses, the work. When the Lord moves, that man and everybody else knows God hath done this.

The Lord has done this, and not we ourselves, not our flesh and our works, because the Lord removes the boast of man, that boast in man of man, and puts in that hope of the Lord Jesus Christ in those whom he loves. and those whom he calls effectually unto himself, and those whom he gives faith to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes it so that no flesh should glory in his presence. But we're going to glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our glory.

And so the one other thing I just want to say on this point here is that David never rebuked Absalom for his sin. He was reconciled to Absalom, but he never said anything to Absalom about his sin. He never chastened Absalom at all. He never gave Absalom any justice about this. The scriptures don't record him saying anything to Absalom about what he did in murdering his brother Abnon. So he was never brought to justice. And we know Absalom considered himself justified in what he did.

This man's heart is not right, but whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If we be without chastisement, then are we bastards. We're not God's sons. We're not his. And so the Lord chastens those whom he loves. And so David should have said something to Absalom. He should have spoke something to him. Now David, this is what is following. Now we know it's according to what the Lord said would come that out of your own house, evil would rise up out of your own house. But David still should have spoken to Absalom. He should have said something to him.

Now, the next thing we see is that Absalom was diligent in his sinful rebellion, and he actively sought to overthrow his father, to put him to death and take his place. And it says there, verse two, that Absalom rose up early. He got there at the crack of dawn and stood beside the way of the gate. And it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, Then Absalom called unto him and said, of what city art thou? And he said, thy servant is one of the tribes of Israel. In other words, he would answer. He'd say, well, I'm from this city in the tribe of Dan or something like that.

You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Absalom never woke up before noon until that time. But now, for himself, oh yeah, he's getting up early and he's going to be very, very diligent to put in motion his plan here. And Absalom had no intention of making his father's kingdom great. He only had an interest in glorifying himself. He's after his own kingdom here. He will not labor for his master, the king, but he's diligent to work for himself.

And the Psalms write of those whose feet are swift to shed blood, and whose feet run to mischief. That's the wicked. They may be slothful people who are not industrious, who don't do anything good or profitable, but when it comes to evil, they're quick to it. They're quick to it, it's an evil heart.

That's the nature of man, to satisfy his own lusts. And this same spirit we see in those who slew our Lord. We're told that when he was taken, in the wee hours of the morning, that when the morning was come, the chief priests and elders, they were there to decide what they should do for Jesus. They all got up early, they were excited about putting Christ to death.

And that just testifies of their wickedness. Beware of men who desire to be exalted but are unwilling to bear the yoke and to suffer, to labor and serve. Next, we see him as unjust in what he says here. Look at verse three. And Absalom said unto him, so this is when someone would come to see the king, see, thy matters are good and right. But there's no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Sorry. You got a good case. It's a good case. And you're right. I agree with what you're saying here. But sadly, there's no one here to hear your case. Now, there's a lot of problems with this, because he's not hearing both sides of the matter.

He's not making any inquiry to see whether these things are so. He's just saying smooth things to the person who's coming to see the king. And he's not weighing what's being said. He's not a good judge at all. He's just hearing what they say, and he's being moved by it. Whether he agreed with it or not, I have no idea.

But he's not looking into it, and he's just saying, yeah, you're right. You're right. You've got a good case here. And so he's just tickling their itching ears. He's just saying to them what they want to hear. And man by nature is the same way. He wants to hear what he wants to hear. And that's all that he's going to hear. And he's not going to be pleased hearing anything else.

And Paul warned Timothy of this thing. People shut themselves off so that they hear only what they want to hear. And there's a great danger in that. And Paul warned Timothy of this with regards to the gospel saying, In 2 Timothy 4, 1, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.

Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." Fables, lies, falsehoods, and that is where man is.

One thing I was noticing in the scriptures that You know, if you have something to say, you should probably say it. I think we've all experienced times where we thought, you know, there's something I'm thinking of saying to somebody, you know, good or bad, whatever it is, but, you know, you're thinking that this is something that needs to be said, but then you don't say it for whatever reason, or you think, you know what, this might be hard.

Let me put it aside, and I'll think about that for a while." And then you never get to it. You never get back to it again. It just disappears. And then, like, not a week goes by, but something happens, and you realize, you know, I wish I had said something, because now this thing's happened, and the opportunity's missed. I just wish I had said something. Every time in the scriptures when someone should have said something, it's bad.

Eli never said anything to his sons, his wicked sons. He never said anything to them. And the Lord slew the sons. And then the Lord slew Eli. And David should have said something to Absalom. And he said nothing to Absalom. And Absalom, we don't know, because there's another side to it as well.

Every time you open your mouth and you do say something, it doesn't work out the way you think it does most of the time. And you think, maybe I should have said nothing. And so it seems like you can never do it right. Whether you say nothing or you say something, it always seems wrong. And once you do it, you can't undo it. So you can't weigh against the other side there.

But in the scriptures, the men of God always did say something, though. And it still didn't go right, just like them. when I think Jeremiah the prophet said, I said I wasn't going to say anything. And then the Lord made it a fire in his bones when he kept quiet. So he had to speak. And how many prophets spoke when the Lord told him to speak, and the people hated it.

When Paul and Barnabas were preaching to the Greeks, the Gentiles, and Paul healed the man, they thought he was Hermes or Apollos, and that Barnabas was Zeus, and they were about to sacrifice to them. And Peter and Paul said, whoa, whoa, we're just men of like passions. Don't sacrifice to us. We're no gods.

And so they beat him. Then they beat him for saying something. But they did say something. And that's what I'm saying. Sometimes there are things to be said. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And now the next thing we see with Absalom here is that he was unjust in his ways. He's unjust. And well, actually, I've already kind of gone over that, didn't I? Sorry. So he wasn't doing what was working for the people. He's not judging anything.

He's just filling the people's minds with lies and falsehoods. And that's what the wicked do. That's the nature of man. Brother Scott read on Sunday from Psalm 4, verse 2. O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing?" And that word leasing means lies, falsehood. That's what man wants to hear. Absalom speaking lies and the hearers are loving it. The natural man loves to speak lies and the natural man loves to hear those lies. But the Lord but know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him." And so what the Lord has to do and what the Lord does do for his people is he changes our nature.

When Christ saves a person, He saved us on the cross by putting away our sins, obtaining our forgiveness, making His people righteous. He established our righteousness. He established the covenant of God's grace. He redeemed His people. And the Lord, in the day of His grace, brings that salvation to bear upon us. He regenerates us. He gives us a new birth.

He gives us His Spirit whereby we are turned from dead things and turned from the flesh and turned from loving lies and seeking after lies because He gives us His Spirit and an ear to hear the truth and to recognize that's truth and to hunger and thirst for that truth and to keep seeking after that truth and not put it away from us.

You put away the word from you, and eventually, you just convince yourself that what you're hearing now in the world is the truth, and that you don't need that gospel anymore. You don't believe those things anymore. And it just happens, but when the Lord gives you His Spirit, He leads you down a new and living way. And He gives you life in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives you His Spirit. He gives you hunger and a thirst for Christ and we need it because otherwise we are just like Absalom's or the people hearing Absalom and being taken by Absalom and following after him.

And when the Lord does this, when he recovers us, when he brings us out of that death in that wicked way, he removes that enmity against God. He removes it from us and he gives us fellowship with the Lord in light. And by his spirit, that darkness of our minds is removed, the heart is, that veil of flesh is circumcised and removed from us. Paul said it this way, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. And what is given to us of God? The Lord Jesus Christ and all the things that pertain to the salvation which he has wrought for us. It's all found in him. It's all seen and known and understood in him. And he puts this world into perspective in light of him.

And so When He comes in grace and power, we mind the things of the Spirit. And to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Even when we don't understand, there's life and peace. We trust Him, and we rest in Him, and we're satisfied in Him. And if Christ be in you, the body, this body of each of us who believes Christ is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness, because we are made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's sufficient for us. That's well-pleasing to us, and we're thankful for his grace, because that's what he gives his people.

Now, without the Spirit of God, we're just being led by the Spirit of this world. We're not our own. We, men boast of a free will. We are not our own. If we're not led by the spirit of God, then we're led by the spirit of this world. We're led by another spirit, a wicked spirit, and that's pictured in Absalom here. Verse four.

Absalom said, Moreover, O that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice. Well, first of all, this is the man who faced no justice himself, and yet he thinks he is fit to be the judge of other men and other men's matters. And he faced no justice for slaying his brother Amnon.

So that's really rich. It's false. It's false. And then second, this wicked spirit we hear speaking in Absalom, it's the spirit of this world. He's speaking according to the world. He's calling to men like a siren going out, just calling them to himself, and they're being wooed by him. They're saying, yeah, yeah, they're just being stirred up over falsehood and lies, things that aren't even true or necessary. They're being blown way out of proportion.

And that's a picture of this world and the false gospel, right? The world doesn't call you to Christ. doesn't call you to repentance in Christ, doesn't call you to seek unto the true and living God. The world never does that. It just turns you off to this thing and to that thing, get involved over here, get involved over there, change the world, fix things, and it's all false here.

And that's pictured, Christ is pictured in David here on his throne. And Absalom's steering everyone away from David. He's turning them away from David. And he's a liar and a thief. The truth is not in him. Well, whose spirit is that? That's the father of the wicked, the devil. He's a liar and a deceiver and a thief.

Now, for one thing, David was open to hear the cause of the people. He was there. That's how Absalom was reconciled in the first place. The throne was open. You could come up to him. Joab orchestrated it and did it in such a way so that David wouldn't think anything was up when this woman came. and laid before David are cause. It's because you could go to David, and nothing changed about that. You could still go to David.

And so there is a judge seated on the throne. There is a judge willing to hear your cause and to help you. But just like we see pictured here in Absalom, the spirit of this world seeks to turn men from seeking Christ. And the false and lies of this world are very diligent, These are the principalities and powers in high places that just keep turning people away, our attention and our coming to Christ, that lest we should hear and believe and follow the Lord.

Turn over to Proverbs 9. Go to Proverbs 9. And it begins back in 8, but we're not going to really be able to read much there. But in Romans 9, in verse 1, it begins saying, hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. Now understand that the wisdom of the believer, it's not talking about book learning and school learning and street smarts and what your dad has taught you or your granddad has taught you, it's not the wisdom of man.

Our wisdom is Christ. He is the wisdom of God for his people. of God, Christ, our in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. Wisdom. And so that's our wisdom. Understand that. That is our wisdom. And we ought not to scoff at that. Christ is our wisdom. Everything we need is found in Christ. It's found in him.

Drop down to verse three. She hath, this wisdom, hath sent forth her maidens. She crieth upon the highest places of the city, saying, whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding. Don't pursue the lusts of this world.

There's a purpose in what God has done. Come and eat of the bread and the drink of the wine which the Lord has mingled for us. That's what he's put together. Christ, Christ, trust the Lord. Be patient unto that day. You shall receive the inheritance that God has promised you. He is always faithful to his word. and you're gonna receive it through faith. You're gonna receive it trusting the Lord, not seeing it, trusting the Lord. You'll see it when the time comes. But now notice, the prince of the power of the air, the devil, comes and puts a false message out there, all right? And he seeks to appear just like the wisdom of God preached by the church. Drop down to verse 13. It says, a foolish woman, in verse 13, is clamorous. She is simple and knoweth nothing. This is as the false church. These are lies.

She sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city. to call passengers who go right on in their ways. And if you look back at the beginning of Proverbs 8, that's how it begins. Doth not wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of the high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates of the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of Israel. man, O ye simple understand wisdom, and ye fools be of an understanding heart." And it's this false gospel, the spirit of the world, stands in that place appearing just like the truth of God. All right, a false church. And it says, whoso is simple, verse 16, chapter 9, verse 16, whoso is simple, let him turn and hither. And as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, stolen waters are sweet. and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. I've got a fast track for riches and fame for you. I've got a thing for you to do and experience all the things you're seeking right here, right now. You just come follow me. I'll set you up for life.

But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell. And so that's the spirit of this world. That's the spirit of the false church. It's just a false gospel. It's a false inheritance. It's a... You think that there's life there, but in the end, it's hell. It's an eternity of death.

And so this is what Absalom's doing. He's luring in the people with smooth words. He's endearing himself to the people. He's pretending that he cares for them. But it was to make himself their king. His whole purpose wasn't for good. It was to make himself king.

Verse five, and it was so that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him. And I guess some interpret that as he put out his hand to be kissed. I think what he was doing is reaching up and pulling them up to himself and kissing them and embracing them and saying, You know, I'm with you. Whatever he was doing, he was endearing himself.

It's possible he was just putting out his hand to be kissed, but he was tricking the people. He was deceiving the people. And David writes in Psalm 55, 21, the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.

And that's exactly what we see in Absalom. He's a liar and a deceiver. Now, if you had any doubt, the final assessment in verse six, the assessment of scripture says, and on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. And so everything he was doing worked to take the heart of the people away from David. who was faithful, David who triumphed for them, David who loved God and served God faithfully and was taught of the Lord and chastened of the Lord and kept of the Lord and loved the Lord and loved the people. And so they esteemed Absalom now, because he was pretty, and he was a good looking fella, charismatic, and his words were smooth, and they desired him to be their king.

And so when you look at these words here, and you can tell the spirit that he had is the same spirit that you see in the garden, in the serpent. who came to Adam and to Eve, suggesting doubt in God's word, doubt in God's authority over them, suggesting that God was keeping some good away from them. And no, our Lord has mingled in the gospel, the bread and the wine of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is life. That is exactly what we need.

And the Lord Again, if he's going to bless someone, if he's going to use his people, he's going to humble us and strip us of vain pride. The pride of man doesn't accomplish the works of God. And so the Lord, he does bring us down, he does humble us, but he gives us his spirit, removing the enmity, giving us love and fellowship for our God, and he joins us to our Lord. And when you sit at Christ's feet, when he makes you to sit at Christ's feet, you love to be there. You love him for it, and you're made thankful for what he's done, because he makes us to see what we are in ourselves, what sinners we are, how quickly we would ruin everything, and he puts all that away. With his blood, he puts all that away. With his spirit, he's put it all away and satisfied the justice of God fully for us, that we would have an eternal inheritance with him. not a brief time of momentary pleasures to be destroyed in death.

And so there's other things that we could say, but I think we need Christ. And so that's what our Lord is showing us here. When you look at Absalom, that's what it's showing us. Lord, this is what I am by nature. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for delivering me from this death. And so I pray the Lord do that for us graciously, wondrously in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.