Okay, turn with me again tonight to 2 Samuel chapter 2. I've titled tonight's message, The Cost of Division, Flesh Against Flesh. I think you'll see as we get into the study why I added that part, flesh against flesh. And before us tonight, we have another sad story.

You know, our great God never hides the tragic events of his own in the scripture. They're recorded in his word to teach us. If you remember out of Romans chapter 15, verse four, it says, for whatsoever things were written for time were written for our learning. that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. The Old Testament teaches us some things about our God, about salvation, and definitely about ourselves. And it's not all good. As a matter of fact, very little of it is. We're sinners. We're in need of a savior. We have a great need.

Now, as you know, Saul and his rightful heir, Jonathan, are dead. David has been anointed king over Judah, his tribe. And God's will was not unclear. At 15 years old, Samuel anointed David as king. and he was to reign as king. But instead of unity, under God's chosen king, the will of God receives opposition.

It still does. It sure does. Still does. Some in Israel simply refused to submit to what God had already made clear. And this is evident by the first word found in verse eight. Look at it with me. It's a familiar word, isn't it? But. But, and this is important to understand, this is not just Israel's story. This is our story.

Abner, who was Saul's cousin and captain of Saul's army, he takes Ishbosheth, Saul's son, and makes him king over Israel. That's not God's will. God's already chosen a king, and that's David. An interesting tidbit, did you know from the time that had lapsed since Samuel anointed David, who was probably around 15 years old when he did, remember when he went to Jesse's house and he anointed all the older sons, and God kept saying, no, that's not him, that's not him, and finally got down to the last one, and he says, it's all the sons you got, and he said, well, I got a little ruddy boy that's out tending sheep, He said, go get him, and he brought him, and he said, that's God's king right there.

Things aren't always as they look, are they? God looks on the heart, not on the outward appearance of man. Anyway, and now 22 years have passed. That's a long time to wait for something. You know, something I'm learning that's taken me all my life to learn, and it's a wise thing to remember. God doesn't get in a hurry. He sure don't get in a hurry. We are in a hurry, and we want it right now. God, I want this. Please give this to me, but give it to me right now. God doesn't work that way. And yet, though he doesn't get in a hurry, he's always right on time. Always right on time.

David was roughly 30 when he becomes king over Judah, and he reigns as king over Judah for about seven and a half years. So he's between 37 and 38 when he was king over all Israel. That's a long time for a young 15-year-old to wait. And the thing about it is those 22 years were not easy years. He was chased by Saul the majority of it, And, well, you know the story, because we've gone through the book of 1 Samuel.

Now, back to that little three-letter word, but. And sometimes in scripture, it's a blessing, and sometimes it's not. And it's a word used to contrast something that's already been said or done. But, it means except. Yet, nevertheless, or even so, it means however, or still, regardless of certain obvious facts.

And if you look back in verse seven, David says, the house of Judah has anointed me king over them. And then in verse eight, Abner determines to make an exception and do something different. But, Know what it says? But Abner, the son of Ner, captain of Saul's horse, took Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim. He made him king. Abner resists all the signs that David is to be king. Why? Very simple, because Abner is not interested in submitting to David. He's interested in his own personal power and control.

The one who makes one king is the true king, really. That's why today, you know, when we hear men preach that God wants to do something and tries to do something, what men are saying is, is that really I'm God. And I've got to allow God to do something. I've got to give him my heart. I've got to cooperate with God in order for him to do something.

Well, that's the same as saying I'm the one in power and in control, not God. Not so, not so. He didn't want David to be king. Abner was the one who was running the show there. So instead of bowing to God's king, now listen, instead of bowing to God's king, he sets up a rival king.

The gospel connection is this. Humanity does the same thing with Christ. You and I by nature have done the same thing. God has already appointed Christ his king, but instead of submitting to him, man sets up rivals. Man by nature creates many rivals to Christ. Man has many kings in his life.

What about king self? What about king pride? What about king tradition? King comfort? King sin? That's a big one. King religion? King do good? King my way? We've set up a bunch of rivals to Christ. Men by nature do not reject earthly kingship, but they certainly reject Christ's kingship. Now, my first point is here we have a kingdom resisting God's will. That never ends well. They refuse to submit to God's king.

Again, verse eight, but Abner, the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, took Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim, and made him king over Gilead and over the Azurites and over Jezreel and over Ephraim and over Benjamin and over all Israel.

He's king of Israel, except for Judah, which David has been recognized as king. And verse 10 says, Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel, just a few years older than David, a couple of years. And he reigned two years, but the house of Judah followed David. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months." Now, this was a major problem because God had already rejected Saul's house. God had already chosen David as king.

And Abner admits to it in the next chapter, as we'll see in chapter three. But here Abner's clinging to power, man. He's holding on with all he's got. He's got a death grip on this thing. He likes his position. He likes what he's doing. And he's clinging to it. He's propping up a weak king to maintain control. One that he can manipulate. One that he can act as king through.

You know, men can know God's will and still rebel against it. That's what makes sin so evil. That's what makes rebellion so evil. That's what makes pride such a horrific thing. People do the same today. They know what God says about repentance. The scripture's clear in it, repent, repent. And yet they delay or they deny they need it altogether. They know that God has made Christ king, yet they resist surrendering to him. And men say, I don't, I won't have him rule over me. That's what Abner did.

And kingship is not secured by human power or manipulation. God and the person of his son is King, capital K. of little Kay Kings. He's the king of kings. He's every king's king. He has all power. Now Abner tries to sustain and preserve God's, excuse me, Saul's bloodline through Ishmael Sheth, but only God's purpose is gonna truly endure. That's just the way it is.

And in the gospel, the rightful King, our Lord Jesus will not be opposed by human friction or force. No matter what we do or what man tries to do, God's will and purpose will always, always, always be done. We can submit to it or we can rebel against it, but to rebel against it doesn't end well, never. And no matter how much opposition mankind gives, and it's a lot, God's purpose is never derailed. God's purpose is never foiled. God's will is never frustrated. Israel here is split. Judah follows David. The rest are under Ish-bosheth. And this is a picture. I want you to see this. This is a picture of the deeper alienation of humanity from God through sin.

We're all born dead in trespasses and sin. That's not just a little saying from the scripture. We really are spiritually dead. And when you see that you're spiritually dead, that you have no life in you, you won't argue about your will and Try to reason that because of a decision you make or something you do is the reason you're saved. You know it's not so. You have no will. A dead man or woman doesn't.

And besides that, God elected us from the foundation of the world. Where were we? What did we have to do with it? God said, where were you when I created the heavens and the earth? We were non-existent. We didn't have anything to do with it. It's so simple. It's like I've said many times, being adopted. My parents made arrangements to adopt me before I was ever born. I didn't have anything to do with it. Nothing. The gospel is the proclamation that there's one king over a reconciled people, and that's according and by the finished work of Christ on the cross. And the gospel is declared in Christ fulfilling the law perfectly.

That's important because how good we have to be in order to be reconciled to God, we gotta be perfect, we know that. And Christ kept the law perfectly for us. So with him as our representative, we're perfect in God's eyes. And that's the only way we can be saved. Christ fulfilled the law for us. Christ satisfied God's holy justice. And now God no longer angry with the wicked because why? Because they're not wicked anymore.

That's one of the greatest mysteries of all time because we have such a problem with it because we still dwell in these bodies of death. We live with ourself. We get good whips of ourself pretty much every day. Am I the only one? I bet not. We all see what we are by nature.

Christ did for us what we couldn't do. He provided for us all that God required of us. For Christ also hath suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. He's the just, we're the unjust. Why? That He might bring us to God. that we might be reconciled to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.

That's how God saves every chosen sinner. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. To everyone that believeth, Romans 10, four. Nobody gets in God's kingdom by law keeping. Everyone comes the same way. How? By faith through Christ. You're saved by grace through faith that's not of yourselves. It's a gift. It's a gift of God. And the result is real peace. Peace that passes understanding. And our biggest problem, which is peace with God, is solved. God's not angry anymore. not with his people, because he's made them righteous.

And peace with one another should also be reconciled, but there again, as long as we remain in these bodies of death, that's what they are, they're bodies of death. That's what Paul called them. There unfortunately is gonna be conflict between flesh and God and flesh with flesh. That's what we're gonna see here tonight. Here in our story, we have the same family. Now you think about this. Men of the same nation fighting, but Christ has reconciled every believer, making us one, and the enmity between God and us and one another is slain.

This ought not be. This ought not be. But it still happens, doesn't it? It still happens. As a matter of fact, Christ said, to bring variance between father and son and mother and daughter and all this. It just happens because some God reveals himself to and they see Christ and trust Christ and others don't see it and never bow to it. And it's unfortunate, but it's just the way it is. Now, David is God's choice of king who comes from God's purpose, not man's ambition. Ishbal Sheth is Abner saying, hey, you know, Saul's gone and I was the captain of his army. And by the way, we were first cousins. We were buddies. We grew up together. And he said, I kind of like my position.

I'm going to hold on to it. And Abner picks a successor for worldly reasons, but God chose David by his sovereign purpose. God's chosen king in the gospel demonstrates Christ's kingship by his serving and by his submitting to the Father, even in his death.

Christ didn't come to rule with an iron fist. That's why a lot of his followers were upset. They thought he was gonna set up an earthly kingdom and deliver his people from Roman oppression. But he didn't come to do that at all. His kingdom he spoke of was a heavenly kingdom. And that's why Judas betrayed him. And this passage shows us human efforts never prevail against God's sovereign purpose. God, the kingdom of God is established only through the servant king. That's what he was. He was a servant king.

Oh my, the Lord Jesus, He reigns and He brings unity and He brings peace and salvation in and by and through His own death. How horrific is my sin? So horrific that God Himself had to die to put it away. My. Now secondly, we've got a conflict fueled by pride. Pride, oh my. What an evil thing. Pride's the first thing mentioned, as you know, on a list of things that God hates. Above murder and several other things, pride. A haughty look. How can we be prideful knowing that? Just try not to be prideful. That'll show you something of your nature. Same as just try not to not sin. Can't do it, can we? Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before fall. Better is it to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs 16, 18 and 19. Now look at verse 12 here.

And Abner, the son of Ner and the servants of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. And Joab, the son of Zeruah, and the servants of David went out and met together by the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool.

And Abner said to Joab, let the young men now arise and play before us." He wasn't talking about instruments. And Joab said, let them arise. Now, Joab is David's commander, and Abner is Ish-bosheth's commander, and they meet at this pool of Gibeon, and this seems to be a planned meeting. Both armies deliberately went to the same place. They sat down facing each other on opposite sides of the pool, and this suggests an arranged encounter, not some surprise meeting on a battlefield.

Then in verse 14, Abner proposes a contest. He says, let the young men arise and compete before us. That's what he's basically saying, that this is a formal challenge. It seems intended to settle the conflict between the two houses of Saul and David.

And at first it seems very controlled. Like let's, It seems managed as if it could be avoided, but pride, pride, pride, always present, isn't it? Now, neither side here is asking for what God wants. They're more concerned about with who's gonna win. This is a very competitive thing. And this is where kings, where these things take a tragic turn.

And at first, as I said, it seems harmless, but it wasn't. And many conflicts don't start with hatred, but many start with pride. These things could have been settled quietly, but they become very destructive. And because of prideful words, often a fight breaks out. and things happen that should never have happened.

Let's read it again. Verse 14, and Abner said to Joab, let the young men now arise and play before us. And Joab said, let them arise. Then there arose and went over by number 12 of Benjamin, which pertained to Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, and 12 of the servants of David. And they caught everyone, his fellow by the head and thrust his sword in his fellow's side so that they fell down together. And wherefore that place was called Helcathasarum, which is in Gibeon." Now, let me do my best to explain what I just read to you. The Hebrew word there, play, suggests a sport-like contest.

This is supposed to be An innocent 12 against 12, but it's not a harmless game. And I don't know, I don't know what was intended other than I don't think what happened was intended by these, but 24 men are soon dead. I don't know if it was like you often see in the old movies, sword fighting and one, you know, arms the other one, and then, you know, they bow and go on their way, and it's like winter, you know, or that kind of a thing. But that's not what happened here. Each man grabs his opponent, undoubtedly at the same time, and they kill each other. And just that quick, all 24 men are dead.

Hellcat has Zerom, It's a long name, but it simply means the field of swords. And here there's no justice accomplished. There's no righteousness obtained, just pride, rivalry, and flesh against flesh. Sad, sad and tragic. The flesh produces battles that has no winners, only loss, damage, regret, and death.

Many relationships have died this way. Many Christ-professing assemblies have split this way. Pride. Rivalry. Many lives have been wrecked over things that should have never escalated this way. And at first glance, this is a brutal yet almost confusing episode that takes place. Yet the gospel is seen when we look for God's greater story in human conflict. We say this all the time, it's a reality, it's a truth that it often takes a while to sink into us.

And that is that God uses the evil and the depravity of man to accomplish his purpose. You know, evil didn't begin with God. Evil began with sin. When man fell, man became capable of doing anything. This just simply means that God takes, by His determinate will and purpose and counsel, takes the wickedness of man, just like when they took the Lord Jesus and crucified Him.

God just allowed it to happen and then he used it to accomplish his purpose. That's what's going on here. Listen, this again is just another part of David becoming king. This is just another part of God allowing things to happen to accomplish his will and purpose.

First, we see that human pride and rivalry always leads to destruction. These men were fighting for the throne and it was driven by loyalty and ambition and anger. And the gospel shows us that apart from Christ, now listen, human effort to establish justice and security and power often leads to death. So does. It points us to our need of Christ. who alone brings true peace and reconciliation.

People don't perish because of a lack of interest. Did you know that? A lack of interest is traced back to a lack of need, always. People aren't interested in the things of Christ because they don't need Christ. You know, sometimes, you know, we rejoice in the success of our children and friends, and sometimes it's the worst thing that could happen to them. Because they don't need Christ.

They're doing okay on their own. Secondly, we see God's sovereignty in the midst of conflict, regardless of what happens in this world. And there's a lot going on in this world right now, isn't there? You turn on the news and there's a lot going on. And it's not good. It doesn't seem good, but it is good. It's good for God's elect because God is in control in the midst of all conflict. Now that's hard for us to fathom, that's hard for us to get a hold of.

And even in this bloody struggle that we just read, David's kingship is part of God's covenant purpose. This is all working together, working together for the good of them that love the Lord, David being one of them. The deaths of these men did not thwart God's purposes. The gospel reminds us that Christ reigns over all human struggles and nothing, even sin, even conflict, even death can derail God's redemptive will and purpose. And thirdly, we see the need of God's mercy. The story sets the stage for David to be king and eventually points forward to Christ.

And without God's mercy, these cycles of vengeance and murder and all would just continue endlessly. The gospel teaches us that through the Lord Jesus, God breaks the cycles of violence. In Christ, God provides reconciliation between enemies and sinners.

How can I say this in a way that it hits home? God takes murderers like us, us that would If we could get our hands on God, we'd kill him. That's exactly what this religious world did. And when they got their hands on Christ, they murdered him, they crucified him. He takes them and causes them to love him and cherish him. And it's all because of what Christ did for us.

He could have left us to ourselves. He could have left us in this state, but that's what mercy is. not giving us what we deserve. And grace is God giving us what we don't deserve, or vice versa, or both. Grace and mercy, that's hard to divide them, isn't it?

Look at verse 17, and there was a very sore, very fierce battle that day. Now this didn't just stop with these 12 men killing one another. It turned into a, both sides going at it. And it says, and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel before the servants of David. And we'll get more into that next study. I mean, how can you say anybody wins when all 12 men on both of these sides were killed? But as we'll see, Abner takes off running and Joab chasing him.

So in that sense, I guess he was beaten, The lesson here is that once sin is unleashed, it doesn't stay contained, and just one sin leads to another. This started out as a, quote, controlled contest. It became a full-scale war. That's how sin works. It starts small. It feels manageable. It escalates quickly, and it leaves devastation behind. What a picture of our sin.

And here's the result. The servants of David defeat Abner and the men of Israel. David's side wins, and as we'll see in the next study, Abner retreats and wins, but runs, excuse me, but no one really wins. When flesh versus flesh, no one ever does. And we could say what a tragic story. And it is tragic in one sense of the word. These are Israelites killing Israelites. This is brother against brother. This is Israel against Judah, covenant people killing covenant people. Why? Because flesh is fighting flesh.

And this isn't to teach us something about ancient warfare. This is teaching us something about the human condition. Our greatest conflict's not out there in this world. Now, I know there's conflict out there, in the job and just in the world in general, but our greatest conflict is right in here, in the heart, the flesh fighting against God. Scripture's clear, the flesh resists God, the flesh exalts self, the flesh produces division, strife, and death, and left unchecked, it always leads to destruction.

And that's exactly why we need a king greater than David. That's what this teaching is, I believe. This shows us, again, just how much we need the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in Christ, the true King, who ends the war. And that is the war against sin and flesh. And every time I read in the gospel, the Lord crying from the cross, it is finished. I'm reminded of this. The battle with sin and flesh, finished. It's finished. Why are we still fighting it?

Our Lord was appointed by God. He was rejected by men. Rival kingdoms rose up against him. He was a man of sorrow. He was acquainted with grief. He was hated without a cause. Our Lord never did anything that would cause anyone to hate him. And on the cross, the war between God and sinners was absorbed by the king himself. What a king.

You know, I mentioned in one of the studies recently, matter of fact, when David was with the Philistine king and they rolled in the back, you know, the army, that's the way it worked. The king's like, you guys going up out front, I'll stay in the back. And that was strategic, obviously, the king's a ruler, but in our spiritual warfare, our Lord went to the front lines. And He said, y'all stand by, let these go their way. And then what He said in the garden when they came to take Him, take me, let these go their way.

Our Lord went to the cross to absorb, to absorb the punishment that you and I deserve. Abner resisted God's King, but to resist Christ the King is death. In this story, we see division. Christ came to bring peace. Peace doesn't come by ignoring sin. Peace comes by dealing with sin. And that's what the Lord Jesus did for us.

He dealt with our sin. How? By being made sin for us. That we might be made what? The righteousness of God in Him. That's what Christ did on the cross. He took the wrath our rebellion deserved. Let's don't ever just make that a cliche statement. He took the full wrath of God that you and I deserved. He paid in full the sin debt that we owed.

He made peace through his blood. The war between God and man was settled on the cross. And it was settled the very second when he said, it's finished. God's justice was satisfied. God's law was fulfilled. And God said, that's enough. Christ ended the war that we started. Not by negotiation, but by sacrifice. Justice satisfied, sins paid for, peace is offered. The war is finished.

So may God be pleased to stop us from resisting this king. If God's made Christ king and he has, then our resistance is nothing but rebellion. And surrender to Christ the king is never optional. We either surrender or we die in our sin. So may God enable us to put the flesh to death.

The flesh will start fights that lead to great loss in the home, in the church, and most importantly, in the heart. May God enable us to pursue peace in the right way. Peace is not pretending that everything's fine, which it's not. Peace comes through truth and humility and submission to Christ. And I believe this passage tonight is a warning.

When moved by pride, sin escalates and pride destroys and conflict spreads. And this is the cost of division. And this is the result of flesh against flesh. The battlefield of Gibeon, in one sense of the word, didn't have to happen because it was caused by pride and sin.

But then again, it did have to happen because we see that it was God's divine providence that once again led the way to David being the king. This teaches us the reality of human conflict, the need of God's sovereign guidance in establishing his kingdom. That's why we're here tonight. We're endeavoring to learn more of our great king who loved us and gave himself for us. And human conflict is inevitable without God.

We say it. I hope we really mean it. I hope we really understand that sin is what we are, and conflict is what we know, and fighting's what we do. Ought not be. Oh, the destructive consequences of pride. Oh, the pain of division and human ambition. And left to themselves, people destroy one another. That's why we pray, Lord, don't leave me to myself.

And despite the chaos here, God raised the rightful king. And God's covenant promises are being fulfilled. And David's the one God has anointed to lead and David will lead Israel. Was he a perfect king? No. It's later on that he commits adultery. It's later on that he commits murder. And yet he's called a man after God's own heart.

That gives me some hope and some comfort that regardless of who and what I am in Christ and because of Christ's finished work for me, we're men and women after God's own heart. So in short, the gospel teaching is that human strife points us to our need of Christ. He's the true King whose victory brings peace, peace that passes all understanding. You ever have such a calm, you think about what God has done for you in Christ, and you just go, I feel so peaceful, it passes our understanding.

Well, that's why we have it, because of what Christ did for us. He reconciled us to our God. Yeah, we're our own worst enemy. We resist God, we cling to pride, we allow the flesh to lead. But there's a better way, and Christ is that way. He's the way, the truth, and the life. He's the King that brings peace. Why do we keep fighting? Why would we?

In Christ, the war's over. May God truly enable us to surrender. Surrender to what? No, surrender to who? The one who's already accomplished the victory. That's who we surrender to. Lord, you've already finished the work that God requires me to do. There's nothing for me to do but rest. Lord, help us to truly surrender unto your kingship, to your rule and your reign over all things.