The King Returns

Q: What does the Bible say about mourning and hope during trials?

The Bible teaches that even in mourning, we can trust the Lord is working all things together for our good. In the face of trials, such as the mourning that King David exhibited over Absalom's death, the Scriptures emphasize the importance of patience and trust in God's sovereignty. David's intense grief, while understandable on a personal level, highlighted his role as king and the impact of his sorrow on his people. This situation serves as a reminder that trials may persist even when we think they have ended, yet we are to hold onto the truth that God remains faithful and is working toward our ultimate good (Romans 8:28-30). The comfort we find in Christ allows us to navigate our pain without losing hope, knowing that God’s purposes are being fulfilled even through our suffering.

Q: Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

Grace is crucial because it signifies God's unmerited favor towards sinners, leading to salvation through faith in Christ. The concept of grace is fundamental in Christian theology as it reflects God's unmerited favor towards us, particularly illustrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As seen in the gospel proclamation, we cannot earn favor with God through our own works; rather, it is by grace through faith that we are justified and made righteous (Ephesians 2:8-9). This grace is not a license to sin but empowers us to live in obedience and trust the Lord in our walk with Him, transforming our lives as new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Therefore, understanding grace is vital, both for acknowledging our need for a Savior and for inspiring us to live out the implications of that grace in our daily lives.

Q: How do we know that God is working for our good?

We know God is working for our good through His promises in Scripture and the assurance of His sovereignty. The assurance that God is working all things together for our good is rooted in His character as revealed in Scripture. Romans 8:28 affirms that 'all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.' This promise encourages believers to remain steadfast in faith even amid trials. God's sovereignty means that nothing occurs outside of His divine plan, and even in moments of suffering, His ultimate purpose is to conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Thus, Christians can find confidence in both the assurances of Scripture and the testimonies of God's faithfulness throughout history, assuring us that He is indeed working for our good.

We're going to be in 2 Samuel 19. This chapter opens with Absalom now being dead. His rebellion has been put to death and he is No longer, he's been slain by Joab. But as we saw in the last verse of chapter 18, when David heard this, he was mourning Absalom. He said in the second half of that verse, oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, I would God, I had died for thee. Oh Absalom, my son, my son. And so this is where this chapter now opens up with David still mourning and crying about Absalom's death here. And it's going to cause, it's going to be somewhat of a problem for David as we'll see. I'll show you that and we'll break that down. You know, there's problems still here, and it seems like, well, you know, Absalom is now put to death.

This is the end of the rebellion. The coup is over. Everything can go back to normal. But as we'll see, no, there's still things that are lingering. There's still issues. There's still pieces of the trial and suffering. that go on. And it just makes me think of trials that it seemed, you know, when they do come to an end, yet there's still things that linger, that linger. There's still fallings out of things. There's still problems and things to be dealt with even as you come out of the trial.

And what we see in this is What I want to say on it, just looking at David here, and what I want to say on it to myself, to you, brethren, and to myself, to be instructed is to be patient, to be patient. Wait on the Lord and trust the Lord. Don't get upset when things still go on and still rise up and you think it's over. It's over. Why is there still problems? it's okay. You can trust the Lord because the Lord is still working all things together for our good.

And so when we look at David as an example, this is a man who is a man that the Lord says is a man after his own heart. He's called the apple of God's eye. I mean, he endured much suffering. He endured the chastening that the Lord had given him. But even so, as much as this man is loved, of the Lord, right?

And then that you may know that even when you go through trials and they linger and there's still things that come up, don't lose hope. It doesn't mean that the Lord has forsaken you or forgotten you or that he doesn't love you. David suffered. David continued to be chastened and tried through these things. And so don't lose hope. Trust in the Lord as you go through these things.

Now, I'm only going to look with you at the first 15 verses of this chapter tonight, and we'll glean some things just in what is said here between Joab and David, and then what transpires afterwards. But just as we saw last week, my hope is to look at the gospel. We want to draw out those things that speak to the gospel that we hope in of the grace of our God, by his grace. And so we're going to draw out those gospel themes once again as we go through these 15 verses.

So Absalom, we know, sought to kill David. And when he took David's life, because David had other sons and daughters, it's possible that Absalom would have slain David's wives and slain his half-brothers and sisters. He might have put them to death so that there was no challenge whatsoever to the throne from David's lineage there. It's possible he would have put them to death and any that were close to David that maybe Absalom wouldn't have trusted. It's possible Absalom, had he had his way, would have put David to death in order to secure the kingdom to himself. but he's now destroyed.

Joab has put him to death and ended that rebellion. And now, this chapter, it opens with David still mourning the death of his son, Absalom. Knowing this man, the enemy that this man made him to be against David's own person and against his family, yet David is mourning this man.

Now, on a personal level, We can understand that. We can enter into that as those who have people that we love and we mourn their death. Even those that gave us a hard time, we still mourn their death oftentimes. And we're still sorry when we lose someone that we love or cared for.

And so on a personal level, we get this. especially even though this man is an enemy of David, but we understand he's his son, so we could see why David might internally feel some pain and suffering. But as the king of Israel, it's a whole other story. He has a people whom he serves. He has a people that he is the king of, and because David is so loud about his mourning for his son, it's hurting the people. They're feeling shame at a time when they should feel joy and have rejoicing because they defeated an enemy of the kingdom that would have put their king to death and his family. Because David's mourning in the way that he's mourning, they're feeling shameful. They're feeling ashamed of it and they're not able to rejoice and so they're kind of slinking away. As a result, they're withdrawing from David.

And so let's read the first six verses regarding this because it opens with this being told to Joab. Joab, the general who's defeated the enemy of David, hears that David's openly, outwardly, loudly mourning Absalom's death. And so it's told to Joab, behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom.

And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people, for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. And the people got them by stealth that day into the city." That is, I guess, as they were coming back from the battlefield, they're hearing that David's upset and he's sad about everything, so they're just coming in quietly, no shouting, no rejoicing, no boasting of what they had done. And it came in as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle, as if they had done something shameful, something that shouldn't be done, something you wouldn't want others to know that you had done.

But the king covered his face and the king cried with a loud voice, oh my son Absalom, oh Absalom, my son, my son. And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons, and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines, in that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither princes nor servants. For this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well."

Now, every commentator that I've read on these verses here noted that David's character was very careless. He should not have been carrying on like this as the king. Again, as a private citizen and as one who maybe was sorrowful that his child that had this this bitter end like this even though he is the king we could understand that but But but he's not just a private citizen. He's the king of Israel He's the king of Israel and and he's causing a rift there in in the hearts of the people They don't even know how how to react to this and and it's a those that that risk their own lives that put their lives at risk for David and and to preserve David and his family and his kingdom, you know, they're feeling ashamed by what they had done. And so you can imagine how it's really, it's a, it's a weird thing that they're feeling and going through here. And David, you know, he's mourning and, and, and there, they're not able to rejoice and feel that joy and that rejoicing in the victory that God had given them.

And so, Joab's right to address the king on this. He is right, albeit some would say, some have said that Joab maybe was too plain in his speech to David. As the king, he was maybe just too plain. We don't think like that necessarily, because we don't have a king. We're not going to lose our head. the way Joab could have in that moment, but he was very plain toward David and maybe even too forward to David, but he was definitely right to address David about his open mourning of Absalom the way that he did, because it was driving the people away. And that's not a good thing at this time, because the kingdom isn't secured yet. It's not complete. David's still in that city, Bahurim. He's not in Jerusalem right at this time. He's still in Bahurim, exiled from Jerusalem at this moment. And so this is an important lesson, right? It was an important lesson for David to hear. It was necessary and needful for David to hear.

And honestly, it's an important thing, even for ministers of the gospel and all who serve the kingdom of God, because we're called to be mindful of our calling. And we're called to be mindful of our walk, to walk circumspectly, that is considering and being mindful of our vocation, our calling in the Lord.

Paul told Timothy, he said, preach the word, Timothy, in season and out, whether you feel like it or you don't feel like it. Whether you're ready or not, you preach the word because that's what you're called to do. If you have to reprove, reprove, rebuke, if necessary, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine. That's what you're called to do, Timothy, and you do it. It's good to remember this. It's good for me, all right, as a minister of the gospel. Sure, I have liberty to do things, but not all things are profitable, right? There's things that you just would not want to read about me in the paper, right? It's just what it is. And so I'm mindful of that, that I'm called to a thing, and it's what it is.

It's just be mindful of those things. And so that's kind of what David's learning here, and it's good for us It's good for me, it's good for all of us to be mindful of the name that we profess to believe before others, because people, whether they tell you, they look at you. They still do. They're going to look at you and assess your behavior before them. It's just a reality of what it is. And it's a good thing. It's good.

There's no complaint in there. but also as we seek to enter into the gospel in this passage, right? Because we want to know what's the gospel? Lord, what are you showing us of Christ in this passage? What is the gospel here? Well, it strikes me when you think of David mourning the death of his son, it highlights the grace of our God regarding the death of his son. It speaks to the glory and the love and the compassion of our Father. who is not mourning the death of his son, and not causing us to feel that shame, to go off shamefully because of the death of Christ.

We're told in Isaiah, and I'll explain that more, we're told in Isaiah 53, in the first half of verse 10, that it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord to bruise his son. The Father had put him to grief when he made his soul an offering for sin. The Father delighted to do that for his people whom he loves and chose in Christ before the foundation of the world.

And so, the death of the Son is not a thing, as we're preaching the gospel, it's not a thing by which we feel mourning and shame in light of the redemption that our Savior accomplished for us, right, in that light. Now, as sinners who know it's because of my sin that my Savior came, being sent to the Father, taking upon Him the likeness of my sinful flesh, but without sin. And He faithfully fulfilled the law, fulfilled everything the Father sent Him to do, and then went to the cross, bearing the shame, bearing the suffering for His people. He did that, willingly, for us. Now, knowing it's because of my sin, yes, I feel the shame and the guilt of that.

And we are made to acknowledge that But by his grace, we are given great joy in what Christ has accomplished for us, in what his death has obtained for us by his righteousness. And so the gospel freely makes known the salvation of sinners through the preaching of the death of the Son of God. The preaching of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose death obtained for us the forgiveness of our sins, whose death obtained for us eternal life and an inheritance with the true and living God, and that not by our works, not by our merit, or earning it, but freely in the grace of God, because that by Jesus Christ, all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. All right, so separate from the law, we're delivered through grace, and that's a joy and a rejoicing. You see that, that there's not a mourning over the death of Christ, but a joy and a rejoicing for what our Savior has done for us by his death, by the death of the Son. And so, by this message of good news of what God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost have done, Sinners are roused and they are alarmed to learn that their sin, their works, their ways are not sufficient to gain us an acceptance with the true and living God. That our works don't gain us a cleansing of our sin. that our form and practice of religion don't earn us the favor of God, but rather we've warranted God's eternal wrath and judgment.

So there is an alarm, there is a rousing in us in nature by the preaching of Christ, but we have the comfort of knowing that God the Father has provided a Savior, and that Savior is his Son. who came and accomplished all that we could not do for ourselves.

He did it perfectly, wondrously. And so there's a Savior, and His gospel bids us fly to Christ. And His grace fits us with wings to obtain Him, to reach Him, to get there. His grace gives that. Whereas the law says, you go, but does nothing to help you. You better, and gives you nothing, no help. But grace says, fly to Him. and fits you with wings to reach Him. And so that's what His grace does there. So we can obey the command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because He gives us the faith to believe, right? He gives us His spirit and He gives us that hope and that understanding and that light and understanding in Christ. Next, We see the result of Joab's words to David in verse 7 and 8. Joab said, Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants.

For I swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night. No one will stand with you anymore, David, if you continue in this. And that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now.

Then the king arose," right, so in response to this, the king arose, and sat in the gate, and they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king, for Israel had fled every man to his tent. And so this is in the gate in the city of Behurim, where David has come now, and he's sitting there in the gate. And so we see what I was saying before, by the exhortation, of Joab to David, David was aroused and alarmed by what he heard.

He was moved from his mourning. He was moved and he saw, you're right. You're right. And he heard. He heard it as good news to the Lord's people. He was as a new creature. He got up, and he went out to the gate. And he sat there, and the people were able to come to him and talk to him. It may have been still subdued, but at least they could approach him and say, King, we're so glad that you're alive. We're glad that the Lord has preserved you this day and preserved the kingdom.

And so in that manner of Joab's rousing up David and David being alarmed and going forth as a new creature here, well, in that same manner, that's what we see when the apostles went forth. When the apostles preached the gospel to the people, they declared Christ's great suffering, they declared all that he had done and accomplished for his people. They exalted his glorious sacrifice for the sins of his people, how that he made satisfaction unto the Father for his people. They spoke and declared everything that he did, why he had to do who he is, why he came, and what he accomplished in his coming. And God's elect were always pricked in the heart, They were moved, they were aroused and alarmed by what they had heard, and they believed. They went forth. Sirs, what must we do to be saved? Sirs, what must we do? If we've done this and been the cause of his death, what must we do? And the Lord revealed his comfort, his peace, his reconciliation with them through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they were pricked in the heart. Why? Because they're made new creatures. Through the preaching of the gospel, the Lord blessed that word effectually to the heart. His people hear it as new creatures, as living creatures, as creatures having the spirit of God in them, which they had not before, who hear and believe and follow Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things are become new. The morning was put off by David, and he went forth and sat in the gate. So it is with the people of God. He gives us peace and comfort in Christ, and we go forth in faith, in that faith, trusting the blood of Christ. And so, the Lord does it. He works that in us.

Now, after this, we find that David was still not returned as king to the kingdom. He still wasn't returned to Jerusalem. He's sitting there in Behurim, and it says in verse nine, 2 Samuel 19, verse nine, And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land for Absalom.

And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. It's all hitting them now. They're all realizing what they had done, not what fools they had been to get behind and support Absalom. We just got behind this kid, and this kid's now dead, and it was David all the while who did us good, and David who slew the Philistines, and David for whose sake we were blessed as a nation, and now he's fled because of Absalom, and Absalom's dead, the one that we anointed and got behind.

Now therefore, why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?" And so this is the 10 tribes of Israel. This is not Judah. And Simeon, when it says the 10 tribes, it means everybody but Judah and Simeon, because Simeon was completely surrounded by Judah. So they were just absorbed. If Levi was scattered, Simeon was absorbed. Those were the two brothers that caused suffering in Jacob.

And earlier on in Judah, when they based on some of the things that they had done. So the 10 tribes are realizing, wow, they're saying all these things. What have we done? And David's, he's our king. He's our king. And so they acknowledge their sin, they acknowledge their rebellion, and they want to align again with David. They want David to be their king. But now they recall that David, so yeah, so they see this here, and while they see it, and they're ready to restore David, yet Judah hasn't said anything. Judah's made no movement toward David. Judah's done nothing to bring David back yet as king.

So that comes, now we come to verse 11, and King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priest, right, they would be in Jerusalem, saying, speak unto the elders of Judah. saying, why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? Seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house.

Ye are my brethren. Ye are my bones and my flesh. Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king? So he's appealing to them based on his relation to them. He's making known his is that they're members of the same body in Judah, right? They're members of the same tribe.

And then verse 13, and say ye to Amasa, art thou not of my bone and of my flesh? And he says that because, well, not only is Amasa of Judah, but Amasa is David's nephew. and Joab's nephew, for that matter. He must be one of David's brother's sons, Amasa. So he was cousin to Absalom, and he was the general of Absalom's army there. And so he's saying to Amasa, hey, you're also of my kindred.

God do so to me, and more also if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab. Joab, his aunt's son, I guess it is, or sister's son or something. So this would seem to indicate that David was, some say, well, maybe David was annoyed with Joab. Maybe he heard that Joab was the one who put Absalom to death, and so he was taking it out on Absalom, or he didn't like the plainness of speech that Absalom spoke to him, probably because he's the one who put Absalom to death.

And so he's ready to replace Joab there, But some also think, well, he's also buying his way into the hearts of the people. Others think, well, he's being a good statesman. He's appealing to the people as a good statesman. He's reminding them of their relationship to them.

And some think that maybe they didn't call him back because they were ashamed. Maybe they were ashamed, too, of what they had done to David and weren't sure. what David was going to do to them and whether they should go and make peace with David in that matter. I don't know. It doesn't necessarily say exactly what it was, why they hadn't invited him back, but whatever the reason, David's words, it resonated with them. They heard it. They heard the words and they liked that Amasa was going to be made captain over the people rather than Joab, and it worked. It worked to win the heart of the people over to David.

And so verse 14 says, And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou and all thy servants. And you come back your whole Your whole court comes back. You're the rightful king. And everybody that you appoint and want to be there in your court, it's good with us. You just come back the way it was.

So the king returned and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan. Because he was on the other side there, I guess, in Reuben and Gad, in those tribes over there, the half tribe of Manasseh and such. So he was on the other side of Jordan there. And so at this point, David is now being restored as the king, but by Judah, only Judah at this point, that'll be important in another message, but.

There's gonna be more that comes out of this, but the gospel notes, right, going back, of everything we just read there, verses nine through 15, what's the gospel notes in those passes? What is the sound of the gospel there? Well, when the gospel is preached, the Lord does lay the hearts of his people low. He lays the hearts of his people low in themselves, just as we saw Israel was laid low.

They were made to know we have sinned. We've rebelled against our God. Well, they knew that we've rebelled against our king. We're made to know we've rebelled against our God. We have treated him as an enemy, and he's never been an enemy, only in our minds. We've looked at him as the enemy.

But now we hear of God's grace and mercy through the preaching of Christ that if when we were enemies, while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us. And if he died for us when we were yet enemies, how much more will we live by his life? We'll be saved by his life. And so we had heeded the voice of the enemy of our souls as they had heeded the voice of Absalom and were persuaded by him and they followed him. and we followed the devil, right? We followed the enemy, but Christ came and he slew our enemy.

He put him to death, gave us understanding through the preaching of the gospel, right under the sound of the gospel. He gives understanding, a right understanding of what he does for us, making us to know that he is Lord, that he is God, he is savior, he is governor, he's everything unto us. And he gives us a new heart and a new spirit whereby we confess Christ and follow him.

We see the rightness of him. And as David's speaking to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, so our Lord speaks to his pastors and to his preachers, and he sends them forth to preach the word, to speak this word to the hearts of the people. And when he does so, he brings a new rule over them. That is, he gives the gospel rule.

He gives his spirit, whereby we are raised up by the Spirit of God and led forth of the Spirit of God to follow Christ, just as Amasa was appointed to lead the people rather than Joab. He makes all things new, and he speaks peaceably to his people. and his people are blessed by his peaceful words. Our hearts are moved, right? All the elect are moved as one heart of one person.

And we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we confess him and he speaks peaceably as a groom speaking to his bride. I turn over to Ephesians 5. Go to Ephesians 5. In Ephesians 5 verse 25, we read, Their husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. And so the Lord has shown us that the church is subject to Christ, our head, as the wife is subject to her husband, right? And the husband loves his wife and lays down his life for the life of his wife.

And Christ tells us that we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Just as David said to Israel and to Amasa, are thou not of my bone and of my flesh? That's how the Lord speaks to us in the preaching of the gospel, that we are one with him, that he laid down his life for us, whom he loves. He gave himself for us, and so by his grace and power, through the preaching of the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior bows our hearts before him. to hear him, to believe him, to confess him, to follow him, to willingly follow him, and to go where he leads, to have all things which were destroyed and ruined in Adam to be restored and reconciled in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's the picture here. That's the gospel picture that we draw out from this, that this word is reiterated really twice in this passage here, and it's blessed to us, right? Because the preaching of the cross is the power of God unto us, which are saved, right? It's foolishness to the world, but to us who hear it, it's the power of God.

And so the glory, the Lord of glory restores in his creatures that which was lost in the fall, and he reveals that glory of Christ unto us to make us to know what the will of the Father is, that we would be be restored in Christ, that we would have that fellowship again in Him. He says, He called you by our gospel to the obtaining, the effectual obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, I pray the Lord bless you to see that in this passage, to hear that gospel, to look to Christ, to believe Him, and to rejoice in Him, because it's not a shameful thing what our Lord did for us. We feel shame for our sins, but we rejoice in the death of the Son who lives again, who rose and triumphed gloriously over all our enemies. Amen.

The King Returns

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about mourning and hope during trials?

Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

How do we know that God is working for our good?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The King Returns

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about mourning and hope during trials?

Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

How do we know that God is working for our good?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

More from Eric Lutter

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Eric Lutter

Suggested for You

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book