Well, our pastor is out in San
Diego preaching this morning, but he's got a few more hours
before he preaches. But in his absence, we're so
thankful to have Aaron Greenleaf with us here this morning. Aaron's
a dear friend and a faithful preacher of the gospel. Aaron,
you come and preach to him. Once again, for anyone who wasn't
at Sunday school this morning, it's my honor and privilege to
be with you. It's been so long since I've been up here. Been
looking forward to this for some time now, and bring all the well
wishes and thoughts and prayers from everybody in Lexington.
They'd be very upset if I didn't bring those with me. So, y'all
have a huge family down there, even if you don't know it. Another
group of believers, and we're very prayerful for you. Eric,
you've been so helpful. He comes to preach for us all
the time. We're just very grateful for this congregation and your
all's friendship to us. Very important. If you would,
turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 2. I want to look at a story this
morning. To get through the story, it actually spans several chapters. The majority of it is found in
chapters 2 and 3, but it actually goes all the way over to chapter
5. I want to look at the story in its completeness this morning.
We'll just read excerpts along the way, and I'll kind of tell
you what happens. But the title of the message this morning is
this. It's Man's Lie and God's Truth. It's a befitting title
because that's what this story does. It contrasts two things.
Man's lie. Man is the lie, but he also has
a lie. And God's truth. It exposes some things. It exposes
the natural man. Exposes what he knows he knows
something about God. What does the natural man know
about God what he knows? What he desires and what he does
with that knowledge and that desire Exposes man's religion
salvation by works. That's a man-made Religion exposes
the air of that also exposes this it exposes the truth of
the gospel the truth of Christ God's truth and keep in mind
truth is not subjective You can believe two plus two equals five
all day long. Well, that's your truth. That
doesn't matter because two plus two equals four. There's only one
truth and that's God's truth. And he's pleased to reveal it
in this story. It's very exciting story to tell
you what we're going to pick up. Saul, the former king of
Israel, he's dead. He's already died. And David,
he's been anointed by God through Samuel to be king over the entire
kingdom, over Israel and Judah. And that happened long before
Saul ever died. David has been the rightful king
for a very long time now. People are just finding out about
it now. The kingdom is divided. And so David goes to the Lord,
he says, should I go up to Judah? Should I go up and take the kingdom?
And the Lord says, go up. And so he goes up and he tells
Judah, I'm your king. And he said, of course you are.
Everybody knows that. You're the king. David, sit on
the throne. This is fantastic. Judah receives
him. Israel, not so much. So you got
Judah on one side, which is basically the tribe of Judah, and then
you got Israel, which is basically all the other tribes. And Judah says,
nah, not so much. They're ruled by a man named
Abner, and Abner is Saul's former second in command. He was the
captain of the host. And so I want you to see what
Saul does here. Look down in 2 Samuel 2 and look
at verse eight. But Abner, the son of Ner, Captain
of Saul's host took Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and brought
him over to Manhannam, and look at these words, this is very
important, and made him king over Gilead, over the Asherites,
and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all
Israel. Ishbosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began
to reign over Israel, and reigned two years, but the house of Judah
followed David. Now Saul, or I'm sorry, Abner,
under Saul's rule, he had this position as the captain of the
host. This was a position of prestige, position of power,
position of influence. He had Saul's ear. And this is
the theme of Abner throughout this story. Abner desperately
does not want David to be king. And it's for one reason. He doesn't
want David to be king because Saul doesn't want to lose, or
I'm sorry, Abner doesn't want to lose control. Right now, he
has control. Now, prior to this, for some
years, there's been no king over in Israel. David had been the
king over there for about seven years now. But there's been no
king over in Israel for a while now. Who do you think was calling
the shots over there during that period? Abner was. Abner has control right now.
Abner has influence. And truth be told, what Abner
wants, Abner wants to be king. But he knows that's not appropriate.
Nobody'd support that. He doesn't have the proper name.
He has no claim to the throne. He can't be king. So he does
the very next best thing. You know what he does? He installs
a puppet king in Ish-bo-sheth. He takes this young guy. He's
got the right name, got Saul's name. And what we'll find about
Ish-bo-sheth is this as we go on reading. He is a weak man.
He can be manipulated. And he is terrified of Abner.
Absolutely terrified of him. So much so, Ish-bosheth won't
do anything unless Abner gives him the go-ahead. That's exactly
what kind of king Abner is looking for, a king he can manipulate,
a king he will tell him what to do, and his king is only going
to do exactly what he wants him to do. Now, Abner coming out
against David, this creates a contention. The whole kingdom sits on the
brink of civil war. We can't let this divide continue.
Somebody's got to take the throne, either Ish-bosheth or David,
who's it going to be? So they decide to have a little
showdown, right? They're going to meet. Abner
and his forces come down to the pool of Gibeon. And then Joab,
commanding David's forces, he goes out to the pool. Let's see
what happens. Look at verse 12. And Abner, the son of Ner, and
the servants of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, went out from
Manhattan to Gibeon. And Joab, the son of Zariah,
and the servants of David went out and met together by the pool,
Gibeah. And they sat down, the one on
the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of
the pool. Now, it seems as if there's an
interest in a peaceful resolution at this point. They're interested
in having some sort of dialogue, perhaps negotiation over this.
Everybody comes to this pool, Abner and his army on one side,
Joab and David's army on the other side, and everybody sits
down. That's a good thing to do. Let's talk this out. Let's
see if we can work this out. Nobody wants a civil war, right?
And they have this smart idea. They put this pool of water between
the two of them. It gives them some standoff distance. So if
negotiations break down and tempers get heated, nobody can just get
up and hastily shove a sword across the way into the guy across
from them and spark a full-blown battle. They're being wise about
this. They won't talk about it. But look what Adler does. Look
at 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. Now Abner proposes
play, but this is not child's play. What he is proposing here
is gladiator-like combat. Abner says, Joab, you send your
best, 12 of your best. I'm going to send my 12 best,
my 12 warriors against your 12 warriors, and we're going to
have a little competition. We're going to have a competition
to see whose warriors are stronger, which ones are better, which
ones are better trained. And through this little skirmish
here, we'll get a taste for what would happen if our two armies
went into battle. And you put yourself in Joab's
position right now. It's a tight spot. He didn't want to see any
of his guys get hurt. But if he doesn't accept the
challenge, Abner may view that as a sign of weakness. Just send
in his army, and they clash all at once. Furthermore, if his
boys win, Joab got some great warriors. If his 12 win, that
may discourage Abner. He may say, no, this ain't worth
it. I'm just going to give up right now. But he's trying to avoid
bloodshed. But in a tight spot, arguably, Joab makes the best
decision he can. And he says, let them rise. Let
them fight. See what happens. Now, look at
verse 16. Speaking of these 24 warriors,
and they caught everyone his fellow by the head, and thrust
his sword in his fellow's side. So they fell down together, wherefore
that place was called Helcathazarum. And that means a slippery place,
which is in Gibeon. Now, this purpose, the purpose
of this competition was what? We're gonna find out who's better.
Who's got the better warriors? Who is best equipped for the
battle right now? We're going to find out who is
better through this competition. What did they find? They found
that there was absolutely no difference between any of them.
They were all evenly matched. Each one of these men grabbed
each other by the hair, took his sword, shoved it in the other
man's side. And this is the end state of
this competition at Gibeon. I'm going to give you the gospel
application later. Just hear me now. This is the end state
of this competition in Gibeon. Everybody who entered the competition
died. Every one of them. Not a one
was better than the other. Now, the bloodshed from this
small skirmish and the fact that no winner could be decided, this
sparks a full-blown battle. Abner's forces collide with Joab's
forces, and they enter a full-blown civil war. And you think how
terrible this would be. But the scriptures record that
Joab and his army, they're victorious that day. They actually put Abner
and Abner's army on their heels. They go chasing after them. Let's
see what happens. Look at verse 18. And there were three sons of
Zariah there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel. And Asahel was as
light a foot as a wild roe. And Asahel pursued after Abner.
And in going, he turned not to the right hand nor to the left
from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him
and said, art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am. And Abner
said to him, turn thee aside to the right hand or to the left,
and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his
arm. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And
Abner said again to Asahel, turn thee aside from following me.
Wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? How then should
I hold up my face to Joab thy brother? Now, here we are introduced
to the hero of this entire thing. His name is Asahel, and he means
God appointed or God made. That's what his name means. And
if you go through reading in the first Chronicles account
of David's mighty men, Asahel is listed there. He's one of
those men that's listed, and he's referred to as a valiant
man. He's strong. He's capable. He's battle tested.
This is a man that was respected by everybody around him. It says
right here that he was as fast as a wild roe. That means he
was fast as a gazelle. And so Abner's forces are on
the run, right? And Asahel, he takes the battlefield,
covered in blood, just got done, I'm sure in a ferocious battle,
and he surveys the battlefield and his eyes fall on one man. What do you think he was thinking?
He looked at Abner and he said, you're the problem. There is
one reason that the kingdom is not reconciled under my king,
David. There is one reason there's been
an insurrection. There is one reason I spent my day hacking
my countrymen to bits and were involved in this civil war. There's
one reason he's standing right there. Abner's the problem. Abner
has to go down. And he took off like a wild roe
after Abner. I'm going to put down Abner forever. And he wouldn't be dissuaded.
Abner said, turn to the right hand or to the left. Seek your
victory. Seek your glory. I'm one of these
young men. Go fight him. Take his armor. Kill him. Get
your victory there. Just stop pursuing me. Asahel
said, no, you're the problem. And the problem has to go down.
And Abner, he's very confident. Abner's an old, grizzled, malicious
warrior. Very tough. Very sly. Very sneaky. And when I give
you his type at the very end, you personally will recognize
how old and tough and malicious he actually is. Now let's see
what happens, look at verse 23. Speaking of Asahel, how be it
he refused to turn aside, wherefore Abner with the hinder end of
the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came
out behind him and he fell down there and died in the same place. And it came to pass that as many
as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still. Asahel's faster than Abner. Asahel's
gaining ground on Abner. Abner sees him coming. He's got
the spear in his hand, and all he does is jut that spear out
behind him, just like that. And Asahel runs headlong right
into it. And that spear punctured under
his fifth rib, and the spear came all the way out the other
side. Now, this is gruesome, but consider
this for a moment. It would be bad enough to take
the sharp end of a spear and have it plunged through your
ribcage. That's not what happened. He
took the blunted end of the spear. That stick you use, your mop
handle, imagine that blunted end on the end there, it going
straight through you, all the trauma to the flesh that would
cause. That went straight through him,
all that pain, all that blood, and it came out the other side
and Asahel died on that battlefield. And this is what happened The
very moment Asahel died, everything on that battlefield stopped.
Everybody who came to the place where Asahel fell down and died,
they all did the exact same thing. They stood still. Men hacking
each other to bits, one guy probably on his knees just waiting for
that fatal blow, and all of a sudden, everything stops. Could have
heard a pin drop. This valiant warrior, this mighty
warrior, this one that everybody else looked to, they all stood
in awe. that he died. Now this pause
in the battle gives Abner an opportunity to flee. He goes
and he reinforces himself and essentially Joab allows him to
flee. And you know what he's thinking?
We're in a civil war. I don't want to see any more of my countrymen
die. We've won the day. Let's see what happens tomorrow.
And you would think this would be the end of it, right? Abner's
beat. It's over with. Sure not. This is just the beginning.
Scripture record that there is long war between the house of
David and the House of Saul. But it also records this, David
waxed stronger and stronger and the House of Saul waxed weaker
and weaker. You see, David's definitely going
to win. There's no doubt about it. He's God's king. Of course
he's going to win. It's just a matter of time. Now before we get to the conclusion,
the victory, I want you to see an interaction between Ish-bosheth,
the king that Abner made, and Abner, and I think it'll better
explain their relationship. Go over to chapter three, look
at verse six. And it came to pass while there
was war between the house of Saul and the house of David,
that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul. And Saul
had a concubine whose name was Ritzpah, the daughter of Ai.
And Ishmael said to Abner, wherefore hast thou gone unto my father's
concubine? Then was Abner very wroth for
the words of Ish-b'shiv, said, am I dog's head, which against
Judah do show kindness this day under the house of Saul, thy
father, to his brethren, to his friends, and have not delivered
thee into the hand of David, thou charges me today with a
fault concerning this woman. Now, is this the way you speak
to your king? This is the one time recorded
where Abner actually tries to call, I'm sorry, Ishbosheth tries
to call out Abner for something he's done. Apparently, Abner
was messing around with one of his father's concubines, and
Ishbosheth didn't like that. Ishbosheth the king, he says,
Abner, you're wrong on this. I don't want you to do this.
How does Abner respond? Who are you to tell me what to do? Look
at everything I've done for you. I've continued your house on
the throne. I've protected you from David.
I've been good to you, good to all your friends. Look at everything
I've done for you. How dare you try to hold me to
account? Is this the way a man speaks
to his king? That's the way a man speaks to his king if it's the
king he has made. You can write this down. He who
can make a king is in fact the king. Abner's the king in this
relationship. He's telling his bishop what
to do. But Abner's gonna show his hand. He's going to admit
to something that he has never admitted to until up to this
point. Look at verse nine of chapter
three. This is Abner speaking to Ishevsheth. Says, so do God
to Abner, and more also, except as the Lord has sworn to David,
even so I do to him, to translate the kingdom from the house of
Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over
Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba, And he could not answer Abner
a word again because he feared him. Now this is what Abner's
saying. He's saying, Ish-bosheth, I'm switching sides. We're losing. Very clear I'm on the losing
side of this battle. I'm gonna go align myself with David. But
he makes an admittance here. He says this, as the Lord do
to David, so I do unto him. What did you know, Abner? What
has the Lord said to David? Well, it's very simple. He said
he was going to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul
to the house of David. Abner, are you saying that you
have known that David was God's rightful king the entire time?
That's exactly what he was saying. From the very beginning of this,
you see, this whole insurrection, this thing of making his own
king, this wasn't a matter of misinformation. It's not like
Abner just thought he was doing the right thing, and it turned
out he was wrong when it was all said and done. I didn't know
this was God's will. I had no idea. No, he is admitting here,
I've known the entire time that David is God's rightful king,
God's anointed king, and I have warred against it with my eyes
wide open. No excuse for that. No excuse
whatsoever. Now, Abner is going to try to align
himself with David, and I'm gonna spare you the reading on this,
but I encourage you to go home and read it for yourself. I do
not detect that he is sincere in any of this. He doesn't go
to David and say, David, I've sinned against you, you're the
rightful king, I'm throwing myself at your mercy, whatever you do
with me, that's right. He doesn't do that. No, he's
trying to manipulate. Once again, that's what Abner
does, he manipulates. He goes to David and he says,
now, David, I've got influence over here in Israel. You know,
I'm pretty much running the show over there and you want to be
king. Make a league with me. Make a treaty with me. Right.
Be at peace with me and I'll get you what you want. I'll use
my power and I'll use my influence and I'll get everybody over on
Israel to bow the knee to you. And David does something that's
very out of character for him. He agrees to this. And I suppose
he's acting in a politically savvy manner. He thinks, well,
listen, we need to end this civil war. Let's get this over with.
Yeah, he's got some influence over there. I'll make a treaty
with Abner. I'll use his influence to be king, and that's the way
we'll work it out. And here's what he was going
to have to do. He was going to have to take everything Abner did and just
sweep it under the carpet. I guess I'll just forget about
the insurrection, and I'll forget about the killing of Asa Hill.
I'll just sweep all that under the rug for the sake of having
the cooperation of this man, Abner. A note on this, if I never
say it again in this message, if you want to know what God
is not like, what he's not like, he is not like what David is
doing here. He needs absolutely no cooperation
from men to be king. He is king. And one day, either
in this life or later on, once the Lord wraps all this up, every
knee is going to bow. and every tongue is going to
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. He doesn't need any man's cooperation
to be king. He is king. Christ sits on the
throne whether a man sees it or not. He's Lord over all of
us whether we see it or not. And here's the other thing he
will not do. He's not gonna sweep any sin on the carpet. Not a
one. This is the truth about all sin,
collectively all sin. Every sin either has already
been punished in the person of Jesus Christ or it will be punished
in the person of the man who committed that sin eternally.
But every sin will be accounted for at the end of the day. He's
not going to let one sin go unpunished that he may maintain his title
as a just God and a savior. If you want to know what God
is not like, he is not like what David is doing here. Now, David
may be willing to overlook Abner's indiscretions, but there's a
person who will not. It's Joab, Asahel's brother. The blood of Asahel cries to
Joab, and he can't let it go. Look over here, chapter 3, verse
22. And behold, the servants of David,
chapter 3, 22. And Joab came from pursuing a
troop and brought in a great spoil with him. But Abner was
not with David and Heber, for he had sent him away and he was
gone in peace. When Joab and all the hosts that was with him
were come, they told Joab saying, Abner the son of Ner came to
the king and he has sent him away and he is gone in peace.
Then Joab came to the king and said, what hast thou done? Behold,
Abner came unto thee. Why is it that thou has sent
him away and he is quite gone? Thou knowest Abner, the son of
Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out
and thy coming in, and to know all that thou doest. Now, as
a man, Joab is wrong here. You don't talk to your king like
this. You certainly don't talk to God's anointed king like this.
But Joab is probably acting in David's best interest. And Joab
is probably right. Abner probably was a snake in
the grass. And Abner probably was just trying to gain some
influence in David just to usurp his throne later on. The way
Joab's talking to his king is wrong, but his logic is right.
He's probably dead right on this. Like I said, David may be willing
to overlook Abner, but Joab won't. Look at verse 26. And when Joab was come out from
David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again
from the well of Sira. But David knew it not. And when
Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate
to speak with him quietly and smote him there under the fifth
rib. And he died for the blood of Asahel, his brother. Now,
once again, as a man, Joab is wrong. The king did not consent
to this. He did this without David's approval
and without David knowing. And if you go on reading, what
you find is that David mourns greatly for Abner. And David
actually curses Joab and his house over this whole thing.
But this is very interesting. This act, this one singular act
of Abner being put down for good forever. You know what this leads
to? The complete reconciliation of the kingdom of David. Israel
comes back and says, you're the king. You're our king. We've
always known that the entire kingdom is reconciled under David
because Abner is finally put down for good. Now, that is a
very long story. What's the point? Where's the
gospel in all this? What is the teaching of all this?
Here's a few things for you. What is the natural man like?
Me, you, every man as we're born into this world, we're all the
same, absolutely all the same. What is the natural man like?
We're all just like Abner. Just like Abner. There are three
things that I hope you noticed about Abner along the way. Number
one, he knew that David was the rightful king from the very beginning.
This wasn't a matter of a misunderstanding. He had the appropriate information.
He simply warred against what he saw. Secondly, his theme,
he does not want David to be king. Why? because he doesn't
want to lose control, or at least perceived control. And three,
what does he do because of this? He makes himself a king. He installs
a puppet king, one he can manipulate, one who's terrified of him, a
king that will only do exactly what he tells him to do. That's
the natural man. We're just like Abner as we're
born into this world. The natural man knows something
about God. He has some natural understanding of God. This is
what Paul says, Romans 1 20. I'll read it to you for the sake
of time. Paul says, for the invisible things of him, from the creation
of the world are clearly seen, not hidden, clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. What's Paul saying
there? Every man he's born in this world
knows that God is. He's born with that knowledge.
How? The very creation declares that God is. And we probably
don't spend enough time looking at the creation. You go out at
night, and you look at those stars and you consider the fact
that you can set your clock by when that sun's gonna come up
and when it's gonna go down, everything moving with pristine
precision. I can't make that. Somebody who
is very, very wise made all that. Someone who is very, very powerful
made all that. Eternally powerful, the scripture
adds. No, he made all that and I did
not make all that and I cannot make all that. I don't have that
wisdom. And I don't have that power. The creation declares
everybody knows this from birth. There is a God. And he is the
one who creates in this hierarchy. He is wiser than me. He is more
powerful than me. There is a natural pecking order
that is established that a man can see simply by the creation
alone. He is God. And I am not. You know what the man does when
he sees that? He says, no, no, no, no, no,
no. I can't be. That absolutely can't be. You
go on reading what Paul said in verse 21. He said, because
that when they knew God, they glorified him, not as God, neither
were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their
foolish heart was darkened. The man sees this. There is a
natural hierarchy. God is, he is here and I am underneath
him. He's my king. And what is the
reaction to that? He's darkened. He turns his face
from that. He does not like what he sees. And the question is this, does
the man darken his heart or does the Lord darken a man's heart?
You know what the answer is? Yes. Both. Remember when the Lord was dealing
with Pharaoh through Moses in the Exodus, he would come to
him, Moses, the Lord said, let my people go. And Pharaoh will
say, no, I'm not letting him go. And interchangeably in those
conversations, it will say, Pharaoh hardened his heart. The next
chapter over, it will say, the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Which one was it? Yes, Pharaoh saw the God of Israel,
God. And in this great hierarchy,
he's above me. He's my king too. I don't like
that. I hardened my heart. I've darkened my heart against
that. No, absolutely not. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's
heart. How does he do that? We talked about it in Sunday
school. If the Lord wants to harden a man's heart, there's
only one thing he has to do. Nothing. Just leave a man alone. If the Lord wants to damn a man,
this is all he has to do. Nothing. Just leave a man alone
to do what he naturally wants to do, to reject what is clearly
seen. The hierarchy is clearly seen. Men just darken their hearts.
I don't like the hierarchy. And that rejection, that rejection
that is without excuse, not a matter of misunderstanding. Was it a
matter of misunderstanding with Abner? Absolutely not. Is it
a matter of misunderstanding with the natural man? Nope. Paul
tells us the creation declares there's a hierarchy and men reject
the hierarchy. But that rejection gets more
fierce, gets more bold when the truth is seen, the full truth
from the scriptures. God inspired word. Not that he
is just more powerful than I am. It's not just that. It's that
he is a sovereign God. It's not that he's just wiser
than I am. It's that he's an omniscient God. That means in
Jesus Christ, all wisdom is housed. There is nothing to be known
that he does not know because he is the source of all wisdom.
Power, he is the source of all power as the sovereign and omnipotent
God. All power is housed in him. And
the man says this, I will not have that man to rule over me.
Why? Why? Why is the natural order
rejected? Because of the implication. The
implication is this, I don't have any power. That's what Abner
was mad about, wasn't it? David becomes king. I don't have
any more power. I'm at David's mercy. Well, if
God really is sovereign and Christ really is sovereign, which they
are, that means I don't have any power in this thing of salvation.
I don't have any choice. I can't manipulate this king.
I can't force this king to bend to my will. I'm in this king's
hands and I've sinned against the king. I'm a sinner in the
hands of a sovereign and a holy God, and that means he can do
with me as he sees fit, and there's absolutely nothing I can do about
that." The man says, no, absolutely not. I see it clearly, but I
reject what I see. So what did Abner do? He installed
a puppet king. What does a man do? He rejects
what he sees naturally, so what does he do? He makes himself
a king. He makes himself a god, an ishposheth. What are the attributes of Vyshbosheth?
He's a winkling. He's terrified of Abner. He won't
do anything unless Abner gives him the go-ahead. Every idol
that has ever been made, all the different names they've carried
over the years, over the centuries, over the decades, they all have
this in common. They can help, and they want
to. You have to do your part, whatever that part is. He's a
weakling, he'll do whatever you want him to, you just gotta do
the thing he needs you to do. He makes that god because he's
comfortable with that god, because he can manipulate that god. He makes himself an ishvosheth,
he makes himself a king. Now if a man's gonna make himself
a god, what does he have to do next? He's gotta make himself
a religion. That's what the scene at Gibeon
is all about. Let me get to my notes here. So what happened to Gibeon? Abner
comes with his forces. Joab comes with his forces. And
Abner says this, Joab, bring your best. And I'm going to bring
my best. Now in man's religion, what is
man's religion? Salvation by works. In man's religion, what
is a man called on to do? Bring his best. Bring your best
works. Bring your best thoughts. Bring
the goodness of your will, whatever you think God will accept. Bring
your best. This is what we're going to do. We're all going
to have an offering here. We're going to bring our best before God. And what they
have to do in man's religion is change the standard. I can't
use God's standard for acceptance. What is God's standard for acceptance?
Perfect righteousness, perfect sinlessness, perfect holiness. That is the only thing God will
accept. For me to be accepted by God,
for you to be accepted by God, I must be sinless as Jesus Christ
is sinless, I must be holy as Jesus Christ is holy, and I must
be righteous as Jesus Christ is righteous. That's the only
thing God will accept. Gotta be that good, that good.
Natural man says we can't use that standard because the natural
man, while he has no natural understanding of our total depravity,
that we can't take the first step toward God. We're dead in
trespasses and sins. Natural man knows nothing of
that, but all natural men collectively agree to this. Nobody's perfect.
We all have a conscience. The conscience burns inside of
us. When we sin, we do wrong. All men would agree nobody's
perfect. So we can't use God's standard. It's too high. It's
too holy. None of us could reach that.
So we got to create a new standard. So what's the new standard? I
suppose whichever one of us can make the best vein showing in
the flesh of how much power we have over sin, and how we're
living this righteous life where we get better in holiness, and
better in holiness, and better in holiness. Whichever one of
us can at least outwardly look the best, I suppose he then becomes
the standard. And if a man can be the standard,
that means that I can be the standard. And that means you
can be the standard. You know what that means? That
means we're in a competition. just like out there at Gibeon.
12 on 12, we're gonna find out who's better. You bring your
best, I'll bring my best, and we'll find out who's more pleasing
to God. We'll find out at the end of the day who's gonna get
the bigger crown and glory, who's gonna get the bigger mansion
in heaven, who's gonna be higher in the hierarchy along the way,
who's gonna be whose servant. You bring your best, I'll bring
my best, and we'll have a little competition. We're gonna find
out who's best. And here's what this religion
does not produce. It produces absolutely no salvation
whatsoever. Salvation by works never saved
one man. We talked about that in Sunday
school. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Never saved one person. It produces
absolutely no worship of God. Because the God that's being
worshiped does not exist. He's a sniveling weakling. But
here's another thing it doesn't produce. It produces absolutely
no brotherly love. No care or concern for your brother.
No love for him, no covering his sins. Just like we saw that
Shem and Japheth this morning. What'd they do? They saw no sin,
they covered it. That's love. That's what love
does. It covers a transgression. There's none of that. There's
just hatred and maliciousness to the people around you. Why?
Because we're in a competition. We're trying to see who's better.
So we just spend all the time hoping that our brother falls
and he's exposed so I look better. And we just hack each other to
bits. What a malicious religion. How
terrible. And I think this is very interesting. The purpose of Gibeon was this.
You send your best. I send my best. We're going to
find out who's better. At the end of the day, what did
they find? They found that amongst them there was absolutely no
difference. They were all the same, all evenly
matched. And the Lord's gonna reveal this
to every man one day. Either if he saves him in this
life, we'll know it in this life, or not. When he wraps this whole
thing up, everybody's gonna know this. Amongst men, there's just
no difference. Here's what Paul said about men. Said, as it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Does that leave
any room for exception? Gibeon, we're going to find out
who's better. What'd they find? We're all the same. No difference.
There's just no difference between men all born dead and trespasses
and sins. All born hating God, all born
rebels, all born without a righteousness and unable to achieve one. Every
man by nature is the same. The only difference is the difference
that Christ makes. That's it. And I find this very
interesting. What happened to everybody who
entered the competition at Gibeon? What is the end state of that?
They died. Every one of them died. And if
we come this way, if we come to God on the basis of our best,
bringing our best, our best works, our best thoughts, this is our
end state. This is the warning of this book. You will die. You will die at the hand of God.
I don't know you. Depart from me, you worker of
iniquity. That's what you're gonna hear.
Now, that's man and that's man's lie. What's the truth? Now we said the truth's not subjective.
Truth is one, right? God's truth, that's it. What's
the truth? The truth is Asahel. He's the truth. Now, three things
I hope you saw about Asahel. This was a man of single-minded
purpose, and it's a purpose that he would not be dissuaded from.
He took the battlefield and he spied out the problem. He looked,
Abner, he's the problem, and in single-minded purpose, He
went headlong after the problem and he wouldn't be dissuaded.
Abner said, turn to the left hand, turn to the right, stop
following after me. Asahel said, no, you are the
problem. You have to go down. And I want you to consider this.
I think this is glorious. This is beautiful. The only reason
that Abner is put down for good and the entire kingdom is reconciled
under David is because Asahel died. David was gonna let Abner go.
Joab probably wouldn't have cared if he wouldn't have killed his
little brother. But because the blood of Asahel cried unto Joab,
Abner is put down forever and the entire kingdom is reconciled
unto David. Folks, who are we talking about
here? Our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only thing worth talking
about. Asahel's name means God made or God appointed. God appointed
his son to be the savior of his people. He appointed him to a
body. He said, you're going to be made flesh, be made man, made
of a woman, made under the law. God appointed his son, God himself,
to a body. And he abode here for 33 years.
Just as Asahel was a man of single-minded purpose, our Lord Jesus Christ
was a man of single-minded purpose. What was that purpose? When he
was 12 years old, his family went down to Jerusalem for the
Passover, and they were coming back from it, and they thought
that he was with them, but he wasn't, so they had to go back. You know
where they found him? They found him in the temple. 12 years old,
God was. And he was talking to the teachers
there and they were astonished by what he knew and the questions
he was asking. They were astonished because they didn't know who
it was. That was God sitting in front of him. And his mother
came and he said, she said to him, essentially, why would you
do this to us? Why'd you run away? And he said this to her.
He said this. He said, how is it that ye sought
me? This was no mere 12 year old
boy. This was God himself looking at Mary saying, Mary, you don't
seek me. I seek you. That's the only reason
you come looking for me, because I sought you first. That's it.
But this was his purpose. He said, Mary, wish ye not that
I must be about my father's business. For 33 years, he was a man of
single-minded purpose to do this and this only, his father's business.
to do his father's will. And we don't have to wonder about
what his father's will was. He tells us in John 6, 39, he
says, and this is the father's will, which is sent me, that
of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. You know what he's talking
about there? He's just giving an account of what happened in
the covenant of grace, that covenant that was made long, long, long
before not one pillar of this earth was ever made. He said,
my father gave me a task. Isaiah 6, it talks about it.
The father, the son, and the Holy Spirit sitting around saying,
who will go for us? Who will be champion? And the
son said, here I. Send me. I'll be champion for
us. And father said, this is the task. We, father, son, and
Holy Spirit, we have a people. We love a people. And here's
what your task is. I'm going to put them in the
only place of safety. I have to have a place to put
them that they can endure the eternities, that can endure the
ages. I'm giving them to you." And the son said, oh yes, here
am I. Send me. And the father said, everything
I require of them. Everything. You know my standard
for acceptance. It's perfection. Blameless perfection. It's the only thing I will accept
everything I require of them. I'm going to hold you accountable
for. This is going to involve blood. It's going to involve
death. It's going to involve being involved, making, being
made sin. And the son said, here I send
me. And he came to this world just
as Asahel did in single-minded purpose. And he spied out Abner. The problem, he came to this
world and he found the problem. What is the problem? What is
the problem? God's people, what separated
them from their God? Our sin. That's the Abner. Abner was an old, grizzled warrior.
He's really confident. And you know, if you're a believer,
how old and grizzled and malicious that warrior is, how great our
sin is in us. Your sins have separated you
from your God, caused him to hide his face from you that he
will not hear. What was the Abner? What was
the problem? sin. Asahel took off after Abner,
Christ pursued after. I got to put the problem away. You think of the discouragement
along the way. Satan tempted him for 40 days and 40 nights
just trying to find something to work with in Christ and Couldn't
find anything. Left him after 40 days and 40
nights. Found nothing to work with. You think if he's going
to sift us, how much he would find to work with all kinds of
things. Couldn't find nothing in him because he was a spot
to flam. And a little while later, when the Lord told his disciples,
he said, I'm going to be killed and I'll be raised again after
the third day. Satan took hold of Peter. And through Peter,
he said this, he said, No, that can't be Lord. That's be it far
from the tried flattery. Didn't work on discouragement
on every side. It would not work. But I think
the greatest discouragement came at Gethsemane's garden. You remember
when our Lord, he prayed and those great drops of blood came
from his forehead in the sweat. What was it he saw? What was
it that had him so discouraged and so distraught? He said, if
it be your will, let this cup pass from me. He saw what was
in the cup. What was in the cup? It was the
sins of his people. This thought of standing, being
made the sins of his people, standing in those sin and in
that shame before his father, that thought made him sweat those
great drops of blood. This is what he said. Father,
if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. If there be any
other way that our people can be saved, remove this cup from
me. And I don't want to take away from the physical pain of
our Lord's death. You think about a spear being
thrust through you, the blunted edge, how much trauma that would
cause. That's nothing compared to what our Lord endured on the
cross. But at the same time, I never want to pity him. This
is the Lord of glory. This is the great conqueror,
the great king, the great champion. I never want to pity him. But
this was the great despair. This was the great discouragement,
being made the sins of his people. But he said this, if thou be
willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will,
but thine be done. He wouldn't be dissuaded, not
one way. And he knew to his God, there
was absolutely no other way. You know what he did? Just as
Asahel ran headlong into Abner's spear, and it went through him
all the way out the other side, he took the sins of his elect. He bore them in his body. He
went to the cross. He died under the wrath of God
for those sins. And just as that spear passed
through Asahel and came out the other side, the sins of the elect
went into Christ. And now through his death, they're
gone. They're put away, never to be
seen again. And don't take my word for that.
Absolutely not. Oh, forgive me. You're going
to have to because I left the page of my notes out. But here's the point of all this. I never want to preach a message.
And I really don't want everyone to hear a message if I don't
know this, right? The teaching in this book is
this, that everybody Christ died for, his elect people, They are
eternally secure. That sin is gone. As far as the
East is from the West, it's gone. We're whole in Christ. We lack
absolutely nothing. Now, the only question that lingers
there is this. Who are those people? Can we
spot those people even right now? And you know what? We can. When Asahel fell down and died,
what happened? You remember what the scripture
said? Everybody who came to the place where Asahel died stood
still. Now, when I'm brought to this
place, when the gospel is preached to me, I know this, the only
way I'll be received of God, the only way I can be saved is
just this one way, is if Jesus Christ bore my sins in his body
and he put them away, and he is right now, presently, my righteousness
before the Father. That's the only way I can be
saved. I stand still right there. I've
got nowhere else to go. Now the gods of this world, those
little G gods, they're not going to do me any good. I need a sovereign.
It's going to take a sovereign to save me. And the great competition
of man's religion, that's not going to do me any good either.
Absolutely no good. I'm going to have to be saved
by grace. That's it. God is going to have to find
a reason outside of me and do everything that is necessary
to save me. I stand still right here, sink
or swim, win or lose. There is only one way I will
be saved, and that's if Christ died for me. That's it. Am I
elect? Am I not? Not even a question
for me. This is it. This is what I know.
The only way I'll be saved is if Christ died for me. And that's
all I need, and that's all I want. I stand still right there, but
I tell you what, folks, that's faith. That is the faith, and
that is the very evidence that Christ died for you, and you
are eternally secure in him. I love Asa Hill, but I love the
greater Asa Hill so much more. It's been a blessing being with
y'all this morning. I love you there. Couldn't help but think of Moses
speaking to the people there at the Red Sea. Fear ye not, stand still, and
see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you this day. All right, thank you for that
message. Thank you for it. Be sure and
greet Aaron on the way out. Isaac, what's our song? Let's
stand together and Isaac will lead us in a closing here, 449.