All right, 1 Kings 2, verse 1,
Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die. And he charged
Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth. And
David didn't look at dying as some event for him to be afraid
of. He said, I'm just going the way
of all the earth, the way of all flesh. I think it's interesting. He said, I'm going the way of
all the earth. He didn't say the way of flesh.
He said, I'm going the way of all the earth. My flesh is going
back to the dust, the earth from which it was made. And this is
what death is for the believer. It's a way. It's a way for us
to go from this life to go to life eternal. It's a way for
us to leave this life, this life of sin, and go into a way of
life of holiness. It's a way to leave being like
Adam. To go be like Christ. It's a
way. And David was confident in this. He even wrote in the
Psalms about the resurrection of his body. Confident. Because
he knew Christ would be resurrected. He knew Christ's body would not
see corruption in the grave. So the lesson to us is don't
make the fact that the death of this body is coming. Don't
make that change what you're doing. Don't let that become
a matter of fear. Change what you're doing. Don't
put too much confidence in this flesh and be surprised when it
begins to fail and when it eventually dies. That's the way of the flesh. That's the way of all the earth.
And the fact that we know this, the Lord's taught us this, should
keep us looking to Christ. Don't make it you run off and
make you look for something else. Knowing the way of all the earth
should keep us depending upon the Lord Jesus Christ. David
goes on in verse 2, he tells Solomon, Now be thou strong therefore,
and show thyself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord thy God,
to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments,
and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of
Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever
thou turnest thyself, that the Lord may continue his word. This
is what he is telling Solomon, put your confidence in God's
word, that he may continue his word. which he spake concerning
me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before
me in truth, with all their heart and with all their soul, there
shall not fail thee, said he, a man on the throne of Israel."
David tells Solomon, Show yourself a man. And that's what I tell
us believers here today. Show yourself a man. Show yourself
to be mature. Be humble as a child. Be meek
as a child. But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of Christ. Grow up to be a man and a woman
in the faith. And don't just start out in the
faith. Don't begin in it and then leave it. Think you're going
to finish some other way. Don't begin the race looking
to Christ and then expect to finish it under your own power,
under your own steam. Continue in the faith. Keep looking
to Christ. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. He's the beginner. And he's the finisher of our
faith. He's Alpha and Omega. He's the beginning and the end.
Well, from beginning to end, keep looking to him. Stay in
him. David told Solomon, if you take heed to the word of God,
you don't leave it, you'll prosper. And that's what I tell us this
morning. We'll prosper by looking to Christ and continue looking
to him. We're not going to prosper by
looking to the law. We're not going to prosper by looking to
our obedience to the law. Look how good I did this week.
That's not what's going to make us prosper. The law, if you look
to the law, you know what the law will do? It appoints you
to Christ. The law shows us our inability
to keep the law, our inability to please God, and points us
to Christ who did please the Father, who did fulfill the law.
So look to Christ and you'll prosper in Him. Eternal life
and all the riches of God's mercy and grace are found in Christ.
So look to Him and keep looking to Him. And David's telling Solomon,
now take heed to your way. You're going to sit on a throne
very soon. Take heed to your way. He's telling Solomon how
to conduct himself, how to govern himself when he sits upon the
throne. Take heed to your way. Well,
what's the believer's way? Our way is Christ. Well, take
heed to your way. that you stay in Christ, that
you stay in the way, that you stay in his gospel. A believer
does not govern our life by the law. A believer has got nothing
to do with the law. The law isn't given to you as
a way for you to know how to conduct your life. No, we govern
our life by looking to Christ. We know the way wherein we should
go by looking to Christ, by following him, not following the law. Now,
in the rest of this chapter, Solomon is going to execute judgment
on rebels. The kingdom cannot dwell in peace.
It can't live in safety until all the enemies of the throne
have been dealt with and put away. And that is exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ is going to do when he returns. He'll
judge the world in righteousness and he will eternally destroy
every enemy of his throne. Everyone who dared not bow to
Christ will be put away eternally. And I want us to notice this.
Judgment's come. The time of judgment's come.
It wasn't David who executed judgment. It was Solomon. It wasn't the mighty, bloody
warrior that executed judgment. It was the Prince of Peace who
took care of all these rebels after all these years. And people
say, well, God's love? Christ is love. He's meek and
lowly. Christ loves sinners. That's
fact. That's true. I thank God for
it. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, will also
be the judge who casts every rebel into eternal damnation.
Salvation is in Christ. But now judgment will come in
his hand, too. And that's what we see the rest of this chapter.
David continues, verse 5, his instructions to Solomon. He says,
Moreover, thou knowest what Joab the son of Zerui did to me, and
what he did to the two captains of the host of Israel, unto Abner
the son of Ner, and unto Emesa the son of Jekar, whom he slew,
and shed the blood of war and peace, and put the blood of war
upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that
was on his feet. Who therefore, according to thy
wisdom, and let not his whorehead go down to the grave in peace."
Now David is giving orders to Solomon. You put to death these
rebels, these men who have left me and shown themselves to be
rebels at heart. And that's the commandment of
God the Father to God the Son. You carry out justice against
these rebels that won't bow. Now, you remember in our study
here, 1 and 2 Samuel, you remember how Joab, how he dealt with Abner. Abner was Saul's general. Saul
was dead and his son was ruling in his stead. And Abner came
to David to make peace. But Joab wouldn't have. David
was thrilled. Abner had come to him to make
peace, and David made a big feast. He said, we're going to have
peace. These are our brothers. We'll have peace. Joab would not have
it. He was afraid Abner was going
to take his place. So he pretended friendship, and
he killed Abner in a time of peace and reconciliation. Then
he killed Amasa the same way. After David had promoted Amasa
above Joab, Joab pretended to extend the right hand of fellowship.
and slew him, stabbed him underneath his rib, killed him there on
the middle of the road, killed him in guile and wickedness.
And apparently, after all these years, Joab never was ashamed
of doing it. The blood of his victims stained his girdle and
stained his shoes, and he still wore them. He was proud of what
he should have been ashamed of. Isn't that sin? Men are proud
of what they should be ashamed of. And they may go on and prosper
for a number of years. It may seem like they're paying
no price for this that they've done, what they should be ashamed
of. And they may go on and prosper for a long time, but God's not
forgotten their sin. The day of judgment is coming.
Now look at verse 7. David says, but show kindness
unto the sons of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and let them be of
those that eat at thy table. For so they came to me when I
fled because of Absalom thy brother." I hope if I'm conscious as I
lay in my deathbed dying, I hope and pray I'm not a bitter old
man. I don't want to be a bitter old
man. I hope if I'm conscious on my deathbed and I'm talking
to my daughters, I hope I don't talk to them about everybody
that did me wrong. I hope I talk to them about friendship
that I had. I hope I tell them, boy, there's
some people I loved. There's some people that love
me. I'm thankful for them. If you see them in my memorial
service, you give them a hug for me. I hope I talk about those
things and not just about the bad things that happened to me.
This was a tough pilgrimage. It was tough. But God sent me
some friends along the way to make it a little easier. I hope
I talk about those people. That's what David's doing here.
Great day of judgment is coming. That'll be a day of condemnation
and damnation. But that's not all that day will
be. Our Lord in that day is going to remember our acts of faith
and acts of love, too. This is so glorious to me. God
gives faith. He gives love to his people.
It's a gift of his grace. He gave that to us. He gave his
people a heart that desires to do some kind for somebody else.
He gives us the ability to do something kind for somebody else.
Now that's of the Lord. You know that's not of you. If
you know God, you know that didn't come from me. That's a heart
God gave me. And yet the Lord will reward
his people for doing what he gave them. He'll reward his people
for having what he gave them. In Matthew 25, the Lord told
the righteous, he separated them off on his right hand. He's going
to tell them, I was hungry and you fed me. I was sick and you
visited me. I was naked and you clothed me.
All that's of the Lord. That couldn't come from us. That's
His working in His people. And the righteous are going to
say, Lord, I don't remember doing that. When did we do that? He's going
to tell me, as much as you did it unto the least of these, my
brethren, you did it to me. We just did that by His power
because His working in us and He's going to reward us for doing
what He gave us. That's what David's talking here
about Barzillai. He's been dead for some time.
He's an old man when he came and helped David there, may name.
But David said, you show kindness to his family for his sake. Isn't that what grace is? Showing
kindness, God show kindness to his people, not for our sake,
for Christ's sake, for the sake of his son. That's what David's
telling him here. And then he finishes his instruction
and Verse 8, he says, Behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the
son of Gerah, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with
a grievous curse in the day when I went to Manam. But he came
down to meet me at Jordan. When I was coming back across
Jordan, he came to meet me, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying,
I will not put thee to death with the sword. Now, therefore,
hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man, and knowest what
thou oughtest to do unto him. bring that down to the grave
with blood. We'll come back and we'll deal with Shimei here in
just a few minutes. Verse 10, so David slept with his fathers
and was buried in the city of David. And the days that David
reigned over Israel were 40 years. Seven years reigned he in Hebron
and 30 and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. Now we looked
at verses 12 through 25 last week, how Solomon dealt with
his brother Adonijah. Adonijah had an unchanged, rebellious
heart. He repeatedly tried to find different
ways to take the throne from Solomon. And he's a picture of
the nature of man, trying to repeatedly take God off the throne. That's been our problem from
the Garden of Eden until right now today. And that rebellion
will always end in death. Always. And that's what happened
with Adonijah. Now, the rest of this chapter,
here's the warning. The warning is Stay in Christ. Don't dare leave Christ. That's the title of the lesson.
Don't dare leave Christ. Now, salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Salvation is not in things about
Christ. Salvation is Christ. Salvation
is not believing some true facts concerning Jesus. Salvation is
believing Christ. Salvation is not found because
you attend a place where Christ is preached. Salvation is believing
Christ. Salvation is not having friends
who know and love Christ. Salvation is you knowing and
loving the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Solomon had just put Adonijah
to death. Now he's got to deal with his
co-conspirators. He's going to deal with the Biathar
and Joab. The time of justice has come for these men, just
like it will for all men eventually. Now, you remember a Biathar.
Abiathar came to David early on. When David was hiding in
the cave at Dollom, everyone who was in debt, everyone who
was discontented, they gathered themselves under David. He'd
be captain over them. And that is the time, early on,
when Abiathar came to David. And he stayed with David this
whole time. This whole journey, he stayed
with David. He swore allegiance to David.
There were other rebellions. of Bithar never followed him.
And all those other rebellions against David and all the other
difficult times of Bithar stayed true to David. But as soon as
he thought David couldn't help him anymore, he jumped ship. He jumped into rebellion against
David so he could arrange for himself a better place in the
new kingdom. So verse 26 here in 1 Kings chapter
2, And unto Bithar the priest said to the king, Get thee to
under thine own fields, for thou art worthy of death. But I will
not at this time put thee to death, because thou bearest the
ark of the Lord." How important must the ark of the Lord be?
He didn't put him to death because you bore the ark of the Lord
God before David my father, because thou hast been afflicted, and
all wherein my father was afflicted. So Solomon thrust out Abiathar
from being priest under the that he might fulfill the word of
the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. Now, Bithar is removed from being
the high priest. He's demoted to the lowest office
of the priest without any support. Now, you know why all this happened?
Way back there, Eli would not restrain his sons, Hophni and
Phinehas. They were polluting the altar. They were stealing from the people
is in wickedness and Eli would not restrain them. And God told
Eli, he's going to make all his male descendants die young and
he's going to take the priesthood away from them. Look back at
1 Samuel chapter 2. Now this was 80 years ago the
Lord spoke this. In 1 Samuel 2 verse 36. And it shall come to pass that
everyone that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to
him and beg for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall
say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priest's offices,
one of the lowest of the offices of the priest, that I may eat
a piece of bread." Eighty years later, it finally happened. It took eighty years, but it
finally happened. Now look over in 1 Peter chapter
2. All this happened to fulfill
the word of the Lord. This is God's appointment to
rebels. In 1 Peter 2, verse 7, Under you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense, even unto them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. is the appointed end for every
enemy of Christ. And this could also picture something
else. Now, a believer cannot lose their
salvation. Isn't that right? You cannot
lose your salvation in Christ. But we can suffer consequences
in this life for our sin. God won't punish His people because
of their sin. He punished Christ for our sin.
Punishment is complete. Believer can't lose our salvation,
but we can lose the joy of our salvation. We must be able to.
David prayed, Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.
We can lose the joy of it. How? How can we lose the joy
of our salvation? By looking away from Christ and
getting caught up in other things, other things of this life. Solomon
doesn't put a Biathar to death, but a Biathar can't come back
to Jerusalem. He can't come back to the tabernacle anymore when
Solomon builds that great temple. Abitur can't come to it. He can't
enjoy that great service. He's still serving in the priesthood,
but not as high priest. He can't go off with those sacrifices
and the best he can do is open the doors. He can't go in the
Holy of Holies anymore. He's lost the joy of it. And
either way, the warning is this. Stay in Christ. Keep looking
to him. Persevere in faith. to the end. Don't leave, don't quit. Now,
verse 28, back in our text. Then tidings came to Joab, for
Joab had turned after Adonijah. But he turned not after Absalom.
And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord. He caught hold on
the horns of the altar. And it was told King Solomon
that Joab has fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord. And behold, he is
by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the
son of Jehodiah. saying, Go, fall upon him. And
Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said unto him,
Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, No, but I will die
here. And Benaiah brought the king
word again, saying, Thus saith Joab. And thus he answered me.
And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon
him, and bury him, that thou mayest take away the innocent
blood which Joab shed for me from the house of my father.
and the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, who
fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew
them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, Dewitt
Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa
the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. Their blood
shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head
of his seed forever. But upon David, and upon his
seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there
be peace forever from the Lord. So Benaiah the son of Jehodiah
went up and fell upon him, and slew him, and he was buried in
his own house in the wilderness." Now that's the end of Joab. You
remember where he first met Joab? Joab came to David in the cave
of Dolom, just like a by-fire did. He was with him from the
beginning. But Joab never had a heart that loved David. Never. Joab was always in this for himself. That's why he killed Abner and
why he killed Emesa. He pretended to serve David.
But really, Joab was always only serving his own interest. Don't
many people, many people, most people, they come to religion
for the exact same reasons. They're in it for themselves.
What can I get out of it? They want to serve publicly so
they get some notoriety from men. You know, they want to go
into the ministry because they see these fellows on TV. They're
wealthy men. They live a life of ease. They
think, that's for me. I want to go do that. You know,
they want to make a show of religion in front of men. But their heart's
not in it. God hasn't given them a new heart.
They're not in the ministry for the glory of God and for the
good of God's people. They're in it for themselves.
They want to make a show of religion, but it's for what they can get
out of it. They're clinging to the form and the ceremony of
religion because of what they can get from it. They're not
clinging to Christ. They're not looking to Christ.
They're not clinging to him. They're not seeking his will
and his honor and his glory. These are the very fellows who
say, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied my name? We've done many wonderful
works in your name. We've cast out many devils in
your name. What will the Lord tell them? I never knew you. Depart from me. You workers of
iniquity. These religious men. God says
they're workers of iniquity. And here's Joab, he's clinging
to the horns of the altar. We looked at this last week.
This is Jewish tradition that a person will be saved if they're
hanging on to the horns of that altar, pleading the power of
the sacrifice that's offered on that altar. But not for first-degree
murder. We read it last week, we won't
turn there this week for time's sake, but Nexus 2114. If someone's
killed their friend with guile, they hid and they did it with
guile, they planned it out, and they're hanging on to the horns
of that altar, you take them off the altar and put them to death. That's
exactly what's going to happen to Joab. Some of the writers
say, Joab's saying he's hanging on to the horns of that altar,
I've turned over a new leaf. I know I've done wrong, but I'm
going to devote the rest of my life to serving the Lord. If
you just let me live, I'll devote the rest of my life to serving
the Lord. Does that sound familiar? Anytime people get in trouble,
I say, oh, I won't do it again. Lord, if you just deliver me
from this, I won't drink no more. I won't cuss no more. I'll go
to church every Sunday. I'll be a different person if
you just deliver me from this. That's our nature. That's just
the knee-jerk reaction of our nature when we get in trouble.
And you remember this, God's not in the deal making business.
God rules in justice and righteousness. But if you'll hang on to the
horns of the altar, I'm not talking about hanging on to the form
and ceremony and traditions of religion. I'm talking about if
you're pleading the sacrifice of Christ. You won't need a plea
bargain. God will accept you in Christ,
in his blood, in his righteousness, in his sacrifice, in his person.
You'll be accepted. If you say, if I'm going to perish,
I'm going to perish at the feet of Christ. If I perish, I'm going
to perish begging for mercy. I'm not begging for what I deserve.
I'm pleading for mercy. I'm pleading the person and the
work of Christ. I'm pleading for the forgiveness
of my sin through the blood, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If I'm going to perish, that's
where I'm going to perish, at his feet. You won't perish. If that's your plea. But that
wasn't Joab's plea. Now, outwardly, it may appear
to be, but that was not his plea. That's not what he was doing.
He was clinging to the form of religion. He was just hoping,
because he served David so long, nobody would do anything to him.
The day of mercy is over. Years and years ago, Dale, I
don't know if you remember this, you preached from this text.
Our daughter Holly was a little thing. She said, she asked me
after service, she said, I thought if you're hanging on to the horns
of the altar, you're saved. Why, why did Solomon put him
to death? And I panicked. I said, I don't know, go ask
Dale. And that's what, I threw him under the bus, sorry. But
this was Dale's answer to her. The day of mercy's over. The
day of judgment's here. And that's what's, what's going
to happen to every rebel. That day must come for the good
of the kingdom. It must. Joab had to die. Abiathar had to be removed from
the kingdom before the kingdom could ever dwell at peace. It
could never have peace as long as these enemies lived in the
kingdom. And this is salvation now. God
requires death for sin. Isn't that right? The soul that
sinneth, it shall surely die. Well, salvation then must require
death. Guilt can only be removed by
death. Either our death or the death
of our substitute. The removal of guilt requires
death. Isn't that what Solomon said
in verse 31? You kill him and you bury him that thou mayest
take away the innocent blood which Joab shed for me and from
the house of my father. The only way that guilt can be
removed is through death. Either our death or the death
of our substitute. When the substitute dies, Everyone
for whom he died, their guilt's gone. They're not guilty because
the substitute died. Peace with God can only come
through death. The only way you can have peace
is if the rebel dies. The rebel has to be put away.
The rebellion must be put down. The rebel's going to die. Either
we're going to die or our substitute's going to die. That's what Solomon
says in verse 34. Therefore shall return upon the
head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed forever. But upon
David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his
throne, shall there be peace forever from the Lord." There
is eternal peace in the Lord Jesus Christ because of his death,
the blood of his cross. Righteousness and peace, thirdly,
can only prosper through death. It is either the death of the
sinner or the death of our substitute. In verse 46, the last verse of
the chapter, so the king commanded Benaiah, the son of Jehodiah,
which went out and he fell upon him, that he died, and the kingdom
was established, had peace forever in the hand of Solomon through
the death of the rebel. Now, verse 36, he dealt with
these two rebels, now he's got to deal with Shimei. In verse
36, the king sent and called for Shimei. And he said unto
him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there. Go not forth
hence any whither. For it shall be that on the day
thou goest out, and passest over the brook Chidron, thou shalt
know for a certain that thou shalt surely die. Thy blood shall
be upon thine own head. And Shimei said unto the king,
Well, thy saying is good. As my lord the king hath said,
so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem
many days. Now, we read this earlier, David
had made promise to Shimei he wouldn't put him to death with
the sword. And I guess the best I can gather from this is the
next king was not held to that promise. And David, remember,
he told Solomon, you're wise. You'll know what to do. You'll
know what is best for all the kingdom. And it's very interesting
to me. This happened before Solomon
asked God for wisdom. And so the next chapter, the
Lord comes to Solomon. He said, Ask me anything you
want. And Solomon said, I need wisdom. I'm a child. I don't
know what to do. I need wisdom. We must have some
wisdom to ask for wisdom. Don't you reckon? David recognized
and he said, You're wise. You're a wise man. You'll know
what to do. What's best for the kingdom. So Solomon made Shimei
a very good deal. He said, Shimei, he built you
a house here in Jerusalem. And you stay here. As long as
you stay in Jerusalem, you'll live in peace. Now, that's a
good deal. Jerusalem's the best city in
the whole world. It's the most safe city. It's
a prosperous city. Shimei will be very comfortable
living in that house in Jerusalem. And if he dies, whose fault is
it? Not Solomon's fault. It's Shimei's
fault. This is the gospel. The gospel
tells sinners, look to Christ and live. Look to him, stay in
him, abide in him, and you'll live. You come to Christ and
you'll have eternal life. You'll not hear better news than
that no matter how long you live. The promise of life is free.
It's sure. It's eternal. That's just the
wonderful news of God's grace. Now, if we perish, whose fault
is it? It's our fault. It's not God's
fault. It's our fault. He said, look and live. Well,
if I die, whose fault is it? My fault. Well, what does Shimei
do? He stayed there many days. In
verse 39, it came to pass at the end of three years that to
the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish, son of Mayaka, king
of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying,
Behold, thy servants being Gath. And Shimei rose and saddled his
ass, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants.
And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. And it was
told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and
was to come again. And the king sent and called
for Shimei. And he said unto him, Did I not
make thee to swear by the Lord, and protested unto thee, saying,
No, for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad,
any whither, that thou shalt surely die? And thou saidst unto
me, The word that I have heard is good. Well, why then hast
thou not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that
I have charged thee with? And the king said moreover unto
Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart
is privy to." There is the problem, a wicked heart. You know the
wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst
to David my father, therefore the Lord shall return by wickedness
upon mine own hand." It's your fault. It's your wickedness that
is being returned upon your own head. And King Solomon should
be blessed, and the throne of David should be established before
the Lord forever. So the king commanded Benaiah,
the son of Jehodiah, which went out and fell upon him, that he
died, and the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. Now,
this is the very solemn lesson we can learn from Shimei. You
can be doctrinally correct. Outwardly, doctrinally correct
for a long time. You do many of the right things
for a long time. Salvation is not in those things,
not at all. Salvation is in Christ. Salvation is staying in Christ,
being found in Christ. Shimei left Jerusalem because
Jerusalem wasn't enough. It wasn't good enough anymore.
It was for three years, but suddenly Jerusalem wasn't good enough
anymore. He just had to go out and serve his own interests.
And if you go looking for something else because Christ is not enough,
same thing happened to you happened to Shimei, you perish. Come to
Christ, come to Christ, come to Christ, come to Christ. How
many times have you heard it? Now, stay there. Don't go somewhere
else. Don't come to him to go somewhere
else, serving your own interests. Come to Christ and stay in Christ
because Christ is salvation. And Shimei's problem was this.
He did the right thing outwardly for three years, but his heart
wasn't changed. God didn't give him a new heart.
Shimei's wicked heart never could be satisfied with David or Solomon,
either one. He never balanced submission
to either king because his heart was filled with Saul and Saul's
pride. He never changed. And that's
the wicked heart that's born in all of us. That heart will
never bow to Christ. That heart will never be content
with Christ. It'll never change. That's why
the new birth is so necessary. We need a new heart. Can't do
anything with the old one. And I've gone far too long, but
let me give you this in closing. Here's some comfort for God's
church. We have enemies right now, don't we? They're not hard
to spot. I mean, we have many enemies.
And it may discourage us. They seem to prosper. and flourish
for a long time. I mean, it just seems like God
just let them go. And they're getting richer and
richer and fatter. And what is going on? You mark
it down. God hasn't forgot. He has not
forgot. He's going to put them away in
the right time. And when that happens, they will
be no more. Those enemies will be no more. He can put them in a place where
they can never harm. Never threaten His elect or His
kingdom anymore. And they'll be forgotten. They'll
be forgotten. God won't forget you. He won't
forget you. And you won't forget Him. All
right. Well, Lord bless us.