All right, 2 Samuel chapter 18,
our lesson, we'll begin reading in verse 5. And the king commanded Joab and
Abishai and Atai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young
man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when
the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom. So
the people went out into the field against Israel, and the
battle was in the wood of where the people of Israel were slain
before the servants of David. And there was there a great slaughter
that day of 20,000 men. For the battle was there scattered
over the face of all the country, and the wood devoured more people
that day than the sword devoured." Now, from what we read of history,
this battle was very fierce at first. But pretty quickly, David's
forces just routed Israel. His small army just routed very
superior numbers. And as the army of Israel retreated
and ran, you know, into the forest, their bogs and things in the
forest and wild animals in the forest, they killed more of those
soldiers than David's soldiers killed. If you look over at Psalm
chapter two, the second Psalm. This happened because it was
very obvious God himself was fighting for David. Here in Psalm
2, this is a prophecy of the Messiah, but it also fits this
situation that David went through in this battle. It says in verse
1, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. But he that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall
he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure."
You know, Absalom's army had a plan, didn't they, against
David. But he that sat in the heavens laughed. And he fought
for David and destroyed their army. And this situation is very
much like our Civil War. David won the battle, but David
also lost the battle too, didn't he? The Lord fought for David,
but in a sense, the Lord fought against David too. Everyone who
was killed this day was an Israelite. Everyone who was killed this
day was a subject of David's. So, while David won the battle,
Israel was weakened by his victory at the same time. Now, verse
9. And Absalom met the servants
of David, and Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under
the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the
oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth. And
the mule that was under him went away. Now all the writers talk
about this mule being very glad to be rid of the weight of Absalom
on his back. Just like creation one day will
be very glad to get rid of the weight of sin and the curse of
sin that's been put on it because of Adam's sin. In Romans 8, Paul
wrote that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together
because of the curse of sin that is bearing, waiting, creation
is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. I don't know
whether that mule rejoiced or not, but creation is going to
rejoice one day when Christ returns and sets righteousness in the
earth, removes the curse of sin from the earth. And that mule
went away and Absalom was caught in the boughs of this great oak.
Now, we're not exactly sure how this happened. His net could
have got caught in a fork, you know, in a branch and he got
hung up there. But most people think he got
caught up by his hair. Remember that great amount of
hair he had he took so much pride in? Most people think that his
hair got caught in the branches of that oak and there he hung
by the hair that he took so much pride in. And we'll return to
that in a minute. But there he hung between heaven
and earth, the writers say worthy of neither. He's not worthy of
earth and he's certainly not worthy of heaven. And he hangs
there helpless. No matter what he does, he can't
free himself. Probably the more he struggled,
the worse entangled he became. And all he was doing was hanging
there, waiting for what he knew would be a humiliating death.
And this is very important. I want you to listen to me. As
far as what we know from what's recorded in Scripture, as Absalom
hung there, not once did he beg for mercy.
And that's just heartbreaking. Not once did he beg for mercy.
And I say to any of you who are here this morning, who as of
this moment have not believed on Christ, don't keep doing what
you're doing. Cry to God and beg Him for mercy. If you're here this morning and
you haven't begged God for mercy, do it now. Beg Him for mercy
now. There's hope for mercy for sinners. Because the Lord Jesus Christ,
He hung between heaven and earth. A lot like Absalom did. He hung
between heaven and earth. But unlike Absalom, our Lord
Jesus didn't hang there helpless. He hung there in power. He hung
between heaven and earth, dying the cursed death of the cross.
He hung between heaven and earth, satisfying the demands of heaven
and saving the sinners of the earth. He hung there in power. Call on Him for mercy. Salvation
is found in Him. Call on Him. I wish you would.
God give you the grace, the light to do it. But there Absalom hung,
never begging for mercy. In verse 10, a certain man saw
it and told Joab. And he said, Behold, I saw Absalom
hanged in an oak. And Joab said unto the man that
told him, And behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite
him there to the ground? And I would have given thee ten
shekels of silver and a girdle. The man said unto Joab, Though
I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet will
I not put forth mine hand against the king's son. For in our hearing
the king charged thee, and Abishai, and Atai, saying, Beware that
none touch the young man Absalom. Otherwise I should have brought
falsehood against mine own life. For there is no matter hid from
the king, and thou thyself wouldst have set thyself against me."
Now what Joab is saying here is he would have given this man
a battlefield commission if he had killed Absalom. This ten
shekels of silver and a girdle is a captain's commission. It's
a medal of honor for performance in battle. But this man says
no amount of bribery or reward from you would be worth losing
my life. If I would have killed Absalom,
David would have killed me. I heard David give commandment.
Nobody's supposed to touch Absalom. And you yourself would have killed
me if David found out that I killed him. Now, if David didn't find
out, Absalom would have given him this battlefield commission.
But if David found out about it, he's telling Joab, you would
have killed me. If I'd have killed him, I'd have
wronged my own life. In Proverbs 8, Christ is speaking,
his wisdom personified. He said, he that sinneth against
me wrongeth his own soul. That's just what this man's saying.
If I would have sinned against the commandment of the king,
I'd have wronged my own mind. And our Lord said, what's a man
profited if he should gain the whole world? What if he would
have got this captain's commission, gained much and been made rich,
and would have lost his own soul? That's the end of all sin. No
matter what it is you think you can accumulate in this life,
that's the end of all sin. And that's why we say, call on
God. Begging for mercy, salvation is found in him. But now verse
14, then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he
took three darts in his hand and thrust them through the heart
of Absalom. Now this wasn't through Absalom's heart, just through
the middle of his body. While he was yet alive in the
midst of the oak. Then ten young men that bear
Joab's armor compassed about and smote Absalom and slew him.
And Joab blew the trumpet and the people returned. from pursuing
after Israel for Joab held back the people. Joab tortured Absalom
before he killed him. And then his bodyguard came and
they finished the job. Sound like the experience of
anybody else you know? That's what those Roman soldiers did
to our Lord. They tortured him. Just took their fun out in torturing
him before they killed him. But it must happen that way. That's the only way sin could
have ever been put away is through the suffering and the death of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And after Absalom is dead, Joab
blew the trumpet. And if he hadn't done that, that
was a signal that the battle's over. If he hadn't done that,
the entire Israelite army would have been killed because God
is fighting against them. And the exact same thing is true
with God's mercy. If Christ had not died, if he
had not gone to the cross and made peace with God for all of
his elect, all of Adam's race would have been destroyed. Every
one of us would have been destroyed. And the gospel is like the sound
of that trumpet being blown. The gospel tells God's elect
the war's over. There's peace. Stack up your
arms and surrender. There's peace. God's wrath has
been held back. Joab held back the people. You
know, they got in that fever of just, you know, wiping out
the enemy and Joab held them back. God's wrath is held back
because the wrath for the God's wrath on the sin of his people
fell on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it stopped right there. He
held back the wrath, God's wrath against his people. Now, verse
17, and they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in
the wood. and laid a very great heap of
stones upon him, and all Israel fled, every one to his tent.
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself
a pillar, which is in the king's dale. For he said, I have no
son to keep my name in remembrance. And he called the pillar after
his own name, and it is called unto this day Absalom's Place."
Now these men did not want to give Absalom an honorable burial.
What they wanted to do was disgrace him. But they also wanted to
hide the body so they could hide from David what they'd done to
Absalom. And let me give you a warning here on pride. This
is something every one of us deals with, pride. Absalom, we
know, took way too much pride in his hair. Remember a few weeks
ago when we were looking at chapter 14, Absalom cut his hair once
a year. And after he cut it, he took
that pile, it was laying on the floor, and he weighed it. He
took so much pride, you know, how beautiful his hair was. And
the writers say how he sprinkled gold dust in his hair. You know,
boy, he's looking sharp, you know, when he goes out on the
town. Now, that's pretty extreme, isn't it? How was Absalom taken
and killed? The hair of his head. The thing
that he took the most pride in, God used to destroy him. And
Absalom wanted to be remembered, so he built himself a monument,
called the monument after his own name. And from what they
say, he wanted to be buried there by this big monument, you know.
Where did he end up being buried? In a pit in the forest, covered
up with a heap of stones that they just threw on him. And Matthew,
Henry, and John Gill say in their lifetime, while they were writing
their commentaries, that it was custom for people who visit that
area of the world to take a stone and throw it on a heap of rocks
The legend is that Absalom is under that heap of rocks, and
people in Matthew, Henry, and John, they are still adding,
throwing rocks to that heap of rocks. And this is what they
say when they throw a stone to add to that heap. They say, Cursed
be the memory of rebellious Absalom, and cursed forever be all wicked
children that rise up in rebellion against their parents. Absalom
was remembered, wasn't he? Not the way he wanted, not the
way he intended. Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be amazed,
and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted." Now, verse
19, "'Then said Ahimaz, a son of Zadok, Let me now run and
bear the king title, so that the Lord hath avenged him of
his enemies.'" Now, News is going to have to travel by messenger
on foot at this time. After the Battle of Marathon,
that man ran 26.2 miles, bearing news of their victory. Well,
Hymaz wants to do the same thing, although I'm sure he didn't want
to die at the end of it. Verse 20, Then Joab said unto
him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear
tidings another day. But this day thou shalt bear
no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Then said Joab to
Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. Cushi bowed himself
unto Joab and ran. Now, Ahimaz wanted to bear the
news of this victory to David, but Joab thought Ahimaz was too
valuable to risk for this particular job, because he was afraid David
would kill the bearer of bad news. So, he sent Cushi. Now, the name Cushi is an Ethiopian
name, and they say that Cushi was a slave. Well, Joab was willing
to risk the life of a slave. You know, if David was going
to kill the bearer of bad news, he'll let Cushi be the sacrificial
lamb, but he felt like Ahimaz was too valuable. And that's
really why he didn't let Ahimaz go. But verse 22, Cushiah is
off running to bring David to tidings. Then said Ahimaz, the
son of Zadok, yet again to Joab. But howsoever, let me, I pray
thee, also run after Cushiah. And Joab said, wherefore wilt
thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings ready? But, howsoever,
said he, but, Ahimaz says, let me run. And Joab said unto him,
run. Then Ahimaz ran by the way of
the plain, and he overran Cushite. And David sat between the two
gates, and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate
under the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold
a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told
the king, and the king said, If he be alone, there's tidings
in his mouth. And he came apace and drew near.
David knew if there was a runner coming alone that he was bringing
news of the battle, and probably he was bringing news of a victory.
Because if David's army was defeated, there'd be many soldiers running
in retreat back to the city. So David figured, if he's running
alone, he's got news, probably of a victory. So David goes to
meet him so he can hear the news. In verse 26, the watchman saw
another man running. And the watchman called unto
the porter and said, Behold, another man running alone. And
the king said, He also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said,
Methink that the running of the foremost is like the running
of a highmast, the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good
man, and cometh with good tidings. And Himaz called and said unto
the king, All is well, peace. And he fell down to the earth
upon his face before the king. And he said, Blessed be the Lord
thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their
hand against my lord the king. And the king said, Is the young
man Absalom safe? And Himaz answered, When Joab
sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great
tumult, but I knew not what it was. And the king said unto him,
Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood
still. And, behold, Cushi came. And
Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king, for the Lord hath avenged
thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. And the
king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi
answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise up
against thee, to do thee be as that young man is. And the king
was much moved, and he went up to the chamber over the gate
and wept. And as he went up, thus he said, O my son Absalom,
my son, my son Absalom, I would God I had died for thee, O Absalom,
my son, my son." Now, this is a well-known passage of Scripture
that's used as a picture of God's preachers, and that's very true.
That's what's pictured here. And as I was looking at this
over, I've been looking at it for weeks, I did want to give
a message that's not applicable to most people. Most people are
not preachers. And we'll talk some about preachers
in the minutes we have left. But the focus that I want us
to see, this is what I want you to take home in your heart and
think upon it, is this. Christ is the message, the only
message. He, Christ, is the message of
God's preachers. Now, there is a picture here
of God's preachers, and the first thing we see about God's preachers
is this. He sent my God. Now, Haimaz was a very valuable
member of Israel's army and of the nation of Israel. He was
a very valuable member. He was a good runner. You know,
Kushai had a head start on him, and Haimaz passed him. He caught
him and passed him. And Joab told him, you'll run
with other news on another day to another audience. But not
this day. Not this news. Not to this particular
audience at this time. And a lot of people are hard
on old Hymas. And I just can't be too hard
on him now. Of course he wants to bear glad tidings of good
things. Of course he wants to bring these
tidings to the king. When I was getting ready to preach
my very first message, we were putting a roof on my house. And
Jim Meadows was helping me. And through the week, Jim and
I were working on this roof. And then on the weekend, we had
planned a bunch of men were going to come help us finish. And Jim
and I did the whole front of it by ourselves. Because, buddy,
Jim, I mean, from the light of day till the time the sun went
down, Jim wouldn't be on that roof working. I had to tell him,
Jim, I've got to go. I've got to study. I'm going
to be preaching my first message. And he ran to the ladder, went
down the ladder, said he wasn't going to stand in the way of
that. And he told me this. He said, the desire to preach
crosses the mind of every young man that's a believer at some
point, because everybody wants to tell about Christ. Of course
you do. Of course you do. And he told me, he said, Frank,
I think the Lord's laid his hand on you. He gave me a hug. He said, I'm
going to be praying for you. This is going to be hard. It's going
to be hard. But you can't go unless you're sent. God's got
to send his preachers. I was talking to a young preacher
Friday evening. He told me, I was asking him
how it was going. He said, I finally come to grips
with this. God's called me to preach. So
I'm going to go preach. I like to preach. I'll go preach.
And of course, a lot of places he goes need a pastor. He says,
I don't know if God will ever make a pastor out of me or not.
Not right now. Maybe someday out in the future.
I don't know. He says, I'll leave that to God,
whatever he's going to do. But this way, he said, I know
this. I don't want to run before I'm sent. And that's my lesson. You know, this is the passage
he was referring to. God's preachers must be sent
by him. Secondly, God's preacher is given
the message by God himself. Joab sent Kushai to run and he
told him exactly what to tell David when he got there. You
tell him what you've seen. Tell him what you know. It's
no more complicated than that. Just tell the king what you've
seen. And that's what preaching is. Preaching is not just reciting
a series of true statements or even a series of true doctrinal
statements. True preaching is from the heart. It's one beggar telling another
beggar where he found bread. And what we tell is the things
that we've seen, the things that we've heard. Now look over in
John chapter 3. This is what we tell. Our Lord
Himself said this. The Prince of Preachers. This is why He came preaching
the commandment His Father gave Him. In John 3, verse 11, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and we testify
that we have seen. Now, you receive not our witness,
but we speak what we know and testify what we've seen. Well,
how do you know what you know, and how do you see what you've
seen? Look over in chapter 12, John. The seeing eye and the hearing
ears of the Lord. How do you tell what you know?
How do you know what you know? How do you see what you've seen?
Verse 49, John chapter 12. Our Lord says, For I have not
spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, even our Lord
was sent. The Father which sent me, he
gave me commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.
And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. This is
what God's preachers come with. They're sent and they're given
the message that they're commanded to preach by God. Now look over
a few pages in Acts chapter 4. In Acts chapter 4 verse 19. But Peter and John answered them
and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you more than God, judge you. For we cannot
but speak the things which we have seen and heard." This is
the commandment we've received. This is the message to tell the
things that we've seen and that we've heard. Third, God's preacher
has a good reputation in the world. Amongst the people of
the world he has a good reputation, and the people of the church
love to hear him preach. When David heard this is a High
Mass coming, he said, oh, this is a good man. The first thing
he knew, he said, what came to his mind is a High Mass is a
good man. This is a man with a good reputation.
Look in 1 Timothy chapter 3. This is a requirement of men
who are going to preach. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1. Now this is a true saying. If
a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. That's
why I said about Hymen, there's nothing wrong with him wanting
to run and tell the king. He desires the office of bishop.
He desires a good work. But now a bishop, then, must
be blameless. The husband of one wife, vigilant,
sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Not given to wine, no striker,
not greedy of filthy liquor, but patient. Not a brawler, not
covetous. one that rules well his own house,
having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man
know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care
of the church of God? Not a novice, lest, being lifted
up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover,
he must have a good report of them that are without, lest he
fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. He must have a
good reputation from those that are without, and God's He'll
have a good reputation with the world and the people of God will
enjoy hearing him preach. They'll enjoy it. They'll get
a blessing from it. Paul said in Romans 10, how should they
preach except they be sent? They have to be sent. And as
it's written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bear glad tidings of good things.
Their feet are beautiful to those, the people of God who come to
hear the message of Christ. And that brings me to my fourth
point. The message of God's preacher is Christ. Period. No more. Nothing else. The message
of God's preacher is Christ. The news of the battle came to
David. David's only interest was what? How's Absalom? Is Absalom well? What happened
to Absalom? All David cared about was hearing
about Absalom. that Absalom's welfare was David's
total concern. Now, first of all, that's a picture
of God's love for his rebellious sons. But God doesn't have to
ask, are my rebellious sons, are they well, are they okay?
God's rebellious sons are all alive and well for this single
reason. Christ died for them. They live
because Christ died for them. They're no longer rebellious
because Christ died for them. He conquered them. He gave them
a new nature. They're not rebellious sons anymore. That's the way
they were, but not anymore because Christ died for them. He washed
them in his blood. They're alive and well because
Christ died for them. At the end of the chapter, David
wished he could die for Absalom. He wished he could have died
so Absalom can live. Every parent in this room knows
exactly what he's saying. Next time we'll deal with David's
grief here. There's two young ladies sitting
right there. I would beg God I could die for so they could
live. You know exactly what David's saying. God did. He sent his son to die for his
people so that his people could live a substitutionary death.
See, the message is Christ. He's the whole message. And there's
a lot of things going on in this world. I mean, this world is
a tumult, isn't it? My word. And that's what a high
man says. I saw a tumult. There's a great
tumult. Don't tell me about the tumult. What are you going to
do? This is going to affect the tumult
anyway. Don't tell me about the tumult. Don't get caught up in
all this stuff. Tell me about Christ. I must
have Him. Tell me about Him. We're like
David. I don't care about that stuff.
Tell me of Christ. Tell me of Him. Tell me who He
is. Tell me what He did in the battle. Tell me how He won the
victory. Tell me how He's my righteousness. Tell me of His
love for His people. Tell me of the faithfulness of
Christ for His people. Just tell me about Him. All about
Him. And when Haimaz came to David,
he came crying, peace, didn't he? He said, all is well. What
he's saying is, David, there's peace. There's peace. But he couldn't tell the whole
story. And we'll get to this in just a second. I don't think
it's not that he couldn't tell the whole story. It's that he
wouldn't tell the whole story. He didn't tell David how peace
was accomplished. Peace in Israel was accomplished
because the king's son died. That's the only way there could
have been peace in Israel. It's an absolute. The king's
son was put to death. And that's how peace with God
is accomplished. It's through the blood of the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not through me accepting
Him, or you accepting Him, or you making a decision to accept
Jesus. Peace with God is accomplished
through the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. See,
He's the message. Peace is Him. The high mass,
He saw a great tumult, but He couldn't tell David the details.
Now, this is what I think. I think He was afraid to tell
David the details. Now, I may be wrong about that.
One of two things is true. Either he was afraid to tell
David the details of the tumult. He already knew Absalom was dead.
Joab told him plainly, Absalom is dead. He either was afraid
to tell David or he didn't know the details of how Absalom died. But this is what I know about
God's preachers. They know the details and they're not afraid
to tell him. They're going to tell the details.
There is no room for fear in the pulpit. None whatsoever. Now, reverence, obviously, but
never afraid. Not if we got the message from
God, not if he sent us. He gave his commandment what
to say. There's no room for fear. And before the good news of salvation
in Christ can be told, we must hear the news of the sad news
of death in Adam. We must hear that we're dead
in him, that this is what we deserve, eternal death in Adam. And we can't be afraid to tell
that message that men are totally depraved. There's nothing that
you can do to satisfy God. Everything we do is completely
filled with sin because we died in Adam. And we must hear that
sad news before we hear the good news. And the good news is this. Christ is all. He is the good
news. It's what Christ accomplished
in His death. When Christ died, tell me, what
did he accomplish? Did he die trying to save everybody? Or did he save his people from
their sins? Tell me what he accomplished
in his death. God's preacher comes and says, I saw Christ
hanged on a tree. And as he hung there, he fully
paid the sin debt for his people. He secured eternal life for his
people through his suffering and his death. Because when God
blotted out the Son, God the Son took His blood behind the
veil and offered it before the Father, payment for the sins
of His people. No man took His life from Him.
This didn't happen accidentally. He laid down His life as a willing
substitute for His people so that His people could live. But
now He didn't stay dead. He rose again the third day from
the grave because all that sin that was imputed to Him is gone. It's been put away under His
precious blood and the sins of God's are left. It's separated
as far from us as the East is from the West. They'll never
touch again. You'll never see him again. Sin
shall no more have dominion over you because Christ put it away
through the sacrifice of himself. And he rose back to glory, seated
at the Father's right hand, waiting for his enemies to be made his
footstool. But now he's not staying there either. He's coming back.
He's going to come back and gather all those people for whom he
died to himself, that they'll be with him where he is, and
he'll cast his enemies into hell, eternally separated from him.
The message is all Christ. I hope I've been able to impress
that Christ is the message. Now and for eternity, Christ
is the message. In eternity, the question will
be, Are you with Christ or are you separated from Christ? That's
the question. Streets of gold and flames of
fire won't be the question. The question will be whose presence
are you in? The presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The issue then will be the exact same issue as the issue
is today. Are you in Christ? Do you see
Him? Do you love Him? Do you believe? Do you see Him? Do you believe
Him? Have you heard the message? Have you heard the message of
Christ? I pray the Lord will make it so. He can make it so. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear are of the Lord. All right. Well, I hope the Lord
blessed that to you.