2 Samuel 17, our lesson begins
in verse 24. Then David came to Mananaim,
and Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel
with him. Now, it just constantly amazes me how all the men of
Israel would be gathered together and go out to battle against
David. I mean, has there been a greater
hero in Israel than David? I mean, you think of his all
of his military victories, the psalms he wrote that Israel sang. This is David, the lion of the
tribe of Judah and the sweet psalmist of Israel. And all the
men of Israel are willing to band together behind Absalom
and go out and seek David's life. And even worse, at the head of
the column is Absalom, David's son, his favorite son. is going
out to seek to kill his father. It's not good enough to drive
his father out of Jerusalem into the wilderness. He's got to kill
him. Now that says a lot about human
nature. Tells us a great deal about human
nature. It is human nature to turn on
our friends and loved ones. We should not be surprised when
human beings turn on and suddenly hate their human friends. Just
look how our nature has turned against God. You know, a human
being can do something that's not right or, you know, that
makes you mad. Human nature has turned against God, who's nothing
but just and holy and good. And we've turned our back on
Him. If the Lord does not give us a new nature, we will never
love Him. We'll never follow Him. We'll
never believe Him. We'll never cling to Him. We
will never look to him in faith because the human nature is contrary
to God. If you look over in Ezekiel chapter
36, this is exactly what the Lord has done for his people.
He gives them a new nature, a new heart. In Ezekiel 36 verse 24, for I will take you
from among the heathen and I will gather you out of all the countries
and will bring you into your own land. And then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit
within you, and that will cause you to walk in my statutes, and
you shall keep my judgments and do them." But you won't do it.
I won't do it. No one will do it until the Lord
gives a new heart and a new spirit. And until he does, we will be
following Absalom, going out to seek the life of David. Now,
here are these two armies. They're facing off, getting ready
for battle. And David is camping in a city,
Manam. Now, if you look back at Genesis
32, here's where we learn about Manam. The name Manam means two
camps or two armies, two hosts. In Genesis 32, this is where
we first read of this place, Maanaum. This is after Jacob
has left Laman and he's going to meet Esau. In verse 1, Jacob
went on his way and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob
saw them, he said, this is God's host. And he called the name
of that place Maanaum, two hosts. Now what Jacob saw was two hosts
of angels. He saw a host on his left and
a host on his right. And the writers say a host was
60,000. So Jacob saw 120,000 angels,
the army of God, two hosts going before him, going with him. That
had to give Jacob confidence. These angels are going with him.
They'll fight for him. They'll protect him. He's under
no danger. If you look over in 2 Kings chapter
6, this is the same host that Elisha
saw going with him to protect him. In 2 Kings 6 verse 11, Therefore the heart of the king
of Syria was sore troubled for this thing. And he called his
servants and said unto them, Will you not show me which of
us is for the king of Israel?" And one of his servants said,
"'None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet that is in
Israel. Telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest
in thy bedchamber.' And he said, "'Well, go and spy where he is,
that I may send and fetch him.' And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothan.' Therefore sent he thither horses and chariots
and a great host, and they came by night and compassed the city
about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen up early
and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city, both with
horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him,
Alas, my master, what shall we do? And Elisha answered, Fear
not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with
them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes
that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." This
is the same host circling the city, circling Elisha, circling
all those that come up against him. Now David is in Manana,
camped in the same place where Jacob saw that the army of heaven
was with him. David knew that story, and that
probably gave him a lot of comfort that the Lord was with him too.
And the Lord hasn't changed. The Lord's still with his people.
That host is still protecting his people. But too often, we're
like Elisha's servant. We don't see. We don't see that
host. We don't see that the Lord's
with us. But God's always with his people. He's in his people. So wherever they go, he's with
them. He's always around his people. So take comfort. We're
never alone. We're never defenseless. You
know, all these people going out and buying all these assault
rifles and things. We're not defenseless. I mean,
buy one of them things if you want to. That's our Second Amendment
right. I'm not saying anything against that, but I'm telling
you this, God's people are never defenseless. The Lord is with
his people. David is facing an army of superior
numbers, but he's not defenseless. The Lord is with him, this mighty
host is with him. Now verse 25, that's what's going
on in David's camp. Now Absalom. Absalom made Amasa
captain of the host instead of Joab. Amasa was a man's son whose
name was Ithra, an Israelite that went into Abigail, the daughter
of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother. So Israel and
Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. Now there's a mess in
this verse, and you have to kind of follow who everybody is to
understand the mess that's made here of this family. This man,
Ithra, was born an Ishmaelite. Apparently, he converted and
became a Jewish proselyte because this verse says he is an Israelite,
but he was born an Ishmaelite. And he came to Israel and he
married a woman named Abigail. Now Abigail's sister was Zeruiah,
who was Joab's mother. And her brother is David. Her brother is David. So, Abigail's
son, Amasa, he's Joab's cousin, and he's David's nephew. Now,
David's son and David's nephew are seeking his life. Joab's
uncle and his cousin are seeking his life. That sounds like a
dysfunctional family to me. None of you? I mean, goodness
sakes, they're all out trying to kill one another. This division now that's caused
in this family is over the king. The division is caused over this
question. Who's king of Israel? Who sits
on that throne? If you look over Matthew chapter
10, let me give you something here. I believe could be of some
help. Matthew 10, verse 32. Our Lord is teaching, and he
says, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will
I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father
which is in heaven. Now you see the issue here is
Christ, isn't it? Some will confess him, some will
not. But the issue is Christ. Who
will confess that he is who he is? Now read on in verse 34.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to
send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and daughter against her mother,
and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's clothes
shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me." See, the issue is Christ.
Who do you love more than Him? Who is your heart set on? He
that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after
me is not worthy of me. See, the issue is Christ. Now, there will be division over
Christ. There always will be. That's
human nature. The division is going to come
over salvation in Christ alone. The division is over trusting
him, following him. Who's the Savior? But we never,
ever seek division. Ever. We don't seek division
as some badge of honor. If division is going to come,
let it come. But we do not seek it. And when
division does come, keep lines of communication open. Just leave
a way for a person to come back. Leave a way for them to come
back easily without embarrassment. without making them equal, leave
a way for them to come back and make sure the division is over
Christ. It's over his kingship. It's
not over me. The division should never be
over my attitude and my personality. Make sure the division is over
Christ, who's king, who's savior. I'm telling you, that's the only
thing that's worth dividing over. It's the only thing that's worth
dividing over. And when there is division, it's
going to happen now. Don't be too quick to write somebody
off. In this verse, can you tell who
David's friend is? Can you? It would appear David's
friend is Joab, wouldn't it? Joab left Jerusalem, went out
in the wilderness with David. Joab is willing, he's the general,
he's willing to lead an inferior army against Absalom for David's
sake. He's there to defend David. Looks
like he's David's friend, doesn't it? And Emesa, this man's the
son of a heathen, of an Ishmaelite for goodness sakes. I mean, an
Ishmaelite. And he's leading an army against
David. Ithra is with Absalom seeking
David's life. Who's David's friend? In just
a little while, Joab is going to kill Absalom, David's precious
son. He's going to kill Absalom when
Absalom is defenseless and not in the heat of battle when Absalom
is defenseless. Joab's going to kill Absalom
against David's direct order. He's going to kill him anyway.
And Emesa, this rebel Emesa, David's going to come back to
Jerusalem and make him the general of his army instead of Joab.
And then Joab is going to kill Amasa too. Who's David's friend? Well, you can't really tell,
can you? In verse 25, you just can't really
tell who's David's friend. So don't write them off too quickly.
Don't write people off too quickly. You never know what the Lord
will be pleased to do. Now, verse 27. It came to pass
when David was come to Manam, that Shobai, the son of Nahash
of Rabba, of the children of Ammon, and Makar, the son of
Amiel of Lodabar, and Barzillai, the Gileite of Rogallam. And here are these three men.
Shobai, he's the youngest son of the royal family of the Ammonites.
Now, you remember the Ammonites. We saw this a few weeks ago.
They treated David's He sent his ambassadors there to comfort
the king when his father died. And they treated David's ambassadors
horribly. But David had been kind to Shobai
and to his family in the past. And Shobai remembered it. And
now he's returning David's kindness to him. And David's out there
in the wilderness. And Israel's against him. This heathen comes
to return kindness to David. And Maker, the son of Amiel of
Lodabar, this is the man who kept Mephibosheth in his home
after Jonathan and David died. Mephibosheth had nowhere to go,
he's lame, he can't do anything for himself. And Maker took him
into his home and David came down there where he lived and
took Mephibosheth and took him back to the palace and made him
one of the king's sons. And I'm sure Baker admired David
for that. I mean, he must have cared for
Mephibosheth or he wouldn't have brought him into his home. And
he saw David come and show mercy and kindness to Mephibosheth.
He probably admired David for that. He never forgot it. And now's the time he can return
this favor or his kindness, and he does. And then Bartzillai,
he's a very old man. He lived in an area where Fullers
lived. There's a lot of fresh water
there and they use that water to clean and whiten and wool
and so forth. But there's a lot of fresh water
there so he was probably bringing water and so forth to David.
The point of all this is strangers brought all these things we're
going to read about to David. Now God has given Satan some
power over this world, some power to rule this world. He's the
prince of the power there. the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. He's got some power to rule this
world. But God still overrules everything.
Everything. And despite all this that's going
on, the Lord put it in the hearts of these strangers, aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, to bring these food supplies to
David. Now look what they brought here
in verse 28. They brought beds. and basins, and earthen vessels,
and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans,
and lentils, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep,
and cheese of kind for David, and for the people that were
with him to eat. For they said the people is hungry, and weary,
and thirsty in the wilderness." Now I want us to look at these
things that they brought. Look at this table that's prepared
in the presence of the enemy. and see that all the elements
of the table are the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, first, they brought
beds. Now, I'll tell you, I'm not a
big camper. Somebody that goes out and sleeps on the ground
in a tent, more power to you. I like sleeping in a bed. In
a climate-controlled, you know, that's what I like. I like sleeping
in a bed. Now, these people have been out
in the wilderness a while, sleeping on the ground. I mean, they didn't
have pillows or anything like that. Some of them are sick and
they're tired of sleeping on the ground. I'm sure they appreciated
a bed to rest in. It felt so good. This is Christ
our rest. Oh, weary sinners who are weary
and sick out in the wilderness of sin can find rest in Christ
our Sabbath. We can just cease from all of
our labors All of our attempts to establish a righteousness,
all of our attempts to make things right with God and just rest
in Christ our Sabbath. Christ has already put away all
the sin of his people. He's already made right with
God. He's taken care of every need. There's nothing to go work
for. There's nothing to go establish. He's established it all. He's
already produced everything God requires. and giving it freely
to his people. There's nothing left to do. Just
rest. Christ our rest. Then they brought
basins and earthen vessels. These are vessels to hold water.
They brought basins to wash in. Again, I'm confident people really
appreciated these basins to wash in. You just feel better when
you're clean. You do. It just feels better.
And they brought him cups to drink from. No more drinking
from your hands, even if you did have something to eat. If
you didn't have a glass to hold your water in, you had to constantly
be running the stream to get a drink. Now you just get your
glass of fresh water and take it right with you. Well, this
is Christ, the water of life. He's water to cleanse us from
all iniquity. This is the water, this picture
that flowed from his wounded side. That soldier pierced his
side and out came blood and water. That water that came out is water
to cleanse us from all sin, from all iniquity. Do you hate your
sin? I mean, just hate it. The filth
of your sin. Then come to Christ for cleansing.
He'll cleanse us from all iniquity. He's water to cleanse and He's
water to drink that gives eternal life. This is the water our Lord
told the woman at the well about. Remember, He said, whosoever
drinks of this water, She'll thirst again. But whosoever drinketh
of the water that I give him will never thirst. Why will he
never thirst? Because the water that I give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Well, does your soul hunger and
thirst after righteousness? Then come to Christ. Drink of
the water of life freely. He's water to cleanse and he's
water to drink to give eternal life. Then they brought wheat
and barley and flour. These are elements that are used
to make bread and cakes. And this was a very important
part of their diet for people at this time. Now people today,
we try to eat less bread, you know, have less carbs and lose
weight and so forth. But now bread is good food for
the hungry. Jan's dad just doesn't think
you can have a meal without bread. It's just not a meal if you don't
have bread. Well, this is an army getting ready to fight.
Bread is good food for them. Well, this is Christ, the bread
of life. This is what he talked about
in John 6. He's the true bread that cometh down from heaven.
That true bread is not man that Moses gave you in the wilderness.
True bread is the bread my father gives you, the bread he sent
from heaven. Are you tired of being dead in your trespasses
and sins? Tired of starving for righteousness? Then come to Christ and eat.
He's the bread of life because he is life. He is life eternal. Then they brought parts corn,
beans, lentils and parts pulse. Now, I don't know a lot about
all these things, but this is what I know. This is basic everyday
food for people of this time is a basic food. And they brought
enough to completely fill David's table. That's Christ. He is the basic, everyday food
of His people. Christ is not just the bread
that we eat on Sundays and Wednesdays. He's the basic, everyday food
of His people. What we need every day. And He
fills that need in every way, every day. And then they brought
honey. Now, to people of this day, honey
was considered very important nourishment. And I don't know
how nourishing honey is exactly. But I like something sweet to
eat after a meal. I mean, I just, the meal's not
complete, so I have something sweet. I have something. Well,
this is Christ. He is the sweetness of the gospel. Now, this is Christ as opposed
to doctrine. Now, the unregenerate man thinks
that the doctrine of the gospel excludes people. And the doctrine
of the gospel is simply this. Salvation in Christ alone. No other way. No other hope. No other door. One way. Salvation
in Christ alone. The Lord Jesus Christ is salvation. Now, the unregenerate man hears
that and says, well, that's, you know, you're excluding me.
You're saying, well, I can't be saved because I do this or
I go here or I listen to this preacher. The gospel. of God's free and sovereign grace
is the only way a sinner can be saved. It's the only way.
The gospel of God's free and sovereign grace is the only gospel
that lets sinners in to the presence of God. Every other gospel has
qualifications that you must meet in order to come in. The
gospel of Christ is the only gospel that lets dead sinners
who can't do anything come into the presence of God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it. Sinners. Harlots
and publicans. They were never welcomed by the
Pharisees. Our Pharisees looked down their nose at our Lord and
said, this man receives sinners and eats with them. He eats with
publicans and harlots. They were not comfortable in
the presence of the Pharisees. They weren't welcome into their
presence. But sinners Publicans and harlots were comfortable
in the presence of the Lord Jesus because the gospel of Christ
is the only gospel that lets sinners into the presence of
God. And just like honey is sweet,
true love is sweet. It's very sweet. And the sweetness
of the gospel is that the sin of God's elect has been completely
put away. under the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's Son agreed to become a
man, to be a substitute for His people, for those people that
the Father gave Him. And the Lord Jesus agreed to
be made sin. He agreed to suffer and die for
those sins, the sins of His people, because He loves those people. He loves sinners. Now that's
sweet. I mean, it doesn't get any sweeter
than that. If the gospel is preached the
way it should be, Christ will be sweeter than honey to the
sinner. Then they brought butter and
cheese. Now butter and cheese just makes everything taste better. Janet uses real butter. She switched
a few years ago to using real butter. She says margarine is
melted Tupperware is the way she puts it. But real butter,
now that makes things taste better. It just does. Asking Eric earlier,
and he said, I was right. Those cookies Abby makes, the
real butter goes in those things. Now, that ain't no melted Tupperware
going in. That's butter. It makes things taste better.
And they brought cheese. Now, Jan bought some different
kinds of crackers for us to try the other day. And Savannah tried
it. She said, it'll be all right. It had some cheese on it. Now,
a cracker, that's OK. But now, a cracker and cheese,
there's a snack you can Eat while you're watching the game. I mean,
that's good stuff. Plain, dry doctrine does not
taste good to anyone. It's just, it's plain. It's just,
it may be true, but it's plain, it's dry. But Christ makes all
of the gospel taste good. We preach about man's total depravity. That goes against human nature. But if you preach total depravity
in the light of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, even total depravity
tastes good to the believer. Christ makes the gospel taste
good to his people. And then they brought sheep.
Now, if you're going to have a good meal, meat must be involved. Has to be. They brought meat. They brought these sheep. Well,
you know what that is. The meat of the gospel. It's
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The meat of the
gospel is the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they brought
all these things to people who were hungry and weary and thirsty
out there in the wilderness. Are you hungry? Are you weary? Are you tired? You cannot produce
for yourself? Then come to Christ. The Lord
makes His people hunger and thirst after Christ. And then he fills
us with Christ. But all the elements of the table
are the Lord Jesus Christ. He sets the table and he is the
table. Now, when I read this initially,
I thought of Psalm 23, and I don't know when David wrote Psalm 23,
but when he did, I'm pretty sure he was reflecting on times like
this. He said, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence
of my enemies. Now a soldier, when he's in the
presence of his enemies, he doesn't take time to sit down to a meal. He doesn't sit down at a table.
He just, you have to eat, you know, but he just grabs something,
whatever he can and eats it on the run, eats it while he's fighting.
He doesn't have time to sit at the table when he's facing the
enemy. But this table is set in the presence of our enemies
and a believer can sit and eat. But it's not just sitting and
eating. You know, I go to McDonald's and I may sit down even in there
and eat. But that's just eating. That's
not dining. There's a big difference between
eating and dining. At this table, even in the presence
of our enemies, we sit and dine. This table is set right. It's
got the linen tablecloth. It's got the best china. It's
got the best glasses. Silverware is real silver. It's all shined up. There's cloth
napkins, not paper napkins, but cloth ones. I mean, it's set
right. This meal is meant to be not
just eaten, but enjoyed. Just enjoy in calmness, not in
a hurry. Enjoyed. Calmly savor every bite. This is a special occasion. Because
Christ is present. Every time Christ is preached,
it's a special occasion. The table is prepared by Christ
and he is the table. God prepares the table before
me in the presence of my enemies and my cup runneth over. This
is a liberal table. Plenty to eat. You don't have
to worry about taking a little bit. Plenty for everybody. My cup runneth over. David said
in Psalm 116, I'll take the cup of salvation. And brethren, there's
not just a little at the bottom of that cup. That cup of salvation
is overflowing. I'll take the cup of salvation
from God who's rich in mercy, from God who's plenteous in redemption.
I'll take the cup of salvation from God whose grace is greater
than all of our sin. Where sin did abound, grace did
much more abound. My cup running over. And Christ
is the table. that set for believers in the
presence of our enemies. If you have Christ, you truly
have all. Now, that's not just words that
we say. It doesn't just fit our doctrine.
If you have Christ, you have all the tables full. Spurgeon
told a story of a very poor man. He sat down for his evening meal. All he had was a crust of bread
and a cup of water. And that poor man looked at his
table and he said, All this in Christ too? If you have Christ,
you have all. Come to Him. Drink freely. Eat of the bread of life freely.
It will be good for your soul. All right. Well, I hope the Lord
will bless that too.