Salvation Through Mourning & Death

Q: What does the Bible say about mourning and salvation?

The Bible illustrates mourning as a recognition of sin and points to salvation through Jesus' sacrifice. The Bible uses mourning as a picture of the believer's recognition of sin, as seen in 2 Samuel 15, where David mourns amidst rebellion. This concept mirrors the mourning of Christ, who bore our sins during His suffering. Just as David understood the consequences of his actions, we recognize the weight of our sin, which leads to the realization of our need for salvation. Ultimately, it is through Jesus' sacrifice, as He crossed the brook Chidron with mourning, that we find redemption and victory over sin, achieving eternal salvation by His grace.

Q: How do we know that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient for salvation?

Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient for salvation because He bore our sins and emerged victorious over death. The sacrifice of Jesus is fully sufficient for our salvation, as evidenced by His actions leading to the cross. In 2 Samuel 15, David's flight symbolizes the weight of sin and the mourning that comes from it. Similarly, Jesus crossed the brook Chidron, embodying the filth and corruption of sin, while taking possession of it so that His people could be freed. This act culminated in His resurrection, assuring believers that the payment for sins was accepted by God. Because of this, we can confidently assert that Jesus' sacrifice is the one that pleases God and is sufficient to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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

Understanding sin is crucial for Christians as it drives us to acknowledge our need for God's grace and redemption. The concept of sin is foundational in Christianity, as it helps believers understand their condition before a holy God. Sin creates a distance between humanity and God, and acknowledging it is the first step towards redemption. In the sermon, the brook Chidron symbolizes the darkness and filth of sin; it represents the chaos caused in our relationship with God. By acknowledging our sinfulness, we become aware of our need for the grace of Jesus Christ, who bore our sins on the cross. This awareness cultivates mourning for our sins, leading to repentance and ultimately to the joy of salvation. It highlights the necessity of Christ's atoning work and the mercy that is available to all who believe.

Q: How does God's sovereignty relate to the events of the cross?

God's sovereignty orchestrated the events of the cross to fulfill His eternal purpose of salvation. God's sovereignty is clearly depicted in the events surrounding the cross of Christ. As described in the sermon, the plans of men, whether those of the Scribes and Pharisees or Absalom, ultimately play into God's predetermined plan. Acts 2 outlines how the crucifixion was part of God's determinate counsel, showing that even the evil intentions of the conspirators served to fulfill God's redemptive purpose. This sovereignty assures believers that nothing occurs outside of God's sovereign will, which includes the suffering and death of Christ as necessary for our salvation. The very act that seemed like a failure was, in fact, the ultimate victory over sin and death, showcasing the greatness of God's plan to save His people.

You'll recall towards the end
of our last lesson, this man of Teai gave us a great picture
of the believer's confession of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
In verse 21, he says, As the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the
King liveth, surely what place my Lord the King shall be, whether
in death or life, even there also will thy servant be. And then in the rest of this
chapter, David goes on and gives us a picture of the sacrifice
of the object of our faith. Here's Attei's confession of
faith. Now, David's going to give us
a picture of the sacrifice of the object of our faith in the
rest of 2 Samuel 15. And I've titled the lesson Salvation
Through Mourning and Death. Now, there is a very dark scene
that's going on here in David's life. These storm clouds of rebellion
and insurrection. have been building for some time.
Absalom's been preparing for this time for quite a while.
And now the clouds, storm clouds have all gathered and now they
break on David's head. His favorite son is trying to
take his throne and take his life. David's life and the lives
of his wives and his children are all in danger. And David's
not trying to defend himself. He didn't gather his army and,
you know, take up a defensive position to go try to kill his
son and defend his throne. He flees because he knows God's
just judgment is upon him. The prophet told him this was
going to happen because of his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah.
And all this is happening is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The storm clouds of rebellion. against the throne of God have
been building since the serpent and that eve in the garden. They've
been building ever since. And God sent his son into the
world in the fullness of time to his chosen nation, to Israel.
And they joined in this rebellion against God's son, led by one
of his very inner circle, one of the twelve. And they're trying
to take His throne, the throne that the Father gave to the Son. The Father said, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. And here are the children of
Israel, His chosen nation, rebelling against His throne. Our Lord
was taken by this mob to a mock trial where, like David, He never
defended Himself. Now, our Lord did not defend
Himself because He was made guilty. Every accusation against Him
was true. because he bore the sin of his
people. His life was not just in danger. He was there to give
his life as a ransom for his people, to accomplish the salvation
of his people. And that brings me to my first
point. The river of sin is the cause of mourning and death.
In verse 23, 2 Samuel 15, And all the country wept with a loud
voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed
over the brook Chitron and all the people passed over toward
the way of the wilderness. Now if you look over in John
chapter 18, our Lord himself crossed this very brook Chitron
on his way to the cross. After he was betrayed and as
he was on his way, he crossed this very brook Chitron in John
18 verse 1. When Jesus had spoken these words,
he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, and that
is the same brook, just translated differently, Cedron, where was
a garden into which he entered with his disciples. And Judas
also, which betrayed him, he knew the place, for Jesus often
times resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then, having
received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
came thither with lanterns and torches and weapons, and you
know the story What happened after that? Our Lord crossed
this very brook on His way to His substitutionary death. And
it's no accident that He crossed this brook. This brook, the name
of this brook, Chidron, means black. It means dark. It means
to mourn. It means something that causes
a disorder. And that's a picture of sin.
That's what sin is. It's black. It's dark. It's something
that causes us to mourn. And it's something that's caused
a great disorder in God's creation. And this brook, Chidron, this
is where they emptied the sewage from the city. They took it and
they emptied it all into this brook, Chidron. And the brook,
Chidron, is also where they dumped the filth from the sacrifices,
the parts of the sacrifices that would be taken outside the camp
and burned outside the city wall. When Paul, in Hebrews 13, talks
about going outside the camp, This is where he was referring
to the brook Chitron, where they dumped all that refuse that was
considered unclean. On several occasions, Israel
had turned to idolatry. They'd forsaken the Lord, they
turned to idolatry, and a new king came to power. And he ground
those idols into powder. And you know where he put that
powder? In the brook Chitron. That's where he cast it away.
So Chitron, it's an open sewer. It contains sewage. It contains
parts of the sacrifice that are considered unclean. It's where
the remains of idols are disposed of and cast away. It's full of
all sorts of sin and filth and uncleanness. And to make it worse,
this brook was dry for most of the year. For nine months out
of the year, the brook chitron was just a dry bed. It only ran
with water. during the winter, the rainy
season when there was finally enough rain runoff to fill that
brook up and carry all that filth away. For nine months out of
the year, sewage and animal waste just rotted in that brook. I mean, there it sat in that
dry bed, just rotting. Can you imagine the stench, the
sight of it and the smell of it? That's given to us as a picture
of sin, this dark, This thing that causes a disorder, it's
the filth of sin and the stench of sin in God's nostrils. And
nothing would be more disgusting to us than to have to cross that
brook just to, oh, it'd make us gag. If you're going to cross
that brook, that stuff, it's going to be on you. It would
just make us gag. It's awful. Ken David crosses
this stream. at a time of humiliation and
suffering. And all those years later, our
Savior does the same thing. Crosses that brook. How horrible
it must have been for the Son of God to come to this earth
and cross that black, filthy stream of corruption and sin. And I promise you, He crossed
it with mourning. filth that he took upon himself
when he was made sin for his people. As he was going to suffer
the wrath of God, he went mourning, being made sin for his people.
If you look over in verse 30, we see another picture of this.
And David went up by the sin of Mount Olivet. That's the Mount
of Olives. And he wept as he went up. And had his head covered,
and he went barefoot. And all the people that was with
him covered every man his head. And they went up, weeping as
they went up. This is the Mount of Olives.
And our Lord went up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went
to go to the cross. In Matthew 26, you remember our
Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and he prayed, O my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not as I will, but as thou wilt. And this is where the apostle
talks about him great crying and tears where the blood flowed
backwards and came out of the pores of his skin. He's in mourning
in the Mount of Olives where all those years later David spent
his time in mourning. And David went up this mountain
mourning this Mount of Olives as a picture of our Savior who
went up that mountain. David went up with his head covered. And this was a sign of shame
to them in those days. He had his head covered in shame.
Can you imagine the shame? Our Lord, the Holy Son of God,
the shame He suffered being made sin before His Father. Oh, the
shame that He bore for His people. And He bore that willingly in
order to redeem His people from their sins. But He bore that
shame. And David went up and says barefoot. That's the way
a slave would go. or a prisoner would go barefoot. Our Lord went up this Mount of
Olives before His Father as a prisoner, a prisoner to God's justice because
He was made to be sin for His people. Our Lord went up a prisoner. The law had a legal claim upon
our Savior because He was made guilty of every sin of all of
His people and the law said He must And he went up, a prisoner
to justice, in mourning. But our Lord suffered a far worse
fate than David did. I mean, there was a time of humiliation
and suffering as David crossed the brook Chidron. Our Lord did
more than cross that brook. You know, David crossed that
brook and he got his feet dirty. Our Lord immersed himself in
that black filthy stream of sin and corruption. I thought how
horrible would it have been these people crossing with David if
one slipped and fell and just was covered in all this filth.
Our Lord did worse than that. He drank this river dry. Now we know that our Lord will
emerge from this situation that he's in, being made sin, crossing
this brook hydrant, he'll emerge as the mighty victor. David didn't
know what would happen to him. We'll see as we read through
these verses. He didn't know what was going to happen to him. And it
was at this time that David wrote Psalm 3. Now look over there
for a minute. And we'll see here in a minute that when he went
up to the top of the mountain, this is where he sang this psalm
probably for the first time. He wrote it and he sang it during
this time. He says, Lord, how are they increased
that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against
me. Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for
him in God. But thou, O Lord, art a shield
for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto
the Lord for my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.
I laid me down and slept. I waked, for the Lord sustained
me. That's a picture of our Lord. He cried unto God in the holy
hill. He gave up the ghost, and they put his body in the tomb.
He didn't stay there, did he? He rose from that sleep. I lay me down and slept, and
I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten
thousands of people that have set themselves against me round
about. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for thou hast smitten
all mine enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of
the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is
upon thy people." And this is the psalm David wrote, and he
sang at this time. And clearly, this is the psalm
of David. We see how these things apply to David's situation. But
this is a Messianic psalm. This is a psalm speaking of the
son of David, of his sacrifice, and it's a sacrifice that's successful. David said in verse 3, that thou
art the lifter up of mine head. Now, that means to lift up his
head. in victory. Well, how is our Lord going to
lift up his head in victory? Well, if you look over Psalm
110, David in another psalm gives
us some good insight here about the lifter up of mine head in
Psalm 110. In verse 7, he shall drink of the
brook in the way. Therefore, shall he lift up the
head. He shall drink of the brook.
Our Lord Jesus Christ didn't just cross that brook. He didn't
just immerse himself in that filth. He drank it dry. He drank the cup of God's wrath
dry. He drank of the brook in the
way. Therefore, the Father shall lift up his head in victory because
he drank the brook dry. Now this word drink. It means
more than just to drink, to take a sip, to have a mouthful. This
word literally means to take possession of. Our Lord took
possession of the sins of His people. He drank it into Himself
and took possession of those sins so that they are His. But
this word drink also means to drink the cup of God's wrath.
It doesn't just mean to bend down and get a drink of water.
It means to drink the cup of God's wrath. It means to drink
the cup of slaughter. And it means to drink the cup
of wicked deeds. And our Lord Jesus drank the
cup of God's wrath. He drank the cup of slaughter
because he drank of the cup of our wicked deeds. He took possession
of those sins and made those sins his. He took possession
of them. In Psalm 40, he said, my iniquities
have taken hold upon me. Not your iniquities have taken
hold upon me. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that
I'm not able to look up. They're more than the hairs of
mine head. They're my iniquities. He took possession of them. And
the Father killed him for it. The Father in justice killed
him for it. Then the Father lifted up his
head. He lifted up his head. He raised him from the grave
and exalted him on high because he drank that stream dry. Those sins are no more. In his
sacrifice, he put away the sin of his people and their salvation
is eternally accomplished because he drank that broke dry. Now,
I would imagine when the rainy season started, people were awful
happy that there's going to be enough rain runoff to come into
that dry bed and wash all that filth away. Can't you imagine?
They were happy. I mean, my goodness, that end
of town had a sin. What could wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that He shed
on Calvary's cross as He crossed that brook. He drank the brook
dry when He was made sin for me. And He cleansed His people
from all of our filth because He drank the brook dry. He took
it away. Now, it's a brook that causes
mourning, but our Savior crossed it victorious. And that brings
me to my second point. When our Lord crossed this horrible
stream, he crossed it alone. Now, when David crossed with
a few mourners, and our Lord had a few mourners when he began
his journey, didn't he? If you look over at Luke chapter
23, there were a few mourners with him when he began his journey
to the cross. Weeping and wailing, just like
those who are with David when he crossed the brook hydrant. Luke 23, verse 27. And there followed him a great
company of people and of women, which also bewailed and lamented
him. But Jesus, turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem,
weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
If we're going to mourn, we should mourn over our sin. Mourn over
the effect of our sin. and mourn over the suffering
that our sin caused our Savior. The believer can mourn and give
thanks at the same time. We can mourn over our sins and
be in joy at the same time because our Lord crossed this brook victorious. Now, there were a few mourners
that were with our Lord, but by the time he got to the cross,
he was alone. He was completely alone, and
that's what happened to David, if you look back in our text,
verse 24. And lo, Zadok also, and all the Levites, were with
him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the
ark of God, and a biathar went up, until all the people had
done passing out of the city. And the king said unto Zadok,
Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I shall find favor
in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both
it and his habitation. But if he thus say, I have no
delight in thee. Behold, here am I. Let him do
to me as seemeth good unto him.' And the king said also unto Zadok
the priest, Are not thou a seer? Return unto the city in peace,
and your two sons with you, Ahimaz thy son, and Jonathan the son
of Abiaphar. See, I will tarry in the plain
of the wilderness until there come word from you to certify
me.' Zadok therefore and Abiaphar carried the ark of God again
to Jerusalem. and they carried there. Now, politically and militarily,
it would have been a very good idea for David to keep that ark
with him. The ark was the symbol of God's
presence, and the ark wasn't just a symbol of God's presence.
We know this is where God actually dwelt in his Shekinah glory.
What would have turned the tide of public opinion if David had
the ark with him? But he wouldn't keep it with
him. The ark also had been carried into many battles that Israel
won. People may have feared to fight against David if the ark
was with him. But David wouldn't keep the ark
with him. He sent the ark back to Jerusalem. And he said, now
if the Lord's pleased with me, he'll bring me back. I'll see
the ark. I'll see the habitation of the ark if the Lord's pleased
with me. But if he's not pleased with me, then let him do to me
what seems good to him. And that is a picture of how
our Lord Jesus Christ suffered. Completely alone. For the only
time in eternity, as He hung there on the cross, He was separated
from His Father. He and His Father are one. They're
the same person. Yet He was separated from His
Father. My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Because He
was made to be sinned. And He was completely alone. God the Son was made to be sinned. And the Father did what seemed
good to Him. He put him to death in justice.
But the father was also pleased with the son, wasn't he? He was
pleased with the sacrifice of his son. And the father raised
his son from the grave and brought him back to his right hand in
the habitation of God on the throne. Because he was pleased
with the sacrifice of his son. He was never pleased with all
those animal sacrifices. But he was pleased with this
sacrifice. Because it effectually put away the sin of his people,
the sin that so offended God. His holiness and his justice,
he put it away. Our Savior crossed this horrible
stream of sin and shame alone. But now he emerged victorious.
Look at verse 32. And it came to pass that when
David was come to the top of the mount where he worshipped
God, Now this is the place where David sang Psalm 3, what the
historians say, he worshiped God. Now we worship God for who
he is, simply because of who he is. God is the only one worthy
of our worship and adoration. And we know from scripture that
true worship of God must be done through the blood. You cannot
worship God apart from the blood, the blood of the sacrifice. And
when we plead the blood, when we plead the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, what we're doing is acknowledging our sin. We're
acknowledging our need of cleansing and acknowledging that the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ is our only hope of being cleansed from
our sin. When we plead the blood, we plead
the one sacrifice that pleases the Father. We plead the blood.
That's the way we can please the father, because he's pleased
with this sacrifice, the sacrifice and the blood of his son. When
we plead the blood, we're agreeing with God, we're agreeing with
God that we are who he says we are. We're filthy. We're undone
from the sole of the foot to the top of our head. There's
nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. There's
no soundness in us. There's no goodness in us when
we plead the blood. We're agreeing with God. We are
who He says we are. When we plead the blood, we agree
that God is who He says He is. And we're giving God all the
glory in the salvation of sinners. He did it all. Now, this is a
time of mourning and uncertainty for David, but he never leaves
off worship. This is a time of worship because
our Lord emerged victorious. So we worship Him. Well, if our
Lord emerged victorious, and he accomplished the eternal salvation
of his people, then what happened to his enemies? What happened
to their plans and their ideas? That's my fourth and last point. All the plans and all the ambitions
of David's enemies will be defeated, just like all the plans and the
ambitions of the enemies of our Lord, both Satan and man, will
be defeated. Look at verse 31. One told David,
saying Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. David
said, O Lord, I pray Thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into
foolishness. We met this man Ahithophel in
our last lesson. He is a man known to be a very
wise counselor. The people actually considered
Having Ahithophel with you and having his counsel is more valuable
than having a large army. That's how wise of a man he was
considered to be. And David prays that his normally
wise counsel would be turned into foolishness. And in the
coming weeks we'll see it was. His counsel will be turned to
foolishness. And I know what that's a picture
of. 2,000 years ago, the scribes
and the Pharisees. Now you think about these men.
They should have been the most wise men on earth. They spent
all of their time in the Scriptures. They read the Scriptures every
day. They memorized large portions
of Scripture. These men transcribed the Scriptures. I mean, they were in the Scriptures
night and day, constantly immersed in the Scriptures. They should
have been so wise. But their counsel was turned
to foolishness. Here they spend all this time
looking for the Messiah, and when He came, they rejected Him. And what was their counsel to
the people? Yell, crucify Him. Yell, we'd rather have Caesar
than this man to reign over us. That was their counsel, and their
counsel was turned to foolishness. It was completely and utterly
defeated. Look at verse 32. And it came
to pass that when David was come to the top of the mount, where
he worshipped God, behold, Hushai, the Archite, came to meet him
with his coat ramped and earth upon his head, unto whom David
said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden
unto me." I can't feed and clothe and take care of all these people.
But, "'If thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I
will be thy servant, O king, as I have been thy father's servant
hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant. Then mayest thou
for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.'" And hast thou not
therewith thee Zadok and Abiathar the priests? Therefore it shall
be that what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king's
house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. And behold, they have therewith
them their two sons, Ahimaz Zadok's son, and Jonathan Abiathar's
son. And by them ye shall send unto me everything that ye could
hear. So Hushai David's friend came into the city, and Absalom
came into Jerusalem. Now David, what you see what
he's doing here, he's using spies to get inside Absalom's inner
circle so he can know what's going on and come up with a plan
how he's going to deal with this and defeat it. Our God needs no spies. None. He knows what men are going to
think before they think it. He doesn't need somebody to tell
him what men are thinking. He knows before they think it what
they're going to think. God doesn't need spies to find
out what men are doing so he can come over here and cook up
a counter plan. What they're cooking up, what they're planning
on doing is what his determinate counsel is already determined
that they should do. God doesn't need a spy. He turns
the hearts of men, whithersoever he will, to accomplish his eternal
purpose. That's exactly what Joseph told
his brothers. You meant it for evil. God meant
it for good to save all these people alive. All your plans
and everything that you devised, you failed. God used it to accomplish
his eternal purpose. Look over in Acts chapter 2. And this is exactly what happened
to the council of those scribes and Pharisees. In Acts 2 verse 22. You men of
Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Not your counsel, not your will.
He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,
but ye didn't accomplish your purpose. whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should be holding of it." Look over at page 4. Verse 26, The kings of the earth
stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
but the Gentiles and all the people of Israel were gathered
together or to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done." They weren't gathered together to accomplish
their purpose. Their purpose was to kill the Son of God and
be done with Him forever. They didn't accomplish their
purpose. Their counsel failed or was turned to foolishness.
Their counsel actually accomplished the exact opposite of what they
had hoped to and intended to accomplish. The purpose of God
was accomplished in their wicked act. His son crossed that brook
of sin and shame and he emerged victorious, accomplishing the
salvation of his people. We live in what seems like, you
know, to us, uncertain and perilous times. Doesn't it? It seems that
way to me. Aren't we thankful? The will
of our God is always done. These times aren't uncertain.
They're in His hand. They're certain and sure. God
grant us the wisdom to recognize His will and the grace to bow
to it cheerfully. All right. Well, I hope the Lord
bless you.

Salvation Through Mourning & Death

What does the Bible say about mourning and salvation?

How do we know that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient for salvation?

Why is the concept of sin important for Christians?

How does God's sovereignty relate to the events of the cross?

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Salvation Through Mourning & Death

What does the Bible say about mourning and salvation?

How do we know that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient for salvation?

Why is the concept of sin important for Christians?

How does God's sovereignty relate to the events of the cross?

Sermon Transcript

About Frank Tate

Comments

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