Our lesson begins in verse 6,
2 Samuel chapter 3. And it came to pass, while there
was war between the house of Saul and the house of David,
that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul. And Saul
had a concubine, whose name was Rizvah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner,
Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father's concubine? Then was
Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth. He said, Am I
a dog's head, which against Judah do show kindness this day into
the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends,
and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou
chartest me today with a fault concerning this woman?" Now Abner
here is a picture of Adam. Abner made himself strong, just
like Adam was created. Adam was created upright and
strong. He had dominion over all God's
creation. Whatever he named the animals,
that's what they were called. God told him you should do the
creation. You have dominion over it, over
the animals and over the fishes and over the creation. You have
dominion over this. He was created strong and upright,
righteous. But Adam fell. Adam sinned against
God and he plunged himself and he plunged all of his descendants
into sin and death. He fell. Just like Abner. He made himself strong, but he
fell. Ish-bosheth accused Abner of
sleeping with Saul's concubine, and the punishment for that is
death. This is not just some small accusation
he's making against Abner. The punishment for this is death.
Now, a concubine is, in the eyes of the law, a secondary wife.
It's not just like, you know, some illicit affair or something.
This woman is considered by the law a secondary wife of Saul. The law provides for secondary
wives, lower-level wives, secondary citizens. The title of our lesson
this morning is The Bride that Christ Redeemed. Christ has one
bride, just one, and there are no second-class citizens in his
bride. They're all equally redeemed. They're all equally loved. They're
all equally righteous. They're all equally joined to
Christ. There's not just, you know, a
tier system here. They're all equal. They're all equally loved
by Him. But the law provides for the secondary wife, and Abner
is accused of going into her. Now, he denies it. He denies
this fault, and that's what he's doing in verse 8. He says, have
I become despicable to Judah? You know, if I become like a
dog's head, it would be despicable to Judah. Have I become despicable
because of this one thing? Just, you know, I've done one
thing. Supposing I did do it. Have I become despicable because
I've just done this one thing wrong? Or did Adam, did he really
make himself and all of his descendants despicable because of one thing? Did he? God's Word says he did. Yes, he did. He made himself
despicable. He made us despicable in God's
sight because of one sin. But Abner goes on defending himself.
Sounds a lot like Adam, doesn't it? Defending himself. And he
says, now I've shown loyalty to the house of Saul. I've protected
you from David. You're not strong enough to protect
yourself from David. I've just protected you from
David. And now you're accusing me of
this one thing, and you're going to put me to death because of
this one thing? I've done a whole lot more good things than bad
things. Are you really going to sentence me to death, even
though I've done way more good things than bad things? Is one sin, one sin, really enough
to damn us for all of eternity? It is, because God's holy. One sin is enough to damn us
to hell for all of eternity because God's holy. And Abner's spending
all this time defending himself, and me thinks Abner's protesting
too much. I think he did it. I really do
think he did it. We don't know, but he probably
did. There's no probably with you and me. We did it. We're guilty. Guilty before God. We're guilty in Adam, And we're
guilty in ourselves. We are guilty of breaking every
one of God's laws. Now, what should we do? That's
a fact. That's just so. We're guilty.
Now, what should we do? We should do the same thing Abner
does. Abner is accused. The sentence of death could be
hanging over his head. And Abner goes to David, who's
a picture of Christ. And that's exactly what guilty
sinners like you and me should do. is go to Christ. Look what
Abner says in verse 9. So do God to Abner, and more
also, except as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do
to him, to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to
set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan
even to Beersheba. And he, Ish-bosheth the king,
could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him.
Now Abner's pretty full of himself, isn't he? I'm just going to leave
you. I'm going to go set up David as king." But this man's not
just whistling Dixie. He has the political power or
authority or sway to convince people to make David the king
instead of Ish-bosheth. He really does have that power.
And Ish-bosheth knows it. He feared Abner. He couldn't
stop him, couldn't say anything to him. Now, Abner is taking
too much credit for this situation. David's going to be king. I don't
care what Abner does. David's going to be king because
God said David's going to be king. God doesn't need Abner
to make his will come to pass. David's going to be king because
God says he's going to be king, not because Abner says he's going
to be king. But Abner is bowing to David
as king. He is recognizing David's royal
authority as king, his crown rights, and he's bowing to him
as king. He's going to do what God says. He recognizes God said
David's my king over Israel, and he's finally bowing to it.
You know, I wish we would do the same thing. Find out what
God's Word says and do it. Just find out what God's Word
says. What does God's Word say to guilty sinners like you and
me? What does He say? Come to Christ. That's what He says. Come to
Christ. His sinful men and women come
to Christ, the Savior of sinners. Now, let me make this very clear.
You do not make Christ King. The Father has already declared
His Son to be King. We don't make Him King. God's
already done that. But we do come to Christ and
bow to Him as King. We bow to Him and we beg Him
as the King to have mercy on our sinful souls. That is the
only way a sinner can ever find peace with God by coming to Christ. Abner would have continued in
this state of warfare against David unless he came to David
to make him king. And a sinner will continue in
a state of war against God and ultimately go to hell unless
that sinner finds peace with God through the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. by coming to Christ as King.
The only way a sinner can have peace with God is through the
Lord Jesus Christ, through the blood of His cross and bowing
to Him as King and recognizing He's the Sovereign who will do
with me as He pleases. And whatever He pleases is right. He's the King and it's right.
I'm going to beg Him for mercy, though. I'm going to beg Him
to stay right there and beg Him for mercy because there's no
hope anywhere else. That's what God's Word says.
Come to Christ. And that's what Abner does. Look at verse 12.
And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying,
Whose is the land? Saying also, Make thy league
with me, and behold, my hand shall be with thee to bring about
all Israel unto thee. Now, you may recall in these
previous chapters, Abner has been getting the feeling he's
on the wrong side of this war with David, but he can't find
a way out of it. Well, now he finally sees the
way to have peace by offering a peace treaty with David. And
I say to every unbelieving sinner, you go to Christ and you beg
him for peace. You're on the wrong side of your
war. This is not God's war against
you. This is your war against God. Now you go to God and you
beg him for peace. The only way of peace is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now come to Him. Find peace.
Find forgiveness of your sins in Him. Now, like I said a minute
ago, Adner's got some power. In a worldly sense, he's got
some power. He can go to David and offer
peace. He can offer some terms of peace if he wants to. But
now, you and me, we're sinners. We don't have any power. We come
to Christ as a beggar, as a mercy beggar, begging for peace for
Christ's sake, begging for the forgiveness of sins in the blood
of God's Son. And if you come, you come to
God begging for mercy for His Son's sake. You come to God begging
for mercy on God's terms, begging for the forgiveness of sins through
the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son. God
said, He'll have mercy on you. Now he doesn't have to. We don't
make God somehow indebted to us by coming asking for mercy
and then somehow he's indebted to us. No, sir. But he said he
will. Now come to him. That's what
he said, just like David made peace with his enemy, Abner. But now listen, that peace is
going to be on David's terms. It's not going to be on Abner's
terms. It's going to be on David's terms. Look at verse 13. David
said, well, I will make a leak with thee, but one thing I require
of thee, that is, thou shalt not see my face, except thou
first bring Michael, Saul's daughter, when thou comest to see my face.
And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying,
Deliver me my wife, Michael, which I espoused to me, for an
hundred fourths cans of the Philistines." You see, peace is going to be
on David's terms. David is dictating the terms
of peace, and he says, the only way you're going to have If you
bring me my wife, Michael." Now you remember the first verses
of this, ten weeks ago, but you may recall, David had all these
wives there as he was king in Hebron. Well, David, you've got
all these other wives. Why is this one so important?
Why is this one so special to you? David calls his wife by
name. Michael, in order to have peace,
I must have Michael, my wife. Now, David, if you just want
another pretty woman to add to your list of wives, we can find
one of those. We've got plenty of those here
in Israel. We can find you one of them. Why is this specific
woman so important? Why go to all the trouble to
make this demand for this particular woman, for this certain woman? Sounds a lot like our Lord going
to find a certain woman or a certain man, doesn't it? David, this
is a mess. Now, Saul's already given her
to another man to be married to him. This is a mess. Why don't
you just forget about her? Let her go so we can have some
peace here and you just take the throne of peace and forget
about her. You can have any other woman you want to be your wife.
Why can't you just forget her, David? He cannot do it. Absolute impossibility, he cannot
do it. Why? Because David espoused Michael
to himself by paying the price, the dowry price that was demanded
by her father Saul. David cannot let Michael go. This word espoused, it doesn't
just mean to become engaged or even married. It means to join
oneself to. David has joined himself to Michael
by paying the price that was demanded by her father. She belongs
to David. He paid the dowry price that
was required. He cannot let her go. And David
is a picture of Christ our Savior. He has a specific people, an
exact people, given to him by his father. They're the elect
of God. And those people belong, lot,
stock and barrel, to the Lord Jesus Christ. He joined Himself
to them in the eternal covenant of grace. He's the head. His people are the body. And
they are eternally joined together. His body is perfect. He's not
going to lose one of them. He will have every last one of
them. Now everyone here knows the parable
of the lost sheep. Those 90 and 9 are safe in the
fold. And one sheep is lost. Just one?
Now 99% is an A by anybody's standards. Every student here,
Savannah just finished her finals, I'm sure she'd just be thrilled
if she got a 99 in every one of her classes. That's wonderful
by our standards. That's a failure by God's standards. Why is that one lost sheep so
important to the Great Shepherd? I mean, think about it. He's
got to be an awful dumb sheep to get himself separated from
the shepherd. How dumb. Can he be worth it? Can he be worth going back out
there in the wilderness to find that one? Can he? Can't Christ
just let that one go and enjoy reigning over his kingdom? He's
redeemed a number, Scripture says, that no man can number. Well, if one of them's missing,
it's still a number no man can number, isn't it? Can he let
that one go? No, he cannot. He cannot do it. If he does,
he's a failure. And one thing's certain, God's
Son is not a failure. He can't let that sheep go. He
espoused himself to that one dumb, lost sheep. He joined himself
to his people. And if that one is missing, his
body's not complete. And the glory of Christ depends
upon that body being complete. Christ our Savior joined Himself
to His people and He paid the ransom price that was demanded
by His Father. Now you think what it took for
our Savior to redeem His people from their sin. In order to redeem
His people from their sin, the Son of God, first of all, had
to be made flesh. Now you and I don't understand
the humiliation that it took for the Son of God to be made
flesh, because flesh is all we've ever been. It was humiliating
for the Son of God to be made in the likeness of and the limitations
of sinful flesh. But He did it so He could be
our substitute. bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh to stand as our representative before His Father. He is made
flesh. Second, in order to redeem His
people from their sin, the Son of God had to be made subject
to the law of God. And the Lord Jesus not only became
subject to the law, He fulfilled the law in every job and every
title. He didn't leave one thing undone. He did it all. so he could produce
a perfect righteousness that he would impute to his people.
Not for himself, that he would impute to his people. He made
subject to the law. Third, in order to redeem his
people from their sin, the Son of God had to be made sin for
his people. And again, sinful men and women
like you and me, we can't imagine the horrible suffering that it
was for the Son of God to be made sin, because sin is all
we've ever known. We drink iniquity like water.
We don't understand the torture that it was for the Son of God
to be made sin. He was made to be sin for His
people. Righteousness and holiness was
all He ever was, all He'd ever known. Yet He was not made to
be a sinner. He was made to be sin for His
people. The horrible suffering that he
endured to feel the guilt of sin and to bear the punishment
of sin, because if he's going to redeem his bride, he must
be made sin for her. And four, in order to redeem
his people from their sin, the Son of God had to suffer the
full penalty of that broken law for his people. He had to suffer
unimaginable agony and then die. because sin was found on him.
He had to suffer a mock trial from the creature who is infinitely
below him. He had to suffer scourging at
the hands of the creature. He had to suffer having a crown
of thorns thrust into his head and mocked as he held a reed
for a scepter. He had to suffer a beating with
the fists of his creature. He suffered the creature now
plucking out his beard. And when they were done, they
nailed him to a cross and they sat and watched him there. And the Son of God, life himself,
gave up the ghost and he died. They took his body down. He didn't
even have a tomb of his own. He laid in the borrowed tomb
of a rich man. And those sufferings The physical
sufferings is just the tip of the iceberg of the real sufferings
of Christ for his people. He made, Scripture says, his
very soul an offering for sin. He suffered hell for his people
because that's what a holy God requires. He suffered the torment
of being completely without the presence of his Father. That's
what hell is. Whatever else hell is, But the
real suffering of hell is the presence of God is not there.
He suffered that as he hung on Calvary's tree because he was
made to be seen. And really the only people who
have any idea how horrible that suffering was are people who
are in hell right now. Now, after all that humiliation
After all that unspeakable, unimaginable agony and torment, can you possibly
imagine the Son of God allowing one of those for whom He suffered
and died to perish and be separated from Him? No, sir. It's an utter impossibility.
It's impossible. Look over at 2 Peter chapter
3. Our pastor read this Wednesday
night and I thought, Say everything I'm planning on saying. That's
all right, Dale, when you repeat it to us, don't we? You know
what we're talking about. It's impossible for one for whom Christ
died to ever die eternally. It's impossible. 2 Peter 3, verse
9. The Lord's not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness. But he's longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish. but that all should
come to repentance." Now, first thing about this verse, he's
not willing that any should perish. If Christ is not willing, I can
promise you it will not happen. Nothing ever happens outside
of his will. Nothing. If he's not willing,
it will not happen. Now, this says he's not willing
that any should perish. He's long-suffering to us. willing
to all succumb to repentance. Now, what does that mean? Does
that mean that Christ is not willing that any son of Adam
would perish? We know that's not so. There's people in hell
right now. We know that's not so. If you look back at the very
first verses of 2 Peter, I'll show you who this us word is,
who this all, who this any is. Chapter 1, verse 1, Simon Peter. servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us."
See, this is the us, the same us he's talking about here at
the end of the epistle. This is those who have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
according as his divine power hath given unto us. all things
that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust." This us, this all that
Peter is talking about are those who have been given faith in
Christ, those who have been made righteous. through the imputed
righteousness of Christ. Those who have been given spiritual
life. Those who have been made partakers
of the divine nature. They've been born again. They've
been given a new nature. Christ is not willing that any
of those people will perish. And brethren, they won't. None
of them will perish. It's impossible. Now Saul, you
may remember this from back in our study in 1 Samuel. He demanded
from David hundred four skins of the Philistines in order for
him to give Michael, his daughter, her hand in marriage to David.
And he demanded those hundred four skins because he didn't
think David could do it. In 1 Samuel 18, David went out
and did it. But he didn't kill a hundred.
He killed two hundred. He sent to Saul two hundred four
skins of the Philistines. And that's a picture of Christ
our Savior. The price that was required for redemption could
not be paid by man. It's impossible. Romans 3.20,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. With men, redemption is impossible. With men, righteousness is impossible. But thank God, with God, all
things are possible. And God's elect, they're not
just barely saved. Earl, they're completely saved.
They're plumb saved. Where sin did abound, grace did
much more abound. Now, in order to have peace,
David demanded a specific woman, didn't he? Michael, my wife,
who I espoused to myself, who I bought with those 104 skins
of the Philistines. Well, in order to have peace,
Christ must have a specific people. the people that he redeemed on
Calvary's tree. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
suffer everything he suffered, hoping beyond hope that somebody,
somewhere, someday might accept him. No. The sacrifice of Christ
is not an offering to men. I hear this on, I see this on
TV and it just It drives me insane. Won't you accept the sacrifice
of Christ? The sacrifice of Christ is not
offered to you. Not offered to me. The blood
is before the Lord. All through the Old Testament.
Those Old Testament sacrifices are blood before the Lord. Blood
before the Lord. Blood before the Lord. And that
blood is a picture of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not
offered to men. Offered before the Lord. He took
it behind the veil and offered it before the Lord. for the sins
of his people. And that sin debt, I have in
my notes, as Mark Stank paid in full, but more than that,
it's covered in the blood of Christ. It's put where God does
not see it, behind his back. It's separated as far from the
East as it is from the West, from us, his people. That sin
is gone. And by the power of and by the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, He will call everyone for whom
He died to repentance and faith in Him. He will bring them to
Himself and ultimately He will bring them to be with Him where
He is that they may behold His glory eternally. He will have
His bride. And if any of us are one of God's
elect, you will never find any peace anywhere except in Christ,
in His person, and in His work. That's where peace is found.
Now, back in our text in verse 15, let me read you these two
verses. This is good. Verse 15, And Ish-va-seth
sent, and he took her, he took Michael from her husband, even
from Thalthiel the son of Laish. And her husband went with her
along, weeping behind her, to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto
him, Go, return. And he returned. Now, humanly
speaking, this is a sad story, isn't it? I mean, this is just
a sad story. I feel sorry for this man, Fatio. He's going along
weeping with this woman that he loves. She's being taken from
him. This is a sad story. But you know, this is what you
get when you do things man's way. This was Saul's doing. After she was married to David,
he took her and gave her to Fatio. This is man's way. Back when
we started the lesson, I told you I wish we'd do things God's
way. This is what you get when you do things man's way. And
Saul gave her to Phalteel. And like I said, I feel sorry
for him. But you know what? Michael never belonged to this
man, Phalteel, in the first place. David had espoused her to himself
for 104 skins of the Philistine. She doesn't belong to this man.
She belongs to David. Now, she was lost to David for
a while. But eventually, He got her back. And that, this story,
it's just a story and it's just a picture. And you'll see this
as we go through our study of 2 Samuel. It does not have a
happy ending. The picture doesn't have a happy
ending. But the real thing does. Christ
has a bride who he redeemed. Now those people are born into
this world sinners, as wretched and vile as any other son of
Adam. They're sinners. And the law has a claim on them.
We're born under the law. But they never really belonged
to the law in the first place. Now, our father Adam put us there
under bondage to the law, but they never really belonged to
the law in the first place because Christ has redeemed them from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for them. But they're
born sinful. They're lost for a while, but
they won't stay that way. They won't. Christ the Savior. You've got to find that one lost
sheep. And He's going to bring every last one of them to Himself. And every one of them can sing,
I was lost, but now I'm found. He found me. He came where He
was and found me and brought me to Himself. And I say to every
believer here, you know God. If you're a believer, you know
God. You believe and you love the Lord Jesus Christ. You've
been redeemed by Him. He's all of your hope. All of
your heart is set upon Him. But this is what I also know.
Foul Teal is still following you around weeping. That flesh
that your father Adam put you in bondage to. Self-righteousness
is still following you around weeping. Trying to bring you
back into the captivity to the law. I know that's our experience
in this world. And every believer hates that.
I wish that wasn't so in myself. But it is. But don't be discouraged. One day, Christ our Savior will
say to him, say to that flesh, sinful man of flesh, go, return. Return to the dust from whence
thou art made. And He'll say to the new man
that He's created in you, come home. Come home to the home that
I've gone to prepare for you. And we'll go. That's a happy
ending isn't it? That's the bride that Christ
redeemed. Alright, Lord bless you.