Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'd like to introduce this message
by quoting a passage from John chapter 5, verse 39, where the
Lord Jesus says, you search the scriptures, and in them you think
you have life. And they are they which testify
of me. And he's talking about the Old
Testament scriptures, And every Old Testament scripture is given
to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care if you're
talking about the laws. They show us our need of Him.
The stories, the sacrifices, the historical stories, they're
all given to illustrate the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and
testify of Him. Now, listen to this statement.
Christ is not the central message of the Scripture. He's the only
message. He's not the most important message. He is the only message. And I want us to keep that in
mind as we consider this historical narrative of something that took
place during the days of David. I've entitled this message, Shemai,
a story with three scenes. And in this story of Shemai,
we're going to get a beautiful story with regard to the gospel.
Now, I want to begin reading in verse 5 of 2 Samuel chapter
16. This is where we're introduced
to this man by the name of Shemai. And when King David came to Behurim,
and we know what he was doing at this time, he was fleeing
from Absalom. Absalom began a coup, and Absalom,
David's son, is going to want to try to kill David and take
over the throne. And David is fleeing. And behold,
while he's leaving, behold, there came out a man of the family
of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei. the son of Gera,
he came forth and cursed still as he came." He began to curse
David. And he cast stones at David and
all the servants of the king, David, and all the people and
all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And
thus said Shemai when he cursed, come out, thou bloody man, thou
man of Belial, you evil man. This is how he's referring to
David. The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the
house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord
hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son.
And behold, thou art taken in thy mischief. You are a bloody
man." He hated David. He thought David was getting
exactly what he deserved. Now, let me make some comments
as to why Absalom was trying to take over David's place. Absalom was the son that he loved. Now let's go back years and there's
the story of David and Bathsheba and Uriah. In 2 Samuel 11, we
read where David should have been out making war with the
other kings. Joab was out there, but he just
stayed behind. He was walking on his rooftop,
and he saw a beautiful woman by the name of Bathsheba bathing. Now, with a horrible abuse of
power, he brought her to himself and committed sexual sin with
her, she conceived during this time. And this was a horrible
abuse of power. And so in order to try to cover
it up, he had Uriah, her husband, come in from the battle. And
he thought, well, he can lay with her and I'll be covered.
They'll think it's his child. But Uriah would not do that.
He said, if other men in Israel are out in the fields, I'm not
going to go into my wife. And he wouldn't do it. And David
tried again to get him to go into her, and that didn't work.
And so he wrote a letter. He knew what a faithful man Uriah
was. And he wrote a letter and gave
it to Uriah, knowing Uriah wouldn't open it. And it was his own execution
paper. See, in this letter, he told
Joab, you get Uriah where the battle is the hardest, and pull
back and let him be killed. And that is exactly what he did. Uriah died. David committed great sexual
sin, murder, an abuse of power, and got other people implicated
in his sin. Now somebody says, can a believer
do something like that? Somebody that's a true Christian,
somebody that's saved, could they do something so heinous
as what David did? My dear friend, you and I have
done that. Everything he's done, at least in our mind and in God's
sight, that's just as bad. The scripture says, the Lord
says, whoso looketh on a woman to lust after in his heart hath
committed adultery with her. Doesn't say it's as if he did,
it says he did it. Now I'm not saying, well, if you think he
might as well do it. No, don't do that. But I'm saying that
every one of us have committed sexual sin. Every one of us have
murdered people in our hearts. And we've tried to cover it up.
We'd die if anybody knew what went on in our minds. So don't
ask a question like, can a Christian do that? Of course they can.
The only thing a Christian cannot do is sin against the Holy Spirit.
He's preserved from that. But David committed a great sin. The scripture says the thing
David did displeased the Lord. The Lord was displeased over
the hypocrisy of his actions, and he sent Nathan the prophet
to him. You might remember the story where Nathan told the story
of The man that had the little lamb that he treated like a child,
that ate at his table, he loved it. He had a neighbor that was
wealthy and had many flocks, but when a stranger came through
he didn't want to kill one of his lambs to feed the stranger,
so he went and took this poor man's lamb that he loved so much
and he had it for dinner. And Nathan told David about this
story and David said, find the man, he's gonna die, I'm gonna
kill him. And you see, we can always see
other people's sin better than we can our own. And David could
clearly see the wickedness of this. And then Nathan said to
him, thou art the man. You're the one who's done this.
And the Lord goes on to tell him that his sin's put away.
When he said, I've sinned, your sin's put away. But he said,
the sword's never going to depart from your house. You're always
going to be dealing with this. And that is why Absalom, the
Lord said this was going to happen. His own son, Absalom, is trying
to take over. And he was leaving with sorrow. And Shimei is saying, you're
getting exactly what you deserve. And let's go on reading in verse
9. Then said Abishai, the son of
Zariah, the king, unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse
my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee,
and take off his head. And the king said, what have
I to do with you, ye sons of Zariah? So let him curse, because
the Lord hath said unto him, curse David. Who then shall say, wherefore
hast thou done so? And David said to Abshi, and
to all his servants, my son, which came forth of my boughs,
seeketh my life. How much more now may this Benjamite
do it? Let him alone, and let him curse,
for the Lord hath bidden him do it. Now, what Abshi accused David of was not so. David spared Saul's life on two
different occasions. He would not go against Saul
and never did go against Saul. So what Shemai was saying with
regard to David was not true. But why didn't David defend himself? Why did David say, the Lord said,
curse David? Well, David at this time, I have
no doubt, is remembering his sin, his sinfulness. And he knew
that even though the things Shemai said were not true, If he knew
the truth of David, the things he would say would actually be
much worse. David knew that. David felt himself to be so sinful. And the next time somebody says
something bad about you, remember, if they knew the truth about
you, if they said it worse, it would be closer to the truth.
That's true with regard to every one of us. And I love the way
David knew that God is sovereign in all things. He said, the Lord
said, curse David. The Lord told him to do that.
Now, did he hear an audible voice saying, curse David? No, but
this was all a part of God's purpose. But this man Shema,
no doubt he had committed many sins in his life. But his greatest
sin was his treatment of David, his hatred of David. And this
lets us know what sin really is. Yes, we've done many bad
things, but the worst thing we've ever done are the low thoughts
we've had of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the most evil sin, to
fail to believe him, to fail to trust him. to fail to see
His beauty and His excellency and His glory, when He's the
darling of the Father, the express image of His person. Now, hear
this. What God thinks of me and you
is seen by what we think of His Son. Oh, how He loves His Son. Now, Shimei is making fun of
David. He's cursing David. He continues
to do so, but David says, don't take his head off. Abshah wanted
to do it. You see, David forgave him. David forgave him. Somebody
says, well, can you forgive somebody if they don't ask for forgiveness?
David did. And if Christ has forgiven you,
it's not because you asked. He forgave before you asked. So don't look at forgiveness
as being, well, they gotta ask first. No, he from his heart
forgave this man. The most God-like thing me or
you could ever do is truly forgive somebody from our heart. Now,
the next scene is found in 2 Samuel 19. That's the first scene of
Shemai, him cursing David. Now, in 2 Samuel 19, this is
after Absalom has been defeated. Joab killed him, and this coup
was put down, and David is returning back to Jerusalem as king. We read in verse 16, And Shemai,
the son of Gerite, of Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted
and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. This
is the same man that had been cursing him. And when he finds
out that David is coming back victoriously, he knows, I'm in
trouble. I'm in trouble. I've cursed the
king. And now he's coming back to rule and reign, and I'm in
trouble. Now look what he says, and there were a thousand men
of Benjamin with him, and Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul,
and his 15 sons and 20 servants were with him. And they went
over Jordan before the king. And there went over a ferry boat
to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. Now there is a strong typical
significance to Jordan. He'd gone over Jordan in sorrow,
picturing his death. Now he comes back. This picture
is his resurrection, having accomplished salvation. David's always a type
of Christ. He comes back over Jordan, and
he comes back doing whatever he's pleased to do. This is speaking
of the absolute sovereignty and authority of Jesus Christ. Shemai knows that. They went
over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household and to do
what he thought good. I love that. That's what Christ
does. He does what he thinks good. He's in control of everybody
and everything. And Shemai the son of Gerah fell
down before the king as he was come over Jordan and said unto
the king, let not my lord impute iniquity unto me. Neither do
thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day
that my Lord the King went out of Jerusalem, that the King should
not take it to his heart. For thy servant doth know that
I have sinned. Therefore, I am come the first
this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my
Lord the King." Now, he comes first of all confessing his sin. He said, I've done perversely.
I've sinned. There's no way I can justify
what I've done. Now, when you come into God's presence, when
I come into God's presence, we're to come confessing our sin. Now, you can't confess every
sin audibly. I realize that because most of
the sins you've committed, you didn't even know you committed
them. There's not enough time in the day for me or you to be
able to confess every sin we've ever committed. To confess means
to speak the same thing God says. It's to take sides with God against
ourselves. He came confessing his sin. He didn't say anything like,
David, I'm gonna let you forgive me. I know that's what you wanna
do. I'm gonna let, no. He came bowing before the great
sovereign, confessing his sin. And that's the only way someone
truly confesses their sin before God. They take sides with God
against themselves. They agree with what God says
with regard to their sin. And there are three things that
Shemai asks David to do about his sin. Number one, don't impute
it to me. Number two, don't remember it.
And number three, don't take it to your heart. Now that is
exactly what I need Christ to do with regard to my sin. I need him to not impute it to
me. I need him to not remember it. And I need him to not take
it to heart. Now, how can that be? Well, David
said in Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2, blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. Now, there is such a thing as someone sinning and
sinning greatly, and God not charging it to their account,
not imputing it to them. As a matter of fact, if you're
saved, the only way you will be saved, the only way I will
be saved, is if God does not impute our sin to us. Now, how can he do that? Because
the sins of God's elect became Christ's. They were imputed to
Him. He owned them as His own. The
reason He died on Calvary's tree, because my sin became His sin. He took it willingly. He took
it willingly. It was all a part of His Father's
purpose. He took it willingly, but it
became His sin. So it was imputed to Him, and
He was punished for it. That's the cross. The only hope I have is that
God doesn't charge me with my sin. I don't want to bear personal
responsibility for my sin. My Redeemer did. That's why He
died on the cross. Second thing that David asked
is that his sin might not be remembered. Oh, don't remember
my sin. Now, how in the world can God
not remember sin? Do you know every believer when
I'm in heaven. God's not going to look at me
and say, I remember what you did. I remember what you were. Now, if somebody sins against
you right now or me, we'll remember what they did. We may forgive
them, but it's sure difficult to forget it. We should, but
I don't know whether that can be done on this side of the grave.
But I know this, when God looks at the believer, he doesn't remember
any sin. How can that be? Because we read
in Hebrews 8, 12, where God says, I will be merciful, and the word
is actually propitious. I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness. Now, what does that word propitious
mean? Propitiation is a sin-removing
sacrifice. You see what the Lord Jesus Christ
did on Calvary's tree was he removed the sin. He made it not to be. When he paid, when he said, it
is finished, the sins of all of God's elect were obliterated. They were made not to be. And the reason that he can not
remember his sin is because there's nothing there to remember. That's
how powerful the blood of Christ is. He made it to where the sin
is not there. Every believer is given a new
history. Nothing but perfection. Nothing
but righteousness. No sin in my past. No skeletons in the closet. Perfect. It's what the Bible calls justification.
I'm not just as if I never sinned. I never sinned. There's nothing
there to remember. That's how completely Christ
removed the sins. That's the power of His blood. I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more." Isn't that a blessing to think of that? Now, Abishai
comes up again. You remember the first time?
Here he speaks again after he confesses his sin. But Abishai
the son of Zeriah answered and said, shall not Shem I be put
to death for this? Because he cursed the Lord's anointed. And
David said, what have I to do with you, ye sons of Zariah?
Why should you this day be adversaries unto me? You see, anybody that's
an adversary to somebody Christ died for, they're an adversary
to the Lord. David's the type of Christ. Shall there any man
be put to death this day in Israel? For do I not know that I am this
day king over Israel? Therefore the king said to Shimei,
thou shalt not die. And the king swear unto him.
You see, if Christ died for you, you will not die. That is the
gospel. Because of who Christ is, because
of the excellency and dignity of his person, he put away the
sins of everybody he died for. And if he died for you, you cannot
be destroyed. Now that is the second scene
of Shemai's life. Now let's go to the third scene
found in 1 Kings 2. Now this is David's Final act. He's speaking to Solomon
before he dies. And he says, Behold, thou hast
with thee, this is 1 Kings 2 verse 8, Behold, thou hast with thee
Shemai, the son of Gerah, a Benjamanite, a Behurim, which cursed me with
a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanam. But he came
down to meet me at Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying,
I'll not put thee to death with the sword. I promised him. Now
therefore, hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man, and
knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him. But his whorehead
bring down to the grave with blood. So David slept with his
fathers." This was David's final act. He said, I promised him
that I wouldn't kill him, but you didn't make that promise.
I want you to. Now, people have differed. They
thought, did David not really forgive him? Someone said, well,
he forgave him, but he didn't forgive the offense of blaspheming
the king, which was a capital offense. And everybody trying
to figure out why David did this. He did this because this gives
us a beautiful picture of the gospel. Now, in the end of chapter
two, when Solomon is dealing with him, we read, beginning
in Chapter 35, And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in
his room over the host, and Zadok the priest did the king put in
the room of Abathar, this is Solomon. And the king sent and
called for Shemai, and said unto him, Build thee a house in Jerusalem,
and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither." Don't go,
don't ever leave Jerusalem. For it shall be that on the day
that thou goest out and passest over the brook Chidron, thou
shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die, thy blood shall
be upon thy own head. And Shimei said unto the king,
the saying is good as my lord the king has said, so will thy
servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. Now here is what he tells her. Build you a house, stay in Jerusalem. As long as you stay in Jerusalem,
you're safe. you're not going to be killed.
The moment you go outside of Jerusalem, you will be killed. Now, what is this teaching us? When God brought the flood, what
happened to the people that were not in the ark? They were destroyed. They were safety only in the
ark. What about when God passed through
the land of Egypt to destroy the firstborn? There was safety
only in the house with the blood over the door that represented
the blood of Christ. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. That's all he was looking for
is the blood. Now what happened if you were outside of the house? You were put to death. What about
the cities of refuge. If someone killed somebody accidentally,
well, the person who's killed their relatives had the right
to kill you. But God appointed six cities
of refuge where if you were in the city of refuge, you were
safe. If you were outside of the city
of refuge, the avenger of blood could kill you. Now, there's
one place of safety in Christ. Now, I don't want to be found
anywhere else. I want to be found in Him. He was manifested to take away
our sins. In Him is no sin. He that abideth in Him sinneth
not. Now, what does it mean to abide
in Christ? It's a conscious desire to not be found anywhere but
in Christ, to where you want God to look at you in Christ,
to not see you but to see Christ. That's all you want God to see.
You don't want Him to see your works or your motives. You want
Him to see the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is to abide in
Christ. Now, I realize a believer can't
get outside of Christ, but he doesn't want outside of Christ.
And someone that can go outside of Christ and want God to look
at them according to their works, or their motives, or their intentions,
or their good deeds, well, they're going to find nothing but wrath. The only place of safety is in
Christ, nowhere else. Now, Shemai stayed in Jerusalem
for many days, but as you go on reading, you find out where
somebody told him some of your servants have run away. He went
outside of Jerusalem to get his servants. That may sound innocent
enough, but what does Solomon do? Solomon puts him to death
because he didn't stay in Jerusalem. Now, there's one place of safety. in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why Paul said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now, to abide in Christ means
you look to Him only as everything in your salvation. Nothing more,
nothing less, nothing else. Christ only. You know the only
way that God can accept you is as you are in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And your great desire is to be
found in Him to where all God sees is His precious Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now Shemai, his great sin was
what he said of David. His great desire was that his
sin, when he found out who David was, he didn't want his sin to
be imputed to him. He didn't want God to remember it or take
it to heart. And his only place of safety
was in Jerusalem. The sinner's only place of safety
is in Christ. May God bless this message to
my heart and to your heart, for Christ's sake. To receive a copy
of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.nyvern
at gmail.com, or you may write or call the church at the information
provided on the screen.