Would you turn to 2 Samuel chapter
16, verse five. And when King David came to Beirut,
behold, Vince 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 and he cast stones at David and all
the servants of King David and all the people and all the mighty
men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei
when he cursed, come out, come out thou bloody man, thou man
of Belial, which is a wicked man, a son of Satan is what he's
calling him. 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, because thou art a bloody man. Then said
Abishai, the son of Zeriah, 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, you sons of Uriah? So let him curse, because
the Lord hath said unto him, curse David. Who shall then say,
wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai and
to all his servants, behold, my son, which came forth out
of my bowel, seeketh my life. How much more now may this Benjamite
do it? Let him alone and let him curse,
for the Lord hath bitten him. He's doing what the Lord told
him to do. It may be that the Lord will look upon my affliction
and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this
day. And as David and his men went
by the way, Shimei went along on the hillside over against
him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and cast
dust. And the king and all the people that were with him came
weary and refreshed themselves there. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of thy blessed son. And Lord, we ask in his name
that we might have your presence and your blessing, that you would
be pleased to speak to our hearts from your word. Lord, drive away
that which would distract us in hearing from you. Grant us
your spirit, grant us a word, grant us hearts, grant us ears
to hear and to receive. Lord, we confess our sins. Our
sins are ever before us. And we pray for forgiveness and
cleansing. We ask for grace to love you
more and love one another more. And Lord, wherever your people
meet together, we ask that you bless them. accept our thanksgiving,
we're so very amazed and grateful that you've been pleased to save
us and make yourself known to us. Lord, we say, why me? Bless
us for the Lord's sake, in his name we pray, amen. Now David, at this time, was
in a state of mourning. He was grieving over the mess
he'd got himself into. He's still paying for what took
place with Bathsheba and Uriah. And he knows his personal sin
is what has caused all of his problems. He's mourning his failure
as a king. He's mourning his failure as
a father. He's mourning the fact that the
nation of Israel has rejected him. He thinks his good friend,
Mephibosheth, has turned against him. You know, I was thinking
about this when Zeiba gave him the report about
Mephibosheth. We considered this last week.
He believed it. And I remember something Henry Mahan said that
I wish I could put this into practice. Anything anybody tells
you, don't believe any of it. Don't believe any of it. And
half of what you see don't believe. I thought, boy, that'd be good,
wouldn't it? But he had believed this thing that Zeib had said
about Mephibosheth, and he was hurt. And he was fleeing from
Absalom at this time. And this is when Shemai begins
this rant, verse 5. And when King David came to Bahuram,
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 and he cast stones at David. Now
remember, this is David, this mighty man of valor. He cast
stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all
the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and
on his left, and thus said Shimei, when he cursed, come out, come
out, thou bloody man, thou son of Belial. That's the worst thing
you could call someone. He was calling him a bloody man,
a murderer, and he was confronting him for taking the place of Saul. Now, two things. What did he ever do against Saul?
Nothing. He spared his life. He didn't
try to kill him, and he was God's appointed king, wasn't he? He's
the one whom God had anointed king many years before, and he
wasn't trying to usurp Saul. He was simply the one that God
had chosen to be king. Verse 8, 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. Behold, you are taken in your
mischief, because you are a bloody man. Then said Abishai, the son
of Zeruiah 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 he would have done it too. He would
have done it. He was upset. He loved David.
And he couldn't bear to hear this charge against David. He
said, let me go take off his head. And then David makes this
remarkable statement, verse 10. And the king said, what have
I to do with you, ye sons of Uriah? So let him curse, because,
now look at the language, the Lord hath said unto him, curse
David. Now that's a strong statement,
isn't it? He doesn't say that the Lord
in his permissive will allowed this to take place. He said,
the Lord said, curse David. That's why I'm being cursed.
The Lord said, curse David. The only reason he's acting the
way he is, is because of the sovereign will and purpose of
God. Now was Shemai wrong in this
action? Of course he was. This was sinful. This was wrong. This is David
he's talking to. But everything that took place
took place for this one reason, God said for it to take place. Now somebody may be thinking,
are you saying that the Lord actually told Shemai to curse
David? Are you making him the author
of evil? Are you saying the Lord actually said this to him? No,
I'm not saying that, David's saying it. David's saying it. David said, the Lord said to
Shemai, Curse David. Now, we can talk about secondary
causes. We can talk about tertiary causes. I like that word. That means
thirdly causes. I didn't know what that meant
until I asked Rich. I said, Rich, how do you say that? This was years ago,
and you're the one that told me tertiary. Sounds good, doesn't it? Tertiary.
See, I'm not even saying it right. There's been several things Rich
has corrected me on the way I pronounce things. I'm thankful for it.
I need it. But at any rate, these secondary
causes, there's one cause. The Lord is the cause of everything. And let me repeat that. The Lord
is the cause of everything. 11, and David said to Abishai and
to all his servants, we're gonna come back to that in a minute.
Behold, my son, which came forth out of my bowels, seeketh my
life. You know, he loved Absalom, and Absalom was wanting to kill
him. And he says, he seeks my life. How much more now this
Benjamin might do it? Let him alone and let him curse,
for the Lord hath bitten him. The Lord commanded him to do
this. He says it again. Now look what he says in verse
12. He says, it may be. That the Lord will look on mine
affliction and that the Lord will requite me good for his
cursing this day. Now, I don't even know if optimism
is a good word. Having an optimistic outlook,
thinking something good may happen. So whatever happens is the Lord
causing what happens to happen. I realize that. But the Lord
is good. It may be he'll turn all this
around. And that's the way you and I
ought to look at everything. The Lord's good. It may be he's
going to turn whatever it is that's grieving me so much. He's
going to turn it all around for my good and for his glory. Verse 13, and as David and his
men went by the way, Shimei went alongside on the hillside over
against him and cursed him as he went and threw stones at him
and cast dust. I can picture this in my mind. Here, here they
go. And this one man is throwing rocks at him and cursing him.
And the king and all the people that were with him came weary
and refresh themselves there. Now that's an interesting statement
during this horrible time. They came weary and they refreshed
themselves there. Now, the only time this word
is used three times, refreshed, and the other two times it's
used has to do with the Sabbath day, being refreshed by the rest
of the Sabbath day. Now, what that made me think,
the only times that we can actually rest is we rest in the absolute
sovereignty of our God. The Lord told him to do that.
The Lord's in control of everybody, everything, and every event. And we can rest in that. We can
rest in that. I'm in my father's hands. You're
in my father's hands. Everybody's in my father's hands.
And he controls every thought that goes through the mind of
every person, everything he is in control of. The good stuff,
the bad stuff, the indifferent stuff, whatever he's in control
of. And we rejoice in that. When
Shemai was throwing those rocks and cursing David, the Lord told
him to do that. It was all a part of his good
providence that he is in control of. We rest in God's sovereignty
and we rest in the Sabbath. The rest, the rest of just resting
in Christ. Nothing to do. That's the only
thing, those two things are what I can rest in. God's absolute
sovereign control of everything and everybody and the rest I
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing for me to do.
There's no works for me to perform. Now, David, when he made that
statement, the Lord told Shema to curse me. He is expressing
his belief in Romans chapter eight, verse 28, isn't he? Turn
with me there for a moment. This is a very familiar scripture. Wouldn't it be a blessing if
you and I responded to everything that takes place exactly the
way David responded here? Whatever it is, it's the Lord. Look in Romans 8, 28. I love
this verse of scripture. I particularly love it. Let me
tell you what I love this verse of scripture. I love it when
the Lord gives it to me. When I'm murmuring and complaining
and somebody says, now you remember Romans 8, 28, I know, you know,
I mean, I already know that and it doesn't do me any good then.
But when the Lord gives this to me, what a blessing it is. Romans 8, 28. And we know. Paul is speaking as the representative
of all of God's elect when he says we. And we know. How do you know? Well, because of who God is.
We know God. And this is God being God. This
is what this is about. This is God being God, being
in absolute control of everything. This is how we know this. And
we know that all things, just like Shema, cursing David,
we know that all things work together, not separately. God's
orchestrating everything. Isn't that wonderful to know
that? He's orchestrating everything.
And we know that all things work together for good. To them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now, I want to ask a few questions
about this. I've done this in a message before
a couple of years ago, but I wanted to bring these questions out
once again about Romans chapter 8, verse 28. Here's the first
question. When Paul says, and we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to his purpose. Now here's the
first question. Is this optimism? Or is this
the irrevocable will of God? How many times have you heard
people say, well, I think all things work together for good.
I've heard people quote that verse of scripture, half of it,
a whole lot. I think all things, I just think things are going
to work. There's a reason for everything. You know, there's some kind of
faith or fairy or something kind of controlling everything. And
there's a reason for everything and people will get that. And,
um, it's, I think things will turn out okay. This is about God's irrevocable
sovereign will and purpose. All things, all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. It's not optimism. It's because
God's God. And here's the second question.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Here's
the second question. Is this promise for everybody? Think about it. Is this promise
for everybody? No, it's not. Not according to
this scripture. Who's it for? It's for those
who love God. Does everybody love God? know,
all of his people do, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. And then he goes on to explain
exactly who these people are. He says, for whom he did foreknow.
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. That's Those are the people for whom everything is
working together for their good. Those who love him, those who
are called according to his purpose, and actually the opposite is
true regarding everybody else. Everything's working together
for their final destruction as an act of God's justice. That's
just so. Now here's the third question. First question, is this just
an optimistic, everything will be fine, you know, or is this
God's irrevocable purpose? Second question, is this promise
for everybody? No, only those who are called
according to His purpose. And here's the third question.
I like this question. Do I have any problem with this? Do I have any problem with the
fact that God controls everything and everybody, and that the only
people that will be saved are the people he purposed to save,
and the only people who have everything working out for their
good are the people that he loves, that he foreknows, that he predestines?
Do I have any problem with that? Well, if I do, I've got a problem.
I've got a problem. If I have a problem personally
with anything God does, two things are true of me. Number one, I've
irrigated to myself the position of God's judge. All of a sudden
I'm sitting in judgment on God and saying whether I agree with
what he does or not. Secondly, my, as sinful as I
am, how can I take a position like that? That's a real problem. When someone all of a sudden
becomes God's judge, I don't agree with this, it doesn't seem
right. Yeah, it does. It's right. It's right. And if
you believe you're a sinner, you don't have any problem with
anything God does, do you? Because you know what you are and you
believe he's holy. The only reason you know what
you are is because you have some idea of who he is. And if you
see who he is, you believe that whatever he does is right. Now
here is the Fourth statement I want to make about this, you
know, Shema is cursing David and Abishai says, let me take
off his head. And David said, no, the Lord
told him to do it. The only reason he did it is
because God himself told him to do it. What does this say
about our God? Well, it says that he has absolute
and complete control of everything, everybody, and every event. Whatever happened to you this
morning, he was in control of. Whatever happened to you yesterday
was his will being done. What's going to happen to you
tomorrow is his will being done. You mean everything? Yes, I mean
everything. The Lord told Shemai, curse David. And that's why he did it. He's the first cause of everything. He controls all events. I love
this scripture, Amos chapter three, verse six. Shall there
be evil in the city? And hath not the Lord done it?
Whatever happens. You know, today's 9-11, I remember,
For one day, that's Meenalyn's anniversary, 34 years today.
The reason she looks so good is because she's got such a wonderful
husband. We were at our high school reunion. We were in Ashland
Friday night for a football game and I was looking at all the
people, they all looked so old, all the people I graduated with. I look older, you know, I don't
know. I don't know what that was. Where am I going with that?
I have no idea. Um, he, um, but no, I remember
9 11. I remember when, when 9 11 took
place, I remember preaching out of Amos 3, 6, shall there be
evil in the city and hath not the Lord done it. He's in control
of everything. He controls all of nature. What
manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?
He controls the animal world. Not a sparrow falls to the ground
without your heavenly father. They were fishing all night. All of a sudden, when he told
them to throw the net in, they said, fish, get the net. They
got the net. He controls all the animal world. He controls
the demonic world. Peter, Satan has asked permission
for you that he sift you as wheat. Satan couldn't make a move until
he first asked the Lord if he could do it. He controls nations
and governments. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
Whenever you get concerned about what's happening in the nations,
who's going to be elected president, I know who's going to be elected
president. the one he determines to be elected. And whoever's
in control, he's in control of. Don't you love that? This is
my father's world. And we love that. He controls
every individual. Proverbs 21, verse 1 says, the
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water.
He turneth it whithersoever he will. He controls every individual. He controls the free and uncoerced
acts of men. Now this is, I can't explain
this. Men do exactly what they want
to do. They're not forced to do it. You remember when that
comedian used to say, the devil made me do it? No, he didn't.
You did what you wanted to do. Anytime you sin, you can't blame
anybody but yourself. But he is in absolute control
over the free and uncoerced actions of men. The wise man said in Proverbs
16, a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directs his
steps. Every plan you make, God's in
complete control of all of those steps. And he controls the sinful
actions of men. And the biggest example of that
is the cross. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Why the cross? The will of God. The will of
God. He controls even the sinful actions
of men. Now, Shemai is cursing David. David ends up refreshing himself
in all this. He was refreshed in the fact
that the only reason Shemai cursed him is because God said to do
it. And God is in complete control of everything and every event.
And he rested in the fact that there's nothing for him to do
but rest. That's what faith is. It's ceasing from your own works
as God did from his, and he was refreshed. Now, what this reminds
me of is that God has an end and a design in everything he
does. Isn't that glorious? There's a reason for everything.
Turn with me for a moment to Ecclesiastes. Chapter 3. To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven, There's a time to
be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up
that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to
heal. A time to break down, a time
to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn
and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and
a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time
to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose.
A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and
a time to sow. A time to keep silence and a
time to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate. A time of war and a time of peace. What prophet hath he
that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? I've seen the travail
which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
He hath made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he has set
the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the
work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. You know,
we're never gonna get it. Are you okay with that? We're
never gonna get it. I don't know what the Lord's
doing, but he does. He does, and that's what we rejoice
in. Verse 12, I know that there's no good in them, but for a man
to rejoice and to do good in his life, and also that every
man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor,
it's the gift of God. Now I know that whatsoever God
doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth that men should
fear before him, that which hath been is now, and that which is
to be hath already been, and God requireth that which is past. What a God we have. What a glorious God we have.
Now, all things work together, not separately, but together.
For what? For good. For good. For my good. For your good. For
the good of all of his people. For the good of all who trust
Christ alone. Everything's working together
for me. It's all good. It's all good. To them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now, the Lord said to Shimei,
curse David. And David said, the Lord said,
curse David. Now, there are two responses
to that mean you ought to have. Number one, worship. Worship. You'll only worship
a God who has absolute, complete control of you and everybody
else. And you don't need to understand
him. You don't need to explain him. You just worship. Number
one, worship. And number two, confidence. Confidence. He's in control. My confidence isn't in my ability,
but his. He is in control. What's that
song? Mortals are immortal here until
their work is done. He's in control of everything. So right now, right now I'm confident. Now I might, you know, walk out
of the door and something come in my mind and I forget everything
I've said. How many times has that happened to you? I mean,
you believe, and then you walk out the door, and one little
event, and you're derailed. Well, that's of the Lord, too. That's of the Lord, too. How
we need Him. But aren't you thankful that
it was the Lord that told Shemai, curse David. And David knew it,
because David knew that all things work together for good, to them
that love God, to them who are thee called according to his
purpose.